Formation of students’ perceptions of physical education

For formative evaluation of teaching, it is essential to consider students’ perception of teaching. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the order of units in a physical education class on students’ perception. The subjects were 126 freshmen enrolled in a general physical education course. The course units were arranged in the following manner: badminton, volleyball, and basketball. At the end of the course, the students described their thoughts regarding it. We analyzed the documented responses via text mining. The results showed that the order and characteristics of the course units, specially arranged for this study, progressively affected the students’ perception

Abodehella, A New Genus of Tetrataxid Foraminifera from the Late Permian

A new genus, Abadehella comprising three new species (tarazi, coniformis, and biconvexa) is proposed and described. So far as the morphologic features are concerned, the genus is considered to be a specialized genus in the family Tetrataxidae. This characteristic genus is found from the basal part of the Abadeh Formation in central Iran, the lowest member of the Zewan Formation in Kashmir, the Palaeofusulina limestone in Malaysia, Lepidolina multiseptata limestones in Cambodia and northeast Japan, the Takauchi and Reichelina-Colaniella limestones of the Maizuru belt, and the Lepidolina kumaensis zone of Shikoku in Japan. The stratigraphic occurrence is limited to the Late Permian and the genus is considered to be useful for international correlation

Suzaku Detection of Extended/Diffuse Hard X-Ray Emission from the Galactic Center

Five on-plane regions within +/- 0.8deg of the Galactic center were observed with the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) and the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) onboard Suzaku. From all regions, significant hard X-ray emission was detected with HXD-PIN up to 40 keV, in addition to the extended plasma emission which is dominant in the XIS band. The hard X-ray signals are inferred to come primarily from a spatially extended source, rather than from a small number of bright discrete objects. Contributions to the HXD data from catalogued X-ray sources, typically brighter than 1 mCrab, were estimated and removed using information from Suzaku and other satellites. Even after this removal, the hard X-ray signals remained significant, exhibiting a typical 12--40 keV surface brightness of 4E-10 erg cm-2 s-1 deg-2 and power-law-like spectra with a photon index of 1.8. Combined fittings to the XIS and HXD-PIN spectra confirm that a separate hard tail component is superposed onto the hot thermal emission, confirming a previous report based on the XIS data. Over the 5--40 keV band, the hard tail is spectrally approximated by a power law of photon index ~2, but better by those with somewhat convex shapes. Possible origins of the extended hard X-ray emission are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figure

K. Popper\u27s Thesis of "Methodological Individualism" and Curriculum Development in Social Studies

The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to present a curriculum making procedure for teaching societal phenomena such as institutions and mechanisms of social changes, retaining the relations with children\u27s everyday life experiences, and (2) to justify the efectiveness of the procedure by applying it to the case of a curriculum designed for the purpose of teaching the concept of "price mechanism". The procedure was adopted following Karl Popper\u27s thesis of "Methodological Individualism" and his doctrine of "Logic of the Situation". This procedure can help us to develop a curriculum to teach societal phenomena by analyzing the individuals\u27 situations so that they may be grounded upon the general laws commonly taken for granted by members of the society

Idiopathic pneumoperitoneum after trauma

Intra-abdominal free gas is a finding of extra-intestinal gas in the abdominal cavity on radiography or CT, mainly suggesting gastrointestinal perforation and necessitating emergency surgery. Idiopathic pneumoperitoneum is diagnosed when there is no obvious gastrointestinal perforation, but there is presence of free gas in the abdominal cavity with an unidentifiable cause. Herein, we report a case of idiopathic pneumoperitoneum secondary to high-energy trauma following a car rollover accident. A 95-year-old man was transferred to our clinic after a car-to-car rollover accident. He had abrasions on his right upper arm and left abdomen that appeared to be the result of the accident ; however, no other apparent traumatic injuries were noted. There was no pain in the abdomen, and peritoneal irritation symptoms were also not noted. A CT scan showed fine free air. Although idiopathic pneumoperitoneum could not be ruled out, considering the patient’s background and the possibility of traumatic small bowel perforation, emergency surgery was performed. A thorough search of the abdominal cavity was performed ; however, the surgery was completed without an obvious perforation site. Idiopathic pneumoperitoneum should be considered as a differential disease in cases who have free air on abdominal CT but clinically lack obvious inflammatory reaction findings

Consideration of mouth opening when using positioning stents during radiotherapy for tongue cancer: a retrospective study

Background: The aim was to clarify the range of mouth opening required to minimize the development of oral mucositis on the palate while using a positioning stent during radiotherapy in patients with tongue cancer. A positioning stent is used to reduce the severity of oral mucositis; however, requirements for fabricating the device have not been standardized. In particular, the range of mouth opening required while using a stent to prevent radiation-induced oral mucositis has not been determined. Material and methods: We retrospectively analyzed medical records and computed tomography (CT) images of nine patients who had undergone radiotherapy for tongue cancer. Irradiation dose for the palate and range of mouth opening while using the positioning stent was calculated from CT images and the radiotherapy treatment planning program. Results: The irradiation dose presented as medians and interquartile range (IQR) for the palate was 1.6 (IQR: 1.1–2.2) Gy with the use of the positioning stent and 37.2 (IQR: 17.5–44.1) Gy without the use of the positioning stent. The was 19–37 [mean ± standard deviation (SD): 26 ± 5.6] mm, and it attenuation amount of irradiation dose to the palate (r = 0.673, p = 0.0467). Regression equation was y = 0.21x + 19. Conclusions: Our study may be useful for deriving the relationship between the attenuation amount of irradiation of the palate with the positioning stent and the amount of mouth opening required for this attenuation.

Clinical significance of PMI with GC patients

Aim : We investigated whether preoperative or postoperative inflammatory markers and psoas muscle index (PMI), and their change after surgery, could predict postoperative recurrence in gastric cancer (GC). Methods : Thirty-five patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for pStage II and III GC were retrospectively reviewed. The relationship between neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS), and PMI, as well as postoperative recurrence, was analyzed presurgery and at 6 months after surgery. Results : In the preoperative data, there was a significant association between postoperative recurrence and high NLR, low total protein, low albumin, low PNI, and high GPS. In the data from 6 months after surgery, there was a significant association between postoperative recurrence and high NLR, high C-reactive protein, and high GPS. The reduction in PMI at 6 months after surgery relative to preoperative data was significantly greater in the cases with recurrence than in those without recurrence. No patients whose PMI increased compared with presurgery had recurrence. Conclusions : The postoperative reduction in PMI at 6 months after surgery relative to presurgery could be a predictive marker of recurrence after curative gastrectomy for patients with pStage II and III GC

Treatment for recurrence after esophagectomy

Background : With regard to the recurrence of esophageal cancer after surgery, the prognosis has improved with the progress of multimodal perioperative treatment. In this study, the recurrence pattern, treatment method, and prognosis of recurrent cases following esophageal cancer surgery were retrospectively examined. Materials and Methods : Three hundred seven patients with histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and others were enrolled in the study. With respect to clinicopathologic factors and recurrence patterns, recurrence risk factors, recurrence period, treatment for recurrence, and prognosis were investigated. Results : Ninety two percent of all recurrent cases were observed within two years after radical esophagectomy. Locoregional recurrence, distant recurrence, and mixed recurrence were observed in 38 (35%), 56 (51%), and 16 (14%) cases, respectively. Patients with lymph node metastasis showed a significantly longer survival in comparison to those with metastasis to other organs (p = 0.0032). When analyzed using the treatment method, patients who underwent surgery (only surgery or additional postoperative chemotherapy) exhibited better survival in comparison to those who underwent other treatments. Discussion : Detailed and strict follow-up within two years are necessary in cases with deeper than muscular invasion, cases with extensive lymph node metastasis, or cases with lymphatic or vascular invasion