環境音と意味知識の発達との関係：5歳児がインタラクションを通して学ぶもの

It is widely believed among researchers and the general public that a close relationship exists between listening to sounds and language acquisition. However, few studies have presented evidence of this relationship, and none have focused on the effects of collaboration with and among children, which might improve their language-learning abilities. This study tried to determine the extent to which nursery school children could expand their semantic knowledge in their first language by collaborating in a small group after listening to sounds. Twenty-four nursery school children participated in this study. They were divided into eight groups and were asked to listen carefully to two sets of previously prepared sounds, each consisting of four distinct types of sounds. Both sets were developed to tell one story. After listening to all the sound sets, the children were asked to discuss and recall the order and content of each set. They were allowed to speak freely in a peer group and occasionally received positive feedback from the researcher. The results show that all the groups actively discussed and then clearly recalled the order and content of the story by working together. This finding implies that preschool children will likely also expand their semantic knowledge in a second language if input is properly delivered.音と言語獲得との関係は深いと信じられているが、実際には、そのエビデンスを示すものはほとんどない。本研究では、5歳児らが、環境音に耳をすませ、注意を向け、小グループでの話し合いの中で、言語力を伸ばしていくことを確認した。5歳児らは、ピア（仲間）とのインタラクションの中で、聴いた音を再確認し、聴いた音に対して発話する力を高めていくことができた。この研究は、母語のみならず、第二言語における習得にも応用できるかもしれない

Simulation of Stretching Deformation of Film for Electronic Devices in Automotive Applications

In this study, we proposed a simulation method for film transverse stretching based on the finite element method using the orthogonal anisotropy plastic model. The simulation method can analyse the large deformation of film stretching and predict whether the kink band phenomenon occurs during the film transverse stretching. The validity of the simulation method was confirmed by the transverse stretching tests performed on the fluorine films with different longitudinal stretching ratios. Using the simulation method, we clarified that the plastic anisotropy index of the longitudinally stretched fluorine film has a great influence on the presence or absence of the kink band phenomenon during the film transverse stretching. The plastic anisotropy index of the longitudinally stretched fluorine film can be related to its birefringence, and the two are approximately in a linear relationship. Moreover, we revealed the change in film stretching deformation due to difference in the ratio of the stretching zone length to the width of the tenter

NASDA's Advanced On-Line System (ADOLIS)

Spacecraft operations including ground system operations are generally realized by various large or small scale group work which is done by operators, engineers, managers, users and so on, and their positions are geographically distributed in many cases. In face-to-face work environments, it is easy for them to understand each other. However, in distributed work environments which need communication media, if only using audio, they become estranged from each other and lose interest in and continuity of work. It is an obstacle to smooth operation of spacecraft. NASDA has developed an experimental model of a new real-time operation control system called 'ADOLIS' (ADvanced On-Line System) adopted to such a distributed environment using a multi-media system dealing with character, figure, image, handwriting, video and audio information which is accommodated to operation systems of a wide range including spacecraft and ground systems. This paper describes the results of the development of the experimental model

Association of liver enzyme levels and alveolar bone loss : a cross-sectional clinical study in Sado Island

The interaction of periodontopathic bacteria with host immune system induces the production of inflammatory mediators which leads to alveolar bone loss (ABL), the essential feature of periodontitis. Concurrently, periodontal diseases cause the elevation of blood cytokine levels, the alteration of gut microbiota and the dissemination of enterobacteria to the liver. Owing to these mechanisms, periodontal disease might be a risk for liver dysfunction. Several epidemiological studies have reported associations between periodontal diseases and liver dysfunction, although the association between ABL and liver dysfunction has not been investigated. This cross-sectional study determined if elevated serum liver enzyme levels were associated with ABL in Japanese adults. Japanese adults living on Sado Island who visited Sado General Hospital were invited to participate in the study. Participants over 40 years of age who underwent dental panoramic radiography and blood tests were included. Drinking and smoking habits were self-administered. After excluding patients with edentulous jaw, diagnosed liver diseases, and those on dialysis, data from 44 men and 66 women with a mean age of 73 years were analyzed. The average percentage of ABL for each participant was calculated for mesial and distal sites of all remaining teeth. The levels of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) were determined. Univariate analyses were performed to select covariates to be put in multivariate analyses. The association between elevated serum liver enzyme levels and the highest quartile of ABL were assessed by multiple logistic regression analysis. After adjusting for covariates, no significant association was found between elevated serum AST, ALT, or GGT levels as dependent variables and the highest quartile of ABL as an explanatory variable. There was no significant association between the elevation of serum liver enzyme levels and ABL in Japanese adults

Novel method for quantitative evaluation of cardiac amyloidosis using 201TlCl and 99mTc-PYP SPECT

Objective The degree of myocardial technetium- 99m- pyrophosphate ( 99mTc-PYP) accumulation in cardiac amyloidosis is conventionally evaluated by the PYP score. This method involves qualitative visual evaluation on twodimensional images. Here, we performed three-dimensional quantitative analysis using software developed in our laboratory. Methods We performed dual myocardial imaging using thallium- 201-chloride ( 201Tl-Cl) and 99mTc-PYP in cases of suspected cardiac amyloidosis and calculated the PYP accumulation rates of all myocardial pixels showing 99mTc- PYP accumulation. We defined this procedure as quantitative evaluation of the degree of 99mTc-PYP accumulation in the myocardium. Patients were divided into two groups with and without a diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis, and we examined the PYP accumulation rates in both groups. In addition, we examined the PYP scores of the two groups by conventional qualitative evaluation. Results The PYP scores of the cardiac amyloidosis group were significantly higher than those of the other group. The PYP accumulation rates of the cardiac amyloidosis group were significantly higher than those of the other group. There were significant differences in the PYP accumulation rate and PYP score between the two groups. There was considered to be a threshold between the two groups in the case of the PYP accumulation rate. Conclusions When the threshold of the PYP score was defined as 3+ and that of the PYP accumulation rate as 41.5 %, the sensitivity of the PYP score and PYP accumulation rate was 84.6 %. However, the specificity of the PYP accumulation rate was higher than that of the PYP score. Quantitative evaluation by the PYP accumulation rate of the degree of 99mTc-PYP accumulation in the myocardium may be useful in the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis. © The Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine 2012

Curated genome annotation of Oryza sativa ssp. japonica and comparative genome analysis with Arabidopsis thaliana

We present here the annotation of the complete genome of rice Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cultivar Nipponbare. All functional annotations for proteins and non-protein-coding RNA (npRNA) candidates were manually curated. Functions were identified or inferred in 19,969 (70%) of the proteins, and 131 possible npRNAs (including 58 antisense transcripts) were found. Almost 5000 annotated protein-coding genes were found to be disrupted in insertional mutant lines, which will accelerate future experimental validation of the annotations. The rice loci were determined by using cDNA sequences obtained from rice and other representative cereals. Our conservative estimate based on these loci and an extrapolation suggested that the gene number of rice is ~32,000, which is smaller than previous estimates. We conducted comparative analyses between rice and Arabidopsis thaliana and found that both genomes possessed several lineage-specific genes, which might account for the observed differences between these species, while they had similar sets of predicted functional domains among the protein sequences. A system to control translational efficiency seems to be conserved across large evolutionary distances. Moreover, the evolutionary process of protein-coding genes was examined. Our results suggest that natural selection may have played a role for duplicated genes in both species, so that duplication was suppressed or favored in a manner that depended on the function of a gene

Surgery for Ulcerative Colitis - A Comparative Retrospective Study -

The records of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) who underwent operation at our hospitals between 1973 and 1995 were reviewed. The clinical course of the disease was the chronic relapsing-remitting type in seven, chronic continuous type in four, acute attack of the relapsing-remitting type in six, and fulminant colitis (toxic megacolon) in two patients. The most common indication for surgery was a condition refractory to conservative therapy. Four patients with massive bleeding, perforation and toxic megacolon underwent emergency operation. The surgical procedures performed were ileoanal anastomosis (IAA) in four, ileoanal canal anastomosis (IACA) in one, ileorectal anastomosis (IRA) in five, proctocolectomy and permanent ileostomy (PCI) in four, and colectomy in five patients. The mortality rate was 5.2%. During follow-up, drug therapy with sulfasalazine (salazosulfapyridine) in colectomy or IRA patients was necessary to control inflammation in the remaining rectal mucosa. One patient with segmental colectomy for severe colitis required removal of the remaining colon 1 year later. Three out of four patients undergoing total proctocolectomy and IAA had a good postoperative course with an average of six bowel movements in 24 hours, but one patient with a long rectal cuff was returned to a PCI because of a cuff abscess. The PCEEA instrument was sufficient to perform IAA and IACA. Carcinoma in the remnant rectum occurred in one patient 20 years after Hartmann\u27s procedure. In conclusion, total proctocolectomy, which has the advantage of removing all diseased mucosa with its potential for inflammation, dysplasia, and carcinoma, may be preferable for extensive long-standing UC

PANICLE PHYTOMER2 (PAP2), encoding a SEPALLATA subfamily MADS-box protein, positively controls spikelet meristem identity in rice

In rice panicle development, new meristems are generated sequentially in an organized manner and acquire their identity in a time- and position-dependent manner. In the panicle of the panicle phytomer2-1 (pap2-1) mutant, the pattern of meristem initiation is disorganized and newly formed meristems show reduced competency to become spikelet meristems, resulting in the transformation of early arising spikelets into rachis branches. In addition, rudimentary glumes and sterile lemmas, the outermost organs of the spikelet, elongate into a leafy morphology. We propose that PAP2 is a positive regulator of spikelet meristem identity. Map-based cloning revealed that PAP2 encodes OsMADS34, a member of the SEPALLATA (SEP) subfamily of MADS-box proteins. PAP2/OsMADS34 belongs to the LOFSEP subgroup of MADS-box genes that show grass-specific diversification caused by gene duplication events. All five SEP subfamily genes in rice are expressed exclusively during panicle development, while their spatial and temporal expression patterns vary. PAP2 expression starts the earliest among the five SEP genes, and a low but significant level of PAP2 mRNA was detected in the inflorescence meristem, in branch meristems immediately after the transition, and in glume primordia, consistent with its role in the early development of spikelet formation. Our study provides new evidence supporting the hypothesis that the genes of the LOFSEP subgroup control developmental processes that are unique to grass species