Helping Brazilian People Living in Japan : Towards a Joint Proposal(Issues on Cross-Cultural Distance Education : Collaborative Research Outcomes and Open Workshops)

At the moment, there are around 270.000 Brazilian people living in Japan. The migratory movement from Brazil to Japan started in the decade of 80. Initially, the migrants came to Japan without their families. From the revision of the Japanese immigration law, in 1990, Japanese descendents up to the third generation (sansei), as well as their consorts, could come and work legally in Japan. In this paper we present initially general information about the dekassegui phenomenon, in relation to the migration of Japanese-Brazilians to Japan. Next, we report on the problems and difficulties experienced by the Brazilian people living in Japan, as they have been described in several sources. Then we mention several actions and initiatives directed to or motivated by the dekassegui movement: events, courses, associations, etc. Due to the importance of the Education theme in the context of the migration Brazil-Japan, a session has been dedicated to the problems related to the Education of the dekasseguis1 children. After reporting on the problems and difficulties, we discuss a proposal aiming at helping the dekasseguis with a view to give them conditions to fight for better working conditions, and also to provide some support related to the education of their children

Diacylglycerol Kinase β Knockout Mice Exhibit Lithium-Sensitive Behavioral Abnormalities

BACKGROUND: Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) is an enzyme that phosphorylates diacylglycerol (DG) to produce phosphatidic acid (PA). DGKβ is widely distributed in the central nervous system, such as the olfactory bulb, cerebral cortex, striatum, and hippocampus. Recent studies reported that the splice variant at the COOH-terminal of DGKβ was related to bipolar disorder, but its detailed mechanism is still unknown. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study, we performed behavioral tests using DGKβ knockout (KO) mice to investigate the effects of DGKβ deficits on psychomotor behavior. DGKβ KO mice exhibited some behavioral abnormalities, such as hyperactivity, reduced anxiety, and reduced depression. Additionally, hyperactivity and reduced anxiety were attenuated by the administration of the mood stabilizer, lithium, but not haloperidol, diazepam, or imipramine. Moreover, DGKβ KO mice showed impairment in Akt-glycogen synthesis kinase (GSK) 3β signaling and cortical spine formation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings suggest that DGKβ KO mice exhibit lithium-sensitive behavioral abnormalities that are, at least in part, due to the impairment of Akt-GSK3β signaling and cortical spine formation

Generation and Characterization of Conditional Heparin-Binding EGF-Like Growth Factor Knockout Mice

Recently, neurotrophic factors and cytokines have been shown to be associated in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. Heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF) is a member of the EGF family, serves as a neurotrophic molecular and plays a significant role in the brain. We generated mice in which HB-EGF activity is disrupted specifically in the ventral forebrain. These knockout mice showed (a) behavioral abnormalities similar to those described in psychiatric disorders, which were ameliorated by typical or atypical antipsychotics, (b) altered dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain, (c) decreases in spine density in neurons of the prefrontal cortex, (d) reductions in the protein levels of the NR1 subunit of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor and post-synaptic protein-95 (PSD-95), (e) decreases in the EGF receptor, and in the calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMK II) signal cascade. These results suggest the alterations affecting HB-EGF signaling could comprise a contributing factor in psychiatric disorder

Development of thermoelectric thin films and characterization methods

This work reports on the fabrication of thin films of inorganic thermoelectric materials like borides, germanides, manganese compounds, and characterization of their thermoelectric properties. We have utilized a unique high temperature molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) apparatus to grow hexaboride thin films and manganese germanides. Magnetic manganese based alloy thin films were also grown using sputtering, since we are interested in the possibilities of utilizing magnetism to develop thermoelectric materials.</p