Japanese university students' behavior when reading english: a questionnaire survey and factor analysis

This paper reports on a specific cognitive behavior often found when trying to understand a text not written in readers’ native language. Our research group conducted a questionnaire survey to examine Japanese readers’ cognitive behavior and awareness when reading English texts. We also conducted a factor analysis on this questionnaire to identify the behaviors often found when reading English. Participants were 56 Japanese students studying engineering at Chuo University. After reading the texts, a questionnaire consisting of 43 items was applied to the participants. We used exploratory factor analysis to identify the primary factors related to readers’ cognitive behavior and awareness when reading a non-native language. As a result of the analysis, mainly based on the highest contributing factors, it was suggested that readers may have made substitutions into Japanese, their own words, when reading the English texts. In other words, when reading a non-native language, the reader may read the texts by replacing them with their native language rather than comprehending it in that language. Based on the results of our experiment, it is expected that the research on the cognitive supporting systems may help readers to understand non-native languages quickly and smoothly

Family caregiving problems of suspected elderly neglect: A review of forensic autopsy cases in Japan

Background. Elder abuse is a severe violation of human rights, and the most recent domestic violence issue to gain the attention of public and medical communities especially highly aged country like Japan. Methods. To clarify family caregiving problems related to elder neglect in Japan, we reviewed 178 autopsies conducted between 2000 and 2003 at one centre. Results. Of the 178 cases (134 males and 44 females), 53 involved people were 65 years old and over (30%). A careful investigation of these 53 autopsy reports (39 males and 14 females) allowed us to exclude obvious causes of death, such as traffic and other accidents, drowning, poisoning, alcoholism, and clear disease pathology. We were left with nine cases of suspected neglect (three males and six females). The mean age of victims was 82.1 years (range, 68–91). According to the autopsy reports, two were severely starved, two were putrefied or mummified, three had pressure sores, two had dementia and three would have had difficulty in performing the activities of daily living. Each victim had lived with one family member; their sons in five cases, and a grandson, brother, wife or husband in each case. The caregivers’ ages ranged from 27 to 76 years, and five were unemployed; in three cases, the family incomes were very low. Of the caregivers, two were depressed, one was an alcoholic and one had dementia. Conclusions. This investigation indicated that elderly parents living with their sons are a high-risk group for neglect. A family support system is needed to target male caregivers who are likely isolated from social services. Autopsy cases provide valuable information for public health to prevent similar cases in future. Keywords: Elder abuse, Elder neglect, Male caregivers, Family caregiving, Autopsy records

Predictors of volunteerism: A study of older adults in Japan

Volunteerism has risen steadily as a viable activity at old age in Japan for it gives older adults ways to contribute to society as well as enhancing their quality of life. It has also been addressed by the national government and adopted by many local municipalities under the long-term care insurance program as a health promotion and preventive care activity. However, studies examining why older adults volunteer and why some don’t are limited. Using a modified version of Baltes and colleagues’ model of competence, this study examines the predictors of volunteerism among older adults in Japan. Data from a city located northeast of Tokyo was used (n=703). Results indicated that basic competence does not predict volunteerism, but rather competence gained from experiences. To increase the number of older volunteers, the study suggests that civic engagement must start at an earlier age coupled with financial stability. Keywords: volunteerism, older adults, Japan, competence, long-term care insuranc

Atypical gaze patterns in children and adults with autism spectrum disorders dissociated from developmental changes in gaze behaviour

Eye tracking has been used to investigate gaze behaviours in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, traditional analysis has yet to find behavioural characteristics shared by both children and adults with ASD. To distinguish core ASD gaze behaviours from those that change with development, we examined temporo-spatial gaze patterns in children and adults with and without ASD while they viewed video clips. We summarized the gaze patterns of 104 participants using multidimensional scaling so that participants with similar gaze patterns would cluster together in a two-dimensional plane. Control participants clustered in the centre, reflecting a standard gaze behaviour, whereas participants with ASD were distributed around the periphery. Moreover, children and adults were separated on the plane, thereby showing a clear effect of development on gaze behaviours. Post hoc frame-by-frame analyses revealed the following findings: (i) both ASD groups shifted their gaze away from a speaker earlier than the control groups; (ii) both ASD groups showed a particular preference for letters; and (iii) typical infants preferred to watch the mouth rather than the eyes during speech, a preference that reversed with development. These results highlight the importance of taking the effect of development into account when addressing gaze behaviours characteristic of ASD

Tissue-specific splicing regulator Fox-1 induces exon skipping by interfering E complex formation on the downstream intron of human F1γ gene

Fox-1 is a regulator of tissue-specific splicing, via binding to the element (U)GCAUG in mRNA precursors, in muscles and neuronal cells. Fox-1 can regulate splicing positively or negatively, most likely depending on where it binds relative to the regulated exon. In cases where the (U)GCAUG element lies in an intron upstream of the alternative exon, Fox-1 protein functions as a splicing repressor to induce exon skipping. Here we report the mechanism of exon skipping regulated by Fox-1, using the hF1γ gene as a model system. We found that Fox-1 induces exon 9 skipping by repressing splicing of the downstream intron 9 via binding to the GCAUG repressor elements located in the upstream intron 8. In vitro splicing analyses showed that Fox-1 prevents formation of the pre-spliceosomal early (E) complex on intron 9. In addition, we located a region of the Fox-1 protein that is required for inducing exon skipping. Taken together, our data show a novel mechanism of how RNA-binding proteins regulate alternative splicing

Prevalence and cumulative incidence of autism spectrum disorders and the patterns of co-occurring neurodevelopmental disorders in a total population sample of 5-year-old children.

BackgroundsWhether there is a true increase in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequency or not remains unclear. Additionally, the rates of co-existing neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) in a total population sample has not been fully examined before. Therefore, using a total population sample in Japan, we aimed to estimate the prevalence and cumulative incidence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) annually, to determine whether there is a true increase in ASD prevalence by estimating the cumulative incidence of ASD annually, and to examine the rates of co-existing neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD).MethodIn this cross-sectional sequential design study, all 5-year-old children in the catchment area underwent the screening annually from the year 2013-2016. Screen-positive children were invited to participate in a comprehensive assessment, including child and parent interview, behavioral observation, and cognitive and motor function testing. All cases were reviewed by a multidisciplinary research team.ResultsCaregivers of 3954 children returned the screening, among which 559 children underwent the assessment with 87 children receiving an ASD diagnosis. Adjusted ASD prevalence was 3.22% (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.66-3.76%). The male to female ratio of the crude prevalence was 2.2:1. The cumulative incidence of ASD up to 5 years of age for the total study years was 1.31% (95% CI 1.00-1.62%). A generalized linear model revealed no significant linear trends in 5-year cumulative incidence over the study years. Only 11.5% of children had ASD alone; the remaining 88.5% were found to have at least one co-existing NDD.LimitationsModest sample size for a total population study.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate the stability of the 5-year cumulative incidence of ASD, implying no true rise in ASD incident cases over the 4-year study period in the study catchment area. High rates of co-existing NDDs reflect the importance of investigating broad developmental challenges in children with ASD

Impact of Ambulation Status in Patients with End-stage Renal Disease on Hemodialysis due to Diabetic Nephropathy : The PREDICT Study

Article信州医学雑誌 68(3): 131-138(2020)journal articl

Cytokine-Based Log-Scale Expansion of Functional Murine Dendritic Cells

BACKGROUND: Limitations of the clinical efficacy of dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy, as well as difficulties in their industrial production, are largely related to the limited number of autologous DCs from each patient. We here established a possible breakthrough, a simple and cytokine-based culture method to realize a log-scale order of functional murine DCs (>1,000-fold), which cells were used as a model before moving to human studies. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Floating cultivation of lineage-negative hematopoietic progenitors from bone marrow in an optimized cytokine cocktail (FLT3-L, IL-3, IL-6, and SCF) led to a stable log-scale proliferation of these cells, and a subsequent differentiation study using IL-4/GM-CSF revealed that 3-weeks of expansion was optimal to produce CD11b+/CD11c+ DC-like cells. The expanded DCs had typical features of conventional myeloid DCs in vitro and in vivo, including identical efficacy as tumor vaccines. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The concept of DC expansion should make a significant contribution to the progress of DC-based immunotherapy

児童青年期を対象とした認知行動療法における個別化に必要なアセスメントの観点の検討 -ストレスマネジメント教育とソーシャルスキルトレーニングにおける個別化の試み-

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