This paper provides a detailed analysis of the Tokyo Metropolitan Emissions Trading Scheme (Tokyo ETS), Japan's first emissions trading scheme with mandatory cap initiated by the government of Tokyo. ...Unlike trading schemes in other countries, the Tokyo ETS covers indirect emissions from the commercial sector. It is well known that a variety of market barriers impede full realization of energy efficiency opportunities, especially in the commercial sector. Experiences with the Tokyo ETS should therefore provide important lessons for the design of climate change mitigation policies, especially when targeting the commercial sector. The emissions from covered entities have been drastically reduced from those at the scheme's outset, with an average 14% reduction as of the end of the first commitment period of five years (2010-2014) compared with 2009 levels. This paper shows that the Tokyo ETS alone did not cause these reductions; there were other drivers. Among them, the energy savings triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 were crucial. The contribution of credit trading, in contrast, was limited since most of the covered entities reduced emissions by themselves. Through an investigation of official reports, an assessment of the emissions data from the covered entities compared to those of uncovered entities and in-depth interviews with firms covered by the scheme, this paper confirms that the main drivers of emissions reductions by covered entities were separate from the ETS. In fact, the advisory aspect of the scheme seems to be much more important in encouraging energy-saving actions.
Key policy insights
Most of the observed emission reductions were not caused by the Tokyo ETS alone.
An advisory instrument was crucial to the effectiveness of the Tokyo ETS.
The experience of the Tokyo ETS suggests that making full use of the advantages of emissions trading is difficult in the case of the commercial sector.
Price signals have not provided a stimulus to climate change mitigation actions, which implies that establishing a cap to yield effective carbon prices poses a challenge.
Are public R&D programs really effective in developing innovative technologies? How many technologies developed in these programs have been successfully commercialized? What are the key factors for ...successful commercialization and diffusion in the market? This paper tries to answer these questions by examining the Japanese experience of public R&D in demand-side energy efficiency, focusing on two major projects conducted in the 1980s and 1990s. It is found that of the 34 technologies developed in the two projects, only seven have been commercialized so far, four of those seven have only a very limited number of installations, and only one has a growing market. The results show that, while public R&D investments have a high risk of failure, they can bring new technologies to the market after a certain lead time. In addition, several factors resulting in the success or failure of commercialization/diffusion are identified, such as long-term R&D support by the government, a marketing strategy to respond to and influence market demand, and combination of R&D and deployment policy.
The diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a major challenge in clinical practice. The role of neutrophils in fighting infection has been increasingly understood, and one mechanism of ...action of these cells is neutrophil extracellular traps. However, little is known about this process in PJI.
(1) Are the biomarkers of neutrophil extracellular trap formation (citrullinated histone H3 H3Cit, cell-free DNA cf-DNA, and myeloperoxidase MPO) increased in the synovial fluid of patients with PJI? (2) What is the diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers of neutrophil extracellular trap formation for PJI?
Between May 2020 and March 2021, 43 patients who underwent revision THA or TKA were enrolled in this study. Eleven patients were excluded and 32 patients were categorized into the PJI group (n = 16) or non-PJI group (n = 16) according to the 2018 Second International Consensus Meeting on Musculoskeletal Infection criteria. There were 15 men and 17 women in this study, with a median (range) age of 70 years (60 to 80 years). Twenty-seven patients had TKA and five had THA. We measured cf-DNA, MPO, and H3Cit in synovial fluid. The sensitivity, specificity, and receiver operating characteristic curve were calculated for each biomarker using the Musculoskeletal Infection Society criteria as the gold standard for diagnosis and considering a clinical surveillance of 2 years for patients in the non-PJI group.
Patients with PJI had higher levels of synovial fluid cf-DNA (median range 130 ng/µL 18 to 179 versus 2 ng/µL 0 to 6; p < 0.001), MPO (1436 ng/µL 55 to 3996 versus 0 ng/µL 0 to 393; p < 0.001), and H3Cit (2115 ng/µL 5 to 2885 versus 3 ng/µL 0 to 87; p < 0.001) than those in the non-PJI group. In receiver operating characteristic curve analyses, we observed near-perfect performance for all biomarkers evaluated, with an area under the curve of 1 (95% CI 0.9 to 1), 0.98 (95% CI 0.9 to 1), and 0.94 (95% CI 0.8 to 0.99) for cf-DNA, MPO, and H3Cit, respectively. The sensitivity for detecting PJI using synovial fluid was 100% for cf-DNA, 94% for MPO, and 88% for H3Cit. The specificity was 100% for cf-DNA and MPO, and 88% for H3Cit.
Our results show that neutrophils in the periprosthetic microenvironment release neutrophil extracellular traps as part of the bactericidal arsenal to fight infection. These results allow a better understanding of the cellular and molecular processes that occur in this microenvironment, enabling the design of more assertive strategies for identifying new biomarkers and improving the available ones. Novel studies are needed to define whether and how neutrophil extracellular trap-related biomarkers can be useful for diagnosing PJI.
Level II, diagnostic study.
Hinokitiol, a component of the essential oil isolated from Cupressaceae, possesses antibacterial and antifungal activities and has been used in oral care products. In this study, the antibacterial ...activities of hinokitiol toward various oral, nasal and nasopharyngeal pathogenic bacteria, including Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sobrinus, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Prevotella intermedia, Fusobacterium nucleatum, methicillin‐resistant and ‐susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, antibiotic‐resistant and ‐susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Streptococcus pyogenes were examined. Growth of all these bacterial strains was significantly inhibited by hinokitiol, minimal inhibitory concentrations of hinokitiol against S. mutans, S. sobrinus, P. gingivalis, P. intermedia, A. actinomycetemcomitans, F. nucleatum, methicillin‐resistant S. aureus, methicillin‐susceptible S. aureus, antibiotic‐resistant S. pneumoniae isolates, antibiotic‐susceptible S. pneumoniae, and S. pyogenes being 0.3, 1.0, 1.0, 30, 0.5, 50, 50, 30, 0.3–1.0, 0.5, and 0.3 μg/mL, respectively. Additionally, with the exception of P. gingivalis, hinokitiol exerted bactericidal effects against all bacterial strains 1 hr after exposure. Hinokitiol did not display any significant cytotoxicity toward the human gingival epithelial cell line Ca9‐22, pharyngeal epithelial cell line Detroit 562, human umbilical vein endothelial cells, or human gingival fibroblasts, with the exception of treatment with 500 μg/mL hinokitiol, which decreased numbers of viable Ca9‐22 cells and gingival fibroblasts by 13% and 12%, respectively. These results suggest that hinokitiol exhibits antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum of pathogenic bacteria and has low cytotoxicity towards human epithelial cells.
Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) could have important roles in immune regulation, and MDSCs can be induced in patients with various malignant tumors. The immune-suppressive functions of MDSCs ...in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients have not been clarified. Therefore, we tried to analyze the biological significance of MDSCs in HCC patients. We quantified PD-L1
MDSCs of HCC patients in various conditions by using multi-color flow cytometry analysis. PBMCs from HCC patients contained significantly higher percentages of PD-L1
MDSCs in comparison to those from healthy subjects (p < 0.001). The percentages of PD-L1
MDSCs were reduced by curative treatment for HCC (p < 0.05), and the percentages of PD-L1
MDSCs before treatment were inversely correlated with disease-free survival time. After we cocultivated PBMCs and several liver cancer cell lines in a transwell coculture system, the percentages of PD-L1
MDSCs were significantly increased compared with control (p < 0.05). The expression of M-CSF and VEGFA was higher in the cell lines that strongly induced PD-L1
MDSCs. Peripheral blood from HCC patients had significantly higher percentages of PD-L1
MDSCs in comparison to those of healthy subjects, and the percentages of PD-L1
MDSCs were reduced by HCC treatment, suggesting that we might use PD-L1
MDSCs as a new biomarker of HCC.
Essential elements (Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Fe, Cr, Mn and V) and non-essential elements (As, Cd, Hg and Pb) were measured in scalp hair samples of 45 diabetic subjects and 59 control subjects in Japan using ...inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. All diabetic subjects took insulin and/or antidiabetic agents, with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) ranging between 6.2 and 14.4%. The levels of Zn, Cu and Cr in the diabetic subjects (HbA1c>7) were significantly lower than those in the control subjects (p<0.05), and these concentrations decreased significantly with increases in HbA1c (p<0.01). The levels of Fe and Mg in the diabetic subjects were insignificantly lower, and the concentration of Fe decreased significantly with increases in HbA1c (p<0.05) and the concentration of Mn tended to decrease (p<0.10). In contrast, the concentration of As tended to increase with increases in HbA1c (p<0.10). The concentrations of other elements, such as Ca, Mn, V, Pb, Cd and Hg, in the diabetic subjects were similar to those of control subjects, and did not correlate with HbA1c. The average of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in the diabetic subjects was 77.7±29.7 mL/min/1.73 m2 with large variation (12.7–148 mL/min/1.73 m2), and previous study reported the increase of urinary excretion of Zn, Cr, Mn and Mg in diabetic subjects. The decreases of Zn, Cu, Cr, Fe and Mg concentrations in hair may reflect increased urinary excretion of these elements due to diabetic nephropathy.
AminoIndex Cancer Screening (AICS) is a novel cancer screening test based on plasma free amino acid (PFAA) levels. This system categorises subjects as rank A, B, or C in order of increasing ...probability of each cancer incidence. The current study aimed to validate the potential of AICS for cancer detection. AICS values were determined from the PFAA levels in subjects examined at Chiba Cancer Center Cohort, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, and Saihaku Hospital, and the cancer incidence was investigated. The sensitivities of rank C for cancer diagnosis within 1 year after AICS examination were 83.3% (10/12) for gastric, 50.0% (2/4) for lung, 46.2% (6/13) for colorectal, 50.0% (8/16) for prostate, 43.8% (7/16) for breast, and 50.0% (1/2) for uterine/ovarian cancer. The total cancer detection rate via AICS was 0.33% (34/10,245). The sensitivities during the maximum follow-up period of 6.2 years were 51.7% (15/29) for gastric, 18.2% (2/11) for lung, 28.6% (8/28) for colorectal, 36.4% (8/22) for prostate, 29.0% (9/31) for breast, and 33.3% (2/6) for uterine/ovarian cancers. In conclusion, AICS is a more useful method for evaluating the probability of cancer incidence than for predicting onset, suggesting that annual AICS should be recommended to detect any malignancy.
Concentrations of 16 metals in the scalp hair of male Crohn’s disease (CD) patients (n = 28) were compared to those of male control subjects (n = 25). The majority of patients (n = 20) took an ...anti-inflammatory agent (mesalazine), and several patients underwent colectomy. A low concentration of serum ferritin was observed in approximately 50% of CD patients due to Fe-deficiency anemia. The concentrations of Fe, Cr, and Co in the hair of CD patients were significantly higher than those of control subjects, and particularly high concentrations were found in CD patients with low serum ferritin. Significant correlations were found among the concentrations of Fe, Cr, and Co in the hair of CD patients, but not in control subjects. In agreement with previous reports, a significant negative correlation was found between ferritin and transferrin concentrations in serum, although the available data in this study was limited (n = 8). Transferrin not only binds to Fe
3+
but also to Cr
3+
and Co
3+
, and the amount of transferrin is increased in Fe-deficiency anemia. Thus, the majority of the Fe
3+
, Cr
3+
, and Co
3+
in the serum of CD patients is likely to bind to transferrin, which may be associated with the higher concentrations of those metals, as well as the significant correlations among those metals in the scalp hair of CD patients. In addition, colectomy may alter the intestinal absorption rate of some metals, while mesalazine may increase the concentrations of Mn and some metals in the scalp hair by chelate formation.
Climate change, due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, is driving policymakers to make decisions to promote more efficient energy use. Improved industrial energy efficiency is said to ...play a key role in the transition to more carbon-neutral energy systems. In most countries, industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent 95% or more of the total number of companies. Thus, SMEs, apart from using energy, are a major driver in the economy with regard to innovation, GDP growth, employment, investments, exports, etc. Despite this, research and policy activities related to SMEs have been scarce, calling for contributions in the field. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to critically assess how adequate energy efficiency policy programmes for industrial SMEs could be designed. Results show that scientific publications in the field differ in scope and origin, but a major emphasis of the scientific papers has been on barriers to and drivers for energy efficiency. Scientific contributions from studies of energy policy programmes primarily cover energy audit programmes and show that the major energy efficiency measures from industrial SMEs are found in support processes. The review further reveals an imbalance in geographic scope of the papers within the field, where a vast majority of the papers emanate from Europe, calling for scientific publications from other parts of the world. The study synthesizes the findings into a general method on how to design efficiency programs for the sector.
Accumulating evidence suggests that cancer stem cells (CSC) play an important role in tumorigenicity. Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is one of the markers that identifies tumor cells with ...high tumorigenicity. The expression of EpCAM in liver progenitor cells prompted us to investigate whether CSC could be identified in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines. The sorted EpCAM+ subpopulation from HCC cell lines showed a greater colony formation rate than the sorted EpCAM− subpopulation from the same cell lines, although cell proliferation was comparable between the two subpopulations. The in vivo evaluation of tumorigenicity, using supra‐immunodeficient NOD/scid/γcnull (NOG) mice, revealed that a smaller number of EpCAM+ cells (minimum 100) than EpCAM− cells was necessary for tumor formation. The bifurcated differentiation of EpCAM+ cell clones into both EpCAM+ and EpCAM− cells was obvious both in vitro and in vivo, but EpCAM− clones sustained their phenotype. These clonal analyses suggested that EpCAM+ cells may contain a multipotent cell population. Interestingly, the introduction of exogenous EpCAM into EpCAM+ clones, but not into EpCAM− clones, markedly enhanced their tumor‐forming ability, even though both transfectants expressed a similar level of EpCAM. Therefore, the difference in the tumor‐forming ability between EpCAM+ and EpCAM− cells is probably due to the intrinsic biological differences between them. Collectively, our results suggest that the EpCAM+ population is biologically quite different from the EpCAM− population in HCC cell lines, and preferentially contains a highly tumorigenic cell population with the characteristics of CSC. (Cancer Sci 2010)
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