日本語にコード化された認識作用 : 言語過程説による印欧語文法記述の是正

Ji words in Japanese directly show a speaker\u27s mental process or cognitive activities. Some parts of paralanguage in English is encoded in Japanese. Japanese has a group of words (SEMP) to encode a speaker\u27s mental processes. When they speak, Japanese people tend to connect what they perceive/recognise with their personal experience and/or knowledge or with common notion or idea in their own group. This way of expression in Japanese is conjectured to be derived from in-group communication. We also find that the interaction-oriented function is encoded in Japanese sentence final particles which belong to ji words. This proves that the base of communication is used to be in-group. Shi-and ji-honorifics by Tokieda\u27s classification were found to correspond to referent and addressee honorifics, indicating that a speaker\u27s cognition is revealed in ji-honorifics. We also show that the solution of a confusion between referent and addressee honorifics in traditional description of European language was confirmed through the cognitive analysis of Japanese honorifics

Fulfillment of the premenstrual dysphoric disorder criteria confirmed using a self-rating questionnaire among Japanese women with depressive disorders

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Some women with depressive disorders experience severe premenstrual symptoms. However, there have been few studies in which premenstrual symptoms in women suffering from depressive disorders were assessed. In this study, we aimed to investigate premenstrual symptoms in women with depressive disorders using the premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) scale.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We administered questionnaires to 65 Japanese female outpatients who had been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder or dysthymic disorder and to 303 healthy women as control subjects. The questionnaire consisted of items on demographics and the PMDD scale, which was modified from the premenstrual symptoms screening tool (PSST) developed by Steiner et al. (<it>Arch Womens Ment Health </it>2003, <b>6</b>:203-209).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-eight women (43.1%) with depressive disorder fulfilled certain items of the PMDD scale. These women are considered to have coexisting PMDD and a depressive disorder, or to have premenstrual exacerbation (PME) of a depressive disorder. On the other hand, 18 women (5.9%) in the control group were diagnosed as having PMDD. The depressive disorder group who fulfilled the PMDD criteria had more knowledge of the term premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and took more actions to attenuate premenstrual symptoms than the control group with PMDD.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings demonstrated that the occurrence of severe premenstrual symptoms is much higher in women with depressive disorders than in healthy subjects. This is partially due to this group containing women with PME, but mainly due to it containing women with PMDD. The higher percentage of PMDD suggests similarity between PMDD and other depressive disorders. Furthermore, educating healthy Japanese women and women with depressive disorders about premenstrual symptoms and evidence-based treatment for them is necessary.</p

The Evolution of Linguistic Expression in Japanese and English Societies : From situation-tied\u27 to \u27culture-independent\u27 expression

In this highly interactive situation of the world we need to seek the way to communicate with people who have different accumulation of cognition/words reflecting their action/life and society. Whether this is successful or not depends upon how people realise, cultivate and use the descriptive power of language by fully developing its representational function. This paper discusses contrastively this issue in Japanese and English. At the primary stage of its use, language is situation-tied and has no independency. In an analysis of Japanese, we find the condensed/folded way of expression which is mainly used for uttering a speaker\u27s subjective condition. This has been fostered by long-lived homogenised society. Bernstein found the restricted and the elaborated codes in English spoken language. We show that this is used for expressing objective matters and is fostered by cross-cultural situation of the society. While folded way of expression in Japanese is culture-tied, the elaborated code in English is culture-independent. They are respectively generated through different mental activities reflecting their distinctive characters of societies

Super-resolution imaging detects BP180 autoantigen in immunoglobulin M pemphigoid

Bullous pemphigoid is generally caused by immunoglobulin (Ig)G autoantibodies against hemidesmosomal BP180 and/or BP230. Recently, the concept of IgM pemphigoid has been proposed. A 23-year-old Japanese woman presented with a 4-month history of severely itchy papules showing subepidermal separations with mild neutrophil infiltration. Direct immunofluorescence (DIF) revealed IgM deposits at the dermoepidermal junction, but neither IgG nor IgA deposits. Indirect immunofluorescence on 1 M NaCl-split skin demonstrated deposits on the epidermal side. The optical density (OD) value of a modified IgM enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for full-length BP180, but not for BP180-NC16A, was increased. The patient was diagnosed with IgM pemphigoid and was treated with diphenyl sulfone at 50 mg/day without recurrence. To confirm the precise autoantigen, we tried to obtain super-resolution imaging. The deposition pattern of IgM autoantibodies seemed to be oriented parallel to that of BP180. The detailed images detect DIF deposits apart from BP180-NC16A staining, but are close to type VII collagen-NC1 staining. This result suggests that the IgM autoantibodies in the patient might target the C-terminus of BP180. IgM pemphigoid is still not a widely accepted concept, and the clinical course remains unknown. We will carefully follow-up the patient. Super-resolution images may help to detect precise autoantigens in autoimmune blistering diseases