Japanese Monetary Policy during the Collapse of the Bubble Economy: A View of Policymaking under Uncertainty

Focusing on policymaking under uncertainty, we analyze the monetary policy of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) in the early 1990s, when the bubble economy collapsed. Conducting stochastic simulations with a large- scale macroeconomic model of the Japanese economy, we find that the BOJf s monetary policy at that time was essentially optimal under uncertainty about the policy multiplier. On the other hand, we also find that the BOJ's policy was not optimal under uncertainty about inflation dynamics, and that a more aggressive policy response than actually implemented would have been needed. Thus, optimal monetary policy differs greatly depending upon which type of uncertainty is emphasized. Taking into account the fact that overcoming deflation became an important issue from the latter 1990s, it is possible to argue that during the early 1990s the BOJ should have placed greater emphasis on uncertainty about inflation dynamics and implemented a more aggressive monetary policy. The result from a counterfactual simulation indicates that the inflation rate and the real growth rate would have been higher to some extent if the BOJ had implemented a more accommodative policy during the early 1990s. However, the simulation result also suggests that the effects would have been limited, and that an accommodative monetary policy itself would not have changed the overall image of the prolonged stagnation of the Japanese economy during the 1990s.Collapse of the bubble economy; Monetary policy; Uncertainty

Lithium intoxication–induced dysgeusia accompanied by glossalgia in a patient receiving lithium carbonate: a case report

Background: Lithium carbonate is widely used as a first-line therapeutic agent for the depressive and manic phases of bipolar disorder. Although limb tremors and hypothyroidism are well-known side effects of lithium carbonate, other rare adverse reactions can also occur. Case presentation: A 53-year-old Japanese woman diagnosed with lithium intoxication developed dysgeusia and glossalgia during treatment with lithium carbonate. She also showed symptoms of a swaying gait, finger tremors, and dysarthria. All of these symptoms subsided when her blood lithium concentration was reduced to a level below that which induces intoxication. Conclusions: We present a rare case of lithium carbonate–induced dysgeusia accompanied by glossalgia. Early detection of these symptoms is important in clinical settings because they can be overlooked until patients lose their appetite, which severely impairs their quality of life

A Case of Orbital Xanthogranuloma Treated by Surgical Excision

Orbital xanthogranuloma is an uncommon tumor. It is usually associated with a systemic or hematological disease. This report presents a rare case of orbital xanthogranuloma associated with heart disease and thrombocytopenia. A 52-year-old female presented with a bilateral periorbital subcutaneous tumor that had existed for 3 years. Although immunoglobulin levels were within the normal limits, thrombocytopenia, slight anemia and increased levels of C-reactive protein and alkaline phosphatase were observed. The mass was excised successfully. The malar flap elevation technique made it easy to approach the periorbital subcutaneous mass. A histopathological study led to a diagnosis of xanthogranuloma based on the presence of infiltration of histiocytes and Touton-type giant cells

BMI mediates the association between low educational level and higher blood pressure during pregnancy in Japan

BACKGROUND: Research investigating the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and blood pressure (BP) during pregnancy is limited and its underlying pathway is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the mediators of the association between educational level as an indicator of the SES and BP in early and mid-pregnancy among Japanese women. METHODS: Nine hundred and twenty-three pregnant women in whom BP was measured before 16 weeks and at 20 weeks of gestation were enrolled in this study. Maternal educational levels were categorized into three groups: high (university or higher), mid (junior college), and low (junior high school, high school, or vocational training school). RESULTS: The low educational group had higher systolic (low vs. high, difference = 2.39 mmHg, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.59 to 4.19) and diastolic BP levels (low vs. high, difference = 0.74 mmHg, 95% CI: –0.52 to 1.99) in early pregnancy. However, the same associations were not found after adjustment for pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). BP reduction was observed in mid-pregnancy in all three educational groups and there was no association between educational level and pregnancy-induced hypertension. CONCLUSION: In Japanese women, the low educational group showed higher BP during pregnancy than the mid or high educational groups. Pre-pregnancy BMI mediates the association between educational level and BP

Upper limb coordination differs among ages and between dominant and non-dominant hands utilizing digital trace test

Evaluation of motor coordination is carried out in the rehabilitation scene at the clinical site. However, most of the conventional evaluation methods are too subjective, or rather most are insufficiently elaborate to trace the target of diachronic change. Thus, we attempted evaluation of upper extremity motor coordination utilizing an originally developed ‘Digital trace method' on 65 persons of physically unimpaired status, ages 8 to 90. In this experiment, four types of measurement were tried for both the dominant and non-dominant hand for the large and small circle, and factors of age, sex and handedness were analyzed. As a result, the trace error of the dominant hand decreased significantly compared with that of the non-dominant hand. A change in the error value of the small circle was hardly observed in the dominant hand. However, it was admitted that the error value of the large circle was significantly smaller in the non-dominant hand. Observing this when separated by age, it was found that the error at trace testing indicated a drastic decrease from childhood period to adult age. In constant, it indicated a gradual increase from the thirties. From these observations, it was found that variations in motor coordination depend on age and thus have a bearing on the use status of the dominant hand and the non-dominant hand. Operability of the dominant hand and the supplement role of the non-dominant hand are considered to be affected by such conditions

MPP6 stimulates both RRP6 and DIS3 to degrade a specified subset of MTR4-sensitive substrates in the human nucleus

ヒト細胞内でRNA分解時に働く因子の役割を解明 --細胞内におけるRNA分解機構の全容解明に期待--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-05.Recent in vitro reconstitution analyses have proven that the physical interaction between the exosome core and MTR4 helicase, which promotes the exosome activity, is maintained by either MPP6 or RRP6. However, knowledge regarding the function of MPP6 with respect to in vivo exosome activity remains scarce. Here, we demonstrate a facilitative function of MPP6 that composes a specific part of MTR4-dependent substrate decay by the human exosome. Using RNA polymerase II-transcribed poly(A)⁺ substrate accumulation as an indicator of a perturbed exosome, we found functional redundancy between RRP6 and MPP6 in the decay of these poly(A)⁺ transcripts. MTR4 binding to the exosome core via MPP6 was essential for MPP6 to exert its redundancy with RRP6. However, at least for the decay of our identified exosome substrates, MTR4 recruitment by MPP6 was not functionally equivalent to recruitment by RRP6. Genome-wide classification of substrates based on their sensitivity to each exosome component revealed that MPP6 deals with a specific range of substrates and highlights the importance of MTR4 for their decay. Considering recent findings of competitive binding to the exosome between auxiliary complexes, our results suggest that the MPP6-incorporated MTR4-exosome complex is one of the multiple alternative complexes rather than the prevailing one