高等教育におけるASEAN地域統合：大学の対応と学生の観点

早大学位記番号:新8285早稲田大

Modulation of cholinergic locus expression by glucocorticoids and retinoic acid is cell-type specific

AbstractModulation of mRNA expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) by the glucocorticoid dexamethasone and by retinoic acid was examined in two neuronal cell lines: basal forebrain-derived SN56 and pheochromocytoma PC12. Dexamethasone up-regulated ChAT and VAChT in SN56 cells, while it had inhibitory effects on these genes in PC12 cells. Retinoic acid stimulated the cholinergic markers in both cell types, but in SN56 cells its effect was partially additive with that of dexamethasone, whereas it was much smaller and abrogated by dexamethasone in PC12 cells. Acetylcholine content correlated with these mRNA changes. The presence of a glucocorticoid response element consensus sequence in the VAChT/ChAT gene locus suggests direct transcriptional regulation by glucocorticoids

Effects of using a stress ball on anxiety and depression in patients undergoing hemodialysis: A prospective, balanced, single-blind, crossover study

IntroductionUse of a stress ball is a known t non-pharmacological method to distract attention and to relieve stress and anxiety. The goal of our study was to evaluate the effect of stress ball use on anxiety and depression in hemodialysis patients. MethodsThe study utilized a single-blind, balanced crossover design. There were two sequential 4-week intervention periods separated by a 4-day washout period. During one intervention period stress ball use at home was encouraged while the other 4-week "intervention" period served as a control. The order in which the two evaluation periods were applied was randomized for a given patient. Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale before and after each 4-week intervention period. FindingsA total of 65 patients participated in this study. There were statistically significant reductions in both anxiety (p < 0.001) and depression (p < 0.001) during the stress ball intervention periods vs. no change during the control interventions. A delayed follow-up evaluation showed that the anxiety level of patients remained reduced after 1 month of no longer using a stress ball. DiscussionThe use of a stress ball at home for 4 weeks significantly decreased anxiety and depression levels in our group of hemodialysis patients

Scoping workshop on the role of academia in policy making for disaster risk reduction and climate action

This detailed report covers a one-day scoping workshop for faculty members and experts involved in disaster and climate change work, held at the University of the Philippines-Resilience Institute (UP-RI). The process by which “expert knowledge” is generated, communicated to, and utilized by policymakers in mitigating the impacts of disasters and climate change, remains underexplored both academically and in practice. The conference workshop included a network mapping of experts and participants who work in climate change and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Management.International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA)Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR

Essays in macroeconomics and political economy

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Administração, Contabilidade, Economia e Gestão de Políticas Públicas, Departamento de Economia, Brasília, 2019.Esta tese possui três capítulos independentes. O primeiro capítulo mostra que territórios étnicos ligados à resistência escrava, chamados quilombos, estão correlacionados com níveis mais altos de desenvolvimento econômico no Brasil. Para entender como os quilombos podem afetar a atividade econômica a longo prazo, proponho um novo mecanismo no qual as crenças religiosas iniciais e o trabalho com ferro africano e outras habilidades de alto valor são perpetuadas no longo prazo através da transmissão intergeracional culturalreligiosa. Primeiro, divido o território brasileiro em células de municípios virtuais de aproximadamente 11 x 11 quilômetros, o que possibilita o uso extensivo de efeitos fixos, e mostro que células com mais quilombos têm mais atividade econômica indicada por luzes noturnas. Segundo, para analisar os mecanismos pelos quais os quilombos podem afetar o desenvolvimento econômico e melhorar a identificação, emprego uma abordagem de inferência de randomização com configurações espaciais alternativas de quilombos contrafactuais. Mostro então que a proximidade aos quilombos está relacionada a ocupações mais altamente qualificadas e relacionadas a metais e a uma ampla gama de resultados culturais e religiosos, como atividades culturais, confiança da comunidade e ação coletiva mais elevadas. O segundo capítulo é co-autorado com Joaquim Andrade e Pedro Cordeiro. Este capítulo analisa questões de identificação de um modelo comportamental Novo Keynesiano e o estima usando métodos de informação limitada e de verossimilhança com conjuntos de confiança robustos à identificação. O modelo apresenta algumas das mesmas dificuldades que existem nos modelos DSGE de benchmark simples, mas a solução analítica é capaz de indicar em quais condições o parâmetro de desconto cognitivo pode ser identificado e os métodos de estimação robustos confirmam sua importância na explicação do modelo comportamental. O terceiro capítulo é co-autorado com Eustáquio Reis. Aplicamos uma abordagem de equilíbrio espacial para entender a heterogeneidade inicial de preços, população ocupada e renda do Brasil entre os municípios no final do século XIX. Compreender o equilíbrio espacial no passado é importante para gerar novas compreensões sobre o caminho de desenvolvimento adotado posteriormente no século XX, que mostraria um desenvolvimento espacial muito desigual e um alto grau de atraso econômico em um país abundante em recursos naturais e com uma alta relação terra-trabalho. Resultados preliminares mostram que o equilíbrio espacial inicial, quando alterado por variáveis geográficas exógenas, como rugosidade do terreno, clima e adequação do solo a commodities e alimentos básicos, gera resultados perversos de produtividade e bem-estar que às vezes são amplificados pelo nível de escravidão como fator de produção em um município.This thesis has three independent chapters. The first chapter shows that ethnic territories connected to slave resistance, called quilombos, are correlated with higher levels of economic development in Brazil. To understand how quilombos can affect economic activity in the long run, I propose a new mechanism where initial religious beliefs and African iron-working and other high-valued skills are perpetuated in the long run through cultural-religious intergenerational transmission. First, I divide the Brazilian territory in virtual municipality cells of approximately 11 x 11 kilometers, which makes possible an extensive use of fixed effects, and show that cells with more quilombos have more economic activity proxied by nightlights. Second, in order to analyze the mechanisms through which quilombos can affect economic development and improve identification I employ a randomization inference approach with alternative spatial configurations of counterfactual quilombos. I then show that proximity to quilombos are related to more high-skilled and metal-related occupations and a wide array of cultural-religious outcomes, such as higher cultural activities, community trust, and collective action. The second chapter is co-authored with Joaquim Andrade and Pedro Cordeiro. This chapter analyzes identification issues of a behavioral New Keynesian model and estimates it using likelihood-based and limited-information methods with identification-robust confidence sets. The model presents some of the same difficulties that exist in simple benchmark DSGE models, but the analytical solution is able to indicate in what conditions the cognitive discounting parameter can be identified and the robust estimation methods confirm its importance for explaining the behavioral model. The third chapter is co-authored with Eustáquio Reis. We apply a spatial equilibrium approach to understanding Brazil’s initial heterogeneity of prices, working population, and income across municipalities in the late XIX century. Understanding the spatial equilibrium in the past is important to generate new insights on the development path taken subsequently into the XX century that would show a very unequal spatial development and a high degree of economic backwardness in an otherwise natural resource abundant country with a high land-labor ratio. Preliminary results show that the initial spatial equilibrium when shifted by exogenous geographic variables, such as terrain ruggedness, climate, and soil suitability for commodities and staple foods generate perverse results for productivity and welfare that sometimes gets amplified by the factor share of slavery in a municipality

Erythrocyte enrichment in hematopoietic progenitor cell cultures based on magnetic susceptibility of the hemoglobin

Using novel media formulations, it has been demonstrated that human placenta and umbilical cord blood-derived CD34+ cells can be expanded and differentiated into erythroid cells with high efficiency. However, obtaining mature and functional erythrocytes from the immature cell cultures with high purity and in an efficient manner remains a significant challenge. A distinguishing feature of a reticulocyte and maturing erythrocyte is the increasing concentration of hemoglobin and decreasing cell volume that results in increased cell magnetophoretic mobility (MM) when exposed to high magnetic fields and gradients, under anoxic conditions. Taking advantage of these initial observations, we studied a noninvasive (label-free) magnetic separation and analysis process to enrich and identify cultured functional erythrocytes. In addition to the magnetic cell separation and cell motion analysis in the magnetic field, the cell cultures were characterized for cell sedimentation rate, cell volume distributions using differential interference microscopy, immunophenotyping (glycophorin A), hemoglobin concentration and shear-induced deformability (elongation index, EI, by ektacytometry) to test for mature erythrocyte attributes. A commercial, packed column high-gradient magnetic separator (HGMS) was used for magnetic separation. The magnetically enriched fraction comprised 80% of the maturing cells (predominantly reticulocytes) that showed near 70% overlap of EI with the reference cord blood-derived RBC and over 50% overlap with the adult donor RBCs. The results demonstrate feasibility of label-free magnetic enrichment of erythrocyte fraction of CD34+ progenitor-derived cultures based on the presence of paramagnetic hemoglobin in the maturing erythrocytes. © 2012 Jin et al