Editor\u27s Notes

As a nation there is probably no greater dividing point for most Americans than the topic of immigration. For the past eight years the American Congress has sought to establish a comprehensive immigration policy and pass sweeping legislation that seeks to define who is eligible to be an American citizen and resident and who will be ultimately included or excluded in terms of naturalization and citizenship. Recent failed attempts to pass a Dream Act to legitimate scores of immigrant children and young adults who have resided in the United States nearly all their lives, and in many cases have no conception of any other culture or national entity, illustrates both the urgency and complexity of projected legislation. Millions will ultimately be affected in terms of their status and identity

The Cytoplasm-to-Vacuole Targeting Pathway: A Historical Perspective

From today's perspective, it is obvious that macroautophagy (hereafter autophagy) is an important pathway that is connected to a range of developmental and physiological processes. This viewpoint, however, is relatively recent, coinciding with the molecular identification of autophagy-related (Atg) components that function as the protein machinery that drives the dynamic membrane events of autophagy. It may be difficult, especially for scientists new to this area of research, to appreciate that the field of autophagy long existed as a “backwater” topic that attracted little interest or attention. Paralleling the development of the autophagy field was the identification and analysis of the cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (Cvt) pathway, the only characterized biosynthetic route that utilizes the Atg proteins. Here, we relate some of the initial history, including some never-before-revealed facts, of the analysis of the Cvt pathway and the convergence of those studies with autophagy

Cross-Product Extensions of the Gene Ontology

The Gene Ontology is being normalized and extended to include computable logical definitions. These definitions are partitioned into mutually exclusive cross-product sets, many of which reference other OBO Foundry ontologies. The results can be used to reason over the ontology, and to make cross-ontology queries

The Drosophila CD2AP/CIN85 orthologue Cindr regulates junctions and cytoskeleton dynamics during tissue patterning

Developing tissues require cells to undergo intricate processes to shift into appropriate niches. This requires a functional connection between adhesion-mediating events at the cell surface and a cytoskeletal reorganization to permit directed movement. A small number of proteins are proposed to link these processes. Here, we identify one candidate, Cindr, the sole Drosophila melanogaster member of the CD2AP/CIN85 family (this family has been previously implicated in a variety of processes). Using D. melanogaster retina, we demonstrate that Cindr links cell surface junctions (E-cadherin) and adhesion (Roughest) with multiple components of the actin cytoskeleton. Reducing cindr activity leads to defects in local cell movement and, consequently, tissue patterning and cell death. Cindr activity is required for normal localization of Drosophila E-cadherin and Roughest, and we show additional physical and functional links to multiple components of the actin cytoskeleton, including the actin-capping proteins capping protein alpha and capping protein beta. Together, these data demonstrate that Cindr is involved in dynamic cell rearrangement in an emerging epithelium

日本の特別なニーズのある外国籍生徒のためのインクルーシブ教育 : The Maximizing Potential in Japan International Academy による取組

日本の公立学校への入学を希望する外国人の子供は、国際人権規約およびその他の協定に基づいて無料で受け入れられる。しかし、こうした子供たちへの教育は義務ではない。文部科学省（2019）は、日本の義務教育を受ける資格のある外国人の子供の19,654人（15.9％）が小学校や中学校に通っていないことを明らかにした。彼らの一部は、家族が十分に裕福である、または、両親の雇用主が子供たちをインターナショナルスクールに送るための授業料に資金を提供している場合、インターナショナルスクールに行くことがある可能性がある。具体的には、障害のある外国人の子供の場合、良いリソースを見つけることは困難である。もちろん全国には1,135の特別支援学校や60,190の特別支援学級、それから5,283校に通級指導教室が設置されており、保護者がこれらの学校、学級、教室に相談できるようになっている。しかし、言語や文化の壁により、障害や特別なニーズのある子供をもつ多くの親は、子供を日本の学校に連れて行くことをためらう。したがって、The MaximizingPotential in Japan International Academy のような私立の学校や教育施設は、こうした家族に対して特に重要な役割を果たしている。本稿では、留学生に対する日本の特別支援教育制度の現状を紹介する。次に、TheMaximizing Potential in Japan International Academy によるアプローチを紹介する。最後に、障害や特別なニーズのある外国人の子供に質の高い教育を提供するための在り方について述べる。The purpose of this manuscript is to introduce the practice of Maximizing Potential in Japan International Academy, a private educational facility that provides education for disabled foreign children in English, in Japan. The number of children in need of special education in Japan continues to increase. In addition, the number of foreign national children who need Japanese language instruction is also increasing. From this situation, it is not difficult to imagine the increase of foreign children with disabilities; however, the actual number is not clear yet. In the future, schools will be required to handle children who need both Japanese and special needs. Hoping that the practice introduced in this study will help to consider the way of support in Japanese schools, the report of the authors’ observation at Maximizing Potential in Japan International Academy and the interview with the teachers there are introduced. Maximizing Potential in Japan International Academy values“ Playful learning,” which offers music, arts, crafts, and movement in addition to academic learning throughout the day, for those who like to move about on a regular basis. A wide variety of manipulative are also available, and their uses are three-fold: addressing sensory needs, kinesthetic/ tactile learning reasons

Empiric treatment of pulmonary TB in the Xpert era: Correspondence of sputum culture, Xpert MTB/RIF, and clinical diagnoses.

BackgroundClinical tuberculosis diagnosis and empiric treatment have traditionally been common among patients with negative bacteriologic test results. Increasing availability of rapid molecular diagnostic tests, including Xpert MTB/RIF and the new Xpert Ultra cartridge, may alter the role of empiric treatment.MethodsWe prospectively enrolled outpatients age > = 15 who were evaluated for pulmonary tuberculosis at three health facilities in Kampala, Uganda. Using sputum mycobacterial culture, interviews, and clinical record abstraction, we estimated the accuracy of clinical diagnosis relative to Xpert and sputum culture and assessed the contribution of clinical diagnosis to case detection.ResultsOver a period of 9 months, 99 patients were diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and subsequently completed sputum culture; they were matched to 196 patients receiving negative tuberculosis evaluations in the same facilities. Xpert was included in the evaluation of 291 (99%) patients. Compared to culture, Xpert had a sensitivity of 92% (95% confidence interval 83-97%) and specificity of 95% (92-98%). Twenty patients with negative Xpert were clinically diagnosed with tuberculosis and subsequently had their culture status determined; two (10%) were culture-positive. Considering all treated patients regardless of Xpert and culture data completeness, and considering treatment initiations before a positive Xpert (N = 4) to be empiric, 26/101 (26%) tuberculosis treatment courses were started empirically. Compared to sputum smear- or Xpert-positive patients with positive cultures, empirically-treated, Xpert-negative patients with negative cultures had higher prevalence of HIV (67% versus 37%), shorter duration of cough (median 4 versus 8 weeks), and lower inflammatory markers (median CRP 7 versus 101 mg/L).ConclusionJudged against sputum culture in a routine care setting of high HIV prevalence, the accuracy of Xpert was high. Clinical judgment identified a small number of additional culture-positive cases, but with poor specificity. Although clinicians should continue to prescribe tuberculosis treatment for Xpert-negative patients whose clinical presentations strongly suggest pulmonary tuberculosis, they should also carefully consider alternative diagnoses

A New Cation-Ordered Structure Type with Multiple Thermal Redistributions in Co₂InSbO₆

Cation ordering in solids is important for controlling physical properties and leads to ilmenite (FeTiO(3)) and LiNbO(3) type derivatives of the corundum structure, with ferroelectricity resulting from breaking of inversion symmetry in the latter. However, a hypothetical third ABO(3) derivative with R32 symmetry has never been observed. Here we show that Co(2)InSbO(6) recovered from high pressure has a new, ordered‐R32 A(2)BCO(6) variant of the corundum structure. Co(2)InSbO(6) is also remarkable for showing two cation redistributions, to (Co(0.5)In(0.5))(2)CoSbO(6) and then Co(2)InSbO(6) variants of the ordered‐LiNbO(3) A(2)BCO(6) structure on heating. The cation distributions change magnetic properties as the final ordered‐LiNbO(3) product has a sharp ferrimagnetic transition unlike the initial ordered‐R32 phase. Future syntheses of metastable corundum derivatives at pressure are likely to reveal other cation‐redistribution pathways, and may enable ABO(3) materials with the R32 structure to be discovered

A guide to best practices for Gene Ontology (GO) manual annotation.

The Gene Ontology Consortium (GOC) is a community-based bioinformatics project that classifies gene product function through the use of structured controlled vocabularies. A fundamental application of the Gene Ontology (GO) is in the creation of gene product annotations, evidence-based associations between GO definitions and experimental or sequence-based analysis. Currently, the GOC disseminates 126 million annotations covering >374,000 species including all the kingdoms of life. This number includes two classes of GO annotations: those created manually by experienced biocurators reviewing the literature or by examination of biological data (1.1 million annotations covering 2226 species) and those generated computationally via automated methods. As manual annotations are often used to propagate functional predictions between related proteins within and between genomes, it is critical to provide accurate consistent manual annotations. Toward this goal, we present here the conventions defined by the GOC for the creation of manual annotation. This guide represents the best practices for manual annotation as established by the GOC project over the past 12 years. We hope this guide will encourage research communities to annotate gene products of their interest to enhance the corpus of GO annotations available to all. DATABASE URL: http://www.geneontology.org

Biochemical Differentiation of the Genus Hyla Distributed in the Far East

Electrophoretic patterns of 14 enzymes and four blood proteins were examined in 261 frogs of 13 populations belonging to three Hyla species, H. japonica, H. hallowelli and H. chinensis. It was found that these enzymes and blood proteins were controlled by genes at 26 loci. The numbers of alleles and phenotypes at the 26 loci were one to nine, 4.0 on the average, and one to 17,6.1 on the average, respectively. The mean proportions of heterozygous and polymorphic loci and mean number of alleles per locus in the 13 populations were 11.7%, 37.3 0x0p+0nd 1.47 on the average, respectively. The genetic distances among the 13 populations of the three Hyla species were estimated on the basis of gene frequencies at the 26 loci by the method of NEI (1975). Those among the 11 populations of Sakhalin, Kunashiri, Sapporo, Setana, Hirosaki, Ichinoseki, Odawara, Maibara, Hiroshima, Tsushima and Korea of H. japonica were 0.012∿0.201. Those between the Tsushima and the other 10 populations of H. japonica were 0.050∿0.132,while those between the Korea and nine other populations excluding the Tsushima were 0.137∿0.201. The genetic distances between H. hallowelli from Amami and the 11 populations of H. japonica were 0.974∿1.131,while those between H. chinensis from Taiwan and the 11 populations of H. japonica were 1.177∿1.360. The genetic distance between H. hallowelli and H. chinensis was 0.596. The phylogenetic relationship of the 13 populations of the three Hyla species was examined by drawing a dendrogram by the UPGMA method. It was found that H. japonica was first divided from the others which later became H. hallowelli and H. chinensis. From H. japonica, the Korea population first diverged, and then the remaining populations were roughly divided into three groups