A pristine record of outer Solar System materials from asteroid Ryugu’s returned sample

Volatile and organic-rich C-type asteroids may have been one of the main sources of Earth’s water. Our best insight into their chemistry is currently provided by carbonaceous chondritic meteorites, but the meteorite record is biased: only the strongest types survive atmospheric entry and are then modified by interaction with the terrestrial environment. Here we present the results of a detailed bulk and microanalytical study of pristine Ryugu particles, brought to Earth by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Ryugu particles display a close compositional match with the chemically unfractionated, but aqueously altered, CI (Ivuna-type) chondrites, which are widely used as a proxy for the bulk Solar System composition. The sample shows an intricate spatial relationship between aliphatic-rich organics and phyllosilicates and indicates maximum temperatures of ~30 °C during aqueous alteration. We find that heavy hydrogen and nitrogen abundances are consistent with an outer Solar System origin. Ryugu particles are the most uncontaminated and unfractionated extraterrestrial materials studied so far, and provide the best available match to the bulk Solar System composition

CD140b and CD73 are markers for human induced pluripotent stem cell‐derived erythropoietin‐producing cells

Renal anemia in chronic kidney disease is treated with recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO). However, some patients with anemia do not respond well to rhEPO, emphasizing the need for a more biocompatible EPO. Differentiation protocols for hepatic lineages have been modified to enable production from human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)‐derived EPO‐producing cells (EPO cells). However, markers for hiPSC‐EPO cells are lacking, making it difficult to purify hiPSC‐EPO cells and therefore to optimize EPO production and cell counts for transplantation. To address these issues, we investigated whether CD140b and CD73 could be used as markers for hiPSC‐EPO cells. We measured the expression of EPO, CD140b, and CD73 in hiPSC‐EPO cells and the EPO concentration in the cell supernatant by immunohistochemistry and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays on culture day 13, revealing that expression levels of CD140b and CD73 are correlated with the level of EPO. In addition, rates of CD140b+ CD73+ cells were observed to be correlated with the concentration of EPO. Thus, our results suggest that CD140b and CD73 may be markers for hiPSC‐EPO cells

Learning support for children with poor working memory : Difficulties in class among fifth graders

本研究の目的は,特定の教科の授業に焦点を当て,児童が普段経験する困難な場面をクラスで話し合い,その対策を考えることで,1人ひとりの児童が授業に参加できるようなクラス作りを行うことであった。また,先行研究から,クラスでワーキングメモリの最も小さい児童がしばしば他児の発言を聞いていないことが明らかになっているが,このような他児の発言を聞くことの困難さが,他の児童にも全般に見られることを確認し,クラスでその問題を共有することも本研究の目的であった。その結果,算数の授業において,話し合っている内容について途中で分からなくなり,話し合いについていけないことがあることが児童により報告され,同じような経験を多くの児童がしていることが確認された。そのような場合,教師に分かったかどうか尋ねられても,児童は,自分から「分からない」とは言いにくいことも報告された。本研究の話し合いを通して,このような授業の課題が教師と児童によって共有されたことに本研究の話し合いの意義があった。In this study, fifth graders discussed which difficulties they experienced in mathematics class and what they could do to overcome the difficulties so that everyone could participate in classroom activities. The discussion also sought to reveal that some children had difficulty in keeping up with conversations among other children, which previous research has indicated that children with poor working memory often experience. In the discussion, some children reported that they sometimes missed certain points during conversation among other children, and could not catch up with the conversation, and many children in the class agreed that they had similar experiences. In such cases, children could not say that they could not understand, even when a teacher asked whether they had understood. The discussion was significant because children and the teacher discussed the problems that the children experienced during class

Learning supports for children with poor working memory : Effects of a matrix method at Japanese class for fourth-graders.

本研究の目的は,クラスでワーキングメモリの小さい子どもが日本の小学校の授業場面でどのような行動を示すのかを明らかにし,学習遅滞や発達障害のリスクのある子どもに対する学習支援の枠組みを構築することである。本年度は,国語科に焦点を当て,ワーキングメモリの小さい児童の学習支援に有効な教授方略の効果を検討した。前年度の研究に引き続き,小学校4年生のクラスで最も得点の小さい者3名を観察対象児とした。そして,普段の国語の授業6時間で観察を行い,教師または児童の発話に応じて,観察対象児の挙手および授業態度の記録を行った。また,おおまかな文章全体の把握から部分への精緻化と,構成部分相互の比較を通した全体への統合化を順次行いながら,文章の状況モデルを構成するという文章理解のプロセスを,マトリックス(黒板)に表現し,可視化するという研究授業を3時間行い,観察対象児の観察を行った。その結果,普段の授業に比べ,研究授業では,観察対象児の挙手率や授業参加率が高くなる傾向が見られた