Information processing device and information processing method

Abstract

To appropriately evaluate an environmental load regarding an evaluation target product to be taken in a biological system or an ecosystem.SOLUTION: An information processing device holds information for inferring dynamic changes in states of a biological system or an ecosystem that takes an evaluation target product in, a life cycle model that indicates the evaluation target product and a used item other than the evaluation target product used in each state, environmental load information that indicates an environmental load of each of the evaluation target product and the used item, and index information that indicates an index value related to quality of life of the biological system or the ecosystem affected by the evaluation target product in each state, infers the dynamic changes in the states based on the life cycle model, calculates an environmental load and an index value for the entire period of the inferred dynamic changes by referring to the environmental load information and the index information, and corrects the calculated environmental load based on the calculated index value.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device and an information processing method. [Background technology]

[0002] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2011-204217 (Patent Document 1) is a background art in this technical field. This publication describes an environmental load simulation device that simulates the environmental load of a target product, comprising: a screen generation means that generates a screen for allowing a user to input setting conditions for preset processes included in the lifecycle; a greenhouse gas emission calculation means that refers to a database that stores related information for calculating greenhouse gas emissions in advance, based on the setting conditions input to the screen generated by the screen generation means, and calculates greenhouse gas emissions from the related information corresponding to the setting conditions acquired from the database; and a simulation means that simulates the environmental load of the target product using the calculation results (see Abstract). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-204217 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The technology described in Patent Document 1 centrally manages products made from a variety of raw materials and simulates the environmental impact of the product based on the greenhouse gas emissions generated over the product's life cycle. However, if the target product is a product that is incorporated into a biological system or ecosystem, such as a pharmaceutical, the product's incorporation into the biological system or ecosystem may affect the state of the biological system or ecosystem, causing dynamic changes in the state, and these dynamic changes may result in changes in the environmental impact. The technology described in Patent Document 1 does not take such dynamic changes into account when calculating the environmental impact.

[0005] Therefore, one aspect of the present invention is to appropriately evaluate the environmental load of a product to be evaluated that is incorporated into a biological system or ecosystem. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, one aspect of the present invention employs the following configuration: An information processing device includes a processor and a memory, the memory holds information for estimating dynamic changes in the state of a biological system or ecosystem that takes in the product to be evaluated, a life cycle model showing the product to be evaluated and the other used items than the product to be evaluated that are used in each of the states, environmental load information showing the environmental load in the manufacturing process and distribution process of the product to be evaluated and the other used items, and index information showing index values ​​related to the quality of life of the biological system or ecosystem that is affected by the product to be evaluated in each of the states, and the processor calculates a life cycle model based on the life cycle model. and inferring a dynamic change in the state, identifying the product to be evaluated and the items used in each state during the inferred dynamic change, calculating an environmental load for the entire period of the inferred dynamic change based on the environmental load corresponding to the identified product to be evaluated and the items used in the environmental load information, calculating index values ​​for the entire period of the inferred dynamic change based on index values ​​corresponding to each state during the inferred dynamic change in the index information, correcting the calculated environmental load based on the calculated index values, and generating data for displaying the corrected environmental load. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to appropriately evaluate the environmental load of a product to be evaluated that is incorporated into a biological system or ecosystem.

[0008] Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a life cycle assessment processing apparatus according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a life cycle assessment processing apparatus according to a first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of processing by a discharge amount calculation unit and a discharge amount correction unit in the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of QALY (Quality-Adjusted Life Years) data in Example 1. [Figure 5A] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of drug inventory data in the first embodiment. [Figure 5B] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of medical material inventory data in the first embodiment. [Figure 5C] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of metabolite inventory data in the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a pathological state transition model in Example 1. [Figure 7] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a life cycle assessment process according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the screen configuration of an assessment processing result display screen in the first embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of the screen configuration of the assessment processing result display screen in the first embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of processing by a discharge amount calculation unit and a discharge amount correction unit in the second embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data configuration of evaluation index data in the second embodiment. [Figure 12A] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of material inventory data in the second embodiment. [Figure 12B] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data configuration of waste product inventory data according to the second embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an ecosystem model in the second embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the screen configuration of an assessment processing result display screen in the second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the same components are generally designated by the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations will be omitted. It should be noted that this embodiment is merely an example for realizing the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention. [Example]

[0011] 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a life cycle assessment processing device. The life cycle assessment processing device 100 evaluates emissions related to a product to be assessed. In this embodiment, the product to be assessed is, for example, incorporated into (or used in) a biological system or ecosystem. Pharmaceuticals (including, for example, low-molecular-weight pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals that are biological products) incorporated into living organisms (e.g., the human body) and bioplastics (biological products) incorporated into soil, seawater, etc. upon decomposition are both examples of the product to be assessed in this embodiment.

[0012] The life cycle assessment processing device 100 has, for example, an emission amount calculation unit 101 and an emission amount correction unit 102, which are all functional units. The emission amount calculation unit 101 acquires correction index data 103, inventory data 104, and a life cycle model 105. Note that the life cycle assessment processing device 100 may store the correction index data 103, the inventory data 104, and the life cycle model 105 in advance.

[0013] The life cycle model 105 is a model for predicting dynamic changes (life cycle) of the state related to the product to be evaluated in a biological system or ecosystem that incorporates (uses) the product to be evaluated. The life cycle model 105 indicates, for example, multiple stages that make up the life cycle and the transition probabilities between the stages. For example, a Markov chain model is used as the life cycle model 105.

[0014] The inventory data 104 indicates the amount of GHG (Green House Gas) emissions in the manufacturing process and / or distribution process of the product under evaluation, and the amount of GHG emissions related to the use of the product under evaluation. GHG emissions are an example of environmental load, and the inventory data 104 is an example of environmental load information. Hereinafter, GHG emissions will also be simply referred to as emissions.

[0015] The correction index data 103 is an index for correcting the emission amount, and indicates an index related to the quality of life of a biological system or ecosystem affected by the intake of the product under evaluation. For example, the QALY (quality-adjusted life year) of a human being who takes in a pharmaceutical product is an example of such an index.

[0016] The emission calculation unit 101 calculates the emission amount taking into account changes in the stage of the biological system or ecosystem, based on the inventory data 104 and the life cycle model 105. The emission calculation unit 101 calculates an index value related to the quality of life of the biological system or ecosystem, taking into account changes in the stage of the biological system or ecosystem, based on the correction index data 103 and the life cycle model 105.

[0017] The emission amount correcting unit 102 corrects the emission amount calculated by the emission amount calculating unit 101 using the index value calculated by the emission amount calculating unit 101, and outputs the corrected amount.

[0018] 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the life cycle assessment processing device 100. The life cycle assessment processing device 100 is configured by a computer having, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 110, a memory 120, an auxiliary storage device 130, an input device 140, a display device 150, and a communication device 160.

[0019] The CPU 110 is an example of a processor, and executes programs stored in the memory 120. The memory 120 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), which is a non-volatile storage element, and a RAM (Random Access Memory), which is a volatile storage element. The ROM stores unchanging programs (e.g., a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System)) and the like. The RAM is a high-speed, volatile storage element such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and temporarily stores programs executed by the CPU 110 and data used when the programs are executed.

[0020] The auxiliary storage device 130 is a large-capacity, non-volatile storage device such as a magnetic storage device (HDD (Hard Disk Drive)) or a flash memory (SSD (Solid State Drive)), and stores programs to be executed by the CPU 110 and data to be used when the programs are executed. That is, the programs are read from the auxiliary storage device 130, loaded into the memory 120, and executed by the CPU 110.

[0021] The input device 140 is a device such as a keyboard or mouse that receives input from an operator. The display device 150 is a device such as a display or printer that outputs the results of program execution in a format that can be viewed by the operator.

[0022] The communication device 160 is a network interface device that controls communication with other devices in accordance with a predetermined protocol. The communication device 160 may also include a serial interface such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus).

[0023] A part or all of the programs executed by the CPU 110 may be provided to the life cycle assessment processing device 100 from a removable medium (such as a CD-ROM or flash memory) which is a non-transitory storage medium, or from an external computer equipped with a non-transitory storage device via a network, and may be stored in the non-volatile auxiliary storage device 130 which is a non-transitory storage medium. For this reason, the life cycle assessment processing device 100 should preferably have an interface for reading data from removable media.

[0024] The life cycle assessment processing device 100 is a computer system configured on one physical computer or on multiple logically or physically configured computers, and may operate in separate threads on the same computer, or may operate on a virtual computer constructed on multiple physical computer resources.

[0025] The CPU 110 includes, for example, the above-mentioned functional units, namely, the emission amount calculation unit 101 and the emission amount correction unit 102. For example, the CPU 110 functions as the emission amount calculation unit 101 by operating in accordance with an emission amount calculation program loaded into the memory 120, and functions as the emission amount correction unit 102 by operating in accordance with an emission amount correction program loaded into the memory 120.

[0026] Note that some or all of the functions of the functional units included in the CPU 110 may be realized by hardware such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array).

[0027] The auxiliary storage device 130 stores, for example, the correction index data 103, the inventory data 104, and the life cycle model 105 acquired by the life cycle assessment processing device 100. In this embodiment, some or all of the information stored in the auxiliary storage device 130 may be stored in the memory 120, or may be stored in an external database or the like connected to the life cycle assessment processing device 100.

[0028] In this embodiment, the information used by the life cycle assessment processing device 100 does not depend on the data structure and may be expressed in any data structure. For example, the information can be stored in a data structure appropriately selected from a table, a list, a database, or a queue.

[0029] 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of processing by the emission calculation unit 101 and the emission correction unit 102. When a drug to be evaluated (product to be evaluated) is administered to a patient (an example of a biological system) who has contracted an indicated disease or wishes to prevent the indicated disease, the life cycle assessment processing device 100 of this embodiment calculates the emission amount related to the drug to be evaluated, taking into account the life cycle of the patient.

[0030] The discharge amount calculation unit 101 acquires, as the life cycle model 105, a pathological state transition model 1051 corresponding to the combination of the evaluation target drug and the indicated disease. Specifically, for example, the pathological state transition model 1051 indicates a plurality of pathological states to which a patient may fall for the indicated disease (a pathological state is an example of a stage in a patient's life cycle) and the transition probability between the pathological states. The pathological state transition model 1051 also indicates the drug and medical material used for each pathological state of the indicated disease. Note that the medical material may or may not be a bioproduct.

[0031] In addition, in at least one pathology of the pathology transition model 1051, a drug to be evaluated corresponding to the pathology transition model 1051 is used. In other words, the effect that the drug to be evaluated has on the condition of a patient (living body) when taken into the patient is reflected in the pathology transition model 1051. Furthermore, in each pathology of the pathology transition model 1051, drugs and / or medical materials different from the drug to be evaluated may be used.

[0032] The pathological transition model 1051 can be said to be a model for predicting the dynamic changes in the state (pathological state of the disease for which the drug is indicated) of a patient (living body) who takes in the drug to be evaluated, which is an example of the product to be evaluated.

[0033] The inventory data 104 includes, for example, drug inventory data 1041, medical material inventory data 1042, and metabolite inventory data 1043. The drug inventory data 1041 indicates the amount of drug released in the manufacturing process and / or distribution process of a drug used in a pathology included in the pathology transition model 1051.

[0034] The medical material inventory data 1042 indicates the amount of discharge in the manufacturing process and / or distribution process of medical materials used in the pathology included in the pathology transition model 1051. The metabolite inventory data 1043 indicates a metabolic model indicating metabolites generated when the drug indicated by the drug inventory data 1041 is taken into the body of a patient, and the amount of discharge generated as a result of the generation of the metabolites.

[0035] The correction index data 103 includes QALY data 1031. The QALY data 1031 indicates the QALY of a patient in each pathology included in the pathology transition model 1051.

[0036] The emission amount calculation unit 101 identifies the emission amount corresponding to the pharmaceutical, the emission amount corresponding to the medical material, the emission amount corresponding to the metabolite corresponding to the pharmaceutical, and the QALY for each pathology included in the pathology transition model 1051 from the pharmaceutical inventory data 1041, the medical material inventory data 1042, the metabolite inventory data 1043, and the QALY data 1031, respectively.

[0037] The emission amount calculation unit 101 transitions the pathology according to the transition probability indicated by the pathology transition model 1051, and accumulates the emission amount and QALY for each pathology. The emission amount calculation unit 101 outputs the accumulated emission amount (total emission amount) and the accumulated QALY (total QALY) to the emission amount correction unit 102. The total emission amount indicates the total emission amount for products related to the disease, taking into account the life cycle when the drug to be evaluated is taken by a patient in any pathology of the indicated disease. The total QALY amount indicates the total QALY amount for patients, taking into account the life cycle when the drug to be evaluated is taken by a patient in any pathology of the indicated disease. The emission amount correction unit 102 corrects the total emission amount using the total QALY, and outputs the corrected emission amount.

[0038] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the QALY data 1031. The QALY data 1031 holds a QALY value for each combination of disease and pathological condition. Note that no disease is defined corresponding to the pathological condition "healthy," and its QALY is 1.0. Note that no disease is defined corresponding to the pathological condition "death," and its QALY is 0.0. Note that the QALY data 1031 does not need to include a column for disease; that is, it may be possible to make the QALY value the same for the same pathological condition regardless of disease. Note that in this embodiment, the QALY is defined as a value greater than or equal to 0.0 (less than or equal to 1.0) by using, for example, EQ-5D (EuroQol 5 Dimension) or the like.

[0039] 5A is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the drug inventory data 1041. The drug inventory data 1041 indicates the amount of drug discharged (the amount of drug discharged in the manufacturing process and / or distribution process) corresponding to each drug in a predetermined unit amount (for example, one tablet).

[0040] Fig. 5B is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of medical material inventory data 1042. The medical material inventory data 1042 shows the discharge amount (discharge amount in the manufacturing process and / or distribution process of the medical material) corresponding to each predetermined unit amount (e.g., one item) of medical material. In the example of Fig. 5B, the discharge amount related to cremation, which is performed when the patient's condition transitions to "death," is defined in the medical material inventory data 1042 for convenience, but it may also be defined in a separate inventory.

[0041] 5C is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the metabolite inventory data 1043. The metabolite inventory data 1043 indicates metabolites (metabolite models) generated when a drug is taken into the body of a patient, and the amount of excretion resulting from the generation of the metabolites when a predetermined unit amount of the drug is taken into the body.

[0042] Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the pathological state transition model 1051. Fig. 6 shows an example of the pathological state transition model 1051 (Markov chain model) when the indicated disease is "lung cancer" and the drug to be evaluated is "drug A."

[0043] The pathological state transition model 1051 defines multiple pathological states ("healthy," "stable state," "worsening state," and "death") and the medicines and / or medical materials used in the diagnosis and treatment of each pathological state. There may be a pathological state for which no medicines or medical materials are used, such as when the pathological state in the example of Figure 6 is "healthy."

[0044] 6, the QALY value for each pathology is also defined in the pathology transition model 1051, but the QALY value is not defined at the stage when the discharge calculation unit 101 acquires the pathology transition model 1051, and the discharge calculation unit 101 assigns the QALY for each pathology to the pathology transition model 1051 based on the QALY data 1031 in step S703 described below. The QALY value may also be defined in advance in the pathology transition model 1051 acquired by the discharge calculation unit 101. In this case, the discharge calculation unit 101 does not need to acquire the QALY data 1031, and the above-described process of assigning a QALY can also be omitted.

[0045] Each arrow in the pathological state transition model 1051 indicates a transition between pathological states. In the pathological state transition model 1051, transitions to the same pathological state may be defined. In the example of FIG. 6, a transition from "healthy" to "healthy", a transition from "stable period" to "stable period", and a transition from "worsening period" to "worsening period" are defined.

[0046] Furthermore, transitions between specific pathological states may not be defined in the pathological state transition model 1051. For example, if a patient "dies," the patient's pathological state does not change thereafter, so in the example of Fig. 6, the transition from "death" to "death," the transition from "death" to "healthy," the transition from "death" to "stable period," and the transition from "death" to "worsening period" are not defined.

[0047] In the pathological state transition model 1051, p1 to p12 associated with each arrow indicate the transition probability that the patient's pathological state will transition to the pathological state indicated by the end point of the arrow when a predetermined unit period (e.g., one month) has elapsed since the patient's pathological state transitioned to the pathological state indicated by the start point of the arrow.

[0048] For example, for one patient whose condition is in the "stable stage", a unit amount (same as the unit amount corresponding to the discharge amount indicated by the drug inventory data 1041) of drug A and a predetermined unit amount of medical material B (same as the unit amount corresponding to the discharge amount indicated by the medical material inventory data 1042) are used in the predetermined unit period. Under these conditions, when the predetermined unit period has elapsed since the patient's condition transitioned to the "stable stage", the patient's condition transitions to "healthy" with transition probability p5, to "worsening stage" with transition probability p6, to "stable stage" with transition probability p9, and to "death" with transition probability p11.

[0049] 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the life cycle assessment process. The emission amount calculation unit 101 receives designation of an applicable disease and a drug to be evaluated, for example, via input to the input device 140 (S701).

[0050] The emission calculation unit 101 acquires the drug inventory data 1041, medical material inventory data 1042, metabolite inventory data 1043, and QALY data 1031, as well as the pathological transition model 1051 corresponding to the combination of the indicated disease and the drug to be evaluated specified in step S701, for example, by receiving them from an external server or by accepting input via input to the input device 140 (S702).

[0051] The emission amount calculation unit 101 calculates the emission amount occurring in one unit period for each pathology included in the pathology transition model 1051 acquired in step S702, and identifies the QALY for one unit period for each pathology of the applicable disease from the QALY data 1031 (S703).

[0052] In step S703, specifically, for example, the emission amount calculation unit 101 identifies the pharmaceuticals and medical materials used for each pathology included in the pathology transition model 1051. The emission amount calculation unit 101 acquires the emission amount corresponding to each identified pharmaceutical from the pharmaceutical inventory data 1041, acquires the emission amount corresponding to each identified medical material from the medical material inventory data 1042, and acquires the emission amount corresponding to metabolites generated from each identified pharmaceutical from the metabolite inventory data 1043. The emission amount calculation unit 101 calculates the emission amount generated in one unit period for each pathology by calculating, for each pathology, the sum of the emission amount corresponding to each pharmaceutical and medical material used and the emission amount corresponding to the metabolites generated from each pharmaceutical used.

[0053] The discharge amount calculation unit 101 simulates the patient's pathological transition according to the transition probability indicated by the pathological transition model 1051, and calculates the total discharge amount and total QALY for each pathological condition over the entire simulation period by accumulating the discharge amount and QALY for each pathological condition (S704).

[0054] Specifically, for example, the discharge amount calculation unit 101 sets the pathological condition of one patient to an initial value (for example, "healthy"), and simulates the state of the patient's pathological condition for each unit period that passes, according to the transition probability indicated by the pathological condition transition model 1051, until the patient's pathological condition transitions to "death." Note that if the patient's pathological condition does not transition to "death" even after a predetermined number of unit periods have passed, the simulation may be terminated. The patient's pathological condition transitioning to "death" and the passage of a predetermined number of unit periods are both examples of simulation termination conditions.

[0055] The emission amount calculation unit 101 accumulates, for each pathological condition, the emission amount occurring in one unit period for the pathological condition calculated in step S703, along with the transition of the pathological condition of the patient in the simulation. Similarly, the emission amount calculation unit 101 accumulates, for each pathological condition, the QALYs for one unit period for the pathological condition identified in step S703, along with the transition of the pathological condition of the patient in the simulation.

[0056] The emission calculation unit 101 may calculate the emission amount for each pathology during the simulation period by, for example, calculating the number of periods (length of period) that the patient stayed in each pathology during the entire simulation period, and multiplying the calculated number of periods by the emission amount occurring in one unit period for that pathology calculated in step S704. Similarly, the emission calculation unit 101 may calculate the emission amount for each pathology during the simulation period by, for example, multiplying the calculated number of periods by the QALY for that pathology identified in step S703.

[0057] In the above example, the emission amount calculation unit 101 performed a simulation for one patient, but it may also perform a simulation for multiple patients. In this case, the emission amount calculation unit 101 performs the above simulation for each of the multiple patients, for example, to calculate the total emission amount for each pathological condition and the total QALY for each pathological condition. Furthermore, the emission amount calculation unit 101 calculates the total emission amount for each pathological condition for the multiple patients as a whole by summing up the emission amount for each patient for each pathological condition, and calculates the total QALY for each pathological condition for the multiple patients as a whole by summing up the QALY for each patient for each pathological condition.

[0058] The emission correction unit 102 calculates the corrected emission amount for each pathological condition by substituting the total emission amount calculated in step S704 and the total QALY amount calculated in step S704 into a predetermined function (S705). The predetermined function is determined so that the larger the total emission amount (before correction), the larger the corrected total emission amount, and so that the larger the total QALY amount, the smaller the corrected emission amount. For example, a function that divides the emission amount by the QALY is an example of the predetermined function.

[0059] The emission correction unit 102 outputs an assessment processing result display screen showing the total emission amount for each pathology calculated in step S704, the total QALY for each pathology calculated in step S704, and the corrected total emission amount for each pathology calculated in step S705, for example, to the display device 150 (S706), and then terminates the life cycle assessment processing.

[0060] In addition, in step S706, the emission amount correction unit 102 may display, in addition to or instead of the total emission amount, the total QALY, and the total corrected emission amount, the emission amount per person (the total emission amount divided by the number of patients in the simulation), the QALY per person (the total QALY divided by the number of patients in the simulation), and the corrected emission amount per person (the total corrected emission amount divided by the number of patients in the simulation) on the assessment processing result display screen.

[0061] In steps S702 to S705 of the above-mentioned life cycle assessment process, the emission amount calculation unit 101 can calculate the emission amount related to the target drug with high accuracy by taking into consideration not only the emission amount corresponding to the target drug, but also the emission amount corresponding to drugs other than the target drug and medical materials used in the diagnosis and treatment of each pathology indicated by the pathology transition model 1051 (the drugs other than the target drug and medical materials used in each pathology are all examples of substances used in each pathology), and the emission amount corresponding to metabolites of the target drug and drugs other than the target drug used in each pathology (the metabolites generated in each pathology are examples of products generated in each pathology).

[0062] In addition, the discharge amount calculation unit 101 simulates the transition of the patient's pathological condition using the pathological condition transition model 1051 and accumulates the discharge amounts in the simulated pathological condition, thereby enabling highly accurate calculation of the discharge amount over the patient's entire estimated life cycle (the entire period of dynamic changes in condition).

[0063] For example, for two evaluation target drugs administered to a patient in the "stable period," suppose that although the discharge amount corresponding to one of the two evaluation target drugs is large, patients administered that one have a low probability of transitioning to the "worsening period," and whereas although the discharge amount corresponding to the other of the two evaluation target drugs is small, patients administered that other have a high probability of transitioning to the "worsening period." Furthermore, suppose that the discharge amount corresponding to the drug administered in the "worsening period" is large. In such a case, if the discharge amount is evaluated by focusing only on the evaluation target drugs, the discharge amount corresponding to the other drug is evaluated to be small. However, as described above, the discharge calculation unit 101 can use the pathological state transition model 1051 to evaluate which of the evaluation target drugs should be administered to a patient in the "stable period" to reduce the discharge amount throughout the patient's life cycle.

[0064] Furthermore, in evaluating the discharge amount of a product, such as a pharmaceutical, that is taken into a living organism, if only the magnitude of the discharge is evaluated, for example, a patient whose condition has become "dead" will stop using medical materials or pharmaceuticals thereafter, resulting in a small discharge amount, and cases in which the patient dies due to the selection of a pharmaceutical with a low therapeutic effect or abandonment of treatment (i.e., cases in which the quality of life of the living organism that takes in the evaluated pharmaceutical decreases) will receive a good evaluation. Therefore, in the above-mentioned step S705, the discharge correction unit 102 corrects the discharge amount so that the higher the QALY, which indicates the quality of life of the patient, the lower the discharge amount, thereby making it possible to perform an evaluation that balances the discharge amount and the quality of life of the patient.

[0065] In the above example, the life cycle assessment processing device 100 calculated the emission amount, total QALY, and corrected emission amount for each pathological condition, but it may also calculate only the total value for each of these values ​​across all pathological conditions.

[0066] 8 is a diagram showing an example of the screen configuration of the assessment processing result display screen output in step S706. The assessment processing result display screen 800 displays, for example, information indicating the indicated disease ("lung cancer") and the drug to be evaluated ("drug A") specified in step S701. Furthermore, the assessment processing result display screen 800 displays information indicating the amount of emissions per patient, the QALY per patient, and the adjusted amount of emissions per patient (emissions / QALY) for each pathological condition and as a total value.

[0067] The assessment processing result display screen 800 in FIG. 8 allows the user of the life cycle assessment processing device 100 to recognize the emission amount, QALY, and corrected emission amount for each pathological condition.

[0068] 9 is a diagram showing another example of the screen configuration of the assessment processing result display screen output in step S706. In step S701, multiple evaluation target drugs ("drug A" and "drug B") for the same indication disease ("lung cancer") are specified, and the processing of steps S702 to S705 is executed for each combination of the indication disease and one evaluation target drug ("drug A"), and for each combination of the indication disease and the other evaluation target drug ("drug B").

[0069] For example, information indicating the indication disease ("lung cancer") and the drugs to be evaluated ("drug A" and "drug B") specified in step S701 is displayed on the assessment processing result display screen 900. Furthermore, the assessment processing result display screen 900 displays information indicating the amount of drug discharged per patient, the QALY per patient, and the adjusted amount of drug discharged per patient (amount of drug discharged / QALY) for each drug to be evaluated, by pathology and as a total value.

[0070] 9, the user of the life cycle assessment processing device 100 can compare the emissions, QALYs, and adjusted emissions for each pathology for different evaluation target drugs. In particular, it is easy to recognize situations where the emissions are reversed when QALYs are taken into consideration, such as when the (unadjusted) emissions of one evaluation target drug are smaller than the (unadjusted) emissions of the other evaluation target drug, but the adjusted emissions of the one evaluation target drug are larger than the adjusted emissions of the other evaluation target drug. [Example]

[0071] In this example, an example will be described in which the product to be evaluated is a bioplastic product (a bioproduct with biodegradability). For example, there is a life cycle in which a manufacturer in a certain region produces a bioplastic product (production stage), consumers living in the same region use the manufactured bioplastic product (utilization stage), the consumers discard the utilized bioplastic product in the same region, and the discarded bioplastic product decomposes in the local environment (soil, seawater, etc.) (disposal and decomposition stage), the manufacturer in the same region extracts vegetable oil from plants grown in an environment containing the decomposition products produced during the decomposition (extraction stage), and the manufacturer in the same region again produces a bioplastic product from the extracted vegetable oil (production stage).

[0072] The above-mentioned life cycle is the life cycle of an ecosystem in a certain region, including the environment that absorbs the bioplastic product and the people involved in the bioplastic product, and is therefore the life cycle related to the bioplastic product. The life cycle assessment processing device 100 of this embodiment evaluates emissions taking into account the life cycle of the ecosystem. Furthermore, the life cycle assessment processing device 100 of this embodiment corrects the emissions using an index that indicates the quality of life of the people involved in the ecosystem.

[0073] 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of processing by the emission calculation unit 101 and the emission correction unit 102. When a bioplastic product is manufactured, used, and discarded in a certain region, the life cycle assessment processing device 100 of this embodiment calculates the emission amount related to the bioplastic product, taking into account the life cycle of humans and the environment in the region.

[0074] The emission amount calculation unit 101 acquires an ecosystem model 1052 corresponding to the bioplastic product as the life cycle model 105. The ecosystem model 1052 indicates multiple stages of the ecosystem related to the bioplastic product and the transition probabilities between the stages. The ecosystem model 1052 also indicates the objects used or generated in each stage. Note that the objects used in each stage may or may not be bioproducts.

[0075] In addition, in at least one stage of the ecosystem model 1052, a bioplastic product corresponding to the ecosystem model 1052 is manufactured and / or used and decomposed. In other words, the impact that the bioplastic product being evaluated has on the state of the ecosystem when it is taken into (decomposed in) an environment contained in the ecosystem is reflected in the ecosystem model 1052. Furthermore, in each stage of the ecosystem model 1052, things other than bioplastic products (materials and decomposition products) may be used or generated.

[0076] The ecosystem model 1052 is a model for predicting dynamic changes in the state (stage related to the product to be evaluated) of the ecosystem that incorporates a bioplastic product, which is an example of the product to be evaluated.

[0077] The inventory data 104 includes, for example, material inventory data 1044 and waste product inventory data 1045. The material inventory data 1044 indicates the amount of emissions in the manufacturing process and / or distribution process of materials used in the stages included in the ecosystem model 1052. The waste product inventory data 1045 indicates a decomposition model that indicates the decomposition products generated when waste products are discarded and decomposed, and the amount of emissions generated due to the generation of the decomposition products. In other words, all waste products defined in the waste product inventory data 1045 are biodegradable products, including bioplastic products.

[0078] The correction index data 103 includes evaluation index data 1032. The evaluation index data 1032 indicates evaluation indexes for evaluating the quality of life of humans included in the above-mentioned ecosystem at each stage included in the ecosystem model 1052.

[0079] The emission amount calculation unit 101 identifies the emission amount corresponding to materials, the emission amount corresponding to decomposition products corresponding to waste products, and the quality of life evaluation index for each stage included in the ecosystem model 1052 from the material inventory data 1044, the waste inventory data 1045, and the evaluation index data 1032, respectively.

[0080] The emission calculation unit 101 transitions stages according to the transition probability indicated by the ecosystem model 1052, and accumulates the emission amount and the quality of life evaluation index for each stage. The emission calculation unit 101 outputs the accumulated emission amount (total emission amount) and the accumulated quality of life index value (total quality of life) to the emission correction unit 102. The total emission amount indicates the total emission amount related to the product to be evaluated, taking into account the life cycle when the product to be evaluated is incorporated into a biological system at any stage. The total quality of life indicates the total quality of life index value of the ecosystem (included in the ecosystem), taking into account the life cycle when the product to be evaluated is incorporated into a biological system at any stage. The emission correction unit 102 corrects the total emission amount using the total quality of life, and outputs the corrected emission amount.

[0081] 11 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the evaluation index data 1032. The evaluation index data 1032 holds a quality of life index value for each combination of the product to be evaluated and the stage. Note that the evaluation index data 1032 does not have to include a column for the product to be evaluated; that is, the quality of life index value may be the same for the same stage regardless of the product to be evaluated.

[0082] 12A is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the material inventory data 1044. The material inventory data 1044 indicates the discharge amount (the discharge amount in the manufacturing process and / or distribution process of the material) corresponding to each predetermined unit amount (for example, one) of material.

[0083] 12B is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the waste product inventory data 1045. The waste product inventory data 1045 indicates decomposition products (decomposition model) that are generated when a waste product is discarded, and the amount of emissions resulting from the generation of the decomposition products when a predetermined unit amount of waste product is discarded.

[0084] Fig. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the ecosystem model 1052. Fig. 13 shows an example of the ecosystem model 1052 (Markov chain model) when the bioplastic product to be evaluated is "Dish C."

[0085] The ecosystem model 1052 defines multiple stages ("production" of "Dish C"), ""extraction" of vegetable oil for the production of "Dish C", ""utilization" of "Dish C", and "disposal and decomposition" of "Dish C") and the materials used and / or decomposition products generated in each stage. The ecosystem model 1052 may also include a stage in which no materials are used and no decomposition products are generated.

[0086] Note that materials other than the product to be evaluated that are used in each stage of the ecosystem model 1052 and that are included in the material inventory data 1044 ("manufacturing equipment A" and "extraction machine B" in the example of FIG. 13) are an example of used items. Also, decomposition products generated in each stage ("decomposition products of plate C" in the example of FIG. 13) are an example of generated items in that stage. Note that the ecosystem model 1052 shown in the example of FIG. 13 includes a stage in which only the product to be evaluated, "plate C," is discarded as waste and decomposed, but may also include a stage in which materials other than the product to be evaluated are discarded as waste and decomposed.

[0087] 13, the quality of life index values ​​for each stage are also defined in the ecosystem model 1052, but at the stage when the emission calculation unit 101 acquires the ecosystem model 1052, the quality of life index values ​​are not defined, and the emission calculation unit 101 assigns the quality of life index values ​​for each stage to the ecosystem model 1052 based on the evaluation index data 1032. The quality of life index values ​​may also be defined in advance in the ecosystem model 1052 acquired by the emission calculation unit 101. In this case, the emission calculation unit 101 does not need to acquire the evaluation index data 1032, and the process of assigning the quality of life index values ​​can also be omitted.

[0088] Transitions to the same stage may be defined in the ecosystem model 1052. Also, transitions between specific stages may not be defined in the ecosystem model 1052.

[0089] In ecosystem model 1052, p1 to p9 associated with each arrow indicate the transition probability that the stage of the ecosystem will transition to the stage indicated by the end point of the arrow when a predetermined unit period (e.g., one month) has elapsed since the stage of the biological system transitioned to the pathological state indicated by the start point of the arrow.

[0090] For example, when the stage is "extraction", a unit amount (the same as the unit amount corresponding to the discharge amount indicated by the material inventory data 1044) of extraction machine B is used in the specified unit period. Under this condition, when the specified unit period has elapsed since the stage transitioned to "extraction", the stage transitions to "manufacturing" with transition probability p7, and transitions to "extraction" with transition probability p8.

[0091] The life cycle assessment processing of this embodiment is similar to the life cycle assessment processing of Example 1, except that an ecosystem model 1052 corresponding to the product to be evaluated is used instead of a pathological transition model 1051 corresponding to the indicated disease and the drug to be evaluated, material inventory data 1044 and waste inventory data 1045 are used instead of drug inventory data 1041, medical material inventory data 1042, and metabolite inventory data 1043, evaluation index data 1032 is used instead of QALY data 1031, and the simulation termination condition is the passage of a predetermined unit period.

[0092] 14 is a diagram showing an example of the screen configuration of the assessment processing result display screen. The assessment processing result display screen 1400 displays, for example, information indicating the specified product to be evaluated ("Dish C"). The assessment processing result display screen 1400 also displays information indicating the amount of emissions per product to be evaluated (unit amount), the quality of life index value per product to be evaluated (unit amount), and the corrected amount of emissions (emissions amount / quality of life index value) per product to be evaluated (unit amount), for each stage and as a total value. The assessment processing result display screen 1400 in FIG. 14 allows the user of the life cycle assessment processing device 100 to recognize the amount of emissions, the quality of life index value, and the corrected amount of emissions at each stage.

[0093] As described above, the life cycle assessment processing device 100 of this embodiment can calculate the amount of emissions in the life cycle of an ecosystem that incorporates bioplastic products (biodegradable products), and can further correct the amount of emissions using an index of the quality of life of the ecosystem.

[0094] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail to clearly explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those including all of the described configurations. Furthermore, it is possible to replace part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace part of the configuration of each embodiment with other configurations.

[0095] Furthermore, the above-described configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be partially or entirely implemented in hardware, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. The above-described configurations, functions, etc. may also be implemented in software, with a processor interpreting and executing a program that implements each function. Information such as the programs, tables, and files that implement each function can be stored in a memory, a recording device such as a hard disk or SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, SD card, or DVD.

[0096] In addition, the control lines and information lines shown are those that are considered necessary for the explanation, and do not necessarily show all the control lines and information lines in the product. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected. [Explanation of symbols]

[0097] 100 life cycle assessment processing device, 101 emission calculation unit, 102 emission correction unit, 103 correction index data, 104 inventory data, 105 life cycle model, 110 CPU, 120 memory, 130 auxiliary storage device, 140 input device, 150 display device, 160 communication device, 1031 QALY data, 1032 evaluation index data, 1041 drug inventory data, 1042 medical material inventory data, 1043 metabolite inventory data, 1044 material inventory data, 1045 waste product inventory data, 1051 pathological transition model, 1052 ecosystem model

Claims

1. An information processing device, a processor and a memory, The memory includes: a life cycle model showing information for estimating dynamic changes in the state of the evaluation target product in a biological system or ecosystem that takes in the evaluation target product, and the evaluation target product and other items used in each of the states; environmental load information indicating the environmental loads in the manufacturing and distribution processes of the evaluation target product and the use product; and index information indicating an index value relating to the quality of life of a biological system or ecosystem affected by the evaluation target product in each of the states; The processor: Inferring dynamic changes in the state based on the life cycle model, and identifying the evaluation target product and the items used in each state during the inferred dynamic changes; calculating an environmental load over the entire period of the estimated dynamic change based on the environmental load corresponding to the identified evaluation target product and usage items in the environmental load information; calculating the index values ​​for the entire period of the estimated dynamic change based on the index values ​​in the index information corresponding to the states stayed in during the estimated dynamic change; correcting the calculated environmental load based on the calculated index value; an information processing device that generates data for displaying the corrected environmental load;

2. 2. The information processing device according to claim 1, the processor corrects the calculated environmental load by substituting the calculated environmental load and the calculated index value into a predetermined function; The predetermined function is a function that outputs a larger value as the calculated environmental load increases, and outputs a smaller value as the calculated index value increases.

3. 3. The information processing device according to claim 2, The information processing device, wherein the predetermined function is a function that divides the calculated environmental load by the calculated index value.

4. 2. The information processing device according to claim 1, The product to be evaluated is a pharmaceutical product to be evaluated, the biological system or ecosystem into which the evaluation target product is taken is a patient into which the evaluation target drug is taken, the condition indicates the pathological condition of the patient regarding the disease for which the drug to be evaluated is indicated, The used items include medicines and medical materials other than the evaluation target medicine used for each of the pathological conditions, The index value is the quality-adjusted life years of the patient.

5. 5. The information processing device according to claim 4, the environmental load information indicates metabolites generated when the evaluation target drug and the drug contained in the use product are ingested by the patient, and environmental loads generated by the metabolites; The processor: Identifying metabolites corresponding to the identified evaluation target product and use with reference to the environmental load information; an information processing device that calculates the environmental load over the entire period of the dynamic change based on the environmental load that corresponds in the environmental load information to the identified evaluation target product, usage items, and metabolites;

6. 2. The information processing device according to claim 1, The product to be evaluated is a biological product to be evaluated, The biological system or ecosystem into which the evaluation target product is taken is a first ecosystem including an environment in which the evaluation target biological product is taken in and decomposed; The state indicates a stage of the first ecosystem related to the biological product to be evaluated, The used material includes materials other than the evaluation target biological product used in the stage, The index value is an index value of the quality of life of humans included in the first ecosystem.

7. 7. The information processing device according to claim 6, The stages include a decomposition stage in which the evaluation target bioproduct is taken into the environment and decomposed; the environmental load information indicates decomposition products generated when the evaluation target bioproduct is taken into the environment and decomposed, and the environmental load generated by the decomposition products; The processor: When the first ecosystem stays in the decomposition stage during the estimated dynamic change, a decomposition product generated in the decomposition stage is identified by referring to the environmental load information; an information processing device that calculates the environmental load over the entire period of the dynamic change based on the environmental loads that correspond in the environmental load information to the identified evaluation target product, used items, and decomposition items;

8. 2. The information processing device according to claim 1, The processor: calculating an environmental load for each state over the entire period of the estimated dynamic change based on the environmental loads corresponding to the identified evaluation target product and usage items in the environmental load information; calculating, for each state, an index value for the entire period of the estimated dynamic change based on an index value in the index information corresponding to each state in which the user stayed during the estimated dynamic change; correcting the calculated environmental load for each of the states based on the calculated index value; an information processing device that generates data for displaying the calculated environmental load for each of the states, the calculated index value for each of the states, and the corrected environmental load for each of the states.

9. An information processing method by an information processing device, the information processing device has a processor and a memory, The memory includes: a life cycle model showing information for estimating dynamic changes in the state of the evaluation target product in a biological system or ecosystem that takes in the evaluation target product, and the evaluation target product and other items used in each of the states; environmental load information indicating the environmental loads in the manufacturing and distribution processes of the evaluation target product and the use product; and index information indicating an index value relating to the quality of life of a biological system or ecosystem affected by the evaluation target product in each of the states; The information processing method includes: The processor estimates dynamic changes in the states based on the life cycle model, and identifies the evaluation target product and the objects used in each state during the estimated dynamic changes; the processor calculates an environmental load over the entire period of the estimated dynamic change based on the environmental load corresponding to the identified evaluation target product and usage items in the environmental load information; the processor calculates the index value for the entire period of the estimated dynamic change based on the index value in the index information corresponding to each state stayed during the estimated dynamic change; the processor corrects the calculated environmental load based on the calculated index value; An information processing method, wherein the processor generates data for displaying the corrected environmental load.

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