An Empirical Study of Housing-Related Issues Brought to the International Students Advisory Office, Okayama University

　1999 年11 月から2017 年3 月にかけて、留学生相談室が関与した住居関連の事案が264 件発生し、275 人の留学生がこれらの事案に関わった。264 件の事案のうち、129 件が民間住宅に関わる事案、128 件が大学宿舎に関わる事案、7 件がその他（公営住宅、他大学宿舎）に関わる事案であった。民間住宅に関わる事案で最も多かったのは、家主・不動産屋とのトラブル44 件である。44 件中、明らかに留学生側に問題があった事案は23 件、家主・不動産屋側に非があった事案は10 件で、残りの11 件はコミュニケーション不足による誤解が招いたトラブルである。大学宿舎に関わる事案で最も多かったのは、環境・設備・備品への苦情31 件であるが、近年の改修工事により宿舎の住環境が大幅に改善された

Conditions and Issues on Kuwanoki International Student Dormitory at Okayama University: As an Educational Resource

　スーパーグローバル大学の指標の一つに受入留学生数の増加が掲げられているが、留学生受入に不可欠な留学生寮の整備は、以前からの長年の課題であった。安心して留学生活を送るための基盤でもある寮の管理・運営は、毎日の生活と密接な関係があり、文化背景や言語が異なる学生が共同生活を営む寮では、大小様々なトラブルがつきものである。 　この状況を少しでも改善するため、岡山学では2014 年にレジデントアシスタント（RA）制度の導入を皮切りに、日本人学生との混住化を推進してきた。従来の留学生支援という観点にとどまらず、１）「一住人」から自治意識をもった寮生への成長、２）留学生、日本人学生双方の日本・日本文化・異文化理解の促進、という教育的要素を加えた新しい国際寮の在り方を模索してきたといえる。その結果、支援の充実や教育的効果も見られた一方で、教育資源として寮を活用するには管理・運営だけではなく、積極的な学生指導の姿勢が肝要であることが分かった。混住化から4 年経ち、導入初期の段階を終えた岡山大学では新たな局面を迎えている

What Should International Student Dormitories Be at Okayama University？: Current State and Issues of the International Student Shared House and Other Dormitories

岡山大学の留学生宿舎の36 年の歴史の中で、寮規則の遵守、人間関係の構築、施設や人的リソース不足など多種多様な課題が指摘されてきた。3 年前に開所した混住型の国際学生シェアハウスにおいて新たに日本人学生が関与する問題が追加発生したこともあり、教育資源として寮を活用する視点から一転して、効率化のために管理を外注化する方向に舵を切った。留学生活の基盤となる住環境を整えることは元来、費用や労力のかかることであり、日常的に起こる課題を解決するためには、責任感のあるリーダー的日本人学生の果たす役割が小さくない。その一方で、課題解決できる日本人学生の育成には、きめ細かい指導・助言に加えて、教育資源としての寮の活用という大学のビジョンと推進力が必要である

An Empirical Study on International Students' Traffic-Related Issues and the Measures to be Taken Against Them

　本研究では、2000 年1 月から2017 年3 月にかけて、岡山大学に在籍する留学生が遭遇した交通関連領域の事案121 件のデータを整理分類し、その実態を明らかにした。交通関連の問題は大きく3 つに分類することができる。すなわち、①交通事故、②違法行為、③その他である。交通事故が全体の65％を占めるが、事故の形態に着目すると、留学生が自転車を運転中に発生した事故が交通事故全体の4 分の3 を占める。この事実から留学生に対して自転車の安全な乗り方に関する教育を実施する必要があると判断される。本稿では留学生の自転車マナー向上に関する対策についても言及する。また、留学生が事故の被害者であるケースが40 件存在する一方、加害者であるケースも15 件存在し、留学生が一方的に事故の被害者ではないという事実も明らかになった

Numerical study on effect of member length error on structural properties of single layer pin-joined grid dome composed of wooden truss system

p. 444-455This study examines a single layer three-way pin-jointed grid dome constructed from of wooden truss system. We show the effect of the member length error on the initial imperfection and nodal buckling behavior by the numerical analysis results considering geometrical nonlinearity. In numerical calculation, the member length errors are assumed to be a normal distribution. The distribution and magnitude of the initial axial force and displacement are evaluated with respect to the mean and SD (standard deviation) of the member length errors. The range of the initial imperfection and the tolerance of manufactured member length are also predicted by the mean and SD of the numerical results. The properties of nodal buckling load and buckling mode are also discussed. The nodal buckling load is mainly affected by the SD of member length error and the effect of mean of member length error on the buckling is secondary. When SD of member length error changes from zero to 0.10 cm, the mean of the nodal buckling load decreases by about 50 % and the area of nodal buckling mode changes from the overall dome to the inner region.Fujimoto, M.; Katayama, S.; Kaname, T.; Imai, K.; Machinaga, T. (2009). Numerical study on effect of member length error on structural properties of single layer pin-joined grid dome composed of wooden truss system. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/653

Induction of tumor-specific acquired immunity against already established tumors by selective stimulation of innate DEC-205+ dendritic cells

Two major distinct subsets of dendritic cells (DCs) are arranged to regulate our immune responses in vivo; 33D1+ and DEC-205+ DCs. Using anti-33D1-specific monoclonal antibody, 33D1+ DCs were successfully depleted from C57BL/6 mice. When 33D1+ DC-depleted mice were stimulated with LPS, serum IL-12, but not IL-10 secretion that may be mediated by the remaining DEC-205+ DCs was markedly enhanced, which may induce Th1 dominancy upon TLR signaling. The 33D1+ DC-depleted mice, implanted with syngeneic Hepa1-6 hepatoma or B16-F10 melanoma cells into the dermis, showed apparent inhibition of already established tumor growth in vivo when they were subcutaneously (sc) injected once or twice with LPS after tumor implantation. Moreover, the development of lung metastasis of B16-F10 melanoma cells injected intravenously was also suppressed when 33D1+ DC-deleted mice were stimulated twice with LPS in a similar manner, in which the actual cell number of NK1.1+CD3− NK cells in lung tissues was markedly increased. Furthermore, intraperitoneal (ip) administration of a very small amount of melphalan (l-phenylalanine mustard; l-PAM) (0.25 mg/kg) in LPS-stimulated 33D1+ DC-deleted mice helped to induce H-2Kb-restricted epitope-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) among tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes against already established syngeneic E.G7-OVA lymphoma. These findings indicate the importance and effectiveness of selective targeting of a specific subset of DCs, such as DEC-205+ DCs alone or with a very small amount of anticancer drugs to activate both CD8+ CTLs and NK effectors without externally added tumor antigen stimulation in vivo and provide a new direction for tumor immunotherapy

CNVs in Three Psychiatric Disorders

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine the similarities and differences in the roles of genic and regulatory copy number variations (CNVs) in bipolar disorder (BD), schizophrenia (SCZ), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS: Based on high-resolution CNV data from 8708 Japanese samples, we performed to our knowledge the largest cross-disorder analysis of genic and regulatory CNVs in BD, SCZ, and ASD. RESULTS: In genic CNVs, we found an increased burden of smaller (500 kb) exonic CNVs in SCZ/ASD. Pathogenic CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders were significantly associated with the risk for each disorder, but BD and SCZ/ASD differed in terms of the effect size (smaller in BD) and subtype distribution of CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. We identified 3 synaptic genes (DLG2, PCDH15, and ASTN2) as risk factors for BD. Whereas gene set analysis showed that BD-associated pathways were restricted to chromatin biology, SCZ and ASD involved more extensive and similar pathways. Nevertheless, a correlation analysis of gene set results indicated weak but significant pathway similarities between BD and SCZ or ASD (r = 0.25–0.31). In SCZ and ASD, but not BD, CNVs were significantly enriched in enhancers and promoters in brain tissue. CONCLUSIONS: BD and SCZ/ASD differ in terms of CNV burden, characteristics of CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, and regulatory CNVs. On the other hand, they have shared molecular mechanisms, including chromatin biology. The BD risk genes identified here could provide insight into the pathogenesis of BD

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Impact of COVID 19 Pandemic on International Students at Okayama University : A study of the L-café International Student Survey and Cases Brought to the International Student Advising Room

　日本での新型コロナウィルス感染症の流行により、経済、学習環境、生活、進路、精神などの多方面で学生達は影響を受けたが、中でも海外との往来が極端に制限された留学生は更に多くの困難に直面した。L⁻Caféアンケート調査からは多くの学生が経済的困難に直面していることが分かり、５回の食料支援を実施したが、その後の追加調査では、経済的、精神的に助かったという回答が得られた。そして、留学生相談室には入管他手続きや進路・就職に関する問い合わせやハラスメント、トラブル、メンタル面での相談が寄せられ対応したが、「もっとも必要としている学生に支援が届いているか」という課題が残った。The outbreak of COVID19 in Japan affected students in various ways, including the economy, study environment, lifestyle, career path, and psychologically, among which international students whose travel to and from abroad was severely restricted faced various difficulties. The L-Café survey revealed that many students were facing financial difficulties, and food assistance was provided five times. A Follow-up survey indicated that the food drive helped them financially and mentally. The International Student advising room responded to inquiries about immigration, application procedures for special grant scholarships, and career counseling, as well as harassment, problems among students, and mental health issues, but the question remained, "Are we reaching students who need support the most