ギョルイ コッカク トウメイ ヒョウホン ワ カイヨウ カンキョウ キョウイク ウミ ノ ナカ ノ クウ クワレル オ ノゾイテ ミヨウ ニ ユウコウ デアル

The transparent specimens originally developed for the observation of skeletal system were applied to the marine environmental education to learn the food chain in coastal waters, and its effectiveness was investigated by the pre- and post-intervention questionnaire. The research examined 41 participants in the three learning interventions, the age ranging from 14 to 73 with a mean of 30.6 years old and the sex ratio being 18 females and 23 males. The program was composed of the ice break, plankton observation, intestinal-contents observation by using transparent specimens, and summary lecture. After the intervention, participants were significantly more concerned about plankton and the relationships between our life and coastal waters. Free descriptions appeared that the participants admired the variety of plankton, picturesque transparent specimens, and direct observation of “prey-predator” relationships. The transparent specimens were thus concluded to be helpful for learning the“ preypredator” relationships in coastal waters.透明骨格二重染色標本が、沿岸域の「食う・食われる」の関係を知るためのツールとして有効かどうかを、事前と事後のアンケートによって調査した。対象としたのは3 つのイベントに参加した14歳から73 歳までの男性23 名、女性18 名、計41 名である。プログラムはアイスブレークとプランクトンの観察、透明標本の観察、そして最後に講義をおこなった。すべての質問項目で、事前よりも事後の方が「好き」とか「知っている」というポイントが高くなった。さらに自由記述では、プランクトンの多様性や透明標本の美しさ、さらには透明標本の消化管の内容物に観察した動物プランクトンを見つけたことに驚いている様子がうかがえた。したがって透明標本は、「食う・食われる」といった食物連鎖を学ぶ教材として有用であると判断された。河野博: 東京海洋大学大学院海洋科学系海洋環境学部門河野博, 谷田部明子, 加瀬喜弘, 齊藤有希: 東京海洋大学魚類学研究

The overlap of sense of coherence and the Big Five personality traits: A confirmatory study

Sense of coherence is the perception of the world as coherent. Its conceptual similarities to the Big Five personality traits have been demonstrated. We therefore investigated the relationship between sense of coherence and the Big Five. In total, 1088 Japanese youths completed the 29-item Sense of Coherence Scale and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory. Neuroticism was negatively correlated and extraversion was positively correlated with comprehensibility ( r  = −.47, .35), manageability ( r  = −.44, .26), and meaningfulness ( r  = −.28, .30). These correlations were strong, and the overlap between the two scales was about 36 percent. While the Big Five are related to sense of coherence, their differences cannot be ignored

Morphological features of macular telangiectasia type 2 in Japanese patients

Purpose This study aimed to demonstrate the clinical course of Japanese patients with macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel-2). Methods This retrospective observational case series included 16 eyes of 8 Japanese patients (3 men and 5 women) with MacTel-2. The mean age and follow-up duration was 66.9 years and 42.8 months, respectively. Differences in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), funduscopic macular findings, central macular thickness (CMT), and the length of macular ellipsoid zone (EZ) loss were compared between the initial/baseline and final visits. Optical coherence tomographic changes in CMT by >= 20% and in EZ loss by >= 20% or >= 100 mu m were defined as improved or worsened. Results Numerical changes in BCVA and EZ loss during follow-up were not statistically significant. However, the mean CMT at baseline, which was lower than that of healthy control eyes (P < 0.001), significantly increased during follow-up (P = 0.041). A certain proportion of eyes showed improvement in several parameters: funduscopic findings (both parafoveal retinal graying and foveal retinal pigment epithelium depigmentation) in 29% of eyes, CMT in 21% of eyes, and EZ loss in 43% of eyes. Conclusions The non-negligible proportion of eyes with improved parameters, marked especially by macular EZ loss, suggests that Japanese patients with MacTel-2 have milder clinical features than Caucasian patients reported in the literature

Changes in blood flow velocity and thickness of the choroid in a patient with leukemic retinopathy

Purpose: Choroidal circulation hemodynamics in eyes with leukemia has not been quantitatively examined yet. We quantitatively examined changes in choroidal blood flow velocity and choroidal thickness at the macula by using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) and enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) in a patient with leukemic retinopathy. Observations: A 15-year-old boy presented with sudden central vision loss of his right eye. The patient's best-corrected visual acuity was 0.09 OD and 1.2 OS. Funduscopy revealed a sub-inner limiting membrane hemorrhage at the macula, intra-retinal hemorrhages with Roth spots, and dilatation and tortuosity of retinal veins OU. Leukocytosis with the Philadelphia chromosome was found in the peripheral blood, which led to a diagnosis of retinopathy associated with chronic myeloid leukemia. Retinal hemorrhages resolved after chemotherapy. Macular mean blur rates on LSFG increased by 24–38% OD and 13–26% OS, while macular choroidal thicknesses on EDI-OCT decreased by 7–60 μm OD and 8–46 μm OS during the 3-month follow-up period after the start of treatment. Conclusion and importance: These results suggest that choroidal blood flow velocity decreased and choroidal thickness increased sub-clinically in the acute stage of a patient with leukemic retinopathy. LSFG and EDI-OCT may be useful to non-invasively evaluate the activity of choroidal involvement in leukemic retinopathy. Keywords: Choroidal blood flow velocity, Choroidal thickness, Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography, Laser speckle flowgraphy, Leukemic retinopath

Effects of age and axial length on choroidal stratified structure in normal eyes

Abstract To quantify the choroidal structures of normal eyes by optical coherence tomography (OCT)-based binarization and evaluate the relationships among age, refractive power, and ocular axial length. This was a retrospective observational study. One hundred and eighty nine eyes of 189 subjects without ocular diseases were examined by enhanced depth imaging (EDI)-OCT. A choroidal OCT horizontal image with a width of 1500 μm centered on the fovea was binarized. The lumen, stroma, and total choroidal area in the choriocapillaris (CC), Sattler’s layer (SL), and Haller's layer (HL) were measured, and the ratio of the luminal area to total choroidal area (L/C ratio) was calculated. Multiple regression analysis was performed for choroidal parameters in each choroidal layer and for age, refractive power, and ocular axial length. Multiple regression analysis showed that an older age was significantly correlated with a lower choroidal area and the L/C ratio in all choroidal layers (each P < 0.05). A Long axial length was significantly associated with lower SL and HL (P < 0.05), but not with refractive power. In the choroid of normal eyes, age-related decreases in the choroidal area and L/C ratio were associated with all choroidal layers, and elongation of the axial length was associated with thinning of SL and HL

preliminary calculation of rbe weighted dose distribution for cerebral radionecrosis in carbon ion treatment planning

Carbon-ion radiotherapy/Cerebral radionecrosis/RBE-weighted dose/Microdosimetry. Cerebral radionecrosis is a significant side effect in radiotherapy for brain cancer. The purpose of th is study is to calculate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of carbon-ion beams on brain cells and to show RBE-weighted dose distributions for cerebral radionecrosis speculation in a carbon-ion treatment planning system. The RBE value of the radionecrosis for the carbon-ion beam is calculated by the modified microdosimetric kinetic model on the as sumption of a typical clinical α/β ratio of 2 Gy for cerebral radionecrosis in X-rays. This calculation method for the RBE-weighted dose is built into the treatment planning system for the carbon-ion radiotherapy. The RBE-weighted dose distributions are calculated on computed tomography (CT) images of four patients who had been treated by carbon-ion radiotherapy for astrocytoma (WHO grade 2) and who suffered from necrosis around the target areas. The necrotic areas were detected by brain scans via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after the treatment irradiation. The detected necrotic areas are easily found near high RBE-weighted dose regions. The visual comparison between the RBE-weighted dose distribution and the necrosis region indicates that the RBE-weighted dose distribution will be helpful information for the prediction of radionecrosis areas after carbon-ion radiotherapy