本学部における「公開授業」の取り組み

報告Report本学部のFD・授業評価委員会では「公開授業」の必要性を2003年度から検討し、2003年度は「看護学概論III」を、2004年度は「身体の構造と機能IV」を公開授業として実施した。同時に参加した教員にアンケートを行って、公開授業の有用性、問題点などを検討した。その結果、公開授業にはまだいくつかの課題は残るものの、教授法改善、授業改善に関して、「学生による授業評価」では不足する観点を与えるものであること。また、「教員による授業相互評価」の一つの方法としては、特定の少数の教員だけによる評価方法より、「公開授業」のような不特定・多数の同僚教員から評価が得られる方法の方が、教授法の改善という観点から、効果やメリットが大きい可能性があることが分かった

高齢者施設における介護福祉士の専門性 : 医療行為に対する認識と専門性の分析

研究ノート施設に勤務する介護福祉士・看護師に、介護福祉の専門性と医療行為に対する認識についてインタビューを行った。介護福祉の専門性は、利用者の生活を重視し生活援助を中心にした内容で捉えていたが、実際の業務内容からみると、施設勤務の開始と同時に医療行為が入り込み、介護業務の一部として無意識に認識している可能性が示された。医療行為の捉え方は、看護職の施設配置人数も含め、介護職を取り巻く環境や経験年数などによって影響され、医療への接近を求める者と戸惑いを示す者とに分かれた

看護・介護の専門性と協働に関する研究 : 施設に従事する看護師と介護福祉士の面接調査より

研究ノートResearch Note介護保険施設に従事する看護師と介護福祉士各8名にインタビューし、それぞれが捉えている両職種の役割やお互いの専門性についての意識を明らかにすることを試みた。その結果、看護の専門性としては、「健康管理」、「健康上のアセスメント」、「医療」が挙げられ、介護の専門性としては、「利用者の思いや気持ちに沿いながら日常生活を整える」ことが挙げられた。協働のためにはお互いの専門性を発揮しながらの密な話し合いが必要と分かった

高齢者施設に勤務する介護福祉士による介護評価の分析

研究ノート介護福祉士は生活支援を通して人権擁護を目指すことが求められているが、人権擁護は抽象的な概念であるがゆえに意識が曖昧になりがちである。そこで、高齢者施設に勤務する介護福祉士に対して、人権の要素に関わる日常生活の介護評価を調査し、そこから高齢者施設の介護に関する課題について分析を行った。直接的な介護場面での「残存能力の活用」「清潔の保持」「安全面への配慮」については「できている」との評価が6割を超えた。しかし、「自己決定」「自己選択」「自立」に対し「できていない」と評価した施設が3割から8割を超える結果となった

Integrative Annotation of 21,037 Human Genes Validated by Full-Length cDNA Clones

The human genome sequence defines our inherent biological potential; the realization of the biology encoded therein requires knowledge of the function of each gene. Currently, our knowledge in this area is still limited. Several lines of investigation have been used to elucidate the structure and function of the genes in the human genome. Even so, gene prediction remains a difficult task, as the varieties of transcripts of a gene may vary to a great extent. We thus performed an exhaustive integrative characterization of 41,118 full-length cDNAs that capture the gene transcripts as complete functional cassettes, providing an unequivocal report of structural and functional diversity at the gene level. Our international collaboration has validated 21,037 human gene candidates by analysis of high-quality full-length cDNA clones through curation using unified criteria. This led to the identification of 5,155 new gene candidates. It also manifested the most reliable way to control the quality of the cDNA clones. We have developed a human gene database, called the H-Invitational Database (H-InvDB; http://www.h-invitational.jp/). It provides the following: integrative annotation of human genes, description of gene structures, details of novel alternative splicing isoforms, non-protein-coding RNAs, functional domains, subcellular localizations, metabolic pathways, predictions of protein three-dimensional structure, mapping of known single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), identification of polymorphic microsatellite repeats within human genes, and comparative results with mouse full-length cDNAs. The H-InvDB analysis has shown that up to 4% of the human genome sequence (National Center for Biotechnology Information build 34 assembly) may contain misassembled or missing regions. We found that 6.5% of the human gene candidates (1,377 loci) did not have a good protein-coding open reading frame, of which 296 loci are strong candidates for non-protein-coding RNA genes. In addition, among 72,027 uniquely mapped SNPs and insertions/deletions localized within human genes, 13,215 nonsynonymous SNPs, 315 nonsense SNPs, and 452 indels occurred in coding regions. Together with 25 polymorphic microsatellite repeats present in coding regions, they may alter protein structure, causing phenotypic effects or resulting in disease. The H-InvDB platform represents a substantial contribution to resources needed for the exploration of human biology and pathology

Comparison of intraocular pressure-lowering effects of ripasudil hydrochloride hydrate for inflammatory and corticosteroid-induced ocular hypertension

<div><p>Ocular hypertension (OHT) caused by inflammation or corticosteroid treatment is a common complication of uveitis. Ripasudil hydrochloride hydrate (K-115) is reportedly efficacious for lowering intraocular pressure (IOP). We retrospectively compared the IOP-lowering effect of K-115 for inflammatory and corticosteroid-induced OHT associated with uveitis. Thirty-six consecutive eyes of 27 patients with uveitis-associated OHT (20 and 16 eyes with inflammation- and corticosteroid-induced OHT, respectively) were treated with K-115 with or without other anti-glaucoma agents. In the inflammation-induced OHT, mean IOP and aqueous flare significantly decreased (P < 0.001 and P = 0.035, respectively), changing from 26.4 ± 7.5 mmHg and 28.1 ± 15.0 photon counts per millisecond (pc/ms) at the initial assessment to 17.9 ± 5.4 mmHg and 17.1 ± 10.7 pc/ms at the last visit, respectively. In the corticosteroid-induced OHT, mean IOP significantly decreased (P = 0.0005), changing from 26.7 ± 7.8 mmHg and 18.7 ± 11.2 pc/ms to 18.6 ± 8.8 mmHg and 22.6 ± 15.3 pc/ms, respectively; conversely, aqueous flare remained unchanged. In the inflammation-induced OHT, K-115 was more efficacious in the eyes with higher IOP. Neither remarkable adverse effects nor exacerbation of uveitis were observed in the eyes of either group during the observation period. K-115 decreased IOP in both inflammation- and corticosteroid-induced OHT associated with uveitis and played a synergistic role in reducing ocular inflammation in uveitis treatment.</p></div

The Dual Role of Scavenger Receptor Class A in Development of Diabetes in Autoimmune NOD Mice

<div><p>Human type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that results from the autoreactive destruction of pancreatic β cells by T cells. Antigen presenting cells including dendritic cells and macrophages are required to activate and suppress antigen-specific T cells. It has been suggested that antigen uptake from live cells by dendritic cells via scavenger receptor class A (SR-A) may be important. However, the role of SR-A in autoimmune disease is unknown. In this study, SR-A^−/− nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice showed significant attenuation of insulitis, lower levels of insulin autoantibodies, and suppression of diabetes development compared with NOD mice. We also found that diabetes progression in SR-A^−/− NOD mice treated with low-dose polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I∶C)) was significantly accelerated compared with that in disease-resistant NOD mice treated with low-dose poly(I∶C). In addition, injection of high-dose poly(I∶C) to mimic an acute RNA virus infection significantly accelerated diabetes development in young SR-A^−/− NOD mice compared with untreated SR-A^−/− NOD mice. Pathogenic cells including CD4⁺CD25⁺ activated T cells were increased more in SR-A^−/− NOD mice treated with poly(I∶C) than in untreated SR-A^−/− NOD mice. These results suggested that viral infection might accelerate diabetes development even in diabetes-resistant subjects. In conclusion, our studies demonstrated that diabetes progression was suppressed in SR-A^−/− NOD mice and that acceleration of diabetes development could be induced in young mice by poly(I∶C) treatment even in SR-A^−/− NOD mice. These results suggest that SR-A on antigen presenting cells such as dendritic cells may play an unfavorable role in the steady state and a protective role in a mild infection. Our findings imply that SR-A may be an important target for improving therapeutic strategies for type 1 diabetes.</p></div