经济规制的国际协调

从经济规制的国际协调的含义、历史以及最近被广泛利用的背景、国际协调的分类(对象、程度与方法)、除国际协调以外可供选择的方法、为实现经济规制的国际协调而进行的多边谈判中出现的主要论点等有关经济规制的国际协调的基本理论问题来看,在对跨越国境的经济活动维持传统的规制(边境措施的缓和、承认国内措施的多样性等)已变得日益困难的情况下,对于规制主体的国家来讲,经济规制的“国际协调”将是一个与经济全球化相适应的有效尝试。     

An Unforgettable Journey of Cultural Exchanges

A 40-member Hiroshima Kagura delegation visited China from June 24 to 29 in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relationship between Japan and China. I feel very honored to be one of the 20 members in the Hiroshima Kagura troupe that joined the delegation and played the part of female ghost in Hunting in Red-Leaf Woods.     

Severe Cardiac Rupture by Only One Blow to the Chest in a Young Boy: An Autopsy Case

Cardiac rupture by blunt chest trauma is commonly seen after motor vehicle accidents and falls; however, it is rarely caused by a blow to the chest. We herein report an autopsy case of a high school boy who sustained severe right ventricular rupture by only one knee kick to the chest during a quarrel. He was hospitalized and developed cardiopulmonary arrest. Emergency surgery was performed, but the patient died. The autopsy revealed no external severe trauma or deformation, but the side wall of the right ventricle contained a large V‐shaped laceration. The other thoracic organs had no injuries. This case illustrates that severe cardiac rupture can occur by only one blow to the chest. Blunt cardiac injuries can occur even if no severe injuries are present on the body surface. We should consider the possibility of severe cardiac injuries regardless of the presence of external injuries.     

Estimation of postmortem interval from hypoxic inducible levels of vascular endothelial growth factor

Estimation of the postmortem interval (PMI) is one of the most important tasks in forensic medicine. Five autopsy organ tissues such as brain, lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys were taken at the time of forensic autopsy from 19 known PMI cases with a range of postmortem intervals ranging from 1 to 120 h (the mean was 25.81 h), and the time-course of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression was measured. The human hepatoma-derived Hep 3B cell line was used as a control. The levels of VEGF increased linearly with the PMI up to 20 h in lung (r = 0.95 and in kidney (r = 0.89), and up to 15 h PMI in liver (r = 0.88). The VEGF levels fell after 24 h PMI, and then remained stable. In brain, the levels of VEGF started to increase after 24 h PMI and increased linearly with PMI up to 40 h in brain (r = 0.94) and then begin to fall. In heart, there was no clear correlation between the PMI and VEGF level. Some variations occurred in selected cases, such as the infant and asphyxial deaths. In conclusion, measurement of hypoxia-inducible levels of VEGF in various body organs appears to be a useful method of estimating the PMI up to 24 h in forensic medicine and pathophysiology. This method is also probably applicable in ischaemia in clinical and basic medicine.