The Analysis of Vocational Aptitude Changing with Age

The assumption that vocational aptitude changed with age and with the kind of occupation was examined from the tendency of the fitted curve for the score of the aptitude test. 9 vocational aptitudes were measured by the general vocational aptitude test by Japan Labor Ministry. Subjects were 382 male workers (design engineers, turners, welders, can manufacturing workers, and crane operators) of from 20 to 59 years old, and 348 male and female students (junior high school, vocational school, and university) of from 15 to 19 years old. The design engineers' aptitudes advanced along the quadratic curve until 31 years old, but almost all the aptitudes of the other workers fell along the linear curve with age. The design engineers preserved various aptitudes until 52 years old, the turners 44, and the welders, the can manufacturing workers, and the crane operators 37. The students' aptitudes were equal to those of the workers of from 15 to 25 years old. The workers preserved Spatial aptitude and Numerical aptitude until 45 years old. This could be said in all the occupations here. Further it was made clear from the micromotion study that the influence of age was caused by therblig

Rectovaginal Fistula after Low Anterior Resection for Rectal Cancer Using a Double Stapling Technique

A 55-year-old female underwent low anterior resection for rectal cancer using a double stapling technique. She developed a rectovaginal fistula on the 9th postoperative day. She was discharged from hospital after undergoing transverse colostomy, and 5 months later she underwent transvaginal repair of the rectovaginal fistula. She subsequently had an uneventful recovery. The leading cause of this complication is involvement of the posterior wall of the vagina in the staple line when firing the circular stapler. Transvaginal repair with a diverting stoma for rectovaginal fistula is a safe, minimally invasive and effective method

Effects of Meteorological Conditions on PM2.5 Concentrations in Nagasaki, Japan

The fine particulate matter (PM2.5) problem has attracted much scientific and public attention, due to its effects on visibility, human health, and global climate. There are three factors that have important effect on PM2.5 mass concentration: domestic pollutant emission sources, external sources outside of the country, and the meteorological conditions. Nagasaki is a coastal prefecture located at the westernmost part of Japan, which is an ideal location to study pollutants from long range transport and correlation between PM2.5 and meteorological conditions. In this paper, PM2.5 concentration data and meteorological data were obtained during 1 January 2013~31 December 2013. The spatial distribution depicts that the western part of the study area has the most serious PM2.5 pollution. The correlation analysis results between PM2.5 concentration and meteorological data showed that temperature had a negative, and precipitation had a positive, correlation with PM2.5. There was a threshold in the correlations between humidity and wind speed and PM2.5. The correlation was positive or negative depending on the meteorological variable values, if these were lower or higher than the threshold. From the relationship with wind direction, it can be depicted that the west wind might bring the most pollutants to Nagasaki

Serotonin- and Somatostatin-Positive Goblet Cell Carcinoid of the Duodenum

In the duodenum, mixed exocrine-endocrine tumors exhibiting both neuroendocrine and glandular differentiations [cf. appendiceal goblet cell carcinoids (GCCs)] are rare. We present a Japanese case with a duodenal GCC that was found during pathologic examination of a gastrectomy specimen removed for gastric mucosal cancer. The tumor was widely distributed within both the first portion of the duodenum and the gastric antrum, although mucosal involvement was observed only in the duodenum. The tumor cells formed solid nests, trabeculae, or tubules, and some displayed a goblet cell appearance. They were immunoreactive against antibodies for both serotonin and somatostatin, and showed an argentaffin reaction (similar to a “midgut” enterochromaffin cell carcinoid). Ultra-structurally, the tumor cells had an amphicrine nature. Physicians encounter GCC in the duodenum only rarely, and its discovery may be incidental. Its diagnosis will be challenging and will require careful clinical and pathologic examinations

Engrams and circuits crucial for systems consolidation of a memory

Episodic memories initially require rapid synaptic plasticity within the hippocampus for their formation and are gradually consolidated in neocortical networks for permanent storage. However, the engrams and circuits that support neocortical memory consolidation have thus far been unknown.We found that neocortical prefrontal memory engram cells, which are critical for remote contextual fear memory, were rapidly generated during initial learning through inputs from both the hippocampal-entorhinal cortex network and the basolateral amygdala. After their generation, the prefrontal engram cells, with support from hippocampal memory engram cells, became functionally mature with time. Whereas hippocampal engram cells gradually became silent with time, engram cells in the basolateral amygdala, which were necessary for fear memory, were maintained. Our data provide new insights into the functional reorganization of engrams and circuits underlying systems consolidation of memory

Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers Reduce Urinary Angiotensinogen Excretion and the Levels of Urinary Markers of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Patients with Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy

Objective To demonstrate that the administration of an angiotensin (Ang) II type 1 receptor (AT1R) blocker (ARB) inhibits the vicious cycle of high glucose (HG)-reactive oxygen species (ROS)-angiotensinogen (AGT)-Ang II-AT1R-ROS by suppressing ROSs and inflammation, thus ameliorating diabetic nephropathy (DN). Research Design and Methods Thirteen hypertensive DN patients were administered ARBs, and the following parameters were evaluated before and 16 weeks after the treatment: urinary AGT (UAGT), albumin (albumin-creatinine ratio: ACR), 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), 8-epi-prostaglandin F2α (8-epi-PGF2α), monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10. Results ARB treatment reduced the blood pressure and urinary levels of AGT, ACR, 8-OHdG, 8-epi-PGF2α, MCP-1, and IL-6 but increased the urinary levels of IL-10. The reduction rate of UAGT correlated with the reduction rate of blood pressure; the reduction rates of the urinary ACR, 8-OHdG, 8-epi-PGF2α, MCP-1, and IL-6 levels; and the increase rate of the urinary IL-10 levels. Moreover, subjects who had high UAGT values at baseline exhibited higher reduction rates of urinary albumin excretion. Conclusions ARB-induced blockade of the abovementioned vicious cycle contributes to the renoprotective effects of ARBs in DN. The urinary levels of AGT could represent a predictive factor for reduced ACR in patients receiving ARB treatment

Item response theory-based validation of a short form of the Eating Behavior Scale for Japanese adults

Obesity has become a serious social problem in industrialized countries in recent years. Clinically, although the evaluation of dietary behavior abnormalities is as important as any method of risk assessment for obesity, almost all the existing scales with many items may have numerous practical clinical difficulties. In this study, we aimed to prepare a short questionnaire to assess the dietary behavior abnormalities related to obesity. A total of 1032 individuals aged 20 to 59 years participated in the present study. Using item response theory (IRT), we selected the items for a short version from among 30 items of Sakata Eating Behavior Scale (EBS), which is widely used in Japan. As a result of the IRT-based analysis on the original 30-item version, 7 items were adopted as the short version. The correlation between the total score of the original EBS and the EBS short form was extremely high (r = 0.93, P = .001). In examining the criterion validity, for all participants (n = 1032), male (n = 516), and female (n = 516), the correlation coefficients between the total score of the EBS short form and body mass index (BMI) were r = 0.26, r = 0.28, and r = 0.28, respectively. The results of the receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed with obesity BMI > 25 kg/m2 as a dependent variable, the value of the area under the curve in the ROC was significantly higher in the 7-item version than in the total score of the original items (P = .0005). In conclusion, the 7-item EBS short form was created. Furthermore, it was found that the EBS short form is a reliable and valid measure that can be used as an indicator of obesity in both clinical and research settings

2006 ネンド コウガクブ シンニュウセイ オ タイショウ トシタ ボウサイ キョウイク ノ ジッシ ト ボウサイ イシキ チョウサ

本論文では，徳島大学工学部の2006 年度新入生を対象とした防災教育の実施と，同時に実施し たアンケート調査の結果から，学生の防災意識の現状を把握するとともに，徳島大学の防災教育のあ り方について検討を行った．アンケート調査の結果より，被災経験のある学生が多く存在するものの， 防災意識・知識が低く，防災訓練の経験に偏りが見られたこと，およびその重要性を認識できていな い傾向があることがわかった．一方，災害ボランティア活動に対して興味が持っている学生が多く， 災害時にボランティア活動に従事することが可能である，と答えた学生も多く見られた．災害時の 「自助・共助」を推進するためには，本学において防災教育を実施し，災害および防災に対する正し い知識と理解を深める必要があることを示した．This paper aims that recognition about Disaster prevention of the New Students entered the faculty of engineering the University of Tokushima in April, 2006. The authors used a questionnaire for investigation and analyzed it. As a result of having analyzed it, most of students cannot understand disaster prevention and more than half of them are single lives, but the students are interested in volunteer activity. By a disaster of the past, a youth is a lot dead next to an old man, too. The reason is because the students were crushed under furniture when an earthquake was generated a student lives in a simple building and a room is small. If students do volunteer activity of a disaster, it is very dangerous. The reason is because it leads to not only a primary disaster but also a second disaster. In other words, the students improve disaster prevention recognition and must understand disasters

Transcriptional factors associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition in choroidal neovascularization

Purpose: To investigate the transcriptional factors associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Paraffin sections of CNV obtained from patients with AMD (n=12) were stained for transcriptional factors related to EMT, i.e., Snail, Slug, SIP1, and Twist. As a control, postmortem sections of ocular normal tissue were used. Furthermore, using a human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell line (ARPE-19), reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) and immunofluorescence microscopy were performed to explore the cellular localization and expression levels of EMT-associated transcriptional factors upon cytokine stimulation. Results: Of 12 specimens, 11 CNV tissues (91.6%) showed staining for Snail localized in cellular nuclei, particularly in those of RPE cells. Snail was strongly co-localized with α-smooth muscle antigen (SMA) in RPE cells. In contrast, postmortem human retina showed no Snail staining in RPE cells. Other transcriptional factors, Slug, Twist and SIP1 were not detected in CNV or normal human retina. In ARPE-19 cells, RT–PCR and immunofluorescence microscopy showed that Snail mRNA was upregulated by transforming growth factor (TGF)-β and VEGF stimulation. Furthermore, TGF-β induced relocalization of Snail to the nucleus in RPE cells. Conclusions: The current data indicate that Snail is a major transcriptional factor for EMT changes of RPE cells in human CNV