Political-Economic Analysis of the Bubble Economy and Stagnation

After the bursting of the economic bubble in 1990, the Japanese economy has continued to stagnate. Abenomics has managed to weaken the yen and increase stock prices through the Bank of Japans extending lines of credit. However, it failed to bring the overall economy back on track. This article will look at the reasons behind the stagnation of the Japanese economy from historical points of view. First, it argues that the economic bubble was created in order to reconstruct the US economy. It also emphasizes that the stagnation of the Japanese economy comes from two reasons—innovative efforts in the Japanese economy being unfruitful and long-term employment practices, which used to sustain Japanese-style management, becoming no longer viable after the economic bubble burst in Japan. Furthermore, it highlights that the stagnation also comes from the fact that the Japanese government has accepted structural reforms that the US demanded. It is important for the Japanese people to establish an administration that would not heavily rely on the US in order to overcome the stagnation

Adult T-cell leukemia occurring in mother and son.

We report two cases of adult T-cell leukemia in which the disease developed in a mother, aged 62 years, and her son, aged 41 years, less than four months apart. Both mother and son showed abnormal karyotypes and high titers of adult T-cell leukemia-associated antibody.</p

Seropositivity of a blood recipient from a donor with positive adult T-cell leukemia-associated antigens.

A blood recipient, aged 66, was found to have positive adult T-cell leukemia-associated antigens (ATLA), approximately half a year after a transfusion. The donor's ATLA-antibody titer was 1: 640. Routine screening of blood donors for ATLA antibody was proposed.</p

Two human papillomavirus DNAs molecularly cloned from a patient with epidermodysplasia verruciformis: restriction maps.

Two distinct human papillomavirus (HPV) DNAs (MY-1 and MY-2) were molecularly cloned from the benign skin lesions of a patient with epidermodysplasia verruciformis. The restriction map of MY-1 was the same as that of HPV 3a. The map of MY-2 appeared to be different from those of any HPVs reported in the literature. MY-2 did not cross-hybridize with MY-1 or the DNAs of HPV types 1, 2 and 4 under stringent conditions.</p

Japanese Orthopaedic Association Hip Disease Evaluation Questionnaire (JHEQ): a patient-based evaluation tool for hip-joint disease. The Subcommittee on Hip Disease Evaluation of the Clinical Outcome Committee of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association

AbstractBackgroundThe Japanese Orthopaedic Association Hip Score is widely used in Japan, but this tool is designed to reflect the viewpoint of health-care providers rather than that of patients. In gauging the effect of medical therapies in addition to clinical results, it is necessary to assess quality of life (QOL) from the viewpoint of patients. However, there is no tool evaluating QOL for Japanese patients with hip-joint disease.MethodsWith the aim of more accurately classifying QOL for Japanese patients with hip-joint disease, we prepared a questionnaire with 58 items for the survey derived from 464 opinions obtained from approximately 100 Japanese patients with hip-joint disease and previously devised evaluation criteria. In the survey, we collected information on 501 cases, and 402 were subjected to factor analysis. From this, we formulated three categories—movement, mental, and pain—each comprising 7 items, for a total of 21 items to be used as evaluation criteria for hip-joint function.ResultsThe Cronbach’s α coefficients for the three categories were 0.93, 0.93, and 0.95, respectively, indicating the high reliability of the evaluation criteria. The 21 items included some related to the Asian lifestyle, such as use of a Japanese-style toilet and rising from the floor, which are not included in other evaluation tools.ConclusionsThis self-administered questionnaire may become a useful tool in the evaluation of not only Japanese patients, but also of members of other ethnic groups who engage in deep flexion of the hip joint during daily activities