A Survey Study of University Students’ Awareness on Social Contribution and Regional Cooperation

Recently, competition among universities has a whole new face, and emphasis is given toward interdependence and interactive evolution between universities and regions. From this social perspective, universities should contribute to regional development by serving the regional society using results of intellectual work, and it is necessary for universities to accomplish social contribution and regional cooperation strategically. One of the most important parts in strategic planning is that students participate in activities for social contribution and regional cooperation. This paper presents a survey of the university students’ awareness on social contribution and regional cooperation using several statistical methods and attempts to find factors which affect activities for social contribution and regional cooperation using logistic regression analysis

Survey Study of Resident Awareness on Waste Final Disposal Site

As construction of final waste disposal site is essential recently, a problem where we should build it becomes important issue. However, public opposition occurs for the construction because the final waste disposal site has negative image such as pollution of various kinds, increase of traffic volume and noise by truck and bulldozer, and aggravation of living conditions. Public opposition is the most critical problem in constructing final waste disposal site. The source of public opposition has been characterized as NIMBY or not-in-my-yard. This paper presents a survey of the resident awareness on final waste disposal site, and attempts to find factors which affect the public opposition using logistic regression analysis and CART(classification and regression tree)

A Study on Appropriate Selection of Final Waste Disposal Sites

JSTさきがけ研究集会　環境問題における数理の可能性. 平成20年6月11日～平成20年6月13日. 札幌

PTK2/FAK regulates UPS impairment via SQSTM1/p62 phosphorylation in TARDBP/TDP-43 proteinopathies

TARDBP/TDP-43 (TAR DNA binding protein) proteinopathies are a common feature in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and Alzheimer disease (AD). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying TARDBP-induced neurotoxicity are largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that TARDBP proteinopathies induce impairment in the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS), as evidenced by an accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins and a reduction in proteasome activity in neuronal cells. Through kinase inhibitor screening, we identified PTK2/FAK (PTK2 protein tyrosine kinase 2) as a suppressor of neurotoxicity induced by UPS impairment. Importantly, PTK2 inhibition significantly reduced ubiquitin aggregates and attenuated TARDBP-induced cytotoxicity in a Drosophila model of TARDBP proteinopathies. We further identified that phosphorylation of SQSTM1/p62 (sequestosome 1) at S403 (p-SQSTM1 [S403]), a key component in the autophagic degradation of poly-ubiquitinated proteins, is increased upon TARDBP overexpression and is dependent on the activation of PTK2 in neuronal cells. Moreover, expressing a non-phosphorylated form of SQSTM1 (SQSTM1S403A) significantly repressed the accumulation of insoluble poly-ubiquitinated proteins and neurotoxicity induced by TARDBP overexpression in neuronal cells. In addition, TBK1 (TANK binding kinase 1), a kinase that phosphorylates S403 of SQSTM1, was found to be involved in the PTK2-mediated phosphorylation of SQSTM1. Taken together, our data suggest that the PTK2-TBK1-SQSTM1 axis plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of TARDBP by regulating neurotoxicity induced by UPS impairment. Therefore, targeting the PTK2-TBK1-SQSTM1 axis may represent a novel therapeutic intervention for neurodegenerative diseases with TARDBP proteinopathies.Abbreviations: ALP: macroautophagy/autophagy lysosomal pathway; ALS: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; ATXN2: ataxin 2; BafA1: bafilomycin A1; cCASP3: cleaved caspase 3; CSNK2: casein kinase 2; FTLD: frontotemporal lobar degeneration; MAP1LC3/LC3: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3; OPTN: optineurin; PTK2/FAK: PTK2 protein tyrosine kinase 2; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; TARDBP/TDP-43: TAR DNA binding protein; TBK1: TANK binding kinase 1; ULK1: unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1; UPS: ubiquitin-proteasome system. © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.1