Studies on applications of lypolytic enzymes in detergency II. Evaluation of adaptability of various kinds of lipases in practical laundry conditions

Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society - Kinetic parameter of hydrolysis, degree of hydrolysis, pH and temperature characteristics and positional specificity of hydrolysis of seven kinds...     

Elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) activities in the sera and milk of cows with naturally occurring coliform mastitis

The presence of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) activities was determined in milk and serum of cows with naturally occurring coliform mastitis (CFM). TNF-alpha was detected in the sera from 26 of 32 cows with CFM. TNF-alpha levels were higher in the sera than in the milk. IL-6 was high in the sera of surviving CFM animals, but was low in animals that died and in healthy controls. Furthermore, the mean level of IL-6 was 20-fold higher in the milk than in the sera of mastitic cows. The level of IL-6 in the serum was correlated to that in the milk in individual animals. The presence of IL-6 and TNF-alpha in the sera appears to relate to severe clinical condition of CFM, in the milk whereas they may play a role in generating inflammation of the mammary gland.     

Mechanical properties-morphology of rolltruded propylene ethylene block copolymers

Commercially available propylene-ethylene (P/E) block copolymers have been processed by the rolltrusion technique. Properties such as tensile modulus, tensile strength and sample clarity are significantly enhanced compared to the original commercial material. The latter is found to be comprised of ethylene globules distributed uniformly or heterogenously throughout the P/E copolymer, depending upon the manufacturing process. In the rolltruded copolymer, the mechanical and morphological properties depend upon the processing temperature and deformation ratio experienced by the workpiece. The chemical composition of the P/E copolymers also plays a significant part in the improvements in properties induced via rolltrusion that may be carried out below or above the melting temperature of the ethylene component of the copolymers. Differential scanning calorimetry thermograms are very useful in assessing transitional behaviour in this respect and may be used to distinguish between different copolymers (processed and original samples). Correlations among some properties and processing conditions are presented and discussed in relation to polymer composition-processing conditions-morphology-property relationships.     

Antitumor activity of 1 M tegafur-0.4 M 5-chloro-2,4-dihydroxypyridine-1 M potassium oxonate (S-1) against human colon carcinoma orthotopically implanted into nude rats

The purpose of this study was to establish a nude rat orthotopic (organ-specific) human colorectal cancer model as an in vivo secondary screen for general evaluation of new anticancer agents against colorectal cancer and to evaluate practically the antitumor activity of 1 M tegafur-0.4 M 5-chloro-2,4-dihydroxypyridine-1 M potassium oxonate (S-1), a new p.o. fluoropyrimidine, in comparison to 1 M tegafur-4 M uracil [(UFT) effective on colorectal tumor in clinical]. After implantation of KM12C, a human colorectal cancer cell line, into the subserosal layer of the colon as a single-cell suspension, extensive local tumor growth and invasion to both the mucosal and the serosal sides were observed in all rats. Metastatic foci were also formed in both lymph nodes and lungs following local tumor growth in all of them. Using this method, an equitoxic dose of S-1 (15 mg/kg/day) and UFT (30 mg/kg/day) was administered p.o. for 14 consecutive days from 7 days after tumor cell implantation. S-1 showed a higher tumor growth inhibition than UFT did [S-1, 57% (significantly different from the tumor weight of the untreated group at P < 0.05) and UFT, 18% (P > 0.05)]. When both drugs were administered to nude rats bearing KM12C injected into the cecal wall for 28 consecutive days at equitoxic doses, the mean survival in the S-1 group was 16 days longer than that in the untreated group (P < 0.01) but that in the UFT group was only 8 days longer (P > 0.05). After the administration of an equitoxic dose of both drugs, S-1 gave the higher levels than UFT in various pharmacokinetic parameters as follows: area under the curve 0-24 h of 5-fluorouracil in plasma (3.5-fold), area under the curve 0-24 h of 5-fluorouracil incorporated into RNA in the tumor (1.3-fold), and thymidylate synthase inhibition rate (percentage) in the tumor (about 20%). Collectively, these findings suggested that this orthotopic human colorectal tumor model in nude rats is useful to evaluate the clinical therapeutic efficacy of drugs or therapies for colorectal cancer, and that S-1 had a higher therapeutic effect on human colorectal tumor than UFT did.     

Titania NOx sensors for exhaust monitoring

Oxide semiconductors have been examined to develop NO_x sensors for exhaust monitoring. Titania doped with trivalent elements, such as Al³⁺, Sc³⁺, Ga³⁺ or In³⁺, has a good sensitivity and selectivity to NO between 450 and 550 °C, and shows rapid response. A sensor probe for monitoring exhaust NO_x has been fabricated. Many kinds of interference gases, such as C₃H₆, CO and SO₂, have been found to have only a slight influence on the sensor response to NO. The influence of O₂ and H₂O is also negligible, except for the cases of 0% H₂O and fuel-rich conditions. In accordance with these results, the sensor probe operates satisfactority in the exhaust gas of various combustion conditions without interference from the various kinds of gas species in the exhaust gases.     

Application of an improved control-variate scheme to local neoclassical transport simulations

A new radially local neoclassical transport code is developed based on the radially global two-weight δf$\delta f$ Monte Carlo code, FORTEC-3D (Satake et al., 2008). In the collisional two-weight δf$\delta f$ method, the variance of weight increases in time due to the so-called weight spreading, which leads to an increasing numerical noise in long time simulations. A new improved control-variate scheme was proposed by Kleiber et al. (2011) to reduce the variance. We investigate the effectiveness and validity of the new control-variate scheme for a practical collisional transport problem in a plasma described by the drift kinetic equation. It is demonstrated that the new scheme reduces the variance of weight by approximately 75% in an axisymmetric magnetic field configuration. The burst-like behavior of a transport observable caused by a large numerical noise can be avoided. As a result, the time evolution of a transport observable can be successfully smoothed.     

Delay time compensation based on coefficient of restitution for collision hybrid motion simulator

A hybrid motion simulator embeds a hardware experiment in a numerical simulation loop. However, it is often subjected to the inherent problem of an energy increase in the collision of two pieces of hardware in a loop because of the delay time. This paper proposes a delay time compensation method based on contact dynamics model for a collision hybrid motion simulator under delay time and establishes a compensation method for coupled translational and rotational motion. The model developed in this paper describes linear uniform motion of a floating object during the period of the delay time until the force and torque are observed and non-linear motion according to environmental stiffness after the initial delay time period in contact. By using the above model, compensation parameters are designed based on desired coefficient of restitution with iterative calculation. The proposed method achieves accurate delay time compensation and simultaneously realizes a variable desired coefficient of restitution over a wide range of frequencies. Furthermore, the compensation method for multi-dimensional motion is established under the assumption that the friction effect is very small. The efficiency of the proposed method is verified through collision experiments for the coupled motion in two dimensions.     

Design of High-Quality Pt–CeO2 Composite Anodes Supported by Carbon Black for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Application

A Pt on nano-sized CeO₂ particles that in turn are supported on carbon black (CB) was synthesized using the co-impregnation method. This potential anode material for fuel cell applications was synthesized in a stepwise process. The pure CeO₂ was synthesized using an ammonium carbonate precipitation method, and the Pt particles dispersed on the CeO₂ in such a way that a uniform dispersion with the CB was obtained (Pt–CeO₂/CB). The electrochemical activity of the methanol (CH₃OH) oxidation reaction on the Pt–CeO₂/CB was investigated using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry experimentation. The onset potential of CH₃OH oxidation reaction on the Pt–CeO₂/CB anode was shifted to a lower potential as compared with that on commercially available Pt–Ru/carbon (C) alloy anode. In addition, the activation energy of the Pt–CeO₂/CB anode was much lower than that of the Pt–Ru/C alloy anode. Moreover, the current density of the Pt–CeO₂/CB anode was much higher than that of the Pt–Ru/C alloy anode at temperatures between 28° and 60°C. These results suggest that the anode performance of the Pt–CeO₂/CB anode at the operating temperature of typical fuel cells (80°C) is superior to that of the more usual Pt–Ru/C alloy anode. Importantly, the rare metal, Ru, is not required in the present anode material and the amount of Pt required is also significantly reduced. As a consequence, we report a promising candidate Pt–CeO₂/CB composite anode for application in the development of direct methanol fuel cells.     

Softening phenomenon by remilling of styrene–butadiene copolymer rubber–general-purpose polystyrene resin blend

The softening phenomenon by remilling of uncured blends of various commercia styrene—butadiene copolymer rubber (styrene content, 23.5 to 48 wt-%, styrene block 0 to 18 wt-%) with general-purpose polystyrene resin was mainly studied by examining the blend ratio dependence of hardness and compression modulus (in logarithmic form), with special attention to the state of dispersion of the polymers. It was found that the blend of styrene—butadiene copolymer rubber with general-purpose polystyrene resin forms a microheterogeneous polymer blend system and that the hardness and the compression modulus change in S-shaped curves versus blend ratio. However, the degree of softening phenomenon by remilling (roll surface temperature, 70°–90°C) was found to be different for the two blend systems, i.e., random styrene—butadiene copolymer rubber and block styrene—butadiene copolymer rubber. The softening phenomenon is more pronounced in random-type rubbers; and in some block-type rubbers, no softening phenomenon was observed. The influence of the styrene content of the polymer is small. Further discussions have shown us that the strong interaction between the polystyrene block of the copolymer and the styrene homopolymer of the general-purpose polystyrene resin controls the state of dispersion of polymers thereby causing this difference in the softening phenomena among the different kinds of styrene—butadiene copolymer rubbers.