* * * * * * * * * T E R R I E 'S T A K E * * * * * * *<br>A weekly roundup of news & information from Terrie Lloyd.<br>(<a href="http://www.terrie.com">http://www.terrie.com</a>)<br><br>General Edition Sunday, May 15, 2011, Issue No. 613<br>
<br>+++ INDEX<br><br>- What's New -- Harvesting Fukushima Worker Stem Cells<br>- News -- People on welfare increase<br>- Candidate Roundup/Vacancies<br>- Upcoming Events<br>- Corrections/Feedback -- Kickstarter.com<br>
- News Credits<br><br>SUBSCRIBE to, UNSUBSCRIBE from Terrie's Take at:<br><a href="http://mailman.japaninc.com/mailman/listinfo/terrie">http://mailman.japaninc.com/mailman/listinfo/terrie</a><br><br>BACK ISSUES<br><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/terries_take">http://www.japaninc.com/terries_take</a>, or,<br>
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<br>------------ PBXL is BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS --------------<br><br><br>+++ WHAT'S NEW<br><br>What value do you put on human lives, particularly if you <br>know ahead of time that you can do something about it? This<br>
is a question that was put before the Japanese government <br>at the end of March by a group of hematologists led by <br>Shuichi Taniguchi at the Toranomon Hospital and supported <br>by Professor Masahiro Kami at Tokyo University. The group <br>
has named themselves "Save the Fukushima 50" -- in <br>reference to their plan to provide precautionary medical <br>treatment for the employees (originally 50 or so and now <br>over 800) who work at the plant helping to contain the <br>
effects of multiple reactor meltdowns.<br><br>Taniguchi's proposal was that workers at the stricken <br>Fukushima power plant should start a medical treatment <br>program whereby their peripheral blood stem cells are <br>
stimulated and harvested so as to be able to treat those <br>workers for radiation poisoning should a second major event<br>strike. Since seismologists expect a second major <br>aftershock of magnitude 8 or more and since this hasn't <br>
happened yet, the chances of one happening are still high. <br>For this reason, not counting the selfless risks already <br>taken, Taniguchi and his colleagues think the "Fukushima <br>50" deserve special consideration.<br>
<br>Links for Taniguchi's proposal can be found here:<br><br><a href="http://bit.ly/fHX3tN">http://bit.ly/fHX3tN</a> (The Lancet)<br><a href="http://www.savefukushima50.org/?p=861&lang=en">http://www.savefukushima50.org/?p=861&lang=en</a><br>
<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/savefukushima50">http://twitter.com/#!/savefukushima50</a><br><br><br>The question is: do such a large number of people deserve <br>precautionary medical treatment if costly, inconvenient, <br>
and possibly unnecessary? In the last couple of weeks, the <br>government has firmly said "no" to the proposal, but we <br>think this is a poor reading of the feelings of the nation,<br>which clearly values the efforts of the Fukushima 50. <br>
Perhaps yesterday's announcement of another worker death at<br>the Fukushima plant, although not suspected as being <br>radiation related, will bring this proposal back into <br>focus?<br><br>[Continued below...]<br><br>
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<br>The Taniguchi proposal is based on stimulating and <br>harvesting blood stem cells from the bone marrows of <br>Fukushima workers who want (and their families want) to <br>have an "insurance policy" however, small, that they can <br>
have treatment options available if they suffer radiation <br>poisoning. What sort of insurance? Well, in the event of <br>exposure to excess radiation, there are three <br>distinguishable levels of effect on the victim. The lowest <br>
is either a cumulative or sudden-but-limited poisoning that<br>causes nausea, transient blood cell decrease, and other <br>physical effects, but the extent of which can be contained <br>by short-term hospitalization and treatment with supportive<br>
drugs.<br><br>In contrast, the highest level is the rapid detoriation of <br>the body's whole organs -- and this type of exposure can't <br>readily be resolved with current medical techniques, so the<br>person usually dies. In 1999, two Japanese power plant <br>
workers died of organ failure after excess exposure. <br>However, it is the mid-level effects, that occur at up to 4-8 <br>Sieverts of radiation, that the Tokyo hematologists want to<br>address. Specifically radiation exposure which causes the <br>
development of infectious diseases, bleeding, and anemia <br>due to damaged bone marrow function.<br><br>For this level of poisoning and if appropriate, the <br>treatment is bone marrow transplants, a procedure that is <br>
already well established for suffers of leukemia. The <br>problem is that finding someone with matching bone marrow <br>or cord blood cells is a really difficult task, and the <br>treatment itself is complicated by rejection of the donated<br>
cells, graft-versus-host disease, and the side effects of <br>immunosuppressants. However, by providing a victim with a <br>source of their own blood stem cells, which would have been<br>banked beforehand, you can significantly increase the <br>
chance of successful treatment and avoid the problems <br>associated with donor cells.<br><br>The Save the Fukushima 50 group have told us that the <br>following reasons were given for a thumb's down by the PM's <br>
office, the Nuclear Safety Commission and the Science <br>Council. We don't know which reasons are attributable to <br>whom, but we felt most are either pretty weak (e.g., low <br>likelihood of exposure), illogical, or money related. Given<br>
that the government did not mind spending billions of yen <br>buying more than 35m doses of Tamiflu, most of which were <br>never used and will likely be disposed of, we wonder why <br>they would worry about money at this stage? Perhaps this is<br>
more a case of "It wasn't our idea so we don't want to know<br>about it?" Or perhaps the treatment might drive home to <br>people the risks of working around an unstable source of <br>radiation and thus make it almost impossible to recruit a <br>
clean-up crew...?<br><br>Here are the reasons they were given for the government<br>wanting to do nothing...:<br><br>* "The Fukushima 50 will not be heavily exposed to <br>radiation because they are always checking the level of <br>
radiation."<br>* "Your proposal is not accepted by society nor experts<br>overseas."<br>* "The use of autologous peripheral blood stem cells will <br>be useless if patients are heavily poisoned by radiation."<br>
* "Your proposal would only work for certain exposure <br>levels of radiation."<br>* "The risk of people getting sick from the stimulative <br>drug injections is high."<br>* "This will be expensive." [Ed: Indeed, it costs <br>
JPY400,000-JPY500,000 per person.]<br>* "Since we don't know who might be heavily exposed to <br>radiation, this will be a waste of time, resources and <br>cost."<br> <br>We agree that there are some valid concerns: the process of<br>
mobilizing stem cells to harvest is started with the <br>administration of special drugs and these drugs have some <br>side effects -- leading to one probable reason why the <br>Science Council of Japan has turned down the proposal. <br>
However, the standard drug, granulocyte-colony stimulating <br>factor, has already been used for more than 10 years for <br>healthy volunteer donors of bone marrow worldwide including<br>Japan. This standard method takes about four days to <br>
complete but can be shortened to two days with the use of <br>another drug not yet approved for use in Japan. This second<br>drug is actively being used in the USA, Europe, and even <br>Korea, and it is only a matter of time before is will be <br>
permitted here in Japan. <br><br>Another concern is cost and efficacy. After the drugs are <br>administered, the recipient's bone marrow starts to produce<br>excess stem cells which are released into the blood stream <br>
and these cells are extracted, stored, and banked for <br>future contingencies. The process is not cheap and it means<br>that all of the 800 or so employees at risk would need to <br>take 3-7 days for the treatment at a hospital and to <br>
recover.<br><br>A couple of good links for more on this topic can be found <br>here:<br><br><a href="http://bit.ly/fkM04K">http://bit.ly/fkM04K</a> (Guardian)<br><a href="http://bit.ly/hfzTnW">http://bit.ly/hfzTnW</a> (Science Magazine)<br>
<a href="http://ti.me/hFfHoi">http://ti.me/hFfHoi</a> (Time)<br><br>But the Tokyo hematologists say, if a stem cell banking <br>program offers the promise of saving lives if things don't<br>go well, and since the Japanese public would agree the<br>
Fukushima 50 deserve preferential treatment, then the <br>procedure should surely be offered to those who want it <br>-- much the same as Tamiflu shots were offered to <br>parents to protect kids and old people against bird flu <br>
back in 2004-2008. The mystery is why the government <br>doesn't see it this way and why they don't seem to mind<br>the Fukushima 50 making the ultimate sacrifice?<br><br><br>...The information janitors/<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br>
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Web: <a href="http://www.biosjp.com">www.biosjp.com</a><br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br><br>+++ NEWS<br><br>- Near-record number of people on welfare<br>- PM Kan wants Tepco retirees to bear some of pain<br>
- Contrarian retail FX investors bet against Yen<br>- Listed Systems Integration company in trouble?<br>- Realtor income falls amid office rentals decline<br><br><br><br>-> Near-record number of people on welfare<br><br>
According to the Welfare Ministry, there were 1,989,769 <br>people on welfare in February, prior to the earthquake, the<br>highest level in 60 years, when there were 2.04m people on<br>welfare in 1952. Since this number does not include the <br>
effects of the Tohoku earthquake, it appears that a new <br>record may be set in April or May this year. ***Ed: And a <br>new underclass appears in Japan...** (Source: TT commentary<br>from <a href="http://japantimes.co.jp">japantimes.co.jp</a>, May 13, 2011)<br>
<br><a href="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110513b1.html">http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110513b1.html</a><br><br>-> PM Kan wants Tepco retirees to bear some of pain<br><br>In an "everybody is in this together" moment, Prime <br>
Minister Naoto Kan has said that Tokyo Electric Power Co., <br>(TEPCO) should ensure that the burden of losses and <br>compensation are fairly carried by TEPCO employees as well <br>as the public. To that end he is calling for TEPCO to cut <br>
pensions and retirement pay significantly as a condition to<br>getting government aid in meeting the flood of compensation<br>claims the utility is facing. Kan's statement echoed an <br>opinion by Your Party representative Kenji Nakanishi, in <br>
parliamentary questioning, that since Japan Airlines <br>employees had their pensions cut by 50% and existing <br>retirees by 30% in order for JAL to get a government bail <br>out, then TEPCO employees should get the same <br>
treatment. ***Ed: Of course TEPCO doesn't want to do this, <br>but it's hard to see how they can dodge this particular <br>bullet.** (Source: TT commentary from <a href="http://nikkei.com">nikkei.com</a>, May 14, <br>
2011)<br><br><a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110513D13JFN05.htm">http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110513D13JFN05.htm</a><br><br>-> Contrarian retail FX investors bet against Yen<br><br>According to a Nikkei article, and contrary to market <br>
wisdom of professional traders, it appears that Japan's <br>retail FX investors are betting that the Aussie dollar and <br>Euro will do better against the yen than is otherwise <br>indicated in recent exchange movements. Apparently the <br>
Tokyo Financial Exchange's Click 365 market features a <br>significantly higher number of net long positions on <br>foreign currencies versus the yen, currently the highest <br>ratio in the last 2 months. ***Ed: You know what they say <br>
about the wisdom of individual investors -- they often <br>turn out to be right!** (Source: TT commentary from <br><a href="http://nikkei.com">nikkei.com</a>, May 14, 2011)<br><br><a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20110513D13JFA19.htm">http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20110513D13JFA19.htm</a><br>
<br>-> Listed Systems Integration company in trouble?<br><br>Figures just announced by Japan Third Party (JTP), a <br>mid-sized Tokyo systems integration company specializing in<br>servicing customers of major foreign IT manufacturers, show<br>
that the firm has not yet figured out a recovery strategy <br>in the wake of the Lehman Shock. JTP has reported a revenue<br>decrease of 12% to JPY5.22bn, and a consolidated net loss <br>of JPY148m. While this doesn't sound like much, the company<br>
seems to be following a downwards trend likely related to <br>its disappearing market of foreign companies. ***Ed: Unless<br>JTP comes up with a replacement strategy pretty quickly, we<br>think this company will be an M&A candidate within the next<br>
12 months.** <br><br><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/14/idUST1444LNCL20110514">http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/14/idUST1444LNCL20110514</a><br><br>-> Realtor income falls amid office rentals decline<br>
<br>Sumitomo Realty, Japan’s third largest real estate <br>developer, has announced that its net earnings fell 3.3% <br>because of the current weak office rental market which has <br>led to their highest vacancy rate of 9% in 6 years. The <br>
problem is clearly with businesses pulling back on <br>expansion plans, as Sumitomo still managed to increase its <br>residential sales by 15%. (Source: TT commentary from <br><a href="http://bloomberg.com">bloomberg.com</a>, May 12, 2011)<br>
<br><a href="http://bloom.bg/iM1jpt">http://bloom.bg/iM1jpt</a><br><br><br>NOTE: Broken links<br>Many online news sources remove their articles after just a<br>few days of posting them, thus breaking our links -- we<br>apologize for the inconvenience.<br>
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<br>+++ CANDIDATE ROUND UP/VACANCIES<br><br>=> BiOS, a Division of the LINC Media group, is actively<br>marketing the following positions for customers setting up<br>or expanding in Japan, as well as other employers of<br>
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- SCCM/SCOM Specialist, global IT co, JPY7m – JPY8m<br><br>Interested individuals may e-mail resumes to:<br><a href="mailto:kenji.sakota@biosjp.com">kenji.sakota@biosjp.com</a><br><br>** BiOS Job Mail<br><br>Every 2 weeks BiOS sends out a regular communication to its<br>
job seeking candidates, called BiOS Job Mail. Every edition<br>carries a list of BiOS's current and most up-to-date<br>vacancies, with each entry featuring a short job<br>description and a direct link to the main entry on the BiOS<br>
home page. Regardless of whether you are unemployed and<br>searching, thinking about a career change, or just curious<br>to know if there is something out there that might suit you<br>better, the BiOS Job Mail newsletter is an easy and<br>
convenient way for you to stay informed. If you would like<br>to register for the BiOS Job Mail, or to find out more,<br>please email <a href="mailto:kenji.sakota@biosjp.com">kenji.sakota@biosjp.com</a>.<br><br>Interested individuals may e-mail resumes to:<br>
<a href="mailto:kenji.sakota@biosjp.com">kenji.sakota@biosjp.com</a>.<br><br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br>+++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS<br>
<br>No events for this coming week.<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br>+++ CORRECTIONS/FEEDBACK<br><br>In this section we run comments and corrections submitted<br>by readers. We encourage you to spot our mistakes and<br>
amplify our points, by email, to <a href="mailto:editors@terrie.com">editors@terrie.com</a>.<br><br>*** In TT612 we referenced a website that we called <br>Kickstart.com. Actually it is Kickstarter.com. As soon as <br>we sent it out we started to kick ourselves for mixing it <br>
up... ;-)<br><br>=> Reader Comment:<br>Just picked up on the comment of returning to normal <br>people may forget... Actually I reckon it is better to <br>return to normal as quickly as possible, and to get the <br>economy pumping again.<br>
<br>Volunteers and donations can only go so far. Major <br>charities and government action is what is really needed <br>because of the scale.<br><br>I am impressed by how the country has bounced back in some <br>areas but the "mourning" aspect and fear of "what happens <br>
next" has probably been a bigger negative effect on <br>survivors than worry about "forgetting". I really think <br>focus on the mid-term recovery is where we ought to be <br>looking as a nation.<br><br><br>
***********************************************************<br>END<br><br>SUBSCRIBERS: 8,831 members as of May 15, 2011<br>(We purge our list regularly.)<br><br>+++ ABOUT US<br><br>STAFF<br>Written by: Terrie Lloyd (<a href="mailto:terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com">terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com</a>)<br>
<br>HELP: E-mail <a href="mailto:Terrie-request@mailman.japaninc.com">Terrie-request@mailman.japaninc.com</a><br>with the word 'help' in the subject or body (don't include<br>the quotes), and you will get back a message with<br>
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