Asia Institute - Research Publications
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ItemGenome-wide association study identifies CDH13 as a susceptibility gene for rhododendrol-induced leukoderma.(Wiley, 2020-11)Racemic RS-4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanol (rhododendrol; trade name: Rhododenol [RD]), which is used in topical skin-lightening cosmetics, was unexpectedly reported in Japan to induce leukoderma or vitiligo called RD-induced leukoderma (RIL) after repeated application. To our knowledge, no studies have investigated chemical-induced vitiligo pathogenesis on a genome-wide scale. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for 147 cases and 112 controls. CDH13, encoding a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein called T-cadherin (T-cad), was identified as the strongest RIL susceptibility gene. RD sensitivity was remarkably increased by T-cad knockdown in cultured normal human melanocytes. Furthermore, we confirmed tyrosinase upregulation and downregulation of the anti-apoptotic molecules (BCL-2 and BCL-XL), suggesting that T-cad is associated with RD via tyrosinase or apoptotic pathway regulation. Finally, monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone sensitivity also tended to increase with T-cad knockdown, suggesting that the T-cad could be a candidate susceptibility gene for RIL and other chemical-induced vitiligo forms. This is the first GWAS for chemical-induced vitiligo, and it could be a useful model for studying the disease's genetic aspects.
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Item雑談に表出する依頼と承諾 ―「です・ます」体の使い分けと， 自然会話を素材とする教材への応用の観点から― An adjacency pair, 'Request - acceptance' and multiple functions of the desu/masu forms emerging in small talk: Using natural conversational data in Japanese language teaching.(Kuroshio, 2020-10-16)The chapter demonstrates how natural conversational data can be integrated into Japanese language teaching and their benefits. The BTSJ Natural Conversation Corpus was released in 2017 (Usami 2017) which provides a large volume of natural conversational data. The chapter analyses a long stretch of small talk from the corpus and reveals multiple functions of desu/masu forms and how an adjacency pair ‘request – acceptance’ is, in fact, stretched over many conversational turns. It also demonstrates how natural conversational data can be converted to meaningful teaching and learning materials. Natural Conversation Reconstruction Tasks (NCRT) are introduced and their intended learning outcomes are demonstrated together with their benefits.
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ItemJapanese language education and Japanese Studies as intercultural learning(Routledge, 2020)The paper illuminates similarities between what Australian universities wish to see in the attributes of university graduates and those of Japanese counterparts. The term, graduate attributes is used in Australia and guroubaru jinzai (globally competent human resources) is used in Japan.
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ItemThe Nation over Gender and Class: Media Framing of Comfort Women in South Korea and Japan(The British Association for Korean Studies, 2020-10-01)In December 2015, South Korea and Japan reached an agreement on resolving the “comfort women” issue that sparked media interests. This article analyses how the South Korean and Japanese media covered comfort women in 2013–2018. The study collects over 20,000 newspaper articles and analyses distinctive media framings in liberal, conservative and leftist newspapers in South Korea and Japan. During this period, the South Korean media have gone beyond the extant nationalist and feminist narratives and incorporated a class dimension. The authors find that there have been dynamic interplays among nation, gender and class that make the debates more complex and transnational, yet the dominant narratives are still from liberal or leftist nationalists in Korea and conservative statists in Japan.