包装材料的环境影响评价

对有关环境影响评价技术和指标建立方法进行了比较,从而确定出能够适合可持续包装需要的包装材料环境影响评价方法.并就基于末端模型包装生命周期影响评价和单一可持续性指标的确立进行了讨论,以便能够为实践中优选包装材料提供指导.     

Lymphatic transport of a physical mixture of medium-and long-chain TAG in rats

Lymphatic transport of a mixture of medium-chain TAG (MCT) and long-chain TAG (LCT) was studied in lymph-cannulated rats. Animals were administered a test emulsion containing either triolein, tricaprylin, or a 1∶1 mixture of triolein and tricaprylin, and the lymph was collected for 24 h. The lymphatic recovery rate of medium-chain FA (MCFA) was significantly higher in rats given the TAG mixture than in those given MCT alone. The lymphatic recovery rate of long-chain FA (LCFA) also was significantly higher in rats given the TAG mixture than in those given LCT alone. No TAG containing three MCFA (i.e., MCT) was detected, and 37.7% of TAG containing one or two MCFA was detected in the lymph TAG when rats were given the TAG mixture. These results indicate that lymphatic transport of MCFA and LCFA can be modified by the combination of MCT and LCT.     

D-lactic acid production by metabolically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Poly D-lactic acid is an important polymer because it improves the thermostability of poly L-lactic acid by the stereo complex formation. We constructed a metabolically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae that produces D-lactic acid efficiently. In this recombinant, the coding region of pyruvate decarboxylase 1 (PDC1) was completely deleted, and two copies of the D-lactate dehydrogenase (D-LDH) gene from Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides strain NBRC3426 were introduced into the genome. The D-lactate production reached 61.5 g/l, the amount of glucose being transformed into D-lactic acid being 61.2% under neutralizing conditions. Additionally, the yield of free D-lactic acid was also shown to be 53.0% under non-neutralizing conditions. It was confirmed that D-lactic acid of extremely high optical purity of 99.9% or higher. Our finding obtained the possibility of a new approach for pure d-lactic acid production without a neutralizing process compared with other techniques involving lactic acid bacteria and transgenic Escherichia coli.     

Effects of gonadotrophin treatments on meiotic and developmental competence of oocytes in porcine primordial follicles following xenografting to nude mice

Our objective was to improve the developmental ability of oocytes in porcine primordial follicles xenografted to nude mice, by treating the host mice with gonadotrophins to accelerate follicular growth. Ovarian tissues from 20-day-old piglets, in which most of the follicles were primordial, were transplanted under the kidney capsules of ovariectomized nude mice. Gonadotrophin treatments were commenced around 60 days after vaginal cornification in the mice. Ovarian grafts were obtained 2 or 3 days after treatment with equine chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG-2 and eCG-3 groups), after porcine FSH infusion for 7 or 14 days, or after infusion of porcine FSH for 14 days with a single injection of estradiol antiserum (FSH-7, FSH-14 and FSH-14EA groups, respectively). Gonadotrophin treatments accelerated follicular growth within the xenografts compared with that in control mice given no gonadotrophins, consistent with higher (P < 0.05) circulating inhibin levels in the gonadotrophin-treated mice. In contrast, circulating mouse FSH levels were significantly (P < 0.05) depressed. We recovered large numbers of full-sized oocytes with meiotic competence to the mature stage from the eCG-3, FSH-7, and FSH-14EA, unlike in the control group. Moreover, 56% of matured oocytes with the first polar body (n = 39) were fertilized in vitro in the FSH-14EA group. After in vitro fertilization and subsequent culture for 7 days, one blastocyst was obtained from each of the eCG-3, FSH-7 and, FSH-14EA groups, whereas no blastocysts appeared in the other groups. Exogenous gonadotrophins--not mouse FSH--stimulated the growing follicles that had developed from the primordial follicles in the xenografts: the effects were incomplete but improved to some extent the meiotic and developmental abilities of the oocytes.     

Measurement of the amount and number of pollen particles of Cryptomeria japonica (taxodiaceae) by imaging with a photoacoustic microscope

A photoacoustic microscope (PAM), which includes a condenser microphone and a pair of linear-motor-driven pulse stages, was specially designed for spectroscopic applications. The PAM was applied to measure the amount and number of pollen particles of Cryptomeria japonica (CJ), which is known for its allergic function against eyes and nose. The advantage of photoacoustic (PA) imaging is both its high sensitivity and its counting ability up to high concentrations of the specimen. The CJ pollen particles were fixed on a piece of adhesive tape or on albumen (egg white) on a glass slide set in a PA cell. The PA image showed the ability of this method to count CJ pollen from the several-hundred-milligram region to even a single particle. The PA signal obtained was integrated over the specimen surface. The dependence of the PA signal on the amount or number of the pollen particles was measured. The resulting coefficients of correlation of the calibration curves for the amount and the number of pollen particles were 0.94 and 0.97, respectively.     

In vivo Digestion of Banana Starch Granules

Approximately 50% of either potato or banana granules ingested by rats fed diets containing the starch granules as the main carbohydrate disappeared in the rat bodies with making corrections for starches in feces and in posthumous contents of the gastro-intestinal tracts. By scanning electron microscopy starch granules isolated from the digestive tracts of rats showed typical patterns of the enzymatic attack, probably those of α-amylase attack, on their surface layers and inner portions. SEM observations of the cross-section of a grain of feces of rats fed with diets containing starch granules of banana and potato revealed that damage of starch granules can be observed without the tedious procedure of separating starch granules from feces.     

Degradation of Starch Granules by Alpha-Amylase of Streptomyces precox NA-273

The action of purified α-amylase of Streptomyces precox NA-273 on starch granules of normal maize and potato was studied. The hydrolysis was followed by measuring total soluble carbohydrates and glucose released. Patterns of degradation were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The main soluble product was maltose, small amounts of glucose and higher oligosaccharides were always observed. By SEM, attack started small pits on the surfaces of maize starch granules, pits increased in number and in size, and pores penetrated into the inner portions of the granules toward the center. The enzyme seemed to degrade the inner portion of starch granules better than the well-known general α-amylases.     

Susceptibility of Various Starch Granules to Amylases as Seen by Scanning Electron Microscope

Starch granules were observed by a scanning electron microscope in order to provide information concerning the types and extent of damage of the surface and internal structure of starch granules attacked by amylases. Granules resistant to the action of amylases, namely, potato, yamanoimo, and high-amylose maize starches showed shapes and surfaces similar to the intact granules after the action of either Rhizopus glucoamylase or crystalline bacterial α-amylase. Granules susceptible to amylases, namely, normal, waxy, soft starch, and soft starch opaque-2 maize starches showed numerous pin holes on the surface layer and pores penetrated into the inner layers of the granules during the attack with amylases. In the case of α-amylolysis, it is apparent that once the enzyme has penetrated into the inner layers of a granule, the layers are more readily attacked than the peripheral layers.     

Fullerene Rosette: Two-Dimensional Interactive Nanoarchitectonics and Selective Vapor Sensing

The simplicity of fullerenes as assembled components provides attractive opportunities for basic understanding in self-assembly research. We applied in situ reactive methods to the self-assembly process of C₆₀ molecules with melamine/ethylenediamine components in solution, resulting in a novel type of fullerene assemblies, micron-sized two-dimensional, amorphous shape-regular objects, fullerene rosettes. ATR–FTIR spectra, XPS, and TGA results suggest that the melamine/ethylenediamine components strongly interact and/or are covalently linked with fullerenes in the fullerene rosettes. The broad peak for layer spacing in the XRD patterns of the fullerene rosettes corresponds roughly to the interdigitated fullerene bilayer or monolayer of modified fullerene molecules. The fullerene rosettes are made from the accumulation of bilayer/monolayer assemblies of hybridized fullerenes in low crystallinity. Prototype sensor systems were fabricated upon immobilization of the fullerene rosettes onto surfaces of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), and selective sensing of formic acid was demonstrated as preliminary results for social-demanded toxic material sensing. The QCM sensor with fullerene rosette is categorized as one of the large-response sensors among reported examples. In selectivity to formic acids against basic guests (formic acid/pyridine >30) or aromatic guests (formic acid/toluene >110), the fullerene rosette-based QCM sensor also showed superior performance.