Ellagitannin Digestion in Moth Larvae and a New Dimeric Ellagitannin from the Leaves of Platycarya strobilacea

Ellagitannins (ETs) are plant polyphenols with various health benefits. Recent studies have indicated that the biological activities of ETs are attributable to their degradation products, including ellagic acid and its gut microflora metabolites, such as urolithins. Insect tea produced in the Guangxi region, China, is made from the frass of moth larvae that feed on the ET-rich leaves of Platycarya strobilacea. Chromatographic separation of the Guangxi insect tea showed that the major phenolic constituents are ellagic acid, brevifolin carboxylic acid, gallic acid, brevifolin, and polymeric polyphenols. Chemical investigation of the feed of the larvae, the fresh leaves of P. strobilacea, showed that the major polyphenols are ETs including pedunculagin, casuarictin, strictinin, and a new ET named platycaryanin E. The new ET was confirmed as a dimer of strictinin having a tergalloyl group. The insect tea and the leaves of P. strobilacea contained polymeric polyphenols, both of which were shown to be composed of ETs and proanthocyanidins by acid hydrolysis and thiol degradation. This study clarified that Guangxi insect tea contains ET metabolites produced in the digestive tract of moth larvae, and the metabolites probably have higher bioavailabilities than the original large-molecular ETs of the leaves of P. strobilacea.     

DE-Sinc methods have almost the same convergence property as SE-Sinc methods even for a family of functions fitting the SE-Sinc methods

In this paper, the theoretical convergence rate of the trapezoidal rule combined with the double-exponential (DE) transformation is given for a class of functions for which the single-exponential (SE) transformation is suitable. It is well known that the DE transformation enables the rule to achieve a much higher rate of convergence than the SE transformation, and the convergence rate has been analyzed and justified theoretically under a proper assumption. Here, it should be emphasized that the assumption is more severe than the one for the SE transformation, and there actually exist some examples such that the trapezoidal rule with the SE transformation achieves its usual rate, whereas the rule with DE does not. Such cases have been observed numerically, but no theoretical analysis has been given thus far. This paper reveals the theoretical rate of convergence in such cases, and it turns out that the DE’s rate is almost the same as, but slightly lower than that of the SE. By using the analysis technique developed here, the theoretical convergence rate of the Sinc approximation with the DE transformation is also given for a class of functions for which the SE transformation is suitable. The result is quite similar to above; the convergence rate in the DE case is slightly lower than in the SE case. Numerical examples which support those two theoretical results are also given.     

The Local Trace Inequality for Potential Type Integral Operators

The local trace inequality for potential type integral operator is shown and the trace inequality in the framework of Morrey spaces is obtained. A sufficient condition for the equivalence between the Kerman–Sawyer condition and the Adams condition is also presented.     

Construction of isostructural hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks: limitations and possibilities of pore expansion

The library of isostructural porous frameworks enables a systematic survey to optimize the structure and functionality of porous materials. In contrary to metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a handful of isostructural frameworks have been reported for hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) due to the weakness of the bonds. Herein, we provide a rule-of-thumb to develop isostructural HOFs, where we demonstrate the construction of the third and fourth generation of isostructural HAT-based HOFs (TolHAT-1 and ThiaHAT-1) by considering three important structural factors, that are (1) directional H-bonding, (2) shape-fitted docking of the HAT core, and (3) modulation of peripheral moieties. Their structural and photo-physical properties including HCl vapor detection are presented. Moreover, TolHAT-1, ThiaHAT-1, and other isostructural HOFs (CPHAT-1 and CBPHAT-1) were thoroughly compared from the viewpoints of structures and properties. Importantly, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation proves to be rationally capable of evaluating the stability of isostructural HOFs. These results can accelerate the development of various isostructural molecular porous materials.

The library of isostructural porous frameworks enables a systematic survey to optimize the structure and functionality of porous materials.     

Contrast analysis of Shockley partial dislocations in 4H-SiC observed by synchrotron Berg–Barrett X-ray topography

Shockley partial dislocations in 4H-SiC were observed using monochromatic synchrotron X-ray topography with a grazing-incidence Bragg-case geometry, that is, Berg–Barrett topography. The contrast of partial dislocations at the edges of Shockley-type stacking faults is discussed in terms of whether they have C- or Si-core edge components, or screw components. The dissociated state of basal-plane dislocation is discussed on a basis of the stacking sequence for basal-planes in the 4H-SiC crystal structure. It is expected that the results obtained in this study will be useful for characterizing Shockley-type stacking faults in Berg–Barrett topography.     

Production of hyperpolarized nuclei for MRI

The project in producing the hyperpolarized ³He and ¹⁹F are addressed in pursuit of radiation free medical diagnosis. The program for production of the hyperpolarized ³He by the brute force method with the Pomeranchuk cooling and the rapid melting of the solid 3He started a few years ago, and is still on the way, while a new program for production of the hyperpolarized ¹⁹F by means of the PHIP (ParaHydrogen Induced Polarization) has just got started. Particular attention is placed upon a new idea of the hyperpolarization catalyst to be used for ¹⁹F.     

twins in Mo-doped TiSi 2 thin films with the C54 structure

The defect structures in orthorhombic C54 crystallites in thin films of Mo-doped TiSi 2 produced by co-sputtering have been investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Almost all C54 crystallites contain a twin boundary parallel to (101), dividing a crystallite into two regions, each of which also contains many thin twins with the habit plane parallel to (001), which is inclined by about 45° from (101). Both of the two regions divided by the twin boundary parallel to (101) tend to have facets on (001) as well as thin twins with the habit plane parallel to (001). As a result, C54 crystallites exhibit a characteristic shape just like an oak leaf. While twins with the (001) habit plane have been observed in C54 crystallites in both binary and Mo-doped TiSi 2 thin films, those with the (101) habit plane are present only in Mo-doped TiSi 2 thin films. The twinning elements for (101) twins are determined to be K 1 = (101), , K 2 = (001) and m2 = [100]. The origin of (101) twins in Mo-doped TiSi 2 is discussed in terms of the change in the c / a axial ratio upon alloying TiSi 2 with Mo.     

Jelly-filled optical cable

Abstract

Jelly-filled optical fiber cables have been investigated. The waterproof characteristics and transmission and mechanical properties of the fabricated jelly-filled cables, including temperature and aging characteristics, were sufficient to apply them for practical use.     

On-Line Coupling of a Micro Liquid Chromatograph to a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer

A micro liquid chromatograph-interfaced Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer system (LC/FTIR) for on line analysis of liquid chromatography effluents is described. About 2 μg of injected diethylphthalate can be detected using a 0.025 mm pathlength flow cell. Several examples of a micro LC/FTIR are demonstrated.     

Study of Tensor Correlations in 4He via the 4He(p, dp)d and 4He(p, dp)pn Reactions

Tensor correlations in ⁴He were studied via the (p, dp) reaction at the incident energy of 392 MeV with a focus on spin configurations of correlated pn pairs in ⁴He at high relative momenta ${(P_{\rm rel}^{\rm cor})}$ . The preliminary results show that the correlated pn pair at ${P_{\rm rel}^{\rm cor} = 310 {\rm MeV/c}}$ predominantly has the channel spin S = 1, which is consistent with the characteristics of tensor correlations.