Safety and effectiveness of once-yearly zoledronic acid in Japanese osteoporosis patients: three-year post-marketing surveillance.

Introduction: Zoledronic acid (5 mg; ZOL), a once-yearly bisphosphonate, reduces osteoporotic fractures and increases bone mineral density (BMD). This 3-year post-marketing surveillance examined its real-world safety and effectiveness.

Materials And Methods: This prospective, observational study included patients who started ZOL for osteoporosis.

Global flows of critical metals necessary for low-carbon technologies: the case of neodymium, cobalt, and platinum.

This study, encompassing 231 countries and regions, quantifies the global transfer of three critical metals (neodymium, cobalt, and platinum) considered vital for low-carbon technologies by means of material flow analysis (MFA), using trade data (BACI) and the metal contents of trade commodities, resolving the optimization problem to ensure the material balance of the metals within each country and region. The study shows that in 2005 international trade led to global flows of 18.6 kt of neodymium, 154 kt of cobalt, and 402 t of platinum and identifies the main commodities and top 50 bilateral trade links embodying these metals.

Characterization of economic requirements for a "carbon-debt-free country".

In recent years, greenhouse gas emission controls that incorporate the supply chains of products and services, thereby emphasizing the role of consumers rather than producers, have been drawing increasing attention. A country's consumption-based emissions, including those due to global supply chains, reflect the total emissions on which the national economy relies. To design effective emissions control strategies there is therefore an urgent need for countries to elucidate the structural relationship between their domestic economy and emissions occurring through global supply chains.

How has dematerialization contributed to reducing oil price pressure?: a qualitative input-output analysis for the Japanese economy during 1990-2000.

The evolution of crude oil use structure and its impacts on commodity prices are examined for Japanese economy between 1990 and 2000. We found that the out-degree of the production network, indicating the extent of the pressure on prices of downstream industries in response to higher crude oil prices, decreased in several sectors between 1990 and 2000. The results by sector showed that the decrease was greatest in the chemical product- and iron and steel manufacturing sectors, which both indirectly use crude oil.