Parental Caregiving and Employment among Midlife Women in Japan.

In this paper, we examine how parental caregiving affects women's employment in Japan. Drawing on the 2005-2014 Longitudinal Survey of Middle-Aged and Elderly Persons, we estimate logistic regression models for the employment status of middle-aged women in various types of employment as a function of caregiving intensity to examine when and in what context caregivers' employment may be at risk for Japanese women. The results showed that working women who began providing 5 or more hours of care per week were significantly more likely to leave their jobs than non-caregiving women; those who began providing fewer than 5 hours of care per week did not show this likelihood.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Repricing for Market Expansion in the Japanese Drug Pricing System.

Background: In 1994, the "Repricing for Market Expansion" system (the repricing system) was introduced to the pharmaceutical market in Japan to improve the financial performance of the national health insurance system. In 2010, the "Reward Premiums for the Promotion of Innovative Drug Discovery and the Resolution of Off-Label Use Issue, Etc." system (the reward system) was introduced to promote the development of new drugs.

Comparative Analysis Between the Top-Selling Drugs in the Japanese Pharmaceutical Market and Those in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

Background: Japan is currently the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world, and Japanese pharmaceutical companies are actively seeking to identify assets in other countries. An affluent population provides ample opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to develop within Japan; however, given its weak macroeconomic foundation, Japan is currently seeking to cut costs through the use of more generic drugs and lower prices. Nevertheless, no detailed empirical analyses regarding how Japanese companies can expand their global presence while ensuring domestic sales, or what opportunities lie ahead for global companies planning to enter the Japanese market, have been conducted.

Factors That Affect the Acquisition of Reward Premiums for Promotion of Innovative Drug Discovery in Japan.

Background: A new reward premium system, "Reward Premiums for the Promotion of Innovative Drug Discovery and Resolution of Off-label Use Issue, etc," unique to Japan, was introduced in 2010 and was used in 2010, 2012, and 2014. If the new rewards system is applied to a drug, the company can recover costs early and reinvest in research and development of unapproved or innovative drugs. However, a detailed analysis of the drugs to which this new system was applied has not been conducted.

Impact of Premium Rewards for the Promotion of Innovative Drug Discovery on the Japanese Pharmaceutical Market: An Analysis by Therapeutic Area.

Background: A new incentive program, "Premium Rewards for the Promotion of Innovative Drug Discovery and Resolution of Off-Label Use, etc," was introduced in Japan in 2010 and subsequently applied in 2010, 2012, and 2014. In our previous study, we reported statistical evidence regarding the attributes of drugs for which these premium rewards were used. We found that orphan drugs and drugs in certain therapeutic areas, including neuroscience, oncology, and immunology, were likely to receive rewards.

Adolescent mental health, behavior problems, and academic achievement.

Prior research on the association of mental health and behavior problems with academic achievement is limited because it does not consider multiple problems simultaneously, take co-occurring problems into account, and control for academic aptitude. We addressed these limitations using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 6,315). We estimated the associations of depression, attention problems, delinquency, and substance use with two indicators of academic achievement (high school GPA and highest degree received) with controls for academic aptitude.

Substance Use, Distress, and Adolescent School Networks.

This study examined the associations of substance use, psychological distress, and mental health services receipt with the structure and content of adolescent school-based networks. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we found that substance use was associated with receiving more, but making fewer, peer nominations. It also was associated with less favorable network characteristics, such as low GPA.