A prospective longitudinal survey of erectile function status in symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia patients treated with dutasteride

We prospectively evaluated erectile function (EF) using the Sexual Health Inventory for Men (SHIM) and the erectile hardness score (EHS) as well as urinary statuses using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS) before and 3, 6, and 12 months after a daily treatment with 0.5?mg dutasteride (DUT). Significant improvements were observed in IPSS and OABSS in 98 patients with the DUT treatment, and the effects were similar between 28 patients with potency with baseline SHIM of 8 or greater and 70 severe erectile dysfunction (ED) patients at baseline. In the 28 patients with potency, significant decreases were observed in SHIM and EHS after 3, 6, and 12 months of the DUT treatment, with the severity of ED according to SHIM deteriorating in half of these patients after 12 months of the DUT treatment. Eighteen out of 28 patients (64.3%) with potency at baseline had awareness of the occurrence of ED before the DUT treatment, were younger, and had higher SHIM and EHS just before the DUT treatment than their counterparts. Regular assessments of EF may be needed, especially in younger patients and those with higher levels of EF before the administration of DUT.     

Does Japan Still Matter? Past Tendencies and Future Opportunities in the Study of Japanese Firms

This paper engages with the question ‘does Japan still matter’ by systematically reviewing publication patterns in peer‐reviewed academic journal articles addressing Japanese firms and their management practices, illustrating the academic discourse surrounding Japanese firms over four decades, and by identifying future research opportunities. Initially, particularly from the 1980s when Japanese firms came to prominence, these practices tended to be identified as ‘best practice’. However, at least in part due to socio‐economic changes, this tendency has become less prominent since the ‘bubble economy’ burst. Instead, three broader developments are observed: the examination of the continuity and change in the traditional Japanese model, a more complex approach that involves multiple themes of research, and leveraging new contexts to examine Japanese firms, including the long‐term recession, the rise of the East Asian economy, and the increasing importance of corporate social responsibility.     

On Z-estimation by rounded data

It is often assumed in statistics that the random variables under consideration come from a continuous distribution. However, real data is always given in a rounded (discretized) form. The rounding errors become serious when the sample size is large. In this paper, we consider the situation where the mesh of discretization tends to zero as the sample size tends to infinity, and give some sets of sufficient conditions under which the rounding errors can be asymptotically ignored, in the context of Z-estimation. It is theoretically proved that the mid-point discretization is preferable.     

General saddlepoint approximations to distributions under an elliptical population

General saddlepoint approximations are derived for the distributions of statistics under an elliptical population. The technique is applied to obtain the tail probabilities of latent roots of a sample covariance matrix. It is shown that the method based on normalizing transformations by Tsuchiya and Konishi (1997) is efficient for the sample correlation coefficient in an elliptical sample.     

Relationship between collective efficacy and contextual performance among university athletes in Japan

The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between collective efficacy and contextual performance among university athletes in Japan. We carried out 305 university athletes (201 males, 104 females) from 14 teams in various geographic areas in Japan. The average age of the participants was 19.91 years (SD = 1.01). The kinds of sports were soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, and so on. Then, using Collective Efficacy Questionnaire for Sports (CEQS; Sandra E. Short et al., 2005) and Contextual Performance Scale (Ikeda, and Furukawa, 2008), we examined the relationship between collective efficacy and Contextual performance. In conclusion, this study provided the following three remarks. 1) There are relationship between collective efficacy and contextual performance. 2) Contextual performance execution level improve collective efficacy. 3) It is important to always recommend contextual performance in own team to strengthen the collective efficacy more.     

A model of regression lines through a common point: estimation of the focal point in wind-blown sand phenomena

This paper discusses a model in which the regression lines will be passing through a common point. This point exists as a focal point in the wind-blown sand phenomena. The model of regression lines will be called ‘the focal point regression model’. The focal point will move according to the conditions of the experiments or the measurement site, so it must be estimated together with regression coefficients. The existence of the focal point is mathematically proved in the research field of coastal engineering, but its physical meaning and exact estimation method have not been established. Considering the experimental and/or measurement conditions, five models, that is, common or different error variance(s), passing through or not the centroid and Bayes-like approach are proposed. Moreover, the formulae of direct computation for a focal point under some conditions are given for engineering purpose. The models are applied to the wind-blown sand data, and behaviors of the models are verified by numerical experiments.     

A Choice Experiment Approach to the Valuation of Mortality

This paper presents an integrated framework for evaluating the reduction of several types of mortality risk using a Choice Experiment (CE) approach, a type of stated preference technique. Using this approach, we can distinguish the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for the amount of risk reduction from the MWTP for the opportunity of risk reduction and therefore calculate the “Quantity-based” Value of a Statistical Life. The risks in our survey include mortality risks due to accident, cancer, and heart disease. The Quantity-based VSL is calculated to be 350 million JPY (in 2002 Japanese Yen, about 2.9 million US dollars). Furthermore, we analyzed the influence of subjective risk perception and population characteristics of the respondents on their MWTP. Estimated results suggest that it is unnecessary to adjust the VSL according to the differences in the type of risk if the VSL is calculated using an adequate approach. However, adjustments for the timing of risk reduction and population characteristics are found to be significant for the execution of benefit transfer.JEL Classification: I18, D81, J17     

东渡扶桑的鉴真和上

佛教传至日本后的200年中,一直未出现拥有正式授戒资格的＂三师七证＂共十个僧人齐备的现象。当时的政府担心因逃避租税、课役而私自剃度的僧人增多,会动摇律令国家的基础,故欲确立和管理尼僧的制度。聘请授戒师僧,对于弘扬佛教和维护国家稳定来说,无疑是最好的妙方。为了推动日本佛教的兴隆,鉴真和上于天平十五年（743）十二月,与弟子们一同从大明寺出发,踏上了艰辛困苦的传法旅程。     

Edgeworth Expansions for Semiparametric Averaged Derivatives

A valid Edgeworth expansion is established for the limit distribution of density‐weighted semiparametric averaged derivative estimates of single index models. The leading term that corrects the normal limit varies in magnitude, depending on the choice of bandwidth and kernel order. In general this term has order larger than the n^−1/2 that prevails in standard parametric problems, but we find circumstances in which it is O(n^−1/2), thereby extending the achievement of an n^−1/2 Berry‐Esseen bound in Robinson (1995a). A valid empirical Edgeworth expansion is also established. We also provide theoretical and empirical Edgeworth expansions for a studentized statistic, where some correction terms are different from those for the unstudentized case. We report a Monte Carlo study of finite sample performance.