Inside Sōseki’s Spiritual Land: Sōseki’s Kanshi and Chinese Thought

Kinnosuke Natsume, who went under the pen name of Sōseki Natsume, was born in 1867, the moment in which Japan was transforming from the feudal Edo to the modern Meiji period. Throughout his life he retained a fondness for Edo culture since it reminded him of Japan before modernisation. Although educated in Chinese classics and acquiring an early love of Nanga painting he specialised in English literature and taught the subject at a number of universities. During his student days Sōseki met his best friend Shiki Masaoka, who later became a founder of the literary journal Hototogisu. Shiki inspired Sōseki to begin composing Chinese poems. Whilst living in London at the behest of the Japanese government, Sōseki suffered from a nervous breakdown and received the news that Shiki had died of TB. At this point Sōseki stopped composing Chinese poems and did not begin again until he became seriously ill in 1911. From 1911 to his death in 1916, Sōseki, whenever recovering from his worsening illness composed Chinese poems. He took the process of writing poetry as a form of meditation which helped him cope with his failing health, the pressures he faced and his increasing concern at the direction in which Japan was moving. This study will assess the influence of Chinese thought and literature upon Sōseki in a chronological order by examining his poems in five separate stages: student days; teaching period; serious illness; Nanga painting phase and the writing of ‘Lightness and Darkness’ (Mei-An) his last novel

Clinical Outcomes for Cystinuria Patients with Unilateral Versus Bilateral Cystine Stone Disease.

INTRODUCTION:Cystinuria is a genetic disorder marked by elevated urinary cystine excretion and recurrent cystine nephrolithiasis. Interestingly, despite seemingly similar contralateral renal anatomy, a subset of cystinuric patients consistently form stones in only one kidney. The aim of this study is to evaluate clinical outcomes in unilateral vs bilateral cystine stone formers. PATIENTS AND METHODS:We performed a retrospective case-control study of cystinuric patients evaluated and treated at the University of California, San Francisco between 1994 and 2015 and categorized patients as either unilateral or bilateral stone formers. Clinical presentation, baseline patient demographics, stone procedures, medical therapy regimens, and long-term renal function were compared between the two groups. RESULTS:A total of 42 cystine stone patients (22 female, 20 male) were included in the analysis. The median age at first presentation was 18.5 years and median age at study conclusion was 45.5 years. Two-thirds of patients (n = 28) had a history of bilateral stones, whereas one-third (n = 14) had unilateral stones. Medical therapy regimens were similar between groups. Despite an increased average number of lifetime surgeries (7.5 sessions for bilateral vs 3.7 sessions for unilateral, p < 0.05), there was no significant difference in medians of the most recent glomerular filtration rate when compared with unilateral stone formers (81.5 vs 95 mL/min, respectively; p = 0.28). CONCLUSIONS:The majority of cystinuric patients within our cohort form stones bilaterally during their lifetime, and require more surgical interventions than unilateral stone formers. Despite this, overall renal function is well preserved in unilateral and bilateral cystinuric stone formers treated with minimally invasive stone extraction procedures

Spermatic Cord Lymphoma: A Case Report and Literature Review

Spermatic cord lymphoma is a rare lethal disease. It has a poor prognosis even in stage I or II disease when treated locally, therefore, multidisciplinary treatment for early stage is recommended. On the other hand, the treatment of choice for stage III or IV spermatic cord lymphoma remains to be determined. It is said that spermatic cord lymphoma is clinicopathologically similar to primary testicular lymphoma, therefore the treatment of spermatic cord lymphoma has often been determined by reference to the recommended treatment for primary testicular lymphoma. Here we report a new case of spermatic cord lymphoma, which was found in stage IV disease. We also review thirty-three cases which have been reported as spermatic cord lymphoma to date, and discuss treatment options

[研究ノート] 高齢者集落における社会的紐帯と健康状態の関連への文化人類学からのアプローチ：秋田県男鹿市A地区B集落での予備調査から

要旨：保健分野のソーシャル・キャピタル研究では、ソーシャル・キャピタルの内実が地域毎に異なるにも関わらずその内実が解明されず、またソーシャル・キャピタルと健康の因果関係が明らかにされないという２つの問題点がある。本研究では、対象社会の社会構造の特徴を精査した上で、それが集団レベルの健康状態と結びつくメカニズムの解明を目指す文化人類学の手法を構想した。2015年４月から秋田県男鹿市Ａ地区の住民を対象に行った現在までの予備調査では、対象地域住民の間で社会的紐帯が強く、その背景に親族組織や農事勉強会などの社会組織が関連するという手がかりを得た。本稿では現在までに得た予備調査データを参照しつつ本研究の構想を示す。Abstract：Many studies have been conducted using the concept of social capital in the fi eld of health recently. These studies typically have two problems. The first is that they do not pay close attention to the actual situation of social capital, although there are real diff erences amongst communities. The second is that they do not discuss causation between social capital and health status. Thus, in this study, we utilize a cultural anthropological approach to investigate the relationship between the social structure and the health status of a given group, based on a survey of the characteristics of social structure in the subject community. The participants are located in the (A) district of Ogacity, Akita, where we have been conducting fieldwork since April, 2015. According to our preliminary fieldwork, we have discovered results, which suggest that the connection amongst the people was strong in the subject community, which has a relationship with social organizations such as a kin group, agricultural study meeting, and so on. In this article, we present our research framework based on data from our preliminary fieldwork

チイキ ノ ソーシャル キャピタル ト ジュウミン ノ ケンコウ シンサ ガン ケンシン ジュシン コウドウ トノ カンレン

日本では健康診査やがん検診(以下、健・検診と記す)の受診率の低迷が課題となっている。そこで、社会的環境因子として健康行動との関連で成果が期待されているソーシャル・キャピタル(以下S.C.と記す)に注目した。本研究はS.C.およびその構成要素と、健・検診受診行動との関連について明らかにし、そこから健・検診の受診率向上への手がかりを検討することを目的とした。2013年に秋田県男鹿市の住民台帳から地域、性、年代別(40～69歳までの10歳毎)に無作為抽出のうえ、1192名を対象に自記式質問紙の郵送法による調査を行った。協力が得られた住民326名(有効回答率27.3%)のデータを分析した結果、S・Cおよびその構成要素である「ネットワーク」と地区行事への参加で計算される「規範」は、住民の健・検診受診と関連があることが明らかになった。現在住んでいる土地に愛着のある人がない人よりも健・検診を受けていたことからも、地区行事活性化と行事への自主的な参加が健・検診受診率向上への糸口になりえることが示唆された。住民は健診に関する知識や認識は高いが、行動に移せていない段階であり、禁煙や運動教室などでのセルフケア能力向上を手がかりに、近い将来、健診受診に結びつけていくような段階的な取り組みが有効だと思われる。また、経済状況によって健・検診受診状況に有意な差がみられたため、経済的理由からの未受診者対策をさらにすすめる必要があることがわかった。The consultation rates for basic medical examinations and cancer screening have hovered at low levels in Japan. To hunt for clues for improving the consultation rate, we took note of the positive relationship between social capital( S.C.) as the social environmental parameter and healthy action in recent studies. The aim of this study was to clarify the association between S.C. and health consultation action of residents in a provincial area of Japan. In 2013, data were collected in a population-based cross-sectional questionnaire survey in Oga city, Japan. A stratified random sampling approach based on area, sex and age( 40-69-year-old) was used to select 1192 inhabitants from 4 areas. The result of having analyzed the data of 326 (27.3% of effective answer rates) showed that the S.C. and its components "Network( participation in voluntary groups)" and "Norms of reciprocity( participation in community events)" were related to the consultation behavior of the inhabitants. As shown in the relationship between passion for their residential areas and positive behavior of medical checkups and cancer screening, local community festivals and events activation along with voluntary participation in such events could become steps to move forward. Subjects\u27 knowledge and recognition about medical examinations were high but they were at a stage of preparation wherein people turn knowledge into action. To improve the consultation rate, a step-by-step approach with a course of healthy lifestyle that covers not only smoking cessation and fitness habits but for improving selfcare ability proves to be quite useful. In addition, the consultation behavior patterns differed by income and economic conditions; strengthening of countermeasures against the economic non-consultation is needed

Feasibility of Exploiting Celution^<TM> System in Autologous Cell Therapy in Dokkyo Medical University Hospital:Safety and Reproducibility

In 2012, we established the Center for Regenerative Medicine in Dokkyo Medical University Hospital, and are now preparing the necessary equipment and preclinical evidence for cell therapy. Liposuction is a commonly used procedure in plastic surgery and the lipoaspirate is discarded as a medical waste. However, the lipoaspirate is known to contain abundant mesenchymal stem cells, and thus, it is currently one of the most feasible options of regenerative medicine. Several ongoing clinical trials of cell therapy (in Japan and overseas as well) are based on the Celution^ system, an automated cell-processing machine utilizing lipoaspirate. The merit of using such a machine is that collected cells are so abundant that it is not necessary to expand the cell number in a Cell Processing Center. Moreover, there are fewer risks of bacterial infection because the system is isolated from the ambient dust and operated automatically. Our group is now planning respective cell therapies for breast reconstruction after mastectomy, urinary incontinence and ischemic cardiovascular diseases, and all these protocols will be based on the Celution^ system. Here, we report the initial test run of Celution^ to confirm its safety and reproducibility

Stdudies on surface structures of the bacterial cell. Report 11. Physico-chemical studies on surface structures of bacterial cell utilizing dielectric spectrum

In the dielectric spectra of bacterial cell, there found three kinds of abnormal distribution and absorption of electric wave which widely distributed from ultra-short wave to centimeter wave. These absorption curves were named as first, second and third curve and could be completely analyzed by Cole-Cole procedure. Thus detailed analyzed data indicated that these curves were preusmably and theoretically due to three different kinds of binding water. To determine the intracellular locations of these binding water, effect of pH on their spectra and isothermic changes of absorption curve were investigated. Fffect of pH revealed that they were completely different from each other demonstrating double dissociation curve in the first, simple dissociation curve in the second, and no special dissociation curve in the third. Isothermic changes of spectra were also analyzed by Freundlich and Cunningham's equation. It was concluded from this analysis that there were at least two kinds of absorption centre in the first, one kind in the third. However the second could not be explained by multi-molecular absorption. On the other hand, changes of spectra in agglutination reaction, difference between S-type and R-type of bacterial cell, changes during growth of bacterial cell, effects during the process of production of adaptation-enzyme were also investigatcd. Thus, it was concluded that first absorption was originated from polysaccharide in surface substance and second absorption was due to intracellular unknown substance. On the other hand, third absorption was considered to be due to polypeptide in surface substance