〔研究ノート〕 イタリア幼児教育視察レポート レッジョ・エミリアとピストイアの保育システムから得られる示唆

This paper summarizes information which the authors obtained through literature and on-site inspections of early childhood education in the cities of Reggio Emilia and Pistoia in the Italian Republic, with the aim of obtaining ideas for Japan\u27s early childhood education and training programmes for teachers at Japanese kindergarten and nursery schools, which are in urgent need of reform. The system of early childhood education that began after the Second World War in Reggio Emilia, a city located in northern Italy, is now called the Reggio Emilia Model. Ever since Newsweek described it in 1991 as the best, most innovative and most practical model in the early childhood education category, the Reggio Emilia approach has had a tremendous influence on early childhood education, not only in Europe and the US, but also in Japan. We recently visited sites in the cities of Reggio Emilia and Pistoia that apply the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood care and education, talked directly with teachers and administrators who put it into practice, and discerned that this approach is not an educational method, but rather, a community-wide comprehensive care and education system. The process of reform which has been carried out in the two cities-establishing a care and educational system by identifying the development of the child from age 0 to 6 in a continuous fashion and stressing collaboration with the community, while enhancing teachers\u27 skills through ongoing training programs-is, simply put, the pursuit of the best environment for a child to live in. On the other hand, the outcomes of the dynamic practice of the Reggio Emilia approach show, in a variety of forms, that a child is not just a recipient of assistance and instructions, but that his or her presence has the power to activate the community and support society as a whole

Probable detection of an eruptive filament from a superflare on a solar-type star

太陽型星のスーパーフレアから噴出する巨大フィラメントを初検出 --昔の、そして今の惑星環境や文明に与える脅威--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-12-10.Solar flares are often accompanied by filament/prominence eruptions (~10⁴ K and ~10¹⁰⁻¹¹ cm⁻³), sometimes leading to coronal mass ejections that directly affect the Earth’s environment. ‘Superflares’ are found on some active solar-type (G-type main-sequence) stars, but the filament eruption–coronal mass ejection association has not been established. Here we show that our optical spectroscopic observation of the young solar-type star EK Draconis reveals evidence for a stellar filament eruption associated with a superflare. This superflare emitted a radiated energy of 2.0 × 10³³ erg, and a blueshifted hydrogen absorption component with a high velocity of −510 km s⁻¹ was observed shortly afterwards. The temporal changes in the spectra strongly resemble those of solar filament eruptions. Comparing this eruption with solar filament eruptions in terms of the length scale and velocity strongly suggests that a stellar coronal mass ejection occurred. The erupted filament mass of 1.1 × 10¹⁸ g is ten times larger than those of the largest solar coronal mass ejections. The massive filament eruption and an associated coronal mass ejection provide the opportunity to evaluate how they affect the environment of young exoplanets/the young Earth6 and stellar mass/angular momentum evolution

Secondary immunoglobulin A nephropathy with gross hematuria leading to rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccination: a case report

Abstract Background The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has been followed by many reports of the development and relapse of autoimmune diseases associated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Some of these reports have involved relapse or onset of immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Here, we report on a patient with IgA nephropathy who presented with gross hematuria and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Case presentation A 63-year-old male patient with a history of habitual tonsillitis underwent bilateral tonsillectomy. He had a history of alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and microscopic hematuria and proteinuria were indicated during a health checkup 2 years before hospital admission. He developed hematuria after the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, which led to rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, for which he was hospitalized. A renal biopsy led to the diagnosis of IgA nephropathy. Although pulse steroid therapy during his condition resulted in hepatic encephalopathy, three courses combined with mizoribine improved his renal function. Conclusion SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines activate T cells, which are involved in the pathophysiology of IgA nephropathy. Therefore, this case suggests that the exacerbation of IgA nephropathy by the vaccine favors the vasculitis aspect of the disease