Effects of Niko Niko Room’s educational support program on students’ ability formation (9): Survey results of students who participated in the programs of 2017

The educational support programs offered at the Niko Niko Room of the Center for School Education and Research of Hiroshima University enable university students to support school children with their studies, especially arithmetic. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the educational support programs of 2017 on university students. Data of 62 students who answered questionnaires before and after the program was analyzed. Of the 62 students, 28 students did the actual study support and 34 students observed the study support done by other students. Students who did the actual teaching were taught and supervised by supervisors. All students participated in case review sessions where the group reviewed each case. Results showed that both the students who did the actual support and who did the observations formed “teaching skill” through their participation in the programs. Not only this study but also other previous studies which examined the effect of this educational support program showed a certain effect on formation of students’ abilities

Effects of Niko Niko Room’s educational support program on school children (10): Survey results of school children and their parents who participated in the programs of 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the educational support program, which offered at the Niko Niko Room of the Center for School Education and Research of Hiroshima University in 2017, on school children. Twelve school children and their guardians answered questionnaires about the program. Results showed the following: (1) Educational support had a positive effect on children’s “self-efficacy regarding arithmetic”. (2)Both children and guardians positively evaluated the effects of this program, and both of them estimated students’ abilities high. (3)Children’s estimation of students’ communication and understanding had positive relations to their “interests in arithmetic”

Patients' acceptability and implementation outcomes of a case management approach to encourage participation in colorectal cancer screening for people with schizophrenia: a qualitative secondary analysis of a mixed-method randomised clinical trial

Objectives We examined the efficacy of case management (CM) interventions to encourage participation in colorectal cancer screening for patients with schizophrenia. This study aimed to clarify patients' acceptability of the intervention and the helpful components of the intervention. Simultaneously, the study aimed to determine the acceptability, appropriateness and feasibility of the intervention from the perspective of psychiatric care providers. Study design and setting This study was a secondary qualitative analysis of a mixed-method randomised controlled trial that evaluated the efficacy of the CM approach to encourage participation in cancer screening for people with schizophrenia. The intervention comprised education and patient navigation for colorectal cancer screening. Interviews were conducted with patients who received the intervention and staff from two psychiatric hospitals in Japan who delivered the intervention. Participants Of the 172 patients with schizophrenia who participated in the trial, 153 were included. In addition, three out of six providers were included. Data collection and analysis Using a structured interview, the case manager asked participants about patient acceptability and the helpful components of the intervention. Content analysis was conducted for the responses obtained, and the number of responses was tabulated by two researchers. For the interviews with the providers, opinions obtained from verbatim transcripts were extracted and summarised. Results Forty-three of the 56 patients perceived that the intervention was acceptable. For the intervention component, inperson counselling with an explanation of the screening process by psychiatric care providers was most frequently reported by the patients as helpful (48 of the 68 respondents). Psychiatric care providers evaluated the intervention as acceptable, appropriate and easy to understand and administer. However, providing the intervention to all patients simultaneously was considered difficult with the current human resources. Conclusions This study showed that the CM intervention was perceived as acceptable by patients and acceptable and appropriate by psychiatric care providers

Comprehensive autoantibody profiling in systemic autoimmunity by a highly-sensitive multiplex protein array

Comprehensive autoantibody evaluation is essential for the management of autoimmune disorders. However, conventional methods suffer from poor sensitivity, low throughput, or limited availability. Here, using a proteome-wide human cDNA library, we developed a novel multiplex protein assay (autoantibody array assay; A-Cube) covering 65 antigens of 43 autoantibodies that are associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM). The performance of A-Cube was validated against immunoprecipitation and established enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Further, through an evaluation of serum samples from 357 SSc and 172 PM/DM patients, A-Cube meticulously illustrated a diverse autoantibody landscape in these diseases. The wide coverage and high sensitivity of A-Cube also allowed the overlap and correlation analysis between multiple autoantibodies. Lastly, reviewing the cases with distinct autoantibody profiles by A-Cube underscored the importance of thorough autoantibody detection. Together, these data highlighted the utility of A-Cube as well as the clinical relevance of autoantibody profiles in SSc and PM/DM

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements