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This qualitative study scrutinised the experiences of intercultural relationship development between international and domestic students at two Japanese private universities, which have contrastive degrees of commitment to internationalisation in regard to stated vision, curriculum, international student enrolment and languages of instruction. Kudo et al.’s (Higher Education, 77(3), 473–489, 2019) three-stage ecological and person-in-context conceptual framework was adopted to gain insight into the roles of institutional internationalisation and personal agency in intercultural relationship development. A thematic analysis of interview data from 32 students (14 domestics, 18 internationals) revealed that institutional internationalisation may play a relatively small role in promoting intercultural relationship development compared to students’ agency. A detailed examination of the associations between three forms of agency (i.e. situated, cosmopolitan and creative) and three relational stages (i.e. interactivity, reciprocity and unity) led to the identification of cosmopolitan agency as a meaningful hallmark of intercultural relationship development. These findings call for future research aimed at identifying the environmental and individual conditions that are most conducive to the cultivation of cosmopolitan agency in both international and domestic students.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive carcinoma with poor prognosis. Its poor prognosis is ascribed to the extensive fibrotic stroma. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are major contributors to PDAC fibrosis. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is an established risk factor for PDAC. The common mechanistic link might be the accumulation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and the signaling through receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE), the receptor for AGEs. Nevertheless, the role of RAGE in PSCs activation was not evaluated in PDAC with T2D. First, PSCs were isolated from male obese T2D model, db/db (db) and db/m (C) mice at 12 weeks of age. mRNA expression of the makers for PSCs activation like TGF-β1, αSMA and collagen type1A1 were significantly increased in PSCs isolated from db compared to C (p Disclosure C. Uchida: None. H. Mizukami: None. K. Kudo: None. Y. Yamamoto: None. Funding Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JP17K17579)

Cyclin D2 (CCND2) is an essential cell cycle regulator of rodent pancreatic β cells, while its expression in human islets is still controversial in the past studies. It may be because few proliferative β cell is generally present in human adult islets. In contrast, expansion of β cell population mainly depends on a cell proliferation in human perinatal islets. Therefore, CCND2 is expected to be implicated in β cell proliferation in human perinatal islets. The aim of this study is to explore the implication of CCND2 in proliferation of human perinatal β cells. We evaluated pancreata of 39 autopsy cases from prenatal 24 weeks old to postnatal 19 years old. The subjects were divided into fetus (F: prenatal 24-31 weeks), infant (I: 0-1 years), child (C: 2-12 years) and adolescence (A: 13-19 years). Quintuple-immunohistochemistry (IHC) for glucagon, insulin, somatostatin, pp and Ki-67 was performed for the measurement of islet cell volume density (V) and cell replication status. Double-IHC for insulin with CCND2, 5-hydroxy tryptophan (5-HT) and p16 were performed. Double positive cells for each staining were counted. Morphometric analysis revealed that Vα and Vβ were increased with maturation. Ki-67 positivity for α and Δ cells was the highest in F (p90%) and I (>90%). Thereafter, its expression was dramatically declined in C and A (2.25±1.4%). 5-HT was highly expressed in perinatal subjects but not in C and A. Conversely, p16 expression was minimum before adolescence and its expression was evident in A. Our results clearly suggested that CCND2 could be implicated in the development of human β cell population in perinatal stage. The expression of CCND2 might be independently regulated by 5-HT and p16, while other factors may be implicated in the expression mechanism. To elucidate the regulation mechanism of CCND2 in human islets may lead to develop a novel strategy for diabetes treatments. Disclosure S. Osonoi: None. H. Ichinohe: None. K. Kudo: None. S. Yagihashi: None. H. Mizukami: None.

Xanthine oxidase (XO), a potent inducer of reactive oxygen species, catalyzes purine metabolism. XO is expected to be implication of the macrophage activation. XO is also expressed in the peripheral nerve system, while its role in diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) has not been clarified. We explored the implication of XO in DPN of db/db mice (db/db) treating with XO-inhibitor, topiloxostat (To). C57BL6 mice (C57) and db/db (5 wks of age) were daily treated with 1mg/kg (dbT1) and 2mg/kg (dbT2) To (per os) for 8 wks. During experimental period, peripheral nerve function was monitored. At end, serum and dissected sciatic nerves and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) served for evaluation of uric acid metabolism. Primary culture of DRG neuron was performed to evaluate the effects of To on neurite outgrowth in vitro. To improved significant delay of nerve conduction velocities and elevation of threshold for tail flick test in db/db in a dose dependent manner (p As a conclusion, increase in XO activity in serum and DRG may be implicated in the pathophysiology of DPN in db/db. Activation of XO in serum may directly exacerbate neuronal injury for DRG in DPN. To has a beneficial effect on DPN through its specific property to suppress serum XO activity. Disclosure H. Ichinohe: None. H. Mizukami: None. S. Osonoi: None. K. Kudo: None. S. Yagihashi: None.

AIMS Parasympathetic nerve (PN) signaling plays a crucial role in the maintenance of pancreatic β-cell volume density (Vβ). PN may be pathologically affected in diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN). However, the association between the reduction of PNs in islets and Vβ and the therapeutic effects of a DPP4 inhibitor (DPP4i) and an SGLT2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) in nonobese type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) Goto-Kakizaki rats (GK) have not been investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS We divided 5-week old male GK and Wistar rats (W) into a DPP4i-treated group (GKTe), SGLT2i-treated group (GKCa), and combination-treated group (GKCaTe). After 25 weeks, the pancreata was pathologically evaluated. RESULTS Vβ in GK was significantly decreased (p < 0.01 vs. W), whereas Vβ was the most well preserved in GKCaTe (p < 0.05 vs. GKTe), followed by GKTe (p < 0.05 vs. GK). The decreased amount of PNs in the islets and intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD) in GK was significantly improved in the treated groups compared with GK (p < 0.05 vs. GKCa and GKTe and p < 0.01 vs. GKCaTe). PN density and IENFD were significantly correlated with Vβ (r = 0.55, p < 0.01 and r = 0.54, p < 0.01, respectively). IENFD was identified as a surrogate marker for the prediction of Vβ (cutoff value, 16.39). CONCLUSIONS The combination therapy of DPP4i and SGLT2i improved Vβ accompanied by PNs density and IENFD. IENFD was proportionally correlated with Vβ. Therefore, the prevention of DPN development may be concurrently beneficial for the preservation of Vβ in nonobese T2DM.

Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) is a type of primitive round cell tumor that mainly develops in adolescents and young adults. Immunohistochemically, the expression of myogenic markers is a key clue for pathological diagnosis, and an aberrant expression of neuroendocrine markers and/or cytokeratin has also been reported. Therefore, an unusual clinical course complicated with aberrant neuroendocrine expression may make the diagnosis of ARMS difficult. In this report, we present a case of ARMS that developed in the skin of the abdominal wall in an elderly patient; the tumor cells expressed neuroendocrine markers. ARMS should be considered as a differential diagnosis of primitive round cell tumors in elderly patients and it is essential to confirm concurrent myogenic differentiation and PAX3/PAX7–FOXO1 fusion gene expression to make a pathological diagnosis. Keywords: Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, Primitive round cell tumor, Neuroendocrine marker, PAX3/PAX7–FOXO1 fusion gene, High-sensitivity RT-PCR

For more than four decades, studies of higher education have espoused the significance of fostering intercultural interactions between international and domestic students, yet numerous studies have provided widespread evidence of limited interactions between these cohorts and limited development of long-lasting relationships, such as friendship. After reviewing the conceptualisations of intercultural relationship development and their limitations in the extant literature, this paper outlines the rationale for a three-stage ecological and person-in-context conceptual framework of the development of intercultural relationships in university contexts. The proposed framework addresses: the issue of loose conceptualisations of intercultural relationships in the literature; the overlooked phenomena of dynamic interactions between individual and environmental dimensions that co-contribute to intercultural relationship development; and the developmental nature of intercultural relationships. The main proposal underpinning the framework is that the development of intercultural relationships occurs at the dynamic experiential interface between environmental affordances and students’ agency, both of which evolve along three stages of relationships (i.e. interactivity, reciprocity and unity). The framework, illustrated by empirical data, addresses aspects of intercultural relationships that have been neglected in the higher education literature, and that are expected to stimulate further educational research and practices in various (inter-)national/regional and institutional contexts.

In this work, a thermal molding technique is proposed for the fabrication of plastic electronics on curved surfaces, enabling the preparation of plastic films with freely designed shapes. The induced strain distribution observed in poly(ethylene naphthalate) films when planar sheets were deformed into hemispherical surfaces clearly indicated that natural thermal contraction played an important role in the formation of the curved surface. A fingertip-shaped organic thin-film transistor array molded from a real human finger was fabricated, and slight deformation induced by touching an object was detected from the drain current response. This type of device will lead to the development of robot fingers equipped with a sensitive tactile sense for precision work such as palpation or surgery.

For more than four decades, issues pertaining to the development of intercultural relationships between international and domestic students in university settings have received scholarly attention. However, there appears to be lack of research exploring the extent to, and the manner in which the individual and environmental dimensions interact with one another to co-create this development. This review addresses this gap by scrutinising English-language refereed journal articles from an ecological and person-in-context perspective. The review, involving a constructionist thematic analysis of systematically searched and screened papers, identified the few empirical studies from that perspective, the vague operationalisation of intercultural relationship development, and the methodological limitations of the empirical work. It also generated content-related themes of the individual–environmental interactions in the development of intercultural relationships. The review concludes by suggesting multiple areas of inquiry that warrant further empirical investigations, and by calling for the amplification and refinement of the research methodologies.

Organic semiconductors make them interesting candidates for the development of innovative and disruptive applications also in large area and flexible sensor devices. In fact, organic-based photoactive media combine effective light absorption in the region of the spectrum from ultraviolet to near-infrared with good photogeneration yield and low-temperature processability over large areas and on any substrate. Moreover, their electronic properties can be easily tuned to optimize, charges transport depending on the targeted application in the field of imaging, tactile or biomedical sensing. We made curved surface sensor array by thermal molding of planer device array on thin plastic film.

Pancreatic branch of vagus nerve (pvn) signaling plays a pivotal role in the maintenance of islet β cell volume density (Vβ). In type 2 diabetes (T2D), small fibers in the epidermis is decreased by diabetic insult. It is not still uncovered yet, however, that the reduction of terminal pvn fibers is associated with Vβ in T2DM. Herein, we explored the association between islet pvn fiber density and Vβ. We recruited non-obese spontaneous T2D Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats and control Wistar rats (W) at 5 weeks of age. GK was divided into DPP-4 inhibitor (DPi)-treated group (GTe) (10mg/kg teneligliptine), SGLT2 inhibitor (SGi)-treated group (GCa) (10mg/kg canagliflozin) and both treated group (GTeCa). During experimental period, 2g/kg oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion test (GSIS) was performed. At end, pancreata were underwent for the pathological evaluation. OGTT in GK was attenuated (p Disclosure H. Mizukami: None. D. Guo: None. K. Takahashi: None. S. Osonoi: None. K. Kudo: None. S. Yagihashi: None.

Development and growth of islet endocrine cell volume are assumed to mainly depend on cell proliferation. In addition, the partial contribution of islet neogenesis and chromogranin A positive hormone negative cell (CPHN cell) is recently clarified. Detailed evaluation for the islet cell development and growth, however, is not well explored linking to the change of cell replication, neognesis and CPHN cell for each type of endocrine cells in human specimens. For this purpose, we recruited human autopsied pancreata, aged from 24 weeks old to 19 years old (n=32). Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded sections from pancreatic body were used for immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) analysis. The subjects were divided into 4 groups, Fetus (F: 24-31 weeks), Infant (I : 0-1 years), Child (C : 2-12 years) and Adolescence (A : 13-19 years). Quintuple-IHC with antibodies for glucagon, insulin, somatostatin, pp and Ki-67 was performed for the measurement of islet cell volume density (V) and replication status. Vαand Vβwere increased with age. Vβin A was more abundant than in F (p Disclosure S. Osonoi: None. H. Mizukami: None. K. Takahashi: None. K. Kudo: None. S. Yagihashi: None.

Activation of AGEs-RAGE signal at macrophage (Mφ) aggravates local inflammation in diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN). Mφ skewing toward pro-inflammatory phenotype (M1) is implicated in insulin resistance (IR) in fatty tissue, suggesting activation of RAGE at Mφ may similarly trigger IR in DPN. Generally, IR leads to axonal transport deficit in peripheral nerves. The aim of this study is to clarify the role of RAGE in the inflammation of DPN and its relationship to IR and axonal transport. Male C57BL/6 mice (W) and RAGE null mice (R) were recruited and rendered diabetic with streprozotocin (STZ) (D). DPN was confirmed by delay of nerve conduction velocities (NCVs) 8 weeks later of STZ injection. Polarization of Mφ in the sciatic nerve (SN) was determined by immunofluorescence (IF) and qPCR. IR of SN was evaluated by phospho (p)-AKT expression with stimulation of 5 unit insulin. Cell size of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neuron was morphometrically measured. For the retrograde axonal transport, DRG was quantitatively evaluated by IF for Fluoro-Gold (FG) 7 days after subcutaneous injection of FG into the hindlimb footpad. WD showed significant delay of NCVs (p Disclosure S. Osonoi: None. H. Mizukami: None. K. Takahashi: None. K. Kudo: None. K. Sango: None. S. Yagihashi: None. Funding Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Organic sensor array were fabricated on a curved plastic substrate of which Gauss curvature was finite. In this work, we proposed soft robot finger as one of the test case of curved surface device, that have artificial tactile sense by detecting slight deformation induced by touching an object. We made curved surface sensor array by thermal molding of organic thin film transistors fabricated on thin plastic film. Because both organic thin film and thin plastic substrate film are sufficiently soft and flexible, we successfully detected the strain distribution which is induced by a slight deformation. Observed data indicate that the induced strain is classified into the tensile and compressive strain depending on the pixel location, and corresponds to the amount of Ah, and in addition, real time detection is achieved. We expect this ‘electronic artificial tactile sense’ will be connected with the recent AI technologies, and sensitive robot finger in the precision work field will be realized in the near future.

[Abstract] Carrier-injection and the succeeding pre-channel-formation dynamics in organic thin-film transistor was observed using time-domain reflectometry. Having previously analyzed the depth-wise variation in the initial carrier-injection from the contact electrode to the channel region, we focus here on the succeeding pre-channel-formation dynamics. We demonstrate that a hole concentration in the semiconductor/gate insulator interface increases until its electrical capacitance is filled through contact and access resistances. Thereafter, the injected-hole dis-tribution gradually spreads. A reduction in both contact and access resistances is crucial not only for the static characteristics of the field effect transistor but also the dynamical response.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most malignant neoplasms worldwide. Fucoxanthin is a carotenoid present in the chloroplasts of brown seaweeds. In the present study, the anticancer effects of fucoxanthin and its metabolite, fucoxanthinol, on 6 colorectal cancer cell lines and 20 tissue samples from surgically resected clinical colorectal cancer specimens were examined using a collagen-gel droplet embedded culture drug sensitivity test (CD-DST). The in vitro sensitivity to fucoxanthin, fucoxanthinol and the anticancer drugs is expressed as T/C (%), where T is the absorbance of cells which stained by neutral red treated with carotenoids and C is the absorbance of non-staining cells. Fucoxanthin and fucoxanthinol decreased the T/C (%) of Caco-2, WiDr, HCT116, and DLD-1 cell lines at doses of 20 µM. Fucoxanthinol also decreased the T/C (%) of SW620 cells, while the T/C (%) of Colo205 cells was not reduced by treatment with either carotenoid. Specifically, the T/C (%) of Caco-2 and WiDr cells, which were incubated in carotenoid-free medium for 6 days following treatment with 20 µM fucoxanthinol for 24 h, was markedly decreased to 1.4±0.2 and 12.0±0.3%, respectively. Furthermore, fucoxanthin and fucoxanthinol decreased the T/C (%) in colorectal cancer tissue samples. Notably, 20 µM fucoxanthinol treatment resulted in a higher proportion of colorectal cancer samples with a T/C (%) of

This paper provides an interpretive investigation into the social representation of intercultural exchange at one of the newly established international universities in Japan. The author conducted quasi-structured interviews with 5 staff members and 22 students to gain insight into their perceptions of intercultural exchange and interactions. The findings highlight the dominance of nation-bound and instrumental representations of interculturality, and suggest the importance of integrating intercultural interaction issues into formal curriculums while celebrating intercultural connectivity, interchange and hybridity in both institutional and interpersonal levels.

[Abstract] Organic sensor array was fabricated on a curved plastic film substrate of which Gauss curvature was finite. In this work, we proposed soft robot finger as one of the test cases of curved surface device that has artificial tactile sense by detecting slight deformation induced by touching an object. We made curved surface sensor array by thermal molding of planer device array on thin plastic film. Observed electrical current in each sensor pixel reflected strain distribution and time response induced by external slight displacement applied.

We propose time-domain reflectometry as an effective tool to investigate the dynamics of electronic devices. We use this technique to experimentally detect with 10 ns time resolution the dynamic process of carrier injection from the contact electrode into an organic thin film transistor as a time evolution of the device impedance. This method allows us to trace vertical carrier injection in the thickness direction.

The usual silicon-based display back planes require fairly high process temperature and thus the development of a low temperature process is needed on flexible plastic substrates. A new type of flexible organic light emitting transistor (OLET) had been proposed and investigated in the previous work. By using ultraviolet/ozone (UV/O3) assisted thermal treatments on wet processed zinc oxide field effect transistor (ZnO-FET), through low-process temperature, ZnO-FETs were fabricated which succeeded to achieve target drain current value and mobility. In this study, physical property evaluation of ZnO was conducted in term of their crystallinity, the increase composition of ZnO formed inside the thin film and the decrease of the carbon impurities originated from aqueous solution of the ZnO itself. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) evaluation showed UV/O3 assisted thermal treatment has no obvious effect towards crystallinity of ZnO in the range of low process temperature. Moreover, through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) evaluation and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy evaluation, more carbon impurities disappeared from the ZnO thin film and the increase of composition amount of ZnO, when the thin film was subjected to UV/O3 assisted thermal treatment. Therefore, UV/O3 assisted thermal treatment contributed in carbon impurities elimination and accelerate ZnO formation in ZnO thin film, which led to the improvement in the electrical property of ZnO-FET in the low-process temperature.

The effect of an applied gate electric field on the charge-order phase in β-(BEDT-TTF)2PF6 single-crystal field-effect transistor structure was observed at around room temperature by technical improvement with respect to sample preparation and electrical measurements. A relatively slight but systematic increase of the electrical conductance induced by the applied gate electric field and its temperature dependence was observed at around the metal-insulator transition temperature (TMI). The temperature dependence of the modulated electrical conductance demonstrated that TMI was shifted toward the lower side by application of a gate electric field, which corresponds to partial dissolution of the charge-order phase. The thickness of the partially dissolved charge order region was estimated to be several score times larger than the charge accumulation region.

For the better performance of organic thin-film transistors (TFTs), gate-insulator surface treatments are often applied. However, the origin of mobility increase has not been well understood because mobility-limiting factors have not been compared quantitatively. In this work, we clarify the influence of gate-insulator surface treatments in pentacene thin-film transistors on the limiting factors of mobility, i.e., size of crystal-growth domain, crystallite size, HOMO-band-edge fluctuation, and carrier transport barrier at domain boundary. We quantitatively investigated these factors for pentacene TFTs with bare, hexamethyldisilazane-treated, and polyimide-coated SiO2 layers as gate dielectrics. By applying these surface treatments, size of crystal-growth domain increases but both crystallite size and HOMO-band-edge fluctuation remain unchanged. Analyzing the experimental results, we also show that the barrier height at the boundary between crystal-growth domains is not sensitive to the treatments. The res...

The Hurtley reaction for preparation of benzochromenone (III) is optimized and manufacturing costs are reduced.