Contribution of Vegetation on Water Purification Performances in Constructed Wetlands

Poster Sessio

Disposable collection kit for rapid and reliable collection of saliva.

ObjectivesTo describe and evaluate disposable saliva collection kit for rapid, reliable, and reproducible collection of saliva samples.MethodsThe saliva collection kit comprised of a saliva absorbent swab and an extractor unit was used to retrieve whole saliva samples from 10 subjects. The accuracy and precision of the extracted volumes (3, 10, and 30 μl) were compared to similar volumes drawn from control samples obtained by passive drool. Additionally, the impact of kit collection method on subsequent immunoassay results was verified by assessing salivary cortisol levels in the samples and comparing them to controls.ResultsThe recovered volumes for the whole saliva samples were 3.85 ± 0.28, 10.79 ± 0.95, and 31.18 ± 1.72 μl, respectively (CV = 8.76%) and 2.91 ± 0.19, 9.75 ± 0.43, and 29.64 ± 0.91 μl, respectively, (CV = 6.36%) for the controls. There was a close correspondence between the salivary cortisol levels from the saliva samples obtained by the collection kit and the controls (R(2)  > 0.96).ConclusionsThe disposable saliva collection kit allows accurate and repeatable collection of fixed amounts of whole saliva and does not interfere with subsequent measurements of salivary cortisol. The simple collection process, lack of elaborate specimen recovery steps, and the short turnaround time (<3 min) should render the kit attractive to test subjects and researchers alike

A Study of Lifelong Education for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities at the University Level

Background: In recent years, there has been growing interest in developing lifelong education for persons with disabilities at universities and other institutions of higher learning. However, there is still a lack of practical research on people with intellectual disabilities who participate in lifelong education. Objective: This study analyzes the experiences of participants with intellectual disabilities obtained from the practice of the Lifelong Education Program for Persons with Disabilities (AULEPP). It discusses perspectives for the future development of lifelong education. Methods: Eleven persons with intellectual disabilities who participated in the AULEPP from October 2021 to February 2022 were included in the study. Three surveys were administered to these participants before and after the AULEPP and for each lecture. Results: The average number of participants in each lecture was 5.2, and four participants attended more than eight lectures. Qualitative analysis of the survey results revealed that participants acquired new knowledge, expressed the need for continuous learning, and proposed new questions. The lectures helped them recognize changes in their perspectives on daily life and society. Most of the lectures were conducted online, but there were no negative comments about this modality. Conclusions: The study revealed the need to create opportunities for participants to find meaning in lectures, the effectiveness of online media, and the role of lifelong college education in the community. It is necessary to investigate the transferability of these results to urban areas and explore outcome measures and program content to build an evidence-based lifelong learning program

User Impressions of System Questions to Acquire Lexical Knowledge during Dialogues

We have been addressing the problem of acquiring attributes of unknown terms through dialogues and previously proposed an approach using the implicit confirmation process. It is crucial for dialogue systems to ask questions that do not diminish the user’s willingness to talk. In this paper, we conducted a user study to investigate user impression for several question types, including explicit and implicit, to acquire lexical knowledge. We clarified the order among the types and found that repeating the same question type annoys the user and degrades user impression even when the content of the questions is correct. We also propose a method for determining whether an estimated attribute is correct, which is included in an implicit question. The method exploits multiple-user responses to implicit questions about the attribute of the same unknown term. Experimental results revealed that the proposed method exhibited a higher precision rate for determining the correctly estimated attributes than when only single-user responses were considered

障害のある学生の修学支援における合理的配慮のあり方に関する学際的研究

科学研究費助成事業 研究成果報告書：基盤研究(A)2014-2017課題番号 : 2624508

ベタヒスチンが一側内耳破壊後のラットの前庭代償に与える影響

Background: Vestibular compensation (VC) after unilateral labyrinthectomy (UL) consists of the initial and late processes. These processes can be evaluated based on the decline in the frequency of spontaneous nystagmus (SN) and the number of MK801-induced Fos-positive neurons in the contralateral medial vestibular nucleus (contra-MVe) in rats. Histamine H3 receptors (H3R) are reported to be involved in the development of VC. Objective: We examined the effects of betahistine, an H3R antagonist, on the initial and late processes of VC in UL rats. Methods: Betahistine dihydrochloride was continuously administered to the UL rats at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg/day using an osmotic minipump. MK801 (1.0 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally administered on days 7, 10, 12, and 14 after UL, while Fos-positive neurons were immunohistochemically stained in the contra-MVe. Results: The SN disappeared after 42 h, and continuous infusion of betahistine did not change the decline in the frequency of SN. The number of MK801-induced Fos-positive neurons in contra-MVe significantly decreased on days 7, 10, and 12 after UL in a dose-dependent manner in the betahistine-treated rats, more so than in the saline-treated rats. Conclusion: These findings suggest that betahistine facilitated the late, but not the initial, process of VC in UL rats

cytokine profile of PFAPA

Objective : An attempt was made to identify characteristic cytokine profiles to distinguish periodic fever with aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and cervical adenitis syndrome (PFAPAS) from recurrent tonsillitis, of which clinical manifestations are similar to those of PFAPAS in children. Methods : Serum concentrations of IL-6, IL-4 and IFN-γ were measured during febrile episodes in pediatric patients. Results : The levels of IL-6 during febrile episodes were markedly increased above the upper limit of normal ranges in patients with both PFAPAS and recurrent tonsillitis, but there were no significant differences between groups. The levels of IL-4 during febrile episodes in PFAPAS patients were significantly lower than those in recurrent tonsillitis patients. The levels of IFN-γ during febrile episodes in PFAPAS patients were significantly higher than those in recurrent tonsillitis patients. Conclusion : In pediatric patients with PFAPAS, despite an increase of IL-6, IL-4 was suppressed with a marked increase of IFN-γ during febrile episodes. On the contrary, in febrile pediatric patients with recurrent tonsillitis, both IL-6 and IL-4, but not IFN-γ were increased. The characteristic cytokine profiles of IL-6, IL-4 and IFN-γ can be used for differential diagnosis of PFAPAS from recurrent tonsillitis in children in clinical ear, nose and throat (ENT) settings

<資料>中国における保護者の視点から見た小児がん患児の教育的ニーズの実態 : 河南省鄭州市における検討

本研究は、中国において、長期入院している小児がん患児の保護者への調査を通して、小児がん患児に対する教育の現状と、特別な教育的ニーズを明らかにすることを目的とした。入院している子どもと保護者は、復学について積極的な考え方を持っているものの、学校教育に対する様々な不安感が大きかった。このことから、中国において通常学校での病気のある子どもに対する心理的支援、病気に対する理解などの必要性が明らかとなった。また、現在の中国における病院内の病棟学級は教育的な機能が不足しており、入院児の保護者の理解や認識も十分ではなかった。病棟学級の教育担当者の専門性のより一層の向上と医療との連携にもとづき、今後、中国においても病棟学級の教育内容の充実を図っていくことが必要であると思われた。The study aims to clarify the educational situation and special educational needs of children with cancer through an investigation into parents whose children have long-term hospitalization in China. Parents and their children who are hospitalized have a positive attitude to school recovery, but they are worried about the life of school recovery. Thus, the consideration of understanding children’s condition and improving psychological supports should be emphasized during school recovery. On the other hand, in China, hospital classrooms do not have enough educational function and parents do not understand hospital classrooms very well. Hospital classroom teachers should improve expertise and collaboration with hospitals, which is important for hospital classrooms in China to enrich their educational content

INCS suppresses H1R gene expression

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of intranasal corticosteroid (INCS) administration on histamine H1 receptor (H1R) gene expression in the nasal mucosa of healthy participants and the effects of dexamethasone on basal and histamine-induced H1R mRNA expression, and histamine-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in HeLa cells. Sixteen healthy participants were given INCS once daily for a week. After pretreatment of dexamethasone, HeLa cells were treated with histamine. Levels of H1R mRNA and phosphorylation of ERK were measured using real time PCR and immunoblot analysis, respectively. Levels of H1R mRNA in the nasal mucosa of healthy participants receiving INCS was significantly decreased. Dexamethasone suppressed basal levels of H1R mRNA, and histamine-induced up-regulation of H1R mRNA and ERK phosphorylation in HeLa cells. These data suggested that corticosteroid inhibited both basal transcription and histamine-induced transcriptional activation of H1R through its suppression of ERK phosphorylation in the signaling pathway involved in H1R gene transcription. It is further suggested that pre-seasonal prophylactic administration of INCS suppresses both basal and pollen-induced upregulation of H1R gene expression in the nasal mucosa of patients with pollinosis, leading to prevention of the exacerbation of nasal symptoms during peak pollen season