A developmental study of violence-related problematic behaviors (3)

The present study was designed to examine the discrepancy between pupils' and teachers' normative consciousness with respect to the multiple problematic behaviors in the three groups of pupils. Participants were pupils from fourth- to sixth-graders (N= 285) and their teachers (N=69) in the elementary school, pupils from first- to third-graders (N=270) and their teachers (N=91) in the junior high school, and pupils from first- to third-graders (N=274) and their teachers (N=120) in the high school. Normative consciousness was measured with 49 items in eleven subscale areas of problematic behaviors. Each item was rated on a 4-point scale indicating how severely pupils were punished, from not at all (1) to very much (4). Pupils rated the extent to which they would receive punishment from their teachers if they would do each problematic behavior. Teachers rated the extent to which they would give punishment to their pupils if their pupils would do each problematic behavior. The main results were as follows. Pupils' ratings on nine subscales, such as bullying, violent behavior, defiant attitude, fashion, disturbance of activities in a class, shoplifting and use without permission, undisciplined school life, drinking and smoking, and undisciplined home life, declined with age. Contrarily, teachers' ratings did not change as a function of pupils' age on ten subscales excluding undisciplined school life. These findings show the discrepancy between pupils' and teachers' normative consciousness about problematic behaviors. Further studies are required to find out the factors which decreased normative consciousness of the high school students

A developmental study of violence-related problematic behaviors (2)

The purpose of this study was to compare children's and parents' normative consciousness with respect to the multiple problematic behaviors in the three age groups of children. The first age group consisted of elementary school children from fourth- to sixth-graders (N=285) and their parents (N=254). The second age group consisted of junior high school students from first- to third-graders (N=270) and their parents (N=245). The third age group consisted of high school students from first- to third-graders (N=274) and their parents (N=233). Normative consciousness was measured with 49 items in eleven subscales of problematic behaviors. Each item was rated on a 4-point scale indicating how severely children were punished, from not at all (1) to very much (4). Children rated the extent to which they would receive punishment from their parents if they would do each problematic behavior. Parents rated the extent to which they would give punishment to their child if their child would do each problematic behavior. The main results were as follows. Children's ratings generally declined with age, especially the third age group's ratings declined drastically. Parents' ratings on the five subscales of bullying, defiant attitude, fashion, disturbance of activities in a class, and drinking and smoking declined with age of children. However, parents' ratings on the other six subscales of violence, shoplifting and use without permission, undisciplined school life, undisciplined home life, delinquency, and schoolgirl's compensated dating did not change as a function of children's age. These findings were discussed in relation to the prevalence and the seriousness of problematic behaviors

Identification of the agg1 mutation responsible for negative phototaxis in a “wild-type” strain of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

AbstractThe unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a model organism for various studies in biology. CC-124 is a laboratory strain widely used as a wild type. However, this strain is known to carry agg1 mutation, which causes cells to swim away from the light source (negative phototaxis), in contrast to the cells of other wild-type strains, which swim toward the light source (positive phototaxis). Here we identified the causative gene of agg1 (AGG1) using AFLP-based gene mapping and whole genome next-generation sequencing. This gene encodes a 36-kDa protein containing a Fibronectin type III domain and a CHORD-Sgt1 (CS) domain. The gene product is localized to the cell body and not to flagella or basal body

Identification of a second gene associated with variation in vertebral number in domestic pigs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The number of vertebrae in pigs varies and is associated with body size. Wild boars have 19 vertebrae, but European commercial breeds for pork production have 20 to 23 vertebrae. We previously identified two quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for number of vertebrae on <it>Sus scrofa </it>chromosomes (SSC) 1 and 7, and reported that an orphan nuclear receptor, <it>NR6A1</it>, was located at the QTL on SSC1. At the <it>NR6A1 </it>locus, wild boars and Asian local breed pigs had the wild-type allele and European commercial-breed pigs had an allele associated with increased numbers of vertebrae (number-increase allele).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we performed a map-based study to define the other QTL, on SSC7, for which we detected genetic diversity in European commercial breeds. Haplotype analysis with microsatellite markers revealed a 41-kb conserved region within all the number-increase alleles in the present study. We also developed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 450-kb region around the QTL and used them for a linkage disequilibrium analysis and an association study in 199 independent animals. Three haplotype blocks were detected, and SNPs in the 41-kb region presented the highest associations with the number of vertebrae. This region encodes an uncharacterized hypothetical protein that is not a member of any other known gene family. Orthologs appear to exist not only in mammals but also birds and fish. This gene, which we have named <it>vertnin </it>(<it>VRTN</it>) is a candidate for the gene associated with variation in vertebral number. In pigs, the number-increase allele was expressed more abundantly than the wild-type allele in embryos. Among candidate polymorphisms, there is an insertion of a SINE element (PRE1) into the intron of the Q allele as well as the SNPs in the promoter region.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Genetic diversity of <it>VRTN </it>is the suspected cause of the heterogeneity of the number of vertebrae in commercial-breed pigs, so the polymorphism information should be directly useful for assessing the genetic ability of individual animals. The number-increase allele of swine <it>VRTN </it>was suggested to add an additional thoracic segment to the animal. Functional analysis of <it>VRTN </it>may provide novel findings in the areas of developmental biology.</p

Effect of the primary cooling rate on the motility and fertility of frozen-thawed rabbit spermatozoa

[EN] In the present study, we examined the effect of primary cooling rates on the motility and fertility of frozen-thawed rabbit spermatozoa. Rabbit semen diluted with an egg-yolk acetamide extender was cooled from room temperature to 5°C at four different rates (-0.1, -0.2, -0.4, -0.8°C/min) as a primary cooling step, then semen was frozen in liquid nitrogen vapour. After thawing, sperm cooled at -0.1°C/min showed the highest motility (40.7 ± 7.3%); there were no significant differences between the motilities of the -0.1, -0.2, and -0.4°C/min groups. The motility of frozen-thawed sperm cooled at -0.8°C/min (29.2 ± 6.8%) was significantly lower than that of sperm cooled at -0.1 and -0.2°C/min. The viability (-0.1°C/min, 38.1 ± 4.0%; -0.8°C/min, 24.3 ± 7.3%) of frozen-thawed sperm was closely related to its motility (-0.1°C/min, 36.7 ± 7.2%; -0.8°C/min, 22.3 ± 4.7%). Quality of post-thaw motile sperm cooled at different rates was estimated by comparing the fertilisation ability of the -0.1 and -0.8°C/min groups following artificial insemination. There were no significant differences in pregnancy rates and mean litter sizes. These data suggest that cooling rabbit semen at rates ranging from -0.1 to -0.8°C/min affects the viability but not the fertilisation capacity of motile spermatozoa after thawing.The authors thank Ms. T. Shimazaki, Ms. R. Tsuneyoshi, and Ms. R. Eriguchi for their technical assistance. This study was partly supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (No. 22500386).Maeda, T.; Liu, E.; Nishijima, K.; Tanaka, M.; Yamaguchi, S.; Morimoto, M.; Watanabe, T.... (2012). Effect of the primary cooling rate on the motility and fertility of frozen-thawed rabbit spermatozoa. World Rabbit Science. 20(2):65-70. doi:10.4995/wrs.2012.1080SWORD657020