Preparation of a Near-Infrared Ray Absorption Film from N-Phenylthiocarbamoyl Chitosan Derivative

We recently observed that the decanoylation of N-phenylthiocarbamoyl chitosan (2) with a mixture of decanoic anhydride and pyridine at 60 °C for 24 h afforded N,N-(decanoyl)phenythiocarbamoyl-/2-isothiocynato chitosan decanoate (3b) rather than the expected product N,N-(decanoyl)phenylthiocarbamoyl chitosan decanoate (3a). This result suggested that some of the N,N-(decanoyl)phenylthiocarmbamoyl groups had been converted to isothiocyanate groups during the decanoylation process. The subsequent reaction of compound 3b with aniline gave N,N-(decanoyl)phenylthiocarbamoyl/N-phenylthiocarbamoyl chitosan decanoate (4) in high yield. A solution of compound 4 in CHCl₃ was then added to a solution of copper decanoate (5) in the same solvent, and the resulting mixture was cast onto a glass plate to give a cast film. The film was annealed at 200 °C in an oven to give a greenish film, which showed good near-infrared absorption characteristic in the range of 800–2200 nm.     

Post-lunch nap as a worksite intervention to promote alertness on the job.

A worksite study was conducted to examine whether a 15-min nap during a post-lunch rest period would affect subsequent alertness, performance, and nocturnal sleep in eight factory workers under a 3-week protocol. Subjects were asked to take the nap at 12:30 h on a reclining chair during the nap week, and to remain awake during the no-nap week. The order of these 2 weeks was counterbalanced between the subjects. During the third, follow-up week, each subject determined whether or not she/he would nap. Alertness on the job and nocturnal sleep were assessed using a sleep diary. Wrist activity was also recorded during sleep at night. Choice reaction time task (RT) was performed at 10:00 and 15:00 h every day of the nap week and every other day of the no-nap and follow-up weeks. Perceived alertness was significantly higher in the afternoon after nap than after no nap at the end of the week. Similar effects were observed during the follow-up week where almost half of the subjects napped. No significant differences between the three weeks were found for RT performance or nocturnal sleep. Workers' attitudes toward the nap were favourable. Although further intervention research is required, our results suggest that post-lunch napping may have the potential to promote daytime alertness at work.     

Hematopoietic and lymphopoietic responses in human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) receptor transgenic mice injected with human GM-CSF

Using a clonal assay of bone marrow (BM) cells from transgenic mice (Tg-mice) expressing the human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (hGM-CSFR), we found in earlier studies that hGM-CSF alone supported the development not only of granulocyte-macrophage colonies, but also of erythrocytes, megakaryocytes, mast cells, blast cells, and mixed hematopoietic colonies. In this report, we evaluated the in vivo effects of hGM-CSF on hematopoietic and lymphopoietic responses in the hGM-CSFR Tg-mice. Administration of this factor to Tg-mice resulted in dose-dependent increases in numbers of reticulocytes and white blood cells (WBCs) in the peripheral blood. Morphological analysis of WBCs showed that the numbers of all types of the cell, including neutrophils, eosinophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes increased; the most remarkable being in lymphocytes that contained a number of large granular lymphocytes (LGLs) in addition to mature T and B cells. However, total cellularity of the BM of the Tg-mice decreased in a dose-dependent manner when hGM-CSF was injected. In sharp contrast to the BM, spleens of the Tg-mice were grossly enlarged. Although all types of blood cells and hematopoietic progenitors increased in the spleen, erythroid cells and their progenitors showed the most significant increase. Increased numbers of megakaryocytes and LGLs were also observed in spleen and liver of the treated Tg-mice. Flow cytometric analysis showed that LGLs expanded in Tg-mice expressed Mac-1+ CD3- NK1.1+. The thymus of Tg-mice treated with hGM-CSF exhibited a dose-dependent shrinkage and a remarkable decrease in CD4+ CD8+ cells. Thus, hGM-CSF stimulated not only myelopoiesis but also erythropoiesis and megakaryopoiesis of hGM-CSFR Tg-mice in vivo, in accordance with our reported in vitro findings. In addition, hGM-CSF affected the development of lymphoid cells, including natural killer cells of these Tg-mice.     

Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase as a Key Molecule of the Aging/Senescence Process

Aging is a phenomenon underlined by complex molecular and biochemical changes that occur over time. One of the metabolites that is gaining strong research interest is nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, NAD⁺, whose cellular level has been shown to decrease with age in various tissues of model animals and humans. Administration of NAD⁺ precursors, nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and nicotinamide riboside (NR), to supplement NAD⁺ production through the NAD⁺ salvage pathway has been demonstrated to slow down aging processes in mice. Therefore, NAD⁺ is a critical metabolite now understood to mitigate age-related tissue function decline and prevent age-related diseases in aging animals. In human clinical trials, administration of NAD⁺ precursors to the elderly is being used to address systemic age-associated physiological decline. Among NAD⁺ biosynthesis pathways in mammals, the NAD⁺ salvage pathway is the dominant pathway in most of tissues, and NAMPT is the rate limiting enzyme of this pathway. However, only a few activators of NAMPT, which are supposed to increase NAD⁺, have been developed so far. In this review, we will focus on the importance of NAD⁺ and the possible application of an activator of NAMPT to promote successive aging.     

The effect of the framework structure on the chemical properties of the vanadium oxide species incorporated within zeolites

V-silicalite catalysts (VS-1 and VS-2) prepared by hydrothermal synthesis have been studied by ESR, XAFS (XANES and EXAFS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The in situ characterization of these V-silicalites shows that vanadium is present within the zeolitic framework as a highly dispersed tetrahedrally coordinated V-oxides, VO₄ unit, having a short V=O bond length. Photoluminescence spectroscopy in static and dynamic mode, as well as XAFS studies allow to detect in the V-silicalites different V species than that present in V-HMS or V/SiO₂, in terms of V=O bond length, vibrational energy, bond angle and lifetime of the excited triplet state. It is suggested that the combined contribution of the neighboring Si---OH group attached to the VO₄ unit and the zeolitic rigid framework structure of V-silicalites cause a more significant and pronounced effect on the chemical properties of the VO₄ unit than the flexible structure of V-HMS or V/SiO₂. Moreover, the dynamic quenching of the phosphorescence by the addition of reactant molecules such as NO or propane indicates that the V species in the excited triplet state can be expected to be the active sites for the photocatalytic reactions.     

Balanced corpus of contemporary written Japanese

The balanced corpus of contemporary written Japanese (BCCWJ) is Japan’s first 100 million words balanced corpus. It consists of three subcorpora (publication subcorpus, library subcorpus, and special-purpose subcorpus) and covers a wide range of text registers including books in general, magazines, newspapers, governmental white papers, best-selling books, an internet bulletin-board, a blog, school textbooks, minutes of the national diet, publicity newsletters of local governments, laws, and poetry verses. A random sampling technique is utilized whenever possible in order to maximize the representativeness of the corpus. The corpus is annotated in terms of dual POS analysis, document structure, and bibliographical information. The BCCWJ is currently accessible in three different ways including Chunagon a web-based interface to the dual POS analysis data. Lastly, results of some pilot evaluation of the corpus with respect to the textual diversity are reported. The analyses include POS distribution, word-class distribution, entropy of orthography, sentence length, and variation of the adjective predicate. High textual diversity is observed in all these analyses.     

Microwave-assisted desulfurization of NOx storage-reduction catalyst

The activity of NO_x storage-reduction (NSR) catalysts is greatly reduced by sulfur poisoning, caused by the SO₂ present in the exhaust stream. Desorption of sulfur species from poisoned NSR catalysts occurs at temperatures in excess of 600 °C using reducing atmospheres and conventional heating. In this work, microwave (MW) heating has been used to promote desulfurization of poisoned NSR catalysts. The experiments were carried out by heating the catalyst with MW radiation and using hydrogen as the reducing gas. Desorption of H₂S at 200 °C was observed. Desorption at even lower temperatures (150 °C) was observed when water was introduced to the system. In the presence of water, sulfur species desorbed as both H₂S and SO₂. An overall reduction of sulfur species of about 60% was obtained. The use of MW heating proves to be an efficient way to achieve regeneration of poisoned NSR catalysts.