CNVs in Three Psychiatric Disorders

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine the similarities and differences in the roles of genic and regulatory copy number variations (CNVs) in bipolar disorder (BD), schizophrenia (SCZ), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). METHODS: Based on high-resolution CNV data from 8708 Japanese samples, we performed to our knowledge the largest cross-disorder analysis of genic and regulatory CNVs in BD, SCZ, and ASD. RESULTS: In genic CNVs, we found an increased burden of smaller (500 kb) exonic CNVs in SCZ/ASD. Pathogenic CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders were significantly associated with the risk for each disorder, but BD and SCZ/ASD differed in terms of the effect size (smaller in BD) and subtype distribution of CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. We identified 3 synaptic genes (DLG2, PCDH15, and ASTN2) as risk factors for BD. Whereas gene set analysis showed that BD-associated pathways were restricted to chromatin biology, SCZ and ASD involved more extensive and similar pathways. Nevertheless, a correlation analysis of gene set results indicated weak but significant pathway similarities between BD and SCZ or ASD (r = 0.25–0.31). In SCZ and ASD, but not BD, CNVs were significantly enriched in enhancers and promoters in brain tissue. CONCLUSIONS: BD and SCZ/ASD differ in terms of CNV burden, characteristics of CNVs linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, and regulatory CNVs. On the other hand, they have shared molecular mechanisms, including chromatin biology. The BD risk genes identified here could provide insight into the pathogenesis of BD

An Analysis of High School Students’Critical Ability in Their Speeches on Music Appreciation

The purpose of this research is to suggest to the music teachers that they use the new method for training critical ability of music appreciation. Therefore, I taught a music appreciation lesson at a high school; this lesson was based on the new method which focuses on dialogues. After we listened to a piece of music I analyzed the meaning of all the speeches and evaluated whether criticism had been included. I have already clarified the structure of musical criticism in past paper. It is structured through three abilities. One of them is the ability to feel the quality generated by the music elements by perceiving their characteristics. Secondly is the ability to judge the musical value through feeling from perceiving. And the other is the ability to speak concretely to the other people around them. After the analysis, I discovered that most students could feel and perceive the characteristics. But, some of the students couldn' t judge the value and most couldn' t speak concretely about the piece. I thought the cause was that the high school students don' t have enough vocabulary, especially predicative adjectives, for explaining abstract things. Moreover, they can' t use metaphors. For instilling critical ability, it is necessary to practice dialogues in music appreciation lessons. The music teacher should teach their students the various adjectives and metaphors used for explaining musical quality. Plus, they should make students train in using them while they are listening to music

A Teaching Guide for Stimulating the Development of "Kansei" ―Through the Criticism of Art Appreciation―

本研究は、教育実践において子どもの感性を育成していくための指導指針を、教職大学院に学ぶ教員志望者や現職教員に向けて提案しようとするものである。 「感性」の定義は学会レベルでも今なお追究の途上にあるが、少なくとも教育実践において子どもに求めるそれは、対象を認識してその価値を能動的・創造的に判断する能力の1つとして捉えることができる。そしてここには芸術批評の概念と共通する部分がある。そこで本研究では、芸術鑑賞によって得られた批評の結果を分析し、対象の詳細な知覚と感受、及び、その結果を表出するための具体的で創造的な言語生成に感性が関与することを明らかにした。この結果から導出した感性育成の指導指針を、感性育成においては教師自身の感性を高める必要があることを踏まえ、教職大学院の授業シラバスとして提出した

Amino Acids in Positions 48, 52, and 73 Differentiate the Substrate Specificities of the Highly Homologous Chlorocatechol 1,2-Dioxygenases CbnA and TcbC

Chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase (CCD) is the first-step enzyme of the chlorocatechol ortho-cleavage pathway, which plays a central role in the degradation of various chloroaromatic compounds. Two CCDs, CbnA from the 3-chlorobenzoate-degrader Ralstonia eutropha NH9 and TcbC from the 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene-degrader Pseudomonas sp. strain P51, are highly homologous, having only 12 different amino acid residues out of identical lengths of 251 amino acids. But CbnA and TcbC are different in substrate specificities against dichlorocatechols, favoring 3,5-dichlorocatechol (3,5-DC) and 3,4-dichlorocatechol (3,4-DC), respectively. A study of chimeric mutants constructed from the two CCDs indicated that the N-terminal parts of the enzymes were responsible for the difference in the substrate specificities. Site-directed mutagenesis studies further identified the amino acid in position 48 (Leu in CbnA and Val in TcbC) as critical in differentiating the substrate specificities of the enzymes, which agreed well with molecular modeling of the two enzymes. Mutagenesis studies also demonstrated that Ile-73 of CbnA and Ala-52 of TcbC were important for their high levels of activity towards 3,5-DC and 3,4-DC, respectively. The importance of Ile-73 for 3,5-DC specificity determination was also shown with other CCDs such as TfdC from Burkholderia sp. NK8 and TfdC from Alcaligenes sp. CSV90 (identical to TfdC from R. eutropha JMP134), which convert 3,5-DC preferentially. Together with amino acid sequence comparisons indicating high conservation of Leu-48 and Ile-73 among CCDs, these results suggested that TcbC of strain P51 had diverged from other CCDs to be adapted to conversion of 3,4-DC

Music Appreciation Classes as Education for Intercultural Understanding －Through Exchange of Critiques on Kumamoto Prefecture Yoshino Kagura and Nisemoto Kagura－

The "Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education," a major outcome of UNESCO's Second World Conference on Arts Education (2010), shows how arts education should be conducted in the future throughout the world. The following strategy is particularly noteworthy as perspectives that have been lacking in arts education in Japan: "Support and enhance the role of arts education in the promotion of social responsibility, social cohesion, cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue". Focusing on this strategy above, this study plans and puts into practice a specific example of a new kind of appreciation education for junior high school music classes. The aims and methods of this practice are based on the "Guidebook (junior high school edition) for New Music Appreciation Classes Incorporating Critiques－Discovering, Thinking, Creating, and Broadening Enjoyable Appreciation－." The lesson practice proposed in this study attempts to realize exchange between different cultures through music appreciation. Students from two junior high schools in Kumamoto Prefecture together watch performances of the Kagura music of their respective regions and then write critiques to convey to each other the distinctive characteristics of the music and what they felt about it. Music appreciation education as a means of intercultural understanding and the writing of critiques on musicare methods that have been used before. However, there are not many actual examples of dialogue and exchange of critiques among people with different cultural background. As a more realistic method of educational practice in intercultural understanding in the field of music class teaching, the results of this project provide valuable suggestions for appreciation education in the future