Necessary Social Skills for International Students in Japan

As a part of researches on social skills training aimed at facilitating the cross-cultural adjustment of sojourners in Japan, this study asked Japanese experts in interpersonal behavior research about how international students should cope with ten aspects of social difficulty in interpersonal situations. The mailed questionnaire administered to 133 social psychologists. Twenty three subjects responded to the open-ended items. Their responses were categorized through the KJ method of content analysis. The following main categories were obtained; A) interpersonal relations (relationship with stranger, friendship formation, behavior toward a superior, overcoming language handicap, managing social exchange, behavior toward opposite sex members), B) social situations (public etiquette, dealing with collective behavior), C) indirectness (negating, indirect expression). Coping strategies suggested by the respondents were categorized into three areas of a) behavior, b) cognition, c) passiveness, and under these categories were identified their respective component structure. The results offer fundamental resources for formulating structured learning, cognitive restructuring and goal setting regarding social skills training

道徳的直感・共感性・道徳的アイデンティティが逸脱行動の判断に及ぼす影響

Since Haidt’s paper on moral judgment was published in 2001, studies of the development of morality have changed focus from Kohlbergian perspective to Haidt’s moral intuition theory. The ‘Trolley problem’ is a symbolic moral dilemma, which reveals that moral judgments are mainly made on the basis of moral intuition, not on rational, cognitive thought. In this study, we made a moral dilemma of this kind, the moral intuition vs. utilitarian judgment, using everyday occurrences. And as a dependent variable, we used a slightly morally wrongdoing. We studied how the three independent variables, the moral intuition, empathy and the moral identity, affect this dependent variable. The results are as follows:1) If you can imagine victims of the wrongdoings easily, then empathy is a more effective inhibitor.2) If you can’t, then the moral intuition is more effective.3) Moral identity plays important role in both wrongdoings

Genome-wide identification and gene expression profiling of ubiquitin ligases for endoplasmic reticulum protein degradation

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) is a mechanism by which unfolded proteins that accumulate in the ER are transported to the cytosol for ubiquitin–proteasome-mediated degradation. Ubiquitin ligases (E3s) are a group of enzymes responsible for substrate selectivity and ubiquitin chain formation. The purpose of this study was to identify novel E3s involved in ERAD. Thirty-seven candidate genes were selected by searches for proteins with RING-finger motifs and transmembrane regions, which are the major features of ERAD E3s. We performed gene expression profiling for the identified E3s in human and mouse tissues. Several genes were specifically or selectively expressed in both tissues; the expression of four genes (RNFT1, RNF185, CGRRF1 and RNF19B) was significantly upregulated by ER stress. To determine the involvement of the ER stress-responsive genes in ERAD, we investigated their ER localisation, in vitro autoubiquitination activity and ER stress resistance. All were partially localised to the ER, whereas CGRRF1 did not possess E3 activity. RNFT1 and RNF185, but not CGRRF1 and RNF19B, exhibited significant resistance to ER stressor in an E3 activity-dependent manner. Thus, these genes are possible candidates for ERAD E3s.This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) 15K21706, 26460099, 24300135, 22020032, 25251014, 15K15067, 15K20001, 15K18377 and 15K19516 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan and also supported by the Takeda Science Foundation. We thank H. Hishigaki and Otsuka GEN Research Institute for bioinformatic analysis. We also thank M. Minami and T. Uehara for the helpful discussions. We are grateful to T. Yoshikawa, T. Ike, Y. Maeoka, Y. Wada and Z. Cao for their technical assistance. The authors would like to thank Enago (www.enago.jp) for the English language review

A Bicyclic 1-Deoxygalactonojirimycin Derivative as a Novel Pharmacological Chaperone for GM1 Gangliosidosis

Lysosomal β-galactosidase (β-Gal) deficiency causes a group of disorders that include neuronopathic GM1 gangliosidosis and non-neuronopathic Morquio B disease. We have previously proposed the use of small molecule ligands of β-Gal as pharmacological chaperones (PCs) for the treatment of GM1 gangliosidosis brain pathology. Although it is still under development, PC therapy has yielded promising preclinical results in several lysosomal diseases. In this study, we evaluated the effect of bicyclic 1-deoxygalactonojirimycin (DGJ) derivative of the sp2-iminosugar type, namely 5N,6S-(N′-butyliminomethylidene)-6-thio-1- deoxygalactonojirimycin (6S-NBI-DGJ), as a novel PC for human mutant β-Gal. In vitro, 6S-NBI-DGJ had the ability to inhibit the activity of human β-Gal in a competitive manner and was able to protect this enzyme from heat-induced degradation. Computational analysis supported that the rigid glycone bicyclic core of 6S-NBI-DGJ binds to the active site of the enzyme, with the aglycone N′-butyl substituent, in a precise E-orientation, located at a hydrophobic region nearby. Chaperone potential profiling indicated significant increases of enzyme activity in 24 of 88 β-Gal mutants, including four common mutations. Finally, oral administration of 6S-NBI-DGJ ameliorated the brain pathology of GM1 gangliosidosis model mice. These results suggest that 6S-NBI-DGJ is a novel PC that may be effective on a broad range of β-Gal mutants.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España. SAF2010-15670 y CTQ2010-15848Junta de Andalucía. P08-FQM-0371

Update on the Keio collection of Escherichia coli single-gene deletion mutants

The Keio collection (Baba et al, 2006) has been established as a set of single‐gene deletion mutants of Escherichia coli K‐12. These mutants have a precisely designed deletion from the second codon from the seventh to the last codon of each predicted ORF. Further information is available at http://sal.cs.purdue.edu:8097/GB7/index.jsp or http://ecoli.naist.jp/. The distribution is now being handled by the National Institute of Genetics of Japan (http://www.shigen.nig.ac.jp/ecoli/pec/index.jsp). To date more than 4 million samples have been distributed worldwide. As we described earlier (Baba et al, 2006), gene amplification during construction is likely to have led to a small number of mutants with genetic duplications

Three Severe Cases of Viral Infections with Post-Kidney Transplantation Successfully Confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction and Flow Cytometry

Viral infections in patients with post-kidney transplantation are often difficult to diagnose as well as treat. We herein report three cases with severe viral infections after kidney transplantation. All their causative pathogens could be detected promptly by polymerase chain reaction and flow cytometry during the early stages of infection. These examinations would also be of great use to monitor therapeutic responses and disease activity. It is indeed true that no specific treatment is available for most of the viral infections, but we should be aware that some infections, such as Epstein-Barr virus infection, can be treatable with prompt and specific treatment, such as rituximab

Advanced small cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy with irinotecan and cisplatin followed by radical surgery

Small cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix is a rare form of cervical cancer characterized by extreme aggressiveness and poor prognosis because of its rapid growth, frequent distant metastases, and resistance to conventional treatment modalities. We report here a case of advanced-stage small cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by radical surgery, resulting in locoregional disease control. A 39-year-old Japanese woman was diagnosed as having stage IIIb small cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix. She was treated by neoadjuvant chemotherapy with irinotecan/cisplatin, followed by extended radical hysterectomy with pelvic and paraaortic lymphadenectomy. The patient was further treated by adjuvant chemotherapy with irinotecan/cisplatin. Intrapelvic recurrence has not been detected throughout the postoperative course. However, the patient died with distant metastases of the disease, 27 months following the initial treatment. It has been suggested that neoadjuvant chemotherapy therapy followed by radical surgery is a treatment option for advanced-stage small cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix for the locoregional disease control. Further studies are necessary to obtain information regarding multimodal treatment including sequence, duration, frequency, and type of effective chemotherapy agents to be used in the treatment of small cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix

初年次教育科目「教養セミナーＡ」の実践と課題 ―学生の成長実感と教員のプログラム評価に着目して―

本稿では、本学の初年次教育プログラムの1つである「教養セミナーＡ」の実践を報告するとともに、学生と教員に実施したアンケート調査により、下記2点を明らかにした。まず、本授業を通じた学生の学修成果を、学生の成長に対する自己評価（成長実感）と、学生の学びや成長に対する教員評価の2つの側面から分析したところ、本授業の目的および内容を構成する4因子（「スタディスキルの理解」、「大学生活への導入」、「大学への親近感」、「スタディスキルの活用・コミュニケーション」）について、学生の成長実感には学科ごとに有意な差があることがわかった。また4因子に含まれるほとんどの項目において、教員評価は学生の自己評価より有意に低かった一方で、学生の自己評価と教員評価は概ね連動していることが明らかとなった。2つ目として、教員の初年次教育プログラムに対する認識を問う設問の回答から、本授業に求める教育内容について分析した結果、学科や教員ごとに求める内容が大きく異なっていることがわかった。以上により、学生の成長実感が低い項目に関連する授業内容の見直しや、教員が求める学生の学びや成長と学生の成長実感の間に存在する乖離の是正、初年次教育プログラムの目的や内容に対する教員の共通認識の形成、基礎学力やクラスサイズが学生の成長実感に与える影響の解明などが、今後の課題として明らかとなった