The revision of the principles in the Civil Procedure Act in litigation against administrative powers : A discussion on the settlement of lawsuits

Prior to World War II, Japan had adopted a dualistic judicial system. One was the judiciary, with jurisdiction coming from judicial powers, and the other was an administrative tribunal with jurisdiction lying with the executive. However, after World War II, the administrative tribunal was abolished under reforms instigated by the allied General Headquarters. As a result, Japan’s sole judicial system now deals not only with civil litigation but also with administrative litigation, and the latter is governed by the Administrative Case Litigation Act (ACLA). There are only 46 articles in the ACLA, and accordingly it includes Article 7: “Any matters concerning administrative case litigation which are not provided for in this Act shall be governed by the precedent of civil actions”. Thus, it is interpreted that the rules of civil actions can be applied mutatis mutandis unless they are contrary to administrative litigation. To date, there has been little research on this Article 7. The aim of this study is to examine how and why the principles within the Civil Procedure Act have been revised, via a discussion on whether the settlement of a lawsuit is accepted under the ACLA. This idea is divided into two theories: the restrictive affirmation theory and the negation theory. They lead to the following results. The restrictive affirmation theory accepts the settlement of a lawsuit in the following cases: when it falls within administrative discretion, when the facts are uncertain and the administrative agency expects a settlement, when a settlement is permitted as a public contract, when the administrative agency is competent, when the administration considers that benefits obtained by a settlement exceed costs about the duties of the official investigation, when it is proper that a court respects the compromise between the parties on account of high uncertainty, and when there is compromise between the parties and the court considers it legitimate. The negation theory does not accept the settlement of a lawsuit for the following reasons: differences in administrative discretion and the disposal of the subject matter, the wrongdoing has the same effect as a final and conclusive judgment, the nature of the public interest of the administrative measure, the impossibility of ensuring the observance of settlement terms, the unilateral nature of the administrative measure, the fit between the law and the administrative deposition, and a lack of substitution authority regarding the settlement of the lawsuit. Furthermore, the reason that the administrative measure must be appropriate for a law may be against the rule of law―das Prinzip der gesetzmässigen Verwaltung. Thus, it can be concluded in this study that the principle of the disposal of rights in the Civil Procedure Act is revised in the above cases under the restrictive affirmation theory and the negation theory

Bisphosphonate-Related Osteonecrosis of the Palatal Torus

Background: Bisphosphonates are widely used for the treatment of osteoporosis and other bone-degrading disorders; however, bisphosphonate therapy is an important risk factor for osteonecrosis of the jaws. Methods: We report a rare case of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the palatal torus. Results: The patient was a 72-year-old woman with osteoporosis who had received 35 mg alendronate sodium hydrate once every week for 6 years. She had a 2-month history of oral pain because of intractable mucositis and ulceration of the palatal torus, with no history of malignant disease, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, steroid use, or recent dentoalveolar surgery. A CT scan showed a bony prominence at the midportion of the hard palate with erosion of its cortex. Her condition was diagnosed as stage 2 bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw caused by trauma, and she was advised to discontinue alendronate. She was prescribed oral antibiotics for 5 days and an oral antibacterial rinse. The mucositis with ulceration healed in approximately 10 weeks, but left a small scar. Conclusions: Although osteonecrosis of the palatal torus associated with bisphosphonate use is a rare condition, otolaryngologists should consider this condition in the differential diagnosis of intractable ulceration of the hard palate

A novel high-speed digital imaging system for assessing vocal fold vibration

Observing vocal fold vibration is essential when investigating the causes of hoarseness of voice and determining the appropriate treatment. However, in Japan, it is difficult at present to obtain commercial high-speed digital imaging (HSDI) systems for this purpose because of a lack of marketing routes. Accordingly, we devised an HSDI system using a high-speed camera (monochrome HiSpec1). We chose this camera as it has been an established instrument in industrial and laboratory use; it also provided excellent light sensitivity, and used a 400-watt xenon light source for the acquisition of bright and clear images. The HSDI system enabled video capture of up to 4.4 s with our usual setting of 422 × 384 pixels at 3000 frames per second (fps). It can also capture videos in various settings such as 396 × 256 pixels at 4000 fps. In addition, we equipped the system with devices for concurrent audio waveform acquisition. Our novel laryngeal HSDI system could be a useful clinical tool for vocal fold examination in patients with voice problems when access to commercially available devices is limited

Low-Cost High-Speed Imaging System for Observing Vocal Fold Vibration in Voice Disorders

Purpose: The aim of this study was to establish a method to observe vocal fold vibration using a low-cost high-speed laryngeal imaging system. Procedures: We assembled a high-speed imaging system with a consumer digital camera and a rigid laryngeal endoscope. The camera can shoot digital images at a rate of 1,200 frames per second and be purchased for about USD 1,000 in Japan. Results: We examined the normal and pathological vocal folds of 215 subjects with our new system and analyzed the vocal fold vibration in these subjects by playback of a video and kymograph images. Conclusions: Our high-speed laryngeal imaging system is highly cost-effective and can be a useful tool for examining the vocal folds of patients with voice disorders

Surgical outcomes in cases of postoperative recurrence of primary oral cancer that required reconstruction

[Purpose] In order to clarify prognostic factors of recurrent oral cancer,[Patients and Methods] In 17 oral cancer patients with their age ranging from 28 to 86 years old, who underwent extensiveresection accompanied by reconstruction for recurrence of a primary oral cancer, correlations between survival rate after salvage surgery and subsite, T classification and N classification of their initial and recurrent tumors, and time of recurrence were analyzed by using Kaplan-Meier method and kai-square analysis. [Results] Tongue cancer (10 patients) was found to have the poorest prognosis among all the subsites, and especially those whohad recurrence within 3 months after previous surgery had extremely poor prognoses; 30% (3/10) of them died without being discharged from the hospital after salvage surgery, and in 40% of them QOL was remarkably impaired losing their voice andchance of peroral food intake, etc. While T classification and N classification of initial and recurrent tumors were found to have no correlations with the prognosis. [Conclusion] More appropriate and realistic information should be provided to those patients to assist them to make a fully informed decision prior to surgery

Endovascular Treatment of a Carotid Artery Pseudoaneurysm in a Contaminated Wound: Report of a Case

We herein report a case of carotid artery pseudoaneurysm following intensive treatment for hypopharyngeal carcinoma. An81-year-old male had undergone surgery and concurrent chemoradiotherapy to treat hypopharyngeal carcinoma (T4aN1M0).This treatment led to a complete response, but pseudoaneurysms were formed at the external carotid artery in a contaminatedwound. One of the pseudoaneurysms was located close to the bifurcation and thus caused intractable hemorrhaging. We performedendovascular treatment to achieve hemostasis. One year after the embolization, surgical removal of the endovasculardevices from the infected area was performed. Three years have passed since the removal, and the patient is still alive withoutany complications. Primary endovascular treatment of an infected pseudoaneurysm could be an effective option for the treatmentof acute lethal hemorrhaging

744-3 Inhibition of Nitric Oxide Synthesis does not Increase Cardiac Contractile Response but Reduces Coronary Blood Flow Response to β-Adrenergic Stimulation in Normal Dogs

Although the induction of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis has been implicated as a cause of cytokine-induced depression of cardiac β-adrenergic responsiveness. whether the NO system constitutively present in the normal myocardium plays a role in its physiologic response to β-adrenergic stimulation in vivoremains controversial. Accordingly, we examined the effects of low and high doses of NW-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)(10 and 100 μg/kg/min for 10 min), an NO synthase inhibitor, administered into left circumflex coronary artery (LCX) on responses of peak left ventricular (LV) dP/dt, regional wall thickening in LCX region and LCX blood flow to graded intracoronary (IC) doses of isoproterenol (ISO:0.002 to 0.016 μg/kg/min) in 7 anesthetized dogs. IC L-NAME was associated with dose-related reductions in IC acetylcholine-induced coronary vasodilation. Effects of L-NAME on ISO-induced changes are shown:baselineISO:0.0020.0040.008.0016Peak LV dP/dt (mmHg/sec) (n=7)control2029±1362586±1922820±2003309±2554120±419*low L-NAME2171±1492566±1762894±2063214±2233707±250*high L-NAME2114±1662326±1932560±1523014±1403354±171*Wall thickening (%) (n=2)control22±725±629±533±735±9low L-NAME25±1125±1528±1931±1836±21high L-NAME28±1725±1525±1531±1934±15LCX blood flow (ml/min)(n=7)control33±648±752±661±870±9*low L-NAME36±741±844±947±852±9*high L-NAME33±736±838±740±748±8*mean ± SEM*p<0.05Thus, inhibition of NO synthesis by L-NAME did not change baseline contractility nor did it increase its response to ISO. It also did not alter baseline blood flow, but reduced significantly its response to ISO. These data strongly suggest that the NO system in the normal myocardium does not modulate contractility, but NO formation in the vasculature contributes to the β-adrenergic coronary vasodilation

Hydrophobic Cellulose Fiber Surfaces modified with 2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropylmethacrylate (FMA) by Vapor-Phase Assisted Photo-Polymerization

We report a simple method to produce a hydrophobic surface created by continual vapor-phase-assisted surface photopolymerization (photo-VASP) of 2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropylmethacrylate (FMA), which affords control over the chemical and physical properties of unique substrate surfaces without inducing any morphological changes. The photo-VASP approach was able to modify the surface of cellulose fiber substrates such as a typical, complicated, flexible and soft substrate while maintaining their original properties, imparting superior water repellency without compromising the original tactile nature of the material. The substrate surface was consecutively exposed to the vaporized initiator and monomer FMA under ultraviolet irradiation to start photopolymerization, resulting in selective coating of the irradiated surface with polymer chains. The cellulose fibers coated by the thin polymer layer retained their original tactile nature and demonstrated superior water repellency, with a controlled static contact angle >130°