教職を志望する大学生の特別支援教育に関する知識や指導上の不安 : 通常の学級の担当教員を志す学部生を対象として

通常の学級の担当教員を志望する大学生を対象として、特別支援教育に関する基礎的知識、ならびに特別な教育的支援を必要とする児童生徒の指導を担当することの不安等についてアンケート調査を行った。特別支援教育に関する基礎的知識に関しては、特別支援学校のセンター的機能や特別支援教育コーディネーターについての定着度が低かった。特別な教育的支援を必要とする児童生徒の指導を担当することの不安等に関しては、「学習指導」においては「適切な指導ができるか」「知識不足」、「学習環境の整備」においては「知識不足」「適切な整備ができるか」、「生徒指導と学級経営」においては「周囲の児童生徒に対する障害理解教育」「知識不足」「経験不足」「児童生徒どうしの関係づくり」、「保護者や校内外の関係機関との連携」においては、「保護者と良好な関係を築くことができるか」「保護者にむけた障害理解教育」、「その他」においては「漠然とした不安がある」「全般的な知識不足」という回答の数が上位にのぼった。A questionnaire survey was conducted on basic knowledge and concerns about teaching students with special educational needs among undergraduate students who wish to become regular classroom teachers. Regarding basic knowledge of special needs education, the level of familiarity with the central functions of special needs schools and special needs education coordinators was low. Regarding concerns about teaching students with special educational needs, respondents answered as follows: 1) “Insufficient knowledge” and “Can I provide appropriate guidance?” in “Guidance for learning”; 2) “Insufficient knowledge” and “Can I provide appropriate improvement of learning environment?” in “Maintenance of learning environment”; 3) “Education to understand disabilities for surrounding students,” “Insufficient knowledge,” “Lack of experience,” “Building relationships among students” in “Student guidance and classroom management”; 4) “Can I built a good relationship with students’ parents?” and “Education to understand disabilities for students’ parents” in “Cooperation with parents and related organizations inside and outside the school”; 5) “Vague sense of anxiety” and “Overall poor knowledge” in the “others” category.本稿は、日本特殊教育学会第60回大会において発表した内容に加筆・修正を加えたものである

Intraday Activity Levels May Better Reflect the Differences Between Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder Than Average Daily Activity Levels

It is important to establish an objective index to differentiate mood disorders (i.e., bipolar disorder; BD and major depressive disorder; MDD). The present study focused on the pattern of changes of physical activity in the amount of activity intraday, and examined the relationship between activity patterns and mood disorders. One hundred and eighteen inpatients with MDD or BD in a depressive state provided the activity data by using wearable activity trackers for 3 weeks. In order to illuminate the characteristic patterns of intraday activities, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was adopted to extract the main components of intraday activity changes. We found that some of the PCs reflected the differences between the types of mood disorder. BD participants showed high activity pattern in the morning and low activity pattern in evenings. However, MDD showed the opposite. Our results suggest that activity tracking focused on daytime activity patterns may provide objective auxiliary diagnostic information

An Open-labeled, Multicenter Phase II Study of Tamibarotene in Patients with Steroid-refractory Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a major cause of late death and morbidity following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HSCT). Retinoic acid (tamibarotene) exerts multiple effects on cell differentiation and is clinically used for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. Tamibarotene down-regulates both Th1 and Th17 differentiation in donor T cells after allogeneic HSCT, resulting in attenuation of experimental chronic GVHD. Based on preclinical data, we have launched a phase II study of tamibarotene in patients with steroid-refractory chronic GVHD. This study will clarify whether tamibarotene can exert beneficial effects in patients with steroid-refractory chronic GVHD

Regular-Triangle Trimer and Charge Order Preserving the Anderson Condition in the Pyrochlore Structure of CsW2_2O6_6

Since the discovery of the Verwey transition in magnetite, transition metal compounds with pyrochlore structures have been intensively studied as a platform for realizing remarkable electronic phase transitions. We report the discovery of a unique phase transition that preserves the cubic symmetry of the beta-pyrochlore oxide CsW$_2$O$_6$, where each of W 5d electrons are confined in regular-triangle W3 trimers. This trimer formation is an unprecedented self-organization of d electrons, which can be resolved into a charge order satisfying the Anderson condition in a nontrivial way, orbital order caused by the distortion of WO6 octahedra, and the formation of a spin-singlet pair in a regular-triangle trimer. Electronic instability due to the unusual three-dimensional nesting of Fermi surfaces and the localized nature of the 5d electrons characteristic of the pyrochlore oxides were found to play important roles in this unique charge-orbital-spin coupled phenomenon.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Advantages of peripheral blood stem cells from unrelated donors versus bone marrow transplants in outcomes of adult acute myeloid leukemia patients

[Background aims] In allogeneic stem cell transplantation, unrelated donors are chosen in cases where appropriate related donors are not available. Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) are more often selected as a graft source than bone marrow (BM). However, the prognostic benefits of PBSCs versus BM transplants from unrelated donors have not been carefully examined in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This study compared outcomes of adult AML patients who underwent unrelated PBSC and BM transplantation, evaluating post-transplant complications, including engraftment, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and infections, and determined subgroups of patients who are most likely to benefit from unrelated PBSCs compared with BM transplants. [Methods] The authors analyzed 2962 adult AML patients who underwent unrelated PBSC or BM transplants between 2011 and 2018 (221 PBSC and 2741 BM) using the Japanese nationwide registry database, in which graft source selection is not skewed toward PBSCs. [Results] In 49.7% of patients, disease status at transplantation was first complete remission (CR1). In 57.1% of cases, HLA-matched donors were selected. Myeloablative conditioning was performed in 75.1% of cases, and anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) was added to conditioning in 10.5%. Multivariate analyses showed a trend toward favorable non-relapse mortality (NRM) in PBSC recipients compared with BM recipients (hazard ratio [HR], 0.731, P = 0.096), whereas overall survival (OS) (HR, 0.959, P = 0.230) and disease-free survival (DFS) (HR, 0.868, P = 0.221) were comparable between PBSC and BM recipients. Although the rate of chronic GVHD (cGVHD) was significantly higher in PBSC patients (HR, 1.367, P = 0.016), NRM was not increased, mainly as a result of significantly reduced risk of bacterial infections (HR, 0.618, P = 0.010), reflecting more prompt engraftments in PBSC recipients. Subgroup analyses revealed that PBSC transplantation was advantageous in patients transplanted at CR1 and in those without ATG use. PBSC recipients experienced significantly better OS and/or DFS compared with BM recipients in this patient group. [Conclusions] The authors' results confirmed the overall safety of unrelated PBSC transplantation for adult AML patients and suggested an advantage of PBSCs, especially for those in CR1. Further optimization of the prophylactic strategy for cGVHD is required to improve the overall outcome in transplantation from unrelated PBSC donors

Safety confirmation of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte patch transplantation for ischemic cardiomyopathy: first three case reports

IntroductionWith the expected increase in patients with heart failure and ischemic 15 cardiomyopathy, the development of myocardial regenerative medicine using cell transplantation as a novel treatment method is progressing. This first-in-human clinical trial aimed to confirm the safety of cardiomyocyte patch transplantation derived from allogeneic induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells based on the results of several preclinical studies.Study designThe inclusion criteria were left ventricular ejection fraction of 35% or less; heart failure symptoms of New York Heart Association class III or higher despite existing therapies such as revascularization; and a 1-year observation period that included a 3-month immunosuppressive drug administration period after transplantation of iPS cell-derived cardiomyocyte patches to evaluate adverse events, cardiac function, myocardial blood flow, heart failure symptoms, and immune response.ResultsIn the first three cases of this trial, no transplanted cell-related adverse events were observed during the 1-year observation period, and improvement in heart failure symptoms was observed. In addition, improvements in left ventricular contractility and myocardial blood flow were observed in two of the three patients. Regarding immune response, an increase in transplant cell-specific antibody titer was observed in all three patients after immunosuppressive drug administration. In one patient with poor improvement in cardiac function and myocardial blood flow, an increase in antibody titer against HLA-DQ was observed even before cell transplantation.ConclusionsOur case findings demonstrate that the transplantation of iPS cell-derived cardiomyocyte patches for ischemic cardiomyopathy can be safely performed; however, further investigation of the therapeutic effect and its relationship with an immune response is needed by accumulating the number of patients through continued clinical trials

Learning Activities Aimed at Fostering Media Literacy in High School for the Deaf: A Questionnaire Survey for Teachers

特別支援学校（聴覚障害）高等部においてメディア・リテラシーを育む授業を担当した教員を対象として、質問紙調査を実施した。情報科を中心とした複数の教科・領域を合わせたかたちで授業が実施されることが多く、そのねらいは各種メディアの特徴やそこでのコミュニケーションの方法、個人情報の取り扱い、メディアの信頼性といった内容を理解することが主であった。主な学習成果として、個人情報保護や書き込み内容などに注意するようになる、メディアが発信する情報を吟味するようになる、各種メディアの特徴を捉えて利用するようになる、といった点が挙げられた。回答者はメディアに関する学習をとおして判断力を育む、生徒の自立や社会参加に役立てる、生徒の知識を深めたり思考を広げたりする、といった意義を実感しながらも、生徒の言語力の実態と学習目標の達成、メディアを取り巻く倫理や情報モラルに関する指導、メディアに関する当事者意識や危機管理意識の育成、教材に関する情報保障、学校と家庭の連携といった点に困難を感じていた。A questionnaire survey was conducted for teachers who held classes to foster media literacy in the high schools for the deaf. The classes were often held in a form that combines multiple subjects and areas centered on the information science, and the aim of the classes were mainly to learn the characteristics of various media, communicating in media, handling of personal information, reliability of the media. The main learning outcomes are as follows: 1) Students came to be careful about personal information protection and writing contents in the media, 2) Students came to examine the information through the media, and 3) Students came be able to understand and use the characteristics of various media. Teachers realized the significance of developing judgment, helping students to become independent and participating in society, deepening their knowledge and broadening their thinking through learning about the media. On the other hand, teachers felt difficulty to achieve learning goals in classes because of students’ language skills, to provide guidance on ethics and information morals, to foster awareness of ownership and crisis management, to provide support service regarding teaching materials, and to cooperate between schools and students’ families