The Practice of Social Skills Training for Work Experience in Junior High School

　職場体験学習の効果をより高めるための一つの方法として，事前に対人スキルやコミュニケーションスキルを身に付けるための学習を行っておくことが必要であると考え，職場体験学習の事前学習において，3回のソーシャルスキルトレーニングと異年齢交流活動を実施した。事前学習が始まる前の職場体験学習に対する期待と不安を変量としたケースのクラスタ分析により，3つのクラスタが得られた。第1クラスタは期待が低く，不安は中程度あるクラスタと考えられる（n=21）。第２クラスタは期待が高く，不安が低いクラスタと考えられる（n=20）。第3クラスタは期待と不安の双方が高いクラスタと考えられ，全体の約半数がこのクラスタに属していた（n=41）。ソーシャルスキルトレーニングの実践を通して，第3クラスタの不安の減少が有意にみられた

Peer Support Training Focused on Conflict Resolution in Elementary School

本研究では，小学校４年生を対象に，仲間による対立解消スキルに焦点を当てたピア・サポート・トレーニング（計10回）を約半年間にわたって実施し，その効果の検討を行った。対象となった児童は各学年単学級の小規模校に在籍しており，対人関係の固定化が課題視されていた。社会性，対立解消スキル，サポート入手可能性，サポート提供可能性，学級への適応感について，ピア・サポート・トレーニングの前後でどのような変化がみられるかとの観点からトレーニングの効果を検討した結果，社会性と対立解消スキルにおいて統計的に有意な平均値の上昇がみられた。また，各変数のトレーニング前の測定値により高群・低群別に変化を検討したところ，下位群においてはすべての変数について上昇が確認された。このことから，特に実施前の測定値の低い参加者にとって効果が大きいことが示された

Atypical Symptoms in Migraine-Related Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: Expansion of the Phenotype and Reflection on the Pathomechanism

We report an 8-year-old girl who experienced daily episodes of visual and somesthetic distortion and was diagnosed with Alice in wonderland syndrome (AIWS). Ophthalmologic assessment revealed best-corrected visual acuity of 0.2 in both eyes, and bilateral constricted tubular or spiral visual fields. Augmented amplitude of visually evoked potentials was revealed, and treatment with lomerizine and valproate showed favorable effect on the visual/somesthetic distortion as well as the visual field and acuity. Psychogenic visual problems can co-exist with the typical sensory distortion in AIWS, similarly to the case of psychogenic pseudo-seizures in subjects with epilepsy. Otherwise, an ambiguous borderline between psychological and physical pathomechanisms in migraine may also be characteristic of the migraine-related AIWS

Topographic map reorganization in cat area 17 after early monocular retinal lesions

Neither discrete peripheral retinal lesions nor the normal optic disk produces obvious holes in one\u27s percept of the world because the visual brain appears to perceptually fill in these blind spots. Where in the visual brain or how this filling in occurs is not well understood. A prevailing hypothesis states that topographic map of visual cortex reorganizes after retinal lesions, which sews up the hole in the topographic map representing the deprived area of cortex (cortical scotoma) and may lead to perceptual filling in. Since the map reorganization does not typically occur unless retinotopically matched lesions are made in both eyes, we investigated the conditions in which monocular retinal lesions can induce comparable map reorganization. We found that following monocular retinal lesions, deprived neurons in cat area 17 can acquire new receptive fields if the lesion occurred relatively early in life (8 weeks of age) and the lesioned cats experienced a substantial period of recovery (\u3e3 years). Quantitative determination of the monocular and binocular response properties of reactivated units indicated that responses to the lesioned eye for such neurons were remarkably robust, and that the receptive-field properties for the two eyes were generally similar. Moreover, excitatory or inhibitory binocular interactions were found in the majority of experimental units when the two eyes were activated together. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that map reorganization after monocular retinal lesions require experience-dependent plasticity and may be involved in the perceptual filling in of blind spots due to retinal lesions early in life

Stabilization of microtubules by encapsulation of the GFP using a Tau-derived peptide

We constructed GFP-encapsulated microtubules (MTs) using Tauderived peptide which binds to their interior. The encapsulation of GFP dramatically increased the rigidity of MTs, resulting in their enhanced velocity on a kinesin-coated substrate. Moreover, the GFP-encapsulated MTs were significantly more stable compared to normal MTs

Cyclic Tau-derived peptides for stabilization of microtubules

The cyclization of peptides is a valuable strategy for the development of binding motifs to target proteins with improved affinity. Microtubules (MTs) are important targets for therapeutics, and a variety of MT-targeted drugs and peptides have recently been developed. We have previously designed a Tau-derived peptide (TP) that binds to the interior of MTs. In the present study, the development of a cyclic TP (TCP) for enhanced binding to tubulin and the stabilization of MTs is described. The fluorescently labeled cyclic peptide containing three glycine linkers (TCP3-TMR) exhibited a remarkably enhanced binding affinity to tubulin. The cyclic peptide was also demonstrated to stabilize MTs by enhancing polymerization and reducing depolymerization. Moreover, MTs were effectively formed by the treatment of cyclic peptides in the presence of guanosine triphosphate (GTP), while the linear peptide showed no such effect. These findings indicate that TCP is a useful binding motif that can stabilize MTs and is valuable for various therapeutic and material applications

Binocular deficits associated with early alternating monocular defocus. II. Neurophysiological observations

Experiencing binocularly conflicting signals early in life dramatically alters the binocular responses of cortical neurons. Because visual cortex is highly plastic during a critical period of development, cortical deficits resulting from early abnormal visual experience often mirror the nature of interocular decorrelation of neural signals from the two eyes. In the preceding paper, we demonstrated that monkeys that experienced early alternating monocular defocus (-1.5, -3.0, or -6.0 D) show deficits in stereopsis that generally reflected the magnitude of imposed monocular defocus. Because these results indicated that alternating monocular defocus affected the higher spatial frequency components of visual scenes more severely, we employed microelectrode recording methods to investigate whether V1 neurons in these lens-reared monkeys exhibited spatial-frequency-dependent alterations in their binocular response properties. We found that a neuron\u27s sensitivity to interocular spatial phase disparity was reduced in the treated monkeys and that this reduction was generally more severe for units tuned to higher spatial frequencies. In the majority of the affected units, the disparity-sensitivity loss was associated with interocular differences in monocular receptive field properties. The present results suggest that the behavioral deficits in stereopsis produced by abnormal visual experience reflect at least in part the constraints imposed by alterations at the earliest stages of binocular cortical processing and support the hypothesis that the local disparity processing mechanisms in primates are spatially tuned and can be independently compromised by early abnormal visual experience

RESPONSE CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRAILER TYPE MULTI-CONNECTED BARGE SYSTEM IN WAVES

ABSTRACT A trailer type multi-connected barge system is a new type of ocean transportation system composed of several barges connected to each other with a mechanical connecting device and a tug ship. To design the trailer type multi-connected barge system, it is necessary to grasp the exact response characteristics of the trailer type multi-connected barge system in waves. A model basin test was conducted for the trailer type multiconnected barge system in waves. In the model basin test, the tug ship and three barges were connected to each other by the mechanical connecting device, and the tug ship towed three barges in waves. As a result, the response characteristics of the trailer type multi-connected barge system in waves were obtained. A nonlinear phenomenon of a longitudinal connecting force caused by relative pitch motions of barges was observed. A way to avoid the non-linear phenomenon and reduce the longitudinal connecting force could be found, and the realization of the trailer type multi-connected barge system was experimentally confirmed

Functional Analyses of MMPs for Aragonite Crystal Formation in the Ligament of Pinctada fucata

The mollusk class, Bivalvia, plays an important role in the formation of calcium carbonate in the ocean. The bivalve hinge ligament is a hard but pliant tissue that resists the stress placed on the hinge during opening and closing. The ligament comprises a fine microstructure of fibrous aragonite crystals surrounded by a dense organic matrix. The matrix consists of organic fibers that are aligned with the fibrous aragonite crystals. Previous studies identified a tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (Pf-TIMP: Pinctada fucata-Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase) in the organic fibers of P. fucata ligaments. This enzyme exhibited strong inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity in vitro, suggesting that MMPs also play a role in formation of the organic fibers of the ligament. Using transcriptome data, we identified MMP genes from the mantle isthmus, which is a soft tissue attached to the ligament. To investigate the function of MMP genes in vivo, we performed RNA interference experiments. The expression of MMP14973 and MMP07860 genes was inhibited after injection of each dsRNA. Cumulative injection of MMP07860 dsRNA induced aggregated aragonite fiber orientation, whereas the injection of MMP14973 showed minor effects. When the decalcified ligament was incubated in a solution saturated with calcium carbonate, aragonite fibers aligned along the surface. When the decalcified ligament was treated with recombinant human (hr) MMP-13, the precipitation of calcium carbonate was inhibited. To investigate general MMP functions in calcium carbonate crystallization in detail, we precipitated aragonite crystals in collagen gels treated with or without recombinant human (hr) MMP-1. Treatment with hrMMP-1 increased the interaction between collagen gels and calcium carbonate. These results imply that Pinctada fucata (Pf)-MMPs degrade extracellular matrices in the ligament to produce the fine organic fibers that regulate the orientation of fibrous aragonite crystals

Clinical Evaluation of a Three-Dimensional Ultrasonography System in the Ophthalmic Field

Clinical use of a 3-dimensional ultrasonography system with a new ophthalmic imaging device using conventional 2-dimensional ultrasound tomography in the ophthalmic field was evaluated in 5 patients with different ocular conditions. With the system, surface rendering and volume measurement were easy in 3-dimensional ultrasonographic examinations. In a patient with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment, the surface rendering made the image cube transparent, revealing interior surface details. In a patient with lens luxation resulting from Marfan's syndrome, the shape of luxated spherophakia was detected stereographically. In a patient with choroidal detachment, we could evaluate the effect of administration of aspirin on the amelioration of this disease by measuring the volume of the choroidal lesion. In a patient with aberration of a lens fragment into subretinal space during cataract surgery, we grasped the whole ocular condition in the 3-dimensional image only by just one manipulation. In a patient with optic disc melanocytoma, we could detect the volume change in detail using the 3-dimensional images-saving system. No discomfort occurred in these patients during examination. Based upon the above findings, we considered that this device was useful in making diagnosis and grasping the whole ocular conditions and outcome in breathtaking 3-dimensional views, and in causing no discomfort for patients