Experiences of Japanese war brides and assimilation into Appalachia: understanding the intersection of ethnicity and gender

This qualitative study analyzes the acculturation and assimilation of Japanese war brides into Appalachia. Although the Japanese female immigrants have lived in Appalachia for many years, their life experiences have been ignored by academia in Appalachian studies. A purpose of this study is to advance the understanding what social mechanisms impact the assimilation of the Japanese war brides and what it means for them to live in this society. By using oral history with open-ended questions, data is gathered from in-depth interviews with four Japanese war brides. The study finds retention of ethnic identity, recovery of cultural heritage, and social exclusion. These findings are interpreted as a consequence of intersecting oppression of ethnicity and gender socialization of the women in regards to assimilation process

Teachers’ Ideological Dilemmas during the Pandemic at Higher Education Institutions:

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted higher education (hereinafter “HE”) teaching and learning approaches globally since 2020. It has compelled a major shift from face-to-face to online delivery, affecting the ways HE teachers teach and communicate with students. In this paper, we explore an under-researched area, teachers’ ideological dilemmas surrounding online teaching and issues related to remote or technologically mediated communication adopted in three countries, China, Japan and the UK. Drawing on the theoretical and methodological framework of discursive psychology, we focus on the concepts called ideological dilemmas and the kaleidoscope of common sense in order to examine common sense views of HE teachers regarding online and onsite teaching as well as blended learning where these constitute ideological dilemmas. Taking an exploratory, small case study approach, we present a discourse analysis of interviews with HE teachers and reveal their ideological dilemmas over online teaching. We identify the patterns of shifting justifications in the interviews. Our discussion highlights the dynamic and dilemmatic nature of the HE teachers’ views, some of which are shaped by the local university context, as well as the different ways in which the spread of COVID-19 is taking place and the various measures taken by each country’s government against the damaging effects of the pandemic

海外渡航者の医療に関する講義

今日，海外旅行や海外赴任者・移住者は年々増加の傾向を示している．これらの人々に対し，看護はどのような役割を担い，看護を提供することができるのかについて検討していく必要がある． 今後，海外にでかける，海外で生活する人々に対する医療や看護について教授する一助として，A大学の看護学生に行った海外渡航者の医療に関する講義から，学生が何を学んだかとして記述したレポートを分析した．その結果，学生はこの科目を履修することにより海外渡航者として必要な知識を学習し，そこにおける看護の重要性について学んでいた．今後，学生が海外渡航者の医療や看護に対して，さらに認識や知識を深めるとともに，看護の視野を拡大できるように授業内容を検討することが必要である．The number of Japanese people who take tours overseas, are stationed in overseas offices, or who emigrate to other countries has recently been increasing, year by year. This study was intended to shed light on what roles nurses can play and what kinds of nursing services they can provide to these people. The author recently analyzed reports submitted by A University nursing students after they had received classroom lessons about medical care for overseas travelers. The goal of the analysis was to obtain hints about how to teach students about medical and nursing care for people who are going to take tours overseas or live in other countries. The analysis revealed that attending these lessons had enabled the students to expand their knowledge of overseas travel and to learn the importance to these people of nursing care. The results suggest that it is necessary to select lecture topics carefully with a view to facilitating expansion of the students' mental horizons concerning nursing, so that what the students learn will be of great help when they work in the internationalized community that is now emerging across the world

海外渡航者の医療に関する講義

今日，海外旅行や海外赴任者・移住者は年々増加の傾向を示している．これらの人々に対し，看護はどのような役割を担い，看護を提供することができるのかについて検討していく必要がある． 今後，海外にでかける，海外で生活する人々に対する医療や看護について教授する一助として，A大学の看護学生に行った海外渡航者の医療に関する講義から，学生が何を学んだかとして記述したレポートを分析した．その結果，学生はこの科目を履修することにより海外渡航者として必要な知識を学習し，そこにおける看護の重要性について学んでいた．今後，学生が海外渡航者の医療や看護に対して，さらに認識や知識を深めるとともに，看護の視野を拡大できるように授業内容を検討することが必要である．The number of Japanese people who take tours overseas, are stationed in overseas offices, or who emigrate to other countries has recently been increasing, year by year. This study was intended to shed light on what roles nurses can play and what kinds of nursing services they can provide to these people. The author recently analyzed reports submitted by A University nursing students after they had received classroom lessons about medical care for overseas travelers. The goal of the analysis was to obtain hints about how to teach students about medical and nursing care for people who are going to take tours overseas or live in other countries. The analysis revealed that attending these lessons had enabled the students to expand their knowledge of overseas travel and to learn the importance to these people of nursing care. The results suggest that it is necessary to select lecture topics carefully with a view to facilitating expansion of the students' mental horizons concerning nursing, so that what the students learn will be of great help when they work in the internationalized community that is now emerging across the world

The Diagnostic Value of the Interstitial Biomarkers KL-6 and SP-D for the Degree of Fibrosis in Combined Pulmonary Fibrosis and Emphysema

The combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) was reported first in 1990, but it has been comparatively underestimated until recently. Although the diagnostic findings of both emphysematous and fibrotic regions are detectable by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the chest, the degree of progressive fibrosis, which increases with emphysematous lesions, is difficult to evaluate. In this study, we hypothesized that the biomarkers for pulmonary fibrosis, surfactant protein D (SP-D), and KL-6 would serve as good indicators of fibrotic lesions in CPFE. We recruited 46 patients who had been diagnosed in our hospital with both emphysema and fibrosis by their CT scan image from April 2003 to March 2008. The correlation among their pulmonary function tests, composite physiologic index (CPI), and the serum levels of SP-D and KL-6 was evaluated. We found a correlation between KL-6 and %VC, %TLC, or CPI and between SP-D and %VC or CPI. Interestingly, the combined product of KL-6 and SP-D (KL-6xSP-D) was found to highly correlate with %VC and %TLC or CPI. These results show that both KL-6 and SP-D, and especially the product of SP-D and KL-6, are good indicators of the presence of fibrotic lesions in the lungs of CPFE patients

NFUバン カイゴ フタンカン シャクド ノ サクセイ カイゴ ホケン セイド ドウニュウ ゼンゴ ノ カイゴ フタンカン ニカンスル オウダン ケンキュウ

The purpose of this study is to make a new scale to measure the effects of Long-term care insurance system. Four hundreds and seventy-one caregivers who care the elderly living at home voluntarily answered the questionnaire, and the subjective burden of caregivers was measured by Nihon Fukushi University (NFU) version of caregiver burden scale. As the results, NFU version of caregiver burden scale had enough reliability and validity to measure caregiver\u27s burden, and a factor analysis revealed two factors, "subjective burden of care" and "will for continuing care". Cross-sectional comparison shows reduction of subjective burden of care, however, the change was different due to community. The factors of the elderly themselves and the factors of caregivers were related to subjective burden of caregivers. Different dimensions of social network and social support were related to two subscales

Prognostic significance of cribriform adenocarcinoma of the lung: validation analysis of 1,057 Japanese patients with resected lung adenocarcinoma and a review of the literature

Background: Cribriform-predominant adenocarcinoma of the lung (Cribri-ADC) is a recently described tumor growth pattern. However, its prognostic impact has not been clearly determined. We analyzed the data of a series of 1, 057 Japanese patients with resected lung adenocarcinoma to identify the clinical significance of Cribri-ADC. Methods: Cribriform pattern (Cribri-p) is defined as invasive back-to-back fused tumor glands with poorly formed glandular spaces or invasive tumor nests comprising tumors cells that produced glandular lumina. We investigated the correlations of Cribri-p and Cribri-ADC with clinicopathological factors as well as disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: Cribri-p was present in 217 patients (20.5%) and Cribri-ADC was determined in 25 patients (2.4%). Cribri-p was associated with larger tumor size, pleural invasion, vascular invasion, lymphatic invasion, and spreading through air spaces (STAS) (all, P<0.0001). Cribri-ADC was associated with younger age (P=0.019), vascular invasion (P=0.0025), STAS (P<0.0001), and ALK rearrangement (P=0.012). The DFS curve of patients with Cribri-ADC was identical to that of patients with solid adenocarcinoma; however, the OS curve was located between that of patients with papillary and acinar adenocarcinoma. Of the 10 patients who had tumor recurrences, eight had EGFR mutations or ALK rearrangement, six of whom achieved relatively long survival (median, 64.6, range, 37.4–113 months) following treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In multivariate analysis, Cribri-ADC was not an independent prognostic factor of either recurrence or death. Conclusions: Cribri-ADC is associated with a higher risk of recurrence; however, most patients can be successfully treated with TKIs

Universality and superiority in preference for chromatic composition of art paintings

Color composition in paintings is a critical factor affecting observers' aesthetic judgments. We examined observers' preferences for the color composition of Japanese and Occidental paintings when their color gamut was rotated. In the experiment, observers were asked to select their preferred image from original and three hue-rotated images in a four-alternative forced choice paradigm. Despite observers' being unfamiliar with the presented artwork, the original paintings (0 degrees) were preferred more frequently than the hue-rotated ones. Furthermore, the original paintings' superiority was observed when the images were divided into small square pieces and their positions randomized (Scrambled condition), and when the images were composed of square pieces collected from different art paintings and composed as patchwork images (Patchwork condition). Therefore, the original paintings' superiority regarding preference was quite robust, and the specific objects in the paintings associated with a particular color played only a limited role. Rather, the original paintings' general trend in color statistics influenced hue-angle preference. Art paintings likely share common statistical regulations in color distributions, which may be the basis for the universality and superiority of the preference for original paintings.- We thank Dr. Yukinori Misaki at Kagawa National Institute of Technology, Japan and Ms. Nobuyo Okada and Ms. Kanako Maruchi at Toyohashi City Museum of Art and History, Japan for assisting in the measurement of art paintings. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP19H01119 and 20H05956, and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UIDB/04650/2020

Induction of lymphangiogenesis through vascular endothelial growth factor-C/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 axis and its correlation with lymph node metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

The contribution of the lymphatic system to tumor metastasis is being increasingly appreciated through studies of human cancers. As the biological behavior of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) depends on its nodal status, patients with advanced nodal status show a higher tendency toward a poor outcome. Here, we examined the role of lymphangiogenesis on lymphatic spread of NPC. We also evaluated the involvement of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C/VEGF receptor 3 (VEGFR3) signaling pathway on lymphangiogenesis in NPC. Furthermore, we tested whether Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-latent membrane protein (LMP) 1 induces VEGF-C. Forty-one patients with NPC were evaluated for expressions of VEGF-C and its receptor, VEGFR3, and LMP1 proteins and lymphatic vessel counts (LVC) highlighted by anti-podoplanin employing immunohistochemistry. The VEGF-C induction by LMP1 was then tested with Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in vitro. The LVC and VEGF-C expression were significantly higher in cases with advanced regional lymph node metastasis (N2,3) than those with no or limited lymph node involvement (N0,1) (p = 0.0380 and p = 0.0109, respectively). In VEGF-C/VEGFR3-positive cases, the LVC were significantly increased compared with VEGF-C/VEGFR3-negative cases (p = 0.0007). However, LMP1 expression did not show significant associations with LVC and VEGF-C-expression scores (p = 0.1210 and p = 0.1324, respectively). Induction of VEGF-C protein by LMP1 was not detected in vitro. These results suggest the involvement of the VEGF-C/VEGFR3 axis in the induction of lymphangiogenesis which results in lymphatic spread of NPC. However, EBV-LMP1 was not associated with the mechanism. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Suppression of osteoclastogenesis via α2-adrenergic receptors

The sympathetic nervous system is known to regulate osteoclast development. However, the involvement of α2-adrenergic receptors (α2-ARs) in osteoclastogenesis is not well understood. In the present study, their potential role in osteoclastogenesis was investigated. Guanabenz, clonidine and xylazine were used as agonists of α2-ARs, while yohimbine and idazoxan were employed as antagonists. Using RAW264.7 pre-osteoclast and primary bone marrow cells, the mRNA expression of the osteoclast-related genes nuclear factor of activated T-cells, cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) and cathepsin K was evaluated following induction with receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL). TRAP staining was also conducted to assess effects on osteoclastogenesis in mouse bone marrow cells in vitro. Administration of 5-20 µM guanabenz (P<0.01, for RANKL-only treatment), 20 µM clonidine (P<0.05, for RANKL-only treatment) and 20 µM xylazine (P<0.05, for RANKL-only treatment) attenuated RANKL-induced upregulation of NFATc1, TRAP and cathepsin K mRNA. Furthermore, the reductions in these mRNAs by 10 µM guanabenz and 20 µM clonidine in the presence of RANKL were attenuated by 20 µM yohimbine or idazoxan (P<0.05). The administration of 5-20 µM guanabenz (P<0.01, for RANKL-only treatment) and 10-20 µM clonidine (P<0.05, for RANKL-only treatment) also decreased the number of TRAP-positive multi-nucleated osteoclasts. Collectively, the present study demonstrates that α2-ARs may be involved in the regulation of osteoclastogenesis