Histomorphological species identification of tiny bone fragments from a Paleolithic site in the Northern Japanese Archipelago

AbstractBone histomorphology is an effective method for species identification of fragmentary osseous remains. The 1997–1998 excavations of the Kashiwadai 1 Upper Paleolithic site (ca. 22–20.5 kyBP) in Hokkaido (the northern island of the Japanese Archipelago) yielded tiny bone fragments, which had been burned to white and broken into pieces less than 1 cm in size, making their species identification by gross morphology alone impossible. For the purpose of species identification, histomorphological analyses were performed on thin sections of the Kashiwadai 1 bone fragments. Compact bone cross sections taken from medium- to large-sized land mammals in the Pleistocene and Holocene Hokkaido were prepared for comparison. The structures of the Kashiwadai 1 samples consisted of secondary osteons and plexiform bone. Consideration of the presence versus absence of plexiform bone and quantitative assessments of osteon sizes and bone cortical thickness allows for distinction between medium-sized deer, large-sized artiodactyls, small- to medium-sized carnivores, large-sized carnivores, elephants, and humans. The histomorphological characteristics of the Kashiwadai 1 samples were quite similar to those of both sika deer and ancient sika deer. A probable conclusion is that medium-sized deer was the primary game hunted by Paleolithic people at the Kashiwadai 1 site. Interestingly, the samples did not include elephant or large-sized artiodactyls, which were the predominant species in other Paleolithic sites of the Japanese Archipelago. This is the first evidence of human hunting medium-sized animals in the Upper Paleolithic period of the Japanese Archipelago based on faunal remains

A Comparative Study on Teacher Training and Education (1) : A Case of The Third Republic of France

　本稿では，教員養成の比較発達史研究の一環としてフランス第三共和政初期の初等教員養成にかかわる思想と制度に，同時期のドイツ（プロイセン）から如何なる影響関係が見られたか，個別事例的に検討した。その結果，第三共和政初期における教育改革のキー・パースンとなる人物を通して，ドイツを含む近隣諸国から試補教員制度が導入・実施されたことが確認された。また，同時期の教員用マニュアルや教員志願者用テキスト（教育学）は同じキー・パースンが紹介した「直観的方法（直観教授）」を忠実に解説しており，この時点でフランスもまたペスタロッチ主義（開発主義）の強い影響を受けていたことが確認された

A Comparative Study on Teacher Training and Education (3): An Elementary School Teacher Reading a German Educational Book in the Meiji Period

　近代日本の国民教育とそれを支える教師の養成教育は，日本に独自的であり，同時に世界的動向の影響のなかに展開されるものであった。日本の教育は，西洋の教育をどう摂取したのか。とりわけドイツの教育の影響について，その一断面を，明治期の地方の一小学校教師が所持したドイツ教育書の内容と，その読書の跡の分析を通じて明らかにする。この事例の検討から，国民教育の実践者としての教師が，ヘルバルト主義教育に接し，その日本的受容を果たしていたことを示す

A Comparative Study on Teacher Training and Education (2): The Establishment of Teacher Training for Elementary Schools in Imperial Russia

　本論は，教員養成（師範教育）におけるジャーマン・インパクトという視角に留意しながら，各国が19-20世紀の国際関係のなかでどのように教員を養成したのかに関する比較発達史的に分析しようとする研究の一部をなす。帝政ロシアでは，クリミア戦争の敗北と国家財政の破綻を背景として，1850年代後半より，国家・社会の近代化に向けた取組が本格化した。そうした中，農奴解放に伴う初等学校網の拡大に対応するため，初等学校教員を養成する事業が政府主導で進められた。具体的には，主にプロイセンをモデルとして，教員セミナリア（1870年）と師範学校（1872年）が設立され，帝政ロシアの初等学校教員の養成に中心的な役割を担った。ただし，当時の初等学校教員の養成において，ヘルバルトの教育思想又はヘルバルト主義教育が，何らかの特別な位置づけがなされていたわけでなかった

Clinical Indication of Laparoscopic Surgery for Colorectal Cancer: The Optimal Extent of Lymph Node Dissection based on Depth of Colorectal Cancer and Technical Feasibility of Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery.

Recently, laparoscopic colorectal surgery has been considered to be appropriate for colorectal cancer, and the feasibility of many laparoscopic techniques has been established; however, the indication for curative colorec-tal cancers is controversial. In this study, before laparoscopic procedure was performed on patients with colorectal cancers, 641 patients who had under-gone open laparotomy for colorectal cancer during the past 16 years were ev-aluated for the distribution of metastatic lymph nodes classified by depth of invasion. The results obtained were as follows: The rate of all lymph node metastasis of patients with pTis was 0%. The rate of intermediate lymph node (n2) metastasis of patients with pT1 and pT2 tumor was low (3.4% and 4.1% respectively) , however, in patients with pT3 and pT4 tumors, this rate was much higher (15.9% and 15.8% respectively) . Therefore, with re-gard to lymph nodes dissection for colorectal cancer it might be concluded that the intermediate lymph nodes metastases in patients with pT1 and pT2 tumors (less than 5%) were negligible. However, in patients with pT3 and pT4 tumors, for the purpose of performing a complete harvest of intermedi-ate lymph nodes, D3-dissection (including principal lymph node dissection) is required. it is questionable whether or not performance of the laparoscopic procedure for cancer achieves the same extent of lymph node dissection as compared with open laparotomy. Dissection was restricted to intermediate grade lymph node including the paracolic lymph nodes (D2) . Accordingly, patients with pT3 and pT4 tumor should be excluded from indication for laparoscopic procedure. Between October 1997 and November 1998, laparoscopic colorectal resec-actions were performed on a limited number of the above mentioned patients with Tis, Ti and T2 tumor. The grade of lymph node dissection was deter-mined by the results of a preoperative assessment of the depth of cancer in-vasion. With the exception of one patient, whose preoperative assessment for depth of cancer invasion was a limitation at the muscularis propria, but whose histological outcome had been pT3 tumor, all the other patients were able to undergo laparoscopic colorectal resection. The final histological results were as follows: 3 patients with pTis tumor, 6 pTl tumor, and 3 pT2 tumor. One of the pT3 patients alone was converted from a laparoscopic pro-cedure to open laparotomy because of the intraoperative proof of intermediate lymph node metastases, and subsequently this patient underwent principal lymph node dissection (D3-dissection) . With regard to the histological metas-tasis of harvested lymph nodes, no patients was found to have regional lymph node metastasis except for one patient only who had a pT3 tumor. Thus the histological findings were similar to those for conventional open laparotomy. In this study, it was concluded that by laparoscopic procedure a safe and complete dissection of intermediate lymph nodes including the paracolic lymph nodes (nl and n2) could be achieved. On the other hand, the true incidence of port site recurrence, and also its mechanism remain unknown to date. However, it is considered that the incidence of port site recurrence in patients with serosal invasion (T4 tumor) is higher than in those without (i.e., patients with pTis, pTl, pT2 and pT3 tumor) . We are also convinced that a number of patients with pTis, pTl and pT2 undergoing laparoscopic procedure were able to gain curative colorectal resection in terms of port site non-recurrence, and strongly believe that the application of laparoscopic col-orectal surgery for cancer might be acceptable

Comparison of the prognostic value of cardiac iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine imaging and heart rate variability in patients with chronic heart failure A prospective study

AbstractObjectivesWe sought to prospectively compare the prognostic value of cardiac iodine-123 (I-123) metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) imaging with that of heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with mild-to-moderate chronic heart failure (HF).BackgroundCardiac I-123 MIBG imaging, which reflects cardiac adrenergic nerve activity, provides prognostic information on chronic HF patients. Reduced HRV, indicating derangement in cardiac autonomic control, was also reported to be associated with a poor prognosis in chronic HF patients.MethodsAt study entry, I-123 MIBG imaging and 24-h Holter monitoring were performed in 65 chronic HF outpatients with a radionuclide left ventricular ejection fraction <40%. The cardiac MIBG heart to mediastinum ratio (H/M) and washout rate (WR) were obtained from MIBG imaging. The time and frequency domain parameters of HRV were calculated from 24-h Holter recordings.ResultsAt a mean follow-up of 34 ± 19 months, WR (p < 0.0001), H/M on the delayed image (p = 0.01), and normalized very-low-frequency power (n-VLFP) (p = 0.047) showed a significant association with the cardiac events (sudden death in 3 and hospitalization for worsening chronic HF in 10 patients) on univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis revealed that WR was the only independent predictor of cardiac events, although the predictive accuracy for the combination of abnormal WR and n-VLFP significantly increased, compared with that for abnormal WR (82% vs. 66%, p < 0.05).ConclusionsCardiac MIBG WR has a higher prognostic value than HRV parameters in patients with chronic HF. The combination of abnormal WR and n-VLFP would be useful to identify chronic HF patients at a higher risk of cardiac events

Frictional and wear properties of cobalt/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite films formed by electrodeposition

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have solid lubricity due to their unique structure, and as such, CNT composites are also expected to exhibit superior tribological properties. In this study, Co/CNT composite films were fabricated using a composite electrodeposition technique, and their tribological properties were investigated. Three different sizes of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were used as the CNTs in this study. The microstructures of the composite films were examined using scanning electron microscopy. Frictional and wear properties were examined using a ball-on-disk method without any lubricants at room temperature and at high temperatures (100-500 degrees C). The Co/MWCNT composite films had lower coefficients of friction than a cobalt film at room temperature. In contrast, the coefficients of friction of the Co/MWCNT composite film at high temperature became higher than that at room temperature and slightly lower than that of a cobalt film. These results are likely related to the formation of cobalt oxides on the surface and the heat dissipation of the MWCNTs.ArticleSURFACE & COATINGS TECHNOLOGY. 235:204-211 (2013)journal articl