A culture-sensitive taxonomy of response tokens: moving from listnership to speakership

This thesis compares conversations between British tutors and British students, and conversations between British tutors and Japanese students, in English in order to investigate differences and similarities in their listenership behaviour in relation to the use of response tokens in the context of academic supervision sessions. A new method for conversation analysis to synthesise visual data with verbal data on timeline has been established. The concept of leadtime, which is a time scale to measure a distance between a point where a particular response token is uttered to a point where a turn transition occurs, has been introduced to implement the research method. Approaches in conversation analysis, roles of context, and intercultural communication are reviewed in this thesis. In addition, participants' assumptions of framing and turn-taking structure in conversation and self-expressions in listenership with reflection of their cultural values in interlanguage settings have been taken into consideration. The results from the preliminary research are summarised as follows: 1. Similarities in use of strategies for framework shifts, such as increase and decrease of response tokens before floor-taking, and multi-functional nature of hand gestures, such as hand gestures used for speaker change and metaphoric signs, have been recognised between the British-British conversations and the British-Japanese conversation. 2. L1 (first language) transfer has been observed in the Japanese students’use of response tokens, such as their constant use of head nods at a particular pace. These findings highlight areas for further research and application in intercultural communication

Evaluation of atherosclerotic lesions using dextran- and mannan–dextran-coated USPIO: MRI analysis and pathological findings

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can detect atherosclerotic lesions containing accumulations of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxides (USPIO). Positing that improved USPIO with a higher affinity for atherosclerotic plaques would yield better plaque images, we performed MRI and histologic studies to compare the uptake of dextran- and mannan–dextran-coated USPIO (D-USPIO and DM-USPIO, respectively) by the atherosclerotic walls of rabbits. We intravenously injected atherosclerotic rabbits with DM-USPIO (n = 5) or D-USPIO (n = 5). Two rabbits were the controls. The doses delivered were 0.08 (dose 1) (n = 1), 0.4 (dose 2) (n = 1), or 0.8 (dose 3) (n = 3) mmol iron/Kg. The dose 3 rabbits underwent in vivo contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) before and 5 days after USPIO administration. Afterwards, all animals were euthanized, the aortae were removed and subjected to in vitro MRI study. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the aortic wall in the same region of interest (ROI) was calculated in both in vivo and in vitro studies. Histological assessment through measurement of iron-positive regions in Prussian blue-stained specimens showed that iron-positive regions were significantly larger in rabbits injected with DM- rather than D-USPIO (P < 0.05) for all doses. In vivo MRA showed that the SNR-reducing effect of DM- was greater than that of D-USPIO (P < 0.05). With in vitro MRI scans, SNR was significantly lower in rabbits treated with dose 2 of DM-USPIO compared with D-USPIO treatment (P < 0.05), and it tended to be lower at dose 3 (P < 0.1). In conclusion, we suggest that DM-USPIO is superior to D-USPIO for the study of atherosclerotic lesions in rabbits

Investigation of the serum levels of anterior pituitary hormones in male children with autism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The neurobiological basis of autism remains poorly understood. The diagnosis of autism is based solely on behavioural characteristics because there are currently no reliable biological markers. To test whether the anterior pituitary hormones and cortisol could be useful as biological markers for autism, we assessed the basal serum levels of these hormones in subjects with autism and normal controls.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Using a suspension array system, we determined the serum levels of six anterior pituitary hormones, including adrenocorticotropic hormone and growth hormone, in 32 drug-naive subjects (aged 6 to 18 years, all boys) with autism, and 34 healthy controls matched for age and gender. We also determined cortisol levels in these subjects by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone, growth hormone and cortisol were significantly higher in subjects with autism than in controls. In addition, there was a significantly positive correlation between cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone levels in autism.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that increased basal serum levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone accompanied by increased cortisol and growth hormone may be useful biological markers for autism.</p

Decreased expression of axon-guidance receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex in autism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Axon-guidance proteins play a crucial role in brain development. As the dysfunction of axon-guidance signaling is thought to underlie the microstructural abnormalities of the brain in people with autism, we examined the postmortem brains of people with autism to identify any changes in the expression of axon-guidance proteins.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mRNA and protein expression of axon-guidance proteins, including ephrin (EFN)A4, eEFNB3, plexin (PLXN)A4, roundabout 2 (ROBO)2 and ROBO3, were examined in the anterior cingulate cortex and primary motor cortex of autistic brains (n = 8 and n = 7, respectively) and control brains (n = 13 and n = 8, respectively) using real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) and western blotting. Real-time RT-PCR revealed that the relative expression levels of EFNB3, PLXNA4A and ROBO2 were significantly lower in the autistic group than in the control group. The protein levels of these three genes were further analyzed by western blotting, which showed that the immunoreactive values for PLXNA4 and ROBO2, but not for EFNB3, were significantly reduced in the ACC of the autistic brains compared with control brains.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this study, we found decreased expression of axon-guidance proteins such as PLXNA4 and ROBO2 in the brains of people with autism, and suggest that dysfunctional axon-guidance protein expression may play an important role in the pathophysiology of autism.</p

Alteration of Plasma Glutamate and Glutamine Levels in Children with High-Functioning Autism

浜松医科大学学位論文　医博第624号（平成24年3月19日

Plasma Cytokine Profiles in Subjects with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

Accumulating evidence suggests that dysregulation of the immune system is involved in the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The aim of the study was to explore immunological markers in peripheral plasma samples from non-medicated subjects with high-functioning ASD.A multiplex assay for cytokines and chemokines was applied to plasma samples from male subjects with high-functioning ASD (n = 28) and matched controls (n = 28). Among a total of 48 analytes examined, the plasma concentrations of IL-1β, IL-1RA, IL-5, IL-8, IL-12(p70), IL-13, IL-17 and GRO-α were significantly higher in subjects with ASD compared with the corresponding values of matched controls after correction for multiple comparisons.The results suggest that abnormal immune responses as assessed by multiplex analysis of cytokines may serve as one of the biological trait markers for ASD

食品、食塩、化学薬品及び炭酸塩鉱物中のリチウム含有量

The trace lithium content of different kinds of samples was determined by flame photometry using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer with air-acetylene flame at the optimum instrumental conditions, after the decomposition of a sample with nitricperchloric acid mixture or the decomposition of a freeze-drying food sample with nitric-perchloric-hydrofluoric acid mixture. In the highpurity chemicals lithium content as impurity was considerably higher in calcium salt (metal: 39500ng/g, oxide: 21500ng/g, carbonate: 13700〜14400ng/g) than in magnesium (11〜67ng/g), sodium (198〜634ng/g) and potassium salt (196〜361ng/g). In the carbonate minerals the content was higher in aragonite (av. 21970ng/g) and calcite (av. 14100ng/g) than in dolomite (av. 9959ng/g) depending on calcium content as a matrix component. In the table-salt samples of sea-, lake- and rock-salt the content was 934, 724 and 870ng/g, respectively, and the lithium content was summarized to be 900ng/g as mean for all the 34 samples. In the rice the content was three times higher than in unpolished rice av. 12.7ng/g than in polished rice av. 5.2ng/g. Finally in the cow\u27s milk the content was almost constant to be av. 23.7ng/g regardless with the different fat-content, pasteurized temperature and manufactured district (Prefecture in Japan). In addition to an annual variation of the lithium content of a same brand of cow\u27s milk the content was also almost constant to be av. 24.3ng/g, regardless of four seasons.The trace lithium content of different kinds of samples was determined by flame photometry using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer with air-acetylene flame at the optimum instrumental conditions, after the decomposition of a sample with nitricperchloric acid mixture or the decomposition of a freeze-drying food sample with nitric-perchloric-hydrofluoric acid mixture. In the highpurity chemicals lithium content as impurity was considerably higher in calcium salt (metal: 39500ng/g, oxide: 21500ng/g, carbonate: 13700〜14400ng/g) than in magnesium (11〜67ng/g), sodium (198〜634ng/g) and potassium salt (196〜361ng/g). In the carbonate minerals the content was higher in aragonite (av. 21970ng/g) and calcite (av. 14100ng/g) than in dolomite (av. 9959ng/g) depending on calcium content as a matrix component. In the table-salt samples of sea-, lake- and rock-salt the content was 934, 724 and 870ng/g, respectively, and the lithium content was summarized to be 900ng/g as mean for all the 34 samples. In the rice the content was three times higher than in unpolished rice av. 12.7ng/g than in polished rice av. 5.2ng/g. Finally in the cow\u27s milk the content was almost constant to be av. 23.7ng/g regardless with the different fat-content, pasteurized temperature and manufactured district (Prefecture in Japan). In addition to an annual variation of the lithium content of a same brand of cow\u27s milk the content was also almost constant to be av. 24.3ng/g, regardless of four seasons

精神疾患におけるマイクログリア由来ニューレグリン発現

Several studies have revealed that neuregulins (NRGs) are involved in brain function and psychiatric disorders. While NRGs have been regarded as neuron- or astrocyte-derived molecules, our research has revealed that microglia also express NRGs, levels of which are markedly increased in activated microglia. Previous studies have indicated that microglia are activated in the brains of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Therefore, we investigated microglial NRG mRNA expression in multiple lines of mice considered models of ASD. Intriguingly, microglial NRG expression significantly increased in BTBR and socially-isolated mice, while maternal immune activation (MIA) mice exhibited identical NRG expression to controls. Furthermore, we observed a positive correlation between NRG expression in microglia and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in mice, suggesting that NRG expression in human PBMCs may mirror microglia-derived NRG expression in the human brain. To translate these findings for application in clinical psychiatry, we measured levels of NRG1 splice-variant expression in clinically available PBMCs of patients with ASD. Levels of NRG1 type III expression in PBMCs were positively correlated with impairments in social interaction in children with ASD (as assessed using the Autistic Diagnostic Interview-Revised test: ADI-R). These findings suggest that immune cell-derived NRGs may be implicated in the pathobiology of psychiatric disorders such as ASD.博士（医学）・乙第1404号・平成29年6月28日Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Deconstructing the traditional Japanese medicine “Kampo”: compounds, metabolites and pharmacological profile of maoto, a remedy for flu-like symptoms

Pharmacological activities of the traditional Japanese herbal medicine (Kampo) are putatively mediated by complex interactions between multiple herbal compounds and host factors, which are difficult to characterize via the reductive approach of purifying major bioactive compounds and elucidating their mechanisms by conventional pharmacology. Here, we performed comprehensive compound, pharmacological and metabolomic analyses of maoto, a pharmaceutical-grade Kampo prescribed for flu-like symptoms, in normal and polyI:C-injected rats, the latter suffering from acute inflammation via Toll-like receptor 3 activation. In total, 352 chemical composition-determined compounds (CCDs) were detected in maoto extract by mass spectrometric analysis. After maoto treatment, 113 CCDs were newly detected in rat plasma. Of these CCDs, 19 were present in maoto extract, while 94 were presumed to be metabolites generated from maoto compounds or endogenous substances such as phospholipids. At the phenotypic level, maoto ameliorated the polyI:C-induced decrease in locomotor activity and body weight; however, body weight was not affected by individual maoto components in isolation. In accordance with symptom relief, maoto suppressed TNF-α and IL-1β, increased IL-10, and altered endogenous metabolites related to sympathetic activation and energy expenditure. Furthermore, maoto decreased inflammatory prostaglandins and leukotrienes, and increased anti-inflammatory eicosapentaenoic acid and hydroxyl-eicosapentaenoic acids, suggesting that it has differential effects on eicosanoid metabolic pathways involving cyclooxygenases, lipoxygenases and cytochrome P450s. Collectively, these data indicate that extensive profiling of compounds, metabolites and pharmacological phenotypes is essential for elucidating the mechanisms of herbal medicines, whose vast array of constituents induce a wide range of changes in xenobiotic and endogenous metabolism