哲学的・言語学的研究における因果関係の分類

本研究ノートでは、先行研究で提案されてきた因果関係の分類について概観し、関係する言語現象についてまとめる。哲学、言語学両分野の研究において、因果関係をいくつかの種類に分けられることが提案されている。本論ではそのうち4つの分類基準について論じる。すなわち、(A)因果関係の担い手が事実・命題であるか出来事であるか、(B)結果を引き起こすものが個体であるか出来事であるか、(C)原因と結果の間に別の出来事が介在しているか否か、(D)原因と結果の間に、何らかの主体による原因の認識が介在しているか否か、の4点である。2, 3節では(A)の基準にかかわる先行研究をまとめた。まず2節では、因果関係に関する古典的研究として、Davidson(1967)の因果言明causal statementと因果的説明causal explanationの分類について述べた。前者は川来事の間の関係を表すが、後者は事実にかかわるものである。その後3節で、出来事間の因果と事実間の因果の両方を認める研究として、Vendler(1967)とBennet(1988)を取り上げた。4節では、(B)の観点による分類として、日本語の使役動詞を分析した影山(1996)について見た。影山は、使役動詞の形態意味論的分析のための概念として、因果関係をCAUSEとCONTROLの2種類に分けることを提案している。5節と6節は原因と結果の間の介在物に注目した分類を扱った。5節は(C)の観点について、直接因果direct causationと間接因果indirect causationという分類を取り上げ、因果関係の違いが言語現象に影響する場合を見た。最後に6節では、(D)の基準による分類を論じた。原因と結果の間に認識が介在する場合は意思的因果volitional causation、介在しない場合は無意志的因果non-volitional causationとした上で、日本語の(1)のような例にもこの分類が関わることを論じた。(1) a. アクセルペダルが故障したことが事故を引き起こした。(無意志的因果)b. アクセルペダルが故障したことが消費者のトヨタ離れを引き起こした。(意思的因果

The Star Formation Demographics of Galaxies in the Local Volume

We examine the connections between the current global star formation activity, luminosity, dynamical mass and morphology of galaxies in the Local Volume, using H-alpha data from the 11 Mpc H-alpha and Ultraviolet Galaxy Survey (11HUGS). Taking the equivalent width (EW) of the H-alpha emission line as a tracer of the specific star formation rate, we analyze the distribution of galaxies in the M_B-EW and rotational velocity (V_{max})-EW planes. Star-forming galaxies show two characteristic transitions in these planes. A narrowing of the galaxy locus occurs at M_B~-15 and V_{max}~50 km/s, where the scatter in the logarithmic EWs drops by a factor of two as the luminosities/masses increase, and galaxy morphologies shift from predominately irregular to late-type spiral. Another transition occurs at M_B~-19 and V_{max}~120 km/s, above which the sequence turns off toward lower EWs and becomes mostly populated by intermediate and early-type bulge-prominent spirals. Between these two transitions, the mean logarithmic EW appears to remain constant at 30 A. We comment on how these features reflect established empirical relationships, and provide clues for identifying the large-scale physical processes that both drive and regulate star formation, with emphasis on the low-mass galaxies that dominate our approximately volume-limited sample.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in ApJL pending editing for lengt

Detection of anaerobic carbon monoxide-oxidizing thermophiles in hydrothermal environments.

Carboxydotrophic anaerobic thermophiles have been isolated from various hydrothermal environments and are considered to be important carbon monoxide (CO) scavengers or primary producers. However, the ecological factors that influence the distribution, abundance and CO-oxidizing activities of these bacteria are poorly understood. A previous study detected the carboxydotrophic bacteria Carboxydothermus spp. in a hot spring sample and found that they constituted up to 10% of the total bacterial cells. In this study, we investigated environmental features, potential microbial CO-oxidation activities and the abundance of Carboxydothermus spp. in various hot springs to determine environmental factors that affect CO oxidizers and to see whether Carboxydothermus spp. are common in these environments. We detected potential microbial CO-oxidation activities in samples that showed relatively high values of total organic carbon, total nitrogen, oxidation-reduction potential and soil-water content. The abundance of Carboxydothermus spp. did not correlate with the presence of potential microbial CO-oxidation activities; however, Carboxydothermus spp. were detected in a wide range of environments, suggesting that these bacteria are widely distributed in spite of the relatively low population size. This study implies that thermophilic CO oxidizers occur in a wide range of environments and oxidize CO in somewhat oxidative environments rich in organic matter

Open-label clinical trial of bezafibrate treatment in patients with fatty acid oxidation disorders in Japan

IntroductionFatty acid oxidation disorders (FAODs) are rare diseases caused by defects in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation (FAO) enzymes. While the efficacy of bezafibrate, a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonist, on the in vitro FAO capacity has been reported, the in vivo efficacy remains controversial. Therefore, we conducted a clinical trial of bezafibrate in Japanese patients with FAODs.Materials and methodsThis trial was an open-label, non-randomized, and multicenter study of bezafibrate treatment in 6 patients with very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (VLCAD) deficiency and 2 patients with carnitine palmitoyltransferase-II (CPT-2) deficiency (median age, 8.2 years; ranging from 5.8 to 26.4 years). Bezafibrate was administered for 6 months following a 6-month observation period. The primary endpoint was the frequency of myopathic attacks, and the secondary endpoints were serum acylcarnitines (ACs, C14:1 or C16 + C18:1), creatine kinase (CK) levels, degree of muscle pain (VAS; visual analog scale) during myopathic attacks, and quality of life (QOL; evaluated using validated questionnaires).ResultsThe frequency of myopathic attacks after bezafibrate administration decreased in 3 patients, increased in 3, and did not change in 2. The CK, AC, and VAS values during attacks could be estimated in only three or four patients, but a half of the patients did not experience attacks before or after treatment. Changes in CK, AC, and VAS values varied across individuals. In contrast, three components of QOL, namely, physical functioning, role limitation due to physical problems (role physical), and social functioning, were significantly elevated. No adverse drug reactions were observed.ConclusionIn this study, the frequency of myopathic attacks and CK, AC, and VAS values during the attacks could not be evaluated due to several limitations, such as a small trial population. Our findings indicate that bezafibrate improves the QOL of patients with FAODs, but its efficacy must be examined in future investigations

Pronuclear injection-based mouse targeted transgenesis for reproducible and highly efficient transgene expression

Mouse transgenesis has proven invaluable for analysis of gene function and generation of human disease models. We describe here the development of a pronuclear injection-based targeted transgenesis (PITT) system, involving site-specific integration in fertilized eggs. The system was applied to two different genomic target loci to generate a series of transgenic lines including fluorescent mice, which reproducibly displayed strong, ubiquitous and stable transgene expression. We also demonstrated that knockdown mice could be readily generated by PITT by taking advantage of the reproducible and highly efficient expression system. The PITT system, which circumvents the problem of unpredictable and unstable transgene expression of conventional random-integration transgenic mice, reduces the time, cost and effort needed to generate transgenic mice, and is potentially applicable to both in vivo ‘gain-of-function’ and ‘loss-of-function’ studies