Effects of the degree of unsaturation of coexisting triacylglycerols on cholesterol oxidation

In order to evaluate the effects of the degree of unsaturation of triacylglycerols on cholesterol oxidation, mixtures of purified sardine oil triacylglycerols (iodine value, IV=182.6) and cholesterol; of partially hydrogenated sardine oil triacylglycerols (IV=174.5) and cholesterol; and of fully hydrogenated sardine oil triacylglycerols (IV=92.0) and cholesterol were incubated at 25°C in the dark. The oxidative stability of the samples decreased with increasing degree of unsaturation of the triacylglycerols in the sample mixtures; the induction period for peroxide values (PV) of the sardine oil triacylglycerols and cholesterol was shorter than that of the partially hydrogenated sardine oil triacylglycerols and cholesterol. Certain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the constituent fatty acids of sardine oil triacylglycerols started to decrease after a shorter induction period compared with that of the partially hydrogenated triacylglycerols. The prominent cholesterol oxides accumulated in the samples were 7β-hydroxycholesterol, 7-ketocholesterol, β-epoxide and cholestane triol. The tendency for accumulation of cholesterol oxides in the time course coincided with the changes in PV as well as the decrease in PUFAs. Cholesterol was oxidized in conjunction with autoxidation of coexisting fish oil triacylglycerols. Although lowering the degree of unsaturation of fish oil triacylglycerols was effective in prolonging the induction period of cholesterol oxidation, the rate of cholesterol oxidation in the cholesterol oxides' formation phase after the induction period was not affected by the difference in the proportion of highly unsaturated fatty acids in the natural and partially hydrogenated triacylglycerols of fish oils.     

Radiation protection system at the RIKEN RI beam factory

The RIKEN RI (radioactive isotope) Beam Factory is scheduled to commence operations in 2006, and its maximum energy will be 400 MeV u(-1) for ions lighter than Ar and 350 MeV u(-1) for uranium. The beam intensity will be 1 pmicroA (6 x 10(12) particles s(-1)) for any element at the goal. For the hands-on-maintenance and the rational shield thickness of the building, the beam loss must be controlled with several kinds of monitors. Three types of radiation monitors will be installed. The first one consists of a neutron dose equivalent monitor and an ionisation chamber, which are commercially available area monitors. The second one is a conventional hand-held dose equivalent monitor wherein the logarithmic signal is read by a programmable logic controller based on the radiation safety interlock system (HIS). The third one is a simple plastic scintillator called a beam loss monitor. All the monitors have threshold levels for alarm and beam stop, and HIS reads all these signals.     

Measurements of neutron dose rates with a balloon in Japan

Measurements of cosmic-ray neutron dose rates with a balloon in Sanriku, Japan (geographic location: 39 degrees N, 142 degrees E; corresponding geomagnetic latitude: 30 degrees N) were conducted at an altitude from 0.2 to 25 km on 25-26 August 2004 when solar activity was at an average level. Neutron dose rates given as ambient dose equivalent rates (H*(10)) were measured with high-sensitive neutron dose equivalent counters and electronic silicon personal dosimeters (EPDs). The neutron dose rates increased with increasing altitude, but they were saturated around 15-20 km and decreased with increasing altitude beyond 20 km. The neutron ambient dose equivalent rate was 1.5 microSv/h(- 1) at 20 km. Measured values were corrected for the deviation of the energy response of the dose equivalent counter from the fluence-to-ambient dose equivalent conversion coefficient, and the corrected values were very close to the calculated values with EPCARD. On the other hand, neutron measurements by the EPDs gave about 10 times overestimation because of the high sensitivity to cosmic-ray protons.     

Frame shuffling: a novel method for in vitro protein evolution

We describe 'frame shuffling', a novel method for preparing artificial protein libraries. With this method, a Y-family DNA polymerase known to introduce frame shift mutations at high rates is utilized to scramble the reading frames of a parental gene. The resultant progeny produce mutant proteins having segmental sequence changes. Such frame-shuffled mutant proteins exhibit physicochemical properties that differ from those of proteins obtained using conventional mutagenesis.     

Solvothermal syntheses of semiconductor photocatalysts of ultra-high activities

Thermal treatment of titanium(IV) butoxide dissolved in 2-butanol at 573 K under autogenous pressure (alcohothermal treatment) yielded microcrystalline anatase-type titanium(IV) oxide (TiO₂). Thermal treatment of oxobis(2,4-pentanedionato-O,O′)titanium (TiO(acac)₂) in ethylene glycol (EG) in the presence of sodium acetate and a small amount of water at 573 K yielded microcrystalline brookite-type TiO₂. Tungsten(VI) oxide (WO₃) powders of monoclinic crystal structure with high crystallinity were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment (HTT), at 523 or 573 K, of aqueous tungstic acid (H₂WO₄) solutions prepared from sodium tungstate by ion-exchange (IE) with a proton-type resin. Anatase and brookite TiO₂ products were calcined at various temperatures and then used for photocatalytic mineralization of acetic acid in aqueous solutions under aerated conditions and dehydrogenation of 2-propanol under deaerated conditions. Almost all the anatase-type TiO₂ samples showed the activities more than twice higher than those of representative active photocatalysts, Degussa P-25 and Ishihara ST-01 in both reactions. A brookite sample with improved crystallinity and sufficient surface area obtained by calcination at 973 K exhibited the hydrogen evolution rate almost equal to P-25. HTT WO₃ powders with various physical properties were used as photocatalyst for evolution of oxygen (O₂) from an aqueous silver sulfate solution. WO₃ powder of high crystallinity, e.g., IE-HTT-WO₃ synthesized at 573 K, gave much higher O₂ yield than commercially available WO₃ samples.     

Adsorption mechanism of copper and cadmium onto defatted waste biomass

In this study, the amount of copper or cadmium adsorbed using waste biomass (i.e., coffee grounds (CG) and rice bran (RB)) was investigated. The amount of crude protein in defatted CG (D-CG) or RB (D-RB) was greater than that in CG or RB, respectively. The amount of copper or cadmium adsorbed using CG was greater than that using RB. Additionally, the amount of copper or cadmium adsorbed was not affected by the presence of fat in CG. Adsorption data was fitted to the Freundlich equation, and the correlation coefficients were in the range of 0.794-0.991. The main adsorption mechanism was thought to be monolayer adsorption onto the surface of the waste biomass. The adsorption rate data was fitted to the pseudo-second-order model, and the correlation coefficient average was in the range of 0.891-0.945. This result showed that the rate-limiting step may be chemisorption. Moreover, the amount of copper or cadmium desorbed from CG or RB using 0.01 mol/L or 1.00 mol/L HNO(3) was investigated. Desorption with 0.01 mol/L HNO(3) resulted in the recovery of 86-97% of the copper and cadmium, indicating that copper or cadmium that was adsorbed using waste biomass was recoverable.     

Phosphate adsorption ability of granular gibbsite and cerium hydroxide

In the present study, the phosphate adsorption abilities of granular materials, gibbsite (GB) and cerium hydroxide (CE), granulated with ethyl cellulose and ethanol, were investigated. For suitable granular conditions using GB or CE, the percentage of binder and amount of solvent were 10% and 3.25 mL/5 g for GB and 7.5% and 2.50 mL/5 g for CE. The amount of phosphate adsorbed by granular GB or CE was similar to that adsorbed by powdered GB or CE. The adsorption isotherms of phosphate were also similar for the granular and powdered materials. The results of a column experiment showed that when GB was used, the suitable concentration of sodium hydroxide as the desorption solution was 2 mmol/L. In these experiments, the amount of phosphate adsorbed was 31.4 mg/g, the amount of phosphate desorbed was 25.3 mg/g, and the recovery percentage was 80.5%. In contrast, when CE was used, the suitable concentration of sodium hydroxide was 500 mmol/L; the amount of phosphate adsorbed was 77.7 mg/g, the amount of phosphate desorbed was 57.8 mg/g, and the recovery percentage was 74.4%. Results also indicate that granular GB and CE could be used at least five times in a column without loss of absorption or desorption abilities. Moreover, granulation of GB and CE is possible using ethyl cellulose and ethanol.