出産クラス受講前後の妊婦の自己効力感と指導者のProfessional Learning Climate との関連性

【目的】出産クラス受講前後の妊婦の自己効力感と指導者の Professional Learning Climate （以下、PLCとする）との関連性を明らかにする。 【方法】２００８年７月～９月に北陸の産科施設で開催された３１の出産クラスに参加した妊婦 ２４４名とクラス指導者３９名を対象に自記式質問紙調査を行った。妊婦には出産に対する自 己効力感と指導者に対して感じたPLCについて、クラス指導者にはクラスの指導経験年数 など属性項目を調査した。また、クラスの参加観察によりクラス内容や雰囲気、参加者や 指導者の交流タイプなどを調査した。 【結果】対象全体では、自己効力感と PLCに有意な関連は認めなかった。しかし、出産経験 別の検討では、初産婦にのみ自己効力感と PLCに有意な正相関を認めた。 PLCの要素別で は「リラックスできる空間の創造」、「ユーモアとウィット」の２要素と自己効力感との間 に有意な正相関を認めた。一方、経産婦においては自己効力感と PLCに関連性は認めな かった。さらに、クラス後の自己効力感の高さには、 PLCとクラス前の自己効力感が影響 していた。 　以上より、 PLCは出産クラスを運営する際に、指導者にとって身につけることが望まし い必要な要素であることが示唆された。 : The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between the professional learning climate (PLC) of educators and the self-efficacy of pregnant women before and after they took a childbirth class. : A self-completed questionnaire survey was conducted on 244 pregnant women who had participated in 31 childbirth classes held in a maternity hospital in the Hokuriku district, and 39 class educators. It investigated the pregnant women s feelings of self-efficacy to cope with childbirth and PLC with the educator, and such educator attributes as the number of years of experience in teaching childbirth classes. Class content and atmosphere, and the types of interaction between participants and educators, were investigated through participant observation of the classes. The survey was conducted from July to September 2008. : No significant relationship was observed between self-efficacy and PLC in all subjects. However, among women with parity, a significant positive correlation was observed between self-efficacy and PLC in nullipara. Among individual elements of PLC, significant positive correlations were observed between self-efficacy and “creation of a relaxing space” and “humor and wit.” Among multipara, no relationship was observed between self-efficacy and PLC. In addition, the level of self-efficacy after the class was affected by PLC and self-efficacy before the class. 　The present findings suggest that skill in creating PLC is an element which educators should acquire in order to conduct childbirth classes.[原著

Life-Detection Technologies for the Next Two Decades

Since its inception six decades ago, astrobiology has diversified immensely to encompass several scientific questions including the origin and evolution of Terran life, the organic chemical composition of extraterrestrial objects, and the concept of habitability, among others. The detection of life beyond Earth forms the main goal of astrobiology, and a significant one for space exploration in general. This goal has galvanized and connected with other critical areas of investigation such as the analysis of meteorites and early Earth geological and biological systems, materials gathered by sample-return space missions, laboratory and computer simulations of extraterrestrial and early Earth environmental chemistry, astronomical remote sensing, and in-situ space exploration missions. Lately, scattered efforts are being undertaken towards the R&D of the novel and as-yet-space-unproven life-detection technologies capable of obtaining unambiguous evidence of extraterrestrial life, even if it is significantly different from Terran life. As the suite of space-proven payloads improves in breadth and sensitivity, this is an apt time to examine the progress and future of life-detection technologies.Comment: 6 pages, the white paper was submitted to and cited by the National Academy of Sciences in support of the Astrobiology Science Strategy for the Search for Life in the Univers

Hydrogeological responses to incoming materials at the erosional subduction margin, offshore Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Bulk mineral assemblages of sediments and igneous basement rocks on the incoming Cocos Plate at the Costa Rica subduction zone are examined by X-ray diffraction analyses on core samples. These samples are from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 334 reference Site U1381, ∼ 5 km seaward of the trench. Drilling recovered approximately 100 m of sediment and 70 m of igneous oceanic basement. The sediment includes two lithologic units: hemipelagic clayey mud and siliceous to calcareous pelagic ooze. The hemipelagic unit is composed of clay minerals (∼50 wt.%), quartz (∼5 wt.%), plagioclase (∼5 wt.%), calcite (∼15 wt.%) and ∼30 wt.% of amorphous materials, while the pelagic unit is mostly made up of biogenic amorphous silica (∼50 wt.%) and calcite (∼50 wt.%). The igneous basement rock consists of plagioclase (∼50–60 wt.%), clinopyroxene (∼>25 wt.%), and saponite (∼15–40 wt.%). Saponite is more abundant in pillow basalt than in the massive section, reflecting the variable intensity of alteration. We estimate the total water influx of the sedimentary package is 6.9 m³/yr per m of trench length. Fluid expulsion models indicate that sediment compaction during shallow subduction causes the release of pore water while peak mineral dehydration occurs at temperatures of approximately ∼100°C, 40–30 km landward of the trench. This region is landward of the observed updip extent of seismicity. We posit that in this region the presence of subducting bathymetric relief capped by velocity weakening nannofossil chalk is more important in influencing the updip extent of seismicity than the thermal regime.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The article is copyrighted by American Geophysical Union and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. It can be found at: http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291525-2027/Keywords: Costa Rica margin, diagenesis, CRISP, seismicityKeywords: Costa Rica margin, diagenesis, CRISP, seismicit

A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Zoledronic Acid-Loaded β-TCP Inhibits Tumor Proliferation and Osteoclast Activation: Development of a Functional Bone Substitute for an Efficient Osteosarcoma Treatment

Osteosarcoma has a poor survival rate due to relapse and metastasis. Zoledronic acid (ZOL), an anti-resorptive and anti-tumor agent, is used for treating osteosarcoma. Delivery of ZOL to the target region is difficult due to its high binding affinity to bone minerals. This study developed a novel treatment for osteosarcoma by delivering ZOL to the target region locally and sustainably. In this study, we fabricated a novel bone substitute by loading ZOL on β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP). The ZOL-loaded β-TCP (ZOL/β-TCP) would be expected to express the inhibitory effects via both bound-ZOL (bound to β-TCP) and free-ZOL (release from ZOL/β-TCP). To explore the ability to release ZOL from the ZOL/β-TCP, the amount of released ZOL was measured. The released profile indicates that a small amount of ZOL was released, and most of it remained on the β-TCP. Our data showed that ZOL/β-TCP could successfully express the effects of ZOL via both bound-ZOL and free-ZOL. In addition, we examined the biological effects of bound/free-ZOL using osteosarcoma and osteoclasts (target cells). The results showed that two states of ZOL (bound/free) inhibit target cell activities. As a result, ZOL/β-TCP is a promising candidate for application as a novel bone substitute

Hydrogeological responses to incoming materials at the erosional subduction margin, offshore Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Bulk mineral assemblages of sediments and igneous basement rocks on the incoming Cocos Plate at the Costa Rica subduction zone are examined by X-ray diffraction analyses on core samples. These samples are from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 334 reference Site U1381, similar to 5 km seaward of the trench. Drilling recovered approximately 100 m of sediment and 70 m of igneous oceanic basement. The sediment includes two lithologic units: hemipelagic clayey mud and siliceous to calcareous pelagic ooze. The hemipelagic unit is composed of clay minerals (similar to 50 wt.%), quartz (similar to 5 wt.%), plagioclase (similar to 5 wt.%), calcite (similar to 15 wt.%) and similar to 30 wt.% of amorphous materials, while the pelagic unit is mostly made up of biogenic amorphous silica (similar to 50 wt.%) and calcite (similar to 50 wt.%). The igneous basement rock consists of plagioclase (similar to 50-60 wt.%), clinopyroxene (similar to>25 wt.%), and saponite (similar to 15-40 wt.%). Saponite is more abundant in pillow basalt than in the massive section, reflecting the variable intensity of alteration. We estimate the total water influx of the sedimentary package is 6.9 m(3)/yr per m of trench length. Fluid expulsion models indicate that sediment compaction during shallow subduction causes the release of pore water while peak mineral dehydration occurs at temperatures of approximately similar to 100 degrees C, 40-30 km landward of the trench. This region is landward of the observed updip extent of seismicity. We posit that in this region the presence of subducting bathymetric relief capped by velocity weakening nannofossil chalk is more important in influencing the updip extent of seismicity than the thermal regime