Lipid classes,fatty acid composition and triacylglycerol molecular species of kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Seed oils from five legume cultivars of Phaseolus vulgaris, grown in Japan, were extracted and classified by thin‐layer chromatography (TLC) into seven fractions: hydrocarbons (HC; 0.7–1.4 wt‐%), steryl esters (SE; 1.7–3.3 wt‐%), triacylglycerols (TAG; 33.8–45.9 wt‐%), free fatty acids (FFA; 0.6–1.5 wt‐%), sn‐1,3‐diacylglycerols (1,3‐DAG; 0.3–1.0 wt‐%), sn‐1,2‐diacylglycerols (1,2‐DAG; 0.4–1.2 wt‐%) and phospholipids (PL; 49.4–58.8 wt‐%). Fatty acids derivatized as methyl esters were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and a flame ionization detector. Molecular species and the fatty acid distribution of TAG isolated from the total lipids in the beans were analyzed by a combination of argentation‐TLC and GC. A modified argentation‐TLC procedure, developed to optimize the separation of the complex mixture of total TAG, provided 18 different groups of TAG, based on both the degree of unsaturation and the total length of the three acyl chains of fatty acid groups. SDT (3.2–4.2 wt‐%), M₂T (3.8–5.0 wt‐%), D₃ (4.8–5.9 wt‐%), MDT (8.0–13.9 wt‐%), D₂T (12.5–15.8 wt‐%), MT₂ (19.4–22.7 wt‐%), DT₂ (17.8–23.5 wt‐%) and T₃ (9.2–13.0 wt‐%) were the main TAG components. The dominant fatty acids of TAG were α‐linolenic (48.5–57.8 wt‐%) and linoleic (16.7–25.8 wt‐%) acids, with appreciable amounts of palmitic (8.3–13.2 wt‐%) and oleic (7.8–13.8 wt‐%) acids. The high content of α‐linolenic acid in the cultivars of P. vulgaris could very likely play a beneficial role in reducing the risk of coronary heart disease among the large populations consuming them in Japan.     

The new and improved NIST Dragon's LAIR (Lofting and Ignition Research) facility

Several studies suggest that the firebrands are a major cause of structural ignition of Wildland–Urban Interface fires in USA and Australia. For 40 years, past firebrand studies have focused on how far firebrands fly and do not assess the vulnerabilities of structures to ignition from firebrand showers. The development of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Dragon has allowed the quantification of structure ignition vulnerabilities of full‐scale building assemblies. Full‐scale tests are necessary to highlight vulnerabilities of structures to ignition under firebrand attack, whereas bench‐scale test methods afford the capability to test new firebrand‐resistant technologies and may serve as the basis for new standard testing methodologies. To this end, the present investigation was undertaken to construct a new and improved Dragon's Lofting and Ignition Research facility. This entailed removing the NIST Baby Dragon from the wind tunnel facility and inserting the new and improved NIST continuous feed Baby Dragon. The unique feature of the continuous feed Baby Dragon, over the current NIST Baby Dragon, is the capability to produce a constant firebrand shower in order to expose building materials to continual firebrand bombardment. The efficacy of the new experimental facility to determine ignition regime maps of building materials exposed to wind‐driven firebrand showers is presented. Specifically, ignition regime maps are presented as a function of continuous firebrand generation rate, wind tunnel speed, and cedar moisture content. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wavelength conversion film with glass coated Eu chelate for enhanced silicon-photovoltaic cell performance

In order to improve the conversion efficiency of a silicon-photovoltaic (PV) module, we investigated the combination with a wavelength conversion film (WCF), which consists of Eu chelate particles encapsulated by the sol–gel derived silica glass. The photoluminescence (PL) excitation spectrum of Eu chelate shows that the violet light below 400 nm is effectively converted to the red emission at 613 nm. Since the PV cell has higher sensitivity at the red wavelength region compared to the violet region, Eu chelate is one of the suitable material for a WCF. The diameter of fabricated sol–gel encapsulated Eu chelate was larger than the wavelength of irradiated sunlight, therefore, the transmittance of a WCF decreased with increasing the concentration of Eu chelate. The short circuit current (J_SC) was increased by inserting the the WCF on the front side of Si-PV cell compared to the reference module (glass/ethylene vinyl acetate/WCF without Eu chelate/Si-PV cell/EVA/back-film), and the maximum increase of ΔJ_SC was 1.03 mA/cm² compared to the reference module. However, the maximum ΔJ_SC of fabricated module was almost same as the conventional Si-PV cell due to the refractive index mismatch of each layers.     

Facile method for the preparation of 7-methyl-8-oxoguanosines as an immunomodulator

Reaction of 9-(2,3,5-tri-O-acetyl-beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-7-methylguaninium iodide (2a) with hydrogen peroxide in acetic acid gave the corresponding 7-methyl-8-oxoguanosine derivative (3a) in good yield. Deprotection of 3a easily gave 7-methyl-8-oxoguanosine (1), which is well-known as an immunomodulator. Substitution of acetyl group at the N2-position of guanine ring accelerated the oxidation reaction of the 7-methylguaninium iodide.     

Electrochemical oxidation of cholesterol in acetonitrile leads to the formation of cholesta-4,6-dien-3-one

Cholesterol was shown to be oxidized at the glassy carbon electrode in an acetonitrile–2-propanol mixture and this oxidation reaction was applied to the determination of serum total cholesterol by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (K. Hojo, H. Hakamata, A. Ito, A. Kotani, C. Furukawa, Y.Y. Hosokawa, F. Kusu, J. Chromatogr. A 1166 (2007) 135–141). To gain insight into the detection mechanisms of cholesterol, an electrolytic product of cholesterol was collected and characterized by infrared spectroscopy, one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The three techniques, together with comparisons of literature spectral data, confirmed the formation of cholesta-4,6-dien-3-one. The conversion of cholesterol to cholesta-4,6-dien-3-one, a four-electron, four-proton electrochemical process, has been proposed as an electrochemical oxidation mechanism of cholesterol in acetonitrile.     

Blue Color Formation of Cyanobacteria with β-Cyclocitral

Volatile compounds, such as β-cyclocitral, geosmin, and 2-methylisoborneol, from cyanobacteria showed a lytic activity against cyanobacteria. Particularly, β-cyclocitral caused an interesting color change in the culture broth from green to blue during the lysis process. In the present study, the lytic behavior of various cyanobacteria with β-cyclocitral was investigated, and a mechanism for the blue color formation was developed. β-Cyclocitral lysed both the laboratory strains of any genera and bloom samples including many species of cyanobacteria, and caused the characteristic color change from green to blue. β-Cyclocitral provided a characteristic behavior, such that the absorption maxima of chlorophyll-a and β-carotene disappeared, but that of phycocyanin still remained after 12 h, which indicated that β-cyclocitral decomposed chlorophyll-a and β-carotene rapidly, so that the inherent colors from the tolerant water-soluble pigments became observable in the cultured broth. This phenomenon was confirmed by another experiment using Phormidium (NIES-611), which showed a pink color derived from phycoerythrin. β-Cyclocitral was more easily oxidized when compared with similar aldehyde compounds, so that the pH of the solution quickly decreased to 4.5. An oxidation product of β-cyclocitral in water solution was isolated and identified as 2,6,6-trimethylcyclohexene-1-carboxylic acid. This study provides support that β-cyclocitral derived from cyanobacteria plays an important role in the lysis of cyanobacteria and participates in the blue color formation under natural conditions.     

Effects of anticancer agents of the intestinal epithelium. A morphologic study

In order to make clear the pathophysiology of digestive symptoms which are caused with anticancer agents, three anticancer agents, i.e., mitomycin C, 5-FU and cytosine arabinoside were administered pre-operatively, and the ultrastructure of the intestinal epithelium, especially that of absorptive cells, were studied on the specimens collected intra-operatively. In view of the finding that severe degeneration occurred inside cytoplasms, chiefly their nuclei, it was surmised that the biosynthesis and supply of proteins such as digestive enzymes were not amply carried on; hence, the chemotherapy could give rise to severe digestion and absorption disorders. It appeared necessary to further study the dosage and dosage schedule of the anticancer agents, along with the necessity for taking ample care of patients presenting such disorders.