ニホンゴ ハツオン シュウトク ニ オケル ハツオン トクチョウ ブンセキ ト エンカク キョウイク システム ノ カツヨウ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ

本論文では、日本語学習者の発音において問題となる音について日本語母語話者の発話と比較しながら発話分析を行い、その原因を明らかにする。非日本語母語話者が日本語を習得する上で困難であるといわれる長母音、無声化母音の拍知覚と破擦音に焦点をあて、知覚・産出について実験的に検証を行う。これらの検証実験より得られた知見をもとに、発音自動評価機能を有する発音学習のための遠隔教育システムを提案することを目的とする

The Nutrient-Responsive Molecular Chaperone Hsp90 Supports Growth and Development in Drosophila

Animals can sense internal nutrients, such as amino acids/proteins, and are able to modify their developmental programs in accordance with their nutrient status. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, amino acid/protein is sensed by the fat body, an insect adipose tissue, through a nutrient sensor, target of rapamycin (TOR) complex 1 (TORC1). TORC1 promotes the secretion of various peptide hormones from the fat body in an amino acid/protein-dependent manner. Fat-body-derived peptide hormones stimulate the release of insulin-like peptides, which are essential growth-promoting anabolic hormones, from neuroendocrine cells called insulin-producing cells (IPCs). Although the importance of TORC1 and the fat body-IPC axis has been elucidated, the mechanism by which TORC1 regulates the expression of insulinotropic signal peptides remains unclear. Here, we show that an evolutionarily conserved molecular chaperone, heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), promotes the expression of insulinotropic signal peptides. Fat-body-selective Hsp90 knockdown caused the transcriptional downregulation of insulinotropic signal peptides. IPC activity and systemic growth were also impaired in fat-body-selective Hsp90 knockdown animals. Furthermore, Hsp90 expression depended on protein/amino acid availability and TORC1 signaling. These results strongly suggest that Hsp90 serves as a nutrient-responsive gene that upregulates the fat body-IPC axis and systemic growth. We propose that Hsp90 is induced in a nutrient-dependent manner to support anabolic metabolism during the juvenile growth period

ニホンゴ ハツオン シュウトク ニ オケル ハツオン トクチョウ ブンセキ ト エンカク キョウイク システム ノ カツヨウ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ

本論文では、日本語学習者の発音において問題となる音について日本語母語話者の発話と比較しながら発話分析を行い、その原因を明らかにする。 非日本語母語話者が日本語を習得する上で困難であるといわれる長母音、無声化母音の拍知覚と破擦音に焦点をあて、知覚・産出について実験的に検証を行う。これらの検証実験より得られた知見をもとに、発音自動評価機能を有する発音学習のための遠隔教育システムを提案することを目的とする

Val1483Ile polymorphism in the fatty acid synthase gene was associated with depressive symptoms under the influence of psychological stress

金沢大学医薬保健研究域薬学系Background: To study the association between lipid-metabolism and depressive symptoms, genetic polymorphisms in serotonin transporter linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) and fatty acid synthase gene (FASN) were investigated. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 177 women (n = 166) and men (n = 15) recruited from workers in a hospital and nursing homes in Japan. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and perceived psychological stress was measured using visual analogue scale (VAS). The genotypes of 5-HTTLPR (insertion/deletion; L/S), and FASN (Val1483Ile) were determined by the PCR methods. Linear regression analysis was performed, in which CES-D scores served as a dependent variable, and VAS scores, gene polymorphism, and confounders as independent variables. Results: Under the influence of perceived stress, S/S carriers of the 5-HTTLPR gene showed significantly higher CES-D scores in comparison with L/L + L/S carriers (F = 8.2, standardised β = 0.15, p < 0.05). Regression analysis also confirmed that CES-D scores in participants with Ile/Ile + Val/Ile genotypes of the FASN gene were significantly higher than those with Val/Val genotype (F = 8.4, standardised β = 0.16, p < 0.05). In relation to physical features, BMI among participants with S/S genotype of 5-HTTLPR was significantly lower compared with those with L/L + L/S genotypes. Conclusions: The Val1483Ile polymorphism in the FASN was associated with depressive symptoms under the influence of psychological stress. The S variant of 5-HTTLPR was related with less obese. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Iroquois homeobox 3 regulates odontoblast proliferation and differentiation mediated by Wnt5a expression

Iroquois homeobox (Irx) genes are TALE-class homeobox genes that are evolutionarily conserved across species and have multiple critical cellular functions in fundamental tissue development processes. Previous studies have shown that Irxs genes are expressed during tooth development. However, the precise roles of genes in teeth remain unclear. Here, we demonstrated for the first time that Irx3 is an essential molecule for the proliferation and differentiation of odontoblasts. Using cDNA synthesized from postnatal day 1 (P1) tooth germs, we examined the expression of all Irx genes (Irx1-Irx6) by RT-PCR and found that all genes except Irx4 were expressed in the tooth tissue. Irx1-Irx3 a were expressed in the dental epithelial cell line M3H1 cells, while Irx3 and Irx5 were expressed in the dental mesenchymal cell line mDP cells. Only Irx3 was expressed in both undifferentiated cell lines. Immunostaining also revealed the presence of IRX3 in the dental epithelial cells and mesenchymal condensation. Inhibition of endogenous Irx3 by siRNA blocks the proliferation and differentiation of mDP cells. Wnt3a, Wnt5a, and Bmp4 are factors involved in odontoblast differentiation and were highly expressed in mDP cells by quantitative PCR analysis. Interestingly, the expression of Wnt5a (but not Wnt3a or Bmp4) was suppressed by Irx3 siRNA. These results suggest that Irx3 plays an essential role in part through the regulation of Wnt5a expression during odontoblast proliferation and differentiation

The combined effect of the T2DM susceptibility genes is an important risk factor for T2DM in non-obese Japanese: a population based case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex endocrine and metabolic disorder. Recently, several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many novel susceptibility loci for T2DM, and indicated that there are common genetic causes contributing to the susceptibility to T2DM in multiple populations worldwide. In addition, clinical and epidemiological studies have indicated that obesity is a major risk factor for T2DM. However, the prevalence of obesity varies among the various ethnic groups. We aimed to determine the combined effects of these susceptibility loci and obesity/overweight for development of T2DM in the Japanese.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in or near 17 susceptibility loci for T2DM, identified through GWAS in Caucasian and Asian populations, were genotyped in 333 cases with T2DM and 417 control subjects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We confirmed that the cumulative number of risk alleles based on 17 susceptibility loci for T2DM was an important risk factor in the development of T2DM in Japanese population (<it>P </it>< 0.0001), although the effect of each risk allele was relatively small. In addition, the significant association between an increased number of risk alleles and an increased risk of T2DM was observed in the non-obese group (<it>P </it>< 0.0001 for trend), but not in the obese/overweight group (<it>P </it>= 0.88 for trend).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings indicate that there is an etiological heterogeneity of T2DM between obese/overweight and non-obese subjects.</p