Medical Frontiers

In May 2020, Japan's then-Prime Minister Abe Shinzo declared that the country had successfully contained coronavirus infections thanks to the "Japan Model." An independent committee published a report on this model, which combined a soft lockdown and anti-cluster measures to prevent the spread of infection and limit economic damage. The program focuses on the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak, anti-cluster measures, PCR testing and the soft lockdown. We look at the lessons learned from it.

Japanese researchers used a supercomputer to visualize how respiratory droplets spread in everyday situations including dining, office meetings and on public transportation such as taxis, trains and airplanes. They hope these visualizations will prevent people from being overly confident or fearful about COVID-19. One doctor is using such visualizations to prevent infections in home care and nursing facilities. He says such care plays a critical role amid the pandemic.

n Egyptian doctor wrote to the program. He is currently in Japan studying a new medical technique called mechanotherapy, which treats scars and makes them virtually unnoticeable. It involves dispersing the force applied to scars considered difficult to treat, such as keloids. Efforts are also being made to help patients who have suffered psychological damage as a result of their scars by teaching them a special makeup method.

Long COVID is a condition in which symptoms such as fatigue, cognitive dysfunction and hair loss continue after infection has passed. A Japanese researcher who studied the cause published a paper confirming that SARS-Cov-2 infects the brain. It says symptoms vary according to the area of the brain that is infected. Separately, a Japanese national medical institution has developed a blood test to predict who could get severe COVID-19.

A cancer treatment called photoimmunotherapy involves injecting patients with an agent, then exposing their tumors to near infrared light. It was developed by a Japanese researcher who works at the US National Institutes of Health. Japan became the first country to use it on a patient in 2021. The agent that's injected contains cancer-specific antibodies, to which special chemicals are attached. After the antibodies bind to cancer, near infrared light is applied, killing the cancer cells.

In June 2021, aducanumab, the first drug to target the cause of Alzheimer's disease, was approved in the US, making headlines worldwide. We look at the results of clinical trials involving over 3,000 participants from 20 countries, differences between the drug and conventional treatments, and the drug's limitations. We also focus on a preceding condition called mild cognitive impairment, or MCI. Japanese researchers developed a way to reverse cognitive decline in those with MCI, and a test to see whether someone is developing it.

The World Health Organization estimates that 1.9 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese. Obesity occurs due to white fat cells, which store lipids. A different type -- brown fat cells -- have been found to actually burn fat. We look at their mechanism and how to overcome obesity with a Japanese researcher whose discovery provided the basis for global fat cell research.