Lesson Study Consulting for the Professional Development of Textbook Developers: A case of social studies textbook development project for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in Cambodia

Who should disseminate new curriculum and textbooks from the central government to classroom in developing countries? And, how is it possible? Curriculum and textbook developers often faces the necessity of and the challenges in spreading the essentials and intention of new curriculum and textbooks and the expected educational practices to classroom. In order to design and implement consistent educational reform through three layers of the curriculum (the intended, the implemented and the attained level), it is required for them to be committed in not only the development stage with a clear picture of quality teaching and learning, but also the dissemination stage through in-service teacher training such as lesson study. This study aims at clarifying potential measures to develop the expertise for curriculum and textbook developers as a communicator of educational reform in developing countries. In the process of our project on the curriculum and textbook development of social studies education in Cambodia, we assume “the expertise of consulting lesson study” and examine it both from theory and practical cases of (i) lesson-demonstrating approach and (ii) lesson-advising approach. As a consequence, it is found that their ability for consulting lesson study could be enhanced by regarding senior (Japanese) experts as a role model. And also, the result implies that, for their continuous professional development, it is necessary for them to purposefully take part in lesson study consulting, and shift the approach from “modeling” to “coaching” by steps

Minimum oxygen cost of human walking with geometrically similar leg movements

The mechanism by which the expenditure of oxygen to walk per unit distance at an intermediate speed is minimized, by definition optimal walking, was investigated to characterize optimal walking in humans with variations in individual walking speeds. Oxygen uptake and step rate（SR）were measured among 7 young male subjects walking at an increasing speed from 16.7 to 131.7 m min−1 with 5 m min−1 increments every 1 min on a level treadmill. Measurements of leg length（L）were also made and step length（SL）was calculated by dividing walking speed by SR. The hip joint angle（θ）was calculated as a function of both L and SL such that θ＝2sin−［1 SL（／ 2L）］ deduced from a mathematical geometrically similar model of pendulum−like legs. The minimum oxygen cost to walk per unit distance for each subject was observed over a wide range of speeds from 60 to 100 m min−1.However, the oxygen cost of walking for all the subjects was minimized during a step cycle through a hip−joint angle of about 46 deg in the astride position, regardless of L. The stifflegged model demonstrated that the pathway of the trunk during optimal walking with a swing leg angle of 46 deg was approximately maintained at an even level by the counteracting effects of the leg decline and the heel rise. These results suggest that the minimum oxygen cost of transport during optimal walking was achieved by the mechanism underlying the maximum interchange between the gravitational−potential and kinetic energy for the body with an even level of the trunk that reduces extra muscular work needed against internal and external resistance, as well as against gravit

BRCAness Predicts Resistance to Taxane-Containing Regimens in Triple Negative Breast Cancer During Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

AbstractBackgroundTo provide optimal treatment of heterogeneous triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), we need biomarkers that can predict the chemotherapy response.Patients and MethodsWe retrospectively investigated BRCAness in 73 patients with breast cancer who had been treated with taxane- and/or anthracycline-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Using multiplex, ligation-dependent probe amplification on formalin-fixed core needle biopsy (CNB) specimens before NAC and surgical specimens after NAC. BRCAness status was assessed with the assessor unaware of the clinical information.ResultsWe obtained 45 CNB and 60 surgical specimens from the 73 patients. Of the 45 CNB specimens, 17 had BRCAness (38.6% of all subtypes). Of the 23 TNBC CNB specimens, 14 had BRCAness (61% of TNBC cases). The clinical response rates were significantly lower for BRCAness than for non-BRCAness tumors, both for all tumors (58.8% vs. 89.3%, P = .03) and for TNBC (50% vs. 100%, P = .02). All tumors that progressed with taxane therapy had BRCAness. Of the patients with TNBC, those with non-BRCAness cancer had pathologic complete responses significantly more often than did those with BRCAness tumors (77.8% vs. 14.3%, P = .007). After NAC, the clinical response rates were significant lower for BRCAness than for non-BRCAness tumors in all subtypes (P = .002) and in TNBC cases (P = .008). After a median follow-up of 26.4 months, 6 patients—all with BRCAness—had developed recurrence. Patients with BRCAness had shorter progression-free survival than did those with non- BRCAness (P = .049).ConclusionIdentifying BRCAness can help predict the response to taxane, and changing regimens for BRCAness TNBC might improve patient survival. A larger prospective study is needed to further clarify this issue

MEDICAL TREATMENT OF UNRUPTURED CEREBRAL ANEURYSMS

Background: Currently there are no pharmacological therapies for patients with unruptured cerebral aneurysms. Elsewhere we showed that the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist eplerenone prevented the formation of cerebral aneurysms in our ovariectomized hypertensive aneurysm rat model. The current pilot study evaluated whether it can be used to prevent the growth and rupture of cerebral aneurysms in hypertensive patients. Methods: Between August 2011 and May 2014, we enrolled 82 patients with 90 aneurysms in an open-label uncontrolled clinical trial. All provided prior informed consent for inclusion in this study, and all were treated with eplerenone (25-100 mg/d). The primary end points of our study were the rupture and enlargement of the cerebral aneurysms. Results: Of the 82 patients, 80 (88 unruptured aneurysms) were followed for a mean of 21.3 months (153.4 aneurysm-years); 12 patients (15.0%) permanently discontinued taking the drug. One month after the start of eplerenone administration and throughout the follow-up period, eplerenone kept the blood pressure within the normal range. Most notably, no aneurysms smaller than 9 mm ruptured or enlarged. However, of 2 large thrombosed aneurysms, 1 enlarged and the other ruptured. The overall annual rupture rate was .65%; it was 13.16% for aneurysms larger than 10 mm; the overall annual rate for reaching the primary end points was 1.30%. Conclusion: Our observations suggest that eplerenone may help to prevent the growth and rupture of unruptured cerebral aneurysms smaller than 9 mm. To assess its potential long-term clinical benefits, large clinical trials are needed

Arterial spin labeling灌流画像で得られる血管内高信号は内頚動脈の閉塞部位を予測する

Introduction Arterial spin labeling (ASL) involves perfusion imaging using the inverted magnetization of arterial water. If the arterial arrival times are longer than the post-labeling delay, labeled spins are visible on ASL images as bright, high intra-arterial signals (IASs); such signals were found within occluded vessels of patients with acute ischemic stroke. The identification of the occluded segment in the internal carotid artery (ICA) is crucial for endovascular treatment. We tested our hypothesis that high IASs on ASL images can predict the occluded segment. Methods Our study included 13 patients with acute ICA occlusion who had undergone angiographic and ASL studies within 48 h of onset. We retrospectively identified the high IAS on ASL images and angiograms and recorded the occluded segment and the number of high IAS-positive slices on ASL images. The ICA segments were classified as cervical (C1), petrous (C2), cavernous (C3), and supraclinoid (C4). Results Of seven patients with intracranial ICA occlusion, five demonstrated high IASs at C1–C2, suggesting that high IASs could identify stagnant flow proximal to the occluded segment. Among six patients with extracranial ICA occlusion, five presented with high IASs at C3–C4, suggesting that signals could identify the collateral flow via the ophthalmic artery. None had high IASs at C1–C2. The mean number of high IAS-positive slices was significantly higher in patients with intra- than extracranial ICA occlusion. Conclusion High IASs on ASL images can identify slow stagnant and collateral flow through the ophthalmic artery in patients with acute ICA occlusion and help to predict the occlusion site

Comparative genome and transcriptome analyses of the social amoeba Acytostelium subglobosum that accomplishes multicellular development without germ-soma differentiation

Background Social amoebae are lower eukaryotes that inhabit the soil. They are characterized by the construction of a starvation-induced multicellular fruiting body with a spore ball and supportive stalk. In most species, the stalk is filled with motile stalk cells, as represented by the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum, whose developmental mechanisms have been well characterized. However, in the genus Acytostelium, the stalk is acellular and all aggregated cells become spores. Phylogenetic analyses have shown that it is not an ancestral genus but has lost the ability to undergo cell differentiation. Results We performed genome and transcriptome analyses of Acytostelium subglobosum and compared our findings to other available dictyostelid genome data. Although A. subglobosum adopts a qualitatively different developmental program from other dictyostelids, its gene repertoire was largely conserved. Yet, families of polyketide synthase and extracellular matrix proteins have not expanded and a serine protease and ABC transporter B family gene, tagA, and a few other developmental genes are missing in the A. subglobosum lineage. Temporal gene expression patterns are astonishingly dissimilar from those of D. discoideum, and only a limited fraction of the ortholog pairs shared the same expression patterns, so that some signaling cascades for development seem to be disabled in A. subglobosum. Conclusions The absence of the ability to undergo cell differentiation in Acytostelium is accompanied by a small change in coding potential and extensive alterations in gene expression patterns

Heterogeneous genetic make-up of Japanese house mice (Mus musculus) created by multiple independent introductions and spatio-temporally diverse hybridization processes

In this study, phylogenetic analysis of relatively long sequences of mitochondrial DNA (4225 bp) in the Japanese house mouse Mus musculus provides the first evidence that both southern Asian subspecies of Mus musculus castaneus (CAS) and northern Asian subspecies of Mus musculus musculus (MUS) arrived in Japan through rapid population expansion events, from Southern China similar to 4000 years ago and the Korean Peninsula similar to 2000 years ago, respectively. Nuclear DNA haplotype structure analyses targeting a chromosome region with two different tract sizes, 1 and 5 Mb, consisting of nine and six tandemly arranged markers, respectively, yielded a possible average fragment length of 170 kb of CAS haplotypes in the MUS background genome in northern Japan, providing a rough estimate of its elapsed time of 815 generations under an assumption of continued backcrossing. Less frequent and shortened CAS-like haplotypes specific to Japan were detected, suggesting ancient introduction prior to the appearance of the South Chinese CAS in Japan. Our analyses also showed sporadic appearance of long fragments (2-5 Mb) from the west European subspecies Mus musculus domesticus, indicating contemporary stowaway introduction. Overall, multiple overseas introductions, and the time-lagged inter-subspecies genetic admixture, probably resulted in the heterogeneous state of Japanese wild mice