Product Innovation and Economic Growth (Japanese)

Tackling issues relating to low fertility and aging population is widely acknowledged as the most important challenge for the Japanese economy and society in the twenty-first century. There is a general consensus that given these issues of low fertility and aging population, innovation that is technological progress in a broader sense, should be the engine for economic growth. Technological progress is typically measured by growth accounting, that is, total factor productivity (TFP). However, this paper analyzes the role of product innovation from a different point of view. First, we explain how different product innovation is from TFP. Next, we examine the IT sector and verify the contribution of IT to macro economic growth. The contribution of IT on the supply side of the economy as measured by TFP is certainly important but it does not provide the whole picture in regard to the contribution of IT to economic growth. This paper also attempts to confirm that IT acting as an intermediate good enables the creation of new goods that will boost final demand. Looking at it from the point of demand saturation or creation, the key to economic growth is in how to find or produce goods and services for which there is a high demand.

Product Innovation and Economic Growth, Part II: The role of intermediate goods for product innovation (Japanese)

Technological progress, especially product innovation, plays an important part in generating economic growth under the conditions of low fertility and an aging population. Technological progress is typically measured by growth accounting, that is, total factor productivity (TFP). The analysis of IT products measured by TFP is certainly important, but it does not provide the whole picture regarding the contribution of IT products to economic growth. Based on our previous paper, this paper further explains the relationship between product innovation and TFP theoretically. To capture the wider picture of product innovation, Part II examines solar power and smart phones, both of which have shown remarkable demand-driven growth recently. Also, we discuss the role of intermediate goods for product innovation in a broad sense.

B-Cell-Activating Factor Affects the Occurrence of Thyroid Autoimmunity in Chronic Hepatitis C Patients Treated with Interferon Alpha

Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients frequently suffer from thyroid disorders during interferon therapy. However, the mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the association between serum B-cell-activating factor belonging to the TNF family (BAFF) levels and the presence of antithyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-TPO) in CHC patients treated with pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin combination therapy. Six months after the therapy, anti-TPO antibody was detected in 10 (males, 1; females, 9) of 50 patients. The mean age of these patients was higher than that of the anti-TPO-negative patients (61 yr versus 55 yr). Before treatment, the serum BAFF levels of the anti-TPO-positive patients were higher than those of the anti-TPO-negative patients. After starting therapy, the serum BAFF levels of both the anti-TPO-positive and -negative patient groups were elevated. Our findings suggest that the serum BAFF concentration before therapy can predict the risk of thyroid autoimmunity in elderly female patients with CHC

Serial Analysis of Antimitochondrial Antibody in Patients with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Antimitochondrial antibodies (AMAs) are the classic serologic marker in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). However, there have been only limited attempts to study changes in titer or isotype analysis of such AMAs in patients followed for long periods of tim

Expression of tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase in mature granule cells of the adult mouse dentate gyrus

New granule cells are continuously generated in the dentate gyrus of the adult hippocampus. During granule cell maturation, the mechanisms that differentiate new cells not only describe the degree of cell differentiation, but also crucially regulate the progression of cell differentiation. Here, we describe a gene, tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO), whose expression distinguishes stem cells from more differentiated cells among the granule cells of the adult mouse dentate gyrus. The use of markers for proliferation, neural progenitors, and immature and mature granule cells indicated that TDO was expressed in mature cells and in some immature cells. In mice heterozygous for the alpha-isoform of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, in which dentate gyrus granule cells fail to mature normally, TDO immunoreactivity was substantially downregulated in the dentate gyrus granule cells. Moreover, a 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine labeling experiment revealed that new neurons began to express TDO between 2 and 4 wk after the neurons were generated, when the axons and dendrites of the granule cells developed and synaptogenesis occurred. These findings indicate that TDO might be required at a late-stage of granule cell development, such as during axonal and dendritic growth, synaptogenesis and its maturation

Serum Reactivity Against Bacterial Pyruvate Dehydrogenase: Increasing the Specificity of Anti-Mitochondrial Antibodies for the Diagnosis of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) are the serum hallmark of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). However, AMA-positivity can be found in non-PBC sera when lower dilutions are used, thus raising issues about the specificity and sensitivity of the test. AMA reacts primarily with the lipoylated domains of pyruvate dehydrogenase-E2 (PDC-E2) which is highly conserved across species, including bacteria. We studied 77 serum samples, including 24 from patients with anti-PDC-E2-positive PBC and 53 controls (16 with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), 10 with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), and 27 healthy individuals) for their reactivities at serial dilutions (1:10, 1:20 and 1:40) against Escherichia coli DH5 alpha lysate overexpressing human PDC-E2 using immunoblotting (IB). A murine anti-human PDC-E2 monoclonal antibody (mAB) was used as control. We further studied positive sera using adsorption with a synthetic E. coli peptide sharing similarity with human PDC-E2. Finally, we verified whether a unique buffer for E. coli preparation could reduce non-specific serum reactivity. Results demonstrated that 100% of anti-PDC-E2-positive PBC and up to 38% of control sera at 1:10 dilution recognized E. coli PDC-E2 at IB while dilution tests indicated that the overall potency of PBC reactivity was 100-fold higher compared to controls. In fact, a subgroup (20-38%) of non-PBC sera were positive at low titers but lost the reactivity when absorbed with the synthetic E. coli peptide. Finally, our unique buffer reduced the reactivity of non-PBC sera as measured by ELISA. In conclusion, we demonstrated that weak cross-reactivity with E. coli PDC-E2 occurs in non-PBC sera at lower dilutions and that such reactivity is not due to AMA-positivity. The use of a specific buffer might avoid the risk of false positive AMA determinations when E. coli-expressed recombinant antigens are used