定住を希望する外国人生活者向けマネープラン教材の開発と試用

生活者として日本へ定住することを希望する外国人がライフプランを構想する際に必要となる情報、たとえば税金、保険、年金等の制度、金融機関の利用法などを理解するための地域日本語教室用教材を作成した。本稿では、教材作成の背景事情を説明するとともに、マネープランと日本語教育それぞれの専門家の協働による作成の過程、また、作成した教材の構成および内容について報告する。そして、地域日本語教室での試用を経て明らかになった本教材開発の意義及び改善点についても述べる。In Gunma Prefecture, there are foreigners wanting to settle in Japan as a member of the local community, but they have inadequate information on prospects concerning their old age. Therefore, we developed Japanese language materials for local Japanese volunteer class. These materials provide information about .nancial planning such as the system of tax, pension, and insurance. Herein, we report the development process and the outline of the materials made by a .nancial planner and Japanese language education specialists

活動スタイルの多様化を目指した日本語ボランティア養成講座

新規ボランティア参入者のための日本語ボランティア養成講座を実施した。対話型へと向かう地域日本語教育の流れと、受講者が活動予定の日本語教室の実態を踏まえ、教室での進め方のスタイルを複数示すことを目指した。講座では、（1）外国人にとってわかりやすいコミュニケーションのコツ、（2）文型の意味を伝える方法、（3）品詞や活用など市販の日本語教材を読み解くための基礎知識、（4）文型や会話の練習方法、ゲームやタスクなどの活動、（5）対話型の活動のための教材等を扱った。受講者のアンケートからは、対話型活動へも意識が向けられたことがうかがえたが、一方で、ボランティア参加に難しさを感じたという感想もあり、自信を持って活動に臨めるような講座の進め方については、改善の余地があると言える。We conducted a Japanese volunteer training seminar for new volunteer participants. This seminar aimed at displaying two or more styles of volunteer activity based on the present stream of regional Japanese education, which is inclined toward interactive dialogue style, and on the actual situation of a Japanese language class, which the students of the seminar, as volunteers, are expected to enroll in. In the seminar,we promoted learning through lectures and experiences regarding 1) good methods for comprehensible communication for foreigners ; 2) a technique for showing meanings of sentence patterns ; 3) basic knowledge for reading Japanese teaching materials, such as parts of speech and conjugation ; 4) a technique for practicing sentence patterns and conversation and activity experiment involving games and tasks ; and 5) teaching material for interactive dialogue style. The students’questionnaire results indicate that they became aware of the interactive dialogue style activity, but experienced difficulty during the volunteer activities. Therefore,there is scope for improving the seminar,especially in its efforts for increasing students’confidence in succeeding in volunteer work

TEMPOL increases NAD+ and improves redox imbalance in obese mice

Continuous energy conversion is controlled by reduction–oxidation (redox) processes. NAD+ and NADH represent an important redox couple in energy metabolism. 4-Hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPOL) is a redox-cycling nitroxide that promotes the scavenging of several reactive oxygen species (ROS) and is reduced to hydroxylamine by NADH. TEMPOL is also involved in NAD+ production in the ascorbic acid–glutathione redox cycle. We utilized the chemical properties of TEMPOL to investigate the effects of antioxidants and NAD+/NADH modulators on the metabolic imbalance in obese mice. Increases in the NAD+/NADH ratio by TEMPOL ameliorated the metabolic imbalance when combined with a dietary intervention, changing from a high-fat diet to a normal diet. Plasma levels of the superoxide marker dihydroethidium were higher in mice receiving the dietary intervention compared with a control diet, but were normalized with TEMPOL consumption. These findings provide novel insights into redox regulation in obesity

TEMPOL increases NAD+ and improves redox imbalance in obese mice

Continuous energy conversion is controlled by reduction–oxidation (redox) processes. NAD+ and NADH represent an important redox couple in energy metabolism. 4-Hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPOL) is a redox-cycling nitroxide that promotes the scavenging of several reactive oxygen species (ROS) and is reduced to hydroxylamine by NADH. TEMPOL is also involved in NAD+ production in the ascorbic acid–glutathione redox cycle. We utilized the chemical properties of TEMPOL to investigate the effects of antioxidants and NAD+/NADH modulators on the metabolic imbalance in obese mice. Increases in the NAD+/NADH ratio by TEMPOL ameliorated the metabolic imbalance when combined with a dietary intervention, changing from a high-fat diet to a normal diet. Plasma levels of the superoxide marker dihydroethidium were higher in mice receiving the dietary intervention compared with a control diet, but were normalized with TEMPOL consumption. These findings provide novel insights into redox regulation in obesity

Systemic Oxidative Stress Is Associated With Lower Aerobic Capacity and Impaired Skeletal Muscle Energy Metabolism in Patients With Metabolic Syndrome

OBJECTIVE-Systemic oxidative stress is associated with insulin resistance and obesity. We tested the hypothesis that systemic oxidative stress is linked to lower aerobic capacity and skeletal muscle dysfunction in metabolic syndrome (MetS). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-The incremental exercise testing with cycle ergometer was performed in 14 male patients with MetS and 13 age-, sex-, and activity-matched healthy subjects. Systemic lipid peroxidation was assessed by serum thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and systemic antioxidant defense capacity was assessed by serum total thiols and enzymatic activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD). To assess skeletal muscle energy metabolism, we measured high-energy phosphates in the calf muscle during plantar flexion exercise and intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) in the resting leg muscle, using P-31- and (1)proton-magnetic resonance spectroscopy, respectively. RESULTS-Serum TBARS were elevated (12.4 +/- 7.1 vs. 3.7 +/- 1.1 mu mol/L; P < 0.01), and serum total thiols and SOD activity were decreased (290.8 +/- 51.2 vs. 398.7 +/- 105.2 mu mol/L, P < 0.01; and 22.2 +/- 8.4 vs. 31.5 +/- 8.5 units/L, P < 0.05, respectively) in patients with MetS compared with healthy subjects. Peak VO2 and anaerobic threshold normalized to body weight were significantly lower in MetS patients by 25 and 31%, respectively, and inversely correlated with serum TBARS (r = -0.49 and r = -0.50, respectively). Moreover, muscle phosphocreatine loss during exercise was 1.4-fold greater in patients with MetS (P < 0.05), and IMCL content was 2.9-fold higher in patients with MetS (P < 0.01), indicating impaired skeletal muscle energy metabolism, and these indices positively correlated with serum TBARS (r = 0.45 and r = 0.63, respectively). CONCLUSIONS-Systemic oxidative stress was associated with lower aerobic capacity and impaired skeletal muscle energy metabolism in patients with MetS