Effects of vitamin B6 deficiency on cytokine levels and lymphocytes in mice

The effects of vitamin B6 (B6) deficiency on cytokine levels and proportions of lymphocyte subsets in BALB/c mice were investigated. The proportion of lymphocytes from the thymus and spleen of mice given no B6, that were CD4+ CD8- T cells, was larger than in mice given B6, and the ratio of CD8+ to CD4+ T cells in the thymus of mice given no B6 was lower. The concentrations of interleukin-5 and -10 in spleen cells stimulated in vitro with concanavalin A were significantly higher in the mice with B6 deficiency, as was their plasma corticosterone concentrations. These results suggested that B6 is necessary to maintain cytokine levels and lymphoid function in the thymus and spleen of mice.     

Effect of Silicon Dioxide on the Thermal Diffusivity of Aluminum Nitride Ceramics

The thermal diffusivity of AlN ceramics was significantly decreased by the addition of SiO₂. The AlN ceramics with 4 wt% SiO₂ could not be densified by pressureless sintering in the temperature range 1400° to 1800°C. The thermal diffusivity of these samples was very low because of their porous structure. The AlN ceramics containing 2, 4, and 8 wt% SiO₂ were densified by hot-pressing and also had low thermal diffusivity. In these samples, the grains of the 27R polytype that resulted from the reaction between AlN and SiO₂ were dispersed, obstructing the conduction of heat. The relation between the amount of 27R polytype and the thermal diffusivity of the AlN ceramics was determined.     

The European,Japanese and US protective helmet,gloves and boots for firefighters: thermoregulatory and psychological evaluations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the physiological and subjective responses of the European, Japanese (JPN) and US firefighters' helmet, gloves and boots for international standardisation. Three experimental conditions were evaluated (clothing mass: 9.4, 8.2 and 10.1 kg for the three conditions, respectively) at the air temperature of 32°C and 60% relative humidity. The results showed that there was no significant difference among the three conditions in oxygen consumption, heart rate, total sweat rate, rectal temperature and mean skin temperature, whereas peripheral temperatures and subjective perceptions were lower in the JPN condition than in the other conditions (P < 0.05). These results indicate that a 0.5-kg reduction in helmet mass and a 1.1-kg reduction in boot mass during exercise resulted in a significant decrease in head and leg temperatures and subjective perceptions, while a 1.9-kg reduction in total clothing mass had insignificant influences on the metabolic burden and overall body temperature.     

An Advanced Oscillation Mixing Method for Improving the Cooling Uniformity in Quenching

In quenching, the cooling uniformity is most important to diminish distortion occurring on work pieces. As a trial to accomplish uniform cooling, therefore, there exist various mixing methods of a quenchant and the quenchant circulation with an external pump has so far been the well accepted mixing method. However, this study proposes an advanced oscillation mixing method that can improve more the cooling uniformity in quenching. The proposed method includes a stirrer in oscillating motion, so that the simultaneous oscillating and mixing movements of the stirrer are considered to provide efecfively the uniform cooling characteristics for the quenchant. In comparison with the case of the circulation pump mixing, the investigation using the oscillation mixing method has demonstrated the following two experimental facts:(1) the short vapor blanket stage caused by the quick breakage of the oil vapor blanket and (2) the reduced variation of the quenching distortion.     

Hysteretic Effect of Step by Step Heating on the Restriction of Gelatinization of Legume Starch

The restriction of gelatinization of the legume starches, which were isolated from Phaseolus vulgaris species, was studied in terms of enzymatic digestion, light microscopic observation, measurements of X-ray diffraction, viscosity, swelling power and solubility, when the legume starch slurries were heated in step by step manner at a given rate from moderate temperature up to 90°C. Three legume starches tested showed a remarkable restriction of gelatinization, although these phenomena were not always observed in the legume starch slurry alone. Such restriction of gelatinization, however, was not observed in the waxy starch or starches which contain few amylose fractions. The formation of starch-lipid complex was ruled out as a cause because the defat treatment did not reduce the restricted gelatinization of legume starch and high amylose corn starch. From the data presented, it was suggested that physical modification of starch slurry containing amylose fraction induced the hysteretic, mutual alteration of the starch macromolecules.     

Characterization of natural resin shellac by reactive pyrolysis-gas chromatography in the presence of organic alkali

A method to determine chemical composition of natural resin shellac was developed on the basis of reactive pyrolysis-gas chromatography (Py-GC) in the presence of an organic alkali, tetramethylammonium hydroxide ((CH(3))(4)NOH, TMAH). Py-GC using 25% TMAH aqueous solution enabled the highly sensitive determination of terpenic acids, aleuritic acid, several minor fatty acids, and the wax components of shellac as their methyl derivatives on the resulting pyrograms with less than 2.0% relative standard deviations without using any cumbersome pretreatment. The observed average distributions of each resin acid component determined by reactive Py-GC for shellac samples from India and Thailand showed that the average ratios among terpenic acids, aleuritic acid, and the other fatty acids were about 53:34:14 for Indian shellac and 51:35:14 for Thailand shellac, respectively, suggesting a slightly significant difference. However, clearer discrimination of the shellac samples from the two different growing places was attainable by applying principal component analysis for the mole percent distributions of all the acidic components determined by reactive Py-GC.     

The Arabidopsis homologue of an eIF3 complex subunit associates with the COP9 complex

The Arabidopsis COP9 complex is a multi-subunit repressor of photomorphogenesis which is conserved among multicellular organisms. Approximately 12 proteins copurify with the COP9 complex. Seven of these proteins are orthologues of subunits of the recently published mammalian COP9 complex. Four of the proteins show amino acid similarity to various subunits of the COP9 complex, eIF3 complex and 19S cap of the proteasome. We have studied one of these proteins in order to determine if it is a component of the COP9 complex. Arabidopsis p105 is highly similar to the p110 subunit of the human elF3. The p105 gene is induced during photomorphogenesis, and RNA and protein analysis reveal different tissue accumulation patterns. p105 is found in a large protein complex. p105 interacts in yeast with both COP9 and FUS6, two known components of the COP9 complex. Our results indicate that p105 is not a component of the COP9 core complex, though it may interact with components of the complex.     

Small break loch experiments and verification of CANAC-II code

Scaled experiments on small break, loss-of-coolant accidents have been conducted. The tests simulated loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) resulting from a 0.53% and a 0.13% communicative break in the cold leg and the pressurizer power operated relief valve (PORV). The thermal-hydraulic behavior such as natural circulation and reflux condensation cooling during a small break LOCA has been investigated.

A new computer program CANAC-II (a Computer Analysis Program of Natural Circulation for multi-loop systems) has been developed and verified based upon comprehensive tests. A drift flux model was applied for two-phase flow in CANAC-II. It also has a shorter computer running time than the real time.