Report on the actual situation of child abuse and responses to it under the pandemic of COVID-19 in Japan

During the COVID-19 pandemic, child-rearing families became more isolated and clandestine, leading to a concern that problems such as child abuse and domestic violence may have become more widespread. In addition, families in need of support prior to the pandemic, such as those suffering from economic distress, domestic violence and child abuse, have found it difficult to receive the necessary support due to restrictions on their behaviour imposed by infection prevention measures. In this article, we would like to introduce how Japanese local authorities and counselling services have responded to child abuse counselling and other issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and to share the challenges that have emerged in the process. This article aims to aid consideration, together and beyond national borders, of how to outreach to problems in the home, such as abuse that has become difficult to detect outside the home, and how support agencies and local authorities should look after families raising children while schools are in lockdown

Effects of Shadowing on Listening Comprehension of Japanese Texts in Advanced Chinese Learners of Japanese: Manipulating Working Memory Capacity

We performed an experiment to examine the effects of shadowing on listening comprehension of texts. We explored whether the effects differ depending on individual differences in working memory capacity compared with listening for advanced Chinese students learning Japanese. The results showed that the shadowing effects on comprehension and memory of texts vary depending on the learner’s working memory capacity. On the one hand, shadowing facilitated memorization of meaning for learners with a large working memory capacity and understanding the situation model was comparable to listening. On the other hand, learners with a small working memory capacity did not experience the effect of promoting semantic memory and shadowing was less likely for comprehension of the situation model than listening. The results of this study suggest that listening comprehension and memory in a second language differ depending on the combination of listening method and working memory capacity

Atomic-scale dents on cellulose nanofibers: the origin of diverse defects in sustainable fibrillar materials

セルロースナノファイバーに生じた原子レベルの欠陥構造を発見 --理想的なバイオポリマー材料の生産にむけて--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-10-07.Atomic-scale dent structures on the surfaces of cellulose nanofibers were detected. These dent parts constituted at least 30–40% of the total length of the dispersed nanofibers, and deep dents induced the kinking and fragmentation of nanofibers

Mutations in the Desmoglein 4 Gene Are Associated with Monilethrix-like Congenital Hypotrichosis

The gene encoding human desmoglein 4 (DSG4) was recently cloned, and a mutation in this gene has been reported in several consanguineous Pakistani families affected with localized autosomal recessive hypotrichosis (LAH). In addition, various mutations in the Dsg4 gene have been identified in animal models of hypotrichosis that share a characteristic phenotype called “lanceolate hair”. To date, the features of the hair-shaft anomaly in patients with LAH have not been well described. We report a Japanese patient affected with congenital hypotrichosis that was originally diagnosed as monilethrix because she had a hair-shaft abnormality that resembled moniliform hair. However, no mutations were found in the type II hair keratin genes, hHb1, hHb3, and hHb6, whose mutations cause monilethrix. Instead, we identified novel compound heterozygous mutations in the DSG4 gene of our patient. On the maternal allele is a novel S192P transition within the extracellular cadherin II domain of DSG4; on the paternal allele is a novel 2039insT mutation leading to the generation of unstable transcripts. Here we present the observation that mutations in the DSG4 gene can cause monilethrix-like congenital hypotrichosis. Based on our findings, we propose that LAH and monilethrix could overlap

The new direction of the social foster care system in Japan

Social foster care services in Japan were primarily provided through Residential Care Institutions for Children (RCIC). To improve the foster parent placement rate, the Japanese government is now reorganising measures to arrange for foster parents to be central to service provision. The turning point for social care in Japan was a 2011 government report Challenges and the Future Vision of Social Foster Care. It aims to build societies in which approximately one-third of children under state care are placed with foster parents or in family homes. Another one-third would be placed in group homes and the remaining third are to be placed in RCIC. The direction of promoting foster parent placement has accelerated since the 2017 report, The New Future Vision of Social Foster Care, which set specific goals to stop the placement of children in RCIC and increase foster parent placement. This short article outlines the reorganisation of the Japanese social foster care system and explains the factors influencing the changes

Observation of Microtremors in the Tsukuba Area, Japan, using a Portable Broadband Seismometer

Studies of microtremors have been advanced by different approaches, that is, a variety of observational studies and analyses, for both the short-period and the long-period ranges since the microtremors for each range have their own source and site characteristics in time and space. We, therefore, conducted microtremor observation around Tsukuba City, Ibaraki, Japan, in July and August, 1991, in order to clarify site characteristics of six locations around the Tsukuba Mountain, deploying a portable broadband seismometer (Streckeisen STS-2) in the field of subsurface structure and studying ground motion in both frequency ranges, simultaneously. By a comparison with an STS-1 seismometer, the STS-2 gives reliable frequency ranges higher than 0.09 Hz and 0.05 Hz in horizontal and vertical components, respectively. The correlation of the reference site and the other sites implies that the source of microtremors shares common characteristics for the lower range ( 1 Hz), particularly 1.2 ～ 2.5 Hz, in this area. Three types of dominant peak frequencies for the range of 0.1 ～ 1 Hz are revealed: (1) the peak frequencies ranging from 0.2 to 0.3 Hz observed near Mt.Tsukuba can be explained by the topographic high model of Bard (1982). Two frequency peaks ranging (2) from 0.2 to 0.4 Hz and (3) from 0.5 to 0.8 Hz, observed at the stations on alluvials, are related to any vertical resonance in soft layers, consistent with other geological information. Amplitude ratios at sedimentary sites with respect to TSK (Mt.Tsukuba), a rock site, are greater than unity over 5 Hz where the ratios are reported to be smaller than unity in many areas, which implies relatively hard sedimentary layers in the Tsukuba area

1994 Multi-site Broadband Seismic Observation at Sakurajima Volcano, Japan

Broadband observation of volcanic earthquakes has been recently conducted at many volcanoes. At the Sakurajima Volcano in Japan, one of the most active volcanoes all over the world, we conducted two broadband seismic observations successfully in last three years. However, they left some problems in terms of the number of observation sites and recording systems. This paper reports the outline of our third observation using three broadband seismometers (Streckeisen STS-II) with continuous recording at the Sakurajima Volcano from February 18 to March 28, 1994. This observation is distinguished from the previous two by the three stations operating continuously over the entire period. Although the Sakurajima Volcano had very low seismic activities during this observation period, we observed some kinds of volcanic earthquake, A-type and B-type earthquakes and volcanic tremors, particularly one series of interesting clone events

Dietary Perceptions among Patients with Crohn’s Disease in Clinical Remission: Comparison with an Era Preceding the Availability of Biologic Therapy

Introduction: Dietary temperance significantly affects the quality of life of patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) and remains a major concern. However, perceptions of diet in remission may have changed from the era when treatment options were limited. Therefore, we compared the dietary perceptions and treatment of patients with CD in remission with previously published data from the time biologic therapy was not introduced. Methods: We compared the data of 254 patients with CD in remission who completed a questionnaire survey in 2022 with those of 76 patients with CD in remission collected in 2003, when biologics were not used for maintenance therapy in Japan. Remission was defined as a CD activity index of 150 or less in both studies. Perceptions of diet (degree of eating whatever one likes) were assessed using single-item nominal scale responses. Results: The percentage of patients receiving enteral nutrition therapy had decreased (past vs. present: 43.4 vs. 12.6%), while the proportion of patients receiving biologic therapy increased (0 vs. 88.6%, respectively). The percentages of patients who responded “not at all,” “sometimes,” and “mostly” when asked if they could eat whatever they liked had changed, respectively, from 9.2%, 46.1%, and 44.7% in the past to 4.3%, 25.2%, and 70.5% in the present. Conclusion: The proportion of those who ate whatever they liked and the mean body mass index increased in comparison with the corresponding values 20 years ago. With the advent of biologic therapies, the number of patients with CD who can enjoy eating has increased

PICO-LON Project for WIMPs search

Highly segmented inorganic crystal has been shown to have good performance for dark matter search. The energy resolution of ultra thin and large area NaI(Tl) scintillator has been developed. The estimated sensitivity for spin-dependent excitation of 127I was discussed. The recent status of low background measurement at Oto Cosmo Observatory is reportedComment: 3 pages, 1 figure, Proceedings of TAUP200