Profiles of lipid components,fatty acid distributions of triacylglycerols and phospholipids in Jack beans (Canavalia gladiata DC.)

Endogenous tocopherols in extracted lipids from Jack beans (Canavalia gladiata DC.) were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and were investigated in relation to the fatty acids (FA) distribution of triacylgycerols (TAG) and phospholipids (PL). The dominant tocopherols were (δ)-tocopherol (78.9–96.5 mg%) and (γ)-tocopherol (42.1–56.1 mg%) with much smaller amounts of (α)-tocopherol (1.1–1.3 mg%). The lipids of Jack beans comprised mainly TAG (34.6–38.6 wt.%) and PL (54.8–57.4 wt.%), and other components were also detected in minor proportions (0.3–3.8 wt.%). The PL components included phosphatidyl choline (46.2–48.7 wt.%), phosphatidyl inositol (23.4–29.6 wt.%) and phosphatidyl ethanolamine (18.5–21.2 wt.%). Comparison of these different beans showed, with a few exceptions, no significant differences (P > 0.05) in FA distribution. The FA distribution of TAG among the five beans was evident in the Jack beans: unsaturated FA (93.3–95.3 wt.%) were predominantly concentrated at the sn-2 position and saturated FA (33.6–34.4wt.%) primarily occupying the sn-1 position or sn-3 position. The results obtained from this work would provide useful information to both producers and consumers for manufacturing functional foods or beverages in Japan and elsewhere.     

Inflammogenic effect of well-characterized fullerenes in inhalation and intratracheal instillation studies

Background

We used fullerenes, whose dispersion at the nano-level was stabilized by grinding in nitrogen gas in an agitation mill, to conduct an intratracheal instillation study and an inhalation exposure study. Fullerenes were individually dispersed in distilled water including 0.1% Tween 80, and the diameter of the fullerenes was 33 nm. These suspensions were directly injected as a solution in the intratracheal instillation study. The reference material was nickel oxide in distilled water. Wistar male rats intratracheally received a dose of 0.1 mg, 0.2 mg, or 1 mg of fullerenes and were sacrificed after 3 days, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months. In the inhalation study, Wistar rats were exposed to fullerene agglomerates (diameter: 96 ± 5 nm; 0.12 ± 0.03 mg/m³; 6 hours/days for 5 days/week) for 4 weeks and were sacrificed at 3 days, 1 month, and 3 months after the end of exposure. The inflammatory responses and gene expression of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractants (CINCs) were examined in rat lungs in both studies.

Results

In the intratracheal instillation study, both the 0.1 mg and 0.2 mg fullerene groups did not show a significant increase of the total cell and neutrophil count in BALF or in the expression of CINC-1,-2αβ and-3 in the lung, while the high-dose, 1 mg group only showed a transient significant increase of neutrophils and expression of CINC-1,-2αβ and -3. In the inhalation study, there were no increases of total cell and neutrophil count in BALF, CINC-1,-2αβ and-3 in the fullerene group.

Conclusion

These data in intratracheal instillation and inhalation studies suggested that well-dispersed fullerenes do not have strong potential of neutrophil inflammation.     

Effects of Trace Elements in Copper Fillers on the Electrical Properties of Conductive Adhesives

The properties of electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) filled with Cu and Cu alloy fillers (with alloy elements Ag, Ge, Mg, and Zn) were investigated in terms of electrical conductivity, thermal stability, and the effects of the trace alloy elements on the oxidation resistance of the metallic fillers. Oxidation of metallic fillers under high-temperature exposure at 125°C was considered as the main reason that led to degradation of electrical conductivity in the ECAs. Cu fillers alloyed with a trace amount of Ag and Mg, respectively, had significant effects on the electrical conductivity and thermal stability of the ECAs as the electrical resistivity was substantially suppressed and a consistently high electrical conductivity could be maintained even after aging for 1000 h at 125°C.     

A 20-ns 4-Mb CMOS SRAM with hierarchical word decoding architecture

A 20 ns 4-Mb CMOS SRAM operating at a single supply voltage of 3.3 V is described. The fast access time has been achieved by a newly proposed word-decoding architecture and a high-speed sense amplifier combined with the address transition detection (ATD) technique. The RAM has the fast address mode, which achieves quicker than 10-ns access, and the 16-b parallel test mode for the reduction of test time. A 0.6-μm process technology featuring quadruple-polysilicon and double-metal wiring is adopted to integrate more than 16 million transistors in a 8.35-mm×18.0-mm die     

Autonomous metabolic oscillation in continuous culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown on ethanol

The electrophoretic profiles of outer membrane proteins and lipopolysaccharide of sixty-five enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli of different serotypes and virulence-associated factors, toxin and colonization factors were determined. A close relationship between serotype and outer membrane protein and lipopolysaccharide patterns could be observed. No correlation could be found between the electrophoretic profiles and the expression of virulence-associated factors. The observed homogeneity of outer membrane protein and lipopolysaccharide profiles suggested the presence of only a few clones in the samples studied, and supported the use of outer membrane protein and lipopolysaccharide analysis as a useful epidemiological tool in the characterization of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli isolates.     

Interactive solution to multiple criteria problems in chemical process design: An approach by pairwise comparison

A process design problem is considered as a multiobjective problem that is characterized by conflicting objectives such as economics, operability, and so on. A method developed for solving multiobjective problems in man-machine interactive mode has been extensively applied to the basic process design of chemical process systems. AS an illustrative example, an optimal design of a simple, yet practical, chemical process system has been taken up to show the practical usefulness of the present method.     

Effect of vinconate on the extracellular levels of dopamine and its metabolites in the rat striatum: microdialysis studies

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B/3 is characterized by multiple mucosal neuromas, a marfanoid appearance, medullary thyroid carcinoma, pheochromocytoma, gastrointestinal ganglioneuromatosis, and thickened corneal nerves. This rare syndrome is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. Early recognition followed by appropriate screening and treatment can be life-saving.     

A graphical approach to causes and effects analysis of chemical processing systems

An original method developed for solving the problem of locating the origin of a system failure on the concept of a signed digraph has been extensively applied to the cause and effect analysis of chemical processing systems, whose mathematical models are expressed by differential equations. As an illustrative example, a propane vaporizer has been taken up to show the usefulness of the present approach.     

Effect on prognosis of bone marrow infiltration detected by magnetic resonance imaging in small cell lung cancer

The staging system of limited disease (LD) and extensive disease (ED) is widely used and has been shown to provide useful prognostic information in cases of small cell lung cancer (SCLC). However, accurate examinations are necessary for correct staging. In this report, we evaluated the clinical usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of bone marrow in SCLC. 37 patients with LD by standard staging and 41 with ED were examined with bone marrow MRI. Results of bone marrow MRI did not influence the choice of treatment in patients with LD. For subsequent analysis, patients with LD were divided into two groups: patients in whom bone marrow infiltration was detected with MRI (MRI-positive LD group) and those in whom it was not (MRI-negative LD group). Focal or diffuse metastases to bone marrow were detected with MRI in 46% (36/78) of all patients and 35% (13/37) of LD patients. The response rates to treatment in patients with MRI-positive LD were lower than those in patients with MRI-negative LD (P = 0.006). The survival of patients with MRI-positive LD was worse than that of MRI-negative LD (generalised Wilcoxon test: P = 0.0157), and closer to that of ED. Multivariate analyses using a Cox model that included the result of bone marrow MRI, performance status, chemotherapy regimen, radiotherapy and serum lactose dehydrogenase (LDH) level showed that the result of bone marrow MRI remained a prognostic factor in SCLC patients with limited disease. Bone marrow examination with MRI is useful for better staging of SCLC. According to our analysis of response rates and survival, MRI-positive LD should be considered a type of ED.     

Studies on the toxicity of pulp and paper mill effluents—II. Mutagenicity of the extracts of the liver from spotted sea trout (Nibea mitsukurii)

Sediment samples collected at three different coastal points (Shinguu, Ooigawa and Tagonoura) were extracted with diethylether and then methanol. Each extract was separated into five fractions by high-speed liquid chromatography and they were submitted to mutagenic assay using B. subtilis and S. typhimurium and to GC-MS analysis.The ether fraction of sediment sample from Shinguu showed DNA damaging potency on B. subtilis and exhibited mutagenic effect on S. typhimurium TA 98, TA 100 and TA 1537. 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol, 3,4,5,6-tetrachloroguaiacol, dehydroabietic acid, pyrene and fluoranthene were mutagenic substances among 28 substances identified and tested.