Detection of RBM15-MKL1 Fusion Was Useful for Diagnosis and Monitoring of Minimal Residual Disease in Infant Acute Megakaryoblastic Leukemia

Acute megakaryocytic leukemia (AMKL) with t(1;22)(p13;q13) is a distinct category of myeloid leukemia by WHO classification and mainly reported in infants and young children. Accurate diagnosis of this type of AMKL can be difficult, because a subset of patients have a bone marrow (BM) blast percentage of less than 20% due to BM fibrosis. Therefore, it is possible that past studies have underestimated this type of AMKL. We present here the case of a 4-month-old female AMKL patient who was diagnosed by presence of the RBM15-MKL1 (OTT-MAL) fusion transcript by RT-PCR. In addition, we monitored RBM15-MKL1 fusion at several time points as a marker of minimal residual disease (MRD), and found that it was continuously negative after the first induction chemotherapy even by nested RT-PCR. Detection of the RBM15-MKL1 fusion transcript thus seems to be useful for accurate diagnosis of AMKL with t(1;22)(p13;q13). We recommend that the RBM15-MKL1 fusion transcript be analyzed for all suspected AMKL in infants and young children. Furthermore, monitoring of MRD using this fusion transcript would be useful in treatment of AMKL with t(1;22)(p13;q13)

Silencing of p53 and CDKN1A establishes sustainable immortalized megakaryocyte progenitor cells from human iPSCs

iPS細胞を用いた人工血小板の作製の効率化に成功 血小板のテイラーメイド医療に向けた一歩. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-12-03.Platelet transfusions are critical for severe thrombocytopenia but depend on blood donors. The shortage of donors and the potential of universal HLA-null platelet products have stimulated research on the ex vivo differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to platelets. We recently established expandable immortalized megakaryocyte cell lines (imMKCLs) from hPSCs by transducing MYC, BMI1, and BCL-XL (MBX). imMKCLs can act as cryopreservable master cells to supply platelet concentrates. However, the proliferation rates of the imMKCLs vary with the starting hPSC clone. In this study, we reveal from the gene expression profiles of several MKCL clones that the proliferation arrest is correlated with the expression levels of specific cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors. Silencing CDKN1A and p53 with the overexpression of MBX was effective at stably inducing imMKCLs that generate functional platelets irrespective of the hPSC clone. Collectively, this improvement in generating imMKCLs should contribute to platelet industrialization and platelet biology

Evaluation of the effects of a combination of Japanese honey and hydrocolloid dressing on cutaneous wound healing in male mice

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the combined use of Japanese honey and hydrocolloid dressing (HCD) on cutaneous wound healing. Mice were divided into four groups: the Acacia (Japan) + HCD, Manuka (New Zealand) + HCD, Chinese milk vetch (Japan) + HCD, and HCD (control) groups. The mice received two full-thickness wounds. The wounds of the HCD group were covered with HCD, whereas those of the other groups were treated with 0.1 mL of the relevant type of honey, before being covered with HCD. Wound area was significantly smaller in the HCD group than in the Acacia + HCD and Manuka + HCD groups on day 13 and days 8-14, respectively. Moreover, compared with the HCD group, reepithelialization was delayed in the Acacia + HCD group and reepithelialization and collagen deposition were delayed in the Chinese milk vetch + HCD and Manuka + HCD groups. These results indicate that the combined use of Japanese honey and HCD does not promote cutaneous wound healing compared with the use of HCD alone. Thus, this method is probably not useful for promoting healing. © 2015 Kanae Mukai et al

The effect of isoflavone-daidzein oral medication on cutaneous wound healing in female ovariectomized mice

This study investigated the influence of oral administration of isoflavone-daidzein on the cutaneous wound healing process in female ovariectomized mice. Eight-week-old female mice were divided into groups of ovariectomized mice and mice administered daidzein after an ovariectomy. Two full-thickness wounds on the dorsum were made in mice in both groups. There was no significant difference between wound areas of the two groups from wounding to healing during 15 days. The area in the group administered daidzein tended to be smaller than that in the ovariectomized group during the inflammatory phase 4 and 5 days after wounding . The rate of re-epithelialization in the group administered daidzein tended to be higher than that in the ovariectomized group in the inflammatory phase on day 3 (40.7 ± 17.6% and 21.0 ± 16.8%, respectively). Therefore, the administration of daidzein under lack of estrogen is expected to reduce the inflammation period and promote re-epithelialization. この研究は、卵巣摘出した雌マウスに皮膚創傷を作製し、経口投与したイソフラボン の一種であるダイゼインが、創傷治癒にどのような影響を与えるかを観察したもので ある。8 週令の雌マウスを卵巣摘出群と卵巣摘出し創作製した後にダイゼインを与え た2 群に分けた。両群共、卵巣摘出後、ダイゼインを含まない精製飼料で２週間飼育 後に、左右の背部に直径4mm の皮膚全層欠損層を作製した。創作製後、ダイゼインを 含まない飼料とダイゼインを含む飼料で2 週間飼育した。ダイゼインは、飼料1g に 0.01mg 含むように作製した。両群の創面積は、2 週間の間の毎日において、有意差は 見られなかった。しかし、炎症期である創作製後4 と5 日では、ダイゼイン食で飼育 した群が無ダイゼイン食で飼育した群が、やや創面積が小さい傾向がみられた（それ ぞれ、p 値が0.061、0.083 であった）。創作製後の3 日での、再上皮化の割合は、ダイゼイン群で40.7 ± 17.6%、無ダイゼイン群で21.0 ± 16.8%となり、ダイゼイ ン群はより上皮化が進んでいる傾向が見られた (p = 0.07)。これらの結果は、エス トロゲン欠乏状態で、ダイゼインの経口投与が、創傷治癒において、炎症を抑制し上 皮化を促進することを示唆している

〔伝統的な言語文化〕の学習指導改善 －落語教材の検討を通して－

Review of the book Leimon: Studies Presented to Lennart Rydén on his Sixty-Fifth Birthday (edited by Jan Olof Rosenqvist)

松葉杖歩行における身体局所的疲労と潜在的適応学習

松葉杖歩行による下肢の疲労部位と程度、歩行パターンについて検討した。対象は松葉杖歩行未経験の大学2年生24名とし、200mを非利き足を完全免荷で松葉杖歩行させ、歩数と時間を計測・解析した。また荷重足とした利き足の大腿・下腿部の前後面、足背・足底部の歩行後の疲労感をNumerical Rating Scale（NRS）を用いて計測し、全ての部位のスコアを加算したものを総疲労スコアとした。その結果、下腿部と足底部に高い疲労感を認めた。また、総疲労スコアと歩数、総疲労スコアと総時間に弱い正の相関、歩行速度と総歩数、歩行距離と5m毎の歩数に中等度の負の相関を認めた。以上から、片側下肢の完全免荷松葉杖歩行の初回歩行では、荷重足の底背屈筋、足趾屈伸筋に疲労が出現しやすい可能性、歩幅が大きいと疲労しにくい可能性、また外的教示なしでも歩幅を大きくする適応的学習が生じる可能性が示唆された。We investigated the position and degree of fatigue in the supporting leg and a pattern of gait alterations at the first time of walking with crutches. Twenty-four college students participated in this study. The subjects walked with crutches with load to dominant leg for 200 m. The number of steps and time were measured. After walking, the degree of fatigue in the upper and lower leg and foot was measured by Numerical Rating Scale. All the scores were summed and the total fatigue score（TFS） was calculated. Fatigue was observed in the lower leg and sole. There was a low positive correlation between TFS and total steps and between TFS and total time. There was a moderate negative correlation between walking speed and steps and between steps per 5 m and walking distance. These results indicate that fatigue in the lower leg and sole is caused by gait alterations during first time of walking with crutches. Moreover, as a stride becomes large, it is harder for the leg and foot to fatigue. Finally, implicit adaptation, a gradually increasing stride without instruction, is caused during the first time of walking with crutches

Native and Nonnative Japanese Speakers' Collaboratiev Practice toward Autonomous Constructive Discussion

[[abstract]]Under the urgent demand of globalization, universities in Asia tend to promote joint courses of local students and foreign students to develop their cross-cultural communicative skills and deepen their understandings of multicultural society. Past studies, however, reveal that asymmetrical power dynamics between native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) and their certain interactional practices make the categorization of NS and NNS more evident (Mori, 2003; Ikeda, 2005; Sugihara, 2010 in Japanese). Using the methodological framework of conversation analysis, this study demonstrates how NSs and NNSs of Japanese collaboratively carry out constructive and autonomous group discussion without a designated discussion leader. In particular, this study explores the participants’ interactional attempt to achieve equal participation between the NSs and the NNSs. The data were collected from a group discussion course targeting students of Japanese major and exchange students from Japan at one Taiwanese university. The students are divided into four groups. Each group consists of one or two NSs, one advanced-/upper-intermediate-level NNS, one intermediate-level NNS, and one novice-level NNS. Thus, all the groups inherently encounter problem of power imbalance caused by asymmetric linguistic abilities and the participants’ potential orientation to the NS’s cultural norms (Sugihara, 2010 in Japanese). My design of curriculum is informed by the “workshop-based education program fostering students’ self-directing communication abilities” developed by Morimoto & Otsuka (2012). More specifically, it employs the “fishbowl discussion” method in which one group conducts discussion, while another group observes and evaluates it. This study focuses on one group’s discussion, which receives considerably good evaluation from the observation group. Comparing the video-recordings of this group’s discussion and those of other groups’, the consequent analysis discloses distinctive interactional characteristics in this group. The findings show that, while the other groups’ NSs tend to dominate discussion procedure, the NS in the target group often consults with other participants about who to speak and what to talk about next. As a result, in the latter group, both the NS and the NNSs are interactively involved in decision-making processes on discussion management. In addition, the target group allows the novice NNS to deliver his opinion first, whereas the novice NNSs in the other groups usually get their turns at the end. When the novice NNS cannot fully express his thoughts, the advanced NNS asks follow-up questions to elicit this novice’s opinion, which is usually the NSs’ role in the other groups. Meanwhile, the NS in the target group tends to rephrase other participants’ utterances and summarize discussion thus far. However, in such occasions, unlike the other groups, the NNSs in the target group frequently co-construct the NS’s utterances, so that they can not only demonstrate understandings and agreement, but also voluntarily join the NS’s navigation of the discussion procedure. Under the globalization, advanced skills to discuss with people from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds are required to construct a fair democratic society. I believe that the results of this study are instrumental in facilitating equal participation of citizens in a multicultural society.[[notice]]補正完

Coordinating and Collaborating action: Interactive Organization of Teller Stance and Recipient Stance in Japanese Conversation

[[abstract]]This paper analyzes empirical case s, focusing on the coordination of action and the interplay of embodied and sequential features in the production and monitoring of stance-taking activities within story-telling sequences in Japanese interaction. Stance displays are important components of story-telling sequences both for speakers to express their stance toward the told event and for recipients to exhibit their understanding of it (C. Goodwin, 2000; C. Goodwin & M. H. Goodwin, 1987, 1992, 2004; M. H. Goodwin, 1980, 1997). In other words, stancedisplaying turns are critical loci of negotiation in order to establish alignment between speakers and recipients in a telling activity. Using the methodological frameworks of Conversation Analysis, this paper examines multimodal and interactive practices of stance negotiation occurring in story-telling sequences in Japanese conversation. Based on the video-recorded casual conversations among Japanese speakers, the paper investigates the cases in which astance-displaying turn produced by a story-teller or a story-recipient results in modification of unit trajectory. It analyzes the negotiation processes between speaker and recipient, which triggers the speaker’s unit alternation. A detailed examination of the stance display sequence s with consideration of the participants’ verbal and bodily conduct reveals that speakers deliberately create “interactive turn space” (Iwasaki 2009, 2011) or “ negotiation space” (Nakamura 20 11 in Japanese ) immediately after producing an evaluative term in order to solicit and/or monitor their recipients’ reaction. The analysis first demonstrates how the speakers utilize various resources including syntactic structure, prosody, gaze, and head movements as well as hitches and perturbations in a coordinated manner, so that the turn can be heard as incomplete and yet the recipients’ intervention becomes relevant at that point. The analysis further shows , upon perceiving the recipients’ disaffiliative response during the negotiation space , how the speakers eventuate in denying or qualifying their claims without abandoning the preceding unit of the turn. Specifically, the paper reveals how the syntactic features of Japanese language such as the predicate-final and postpositional structures are mobilized for incremental unit transformation. While reconfirming the multimodal and interactive nature of stance-taking activity as discussed in past studies based on Western languages (e.g. C. Goodwin & M. H. Goodwin, 1987, 2004; Haddington, 2006; Heritage 2002; Peräkylä & Ruusuvuori, 2006; Pomerantz, 1984; Stivers, 2008), the results of this paper explores somepractices of speaker-recipient coordination of actions within stance negotiation in Japanese conversation. Through the examination of the negotiation process of stance-taking activity, the paper demonstrates that stances are collaboratively achieved, publicly displayed, and interactively organized by the participants in Japanese conversations.[[sponsorship]]International Pragmatics Association[[conferencetype]]國際[[conferencedate]]20130908~20130913[[iscallforpapers]]Y[[conferencelocation]]New Deli, Indi

"Late projectability" of Japanese turns revisited: Interrelation between gaze and syntax in Japanese conversations

[[abstract]]Bringing together the latest studies on Japanese pragmatics, this edited volume showcases the breadth of research conducted in this ever-expanding, interdisciplinary field, with the introductory chapter providing a useful summary of developments in the field in the past decades. The twelve chapters address a variety of traditional and emerging topics by adopting diverse theoretical and methodological frameworks and presenting a range of perspectives on grammar, interaction and culture. They demonstrate a wide scope of pragmatics research informed by, as well as informing, usage-based grammar, cognitive linguistics, conversation analysis, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, and literary and cultural studies. Chapters also consider future directions as to how the study of Japanese language in use will continue to offer critical data and analyses to the field dominated by the study of English and other European languages. This volume is certain to be of interest to students and scholars engaged in pragmatics in general and the Japanese language in particular.[[notice]]補正完