Training Learners to Negotiate for Meaning: An Exploratory Case Study

This paper reports on an exploratory case study investigatingthe possibility of training second language learners to beeffective interlocutors in second language learning tasks. Thestudy followed a pre-test, instruction, post-test design. Fourlearners completed a picture difference task, then receivedinstruction on negotiation for meaning, and finally completeda different version of the picture difference task. Learners alsoparticipated in stimulated recall sessions at each stage of theexperiment and completed a questionnaire at the end. Findingssuggest that learners are receptive to instruction on negotiation,that such instruction has the potential to enrich the quantityand quality of negotiation between learners, and thatinstruction on negotiation for meaning may also enhancelearners’ motivation for learning

Aluminum Silicate Nanotube Coating of Siloxane-Poly(lactic acid)-Vaterite Composite Fibermats for Bone Regeneration

In our earlier work, a flexible fibermat consisting of a biodegradable composite with soluble silicate species, which has been reported to enhance bone formation, was prepared successfully using poly(L-lactic acid) and siloxane-containing calcium carbonate particles by electrospinning. The fibermat showed enhanced bone formation in an in vivo test. In the present work, to improve the hydrophilicity of skeletal fibers in a fibermat, they were coated with nanotubular aluminum silicate crystals, which have a hydrophilic surface that has excellent affinity to body fluids and a high surface area advantageous for pronounced protein adsorption. The nanotubes were coated easily on the fiber surface using an electrophoretic method. In a conventional contact angle test, a drop of water rapidly penetrated into the nanotube-coated fibermat. The culture test using murine osteoblast-like cells (MC3T3-E1) showed that the cell attachment to the nanotube-coated fibermat at an early stage after seeding was enhanced in comparison with that to the noncoated one. This approach may provide a new method of improving the surface of polymer-based biomaterials

Preparation and Rheological Characterization of Imogolite Hydrogels

Imogolite, one of the aluminium silicates, has a nanotube structure and has been known to form gel under alkaline condition. Imogolite nanotubes were synthesized in an acidic solution with various tube lengths by controlling the aging time from 1 d to 14 d. The length of the nanotubes grew from 100 nm to several μm as the aging time. Pure imogolite hydrogels were prepared by applying a salting-out method and centrifugation from its dispersed solutions with various tube lengths and solution pH. Imogolite hydrogel can be classified as the physically cross-linked one; the structure of the gel network is considered to be the entanglements and hydrogen bonding among nanotubes. The theoretical water contents of the prepared hydrogels were calculated as ∼99.7% in average. Gelation percentage significantly increased as the length of imogolite nanotubes. Whereas hydrogel prepared from 4 d aging sample showed the highest storage modulus of ∼970 Pa, it was found that the hydrogel could be prepared in the pH range from 6 to 10. The gel strength reached the highest value of 1000 Pa when the gel was prepared from the imogolite dispersed solution of pH 8. It could be explained by the surface charge variation of the imogolite

Impact of Cationic Amino Acid Transporter 1 on Blood- Retinal Barrier Transport of L-Ornithine

PURPOSE. To elucidate L-ornithine transport at the blood-retinal barrier (BRB). METHODS. Integration plot and retinal uptake index (RUI) were used to investigate the in vivo [ 3 H]L-ornithine transport across the BRB. In vitro transport studies of [ 3 H]L-ornithine were performed with TR-iBRB2 cells and RPE-J cells, the model cells of the inner and outer BRB, respectively. Immunohistochemistry was performed on cationic amino acid transporter 1 (CAT1/SLC7A1). RESULTS. The apparent influx permeability clearance of [ 3 H]L-ornithine was found to be 18. 7 lL/(minÁg retina), and the RUI of [ 3 H]L-ornithine was reduced by L-ornithine and L-arginine, suggesting the blood-to-retina transport of L-ornithine at the BRB. [ 3 H]L-Ornithine uptake by TR-iBRB2 cells showed a time-, temperature-and concentration-dependence with a MichaelisMenten constant (K m ) of 33.2 lM and a nonsaturable uptake rate (K d ) of 2.18 lL/(minÁmg protein). The uptake was Na þ -independent, and was inhibited by L-ornithine, L-arginine, and L-lysine, suggesting the involvement of CAT1 in L-ornithine transport at the inner BRB. Immunohistochemistry revealed the luminal and abluminal localization of CAT1 at the inner BRB, and at the basal localization at the outer BRB. Retinal pigment epithelium-J cells showed that the basal-to-cell (B-to-C) uptake of [ 3 H]L-ornithine was greater than that of the apical-tocell (A-to-C) uptake, and the B-to-C transport was inhibited by unlabeled L-ornithine, suggesting the involvement of CAT1 in the blood-to-cell transport of L-ornithine across the basal membrane at the outer BRB. CONCLUSIONS. These suggest the involvement of CAT1 in L-ornithine transport at the luminal and abluminal sides of the inner BRB and the basal side of the outer BRB

Electrospinning 3D bioactive glasses for wound healing

An electrospinning technique was used to produce three-dimensional (3D) bioactive glass fibrous scaffolds, in the SiO2-CaO system, for wound healing applications. Previously, it was thought that 3D cotton wool-like structures could only be produced when the sol contained calcium nitrate, implying that the Ca2+ and its electronic charge had a significant effect on the structure produced. Here, fibres with a 3D appearance were also electrospun from compositions containing only silica. A polymer binding agent was added to inorganic sol-gel solutions, enabling electrospinning prior to bioactive glass network formation and the polymer was removed by calcination. While the addition of Ca2+ contributes to the 3D morphology, here we show that other factors, such as relative humidity, play an important role in producing the 3D cotton-wool-like macrostructure of the fibres. A human dermal fibroblast cell line (CD-18CO) was exposed to dissolution products of the samples. Cell proliferation and metabolic activity tests were carried out and a VEGF ELISA showed a significant increase in VEGF production in cells exposed to the bioactive glass samples compared to control in DMEM. A novel SiO2-CaO nanofibrous scaffold was created that showed tailorable physical and dissolution properties, the control and composition of these release products are important for directing desirable wound healing interactions

シンリンヨク ト ケンコウ ニ カンスル セイシン シンケイ メンエキガクテキ ケンキュウ

Effects of "shinrin-yoku (forest-air bathing and walking)" on psychological, physiological, and immunological aspects were examined. Twenty (10 male and 10female) undergraduates stayed in a forest environment and in a non forest environment for about 8 hours and they performed two types of acute stress tasks (Stroop task as a mental stressor and cold pressor as a physical stressor) in each environment. The subjects rated their affective states and their blood and urine were drown at the beginning and at the end of each experimental session. Immunological indexes (NK cell activity, immunoglobulin M, G, and A) and endocrine indexes (cortisol, cathecolamines) were assessed from their blood and urine samples. Subjects\u27 humoral immune levels (salivary immunoglobulin A), an endocrine measure (salivary cortisol), and psychological states (state anxiety and subjective stress) were evaluated before and after exposure to the stress tasks. Also, EEG, BOG, and ECG were measured during the Stroop task. The results of immunological indexes demonstrated that exposure to the forest environment effectively increased cellular and humoral immune activity. This finding implicated that shinrin-yoku has some positive effects for health promotion

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target