Coping measurement and the state effect of depression and anxiety in psychiatric outpatients

The relationship between coping styles and mental health has received considerable attention, but the state effects on coping measures in a clinical sample are not well known. This study investigated changes in scores on the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations between two treatment phases (acute and remitted phase) in 49 outpatients with major depression or anxiety disorders. Task-oriented coping changed significantly between the treatment phases in both depressive and anxious patients, as analyzed by two-way multivariate analysis of variance. Results from repeated measures of multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that task-oriented coping was influenced by depression and emotion-oriented coping was influenced by anxiety. Avoidance-oriented coping did not change significantly over time in either depressive or anxiety disorders controlled for depressive and anxiety symptoms. The results of this study suggest that depressive or anxiety symptoms and treatment phase affect coping measurement. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

Mergers, Innovation, and Productivity: Evidence from Japanese manufacturing firms

We investigate the impact of merger on innovation and efficiency using a micro dataset of Japanese manufacturing firms including unlisted firms during the period of 1995-1999. We find that the acquirer's total factor productivity (TFP) decreases immediately after mergers and does not significantly recover to the pre-merger level within three years after mergers. We also find that the R&D intensity does not significantly change after mergers in spite of a significant increase in the debt-to-asset ratio. Our results suggest that the costs of business integration are large and persistent. To take into considering large integration costs, we also analyze the post-merger performance from one year after mergers, finding no significant increase in TFP or R&D intensity up to three years after mergers. Given the heterogeneity of mergers, we analyze the post-merger performance by classifying merger types. We find that the recovery of TFP after mergers is significant for mergers across industries or within the same business group, suggesting that a synergy effect works well and integration costs are small for those types of mergers.

International Transmission of the 2008 Crisis: Evidence from the Japanese stock market

We investigate the international transmission of the credit crisis triggered by the Lehman default in September 2008 using Japan's stock market data. Using cumulative returns (CR) during the crisis, starting from the day of Lehman's default and lasting until the day prior to the news of the TARP capital injection, we find that CR is negatively correlated with the export-to-sales ratio, the loan-to-asset ratio, and the share owned by foreign investors. Once controlling for market risk, however, cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) during the same period shows a different picture. CAR is not negatively correlated with export shares or the share owned by foreign investors, which implies that neither trade channels nor portfolio-rebalancing by foreigners are unique characteristics of the crisis, but can be observed in normal downturns. We find that CAR is negatively correlated with the loan-to-asset ratio, suggesting that market participants were worried about the credit crunch. We also find that CAR is negatively correlated with the shares of exports to North America and Asia after controlling for total exports, suggesting that the composition of export destination matters. Finally, we find that the concentration of export destination is also relevant.

Managerial Entrenchment and Anti-takeover Provisions in Japan

We analyze the characteristics of Japanese firms that introduced antitakeover provisions after the official guidelines for antitakeover provisions were released in 2005. Our main results are the following. First, firms' operating performance or stock market valuations were not related to the adoption of takeover defense measures. Second, firms' age and their ownership structure were correlated with the adoption of antitakeover provisions. Specifically, companies that were older, had lower proportions of shares held by their directors, or higher cross-shareholding ratios were more likely to adopt takeover defense measures, which suggests that the adoption of such measures is motivated by self-protection on the part of corporate managers and influenced by the conflicts of interest between managers and shareholders. In addition, as controlling shareholders had lower shares of stocks and institutional investors had higher shares of stocks, firms were more inclined to adopt takeover defense measures, suggesting that companies are likely to adopt such measures if their shares are liquid and easy to acquire.

Managerial Entrenchment and Antitakeover Provisions in Japan

We analyze the characteristics of the firms that introduce antitakeover provisions using a Japanese firm-level dataset. We find that the likelihood of the adoption of antitakeover provisions is correlated positively with firm age and the proportion of cross-shareholding and negatively with the share of managerial ownership. The adoption of antitakeover measures is suggested to be motivated by selfprotection on the part of managers and is influenced by the conflicts of interest between managers and shareholders. We also find that the operating performance or the stock market valuation does not affect the likelihood of the adoption of antitakeover provisions.K. Hosono and K. Tsuru acknowledge the support of RIETI and the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) No. 20530228, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. K. Hosono also acknowledges the support of the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) No. 22223004, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

The Rise of China and the Transformation of Southeast Asia - A preliminary study (Japanese)

In this paper we analyze the characteristics of firms that introduced hostile takeover defense measures in fiscal years 2005 and 2006. We analyze the motivation for adopting these measures after categorizing it as either (1) depressed corporate performance, (2) self-protection for corporate managers, or (3) other factors affecting the probability of being the target of a takeover, and we derive the following findings. First, companies at which performance has deteriorated, as measured by such yardsticks as ROA and Tobin's q, do not necessarily adopt takeover defense measures. Second, companies that are older-established, have lower proportions of shares held by their directors, or higher cross-shareholding ratios are more likely to adopt takeover defense measures, which suggests that the adoption of such measures is influenced by self-protection on the part of corporate managers and conflicts of interest with shareholders. Third, companies with low ratios of controlling shareholders or high ratios of holdings by institutional investors are more inclined to adopt takeover defense measures, as are companies in which the shareholding structure is such that their shares are liquid and easy to acquire. From this, it can be seen that anti-takeover measures are not necessarily adopted as a "shield" or "entrenchment" against growing takeover threats resulting from negligence on the part of management. But the finding that companies with higher cross-shareholding ratios adopt takeover defense measures more readily is strong evidence of the self-protective nature of corporate managers. It is pointed out that the practice of cross-shareholding by Japanese companies has been reemerging recently amid the emergence of hostile takeovers in Japan. It appears that companies at which management has already dug entrenchments by means of cross-shareholding are seeking to reinforce those entrenchments by adopting anti-takeover measures, but it should also be noted that the adoption of measures of this kind involves a burden of fixed costs that could greatly disadvantage small companies. In view of this, it is important also to consider the approach (Tsuru 2006) that involves preventing abusive takeovers by strengthening the takeover bid rules (in particular the mandatory bid rule) as an alternative to the adoption of poison pill-type anti-takeover measures by individual companies.

Do Mergers Improve Corporate Performance? Analysis of corporate activities based on joint RIETI/METI survey (Japanese)

This paper analyzes changes in corporate performance pre-and post-merger, using a database of 1,590 corporate mergers (including unlisted companies), which took place between 1994 and 2002. The database was created using RECOF Corporation's M&A data and firm-level data from the Basic Survey of Japanese Business Structure and Activities of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. When measuring changes in the performance of companies immediately before and after mergers - which is done by dividing the samples into three categories: all industries, manufacturing, and non-manufacturing and controlling the performance of target companies using the Propensity Score Matching method-significant falls in indicators such as the total factor productivity (TFP) level, return on assets (ROA), the cash flow ratio, and the debt ratio become apparent, particularly in manufacturing. Meanwhile, when looking at changes in performance immediately after the merger and subsequently, to take into account integration costs at the time of the merger, we find that ROA and the cash flow ratio improve in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing but that the improvement occurs sooner in non-manufacturing. When analyzing changes in performance immediately after a merger, by type of merger, an improvement in TFP, ROA, and the cash flow ratio is quite evident in mergers between affiliated companies and mergers involving different industries in the case of manufacturing. These results suggest that the magnitudes of adjustment and transaction costs associated with mergers differ between manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries and between affiliated companies and companies in different industries. They can be interpreted as suggesting that mergers between different industries in manufacturing manifest synergies as a result of economies of scale, among other factors.

Applications of Carbon Nanotubes in Bone Regenerative Medicine

Scaffolds are essential for bone regeneration due to their ability to maintain a sustained release of growth factors and to provide a place where cells that form new bone can enter and proliferate. In recent years, scaffolds made of various materials have been developed and evaluated. Functionally effective scaffolds require excellent cell affinity, chemical properties, mechanical properties, and safety. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are fibrous nanoparticles with a nano-size diameter and have excellent strength and chemical stability. In the industrial field, they are used as fillers to improve the performance of materials. Because of their excellent physicochemical properties, CNTs are studied for their promising clinical applications as biomaterials. In this review article, we focused on the results of our research on CNT scaffolds for bone regeneration, introduced the promising properties of scaffolds for bone regeneration, and described the potential of CNT scaffolds.ArticleNANOMATERIALS. 10(4):659 (2020)journal articl

Physico-Chemical, In Vitro, and In Vivo Evaluation of a 3D Unidirectional Porous Hydroxyapatite Scaffold for Bone Regeneration

The unidirectional porous hydroxyapatite HAp (UDPHAp) is a scaffold with continuous communicated pore structure in the axial direction. We evaluated and compared the ability of the UDPHAp as a three-dimensional (3D) bone tissue engineering scaffold to the interconnected calcium porous HAp ceramic (IP-CHA). To achieve this, we evaluated in vitro the compressive strength, controlled rhBMP-2 release behavior, adherent cell morphology, cell adhesion manner, and cell attachment of UDPHAp. As a further in vivo experiment, UDPHAp and IP-CHA with rhBMP-2 were transplanted into mouse calvarial defects to evaluate their bone-forming ability. The Results demonstrated that the maximum compressive strengths of the UDPHAp was 7.89 +/- 1.23 MPa and higher than that of IP-CHA (1.92 +/- 0.53 MPa) (p = 0.0039). However, the breaking energies were similar (8.99 +/- 2.72 vs. 13.95 +/- 5.69 mJ, p = 0.055). The UDPHAp released rhBMP-2 more gradually in vivo. Cells on the UDPHAp adhered tightly to the surface, which had grown deeply into the scaffolds. A significant increase in cell number on the UDPHAp was observed compared to the IP-CHA on day 8 (102,479 +/- 34,391 vs. 32,372 +/- 29,061 estimated cells per scaffold, p = 0.0495). In a mouse calvarial defect model, the percentages of new bone area (mature bone + trabecular bone) in the 2x field were 2.514% +/- 1.224% for the IP-CHA group and 7.045% +/- 2.055% for the UDPHAp group, and the percentage was significantly higher in the UDPHAp group (p = 0.0209). While maintaining the same strength as the IP-CHA, the UDPHAp with 84% porosity showed a high cell number, high cell invasiveness, and excellent bone formation. We believe the UDPHAp is an excellent material that can be applied to bone regenerative medicine.ArticleMATERIALS. 10(1):33 (2017)journal articl