Calcineurin knockout mice show a selective loss of small spines

Calcineurin is required for long-term depression and activity-dependent spine shrinkage, and calcineurin mutations have been identified in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, mice with conditional knockout of calcineurin B (CNB-KO) exhibit behavioral abnormalities suggestive of schizophrenia. Changes in the dendritic spines of these mice, however, have not been investigated. We therefore examined the dendritic spines of CNB-KO mice, and observed a significant reduction in small spines and an increase in large spines in the prefrontal and visual cortices. The effect of CNB-KO on the spine sizes was relatively moderate, possibly due to the presence of spontaneous fluctuations (dynamics) in the dendritic spines themselves. Thus, CNB-KO mice showed a spine phenotype similar to those recently reported in patients with schizophrenia

ガクセイ ノ リカイ ヲ フカメル ハンテンジュギョウ ノ ジュギョウ デザイン ノ トクチョウ : ダイガク ニ オケル カガク ノ ジュギョウ ヲ ジレイ ニ

This study aimed to suggest an opinion for the design of a flipped classroom through examining acase study in which the practicality of a flipped classroom in chemistry lessons was studied. In recent years, deep learning for students has become a matter of strong interest for higher education. Flipped learning has become widespread in higher education. This new instructional strategy is different from the ones used in a conventional classroom in which students carry out desk work. In a flipped classroom, instructional content is delivered online and outside the classroom. On the other hand, group work is conducted inside the classroom. This study focused on the use of a flipped classroom in a “Basic Inorganic Chemistry” class for sophomores in Osaka University. It was found that most students were satisfied with this method. Students established their own strategy of self-learning through watching videos and deeply understood the instructional content through mutual teaching and learning in group work. The findings demonstrated that the factors that promote a flipped classroom include designing students’ activities, learning objectives, and learning environment inside and outside of class (both before and after class)

ダイガク キョウイン ノ ガクシキ ヲ マナブ プレ FD プログラム ノ ヒョウカ オオサカ ダイガク ミライ ノ ダイガク キョウイン ヨウセイ プログラム ダイガク ジュギョウ カイハツ ロン３ ヲ ジレイ ニ

本稿では，将来大学教員を目指す大学院生が，大学教員の学識を学ぶためのプレFDプログラムである「大学授業開発論Ⅲ」の評価を行うことが目的である．本授業では，大学院生が将来大学教員になった際，自分自身で授業を分析，改善していける能力を身につけるために，1）教育・研究・社会貢献の抱負の作成，2）教育・研究・社会貢献の領域の統合，3）教育実践研究の計画作成を実施した．調査結果から，履修生はいずれの年度においても，高い満足感を持っており，それぞれの学習活動において到達目標に掲げられた能力は概ね習得したと実感していることが明らかになった．教育・研究・社会貢献の抱負の作成と統合の活動は，回顧的な意味付け，新たな観点の習得，そして大学教授職のキャリアへの接続という気づきをもたらした．また，教育実践研究の計画作成は，教育経験とその成果に関連があり，自分自身の学問分野と教育実践研究の関連性のきづきや，自らの業績にプラスになると考えていることが確認された．The purpose of this paper is to design, practice, and assessment “Course Design and Teaching III,” a Preparing Future Faculty Program to learning university faculty’s scholarship for graduate students who aspire to become future university faculty and also those who aim to become faculty members who will continuously contribute in improving education system. The subject of this study, “Course Design and Teaching”, is one of the courses in the Osaka University Future Faculty Program established in 2015. In this course, we design and practice the following activities to enable the students to improve their own teaching when they become faculty members in the future: 1. Creating goals for education, research, and social contribution. 2. Designing and implementing the integration of different areas in education, research and social contribution. 3. Creating plans for educational practice research. Our data has confirmed that students from each year starting from 2015 have expressed their satisfaction in the program and they also felt that they have achieved their learning goals in every learning activity. The activities of creating and integrating goals for teaching, research, and social contribution led to the realization of retrospective meaning making, acquisition of new perspectives, and connection to career. The planning of educational practice research was positively associated with the impact on one's own practice, relevance to research, and discipline characteristics, and negatively associated with lack of conceptual understanding and time limitations.教育実践レポー

Transformation of ActoHMM Assembly Confined in Cell-Sized Liposome

To construct a simple model of a cellular system equipped with motor proteins, cell-sized giant liposomes encapsulating various amounts of actoHMM, the complexes of actin filaments (F-actin) and heavy meromyosin (HMM, an actin-related molecular motor), with a depletion reagent to mimic the crowding effect of inside of living cell, were prepared. We adapted the methodology of the spontaneous transfer of water-in-oil (W/O) droplets through a phospholipid monolayer into the bulk aqueous phase and successfully prepared stable giant liposomes encapsulating the solution with a physiological salt concentration containing the desired concentrations of actoHMM, which had been almost impossible to obtain using currently adapted methodologies such as natural swelling and electro-formation on an electrode. We then examined the effect of ATP on the cytoskeleton components confined in those cell-sized liposomes, because ATP is known to drive the sliding motion for actoHMM. We added α-hemolysin, a bacterial membrane pore-forming toxin, to the bathing solution and obtained liposomes with the protein pores embedded on the bilayer membrane to allow the transfer of ATP inside the liposomes. We show that, by the ATP supply, the actoHMM bundles inside the liposomes exhibit specific changes in spatial distribution, caused by the active sliding between F-actin and HMM. Interestingly, all F-actins localized around the inner periphery of liposomes smaller than a critical size, whereas in the bulk solution and also in larger liposomes, the actin bundles formed aster-like structures under the same conditions