オイ ノ ｢ミズミズシサ｣ コウ

近年，サクセスフルエイジングやプロダクティブエイジングなどの研究が興隆し，加齢の肯定的側面に関する研究が増えているが，私たちの社会には「若さという神話」が根強くあり，老いを真に肯定することは，なかなか難しい。本稿では，高齢女性のいくつかのつぶやきと，80代女性の語りを通して，若いままであるとか，成熟した姿とはまた異なる，老いの「みずみずしい」姿を捉えた。語りからは，長い年月を生き抜き，死というものを身近に感じているからこそ，多くの喪失を当然のことと見据えながら，生への希求もまた日々湧きあがること，老年期とは単なる終着点ではなく，まさに生の途上にあるものであることがみてとれた。本稿の題目である「老いの『みずみずしさ』」は，逆説的で不思議な表現に思えるが，これも老いの一つの真実であり，一つの捉え方として意義があるものと考えられる。Recently, great many studies have been carried out on successful aging and productive aging, and our society still persists in myth of youth, “the younger, the better,” which makes it difficult for people to accept getting old. In this paper, by listening sincerely to pieces of words from elderly women and the narrative of a woman in her eighties, it is considered how getting old is paradoxically fresh, neither staying young nor just getting mature. It is because of having lived for a long time and realizing death nearby, that such people were bursting with wish to live, while taking losses for granted. It also proved that old age is not a goal but a process in life. The title of this paper, “A Fresh and new-born” Old Age, may sound strange and unlikely, but it can be a true and inspiring viewpoint about aging

オイ ノ ｢サクバク｣ コウ

老いの一つの姿に，逆説的ではあるが，「みずみずしさ」というものがある（久保田　2016）。本稿では，不可避でありながらも見過ごされがちな，老いのもう一つの側面である「索漠とした」心象を考察した。このテーマについて考えるために，本稿では戦争体験の語りに着目した。高齢者の語りを聴いていると，時に「戦争のイメージ」と「老いるという体験」が重なるように思われることがある。老いとは一つの戦争であり，戦争体験者は，老いの過程で再び“戦士”になるとも言えるのではないか。それは日常の中の秘かで孤独な闘いであるが，「老いの『みずみずしさ』」はそうした闘いから，時に生まれてくるものと考えられた。As an inspiring viewpoint about aging, it was considered how getting old can be paradoxically “Fresh and new-born” in the author\u27s paper （Kubota, 2016）. In this paper, another aspect of old age, “Blank and Bleak” Imagined Scenery is considered that might be inevitable, although rarely noticed and often passed over.To find the key of this theme, narratives of war experiences were considered. Listening to elderly people talk, images of war sometimes seem to be similar to experiences of getting old. It showed that old age is a war, and with this war experience a person comes to be a “warrior” again in the process of aging. It also showed that such warriors fight a “silent struggle” in daily life, from which “Fresh and new-born” Old Age can appear at times

Electromagnetic transitions of excited baryons in a deformed oscillator quark model

We study electromagnetic transitions of excited baryons in a deformed oscillator quark model, where baryon excited states are described as rotational bands of deformed intrinsic states. We describe all necessary tools to compute transition amplitudes in multipole basis, which are then related to the commonly used helicity amplitudes. We pay a special attention on the sign of the amplitudes as well as their absolute values by computing the photon and pion couplings simultaneously. We have found that the effect of deformation on the transition amplitudes is rather weak. The difficulty in reproducing the empirical amplitude of the Roper state is discussed.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX2e, epsf.sty and AMSLaTeX package are required; typos corrected, published versio

Long-term monitoring of the short period SU UMa-type dwarf nova, V844 Herculis

We report on time-resolved CCD photometry of four outbursts of a short-period SU UMa-type dwarf nova, V844 Herculis. We successfully determined the mean superhump periods to be 0.05584(64) days, and 0.055883(3) for the 2002 May superoutburst, and the 2006 April-May superoutburst, respectively. During the 2002 October observations, we confirmed that the outburst is a normal outburst, which is the first recorded normal outburst in V844 Her. We also examined superhump period changes during 2002 May and 2006 April-May superoutbursts, both of which showed increasing superhump period over the course of the plateau stage. In order to examine the long-term behavior of V844 Her, we analyzed archival data over the past ten years since the discovery of this binary. Although photometry is not satisfactory in some superoutbursts, we found that V844 Her showed no precursors and rebrightenings. Based on the long-term light curve, we further confirmed V844 Her has shown almost no normal outbursts despite the fact that the supercycle of the system is estimated to be about 300 days. In order to explain the long-term light curves of V844 Her, evaporation in the accretion disk may play a role in the avoidance of several normal outbursts, which does not contradict with the relatively large X-ray luminosity of V844 Her.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted for PAS

Circadian production of melatonin in cartilage modifies rhythmic gene expression

Endochondral ossification, including bone growth and other metabolic events, is regulated by circadian rhythms. Herein, we provide evidence that melatonin has a direct effect on the circadian rhythm of chondrocytes. We detected mRNA expression of the genes which encode the melatonin-synthesizing enzymes AANAT (arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase) and HIOMT (hydroxyindole O-methyltransferase), as well as the melatonin receptors MT1 and MT2 in mouse primary chondrocytes and cartilage. Production of melatonin was confirmed by mass spectrometric analysis of primary rat and chick chondrocytes. Addition of melatonin to primary mouse chondrocytes caused enhanced cell growth and increased expression of Col2a1, Aggrecan, and Sox9, but inhibited Col10a1 expression in primary BALB/c mouse chondrocytes. Addition of luzindole, an MT1 and MT2 antagonist, abolished these effects. These data indicate that chondrocytes produce melatonin, which regulates cartilage growth and maturation via the MT1 and MT2 receptors. Kinetic analysis showed that melatonin caused rapid upregulation of Aanat, Mt1, Mt2, and Pthrp expression, followed by Sox9 and Ihh. Furthermore, expression of the clock gene Bmal1 was induced, while that of Per1 was downregulated. Chronobiological analysis of synchronized C3H mouse chondrocytes revealed that melatonin induced the cyclic expression of Aanat and modified the cyclic rhythm of Bmal1, Mt1, and Mt2. In contrast, Mt1 and Mt2 showed different rhythms from Bmal1 and Aanat, indicating the existence of different regulatory genes. Our results indicate that exogenous and endogenous melatonin work in synergy in chondrocytes to adjust rhythmic expression to the central suprachiasmatic nucleus clock

CCN3 (NOV) Drives Degradative Changes in Aging Articular Cartilage

Aging is a major risk factor of osteoarthritis, which is characterized by the degeneration of articular cartilage. CCN3, a member of the CCN family, is expressed in cartilage and has various physiological functions during chondrocyte development, differentiation, and regeneration. Here, we examine the role of CCN3 in cartilage maintenance. During aging, the expression of Ccn3 mRNA in mouse primary chondrocytes from knee cartilage increased and showed a positive correlation with p21 and p53 mRNA. Increased accumulation of CCN3 protein was confirmed. To analyze the effects of CCN3 in vitro, either primary cultured human articular chondrocytes or rat chondrosarcoma cell line (RCS) were used. Artificial senescence induced by H2O2 caused a dose-dependent increase in Ccn3 gene and CCN3 protein expression, along with enhanced expression of p21 and p53 mRNA and proteins, as well as SA-beta gal activity. Overexpression of CCN3 also enhanced p21 promoter activity via p53. Accordingly, the addition of recombinant CCN3 protein to the culture increased the expression of p21 and p53 mRNAs. We have produced cartilage-specific CCN3-overexpressing transgenic mice, and found degradative changes in knee joints within two months. Inflammatory gene expression was found even in the rib chondrocytes of three-month-old transgenic mice. Similar results were observed in human knee articular chondrocytes from patients at both mRNA and protein levels. These results indicate that CCN3 is a new senescence marker of chondrocytes, and the overexpression of CCN3 in cartilage may in part promote chondrocyte senescence, leading to the degeneration of articular cartilage through the induction of p53 and p21