Asia Institute - Research Publications

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    Learning Asian languages is about much more than trade and employability and universities should convey this
    Ohashi, J ; Ohashi, H (Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, 2021-08-16)
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    Genome-wide association study identifies CDH13 as a susceptibility gene for rhododendrol-induced leukoderma.
    Okamura, K ; Abe, Y ; Naka, I ; Ohashi, J ; Yagami, A ; Matsunaga, K ; Kobayashi, Y ; Fukai, K ; Tanemura, A ; Katayama, I ; Masui, Y ; Ito, A ; Yamashita, T ; Nagai, H ; Nishigori, C ; Oiso, N ; Aoyama, Y ; Araki, Y ; Saito, T ; Hayashi, M ; Hozumi, Y ; Suzuki, T (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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    #MaskUp in Australia: How social norms in a pandemic are formed
    Ohashi, J (Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, 2021)
    Between July and November 2020, most of the residents of Australia’s second most populous state, Victoria, were, for the first time, required to wear face masks at all times outside their homes. Mask-wearing in Melbourne was made mandatory by the State Government in late July with a $200 fine for non-compliance, after a second wave of COVID-19 infections began, and other parts of Victoria followed. Before this, the Australian public had been provided with conflicting advice on mask-wearing and its effectiveness in virus control, from governments, medical experts, community leaders and media. On July 1 2020, Australia’s then acting chief medical officer, Professor Paul Kelly, stated that masks are not necessary ‘in most circumstances for most people, most of the time’, and responded ‘it is an option’ to a question ‘should people in hotspot areas be wearing masks, yes or no?’. Mandatory mask-use meant the public had to adopt a new habit. The change created an intriguing space where multiple ideologies and group identities formed and met cross-sectionally. These colliding perspectives were expressed on social media and had the power to influence people’s behavior through the process of norm construction.
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    The Nation over Gender and Class: Media Framing of Comfort Women in South Korea and Japan
    Song, J ; Ohashi, J (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.