The polymorphism in the caudal-related homeodomain protein Cdx-2 binding element in the human vitamin D receptor gene

The major physiological activity of 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) is the regulation of calcium absorption in the small intestine, and the level of vitamin D receptor (VDR) is an important factor in this regulation. In a previous study, we demonstrated that the caudal-related homeodomain Cdx-2 played an important role in the intestine-specific transcription of the human VDR gene. In the present study, the polymorphism was identified in the core sequence 5'-ATAAAAACTTAT-3' in the Cdx-2 binding site in the VDR gene promoter. In 261 Japanese women with genotyped VDR polymorphisms, 48 were genotype Cdx-A (adenine at-3731 nt relative to the transcription start site of human VDR gene, 5'-A_TAAAAACTTAT'-3'), 82 were genotype Cdx-G (guanine at-3731 nt, 5'-G_TAAAAACTTAT-3'), 131 were genotype Cdx-A/G (heterozygote). The bone mineral density (BMD) in the lumbar spine (L2-4) with the Cdx-A homozygote was 12% lower than that with the Cdx-G homozygote (P<0.05). In electropholertic gel mobility shift assay, the oligonucleotide with Cdx-G allele markedly decreased the binding to Cdx-2 compared with that in the Cdx-A allele. The transcriptional activity of the VDR promoter with Cdx-G allele was decreased to 70% of the Cdx-A allele. In addition, in the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase promoter, the Cdx-2 binding element with the G allele showed significantly lower transcriptional activity than that of the A allele. Thus, the polymorphism in the Cdx-2 binding site of the VDR gene (Cdx-polymorphism) would affect the expression of VDR in the small intestine. In addition, this polymorphism may modulate BMD in postmenopausal Japanese women

ガッコウ ソシキ マジメント オ シエン スル コンサルテーション ノ ジッセント セイカ (I) : コウチケン キョウイク イインカイ ト ナルト キョウイク ダイガク ノ チーム コンサルテーション ニ カンスル アクション・リサーチ

The purposes of this study are to show the process of implementation and the outcomes of team consultation implemented in 3 schools in the Kochi Prefecture. This consultation has some characteristics. These are : ① consultation aimed to support ability of spontaneous improvement in school, ① consultation carried out based on the school development theory（SAKO 2011）, ② consultation by collaboration of school board staff and reseacher of university, ③ consultation designed to all staff of the school, and ④ consultaion throughout the year. Two main projects were supported by the team in schools : ① visualization of school vision and sharing of the vision, ② making a system for teacher’ collaborative improvemet of teaching. Main results of this consultation were substantially as follows : ① Collaboration among teachers was markedly enhanced, ② Schools went into voluntary acion for improvemet of teaching and management, ③ Most teachers showed positive evaluation of this consultation at the annual end−of−classes. The process and the results suggest effectiveness of consultation and its theoretical base

A preliminary proposal of policy for dairy herd health management from the viewpoints of culling in the Hiroshima University Farm

近年日本の乳牛の平均除籍産次数が3.4産程度に低下しており，対策が必要な現状にある．本研究の目的は，本学農場の乳牛除籍の傾向を把握して，対策について考察することである．2000～2015年度の本農場の記録をもとに解析した．本農場では常時20～25頭程度の搾乳牛が飼養され，2011年3月までは1日2回のパーラー搾乳，それ以降は24時間自動搾乳が行われた．期間内に83頭の乳牛が除籍になり，うち67頭が肉畜として出荷され，16頭が農場内で死亡した．除籍頭数割合は産次とともに増加し，6産時が最も多かった．除籍率は，初産時が最も低く，徐々に増加して4産，5産時に40%を超え，6産時に急激に増加して77.8%となった．除籍理由として，繁殖障害，乳房炎等の疾病が推察された．一般的な繁殖成績改善と疾病予防を進めるとともに，6産以降は繁殖と疾病の履歴に基づき，飼養継続の判断基準確立が必要と考えられた．In Japan, mean value for parity of dairy cows at culling has decreased to 3.4; measures to improve this are required. The aim of the present study is to understand the trends of culling of dairy cows at the Hiroshima University Farm. For that purpose, the farm’s records for dairy cow culling during the period of 2000–2015 were analyzed. At the farm, 20–27 dairy cows are regularly being milked. In March 2011, the milking system at the farm was changed from a milking parlor system to an automatic milking system. During the 16 years analyzed, 67 cows sold for meat and 16 cows that died at the farm totaled to 83 culled cows. The proportion of culled cows for each parity to total culled cows increased with increasing parity, and the number of cows culled at their 6th parity was the highest. The proportion of culled cows to cows that delivered at each parity gradually increased to more than 40% at the 5th parity, and drastically increased to more than 77.8% at the 6th parity. The reasons for culling were reproductive difficulty and diseases, such as mastitis. Therefore, general measures for improving reproductive performance and disease prevention should be taken for the cows at the 4th or lower parity. In addition, for dairy cows at the 5th or higher parity, a diagnostic decision on whether they are artificially inseminated for further delivery or not might be required depending on the individual cow’s record of reproduction and diseases

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 gene polymorphism is a genetic risk factor for sudden unexpected death in infancy

Rationale: Carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) II is one of a pivotal enzyme in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation, which is essential for energy production during simultaneous glucose sparing and a requirement for major energy supply, such as prolonged fasting or exercise. When infants require more energy than provided by the glycolytic system, they rely on the mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation pathway. Mutations of the CPT2 gene have been reported to cause sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI). A thermolabile phenotype of a CPT2 polymorphism (F352C) has been recently reported to reduce CPT II enzyme activity. The F352C variant results in energy crisis at high temperature and is suspected as a risk factor for acute encephalopathy. However, a relationship between CPT2 gene polymorphism and SUDI has not been described. Methods: Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the CPT2 gene were investigated among 54 SUDI cases and 200 healthy volunteers. Results: The frequency of the C allele was significantly higher in the SUDI group than in the control group [25.0% vs 16.0%, odds ratio (OR). = 1.75, 95% confidence interval (CI). = 1.05-2.92, p= 0.030). The frequency of the F352C homozygote was significantly higher in the SUDI group than in control group (11.1% vs 3.5%, OR. = 3.45, 95% CI. = 1.11-10.73, p= 0.036). Conclusion: The F352C CPT2 variant might be a genetic risk factor for SUDI

Toward the Knowledge Circulation between Institutions and Public Audiences with Virtual Agents

This paper proposes the CINOVA framework that supports the knowledge circulation between the institutions which possess large amount of knowledge and would like to disseminate it to public audiences. This framework proposes the use of visualized knowledge management systems and virtual agents for knowledge presentations. Two VKMSs and two virtual agent based presentation systems cooperate on the framework with a common contents presentation media, knowledge cards. The prototype system is still being implemented but the two virtual agent based presentation systems are already deployed to our client, NFRI in real-world exhibitions andWeb based on-line services

Exchanging Tacit Community Knowledge by Talking-virtualized-egos

This paper describes a method of exchanging tacit community knowledge using talking-virtualized-egos. We aim at sharing tacit knowledge in a community, for this purpose, we propose two ideas. The first idea is an exchange of narrative-mode messages with voices and gestures among community members; the members share tacit knowledge each other by telling narrativemode messages. Oral communication enables us to converse casually. The other idea is a talking-virtualizedegos metaphor; this metaphor mimics a theater where virtualized-egos talk and exchange narrative-mode message with voices and gestures on behalf of community members. Each community member can gain the tacit community knowledge from the other members ’ point of view by observing the exchange objectively. To investigate these ideas, we have developed a system called EgoChat that supports tacit community knowledge sharing by exchanging narrative-mode messages orally based on the talking-virtualized-egos metaphor. Effectivity of the proposed system is discussed.

Analysis of Conversation Quanta for Conversational Knowledge Circulation

In this paper, we present a computational approach to understanding and augmenting the conversational knowledge process. We introduce the concept of the conversation quantization, a technique of approximating a continuous flow of conversation by a series of conversation quanta that represent points of the discourse. To investigate what the nature of conversation quanta is, we attempt to extract conversation quanta from two types of the meeting videos by hand. As a result, we have obtained some profitable suggestions about conversation quanta

Sustainable Memory System Using Global and Conical Spaces

Abstract: We present a concept and implementation of a computational support for spatial memory management and describe its temporal evolution. Our essential idea is to use an immersible globe that consists of a global space and a conical space, thereby providing arbitrary memory space for humans. We developed a sustainable knowledge globe (SKG) for constructing a memory space, and proposed a system called Contents Garden to expand the SKG into immersive space. We carried out the user study of SKG to evaluate its effectiveness. We also proposed and discussed three perceptual operations on Contents Garden to improve th