ラジオのAMとFMって何？　電波に情報を乗せる仕組みに違い

What do "AM" and "FM" mean in the context of radio transmissions? The difference in the mechanism by which information travels the airwaves

2025年3月29日 9時00分

AM (Amplitude, or the width of the wave's oscillation) is where information, such as the news and music, is transmitted.

Its antenna is about 100m in height and requires a site with a wide area.

Its wavelength is long at 200m to 600m.

Its transmission goes around the contours of the mountain.

It's easy for noise to enter the transmission.

FM (Frequency, or the change in the number of wave cycles) is also used to send information.

Its antenna is about 2m high, and is placed on top of mountains or towers.

Its wavelength is short at 3m to 4m.

FM is easily audible even inside buildings.

Its sound has a high level of quality.

The number of wave cycles in a second, that is, the number of times the wave has highs and lows, is called the Hertz (Hz). In FM, voice is transmitted by adjusting the frequency. In Japan, broadcasting officially began in 1969. It was distinct for being comparatively audible even inside buildings. However, the range of its transmission from the antenna can only reach up to about 100km.

This document came from the Japanese government, among others.

## REFERENCE

再生医療の自由診療にも「検証」を　学会の新方針、利益追求と区別

"Certification" needed even for new medical treatments in regenerative medicine, a new policy from academics to differentiate those that are profit-seeking

野口憲太

NOGUCHI, Kenta

2025年3月28日 11時00分

　国内で年間約8万人の患者に行われている「再生医療」の自由診療をめぐり、日本再生医療学会が、科学的検証に乗り出す方針を明らかにした。有効性などの評価を目的とした自由診療を「検証型診療」と独自に認定し、推進するという。ただ、認定の手続きや検証の方法などは未定で、具体的な制度設計のゆくえが注目される。

Every year about 80,000 patients undergo "generative medicine" treatments in Japan. The Japanese Generative Medicine Society has brought to light the policy that puts forward the use of scientific certification. The goal of creating a stand-alone "Medical Treatment Certification" is to evaluate treatments in terms of efficacy, among others. However, since the details of the approval process and the method of certification are still unclear, the specifics of the regulation are now getting attention.

　十分なエビデンス（科学的根拠）もないまま、患者の期待を利用する診療は許すべきではない――。日本再生医療学会は3月19日、横浜市で会見を開き、学会の方針を発表した。自由診療のなかに学会として「検証型診療」という区分をつくり、診療を通じた知見から科学的根拠を得ることを目的にするという。

Without enough (scientifically based) evidence, treatments that take advantage of patients should not be allowed. On the 19th of March, the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine held a meeting in Yokohama City, and presented the policy. As an academic society, they've created a "Medical Treatment Certification" for classifying new medical treatments. Its goal is to obtain scientific basis from the findings accumulated through the treatments.

　一方で、根拠よりも利益追求を優先する自由診療を「無検証診療」と名付け、「検証型」と明確に区別する。将来的には、「検証型」を通じて適切だと評価された治療の費用を、民間保険でカバーしてもらうといった新しい仕組みについても議論していく考えだという。

They've added a "Certification Type" and labeled new medical treatments that prioritize profit-seeking over evidence-based as "Uncertified Medical Treatment" to clearly differentiate them from those that have already obtained certification. Through this policy, expenses to pay for medical treatment would later be covered by the public health insurance agency in a new scheme that is currently undergoing deliberation.

　日本では、患者のためになると医師が判断して、全額自費の自由診療でならば、国に承認されていない薬なども使うことができる。患者の選択肢を広げる側面がある一方、安全性や有効性が確認されていない医療が金銭的利益のために利用される場合もあるとの批判もある。

In Japan, physicians make decisions for the sake of the patients, and the entire treatment cost may include the use of medicines, among others, that are not approved by Japan. Other than the view that patients should have more available choices, there's also criticism in the use of medical treatment that hasn't yet been approved for their safety and efficacy, among others, for the sake of making a profit.

　厚生労働省によると、2023年度に計約8万人の患者が、再生医療の自由診療を受けている。

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in 2023 a total of about 80,000 patients have undergone new medical treatments in regenerative medicine.

　国際的には、未確立な医療の提供は「少数の患者に限られるべき」だとの考え方もあるため、こうした状況には、海外から厳しい目も向けられている。世界の研究者らでつくる国際幹細胞学会（ISSCR）は今年2月、厚労相宛ての要望書を提出し、再生医療に関する規制を強化するよう求めた。

Internationally, offering unestablished medical treatments is "limited to only a minority of patients." Even so, they would receive intense scrutiny overseas. The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), which is comprised of teams of researchers all over the world, has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Labor in February of this year, seeking to enforce regulations concerning generative medicine.

　このままでは再生医療の業界全体の信頼性が損なわれかねず、日本再生医療学会は今回の方針を打ち出した。

The Japanese Society of Generative Medicine has submitted the policy so that people would not lose confidence in generative medicine.

課題は制度設計

Issues in the regulation

However, the details of the regulation have not yet been set.

With regard to how the "Certification Type" is to be added, Chairman OKANO, Hideyuki of the academic society has said, "Discussions are underway."

While he's seen that controlling the effects of the spread of "uncertified" new medical treatment is also limited, "I haven't yet considered the penalty to be imposed on those that are not certified. We need to create a scheme where the evaluation of clinics is improved upon receiving certification for good medical treatment practices."

To verify the safety and efficacy of the medicine, among others, there exists a correct way of using clinical trials to obtain national approval. While the process will take time and money, once approved, the basic rules will become relevant to the public health insurance agency, as evidence-based medical treatments spread and reach the patients.

In generative medicine where living cells are involved, it becomes difficult to produce outcomes that have the same quality in great numbers. This raises even further the level of difficulty required to develop new medical treatments. The society has explained "the need to examine" the use of new medical treatments as a way to make sure that those that are safe and efficacious do reach the patients.

According to the academic society, the purpose of the "Certification Type" is to not only gain national approval through the collection of usable private data, but also to find promising outcomes from the medical techniques. Hence, they've also been called in English, "explorative therapy."

Another issue is how to link together the process of gaining national approval and the medical treatment that has been evaluated to be promising based on its "Certification Type."

Knowledgeable on issues pertaining to generative medicine, Mr. IKKA, Tsunakuni (Director of Bioethics) says, "While we tip our hats to the thinking that somehow new medical treatments should be done even if there are issues, we don't yet know whether a "Medical Treatment Certification" is even a suitable method to solve the problem. While the specifics of the regulation remain unclear, what is most important is to note that generative medicine used in new medical treatments still do not have enough evidence that certifies them up to the necessary standard so that they could be called 'medical treatment.' This reiterates what the academic society has said."

## REFERENCE

生成AIで「模擬患者」、医学生がアバターで問診練習　長崎大が研究

Nagasaki University Research: Medical student practices diagnosis with generative AI-produced avatar of "Simulated Patient"

天野光一

AMANO, Koichi

2025年3月24日 14時00分

「模擬患者」役を生成AIで　医学生がアバターで問診を練習　長崎大が研究

Nagasaki University Research: Medical student practices diagnosis with generative AI-produced avatar of "Simulated Patient"

「模擬患者アバター」の開発を主導するのは、同大情報データ科学部の小林透教授の研究グループとIT企業システック井上（長崎市）。同大医学部の川尻真也准教授らが医学面で協力し、昨年3月から研究を進めてきた。

The development of the "Simulated Patient" is led by the research team of Prof. KOBAYASHI, Tooru from the Information and Data Science Department at Nagasaki University and Systec Inouse Corp., an IT business headquartered in Nagasaki City. Assoc. Prof. KAWAJIRI, Shinya, who is with the medical department of the said university, also collaborates to offer advice. The research has been ongoing since March of the previous year.

MORE ...

There aren't enough patients with whom medical students could simulate a consultation, so in the case of Nagasaki University, they've been recruiting volunteers, but only a handful of people have been able to go through the training. In the six years of studies that medical students take, there aren't a lot of opportunities for them to get in contact with simulated patients, so as a workaround, the faculty, the medical students, and other staff practice with each other, playing the role of the patients.

Assoc. Prof. KAWAJIRI says, "Consultation is the first step that a physician takes to build a trusting relationship with the patient. The avatar is an invaluable tool for medical students in their path to becoming physicians." Hence, they expect a lot from its development.

Physicians have checked the content of the avatar's conversation and the naturalness by which it's delivered, among others, and made improvements accordingly. The team aims to complete the project by the coming spring, improving it further so that medical students could eventually make use of it.

## REFERENCE

（天声人語）挑戦を続けたミロ

VOX POPULI: Milo, the man who continued to dare

2025年3月21日 5時00分

ジュアン・ミロ（１８９３～１９８３）は、２０世紀を代表するスペインの画家である。カタルーニャ州バルセロナ出身で、１９３０年代のスペイン内戦からフランコ独裁政権が終わるまで、反ファシズムの姿勢を貫いた。作品で頭に浮かぶのは、鮮やかな色彩と記号のようなモチーフだった▼

Juan Milo (1893-1983) was a 20th century Spanish painter. He was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, and since the Spanish Civil War of the 1930's up until the end of Franco's Dictatorship, he kept an anti-fascist stance. From his works, what came to mind was a vibrantly colorful and symbolic style of motif.

I used the past tense, "was," because I knew the path that Milo took. Looking at Milo's exhibit at the Tokyo City Art Museum, I was surprised by the great changes in the style of his paintings as he grew older. Even the visitors around would ask, "Is this also Milo's?"

The landscape paintings that he drew in his tens have been influenced by Impressionists. Since his twenties, he would draw meticulously even a small leaf of a plant. He further moved to Surrealism and established his own symbolic system of art. In his 50's, he was earnestly engaged in pottery and sculptures, and continued with this direction until just before he passed away.

While he was a product of things like daring and exploration, I was surprised that he persisted in spite of protests and adversity. In Spain, Franco's dictatorship continued until 1975, and Catalonia, which became the center point of protests, suffered severe repression from the government. Even Milo left his hometown, and produced pieces of works to be able to hide.

In an interview with him when he was 82, he said that conveying in his works "intensity and liberality" as protest against Franco's Dictatorship was most important. Such intensity was born because he had no "skill" like Picasso ("Interview with Milo").

In his 90's, Milo's many and various works became forward-looking, expressing the idea that people can always continue to progress, even if this entails people continuing to dare.

## REFERENCE

マイiPS細胞を自動製造、ファストリ柳井氏寄付で新施設　万博意識

New facility donated by Mr. Yanai of Fast Retailing automates the manufacture of "My induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells"

瀬川茂子

HASEGAWA, Shigeko

2025年3月18日 17時00分

　一人ひとりオーダーメイドの「マイiPS細胞」を作るプロジェクトを進める京都大iPS細胞研究財団は18日、大阪市の先端医療拠点「中之島クロス」に整備した新施設を報道陣に公開した。ユニクロを展開するファーストリテイリングの柳井正会長兼社長からの寄付を受けており、「Yanai　my　iPS製作所（Y―FiT）」と名付けられた。

Kyoto University's Center for iPS Research and Application (CiRA), which creates custom-made "My iPS cells," has made a press release on the 18th of March that they've opened a new facility in "Nakanoshima Cross," an advanced medical treatment hub based in Osaka City. The donation was made by Mr. YANAI, Tadashi, the Chairman and President of Fast Retailing, the company behind Uniqlo. It was named the "Yanai my IPS Production Facility (Y-FiT)."

　京大の山中伸弥教授は2019年、マイiPS細胞の構想を掲げ、25年の大阪・関西万博で披露するという希望を語っていた。当時、患者自身のiPS細胞をつくるには、品質の検査なども含め数千万円のコストと1年程度の時間が必要だったが、「100万円、数週間で提供できるようにしたい」と提唱した。

In 2019, Kyoto University Professor and the man who's been advocating the concept of My iPS cells, Mr. YAMANAKA, Shinya spoke about his hope to open the facility at the Osaka/Kansai Exhibit in 2025. At the time, it cost several tens of millions of yen, including quality assurance, and needed a year's time to produce the iPS cells of the patient himself, but now he says, "I want to be able to offer the product for 1 million yen and produce it within a span of several weeks."

　製造コストを下げるために、閉鎖型自動培養装置でiPS細胞を作れるように研究を進めた。無菌的に自動培養することで、厳重に無菌を保つための施設や管理コストを抑えることができるという。手作業によるばらつきをなくし、人件費を抑えられるようにした。

To lower the manufacturing cost, he continued with his research work to be able to create iPS cells using a method that can do closed-type automated culturing. Given that they automatically cultures cells aseptically, it's possible to control administrative costs and the facility to strictly maintain the area aseptic. In the end, they were able to reduce human-related expenses by eliminating disorganization caused by manual work.

The iPS cells could now be produced from the patient's blood and in a span of only three weeks. This 2019 objective was achieved just before the opening of the exposition. However, creating the iPS cells is not the only goal. Using these cells to medically treat human organs cannot be accomplished if they cannot be properly differentiated. Therefore, the current issue is the automation of the process of cell differentiation as well as the production of cells for use in medical treatment. The team is continuing with the research to develop medical treatment for incurable diseases.

CiRA's Mr. TSUKAHARA, Masayoshi, who is the chief of the R&D center, said, "The facility to automatically produce My iPS cells for clinical use with patients who have incurable diseases is now completed. We can now stand at the starting line."

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