Fabrication of hydroxyapatite-biodegradable polymer scaffolds by electrospinning for potential bone tissue application

The purpose of this study is to determine the potential of combining hydroxyapatite (HA) and polymers to form synthetic composite materials used for bone tissue engineering applications. In this study, ceramic-biodegradable polymer composites are fabricated by electrospinning method. The biodegradable polymers used are poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA), and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA). Two types of HA-polymer solutions are first prepared to achieve HA weight percentage of 0, 10, and 25%of the total combined weight of HA and PLLA, and HA and PLGA. The solutions are electrospun to form nanofibrous mats incorporated with HA powder. A biomimetic process was also conducted as a secondary approach. The nanofibrous mats obtained follow characterization using scanning electron microscope (SEM) - Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDXA), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). In this study, hydroxyapatite (HA) particles were successfully incorporated into the three dimensional porous biodegradable PLLA and PLGA polymer fiber mats by electrospinning

Local Community Goals for Building a Dementia-Friendly Society : A Review of Questionnaire Survey on Public Awareness of Dementia in Tokushima Prefecture

徳島県では，全国平均よりも速いスピードで少子高齢化が進行しているが，中でも最も克服の困難な課題の一つが認知症への対応である。本稿は，2020 年度に認知症に関して地域で何ができるのかをテーマとする公開講座を開講した筆者が，一般市民を対象に2021（令和3）年2 月から5 月にかけて実施した認知症への意識に関するアンケート調査をもとに，そこから導き出される地域社会に求められる取り組みについて整理したものである。調査の結果，①不安克服に向けた一般市民への啓発活動，②正しい「予防」のあり方の検討，③孤独や孤立への対応，④介護施設の改善に向けた働きかけ，⑤認知症にやさしい社会の構築等の課題が判明した。これらをもとに，公開講座等を通じた一般市民との対話を継続し，引き続き地域社会に求められる取り組みについて考案・実践していきたい

How to Support Foreign Residents in Tokushima : A Study through the Individual Survey of Foreign Residents on their Daily Lives

近年の在住外国人増加に伴い，徳島県では彼らを住民として認める視点が重視され，県及び各市町村レベルの国際交流協会やNPO・NGO 等の団体による日本語習得支援，生活支援，防災に関する知識普及等，多様な活動が推進されてきた。本稿は，異なる経歴を持つ徳島県在住の8 人の外国出身の居住者に対して2016 年に実施した個別の聴き取り調査（2019 年に一部アップデート）をもとに，現状における外国人支援の問題点と課題を明らかにすることを目的とするものである。調査の結果，①外国人が必要とする支援内容は多岐にわたるが，現状の日本人による外国人支援の内容は，彼らの実情に沿うものではないため，彼らは独自の限られたネットワークのみで諸問題を解決しようとする傾向にあること，②特に社会的に弱い立場にある人々は複合的に悩みを抱える傾向にあり，立場が弱いほど行政サービスに対し不信感を増幅させる傾向にあること，③調査対象者の年齢が上がるにつれて，当人のみでなく，家族の生活を含めた多様な観点からの諸問題が浮上していること，④対応する諸機関の日本人に，彼らのニーズを正確に理解し，適切に対応する能力が十分でないこと等の問題点が判明した。今後の課題として，従来の各種団体による支援内容をより在住外国人のニーズを踏まえた内容に改めるとともに，日本人自身が多文化共生に関する意識を向上させ，彼らの実情を正確に理解し，心理面にも配慮しながら的確に対応していく必要性があることが指摘できる。With the growing increase in foreigners in Tokushima Prefecture in Japan, they have recently drawn attention and begun to be treated as “residents”, whereby leading to a variety of supporting activities such as the provision of Japanese language education, livelihood support, and diffusing knowledge of disaster prevention, which are organised by prefectural and local international associations, non-profit organisations, non-governmental organisations, individual volunteers, and so forth. This paper intends to elucidate the current limitations and future challenges in supporting foreign residents in Tokushima, based on individual interviews with eight foreign residents of different backgrounds that were mainly conducted in 2016 and partly followed up in 2019. The results indicate the following. Firstly, although the needs of foreign residents involve diverse topics, the provision of current services provided by Japanese organisations have not fulfilled their various requirements, resulting in the phenomenon in which foreigners tend to solve their own problems by making use of their own networks. Secondly, since socially vulnerable groups of foreign residents, such as those who are from single-parent families or the elderly, tend to be full of woes and multiple types of uncertainty, the more they are in a tenuous position, the more they reinforce a sense of distrust towards public services. Thirdly, with the advancing years, issues surrounding foreign residents have started to be amplified, involving problems of their family members, in addition to their own. Fourthly, there is a tendency for Japanese workers dealing with issues of foreign residents in public services to be incapable of appropriately picking up on the meaning of questioning by foreign residents. Bearing these in mind, it is suggested that the content of current supporting activities provided by public services, as well as those provided by various voluntary bodies at different levels within Tokushima Prefecture, be altered with deliberate consideration so that it is able to more properly meet the needs of foreign residents. Furthermore, it is indicative that Japanese residents should be more cultivated by improving their awareness of multiculturalism in order to grasp the reality of foreign residents in present Japanese society more correctly while paying scrupulous attention to their mental pressures

Functional genetic selection of Helix 66 in Escherichia coli 23S rRNA identified the eukaryotic-binding sequence for ribosomal protein L2

Ribosomal protein L2 is a highly conserved primary 23S rRNA-binding protein. L2 specifically recognizes the internal bulge sequence in Helix 66 (H66) of 23S rRNA and is localized to the intersubunit space through formation of bridge B7b with 16S rRNA. The L2-binding site in H66 is highly conserved in prokaryotic ribosomes, whereas the corresponding site in eukaryotic ribosomes has evolved into distinct classes of sequences. We performed a systematic genetic selection of randomized rRNA sequences in Escherichia coli, and isolated 20 functional variants of the L2-binding site. The isolated variants consisted of eukaryotic sequences, in addition to prokaryotic sequences. These results suggest that L2/L8e does not recognize a specific base sequence of H66, but rather a characteristic architecture of H66. The growth phenotype of the isolated variants correlated well with their ability of subunit association. Upon continuous cultivation of a deleterious variant, we isolated two spontaneous mutations within domain IV of 23S rRNA that compensated for its weak subunit association, and alleviated its growth defect, implying that functional interactions between intersubunit bridges compensate ribosomal function

Awareness-Building Seminar on Aging-Related Issues for the Public in Tokushima : Overview and Report

我が国は2022年現在，世界で最も高齢化が進行しており，中でも徳島県は全国有数の高齢化先進県として，それにまつわる諸問題が全国に先駆けて顕在化しつつある。本稿は，こうした状況を踏まえ，筆者らが「徳島県の高齢化問題を地域で考えよう！」と題するセミナーを徳島大学において実施した結果と，今後地域で高齢化問題に取り組むにあたっての展望を概括するものである。 本セミナーは，高齢化問題への関与の有無にかかわらず，制度・分野ごとの「縦割り」や「支え手」「受け手」という関係性や年代を超えて集まった多様な参加者が，高齢化問題の概略を知り，考えや思いを共有する第一歩となった。参加者からは，今後徳島県が取り組むべき事項として，①「介護者の立場」を考えた支援，②健康寿命を延ばし，認知症の「予防」にもなる地域活動，③高齢者・認知症の人の経済的自立につながる社会的取り組みの展開，④多世代交流や地域の助け合いを促進するしくみの構築，等が挙げられた。 本セミナーにおける課題として，参加者による具体的な活動を導き出す前に，様々に異なる経歴，年代の人々の意見を効果的に集約し，相互の知見を共有する中で，次のステップをどのように見出し，具現化していくかが求められていることが判明した。今後，活動を継続する中で，地域社会での高齢化問題解決に資する，幅広い世代や多様な経歴を持つ参加者への効果的な意識啓発のあり方を徐々に明らかにしていきたい

Magnetic Ordering in V-Layers of the Superconducting System of Sr2VFeAsO3

Results of transport, magnetic, thermal, and 75As-NMR measurements are presented for superconducting Sr2VFeAsO3 with an alternating stack of FeAs and perovskite-like block layers. Although apparent anomalies in magnetic and thermal properties have been observed at ~150 K, no anomaly in transport behaviors has been observed at around the same temperature. These results indicate that V ions in the Sr2VO3-block layers have localized magnetic moments and that V-electrons do not contribute to the Fermi surface. The electronic characteristics of Sr2VFeAsO3 are considered to be common to those of other superconducting systems with Fe-pnictogen layers.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, To appear in JPSJ 79 (2010) 12371

Transcriptional Characteristics and Differences in Arabidopsis Stigmatic Papilla Cells Pre- and Post-Pollination

Pollination is an important early step in sexual plant reproduction. In Arabidopsis thaliana, sequential pollination events, from pollen adhesion onto the stigma surface to pollen tube germination and elongation, occur on the stigmatic papilla cells. Following successful completion of these events, the pollen tube penetrates the stigma and finally fertilizes a female gametophyte. The pollination events are thought to be initiated and regulated by interactions between papilla cells and pollen. Here, we report the characterization of gene expression profiles of unpollinated (UP), compatible pollinated (CP) and incompatible pollinated (IP) papilla cells in A. thaliana. Based on cell type-specific transcriptome analysis from a combination of laser microdissection and RNA sequencing, 15,475, 17,360 and 16,918 genes were identified as expressed in UP, CP and IP papilla cells, respectively, and, of these, 14,392 genes were present in all three data sets. Differentially expressed gene (DEG) analyses identified 147 and 71 genes up-regulated in CP and IP papilla cells, respectively, and 115 and 46 genes down-regulated. Gene Ontology and metabolic pathway analyses revealed that papilla cells play an active role as the female reproductive component in pollination, particularly in information exchange, signal transduction, internal physiological changes and external morphological modification. This study provides fundamental information on the molecular mechanisms involved in pollination in papilla cells, furthering our understanding of the reproductive role of papilla cell

Cell Type-Specific Transcriptome of Brassicaceae Stigmatic Papilla Cells From a Combination of Laser Microdissection and RNA Sequencing

Pollination is an early and critical step in plant reproduction, leading to successful fertilization. It consists of many sequential processes, including adhesion of pollen grains onto the surface of stigmatic papilla cells, foot formation to strengthen pollen-stigma interaction, pollen hydration and germination, and pollen tube elongation and penetration. We have focused on an examination of the expressed genes in papilla cells, to increase understanding of the molecular systems of pollination. From three representative species of Brassicaceae (Arabidopsis thaliana, A. halleri and Brassica rapa), stigmatic papilla cells were isolated precisely by laser microdissection, and cell type-specific gene expression in papilla cells was determined by RNA sequencing. As a result, 17,240, 19,260 and 21,026 unigenes were defined in papilla cells of A. thaliana, A. halleri and B. rapa, respectively, and, among these, 12,311 genes were common to all three species. Among the17,240 genes predicted in A. thaliana, one-third were papilla specific while approximately half of the genes were detected in all tissues examined. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that genes related to a wide range of reproduction and development functions are expressed in papilla cells, particularly metabolism, transcription and membrane-mediated information exchange. These results reflect the conserved features of general cellular function and also the specific reproductive role of papilla cells, highlighting a complex cellular system regulated by a diverse range of molecules in these cells. This study provides fundamental biological knowledge to dissect the molecular mechanisms of pollination in papilla cells and will shed light on our understanding of plant reproduction mechanism