Social Capital, Rehabilitation, Tradition: Support for Restorative Justice in Japan and Australia

This paper investigates the attitudes and beliefs that the public hold about criminal behaviour in Japanese and Australian society, with a view to uncovering sources of resistance to, and support for, restorative justice. The study draws on a survey of 1,544 respondents from Japan and 1,967 respondents from Australia. In both societies, restorative justice met with greater acceptance among those who were (1) strong in social capital, (2) believed in offender reintegration and rehabilitation, (3) saw benefits for victims in forgiveness, and (4) were advocates for victims' voices being heard and amends made. The alternative 'just deserts' and deterrence models for dealing with crime were grounded in attitudes of punitiveness and fear of moral decay, and reservations about the value of reintegrating and rehabilitating offenders. Like restorative justice supporters, 'just deserts' and deterrence supporters expressed concern that victims' voices be heard and amends made. Winning public support for competing institutional arrangements may depend on who does best in meeting expectations for meeting the needs of victims

前庭神経核における低酸素性長期増強

Transient ischemia due to a decrease in vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) induces the hypoxia of vestibular nucleus (VN) and frequently cause vertigo. Furthermore, it is occasionally experienced that dizziness continues in the long term after strong rotatory vertigo in VBI. Since glutamate is thought to play an important role in the neurotransmission of VN, this study was undertaken to examine the effect of hypoxia on the VN neuron and the role of the glutamate in the hypoxia induced neuronal activities using electrophysiological and microiontophoretic technique. Cats anesthetized with α-chloralose were ventilated with a respirator. A silver recording microelectrode was inserted into the VN and the spontaneous firing of the neurons was continuously recorded on an ink-writing recorder through a spike counter. Micropipettes attached along the microelectrode were used for microiontophoretic application of 6,7-Dinitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (DNQX), non-NMDA receptor antagonist and (+) 5-methyl-l0,l1-dihydro-5H-dibenzo(a,d) cyclohepten- 5,10-imine (MK801), NMDA receptor antagonist. The spontaneous firing in VN neurons increased transiently and then decreased, resulting in the disappearance in firings during 3 minutes inhalation of 5%O2. However, the firings appeared again and persistently increased after the cessation of 5%O2. Transient increase of the firing during hypoxia and persistent increase after the cessation of hypoxia were herein termed Hypoxic Depolarization (HD) and Post Hypoxic Potentiation (PHP), respectively. HD was significantly (P<0.01) suppressed by DNQX and MK801. Since HD was suppressed by glutamate receptor antagonist, HD was assumed to be caused by excessive glutamate released from presynaptic terminals in the VN neurons. HD correlated significantly with PHP (R=0.609, p<0.01). We indicate that enhancement of PHP was the change of glutamate receptor-mediated synaptic plasticity caused by HD in the VN neurons. In conclusion, it is suggested that HD and PHP shown in this electrophysiological study might imply possible mechanism underlying the onset of acute vertigo and persistent dizziness in VBI.博士（医学）・乙1332号・平成26年3月17

聴覚順応は、4kHz純音の背景音により阻止される : 脳磁図研究

Auditory evoked magnetic field (AEF) is gradually attenuated as the number of　presentation of auditory stimuli increases. The attenuation of AEF is auditory habituation, and is prevented in the condition where a noise exists in the background. In this study, we investigated whether the background sound of pure tone prevent the auditory habituation to repeating stimuli. Subjects were 17 normal hearing individuals. Auditory stimuli were 1-kHz tone bursts set at 30 dB SL with durations of 100 ms and inter-stimulus intervals of 1.9-2.l s. The background sounds were silent, 4-kHz pure tone presented set at 5 and 20 dB SL which were presented with 1-kHz tone bursts. N1m component of AEF induced by auditory stimuli was measured using 122-channel neuromagnetometer. As a result, N1m amplitudes induced by repeating auditory stimuli were gradually attenuated in the condition of silent background due to the auditory habituation. Meanwhile, the attenuation of N1m amplitude was small in the conditions of background sounds of 4-kHz pure tones at 5 and 20 dB SL, compared to the conditions of silent background. Moreover, the time course of N1m amplitudes was not different between the condition of background sound at 5 and 20 dB SL. These results suggested that the background sound of pure tone, independent of its intensity, drove the subject to unconsciously pay attention to repeating auditory stimuli without disturbing signal-to-noise ratio of them, or the neural process of the background pure tone continuously activated the auditory pathway and resulted in the prevention of auditory habituation.博士（医学）・乙1333号・平成26年3月17

原発性シェーグレン症候群の唾液腺におけるリンパ球浸潤とアクアポリン5の分布異常について

Objectives: Patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) suffer from impaired saliva secretion due to an autoimmune destruction of salivary glands. Based upon its abnormal distribution in SS salivary glands, a potential role for the water channel protein aquaporin-5 (AQP5) is proposed in the pathogenesis of SS. Methods: The immunohistochemical distribution of AQP5 was compared in minor salivary gland (MSG) biopsies obtained from primary SS with a variety of lymphoid cells infiltration in MSG, and healthy volunteers. Results: Biopsies from normal subjects revealed AQP5 primarily at the apical membrane of the salivary gland acinus. In contrast, biopsies from SS patients with both moderate and severe lymphoid infiltration revealed AQP5 expression diffusely at the cytoplasm of the acinus. Computer-assisted microscopy was performed to quantitatively evaluate AQP5 distribution in the acini. Biopsies of SS patients exhibited lower labeling indices (LI) at the apical membrane compared with biopsies from control subjects. The LI of the acini obtained from SS patients with both moderate and severe lymphoid infiltration showed no difference. Conclusions: Abnormal distribution of AQP5 in salivary gland acini could be responsible for a loss of saliva secretion, and this abnormal distribution is likely to develop during the stage of moderate lymphoid infiltration in salivary gland.博士（医学）・乙1334号・平成26年3月17

高周波聴力の左右差 : 一側性の蝸牛障害の評価への応用

High-frequency audiometry has the potential to detect hearing impairment at its early stage. However, several problems prevent the clinical application of high-frequency audiometry. In this study, the dispersion and left-right difference in the high-frequency sensitivity were investigated in normal hearing volunteers. In our results, the difference between the left and right ears varied only slightly among individuals or age groups, while dispersion of hearing threshold values became marked with an increase in frequency. The results suggest that the measurement of left-right difference in high-frequency sensitivity may be useful for the evaluation of unilateral impairment. To investigate this usefulness, the left-right differences were measured in the patients complaining of unilateral cochlear symptom with normal hearing. Considering the results of normal hearing, we determined that abnormal left-right difference in high-frequency sensitivity was over 20 dB. In 12 patients with unilateral tinnitus, 7 showed left-right differences, and 6 had tinnitus in the ear with increased thresholds. Our results suggested a relationship between tinnitus with normal hearing and hearing impairment in the high-frequency range.博士（医学）・乙1335号・平成26年3月17

Dynamics of Salivary Gland AQP5 under Normal and Pathologic Conditions

Aquaporin 5 (AQP5) plays an important role in the salivary gland function. The mRNA and protein for AQP5 are expressed in the acini from embryonic days E13-16 and E17-18, respectively and for entire postnatal days. Ligation-reopening of main excretory duct induces changes in the AQP5 level which would give an insight for mechanism of regeneration/self-duplication of acinar cells. The AQP5 level in the submandibular gland (SMG) decreases by chorda tympani denervation (CTD) via activation autophagosome, suggesting that its level in the SMG under normal condition is maintained by parasympathetic nerve. Isoproterenol (IPR), a β-adrenergic agonist, raised the levels of membrane AQP5 protein and its mRNA in the parotid gland (PG), suggesting coupling of the AQP5 dynamic and amylase secretion-restoration cycle. In the PG, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is shown to activate mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signalings and potentially downregulate AQP5 expression via cross coupling of activator protein-1 (AP-1) and NF-κB. In most species, Ser-156 and Thr-259 of AQP5 are experimentally phosphorylated, which is enhanced by cAMP analogues and forskolin. cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of AQP5 does not seem to be markedly involved in regulation of its intracellular traffcking but seems to play a role in its constitutive expression and lateral diffusion in the cell membrane. Additionally, Ser-156 phosphorylation may be important for cancer development

単音節の有効持続時間と感音難聴者の語音明瞭度との関係

Among the temporal elements in the autocorrelation function, the effective duration (τe) is a useful indicator of speech recognition for patients with sensorineural hearing impairment. We assessed the influence of speech recognition performance on the relationship between the percentage of accurately perceived articulation and the median τe (τe-med) and the relationship between monosyllabic confusion and the τe-med. Significant correlations were observed between the articulation percentage and the average τe-med in groups with high, middle, and low speech recognition scores (SRSs). Two-factor mixed analysis of variance revealed significant main effects for the condition (presentation/response). There was no significant main effect for group (high-, middle-, or low-SRS) scores and no significant interaction between the groups. The average τe-med of the response was significantly longer than that of the presentation in all three groups. Monosyllables with short τe-med values tended to be misheard as monosyllables with a long τe-med when confusion occurred. The τe-med was useful for estimating monosyllables that patients with sensorineural hearing impairment find easy to listen to, independent of speech recognition performance.権利情報：© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

軟組織による外耳道閉鎖症例での軟骨伝導

A hearing aid using cartilage conduction (CC) has been proposed as an alternative to bone conduction (BC) hearing aids. The transducer developed for this application is lightweight, requires a much smaller fixation force than a BC hearing aid, and is more convenient to use. CC can be of great benefit to patients with fibrotic aural atresia. Fibrotic tissue connected to the ossicles provides an additional pathway (termed fibrotic tissue pathway) for sound to reach the cochlea by means of CC. To address the function of fibrotic tissue pathway, BC and CC thresholds were measured in six ears with fibrotic aural atresia. The relationship between the CC thresholds and the results of computed tomography was investigated. In the ears with the presence of a fibrotic tissue pathway, the CC thresholds were lower than the BC thresholds at 0.5 and 1.0 kHz. At 2.0 kHz, no significant difference was observed between the BC and CC thresholds. The current findings suggest that sound in the low to middle frequency range is transmitted more efficiently by CC via a fibrotic tissue pathway than BC. The development of hearing devices using CC can contribute to rehabilitation, particularly in patients with fibrotic aural atresia.博士（医学）・甲621号・平成26年3月17

Glycerol as a chemical chaperone enhances radiation-induced apoptosis in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cells

INTRODUCTION: Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, which is one of the most aggressive, malignant tumors in humans, results in an extremely poor prognosis despite chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The present study was designed to evaluate therapeutic effects of radiation by glycerol on p53-mutant anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cells (8305c cells). To examine the effectiveness of glycerol in radiation induced lethality for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma 8305c cells, we performed colony formation assay and apoptosis analysis. RESULTS: Apoptosis was analyzed with Hoechst 33342 staining and DNA ladder formation assay. 8305c cells became radiosensitive when glycerol was added to culture medium before X-ray irradiation. Apoptosis was induced by X-rays in the presence of glycerol. However, there was little apoptosis induced by X-ray irradiation or glycerol alone. The binding activity of whole cell extracts to bax promoter region was induced by X-rays in the presence of glycerol but not by X-rays alone. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that glycerol is effective against radiotherapy of p53-mutant thyroid carcinomas

Consistently low levels of histidine-rich glycoprotein as a new prognostic biomarker for sepsis: A multicenter prospective observational study

Background Few sepsis biomarkers accurately predict severity and mortality. Previously, we had reported that first-day histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) levels were significantly lower in patients with sepsis and were associated with mortality. Since the time trends of HRG are unknown, this study focused on the time course of HRG in patients with sepsis and evaluated the differences between survivors and non-survivors. Methods A multicenter prospective observational study was conducted involving 200 patients with sepsis in 16 Japanese hospitals. Blood samples were collected on days 1, 3, 5, and 7, and 28-day mortality was used for survival analysis. Plasma HRG levels were determined using a modified quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results First-day HRG levels in non-survivors were significantly lower than those in survivors (mean, 15.7 [95% confidence interval (CI), 13.4-18.1] vs 20.7 [19.5-21.9] mu g/mL; P = 0.006). Although there was no time x survivors/non-survivors interaction in the time courses of HRG (P = 0.34), the main effect of generalized linear mixed models was significant (P Conclusions HRG levels in non-survivors were consistently lower than those in survivors during the first seven days of sepsis. Repeatedly measured HRG levels were significantly associated with mortality. Furthermore, the predictive power of HRG for mortality may be superior to that of other singular biomarkers, including presepsin, procalcitonin, and C-reactive protein