Developmental and gender trends in emotional literacy and interpersonal competence among Japanese children

This study explored cross-sectional gender and grade level trends in emotional literacy and interpersonal competence among 913 elementary and middle school students in Japan. Students were presented with two hypothetical scenarios involving mixed emotions and potential interpersonal dilemmas. Results indicated that older children possess greater emotional literacy when compared to younger children. Additionally, girls identified a greater number of emotions, were better able to identify mixed emotions, and were more likely to identify empathic interpersonal behaviours. These gender and grade level considerations may be incorporated into social-emotional learning curricula to enhance the utility and effectiveness of programs for diverse populations.peer-reviewe

Institutional and Social Issues Surrounding Genetic Counselors in Japan : Current Challenges and Implications for the Global Community

Aizawa Y, Watanabe A and Kato K (2021) Institutional and Social Issues Surrounding Genetic Counselors in Japan: Current Challenges and Implications for the Global Community. Front. Genet. 12:646177. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2021.646177

Dual induction of caspase 3- and transglutaminase-dependent apoptosis by acyclic retinoid in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatocellular carcinoma has a high mortality rate due to its rate of recurrence. Acyclic retinoid prevents recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients after surgical removal of their primary tumors by inducing apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells, although the molecular mechanisms of action are not understood.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in culture, as well as nude mice transplanted with hepatocellular carcinoma cells and rats given with <it>N</it>-diethylnitrosamine were treated with acyclic retinoid. Changes in activated caspase 3 and transglutaminase 2 (TG2) levels, Sp1 cross-linking and its activities, expression of epidermal growth factor receptor, and apoptotic levels were measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Acyclic retinoid simultaneously stimulated the activation of caspase 3, and the expression, nuclear localization and crosslinking activity of TG2, resulting in crosslinking and inactivation of the transcription factor, Sp1, thereby reducing expression of epidermal growth factor receptor and cell death in three hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. These effects were partially restored by a caspase inhibitor, transfection of antisense TG2, restoration of functional Sp1, or an excess of epidermal growth factor. Nuclear expression of TG2 and crosslinked Sp1, as also activated caspase 3 were found in both hepatocellular carcinoma cells transplanted into nude mice and cancerous regions within the liver in <it>N</it>-diethylnitrosamine-induced hepatocarcinogenesis model in rats, following treatment of animals with acyclic retinoid.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Treatment with acyclic retinoid produces a dual activation of caspase 3 and TG2 induced apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells via modification and inactivation of Sp1, resulting in reduced expression of epidermal growth factor receptor.</p

Results of Hepatitis B Vaccination 3 Years After a Primary Vaccine Series in Medical Students

Objective：To investigate the significance of additional hepatitis B （HB） vaccination in medical students who were unresponsive to a primary vaccine series or those who had lost antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen （anti-HBs）.Methods：Subjects were followed up for 3 years after completion of a primary HB vaccine series. One additional dose was given to those who lost the anti-HBs within 3 years after the initial series, while 3 doses were given to those who had not responded to the initial vaccination. Subjects：100 medical students （59 men and 41 women；mean age on admission to university, 19.4±1.6 years） enrolled at the School of Medicine, Dokkyo Medical University in April 2012.Results：The rate of positivity for anti-HBs was 98％ soon after completion of the primary HB vaccine series and decreased without the need for additional vaccination to 79％, 61％, and 55％ at 1, 2, and 3 years after the primary series, respectively. Eighteen vaccinated subjects （18％） lost the anti-HBs 2 years after the primary series, and all of them responded to 1 additional dose. Another 18 successfully vaccinated subjects （18％） were anti-HBs negative both 1 and 2 years after the primary series；17 of them responded to 1 additional dose. As for 2 subjects （2％） who were unresponsive to the primary series, 1 became anti-HBs-positive for the first time after 3 additional doses given 2 years after the primary series.Conclusion：A number of students became or remained anti-HBs negative after the primary HB vaccination, indicating that its timing and dose of additional vaccination need to be studied further to evaluate its utility

Risk factors for pancreatic stone formation in autoimmune pancreatitis over a long-term course

Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) has the potential to progress to a chronic state that forms pancreatic stones. The aim of this study was to clarify the risk factors underlying pancreatic stone formation in AIP. Sixty-nine patients with AIP who had been followed for at least 3 years were enrolled for evaluation of clinical and laboratory factors as well as computed tomography and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography findings. During the course of this study, increased or de novo stone formation was seen in 28 patients, who were defined as the stone-forming group. No stones were observed in 32 patients, who were defined as the non-stone-forming group. Nine patients who had stones at diagnosis but showed no change during the course of this study were excluded from our cohort. Univariate analysis revealed no significant differences in clinical or laboratory factors associated with AIP-specific inflammation between the two groups. However, pancreatic head swelling (P = 0.006) and narrowing of both Wirsung's and Santorini's ducts in the pancreatic head region (P = 0.010) were significantly more frequent in the stone-forming group. Furthermore, multivariate analysis identified Wirsung and Santorini duct narrowing at diagnosis as a significant independent risk factor for pancreatic stone formation (OR 4.4, P = 0.019). A primary risk factor for pancreatic stone formation in AIP was narrowing of both Wirsung's and Santorini's ducts, which most presumably led to pancreatic juice stasis and stone development.ArticleJOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY. 47(5):553-560 (2012)journal articl

Design and Evaluation of the Corpus of Everyday Japanese Conversation

application/pdfNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsGraduate School of Humanities, Chiba UniversityNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsWe have constructed the Corpus of Everyday Japanese Conversation (CEJC) and published it in March 2022. The CEJC is designed to contain various kinds of everyday conversations in a balanced manner to capture their diversity. The CEJC features not only audio but also video data to facilitate precise understanding of the mechanism of real-life social behavior. The publication of a large-scale corpus of everyday conversations that includes video data is a new approach. The CEJC contains 200 hours of speech, 577 conversations, about 2.4 million words, and a total of 1675 conversants. In this paper, we present an overview of the corpus, including the recording method and devices, structure of the corpus, formats of video and audio files, transcription, and annotations. We then report some results of the evaluation of the CEJC in terms of conversant and conversation attributes. We show that the CEJC includes a good balance of adult conversants in terms of gender and age, as well as a variety of conversations in terms of conversation forms, places, activities, and numbers of conversants.conference pape

Hospital-based care utilization of children with medical complexity in Japan

BackgroundFew studies have investigated the hospital‐based care utilization of children with medical complexity (CMC) in Japan. This study examined the frequency and differences in hospital‐based care utilization for CMC according to the level of medical complexity (moderate and severe).MethodsMedical records of three pediatric tertiary hospitals in one prefecture were examined in 2014. We examined the number of outpatient visits and of admissions to the hospital for CMC in the 5 years after the introduction of home medical care.ResultsOf 92 CMC, 55 had medical complexity that was moderate (CMC‐moderate) and 37 had medical complexity that was severe (CMC‐severe). The number of CMC who had medical care introduced at home had increased year by year, especially that of CMC <2 years old; the number of older CMC (i.e. 7–17 years old) had also increased in 2010–2014. The median total outpatient visits was 20 (IQR, 13–29 visits) for CMC‐moderate and 20 (IQR, 17–26 visits) for CMC‐severe in the first year. CMC‐severe had significantly longer length of admissions in the 5 years than CMC‐moderate. The number of total visits and admissions during the subsequent 4 years (from the second to the fifth year) was slightly decreased compared with the first year, but this was not significantly different.ConclusionsCMC had high utilization of hospital‐based care, and consistently utilized hospital‐based care in the 5 years after the introduction of home medical care. Further study is needed to examine both hospital‐based and home/community‐based services use

Associations between daily lifestyle characteristics and latent depressive symptoms in elementary school children: A cross-sectional survey

This study aimed to identify associations between daily lifestyle characteristics and latent depressive symptoms in young children by analyzing self-reported questionnaire data. In 2011, in Nagasaki Japan, a cross-sectional survey of 1961 children aged between 10 and 12 years was conducted. Children answered questionnaires that collected demographic information, along with daily lifestyle characteristics, and were administered the Birleson Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRSC-J). The mean age of the participants was 10.98 years (±0.83 standard deviation [SD]) with a mean DSRSC-J raw score of 11.61 (±6.34 SD). In total, 24.7% of participants reported depressive symptoms. A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that depressive symptoms were associated with female gender (odds ratio [OR]:1.86; 95% CI: 1.48?2.33), experiencing growth (OR: 1.25; 1.07-1.44), a bedtime later than 11 pm (OR: 1.25; 1.01-1.66), skipping breakfast (OR: 1.55; 1.15-2.10), and not having a set dinner time (OR: 1.65; 1.32?2.07). Conversely, absence of depressive symptoms was associated with involvement in school-related athletic clubs (OR: 0.60, 95% Cl: 0.48?0.76) and at home studying for at least one hour per day (OR: 0.67, 95% Cl: 0.54?0.84). Depressive symptoms in young children were associated with social contact and their parent’s lifestyles. Non-experts in the field of mental health who interact with young children should carefully note the presence of factors associated with depressive symptoms as this would help children with latent depressive symptoms receive prompt and timely care

Polycomb-Mediated Loss of miR-31 Activates NIK-Dependent NF-κB Pathway in Adult T Cell Leukemia and Other Cancers

SummaryConstitutive NF-κB activation has causative roles in adult T cell leukemia (ATL) caused by HTLV-1 and other cancers. Here, we report a pathway involving Polycomb-mediated miRNA silencing and NF-κB activation. We determine the miRNA signatures and reveal miR-31 loss in primary ATL cells. MiR-31 negatively regulates the noncanonical NF-κB pathway by targeting NF-κB inducing kinase (NIK). Loss of miR-31 therefore triggers oncogenic signaling. In ATL cells, miR-31 level is epigenetically regulated, and aberrant upregulation of Polycomb proteins contribute to miR-31 downregulation in an epigenetic fashion, leading to activation of NF-κB and apoptosis resistance. Furthermore, this emerging circuit operates in other cancers and receptor-initiated NF-κB cascade. Our findings provide a perspective involving the epigenetic program, inflammatory responses, and oncogenic signaling