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Critical thinking is widely recognized as important in Japanese education including English teaching, as is stipulated, for instance, in MEXT’s Course of Study. However, there is no clear indication that students are successfully learning this generic higher-order thinking skill in secondary- or tertiary-level education. One way to enhance critical thinking is Level 3 reading instruction. This paper shows how Level 3, or evaluative, reading instruction in EFL classrooms can foster learners’ critical reading and by extension critical thinking skills. The other two levels of reading are factual (Level 1) and interpretive/inferential (Level 2). By comparing two different versions of an interpretation of the same text, one using Level 2 reading and the other using Level 3 reading, the authors demonstrate the crucial importance of Level 3 evaluative reading for the development of learners’ critical reading skills. 日本の教育における批判的思考力の重要性は，文科省の学習指導要領の規定にみられるように，広く認められている。しかし，この汎用的高次思考力が高等教育や大学教育において十分に習得されているようには思われない。批判的思考力を伸ばす一つの方法がレベル3の読みである。本稿は，英語の授業においてレベル3の読み，すなわち評価読みの指導が学習者の批判的読みを，ひいては批判的思考力を伸ばす可能性について論じる。他の二つの読みは，レベル１の事実読みとレベル2の解釈・推論読みである。同一テキストをレベル2とレベル3の2つの読みで解釈し，両者の違いを比較することで，レベル３の読みが学習者の批判的読みの技能の伸長にいかに重要であるかを論証する。

The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the influence of alcohol ingestion in pregnant rats on the body and teeth of neonatal rats. Twenty two pregnant rats were divided into a normally-housed control group and alcohol-intake group exposed to alcohol during pregnancy, and 223 neonatal rats from these pregnant rats were used for the study. We observed the amount of water intake and the number of pups in mother rats, and body weight, eye-opening, and tooth development (postnatal day 1, 5, 15, and 20) in neonatal rats. The results showed the decreasing number of pups in the alcohol-intake group. Neonatal rats in the alcohol-intake group exhibited a lower body weight, especially on the first neonatal day, with a significant difference within the group. They also showed a delay in the time to eye-opening. Histopathological examination revealed no significant morphological abnormalities in odontogenic cells, but differential growth of the tooth germ and a delay in dental root formation were observed. The present study confirmed the influences of alcohol ingestion in pregnant rats on neonatal rats, including delays in physical development, differential growth of the tooth germ, and tooth eruption time.

Following a recent report of unexpectedly high affinity of 5-azidoimidacloprid to insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, derivatives with four halogen atoms and cyano and nitro were prepared, and the insecticidal effect was evaluated in American cockroaches by injection alone and with synergists, piperonyl butoxide and propargyl propyl benzenephosphonate. The log (1/MLD) value, the minimal lethal dose in mol, was 8.96 for imidacloprid, and 8.82 for the fluoro derivative. The other derivatives were less active. Synergists enhanced the activity of all compounds. The log (1/MLD) value for 5-azidoimidacloprid, 7.37 without or 8.18 with synergists, was not striking in this experiment. © Pesticide Science Society of Japan

Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a paraneoplastic disorder characterized by hypophosphatemia, phosphaturia, inappropriately low serum levels of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D for hypophosphatemia, and skeletal undermineralization. Patients with TIO suffer from severe muscle weakness and pain. Because surgical removal of the responsible tumors is the only satisfactory treatment for TIO, identification of the tumors is clinically essential. However, because they are predominantly slow-growing neoplasms of benign mesenchymal origin, localization of the responsible tumors is often very difficult. Moreover, even if a tumor is found in a patient with hypophosphatemic osteomalacia, we have had no way to know that the tumor is actually causing the disease. Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) was recently identified as a causative factor for TIO and was shown to induce renal phosphate wasting. We have recently shown that the circulatory FGF-23 level was high in a patient with TIO and rapidly decreased after removal of the responsible tumor. For the first time, we describe a patient with adult-onset hypophosphatemic osteomalacia in whom a clinical diagnosis of TIO was confirmed before surgical removal of the tumor by localizing the responsible tumor using venous sampling for FGF-23 together with magnetic resonance imaging. This combinatorial procedure would be clinically useful for sporadic cases of hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia.

SAMP8 mice have a shorter lifespan and show the dysfunction of the central nervous system. We here investigated whether soy peptides (SP) composed mainly of di- and tripeptides has the potential to prevent age-dependent cognitive impairment. SAMP8 and normal aging mice, SAMR1, were fed a diet supplemented with SP or a control diet for 26 weeks to investigate the preventive effects on the progression of cognitive decline using the Morris water maze. The SP-fed groups in SAMP8 and SAMR1 prevented the decline of cognitive ability compared to their controls. Increased expression of neurotrophic factors such as BDNF and NT-3 at mRNA and protein levels were observed in the brain of SP-fed mice, especially SAMP8. Further, the phosphorylated CREB protein level of SAMP8 was markedly up-regulated by SP feeding. These suggest that SPs have the potential for prevention of cognitive impairment via neurotrophic effects.

Best results for the synthesis of bicyclo[3.3.0]octane derivatives by cyclization of siloxydienynes are achieved using rhenium(I) catalysts under photoirradiation conditions.

Tungsten(0)- and rhenium(I)-catalyzed reactions of acetylenic dienol silyl ethers based on the concept of geminal carbo-functionalization of alkynes are reported. Treatment of 3-siloxy-1,3-diene-7-ynes with catalytic amounts of [W(CO)(6)] or [ReCl(CO)(5)] under photoirradiation conditions gives synthetically useful bicyclo[3.3.0]octane derivatives in good yields. Extremely high catalytic activity is noted for the rhenium(I) complex. The reaction has been extended to substrates containing a nitrogen atom in their tethers. In this case, two kinds of synthetically useful heterocyclic compounds-the 2-azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane derivatives 9 and the monocyclic dihydropyrroles 10, with allenyl substituents-are obtained, and selective preparation of either product can be achieved through the use of an appropriate combination of the nitrogen substituent and the type of the rhenium(I) catalyst. The 2-azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane derivatives 9 are obtained selectively by carrying out treatment of N-Ns derivatives in the presence of [ReCl(CO)(4)(PPh(3))], whereas the dihydropyrrole derivatives 10 are obtained by treatment of N-Mbs derivatives with [ReCl(CO)(5)]/AgSbF(6) . Finally, we have applied this geminal carbo-functionalization to one-carbon-elongated substrates containing N-Ts moieties in their tethers. Selective 5-exo cyclization is achieved in the presence of gold(I) or rhenium(I) catalysts, whereas 6-endo cyclization is observed on use of [W(CO)(6)].

We examined the utility of a bite block-type head immobilization device, hereafter referred to as "head immobilization device", in order to improve the ease of immobilization and accuracy when performing radiotherapy for cranial tumors in animals. The head immobilization apparatus was a rectangular-shaped bite block-type device. We examined 55 cases in 46 dogs that underwent head CT scans between June 2005 and May 2006. The head immobilization device was used for 26 cases (immobilization group) and was not used for 29 cases (control group). Head stability was maintained in the control group by placing a towel under the head. We measured the angle of rotation of the xy, yz and xz planes for each group. The angles of rotation of the xy plane for the control and immobilization groups were 3.69 +/- 2.28 (mean +/- SD) and 1.39 +/- 1.50, respectively. The t-test demonstrated that the difference was statistically significant (p0.001). These results indicate that there was reduced tilting to the left or right. We conclude that use of this head immobilization device was extremely easy and that it improved the accuracy of radiotherapy for cranial tumors in dogs and cats.

The insecticidal activities of imidacloprid derivatives with a wide range of substituents at the 5-position on the pyridine ring against American cockroaches, Periplaneta americana (L.), were measured by injection with and without synergists propyl 2-propynyl phenylphosphonate and piperonyl butoxide. The log(1/MLD) value (MLD = minimal lethal dose in mol) without synergists was 7.96 for the methyl derivative, and the values were lower for other derivatives. Synergists enhanced the potencies of all the compounds tested. Considering these compounds and those with other substituents at this position, the region for maximum activity was predicted to be in the conjunction of the pyridyl 6-chlorine atom with a lipophilic small group in the 5-position.