Catalysis of gasification of coal-derived cokes and chars

Calcium is the most important in-situ catalyst for gasification of US coal chars in O₂, CO₂ and H₂O. It is a poor catalyst for gasification of chars by H₂. Potassium and sodium added to low-rank coals by ion exchange and high-rank coals by impregnation are excellent catalysts for char gasification in O₂, CO₂ and H₂O. Carbon monoxide inhibits catalysis of the CH₂O reaction by calcium, potassium and sodium; H₂ inhibits catalysis by calcium. Thus injection of synthesis gas into the gasifier will inhibit the CH₂O reaction. Iron is not an important catalyst for the gasification of chars in O₂, CO₂ and H₂O, because it is invariably in the oxidized state. Carbon monoxide disproportionates to deposit carbon from a dry synthesis gas mixture (3 vol H₂ + 1 vol CO) over potassium-, sodium- and iron-loaded lignite char and a raw bituminous coal char, high in pyrite, at 1123 K and 0.1 MPa pressure. The carbon is highly reactive, with the injection of 2.7 kPa H₂O to the synthesis gas resulting in net carbon gasification. The effect of traces of sulphur in the gas stream on catalysis of gasification or carbon-forming reactions by calcium, potassium, or sodium is not well understood at present. Traces of sulphur do, however, inhibit catalysis by iron.     

Effect of oxidized oil on lipogenic enzymes

Male Wistar rats were fed for 4 wk on diets containing 2% oxidized corn oil. Liver tissue was then studied to determine the effect of feeding peroxidized oil on lipogenic enzymes. Although substances which reacted with thiobarbituric acid increased in liver microsomes and mitochondria with increasing peroxide values of the dietary corn oil fed, the activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, malic enzyme and acetyl-CoA carboxylase in liver were unchanged. However, when rats were fed for 2 wk on diets containing 10% fat, of which 0.5, 5 or 10% was unoxidized corn oil and the remainder was hydrogenated beef tallow filler, the lipogenic enzyme activities and also the liver triglyceride levels were observed to decrease with increasing amounts of dietary corn oil. Therefore, although a synthetic diet containing corn oil was easy to oxidize spontaneously, the reductions of lipogenic enzymes in rats fed the diet would not have been caused by lipid peroxides but by unsaturated fatty acids themselves.     

Surgical treatment of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome associated with protein-losing enteropathy: report of a case

PURPOSE: The case of a patient with Cronkhite-Canada syndrome, who developed a protein-losing enteropathy, is reported. METHODS: After localization of the protein-losing region, a right colectomy was performed. RESULTS: Hypoproteinemia and ectodermal changes improved postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery is an effective treatment for protein-losing enteropathy in Cronkhite-Canada syndrome. Ectodermal changes improve after correcting malnutrition.     

Structural changes in carbon aerogels with high temperature treatment

The structural change of carbon aerogels at high temperatures up to 2800°C has been investigated. Change in microtexture of fine particles, which constitute carbon aerogels derived from phenolic resin, was of a typical non-graphitized carbon. The microporosity decreased with an increase of heat-treatment temperature, and disappeared at 2000°C. The mesoporosity still remained even after heat-treatment up to 2800°C, though 50% of mesopore volume was lost because of the fusion of the particles with the change of carbon microtexture.     

New antiaxillary odour deodorant made with antimicrobial Ag-zeolite (silver-exchanged zeolite)

The causative substances for axillary osmidrosis, which are often found in apocrine sweat, are the decomposed/denatured products of short-chain fatty acid and other biological metabolite compounds produced by axillary-resident bacteria. Conventional underarm deodorants suppress the process of odour production mostly by the following mechanism: (1) suppression of perspiration, (2) reduction in numbers of resident bacteria, (3) deodorization and (4) masking. The most important and effective method to reduce odour is to suppress the growth of resident bacteria with antimicrobials, which have several drawbacks, especially in their safety aspect. To solve these problems, we focused on Ag-zeolite (silver-exchanged zeolite) that hold stable Ag, an inorganic bactericidal agent, in its structure, and therefore, poses less risk in safety. Its bactericidal effect on skin-resident bacteria was found to be excellent and comparable with that of triclosan, a most frequently used organic antimicrobial in this product category. The dose-response study of Ag-zeolite powder spray (0-40 w/w%) using 39 volunteers revealed that 5-40 w/w% Ag-zeolite could show a sufficient antimicrobial effect against skin-resident bacteria. The comparison study using 0.2 w/w% triclosan as the control and 10 w/w% Ag-zeolite indicated that: (1) one application of the powder spray containing 10 w/w% Ag-zeolite could show a sufficient antimicrobial effect against the resident bacteria and its effect continued for 24 h, (2) a powder spray containing 0.2 w/w% triclosan was unable to show a sufficient antimicrobial effect, and (3) no adverse event was observed. These studies show that Ag-zeolite has a superior antimicrobial ability that is rarely found in conventional antimicrobials used in deodorant products and a strong antiaxillary odour deodorant ability because of its long-lasting effect. During clinical study, patch tests with humans and other clinical studies of this product showed no adverse events related to the treatment with the Ag-zeolite product.     

An intelligent inverter for a high-power LCD backlight

Abstract— To resolve some of the problems encountered in developing a high-power inverter for an LCD backlight with multiple cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), we developed an intelligent dc-ac inverter unit with the following special functions: (1) stabilization of the power consumption within several minutes of power-on, (2) dispersion of the inrush current at power-on, and (3) low switching noise on the power-source line.     

Identification of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cellulosimicrobium</Emphasis> sp., a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)-degrading bacterium isolated from washed rind cheese,Pont-l’évêque lait cru

Environmental pollution caused by commodity plastics has become a global issue. As a result, biodegradable plastics have found multiple applications in recent years, particularly in the manufacture of food packaging containers. However, microbes present in fermented foods have been found to degrade biodegradable plastics. In this study, we report, for the first time, a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (P(3HB))-degrading bacterium isolated from a type of washed rind cheese, Pont-l'évêque lait cru. The P(3HB)-degrading isolate, designated as PONα, was characterized in detail. The strain was found to be gram-positive and filamentous-shaped; the DNA G+C content was 71.6 mol%, and anteiso-C15:0 was found to be the major fatty acid. The strain grew well in the range of 37–40 °C and formed a large clear zone on P(3HB) medium at 37 °C. The phenotypic properties and phylogenetic inference indicated that strain PONα is closely related to Cellulosimicrobium cellulans. Strain PONα formed a clear zone on P(3HB), LB with P(3HB), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV), and chitin media plates, whereas no clear zone was found on poly(ethylene succinate) (PESu), poly(butylene succinate) (PBSu), poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(butylene adipate-co-butylene terephthalate) (PBAT), poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA), and olive oil media plates. Relatively higher P(3HB) hydrolytic activity was observed in the culture supernatant under the co-existence of P(3HB) and the cheese, suggesting that a component of the cheese plays an important role in the hydrolytic activity. These results indicate that microbiota in fermented foods such as cheese can degrade biodegradable plastics, thereby reducing their quality. Therefore, because P(3HB) may be degraded by the microbiota present in cheese, these findings may affect the application of P(3HB) in cheese packaging.     

SYNTHESIS OF 1-BROMO-6H-BENZO[CD]PYREN-6-ONE

1-Bromonaphthanthrone (1-bromo-6H-benzo[cd]pyren-6-one), a useful starting material for the synthesis of undecacyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, was synthesized by means of glycerol condensation of 1-bromopyrene. The structure of the synthetic product was confirmed by NMR measurements and the ¹ H and ¹³ C chemical shifts were completely assigned. Although the synthetic method provided three possible isomers, 1-, 3-, and 5-bromonaphthanthrone, only 1-bromonaphthanthorone was obtained as a final product. An explanation for the regioselectivity was given in terms of the charge distribution obtained by molecular orbital calculations.