2-Arachidonoyl glycerol suppresses gastric emptying via the cannabinoid receptor 1-cholecystokinin signaling pathway in mice

2-Monoacylglycerol (2-MAG) is one of the digestion products of dietary lipids. We recently demonstrated that a 2-MAG, 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) potently stimulated cholecystokinin (CCK) secretion via cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) in a murine CCK-producing cell line, STC-1. CCK plays a crucial role in suppressing postprandial gastric emptying. To examine the effect of 2-AG on gastric emptying, we performed acetaminophen and phenol red recovery tests under oral or intraperitoneal administration of 2-AG in mice. Orally administered 2-AG (25 mg/kg) suppressed the gastric emptying rate in mice, as determined by the acetaminophen absorption test and phenol red recovery test. Intraperitoneal administration of a cholecystokinin A receptor antagonist (0.5 mg/kg) attenuated the gastric inhibitory emptying effect. In addition, both oral (10 mg/kg) and intraperitoneal (0.5 mg/kg) administration of a CB1 antagonist counteracted the 2-AG-induced gastric inhibitory effect. Furthermore, intraperitoneal 2-AG (25 mg/kg) suppressed gastric emptying. These results indicate that 2-AG exhibits an inhibitory effect on gastric emptying in mice, possibly mediated by stimulating both CCK secretion via CB1 expressed in CCK-producing cells and acting on CB1 expressed in the peripheral nerves. Our findings provide novel insights into the 2-MAG-sensing mechanism in enteroendocrine cells and the physiological role of 2-MAG.     

Geometry Dependence of Magnetization Reversal in Nanocomposite Alloys

The geometrical optimization of aligned hard-soft permanent-magnet nanocomposites is investigated by model calculations. Considered criteria are the shapes of the soft and c-axis-aligned hard phases, the packing fraction of the soft phase, and magnetostatic interactions. Taking into account that the energy product is enhanced via the volume fraction of the soft phase, subject to maintaining coercivity, we find that the best structures are soft-magnetic cubes as well as long rods with a square cross section. Comparing embedded soft cubes with embedded soft spheres of the same size, our nucleation-field analysis shows that the volume fraction of the soft phase is enhanced by 91%, with a coercivity reduction of only 25%. Magnetostatic interactions often but not always deteriorate the permanent-magnet performance, as exemplified by the example of MnBi:FeCo bilayers and multilayers.     

Silver vanadium phosphorous oxide, Ag2VO2PO4: Chimie douce preparation and resulting lithium cell electrochemistry

Recently, we have shown silver vanadium phosphorous oxide (Ag₂VO₂PO₄, SVPO) to be a promising cathode material for lithium based batteries. Whereas the first reported preparation of SVPO employed an elevated pressure, hydrothermal approach, we report herein a novel ambient pressure synthesis method to prepare SVPO, where our chimie douce preparation is readily scalable and provides material with a smaller, more consistent particle size and higher surface area relative to SVPO prepared via the hydrothermal method. Lithium electrochemical cells utilizing SVPO cathodes made by our new process show improved power capability under constant current and pulse conditions over cells containing cathode from SVPO prepared via the hydrothermal method.     

Pd20Pt20Cu20Ni20P20 high-entropy alloy as a bulk metallic glass in the centimeter

A Pd₂₀Pt₂₀Cu₂₀Ni₂₀P₂₀ bulk metallic glass (BMG) with a high-entropy (HE) alloy composition and a maximum diameter of 10 mm was fabricated by fluxed water quenching. The system and composition of the Pd₂₀Pt₂₀Cu₂₀Ni₂₀P₂₀ alloy were determined from a prototype ternary Pd₄₀Ni₄₀P₂₀ BMG in accordance with two strategic alloy designs of (1) HE alloy defined by an equi-atomic alloy with five or more elements and (2) exchangeability of the constituent elements with a similar chemical nature in the periodic table. Pd₂₀Pt₂₀Cu₂₀Ni₂₀P₂₀ HE-BMG had a supercooled liquid range of 65 K and a reduced glass transition temperature of 0.71. Successful formation of Pd₂₀Pt₂₀Cu₂₀Ni₂₀P₂₀ HE-BMG is significant to develop new alloys for HE alloys and BMGs.     

Thermal Stability of Polycarbosilane-Derived Silicon Carbide Fibers under Reduced Pressures

Three types of polycarbosilane-derived SiC fibers—Nicalon, Hi-Nicalon, and Hi-Nicalon S—were exposed at temperatures of 1573–1773 K under a reduced pressure of 1.3 Pa. The thermal stability of the fibers was investigated through examinations of the gas evolution, grain growth, specific resistivity, fiber morphology, and tensile strength. The thermal decomposition of the silicon oxycarbide phase began at 1523 K; then, active oxidation of the β-SiC crystallites occurred at >1673 K. The active oxidation caused serious damage to the fiber structure, which resulted in significant degradation of the fiber strength. Hi-Nicalon had a tensile strength of ∼0.5 GPa after exposure at 1773 K, although Nicalon and Hi-Nicalon S fibers completely lost their strength, even after exposure at 1673 K. Hi-Nicalon fiber had relatively good thermal stability under reduced pressure.     

Current Pumping from Spin Dynamics

We show theoretically that charge and spin currents arise from spin dynamics in the presence of the spin–orbit interaction. The dominant calculation is the inverse spin Hall effect, namely the spin current pumped from precession of local spins is converted into the charge current by the spin–orbit interaction. The conversion mechanism is explained based on the conservation laws of charge and spin.     

Preparation of Lanthanum Nickel Oxide-Coated Ni Sheet Anodes and Their Application to Electrolytic Production of (CF3)3N in (CH3)4NF·4.0HF Melt

A new process for electrolytic production of a perfluorinated compound, (CF₃)₃N, using lanthanum nickel oxide-coated Ni sheet anode in the (CH₃)₄NF·4.0HF melt at room temperature, was developed. Thin films of the lanthanum nickel oxides were prepared on Ni sheets by sol-gel coating method using polyvinlylpyrrolidone(PVP). The main components of the thin films were La₂O₃, LaNiO₃, and La₂NiO₄ at 500, 750 and 1000 °C, respectively. The anode performance in the (CH₃)₄NF·4.0HF melt depends greatly on the main component of the thin film, and the LaNiO₃-coated Ni sheet anode gives the best anode performance. The potential of LaNiO₃-coated Ni sheet anode remains constant at 5.9 V during electrolysis at 20 mA·cm⁻² in the (CH₃)4NF·4.0HF melt for 100 h. This is because LaNiO₃ and NiF₃, and/or Ni₂F₅, the latter of which was formed during electrolysis, in the film give a high electronic conductivity to the surface film during electrolysis. The maximum mole fraction of (CF₃)₃N (21.4%) was obtained at 20 mA·cm⁻² in (CH₃)₄NF·4.0HF melt using the LaNiO₃-coated Ni sheet.     

LD抽运的Cr4+∶YAG被动调Q Nd∶YAG激光器

研究了不同谐振腔下不同透射率的Cr4 + ∶YAG调Q的激光输出特性。采用透射率为 82 %的Cr4 + ∶YAG ,在抽运功率 1 1W时 ,激光重复频率小于 3kHz,单脉冲能量达 2 0 μJ ,可以作为微脉冲激光雷达的发射光源。分析和比较了实验结果和理论计算 ,两者吻合较好     

Molecular imprinting of biotin derivatives and its application to competitive binding assay using nonisotopic labeled ligands

Synthetic biotin-binding polymers were prepared by molecular imprinting. Methacrylic acid (MAA) was copolymerized with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate in the presence of biotin methyl ester (B-Me) in chloroform. Hydrogen-bonding-based complexation of B-Me with MAA generates the binding sites complementary to B-Me after extracting B-Me from the resulting copolymers. Data from NMR titration suggest a one-to-one prepolymerization complex formation of B-Me with MAA in chloroform. A possible complex structure was estimated by docking of the most stable conformers by intermolecular Monte Carlo conformational search under the assumption of a one-to-one association. The selectivity of the imprinted polymers was investigated and an imprinted polymer-based competitive binding assay for B-Me was demonstrated using biotin p-nitrophenyl ester as a nonisotopic-labeled ligand.