Relationship Between Gelatinizing Temperature and Enthalpy of Starch from Gramineous Crops by Differential Scanning Calorimetry

In this report endosperm starch granules from gramineous crops such as rice, barley, wheat, foxtail millet and proso millet were analyzed by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and the relationship between gelatinized temperature and enthalpy were discussed. Peak temperatures (Tp) for gelatinization in these gramineous crops as a whole ranged from 57 to 80°C and enthalpy were distributed from 6.4 to 15.6 J/g. Crops having waxy phenotype, namely, rice, barley, foxtail millet and proso millet show a correlationship between Tp and enthalpy. A crop having no waxy phenotype such as wheat however shows no relationship between these parameters.     

Possibility of Breast Cancer Prevention: Use of Soy Isoflavones and Fermented Soy Beverage Produced Using Probiotics

The various beneficial effects of soybeans, which are rich in phytochemicals, have received much attention because of increasing health awareness. Soy milk that has been fermented using lactic acid bacteria has been used to prepare cheese-like products, tofu (bean-curd), and yogurt-type products. However, the distinct odor of soybeans has limited the acceptance of such foods, particularly in Western countries. In Japan, while tofu and soy milk have long been habitually consumed, the development of novel, palatable food products has not been easy. The unpleasant odor of soy milk and the absorption efficiency for isoflavones can be improved using a recently developed fermented soy milk beverage. Cancer has been the leading cause of death, and breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women. The most common type of breast cancer is estrogen-dependent, and the anti-estrogenic effects of isoflavones are known. The present review focuses on the characteristics of soy milk fermented using probiotics, an epidemiological study examining the incidence of breast cancer and soy isoflavone consumption, and a non-clinical study examining breast cancer prevention using fermented soy milk beverage.     

Effects of pressure and shear stress on material removal rate in ultra-fine polishing of optical glass with magnetic compound fluid slurry

Optical glasses used in a range of industrially important optoelectronic devices must be polished to nano-level roughness for proper device operation. Polishing process with magnetic compound fluid slurry (MCF polishing) under a rotary magnetic field is an influential candidate for the method to precisely polish optical glass. MCF slurry has been successfully utilized to polish a variety of materials, ranging from soft optical polymers to hard optical glasses. MCF was developed by mixing a magnetic fluid and a magnetorheological fluid with the same base solvent, and hence includes not only μm-sized iron particles but also nm-sized magnetite particles. To elucidate the behaviour of material removal in MCF polishing, this study measured the normal and shear forces generated in the polishing zone during polishing. From these measurements, the distributions of pressure P and shear stress τ were obtained. The distribution of material removal rate (MRR) was investigated through spot polishing of borosilicate glass. The effects of three process parameters, namely magnet revolution speed, MCF carrier rotational speed and working gap, on pressure P, shear stress τ and the MRR were also investigated. The results revealed that P is higher near the centre of the interacting area (i.e. the polishing spot centre) and the point of maximum shear stress τ appears at about 5 mm from the polishing spot centre. All of P, τ and MRR are sensitive to MCF carrier rotational speed and working gap but insensitive to magnet revolution speed. Shear stress is more sensitive to these process parameters than the pressure. Cross-sectional profiles of the polishing spots exhibit a characteristic symmetric W-shape; material removals are minimal at the spot centre and maximal at approximately 8.2–10.2 mm from the spot centre depending on the process parameters. MRR is proportional to the MCF carrier rotational speed and is negatively correlated with working gap. An MRR model involving both the pressure and shear stress in MCF polishing is proposed. In the model, MRR is more dominated by shear stress than by pressure.     

Primary gastric Burkitt''s lymphoma presenting with c-myc gene rearrangement

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based rapid screening procedure was developed to test individual horn flies, Haematobia irritans irritans (L.), for the presence of a specific nucleotide substitution in the sodium channel gene sequence that has been associated with pyrethroid resistance. By a systematic optimization of reaction conditions and judicious choice of PCR primers differing in DNA sequence by a single nucleotide, we identified pyrethroid-susceptible or resistant sodium channel alleles in individual flies. Laboratory and field populations were examined by both the PCR assay and conventional filter paper bioassays with the pyrethroid cyhalothrin to verify that populations containing greater proportions of individuals with the resistant sodium channel allele DNA sequence also had higher bioassay LC50 values. The PCR assay for resistance alleles gave definitive information on the genotype of an individual fly and detected the presence of heterozygous individuals that might serve as reservoirs of resistance genes in field populations.     

Clinical efficacy of lactulose in cirrhotic patients with and without subclinical hepatic encephalopathy

Seventy-five cirrhotic patients with hyperammonemia in the past or at the time of the study were randomly divided into two groups (treated with lactulose or nontreated) in 14 hospitals in Japan. Thirty-six cirrhotic patients were diagnosed as having subclinical hepatic encephalopathy (SHE), and 39 were diagnosed as non-SHE. SHE was diagnosed when the results of all three of the quantitative psychometric tests used (number connection test, and symbol digit and block design tests of the Wechsler adult intelligence scale [revised]) were abnormal as compared with age-matched normal values. The mean number of abnormal psychometric test results and the prevalence of SHE were used for a quantitative evaluation of the efficacy of the lactulose treatment. Twenty-two of the SHE patients were treated with lactulose (45 mL/d) for 8 weeks, and the other 14 SHE patients did not receive lactulose. In the SHE patients administered lactulose, the results of the quantitative psychometric evaluation were significantly improved at 4 and 8 weeks after the beginning of the lactulose administration. The SHE had disappeared in 10 (50%) of the 20 treated patients at week 8, but it persisted in 11 (85%) of the untreated 13 patients. We concluded that lactulose treatment in cirrhotic patients with SHE is effective with respect to psychometric tests.     

Color-tuning of polymer light-emitting devices through maskless dye diffusion technique

The maskless dye diffusion technique is a method to dope dye molecules into polymer films by thermal activation. Since the patterned indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes for the future devices are used as heat source so that the dye doping area mimics the shape of the ITO pattern heated, this method can remove the precise positioning between the ITO electrode and dye doping area which is usually required in other techniques. This paper reports some results on the polymer light-emitting devices made through the maskless dye diffusion technique. When poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PDOF) was used as host material, diffusion of Coumarin 6 and a phosphorescent dye BtpIr yields green and red emission, respectively. In the case of BtpIr-diffused device, the quantum efficiency of the device was found to be about 2.5 times of the device with non-treated PDOF film. It is also found that the poly(N-vinylcarbazole) can be a host material for both green and red phosphorescent dyes.     

Austenite grain growth simulation considering the solute-drag effect and pinning effect

Abstract

The pinning effect is useful for restraining austenite grain growth in low alloy steel and improving heat affected zone toughness in welded joints. We propose a new calculation model for predicting austenite grain growth behavior. The model is mainly comprised of two theories: the solute-drag effect and the pinning effect of TiN precipitates. The calculation of the solute-drag effect is based on the hypothesis that the width of each austenite grain boundary is constant and that the element content maintains equilibrium segregation at the austenite grain boundaries. We used Hillert’s law under the assumption that the austenite grain boundary phase is a liquid so that we could estimate the equilibrium solute concentration at the austenite grain boundaries. The equilibrium solute concentration was calculated using the Thermo-Calc software. Pinning effect was estimated by Nishizawa’s equation. The calculated austenite grain growth at 1473–1673 K showed excellent correspondence with the experimental results.