J. Patrick Barron

Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2003

We are very pleased to publish the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2003, and thank all the members of the Japan Esophageal Society who made great contributions in preparing this material. We would like to review the history of the registry of esophageal cancer cases in Japan. The Registration Committee for Esophageal Cancer, the Japan Esophageal Society, has annually registered cases of esophageal cancer since 1976 and published the first issue of the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan in 1979. The Act for the Protection of Personal Information was promulgated in 2003, and began to be enforced in 2005. The purpose of this Act is to protect the rights and interests of individuals while taking into consideration the usefulness of personal information, keeping in mind the remarkable increase in the use of personal information arising from the development of today’s advanced information and communications society. The registry of esophageal cancer cases has required some adjustments to comply with the Acts. The new registration system has been discussed for several years and was finally completed in 2008. The most important point was These data were first issued on 1 March, 2011, as the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2003. Not all pages are reprinted here; however, the original table and figure numbers have been kept. The authors were at the time members of the Registration Committee for Esophageal Cancer, the Japan Esophageal Society, and made great contributions in preparing this material.

Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2004

Japan was struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake, which resulted in almost twenty thousand deaths and missing persons, 1 year ago. We would like to express our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to all the people who have been affected by this disaster. We pray that the regions affected will recover as soon as possible and that the physicians working diligently in the affected areas remain in good health and spirits. We deeply appreciate the cooperation of many physicians with the registry of esophageal cancer cases; nevertheless, the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake is ongoing. The Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2004, was finally published here, despite some delay. The registry of esophageal cancer cases has required some adjustments to comply with the Act for the Protection of Personal Information, which was promulgated in 2003 and began to be enforced in 2005. The most important point was ‘‘anonymity in an unlinkable fashion’’ using encryption with a hash function. The new registration These data were first made available on June 1, 2004, as the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2004. Not all the pages are reprinted here; however, the original table and figure numbers have been maintained.

Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2002

We are very pleased to publish the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2002, we thank all the members of the Japan Esophageal Society who made great contributions in preparing this material. First of all, we describe the history of the registry of esophageal cancer cases in Japan. The Registration Committee for Esophageal Cancer of the Japan Esophageal Society, has registered cases of esophageal cancer since 1976 and published the fi rst issue of the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan in 1979. The Act for the Protection of Personal Information was promulgated in 2003, and began to be enforced in 2005. The purpose of this Act is to protect the rights and interests of individuals while taking into consideration the usefulness of personal information, keeping in mind the remarkable increase in the use of personal information arising from the development of today’s advanced information and communications society. The registry of esophageal cancer cases has required some improvements to comply with the Acts. The new registration system has been considered for several years and was fi nally completed in 2008. The most important point was “anonymity in an unlinkable fashion” using encryption with a “hash function”. Finally, the registry resumed registering cases of esophageal cancer that had been treated in 2001. We briefl y summarized the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2002. A total of 4281 cases were registered from 222 institutions in Japan. As for the histologic type of cancer according to biopsy specimens, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma accounted for 92.9% and 2.4%, respectively. Regarding clinical results, the 5-year survival rates of patients treated using endoscopic mucosal resection, concurrent chemoradiotherapy, radiotherapy alone, chemotherapy alone, or esophagectomy were 87.7%, 22.9%, 15.1%, 1.7%, and 44.1%, respectively. Concerning the approach used to perform an esophagectomy, 16.5% of the cases were performed endoscopically, that is, thoracoscopically, laparoscopically, or mediastinoscopically. Regarding the reconstruction route, the retrosternal, the posterior mediastinal and the intrathoracic route were used in 35.4%, 32.4% and 17.9% of cases, respectively. The percentage of operative deaths occurring within 30 days or less after operation and the percentage of postoperative hospital deaths occurring 31 days or more after operation were 1.2% (25 out of 2028 cases) and 2.0% (41 out of 2028 cases), respectively. We hope that this Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan for 2002 helps to improve all aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer.

Handling Manuscript Rejection: Insights From Evidence and Experience

The purpose of this article is to provide authors with insights gained from evidence and experience on how to handle rejected manuscripts.

Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2001

The Registration Committee for Esophageal Cancer of the Japan Esophageal Society, has registered cases of esophageal cancer since 1976 and published the fi rst issue of the Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan in 1979. The Act for the Protection of Personal Information was promulgated in 2003, and began to be enforced in 2005. The purpose of this Act is to protect the rights and interests of individuals while taking into consideration the usefulness of personal information, keeping in mind the remarkable increase in the use of personal information arising from the development of today’s advanced information and communications society. The Registry of Esophageal Cancer Cases has required some adjustments to comply with these Acts. The new registration system has been considered for several years and was fi nally completed in 2008. The most important point was achieving unlinkable anonymity through hash function encryption. Finally, the registry resumed registering cases of esophageal cancer that had been treated in 2001. A brief summary follows: a total of 3940 cases were registered from 241 institutions in Japan. As for the histologic type of cancer according to biopsy specimens, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma accounted for 91.7% and 2.3%, respectively. The 5-year survival rates of patients treated using endoscopic mucosal resection, concurrent chemoradiotherapy, radiotherapy alone, chemotherapy alone, or esophagectomy were 88.5%, 19.3%, 19.6%, 4.0%, and 42.6%, respectively. Regarding the approach used to perform esophagectomy, 14.3% of the cases were performed endoscopically, that is, thoracoscopically, laparoscopically, or mediastinoscopically. The percentage of operative deaths occurring within 30 days or less after operation and the percentage of postoperative hospital deaths occurring 31 days or more after operation were 2.8% and 3.2%, respectively. We hope that this Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan for 2001 helps to improve all aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer.

Comprehensive Registry of Esophageal Cancer in Japan, 2000

I. Clinical Factors of Esophageal Cancer Patients treated in 2000 1. Institutions-registered cases in 2000 2. Patient Background Table 1) Age, gender and treatment Table 2) Area of patient’s residence and occupation Table 3) Familial history of carcinoma Table 4) Tumors in familial history of carcinoma Table 5) Reason and basis for diagnosis according to clinical T-category Table 6) Symptoms according to clinical T-category Table 7) Duble/multiple primary cancers Table 8) Double/multiple primary cancers and organs Table 13) Location of tumor Table 14) Longitudinal tumor length on esophagography Table 15) Endoscopic features Table 17) Depth of tumor invasion cT (clinical TNM-classifi cation) Table 18) Lymph node metastasis, cN; and organ metastasis, cM (clinical TNM-classifi cation) Table 19) Metastatic organs in cM1 cases (clinical TNM classifi cation) Table 20) Clinical stage (clinical TNM-classifi cation)

Postgraduate Education CornerMedical Writing Tip of the MonthHandling Manuscript Rejection: Insights From Evidence and Experience

The purpose of this article is to provide authors with insights gained from evidence and experience on how to handle rejected manuscripts.

Changes in the Ethos of Medical Publications as Reflected in Progressive Alterations in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (1979-2008)

S its publication in 1979, 1 the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URM), a document created by what is known today as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), has become a standard format for submission to . 600 international journals. 2 What set out to be the standardized format has now evolved into a “worldwide accepted guideline” that places great emphasis on the concern for ethical issues in medical writing and publishing, including confl ict of interest and authorship. Changes in the intervening editions of the URM over the past 30 years highlight signifi cant changes in mainline approaches to medical publishing, such as a movement toward greater transparency, an increased concern for ethical issues, and a stronger emphasis on each journal’s editorial preferences (Instructions for Authors) regarding manuscript submission. Changes in the Ethos of Medical Publications as Refl ected in Progressive Alterations in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (1979-2008)

Conflict-of-interest disclosure at medical journals in Japan: a nationwide survey of the practices of journal secretariats

Objectives Medical journals in Japan generally have appropriate policies regarding disclosure of conflicts of interest (COI). However, COI management depends on the staff members of each journals editorial secretariat. This studys objectives were to find out (A) whether COI disclosure and the journals role in it are clearly understood by the journal’s secretariat staff, (B) how much experience the editorial secretariat has in actually handling issues related to disclosure and (C) what kind of help or support they need. Setting and design In January 2014, questionnaires were sent to the editorial secretariats of journal-publishing societies belonging to the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences (JAMS). Participants The response rate was 100%, and the respondents represented 121 journals published by the 118 JAMS member societies (at the time of the survey). Primary and secondary outcome measures Information was collected on the history of COI policies and on how those policies were implemented. At the end of the questionnaire, there was an open-ended call for comments. Results Compulsory COI disclosure began between 2010 and 2013 for 60.3% of the journals (73/121). Handling of COI issues was not uniform: 17.4% (21/121) of respondents do not pursue cases of dubious disclosure, and 47.9% (58/121) do not require COI disclosures from editorial board members. Very few of the editorial secretariats had clearly-stated consequences for violations of COI-disclosure policy (33/121, 27.3%), and only 28.9% offered COI education (35/121). Respondents’ comments indicated that uniform, easily-searchable guidance regarding COI policies and implementation would be welcome. Conclusions Although commitment is widespread, policy implementation is inconsistent and COI experience is lacking. Clear, easy-to-use guidelines are desired by many societies. The JAMS is to be commended for supporting this country-wide investigation; other countries and regions are encouraged to perform similar investigations to respond to needs regarding COI management.

A proposed core curriculum for dental English education in Japan

BackgroundGlobalization of the professions has become a necessity among schools and universities across the world. It has affected the medical and dental professions in terms of curriculum design and student and patient needs. In Japan, where medicine and dentistry are taught mainly in the Japanese language, profession-based courses in English, known as Medical English and Dental English, have been integrated into the existing curriculum among its 83 medical and 29 dental schools. Unfortunately, there is neither a core curriculum nor a model syllabus for these courses.MethodsThis report is based on a survey, two discussion forums, a workshop, and finally, the drafting of a proposed core curriculum for dental English approved by consensus of the participants from each university.ResultsThe core curriculum covers the theoretical aspects, including dental English terms and oral pathologies; and practical aspects, including blended learning and dentist-patient communication. It is divided into modules and is recommended to be offered for at least two semesters.ConclusionsThe core curriculum is expected to guide curriculum developers in schools where dental English courses are yet to be offered or are still in their early development. It may also serve as a model curriculum to medical and dental schools in countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Central and South America, where English is not the medium of instruction.