金融機関の公共的性格と社会的責任 : 損害保険会社の架空契約事件の顛末とそれがもたらしたものに関連して

本稿は1956年(昭和31年),当時の日本火災海上保険株式会社がひきおこした架空契約事件,いわゆるテーブル・ファイア事件(机上火災事件)の顛末とそれがもたらしたものについての事例分析を通して,損害保険会社の公共的性格と社会的責任を検討したものである。ここでは事件をできるだけ事実に則して具体的に多面的に示すこと,また本来の補償機能とともに金融仲介機能や貯蓄機能を併せもつようになった金融機関としての損害保険会社と銀行の公共的性格と社会的責任を,業務と経営,ならびに法的側面から比較検討することを心がけた。ここでいうテーブル・ファイア(机上火災)とは,損害保険会社の代理店に対する規定を超える手数料支払いの財源を確保するため,帳簿上で架空の火災保険契約が罹災したことにして資金を捻出する方法をいう。この事件を契機に損害保険業界は戦後の混乱期を脱して,高度成長期の損害保険事業の正常化と健全な発展に資する1つの革新をなしとげ,秩序ある市場構造が確立したと評価することができる。本稿の事例分析は,経済環境の変化に伴い現在,金融機関のみならず一般の企業の公共性と社会的責任のあり方を検討する広範な課題のための素材を提供するものともなる。本稿の構成は以下のとおりである。はじめに 1.損害保険の仕組みと損害保険事業の法制 2.戦後損害保険事業の発展と正常化 3.「日本火災事件」の経過 4.事件の結果と争点 5.事件をもたらしたものと事件の意味 むすびに代えて一銀行の公共的性格との比

ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN EXERCISE-INDUCED FLATTENING OF FOOT ARCH AND FATIGUE OF EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC FOOT MUSCLES

We aimed to examine the associations between exercise-induced flattening of the foot arch and fatigue of extrinsic and intrinsic foot muscles. Fifteen male participants repeated 100 hops/set until they could no longer maintain the hop frequency or had completed 30 sets. The sagittal plane range of motion (ROM) of the midfoot during stance phase significantly decreased at the final set compared to the initial set (-8.8°). After the fatigue task, MRI T2 relaxation time in all measured extrinsic and intrinsic foot muscles significantly increased (17.2‒37.4%); however, only its increase in the tibialis posterior (TP) correlated with the relative change in midfoot ROM (r = 0.684). These results suggest that fatigue of TP is associated with the occurrence of flattening of the foot arch. This study provides a clinical implication that monitoring midfoot kinematics can be used to assess the condition of TP

Production of IFN- by CD4+ T cells in response to malaria antigens is IL-2 dependent

T-cell immune responses are critical for protection of the host and for disease pathogenesis during infection with Plasmodium species. We examined the regulation of CD4+ T-cell cytokine responses during infection with Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA). CD4+ T cells from PbA-infected mice produced IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 in response to TCR stimulation at levels higher than those from uninfected mice. This altered cytokine response was dependent on parasitemia. To examine the specificity of the response, mice were adoptively transferred with CD4+ T cells from OT-II TCR transgenic mice and were infected with PbA expressing OVA. Unexpectedly, CD4+ T cells from the OT-II-transferred wild-type PbA-infected mice showed high levels of IFN-γ production after stimulation with OVA and the cells producing IFN-γ were not OT-II but were host CD4+ T cells. Further investigation revealed that host CD4+ T cells produced IFN-γ in response to IL-2 produced by activated OT-II cells. This IFN-γ response was completely inhibited by anti-CD25 mAbs, and this effect was not due to the block of the survival signals provided by IL-2. Furthermore, IFN-γ production by CD4+ T cells in response to PbA antigens was dependent on IL-2. These findings suggest the importance of IL-2 levels during infection with malaria parasites and indicate that CD4+ T cells can produce IFN-γ without TCR engagement via a bystander mechanism in response to IL-2 produced by other activated CD4+ T cells

Impaired cognitive modification for estimating time duration in Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) is associated with various cognitive impairments. However, the nature of cognitive modification in patients with PD remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we examined whether patients with PD could correct and maintain subjective time duration and line length estimation. After training sessions, in which participants repeatedly memorized either a duration or a length, we compared a learning performance in 20 PD patients with 20 healthy controls. In the case of duration in the PD patients, the learned durations immediately returned to baseline of pre-training within a few minutes. However, the patients’ ability to learn length estimation remained unimpaired. In contrast, healthy controls were able to retain the learned duration and length estimations. Time compression in PD\u27s internal clock may become entrained to their altered duration estimation even after learning of accurate time duration. These deficits may be associated with disrupting cognitive modification in PD

A prospective compound screening contest identified broader inhibitors for Sirtuin 1

Potential inhibitors of a target biomolecule, NAD-dependent deacetylase Sirtuin 1, were identified by a contest-based approach, in which participants were asked to propose a prioritized list of 400 compounds from a designated compound library containing 2.5 million compounds using in silico methods and scoring. Our aim was to identify target enzyme inhibitors and to benchmark computer-aided drug discovery methods under the same experimental conditions. Collecting compound lists derived from various methods is advantageous for aggregating compounds with structurally diversified properties compared with the use of a single method. The inhibitory action on Sirtuin 1 of approximately half of the proposed compounds was experimentally accessed. Ultimately, seven structurally diverse compounds were identified

Nationwide surveillance of bacterial respiratory pathogens conducted by the surveillance committee of Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, and the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2010: General view of the pathogens\u27 antibacterial susceptibility

The nationwide surveillance on antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial respiratory pathogens from patients in Japan, was conducted by Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases and Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology in 2010.The isolates were collected from clinical specimens obtained from well-diagnosed adult patients with respiratory tract infections during the period from January and April 2010 by three societies. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was conducted at the central reference laboratory according to the method recommended by Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institutes using maximum 45 antibacterial agents.Susceptibility testing was evaluable with 954 strains (206 Staphylococcus aureus, 189 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 4 Streptococcus pyogenes, 182 Haemophilus influenzae, 74 Moraxella catarrhalis, 139 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 160 Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Ratio of methicillin-resistant S.aureus was as high as 50.5%, and those of penicillin-intermediate and -resistant S.pneumoniae were 1.1% and 0.0%, respectively. Among H.influenzae, 17.6% of them were found to be β-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin (ABPC)-intermediately resistant, 33.5% to be β-lactamase-non-producing ABPC-resistant and 11.0% to be β-lactamase-producing ABPC-resistant strains. Extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing K.pneumoniae and multi-drug resistant P.aeruginosa with metallo β-lactamase were 2.9% and 0.6%, respectively.Continuous national surveillance of antimicrobial susceptibility of respiratory pathogens is crucial in order to monitor changing patterns of susceptibility and to be able to update treatment recommendations on a regular basis