〔論文〕幼稚園年中児の歌唱音声の実際と保育活動の関わりに関する一考察 ─子ども一人ひとりの音声の採譜と音響分析を通して─

　　This paper analyzes the characteristics of three samples of four-year-old kindergarteners’ singing voices taken from among sixteen samples examined by the researcher. The author taught them two songs: “Tonbo-no-megane” (Eyes of a dragonfly) and “Chikyu-wo-kusugucchao!” (Tickling the Earth), transcribed the voices of the children singing, and conducted sound analysis.　　The singing skills of the three children were different, but for the most part, the reproduction of the melody line was stable in “Tonbo-no-megane,” while some unclear parts remained in “Chikyu-wo-kusugucchao!” Regarding the rhythm, although the eighth-note rhythm was reproduced with the correct feeling by all three children, the rhythm of the anticipation, which is the moving beat in "Chikyu-wo-kusugucchao!” turned out to be an equal rhythm pattern which is isochronal. As for the lyrics and pronunciation, in one child, infantile pronunciation could be heard, however, the other subjects’ pronunciation was accurate and clear. Regarding the accuracy of the pitch, in both “Tonbo-no-megane” and “Chikyu-wo-kusugucchao!” it was unstable except for one child. Regarding the loudness of the voice, the voice of one of the children got louder as the child got to know the songs better.　　It is important to expand childcare activities in light of the fact that children’s singing has a lot of individual differences. For instructors, it would be beneficial and effective to listen to their students’ individual voices and to learn each child’s characteristics, sometimes changing the method of conducting singing activities between solo singing and group singing. Doing so may reveal ways to help students improve their singing

Clinical Efficacy of Endocytoscopy for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Endocytoscopy (EC) is a contact-type optical endoscope that allows in vivo cellular observation during gastrointestinal endoscopy and is now commercially available not only in Japan but also in Asian, European Union, and Middle Eastern countries. EC helps conduct a highly accurate pathological prediction without biopsy. Initially, EC was reported to be effective for esophageal diseases. Subsequently, its efficacy for stomach and colorectal diseases has been reported. In this narrative review, we searched for clinical studies that investigated the efficacy of EC. EC seems to accurately diagnose gastrointestinal diseases without biopsy. Most of the studies aimed to clarify the relationship between endocytoscopic findings of gastrointestinal neoplasia and pathological diagnosis. Some studies have investigated non-epithelial lesions or diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease or infectious diseases. However, there are few high-level pieces of evidence, such as randomized trials; thus, further studies are needed