Effect of chloride on the formation of 3-monochloro-1,2-propanediol fatty acid diesters and glycidol fatty acid esters in fish,meats and acylglycerols during heating

The effects of the presence of chloride on the formation of 3-monochloro-1,2-propanediol fatty acid esters (3-MCPDEs) and glycidol fatty acid esters (GEs) in saltwater fish, meats and acylglycerols (diacylglycerol and triacylglycerol) during heating were investigated in this study. Five saltwater fish species (salmon, saury, yellowtail, mackerel and Spanish mackerel) were grilled with a fish griller. 3-MCPDEs and GEs were detected in all of the grilled fish samples. The total amount of GEs was higher than 3-MCPDEs. Beef and pork patties with or without sodium chloride (1.5%) were cooked using gaseous fuel. The formation of 3-MCPDEs was significantly increased by the addition of sodium chloride to the meat patties, whereas the concentration of GEs in the cooked meat patties was not changed by the content of sodium chloride. Hexadecane solutions of diacylglycerol or triacylglycerol containing FeCl₃ were heated at 240°C. The formation of 3-MCPDEs was greatly increased by adding FeCl₃ to the solutions of triacylglycerol. The amounts of 3-MCPDEs decreased with the extension of the heating time. From these results, it is suggested that 3-MCPDEs and GEs are formed in saltwater fish and meats by cooking, and that the formation of 3-MCPDEs was affected by chloride in foodstuffs.     

Genetic variation of Listeria monocytogenes isolates from domestic and imported foods in Japan

Phylogenetic analyses were carried out on a total of 118 Listeria monocytogenes isolates from foods or food processing environments, and 7 isolates from listeriosis patients in Japan to evaluate the genetic variation in the pathogen in this country. Isolates of serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b and 4b were mainly examined to assess the risk of exposure of humans to L. monocytogenes from foods in Japan. The nucleotide sequences of the part of the iap gene that contains the region encoding the threonine-asparagine repeat units were determined in order to construct phylogenetic trees of the isolates investigated. A phylogram showed high genetic diversity among lineage 2 isolates, while the lineage 1 isolates showed clonal characteristics. The results of the genetic analyses suggested the presence of rare putative lineage 3 isolates and epidemic clone I (ECI) isolates in foods in Japan. The results showed that ECI was also isolated from listeriosis patients. The genetic variation in L. monocytogenes in Japan reported here suggests the necessity of monitoring the pathogen in foods and environments in addition to surveillance of listeriosis patients.     

Effect of long term ingestion of gum arabic on the adipose tissues of female mice

Abdominal obesity is the most prevalent manifestation of metabolic syndrome. The anti-obese effects of dietary fiber is generally accepted, but specifically the anti-obese properties of the dietary fiber, gum arabic (GA) has not been well studied. In this investigation, we offered GA to the female 90 days old mice in the form of drink (1% w/v) for 180 days. Such GA in drinking water reduced age-dependent fat deposition in the visceral adipose tissue and improved the gastrocnemius muscle reduction. This inhibition of fat deposition effect is due to the β3-adrenergic stimulation of adipocytes in which TNFα down-regulation is probably involved. Modification of large intestinal microflora, as evidenced by a modification of cecal short-chain fatty acid profile and of 16S rDNA profile, may contribute to such reduction in TNFα expression in the adipose tissues.     

Inhibition of xanthine oxidase activity by an oxathiolanone derivative of quercetin

An oxathiolanone derivative of rutin could be produced in the stomach after the ingestion of rutin containing foods, and the oxathiolanone derivative could be hydrolysed to an oxathiolanone derivative of quercetin (quercetin-oxathiolanone) in the intestine. Quercetin-oxathiolanone as well as quercetin inhibited xanthine oxidase. Approximately 0.05 μM quercetin-oxathiolanone inhibited the activity by 50%, whereas 50% inhibition by quercetin was observed at approximately 0.4 μM. The results suggested that quercetin-oxathiolanone can be used as an effective inhibitor of xanthine oxidase and that the ingestion of rutin-rich foods may be useful to prevent the increase in the blood concentration of uric acid.     

An FPGA implementation of hard‐wired sequence control system based on PLC software

Although a programmable logic controller (PLC) has been widely adopted for the sequence control of industrial machinery, its performance does not always satisfy the recent requirements in large and highly responsive systems. With the state‐of‐the‐art field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology, it is possible to implement a control program with hard‐wired logic for higher response and reduced implementation cost/space. This approach is also worthwhile for transmigration of legacy PLC software into forthcoming FPGA‐based control hardware. This study presents a systematic method to implement a hard‐wired sequence control from PLC software. PLC instructions are converted into VHDL codes, and then implemented as logic circuit with various peripheral functions. Productive PLC programs were examined with Mitsubishi Electric FX2N PLC and Altera Stratix II FPGA, and were shown to fit into a common FPGA chip. A straightforward Sequential design was estimated to be 184 times faster than PLC, while a performance‐oriented Flat design was estimated to be 44 times faster than Sequential design (i.e., 8050 times faster than PLC). A practical perfect layer winder system was actually built and successfully operated with our FPGA control board, whose logic design was implemented with our tools. © 2011 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Nido-Hydroborate-Based Electrolytes for All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries

Hydroborate-based solid electrolytes have recently been successfully employed in high voltage, room temperature all-solid-state sodium batteries. The transfer to analogous lithium systems has failed up to now due to the lower conductivity of the corresponding lithium compounds and their high cost. Here LiB₁₁H₁₄ nido-hydroborate as a cost-effective building block and its high-purity synthesis is introduced. The crystal structures of anhydrous LiB₁₁H₁₄ as well as of LiB₁₁H₁₄-based mixed-anion solid electrolytes are solved and high ionic conductivities of 1.1 × 10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ for Li₂(B₁₁H₁₄)(CB₁₁H₁₂) and 1.1 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ for Li₃(B₁₁H₁₄)(CB₉H₁₀)₂ are obtained, respectively. LiB₁₁H₁₄ exhibits an oxidative stability limit of 2.6 V versus Li⁺/Li and the proposed decomposition products are discussed based on density functional theory calculations. Strategies are discussed to improve the stability of these compounds by modifying the chemical structure of the nido-hydroborate cage. Galvanostatic cycling in symmetric cells with two lithium metal electrodes shows a small overpotential increase from 22.5 to 30 mV after 620 h (up to 0.5 mAh cm⁻²), demonstrating that the electrolyte is compatible with metallic anodes. Finally, the Li₂(B₁₁H₁₄)(CB₁₁H₁₂)  electrolyte is employed in a proof-of-concept half cell with a TiS₂ cathode with a capacity retention of 82% after 150 cycles at C/5.     

Numerical Simulation of Sterilization Processes for Shear‐Thinning Food in Taylor‐Couette Flow Systems

The performance of the Taylor‐Couette flow apparatus as a heat sterilizer is numerically investigated. The destruction of Clostridium botulinum and thiamine (vitamin B1) was selected as model reaction. When Taylor vortices were formed in the annular space, the heat transfer significantly enhanced as compared to the case without vortex flow. As a result, the equivalent lethality calculated from the temperature field increased, which is regarded as a quantum leap. Conversely, the improvement of heat transfer induced destruction of thiamine. These results suggest that there is a trade‐off relationship between the enhancement of heat transfer and the avoidance of thermal destruction of nutritional components. In conclusion, the Taylor‐Couette flow sterilizer has the potential for process intensification in heat sterilization processes.     

Abscopal Effect of Frozen Autograft Reconstruction Combined with an Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Analyzed Using a Metastatic Bone Tumor Model

We evaluated the abscopal effect of re-implantation of liquid nitrogen-treated tumor-bearing bone grafts and the synergistic effect of anti-PD-1 (programmed death-1) therapy using a bone metastasis model, created by injecting MMT-060562 cells into the bilateral tibiae of 6–8-week-old female C3H mice. After 2 weeks, the lateral tumors were treated by excision, cryotreatment using liquid nitrogen, excision with anti-PD-1 treatment, and cryotreatment with anti-PD-1 treatment. Anti-mouse PD-1 4H2 was injected on days 1, 6, 12, and 18 post-treatment. The mice were euthanized after 3 weeks; the abscopal effect was evaluated by focusing on growth inhibition of the abscopal tumor. The re-implantation of frozen autografts significantly inhibited the growth of the remaining abscopal tumors. However, a more potent abscopal effect was observed in the anti-PD-1 antibody group. The number of CD8+ T cells infiltrating the abscopal tumor and tumor-specific interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-producing spleen cells increased in the liquid nitrogen-treated group compared with those in the excision group, with no significant difference. The number was significantly higher in the anti-PD-1 antibody-treated group than in the non-treated group. Overall, re-implantation of tumor-bearing frozen autograft has an abscopal effect on abscopal tumor growth, although re-implantation of liquid nitrogen-treated bone grafts did not induce a strong T-cell response or tumor-suppressive effect.     

A Strategy for Discovering Heterochiral Bioactive Peptides by Using the OB2nP Library and SPOTs Method

d -Amino acid containing peptides are promising as drug lead compounds because of their expected higher stability in vivo. A heterochiral random peptide library called the one-bead–2ⁿ-peptide (OB2ⁿP) library, which can display 2ⁿ peptide diastereomers per bead, has been developed. Through screening of the OB2ⁿP library and subsequent binding assay among the peptide diastereomers synthesized in parallel by means of the SPOTs method, new heterochiral mimotopes for the anti-β-endorphin monoclonal antibody have been obtained. One mimotope was a new ligand for the μ-opioid receptor. The screening strategy enabled d -amino acid containing drug leads to be obtained efficiently by expanding searchable chemical space without increasing the experimental scale.     

Evaluation of the Anti-Proliferative Activity of Rare Aldohexoses against MOLT-4F and DU-145 Human Cancer Cell Line and Structure-Activity Relationship of D-Idose

D-Allose (D-All), a C-3 epimer of D-glucose (D-Glc), is a naturally rare monosaccharide, which shows anti-proliferative activity against several human cancer cell lines. Unlike conventional anticancer drugs, D-All targets glucose metabolism and is non-toxic to normal cells. Therefore, it has attracted attention as a unique “seed” compound for anticancer agents. However, the anti-proliferative activities of the other rare aldohexoses have not been examined yet. In this study, we evaluated the anti-proliferative activity of rare aldohexoses against human leukemia MOLT-4F and human prostate cancer DU-145 cell lines. We found that D-All and D-idose (D-Ido) at 5 mM inhibited cell proliferation of MOLT-4F cells by 46 % and 60 %, respectively. On the other hand, the rare aldohexoses at 5 mM did not show specific anti-proliferative activity against DU-145 cells. To explore the structure–activity relationship of D-Ido, we evaluated the anti-proliferative activity of D-sorbose (D-Sor), 6-deoxy-D-Ido, and L-xylose (L-Xyl) against MOLT-4F cells and found that D-Sor, 6-deoxy-D-Ido, and L-Xyl showed no inhibitory activity at 5 mM, suggesting that the aldose structure and the C-6 hydroxy group of D-Ido are important for its activity. Cellular glucose uptake assay and western blotting analysis of thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) expression suggested that the anti-proliferative activity of D-Ido is induced by inhibition of glucose uptake via TXNIP-independent pathway.