Quantitative separation of antioxidant pigments in purple sea urchin shells using a reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography

Sea urchin shells are generally discarded as food waste after removal of edible gonads, although they possess significant amount of polyhydroxylated naphtoquinone pigments having potent antioxidant property. In this study, separation and quantification of the pigment mixtures from purple sea urchin shells were performed using a C18 reversed-phase HPLC with isocratic elution of 50% mixture of solvent (A) formic acid: water (0.1: 100, v/v) and solvent (B) MeOH: acetonitrile (5: 9, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The pigment mixtures were separated into four major peaks in 30 min, which assumed to be spinochromes A, B and C and echinochrome A on the basis of UV-Vis absorption spectra obtained by a diode array detector. LC-MS analysis also supported these results by producing the predominant base peaks at m/z 221.1, 279.1, 265.1, and 263.1 corresponding to the pseudomolecular ions [M-H]⁻ of the respective compounds. The HPLC method also showed good correlations (r² > 0.98) between injected amounts of these pigments and peak areas recorded at 340 and 520 nm. These results indicated that the HPLC method developed in this study would be applicable for the separation and quantification of these major pigments in sea urchin shells.     

Studies on Epoxy Resin Film Coating by the Flame Spraying Method

The authors have shown that special formulations are required to give complete covering of steel surface (with no swelling, break away, cracks, etc) with flame sprayed film coating of epoxy resin. For this purpose, there should be minimum stress in the film, and it was concluded that treatments effective for this purpose involve adding adequate filler to reduce the thermal expansion coefficient, controlling the degree of cure, holding small closed pores in the film and semi-curing immediately after spray to keep the required tensile strength.     

Framework for Performance-Based Design of Building Structures

Abstract:   This article proposes a new framework for performance-based design (PBD) of building structures. This framework was proposed under the 3-year Japanese Government Comprehensive Research and Development Project on "Development of a New Engineering Framework for Building Structures" launched in the fiscal year of 1995. The primary objective of the project is to create a system in which the performance of buildings is clearly stated, and consumers, that is, occupants, are well informed of how their buildings will perform and how much it will cost to maintain their performance. The framework emphasizes the establishment of target performance, the performance evaluation, and the performance statement as the main three elements. It also stresses that an institutional framework and support systems need to be provided to enable PBD to be practiced efficiently. The implementation of the proposed framework is also expected to promote engineering innovation, progress in building engineering, and globalization. The new framework will also bring other benefits, such as improved design techniques, greater design flexibility, and international harmonization. It is also important for building structural performance to become one of the most important indexes for consumers to define a building's value. The Japanese building code was changed to the performance-based code, based in the clear and comprehensive manner proposed in this article. In the United States, "Vision 2000" ( SEAOC, 1995 ) was published, then many research activities were conducted simultaneously.     

Hydrothermal flames in supercritical water oxidation: investigation in a pilot scale continuous reactor

Hydrothermal flames at 25 MPa supercritical water environment were investigated using a 4800 ml reaction tower, in which the sapphire windows were fitted for optical access. Down flowing hydrothermal flames were observed for oxidation of 2-propanol when the reactor was fed with inlet organic concentration higher than 2 vol% and air ratio higher than 1.8. Flame temperature, as high as 1100 °C, was measured by means of a thermocouple and the temperature was found to be strongly influenced by air ratio. Effective and stable oxidation of organics with TOC removal rate of 99.9% was achieved. Dioxins were also decomposed with a ratio higher than 99.9%, within 1 min reaction time in this reactor configuration.     

Perspectives on the role of the lateral pterygoid muscle and the sphenomandibular ligament in temporomandibular joint function

This is a phase II study to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of short-course carboplatin in advanced-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Thirty-three previously untreated stage III-IV NPC patients were studied. Carboplatin was given as a rapid intravenous injection every 3 weeks. The dose of carboplatin was calculated according to the individual patient's creatinine clearance and desired platelet nadir of 75,000/microliter according to the Egorin formula. Response and toxicity were evaluated. Thirty-two patients were evaluated for response. The median age was 54 years, range 30-70 years. Twenty-four patients had local regional disease and 8 patients had metastatic disease. The median dose of carboplatin given was 415 mg/m2 (range 91-791 mg/m2). Fourteen (44%) patients had a partial response with a 95% confidence interval of 26-62%. Fifteen (47%) patients had stable disease and 3 (9%) progressive disease. The overall median survival rate was not reached at 43 months. Overall toxicity was tolerable. Grade III-IV myelosuppression occurred in 4 (12%) patients. There were no other major toxicity- or treatment-related deaths. We conclude that carboplatin has a significant anticancer effect in advanced NPC. Thus carboplatin combination chemotherapy for the treatment of NPC is worthy of future clinical investigations.