A Case Study of Efforts to Introduce “CLIL Taiiku” at Public Elementary School: Practice as “Vaulting horse with exclamation”

The purposes of this study are following two points; (1) to report a practice of “CLIL Taiiku” in elementary school, (2) to clarify achievements and issues of the practice, and the possibility of “CLIL Taiiku”. “Taiiku” means physical education in Japanese, and the reason why we use Japanese word is to look for Japanese way for CLIL in PE. Specifically, the practice was carried out for 6th and 5th grades. In order to clarify the results and issues of these classes, we conducted a group interview survey with teachers who practiced these classes and observers. The contents were analyzed using the KJ method (Kawakita, 1986). As a result, CLIL and “Taiiku” are compatible, and it can be suggested that “CLIL Taiiku” has a positive effect on community creation between pupil and pupil, pupil and teacher, and also teacher and teacher in the school. On the other hand, there were some issues about teacher, such as English level and burden on “CLIL Taiiku”

Potential tactics with certain gut microbiota for the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) constitutes an extremely malignant form of primary liver cancer. Intricate connections linking to the immune system might be associated with the pathogenesis of HCC. Meanwhile, immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors has been established to be a favorable therapeutic possibility for advanced HCC. Although curative opportunities for advanced HCC are restricted, the immune checkpoint immunotherapy has developed as the main choice for treating HCC. However, patients with metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD)-linked HCC might be less likely to benefit from the immunotherapy alone. The limitation of the effect of the immunotherapy might be owing to the impaired T cell activation in MAFLD patients, which could be well explained by a dysfunctional gut-liver axis. Gut microbiota and their metabolites including several bile acids could contribute to modulating the responses of the immune checkpoint immunotherapy. Roles of gut microbiota in the development of cancers have expected great interest in the latest studies. Here, an interplay between the gut and liver has been presented, which might suggest to affect the efficacy of immune checkpoint immunotherapy against HCC

Ethanol Increases NADPH Oxidase-derived Oxidative Stress and Induces Apoptosis in Human Liver Adenocarcinoma Cells (SK-HEP-1)

Alcohol-induced liver injury is linked to oxidative stress and increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidative stress is an early event in the process of apoptosis. However, it is not completely understood how ethanol-induced oxidative stress induces apoptosis. In contrast, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NOX) is known to generate ROS in hepatocytes. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether or not ethanol-induced ROS generation stimulates the death receptor or mitochondrial pathways of apoptosis in alcohol dehydrogenase containing human liver adenocarcinoma (SK-HEP-1) cells. Treatment with ethanol increased the generation of ROS and expression of NOX4 mRNA, and also induced mitochondrial dysfunction in SK-HEP-1 cells. Moreover, ethanol induced the activation of caspase-8 and -3 in hepatocytes. These activities were suppressed by pretreatment with N-acetyl-cysteine, an antioxidant, or apocynin, an inhibitor of NOX activity. These results suggested that ethanol induces an increase in NOX-derived ROS generation upstream of caspase-8 activation and in the mitochondria in SK-HEP-1 cells. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that ethanol increases the generation of ROS and subsequently induces apoptosis using a mechanism involving mitochondrial dysfunction and caspase activation in SK-HEP-1 cells

How to Overview the Outcome of Workshop-Type School Training through “Lesson Planning Ability”: A Case of Teacher Training in Physical Education in X City

The purpose of this study is to overview how physical education teachers at junior high schools can acquire “lesson planning ability” through participation in workshoptype (WS-type) school training. According to this case study, the findings can be summarized in three points: (1) physical education teachers improved in their “lesson planning ability” through preparation of a guidance plan in WS-type school training and in exchange with others. (2) WS-type school training functions as a place to learn theory, a place to output, a place to deepen exchange between teachers, a place to share knowledge, and a place to contribute to the training of teachers’ “lesson planning abilities.” (3) Cooperation with schools, educational committees, and universities is indispensable in order to carry out “subjective, cooperative, and active” WS-type in school training

Potential tactics with vitamin D and certain phytochemicals for enhancing the effectiveness of immune-checkpoint blockade therapies

Immunotherapy strategies targeting immune checkpoint molecules such as programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) are revolutionizing oncology. However, its effectiveness is limited in part due to the loss of effector cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Interestingly, supplementation of vitamin D could abolish the repressive effect of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) on CD8+ T cells, which might prevent the lymphocytopenia. In addition, vitamin D signaling could contribute to the differentiation of T-regulatory (Treg) cells associated with the expression of Treg markers such as forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) and CTLA-4. Furthermore, vitamin D may be associated with the stimulation of innate immunity. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) and estrogen receptor (ESR) signaling, and even the signaling from phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway could have inhibitory roles in carcinogenesis possibly via the modulation of immune checkpoint molecules. In some cases, certain small molecules including vitamin D could be a novel therapeutic modality with a promising potential for the better performance of immune checkpoint blockade cancer therapies

Dynamical Mean-Field Theory

The dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) is a widely applicable approximation scheme for the investigation of correlated quantum many-particle systems on a lattice, e.g., electrons in solids and cold atoms in optical lattices. In particular, the combination of the DMFT with conventional methods for the calculation of electronic band structures has led to a powerful numerical approach which allows one to explore the properties of correlated materials. In this introductory article we discuss the foundations of the DMFT, derive the underlying self-consistency equations, and present several applications which have provided important insights into the properties of correlated matter.Comment: Chapter in "Theoretical Methods for Strongly Correlated Systems", edited by A. Avella and F. Mancini, Springer (2011), 31 pages, 5 figure

Wnt signalling in human breast cancer: expression of the putative Wnt inhibitor Dickkopf-3 (DKK3) is frequently suppressed by promoter hypermethylation in mammary tumours

INTRODUCTION: Expression of the putative Wnt signalling inhibitor Dickkopf-3 (DKK3) is frequently lost in human cancer tissues because of aberrant 5'-cytosine methylation within the DKK3 gene promoter. Since other Wnt signalling inhibitors have been reported to be targets of epigenetic inactivation in human breast cancer, we questioned if DKK3 expression is also epigenetically silenced during breast carcinogenesis and therefore might contribute to oncogenic Wnt signalling commonly found in this disease. METHODS: DKK3 mRNA expression and DKK3 promoter methylation were determined by RT-PCR, realtime PCR and methylation-specific PCR in breast cell lines (n = 9), normal breast tissues (n = 19) and primary breast carcinomas (n = 150), respectively. In vitro DNA demethylation was performed by incubating breast cell lines with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and trichostatin A. DKK3 protein expression was analysed by immunohistochemistry in breast carcinomas (n = 16) and normal breast tissues (n = 8). Methylation data were statistically correlated with clinical patient characteristics. All statistical evaluations were performed with SPSS 14.0 software. RESULTS: DKK3 mRNA was downregulated in 71% (five of seven) of breast cancer cell lines and in 68% of primary breast carcinomas (27 of 40) compared with benign cell lines and normal breast tissues, respectively. A DNA demethylating treatment of breast cell lines resulted in strong induction of DKK3 mRNA expression. In tumourous breast tissues, DKK3 mRNA downregulation was significantly associated with DKK3 promoter methylation (p < 0.001). Of the breast carcinomas, 61% (92 of 150) revealed a methylated DKK3 promoter, whereas 39% (58 of 150) retained an unmethylated promoter. Loss of DKK3 expression in association with DKK3 promoter methylation (p = 0.001) was also confirmed at the protein level (p < 0.001). In bivariate analysis, DKK3 promoter methylation was not associated with investigated clinicopathological parameters except patient age (p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: DKK3 mRNA expression and consequently DKK3 protein expression become frequently downregulated during human breast cancer development due to aberrant methylation of the DKK3 promoter. Since DKK3 is thought to negatively regulate oncogenic Wnt signalling, DKK3 may be a potential tumour suppressor gene in normal breast tissue

Numerical and experimental study of horizontal pneumatic transportation of spherical and low-aspect-ratio cylindrical particles

The work presented in this paper was carried out as part of the PARDEM project. The overall aim was to quantify the predictive capability of a coupled CFD-DEM approach to simulating the horizontal pneumatic conveying of spherical and low-aspect-ratio non-spherical particles. Carefully controlled experiments were carried out in a 6.5 m long, 0.075 m diameter horizontal conveying line with the aid of the laser Doppler anemometry (LDA). Three different sizes of spherical glass beads, ranging from 0.8 mm to 2 mm and low-aspect-ratio cylindrical shaped particle of size 1 × 1.5 mm were employed. Simulations of the experiments were performed using a two-way coupled computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM) implemented in the commercial software FLUENT-EDEM in an Eulerian–Lagrangian framework. Experimental and simulation results of gas and particle velocities for particle laden flow with spherical particles were compared, showing that the CFD-DEM method could capture the experimental trends. However, quantitative discrepancies between simulation and experimental results were observed. Further modelling of low-aspect-ratio cylindrical particles was conducted using a multi-sphere model to represent cylindrical particles in the DEM code. Drag equations were modified in the code to take the effect of particle shape into account. The simulation results of mean axial particle velocity agreed reasonably well with a maximum of 25% discrepancy when compared to experimental measurements using the LDA technique. The discrepancies between simulation and experimental results were attributed to the selected drag model, mesh size and lack of an appropriate mesh interpolation scheme in the selected code