The relationships of rumination of negative experiences with resilience and social support

Rumination is repetitive thinking about past events and emotions. It is believed to contribute to depression and its prolongation. By using Matsumoto's (2008) two classes of rumination, this study aimed to identify the social support and resilience factors that affect the way that individuals ruminate about past negative experiences. A questionnaire survey was administered to 143 university students (average age: 20.7 years, SD = 1.41), and then, a model was developed on the basis of the survey results. The results reveal that social support after a negative experience influences reflections thereof through acquired resilience. Further, interviews were conducted with eight university students (average age: 20.8 years, SD = 1.20), and a model was developed using threat and error management. The results indicate that the social support received by participants after a negative experience promoted the transformation of their self-evaluation and self-recognition and enhanced their objective understanding of events. Furthermore, it is evident that their transformation of self-evaluation and self-recognition and deeper objective understanding of events influence changes in the quality of rumination through acquired resilience

Virtual Fixture Assistance for Suturing in Robot-Aided Pediatric Endoscopic Surgery

The limited workspace in pediatric endoscopic surgery makes surgical suturing one of the most difficult tasks. During suturing, surgeons have to prevent collisions between tools and also collisions with the surrounding tissues. Surgical robots have been shown to be effective in adult laparoscopy, but assistance for suturing in constrained workspaces has not been yet fully explored. In this letter, we propose guidance virtual fixtures to enhance the performance and the safety of suturing while generating the required task constraints using constrained optimization and Cartesian force feedback. We propose two guidance methods: looping virtual fixtures and a trajectory guidance cylinder, that are based on dynamic geometric elements. In simulations and experiments with a physical robot, we show that the proposed methods achieve a more precise and safer looping in robot-assisted pediatric endoscopy.Comment: Accepted on RA-L/ICRA 2020, 8 Pages. Fixed a few typo

Simple generation of hairless mice for in vivo imaging

The in vivo imaging of mice makes it possible to analyze disease progress non-invasively through reporter gene expression. As the removal of hair improves the accuracy of in vivo imaging, gene-modified mice with a reporter gene are often crossed with Hos:HR-1 mutant mice homozygous for the spontaneous Hrhr mutation that exhibit a hair loss phenotype. However, it is time consuming to produce mice carrying both the reporter gene and mutant Hrhr gene by mating. In addition, there is a risk that genetic background of the gene-modified mice would be altered by mating. To resolve these issues, we established a simple method to generate hairless mice maintaining the original genetic background by CRISPR technology. First, we constructed the pX330 vector, which targets exon 3 of Hr. This DNA vector (5 ng/µl) was microinjected into the pronuclei of C57BL/6J mice. Induced Hr gene mutations were found in many founders (76.1%) and these mutations were heritable. Next, we performed in vivo imaging using these gene-modified hairless mice. As expected, luminescent objects in their body were detected by in vivo imaging. This study clearly showed that hairless mice could be simply generated by the CRISPR/Cas9 system, and this method may be useful for in vivo imaging studies with various gene-modified mice

Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags from the Fungus Aspergillus oryzae Cultured Under Different Conditions

We performed random sequencing of cDNAs from nine biologically or industrially important cultures of the industrially valuable fungus Aspergillus oryzae to obtain expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Consequently, 21 446 raw ESTs were accumulated and subsequently assembled to 7589 non-redundant consensus sequences (contigs). Among all contigs, 5491 (72.4%) were derived from only a particular culture. These included 4735 (62.4%) singletons, i.e. lone ESTs overlapping with no others. These data showed that consideration of culture grown under various conditions as cDNA sources enabled efficient collection of ESTs. BLAST searches against the public databases showed that 2953 (38.9%) of the EST contigs showed significant similarities to deposited sequences with known functions, 793 (10.5%) were similar to hypothetical proteins, and the remaining 3843 (50.6%) showed no significant similarity to sequences in the databases. Culture-specific contigs were extracted on the basis of the EST frequency normalized by the total number for each culture condition. In addition, contig sequences were compared with sequence sets in eukaryotic orthologous groups (KOGs), and classified into the KOG functional categories

コウダイ レンケイ ニ ヨル セツゾクキョウイク プログラム カイハツ ノ ココロミ

高大連携により効率的な接続教育プログラムを開発するため,高校向けアンケートを実施した。職業に就いた際に必要とされるキャリア基礎能力として本学で過去実施したアンケート結果を基にした10 要素,ならびに経済産業省の「社会人基礎力」12 要素の必要性と達成度を設問とした。その結果,社会人にもっとも必要とされるキャリア基礎能力は「コミュニケーション能力」であること,また,高校教科「情報」によりPC 基礎操作能力は十分獲得されていること,がわかった。この結果を踏まえ,高大連携プログラムの一環として高校-大学教員によるコミュニケーション教育研究会を開催し,全12 講からなる接続教育プログラム「コミュニケーションリテラシー」を開講した。Enquiries were made to upper secondary school teachers on basic vocational abilities necessary for thegraduates. Since "information literacy" was introduced recently as compulsory subject in secondary schools, itsrelation with elements necessary for an ordinary person who wishes to work in a company was investigated. Basedon the results, a project was set up with members from secondary school teachers and Shohoku College teachersand library staff. As a result, a novel coordination program, namely, "communication literacy", consisting of 12lessons, was held for secondary school third grade students

コウダイレンケイ ニ ヨル キョウイク コウリュウ ネットワーク ノ コウチク : コミュニケーション キョウイク ケンキュウカイ ノ カツドウ ト コミュニケーションリテラシー

高大連携校より本学への入学が決定した生徒を対象とした単位認定科目「コミュニケーションリテラシー」を開講した。同科目の内容やスケジュールは、平成19 年度よりほぼ月に一度のペースで高大連携協定校教員と本学教職員で構成する「コミュニケーション教育研究会」で調査研究・見学・参観・討議などを重ねて決定されたものである。この研究会の中ではまた、ブレインストーミングにより、経済産業省の「社会人基礎能力」を基本とした「職業を持った社会人に必要とされる能力要素」の洗い出しを行ない、これら要素の必要性や獲得度のアンケート調査を実施した。対象は高大連携校と全国の高校である。その結果、職業をもった社会人にもっとも必要とされる基本的な基礎能力は、「コミュニケーション能力」と「一般常識」であること、さらには「課題発見能力や企画・提案能力」や「表現力やプレゼンテーション能力」が不十分であるととらえられていることがわかった。こうした問題意識を踏まえて「コミュニケーションリテラシー」の実施内容を組み立てた。本年度の「コミュニケーションリテラシー」受講生は110 名となった。この効果を検証することは容易ではないが、受講生に対しアンケート調査などを行った結果に関しても報告する。Novel coordination program, namely, "Communication Literacy", consisting of 15 lesson classes, was developed and held for secondary school third grade students. This class was developed and implemented in a project set up with members from secondary school teachers and Shohoku College teachers and staff. Survey on basic vocational abilities necessary for the graduates was made by sending questionnaires to secondary school teachers. Questionnaires were made to students participated in the program to clarify the effect of the program

The Role of Ethnicity in Father Absence and Children’s School Enrollment in Guatemala

Despite the historical prevalence of single motherhood in Latin America and its rise in recent years, there is limited knowledge on the magnitude and consequences of father absence as experienced by children. Using a nationally representative sample from the 2002 Guatemalan Reproductive Health Survey, this study provides unprecedented documentation on the national prevalence of children’s separate living arrangements from their biological fathers and nonresident fathers’ paternity establishment and child support payments. Using random-intercept models, this study further demonstrates that father absence has a negative effect on the school enrollment of indigenous children of both sexes and Ladino male children. Increased poverty in father-absent households explains a smaller proportion of this adverse effect on indigenous children, suggesting that their fathers, when present, play a stronger social, rather than economic, role compared to their Ladino counterparts. Finally, child support payments attenuate the negative effects of father absence, particularly among Ladino male children