The kinetics of the light-induced defect creation in hydrogenated amorphous silicon – Stretched exponential relaxation

Our model for light-induced defect creation in hydrogenated amorphous silicon is applied to its kinetics, i.e., the growing curve of light-induced dangling bond density as a function of illumination time, which is fitted to a stretched exponential function. Two parameters β and τ involved in the function are estimated as functions of saturated dangling bond density in terms of our model. These are compared with two experimental results, i.e., our results obtained from ESR measurements and Shimakawa et al.’s results obtained from photoconductivity measurements. The saturated dangling bond density is also measured as a function of the generation rate of free carriers. The experimental results are compared with calculated results and discussed.     

A new pharmacological testing method--different effects of levamisole and the serum of mice orally treated with levamisole on mitogenic activity of lipopolysaccharide

The direct addition of levamisole to murine splenic lymphocytes had no effect on the mitogenic activity of lipopolysaccharide. However, the addition of serum of mice orally treated with levamisole increased the mitogenic activity, and this increased activity using serum was similar to the result obtained in an in vivo experiment. These results suggest that the new in vitro experimental method using serum may be able to reproduce the in vivo effect of drugs.     

Effects of Shosaikoto (kampo medicine) on lipid metabolism in macrophages.

We investigated effects of Shosaikoto treatment on cholesterol metabolism in macrophages. Although macrophages, harvested from mice treated with Shosaikoto, took up a small amount of control low density lipoprotein (LDL) (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBA-RS) value was 0.27 pmol/mg of protein) as control macrophages, they took up more LDL modified with CuSO4 (TBA-RS value was 6.12 pmol/mg of protein) than control macrophages. Degradation of both control LDL and oxidized LDL was enhanced in Shosaikoto treated macrophages. In the presence of control LDL or in the absence of LDL, incorporation of [3H]oleic acid into chlesteryl oleate was significantly reduced in Shosaikoto treated macrophages. This suggests that acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) activity in macrophages was partly inhibited by Shosaikoto treatment. On the other hand, in the present of oxidized LDL, cholesteryl ester accumulated in Shosaikoto treated macrophages as much as in controls. However, cholesteryl oleate efflux from macrophages in the presence of high density lipoprotein (HDL) was enhanced in Shosaikoto treated macrophages. These result indicate that Shosaikoto facilitates oxidized LDL catabolism in macrophages, resulting in the augmentation of oxidized LDL uptake and the elimination of cholesterol from macrophages by HDL. These Shosaikoto effects may prevent foam cell formation and the progression of atherosclerotic lesions.     

The nephritogenic glycopeptide from rat glomerular basement membrane. X. Synthesis of an N-triglycosyl dipeptide and characteristics of its cis-trans isomers.

Isomers of O-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-(1----6)-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl- (1----6)-N-[L-aspart-1-oyl-(L-proline)-4-oyl]-alpha-D-glucopyranos ylamine have been prepared, as models for a derivative possibly present in the glomerular basement membrane of rats, by condensation of the corresponding dipeptide derivative (5) with triglycosylamine (4) in the presence of O,O-diethylcyanophosphonate, followed by deprotection of the trisaccharide-dipeptide derivative. During the deprotection process, cis- and trans-isomers containing proline were separated by silica gel column chromatography and also reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography.     

Organic Dicarboxylate Negative Electrode Materials with Remarkably Small Strain for High‐Voltage Bipolar Batteries

As advanced negative electrodes for powerful and useful high‐voltage bipolar batteries, an intercalated metal–organic framework (iMOF), 2,6‐naphthalene dicarboxylate dilithium, is described which has an organic‐inorganic layered structure of π‐stacked naphthalene and tetrahedral LiO₄ units. The material shows a reversible two‐electron‐transfer Li intercalation at a flat potential of 0.8 V with a small polarization. Detailed crystal structure analysis during Li intercalation shows the layered framework to be maintained and its volume change is only 0.33 %. The material possesses two‐dimensional pathways for efficient electron and Li⁺ transport formed by Li‐doped naphthalene packing and tetrahedral LiO₃C network. A cell with a high potential operating LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ spinel positive and the proposed negative electrodes exhibited favorable cycle performance (96 % capacity retention after 100 cycles), high specific energy (300 Wh kg^?1), and high specific power (5 kW kg^?1). An 8 V bipolar cell was also constructed by connecting only two cells in series.     

Quasi-likelihood analysis for nonsynchronously observed diffusion processes

We consider nonsynchronous sampling of parameterized stochastic regression models, which contain stochastic differential equations. Constructing a quasi-likelihood function, we prove that the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator and the Bayes type estimator are consistent and asymptotically mixed normal when the sampling frequency of the nonsynchronous data becomes large.     

Response of liver to glucocorticoid is altered by administration of shosaikoto (kampo medicine)

The effects of Shosaikoto, one of the Kampo medicines used for therapy for chronic hepatitis, on liver functions were studied in mice. Oral administration of Shosaikoto for 5 d enhanced the well-known induction of tyrosine aminotransferase (TAT) activity by dexamethasone. Further, TAT activity in mice treated with Shosaikoto was induced effectively by a smaller dose of dexamethasone, as compared with that in control mice. However, Shosaikoto itself did not induce TAT activity in the liver on oral administration or in cultured hepatocytes by direct addition. Moreover, Shosaikoto did not affect the induction of TAT activity by butyryl-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate. The amplifying effect of Shosaikoto seemed to be specific for induction by dexamethasone. These data suggest that Shosaikoto makes the liver sensitive to glucocorticoid by some unknown mechanism.     

Studies on fungal metabolites—XXXI: Anthraquinonoid colouring matters of Penicillium islandicum sopp and some other fungi (−)luteoskyrin, (−)rubroskyrin, (+)rugulosin and their related compounds

The structures of (+)rugulosin, (?)luteoskyrin and (?)rubroskyrin have been reexamined by NMR and new structures 18, 19 and 20 proposed respectively. Their absolute structures were established on the basis of the X-ray analysis of (+)dibromodehydrotetrahydrorugulosin (27). The minor analogous metabolites, (?)4a-oxyluteoskyrin (31) of P. islandicum and (+)4a-oxyrugulosin (32) of P. brunneum, have been formulated. On oxidation of (?)luteoskyrin and (+)rugulosin with pertrifluoroacetic acid (?)4a,4a′-dioxyluteoskyrin (33) and (+>4a,4a′-dioxyrugulosin (34) were formed, while with MnO₂ (+)4a,4a′-dehydrorugulosin (35) was obtained. The structures of lumiluteoskyrin (37), and deoxylumiluteoskyrin (38), photooxidation products of luteoskyrin and deoxyluteoskyrin, respectively, have been elucidated.