Japanese Branch Report- 2014

On 29 November 2014, at the 18th General Meeting of the George Eliot Fellowship of Japan, three papers on George Eliot\u27s novels were read in the morning session. In the afternoon, a symposium on Eliot\u27s poems was held and in the evening session a keynote speech was given by Professor Minoru Kawakita. Chaired by Professor Kimitaka Hara (Nihon University), the morning session saw our first speaker, Masako Ishii (Kyoto University), discussing The Mill on the Floss from the standpoint of the destiny of Maggie Tulliver, especially in relation to her conflict with the socially restrictive norms of a provincial town in England. Entitled \u27Yearning for a Love\u27, her presentation clarified how the heroine\u27s vulnerability seems attractive to her cousin\u27s fiancé but the heroine nevertheless refuses to elope with him because of her sense of insecurity or her unstable identity that she has had since childhood. The second speaker, Takako Takamoto (National Fisheries University), spoke about \u27Moral Dilemmas in George Eliot\u27s Romola (1862-63) and Ian McEwan\u27s Saturday (2005)\u27. She pointed out the dilemmas both Henry Perowne (the protagonist in Saturday) and Savonarola (in Romola) have when each of them needs to make a political choice. She concluded that utilitarian solutions seem irrelevant when the life of a human being is at stake. Our third presenter, Hideo Takano (Komazawa University), talked about \u27The Cross-Cultural World of Bouddha\u27s Tale in Chapter 37 of Daniel Deronda’. In his reading of the novel, he argued that George Eliot has a universal-truth-seeking imagination and that leads to Deronda talking of \u27the transmutation of self\u27 in the same chapter. He concluded that George Eliot has a sense of mission as a writer which leads her to depict her protagonist as morally free to seek a better world

Differences in Dietary Intake of Women with Standard Weight but Varying Body Fat Percentages in Japan

“Hidden obese people” have a high body fat percentage (BFP) despite having a normal BMI (18.5 30%) (n = 160) and standard physique (18.5 <BMI ? 25.0 and BFP <30%) (n = 376) were compared using Student’s t-test or Welch’s t-test. The participants with hidden obesity physique have lower intake of energy (p = 0.044) and fat (p = 0.036) and a higher intake of carbohydrates (p = 0.023), cereals (p = 0.009) and sugary beverages (p = 0.020). This study suggests that a reduction in carbohydrate-dense foods is effective in preventing hidden obesity

Locomotive syndrome presents a risk for falls and fractures in the elderly Japanese population

Abstract“Locomotive syndrome” is used to designate the condition of individuals with musculoskeletal disease who are highly likely to require nursing care. This article reviews screening, prevalence, causal and related factors, and the relationship between locomotive syndrome and falls and fractures in older adults with this syndrome. A few self-administered questionnaire tools are available to assess individuals for locomotive syndrome. Additionally, screening methods, including a physical functioning assessment, are appropriate for detailed discrimination of locomotive syndrome. The prevalence of locomotive syndrome is significantly higher in women than in men, and tends to increase markedly from 70 years of age. More severe locomotive syndrome is related to knee pain, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and lumbar disease. The incidence of falling in locomotive syndrome is higher than the incidence for the older population in general. Locomotive training including squats and a unipedal standing exercise has been recommending to prevent locomotive syndrome. This training improves muscle strength and balance function for older people who have a risk for locomotive syndrome

Fertility knowledge and the timing of first childbearing: a cross-sectional study in Japan

Although fertility educational initiatives have increased in developed countries to prevent infertility and to broaden fertility choices, the relationship between knowledge and behaviour is still poorly understood. In order to investigate the association between fertility knowledge and timing of childbearing, we investigated male and female participants between 35 and 44 years of age who had children (n = 640) from an online survey conducted in Japan in 2013. The age at which participants actually gave birth to or fathered their first child was compared between those who were aware for at least a decade of age-related decline in female fertility (hereinafter, those with past fertility knowledge) and those without. Age at first birth was significantly younger and more narrowly distributed among women with past fertility knowledge than among those without: 28.2 ± 3.4 vs. 29.8 ± 4.6 (mean ± SD). A multivariate linear regression analysis showed that women with past fertility knowledge gave birth to their first child 2.34 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09–3.59] years earlier compared to those without such knowledge. No significant relation existed among men. Being informed in young adulthood about the facts of fertility might be related to starting a family at an earlier age, although further longitudinal evaluation will be necessary

Absorption of Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP) In Vitro Across Bovine Jejunal and Ileal Epithelia Around the Time of Weaning

Using the everted sac methodology as well as an Ussing chamber, we investigated changes in the absorption of horseradish peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7, HRP (40 kDa)) in jejunum and ileum segments isolated from male Holstein cattle around the time of weaning (6 to 15 wks old). By the everted sac method, HRP transport (HRP concentration on the serosal side sampled after a 60-min-incubation) at 15 wks of age was significantly greater than that at 6 wks of age, in both segments of the intestine. Absorption was not significantly different between the jejunum and ileum. Addition of Na^+/K^+ ATPase inhibitor (ouabain, 1 mM) did not cause any significant change in HRP absorption, whereas Na^+/H^+ anti-transporter inhibitor (amiloride, 1μM) significantly increased the absorption in both sacs at 8 wks of age. By the Ussing chamber method, there were no significant differences between the values for Jsm and Jms, while the Jnet value was nearly zero for both epithelia. In addition, the flux (Jms) of Lucifer yellow, a cell-membrane-impermeable fluorescence dye, was significantly greater at 6 than at 13 wks of age in the ileal epithelia, although the flux was significantly greater in the jejunal than the ileal epithelia at both ages. From these findings, we conclude that: 1) bovine jejunal and ileal epithelia are able to absorb a large molecule such as the HRP protein; 2) HRP transport occurs in a concentration-dependent manner and may in part be via a paracellular pathway; 3) the increased HRP transport shown at 15 wks of age may not be caused by an increased use of the paracellular pathway.horseradish peroxidaseabsorptiontransportcal

審査論文 エスニック・マイノリティによる自伝的小説に関する考察 : ジーン・リースと日系アメリカ人の小説分析

本論文では、主流社会においては少数民族としての疎外感を感じざるをえないエスニック・マイノリティたちによる自伝的小説が、単に社会での孤独感を吐露した小説なのではなく、「書く」という行為をつうじて、「エスニック・マイノリティ作家」というアイデンティティを獲得していく、いわば交渉の場であることを主張するものである。扱う作家および作品は、英領カリブ海諸島出身で英国へ渡った白人クレオール女性作家ジーン・リースの『闇のなかの航海』（1934年）と、デヴィット・ムラやキョウコ・モリなどの日系アメリカ人の手による作品である。先行研究としては、『トレイシーズ2 』（2001年）に収録されたレイ・チョウの論文「エスニックなおぞましきものの秘密」を取り上げる。主流社会では多数派になれないかれらが、表象の場で、作家としてのアイデンティティを確立するようすや、書記行為が実社会でのかれらの（つらい）体験の代償行為となることを明らかにしたい

A Paraganglioma in a Hypertensive Patient with Unilateral Renal Hypoplasia

We report the case of a 46-year-old hypertensive Japanese female with renal insufficiency related to unilateral renal hypoplasia. The patient was found to have developed paraganglioma in the retroperitoneal space over a 5-year period. Catecholamine-producing tumors are not usually recognized as conditions associated with renal hypoplasia. Our long-term observation of the patient eventually led us to the diagnosis of paraganglioma. In hypertensive patients with chronic kidney disease, not only the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system but also catecholamine activity may be involved, particularly in the patients whose cases are complicated with unilateral renal hypoplasia