Prognostic significance of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression in non-small cell lung cancer.

Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections of resected tumors from 90 patients were immunohistochemically studied to assess the prognostic value of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression in non-small cell lung cancer. The individual tumors were classified into groups of high, moderate or low proliferative grade, and 38 (42.2%) patients had a high grade of proliferation. No statistically significant correlations were observed between PCNA grade and TNM status, pathological stage, resectability, histological type, degree of histological differentiation. Only vascular invasion significantly correlated with proliferative grade (p &#60; 0.05). Survival analysis showed that patients with low proliferative grade tumors survived significantly longer (a 5-year survival rate of 83.3%) than those with high proliferative grade tumors (39.4%, p &#60; 0.005). Cox's multivariate analysis revealed that PCNA grade was a significant prognostic determinant of survival. These results suggest that PCNA expression provides an independent prognostic variable for patients with non-small cell lung cancer and that it may be useful to consider this factor in treatment planning.</p

Variants of C-C Motif Chemokine 22 (CCL22) Are Associated with Susceptibility to Atopic Dermatitis: Case-Control Studies

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease caused by multiple genetic and environmental factors. AD is characterized by the local infiltration of T helper type 2 (Th2) cells. Recent clinical studies have shown important roles of the Th2 chemokines, CCL22 and CCL17 in the pathogenesis of AD. To investigate whether polymorphisms of the CCL22 gene affect the susceptibility to AD, we conducted association studies and functional studies of the related variants. We first resequenced the CCL22 gene and found a total of 39 SNPs. We selected seven tag SNPs in the CCL22 gene, and conducted association studies using two independent Japanese populations (1st population, 916 cases and 1,032 controls; 2nd population 1,034 cases and 1,004 controls). After the association results were combined by inverse variance method, we observed a significant association at rs4359426 (meta-analysis, combined P = 9.6×10−6; OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.65–0.85). Functional analysis revealed that the risk allele of rs4359426 contributed to higher expression levels of CCL22 mRNA. We further examined the allelic differences in the binding of nuclear proteins by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. The signal intensity of the DNA-protein complex derived from the G allele of rs223821, which was in absolute LD with rs4359426, was higher than that from the A allele. Although further functional analyses are needed, it is likely that related variants play a role in susceptibility to AD in a gain-of-function manner. Our findings provide a new insight into the etiology and pathogenesis of AD

ORAI1 Genetic Polymorphisms Associated with the Susceptibility of Atopic Dermatitis in Japanese and Taiwanese Populations

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. Multiple genetic and environmental factors are thought to be responsible for susceptibility to AD. In this study, we collected 2,478 DNA samples including 209 AD patients and 729 control subjects from Taiwanese population and 513 AD patients and 1027 control subject from Japanese population for sequencing and genotyping ORAI1. A total of 14 genetic variants including 3 novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the ORAI1 gene were identified. Our results indicated that a non-synonymous SNP (rs3741596, Ser218Gly) associated with the susceptibility of AD in the Japanese population but not in the Taiwanese population. However, there is another SNP of ORAI1 (rs3741595) associated with the risk of AD in the Taiwanese population but not in the Japanese population. Taken together, our results indicated that genetic polymorphisms of ORAI1 are very likely to be involved in the susceptibility of AD

Creating contact points between empirical modelling and theoretical modelling in teacher education: The case of pendulum problem

International audienceBoth empirical modelling (EM) and theoretical modelling (TM) are essential in mathematical modelling. This study explored how graduate students promoted teaching competencies for mathematical modelling by conducting EM and TM with the pendulum task. Through the analysis of modelling lessons, we found that the experiences of both EM and TM with the same material were important for the students to understand a modelling cycle and the aims and perspectives of modelling

Creating contact points between empirical modelling and theoretical modelling in teacher education: The case of pendulum problem

International audienceBoth empirical modelling (EM) and theoretical modelling (TM) are essential in mathematical modelling. This study explored how graduate students promoted teaching competencies for mathematical modelling by conducting EM and TM with the pendulum task. Through the analysis of modelling lessons, we found that the experiences of both EM and TM with the same material were important for the students to understand a modelling cycle and the aims and perspectives of modelling

A Visitors' Report : Vocational Training Courses at Special Needs Schools, Social Enterprises, and a Vocational Training Center in South Korea

韓国の特殊教育は,1994年を境に日本の特別支援教育と大きく変わった。更にIMF 危機によって,特別支援教育だけでなく,様々な制度上の変化が加速された。本稿では,訪問した特別支援学校専攻科の様子と社会的企業について報告した。特別支援学校では,企業と連携した職業指導,施設設備の寄贈等,企業からの支援・企業との連携体制が構築されていた。更に社会的企業は,社会福祉と資本主義の共生とでも言うべき支援体制であり,更に市民の協力があった。これからの日本の特別支援学校の新しい在り方,障害者福祉を考える上で,重要な示唆を受けた