A Study of Plato’s Use of Myths and its Relation to Philosophy and Moral Education

The way in which Plato’s uses of myth relate to his theory of moral education and his conception of philosophy is examined. Plato’s use and conception of myth (muthos) is notoriously difficult to determine, however, especially because it is difficult to determine whether and in what way Plato wishes to contrast muthos with logos. I argue that muthos plays an integral role in Plato’s philosophical investigation and dialectic, and therefore it is best understood as a “guise” of logos. Myth is not a suspension nor transcendence of logos, as scholars have suggested. Plato uses myth when he is concerned with moral education, that is, the moral transformation of the reader and the interlocutor. According to this line of interpretation, Plato’s myths play a heuristic role in service of his moral pedagogical goals. I outline Plato’s pedagogical goals in the context of his theory of moral education, and conclude with some suggestions about the integration of philosophical myths in educational settings today

Two Kinds of Responses to: Why must I learn this?

　教育哲学研究はどのような役割を果たすべきなのであろうか。筆者は、教育問題\nへの実証的な回答よりもむしろ、規範的な回答を探求するのが教育哲学の果たすべき\n役割であるという立場をとる。実証的な研究では、たとえば、「世界の小学校では、\nどのような教科が教えられているのか」といった問題への回答が、規範的な研究では、\n「小学校では、どのような教科が教えられるべきなのか」という問題への回答が探求\nされることになる。\n　本論文で筆者は、教員が、生徒や学生からしばしば突きつけられる問い――「私は\nなぜ、～を学習しなければならないのですか」――に規範的な回答をおこなうための\n基本的な論点を示したいと思う。\n　「私はなぜ、～を学習しなければならないのですか」という問いには、実際には、\nふたつの意味が含まれている。すなわち、実際的な意味と道徳的な意味である。どち\nらの意味にとるかで、それぞれの教育哲学が要請されることになる。\n　実際的な意味にとると、この問いは、「～を学習することが、自分にとってなんの\n役に立つのか」ということである。生徒や学生は、高等数学、世界史といった、現在\nの自分の生活や関心には何ら関係ないことを学習しなければならない場合に、このよ\nうな問いを発するものである。ルソー、デューイに従うならば、この際に教員は、「将\n来の･･･のために役に立つ」という回答はしてはいけないのである。換言すれば、授\n業において、生徒や学生の現在の生活や関心に有用であるような学習経験を保証しな\nければならないことになる。\n　「私はなぜ、～を学習しなければならないのですか」という問いかけが、道徳的な\n意味でなされた場合、それは、「～を学習することは、自分が、より人生のために、\nどのような意味があるのか」ということである。この問いへの回答には、プラトンの\n哲学が手がかりをあたえてくれよう。\n　プラトンによれば、人間は理性を行使する、すなわち、考えることができる唯一の\n生物である。人間は、この理性の行使をつうじて、ついには、自分自身に問いかける――自分はどのように生きるべきか――ようになる。「どのように生きるべきか」とは、\nたんに生きるだけではなく、ほんとうに善く生きることを意味する。探求の人生――\nつねに、「何が、ほんとうに善く生きることなのか」を問い続ける人生――のために\nは学習が必要であり、ここに、学習は、道徳的な意味を持つことになる。プラトン哲\n学を信奉する教師は、生徒や学生が、つねに問い続けることを勧めることになる

Adenomyoepithelial adenosis associated with breast cancer: a case report and review of the literature

Adenomyoepithelial adenosis of the breast is an extremely rare type of adenosis. We herein present the case of a 35-year-old woman, who presented with a small painless hard lump and elastic soft induration of 5 cm in diameter in her left breast. Clinical examination and diagnostic workup were suggestive of a breast carcinoma, and a modified radical mastectomy and sentinel node biopsy were performed. Histopathological examination revealed adenomyoepithelial adenosis along with fibrocystic change and small invasive ductal carcinoma, slightly away from the adenosis. The presented case was thought to be initial-stage adenomyoepithelial adenosis and independently developing breast cancer. From a review of five reported cases of adenomyoepithelial adenosis, complete resection of the tumor and coexisting malignant disease may be recommended, owing to the tendency to develop breast cancer or malignant adenomyoepithelioma, or recurrence. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2193-1801-2-50) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Suzaku Detection of Extended/Diffuse Hard X-Ray Emission from the Galactic Center

Five on-plane regions within +/- 0.8deg of the Galactic center were observed with the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) and the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) onboard Suzaku. From all regions, significant hard X-ray emission was detected with HXD-PIN up to 40 keV, in addition to the extended plasma emission which is dominant in the XIS band. The hard X-ray signals are inferred to come primarily from a spatially extended source, rather than from a small number of bright discrete objects. Contributions to the HXD data from catalogued X-ray sources, typically brighter than 1 mCrab, were estimated and removed using information from Suzaku and other satellites. Even after this removal, the hard X-ray signals remained significant, exhibiting a typical 12--40 keV surface brightness of 4E-10 erg cm-2 s-1 deg-2 and power-law-like spectra with a photon index of 1.8. Combined fittings to the XIS and HXD-PIN spectra confirm that a separate hard tail component is superposed onto the hot thermal emission, confirming a previous report based on the XIS data. Over the 5--40 keV band, the hard tail is spectrally approximated by a power law of photon index ~2, but better by those with somewhat convex shapes. Possible origins of the extended hard X-ray emission are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figure

Genomic analysis of antibiotic resistance for Acinetobacter baumannii in a critical care center

AimAcinetobacter baumannii is commonly associated with outbreaks and antibiotic‐resistant nosocomial infection. This study aimed to determine the relationship between antibiotic resistance and genotypes of A. baumannii.MethodsA study was undertaken in the critical care center (CCC) of Juntendo University Urayasu Hospital (Urayasu, Japan) between January 2012 and September 2015. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were carried out according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. All A. baumannii isolates were verified to carry carbapenemase genes and the ISAba1 element using polymerase chain reaction. The genetic relationship of all A. baumannii isolates was determined by pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing.ResultsDuring the study period, 1634 patients were admitted to the CCC. Acinetobacter baumannii was detected in 43 patients (average age, 58 ± 19 years; 67.4% men). Six patients were determined to be extensively drug‐resistant A. baumannii and 21 patients determined to be multidrug‐resistant A. baumannii. Antimicrobial susceptibility linked genotypes of A. baumannii. Molecular characterization by pulsed‐field gel electrophoresis and multilocus sequence typing showed that closely related clones of A. baumannii had spread in the CCC.ConclusionResistance to antimicrobial drugs was significantly associated with certain A. baumannii genotypic types and molecular types. Thus, we might be able to predict whether the genotype has spread in the CCC or not when the susceptibility is examined, facilitating the appropriate isolation of patients

A genome-wide gain-of-function analysis of rice genes using the FOX-hunting system

Funding Information: Acknowledgements This work was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (Green Technology Project EF-1004). We are grateful to Dr. Takuji Sasaki for his encouragement throughout the project and his excellent advice on the improvement of this manuscript, and to Dr. Shoshi Kikuchi for providing useful information on rice FL-cDNAs. We thank Professors Kokichi Hinata, Atsushi Hirai, Hiroshi Kamada and Masashi Ugaki for their encouragement, critical comments and helpful suggestions, and Drs. Hisato Okuizumi and Hiroyuki Kawahigashi for their administrative support throughout the project. We also thank Mayumi Akagawa, Hiroko Abe, Keiko Mori, Etsuko Sugai, Yumiko Nakane, Ken-ichi Watanabe, Mayumi Takeya, and Kana Miyata for their technical assistance; the members of the Technical Support Section of the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences for their help in the care of the FOX-rice plants; Haruko Onodera and Kazuko Ono for their technical assistance and advice on rice transformation; Inplanta Innovations Inc. for their technical help on the construction of theThe latest report has estimated the number of rice genes to be ∼32 000. To elucidate the functions of a large population of rice genes and to search efficiently for agriculturally useful genes, we have been taking advantage of the Full-length cDNA Over-eXpresser (FOX) gene-hunting system. This system is very useful for analyzing various gain-of-function phenotypes from large populations of transgenic plants overexpressing cDNAs of interest and others with unknown or important functions. We collected the plasmid DNAs of 13 980 independent full-length cDNA (FL-cDNA) clones to produce a FOX library by placing individual cDNAs under the control of the maize Ubiquitin-1 promoter. The FOX library was transformed into rice by Agrobacterium-mediated high-speed transformation. So far, we have generated approximately 12 000 FOX-rice lines. Genomic PCR analysis indicated that the average number of FL-cDNAs introduced into individual lines was 1.04. Sequencing analysis of the PCR fragments carrying FL-cDNAs from 8615 FOX-rice lines identified FL-cDNAs in 8225 lines, and a database search classified the cDNAs into 5462 independent ones. Approximately 16.6% of FOX-rice lines examined showed altered growth or morphological characteristics. Three super-dwarf mutants overexpressed a novel gibberellin 2-oxidase gene, confirming the importance of this system. We also show here the other morphological alterations caused by individual FL-cDNA expression. These dominant phenotypes should be valuable indicators for gene discovery and functional analysis.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Long-term surgical outcomes of idiopathic spinal cord herniation

AbstractBackgroundBecause of the lack of long-term postoperative follow-up studies of idiopathic spinal cord herniation (ISCH), there is little information about the long-term effectiveness and complications of the dural defect enlargement in patients with ISCH. The purpose of this study is to determine the long-term effectiveness of this procedure.MethodsSixteen patients with ISCH were treated surgically by enlargement of the dural defect. The patient's neurological status and surgical outcome were evaluated by the JOA scores for thoracic myelopathy and the recovery rate (mean follow-up period 9.6 years). Correlations between the surgical outcomes and patients' age and duration of disease were assessed retrospectively. The patients were also divided into two groups based on the location of the dural defect: the ventro-lateral (VL) group and the ventral (V) group. The difference in the duration of disease, preoperative JOA score, and the recovery rate were compared between the two groups.ResultsThere was no recurrence of ISCH after surgery. The mean recovery rate was 42.6%. There was a significant correlation between the patient's age and the recovery rate, and between the duration of disease and the recovery rate. The median recovery rate was significantly lower in the V group than in the VL group. There were no complications related to CSF leakage after surgery.ConclusionsLong-term surgical outcomes of enlargement of the dural defect for ISCH were stable and favorable without recurrences or any complications. This procedure should be considered for patients with ISCH before their neurological deficit worsens, especially for the patients in whom the dural defect is located at the ventral part of the dural canal