Both aliphatic and aromatic amine-N-pentosides decompose to form melanoidins by weak acid catalysis. From their reaction mixture, an unknown carbonyl compound, C₁₇H₁₆N₆O₁₀, has been iso-lated as its bis-2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazone. And, similarly from the reaction mixture of either ali-phatic or aromatic amine-N-D-glucoside, another unknown hydrazone, C₁₈H₁₈N₈O₁₁, has been isolated. As the results of characterization, it has been proved that the former is 3-deoxy-xylosone bis-2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazone and the latter is 3-deoxy-D-glucosone bis-2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazone.
It has been shown that 3-deoxy-osone is the intermediate in the melanoidin formation. Further-more, its significance in the browning reaction is pointed out.

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Sarkomycin can be assayed by adsorption on Duolite S-30 Resinous Adsorbent below F elution with methanol, dilution of the eluate with citric acid solution containing sodium ch (pH 2.0), and estimation of the reducing current of the first wave by polarography.

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Bacterial α-amylase was inacti ethylenediamine tetraacetate and, reactivated by the addition of salts alkaline earth metals, respectively, p the reactivated amylase were investi
1) The enzyme activities of the amylase in relation to the associk decreased in the following order: Ba and Be.
2) The stability of the reactivate at alkaline side was not so significant according to the kind of metals, w ception of beryllium-reactivated amy as well as the EDTA-inactivated ar sensitive to alkaline condition.
3) The stability of the reactivat to heat remarkably varied with the metals decreasing in the following 4 Sr, Ba, Mg and Be. Though the amylase was stable at temperatures l:it easily lost its competence of rea, temperatures above 40°C.
4) Only the calcium-amylase ex. solute resistance to proteinase. The d by proteinase occurred gradually in amylase while it proceeded rapidly ii lases reactivated by other metals.
5) All the reactivated amylases to be almost equal in their degree of on starch, in spite of the remarkable in activity and stability.

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A molecular weight of 980 was determined for fungisporin by the isothermal distillation method. In view of information published previously¹⁾ this points to a formula (Val, Phe)₄ for this compound. Sequence studies on peptide fragments, obtained from fungisporin by partial acid hydrolysis, led to the structural formula cyclo-(Val₂•Phe₂)₂ for this natural cyclic polypep-tide. Enzymatic experiments with the peptides obtained, showed that the full formula of fungi-sporin is most probably cyclo-(D-Val•L-Val•D-Phe•L-Phe•)₂.

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Screening experiments for ε-lysine acylase activity in microorganisms have been carried out. Namely, a number of bacteria, streptomyces, molds and yeasts were cultured on the medium containing ε-acyllysines, and ε-lysine acylase activity was estimated by liberated amino acid detected with paper chromatography of the cultural broth.
As a result, the occurrence of ε-lysine acylase activity was observed in molds, especially in Aspergillus oryzae. In other organisms such as bacteria, streptomyces and yeasts, the activity was scarcely found under the conditions employed by the authors.
By the same procedure employing acetylmethionine and ε-benzoyl-α-acetyllysine, acylase activity, that is, hydrolytic activity toward α-N-acyl amino acids, of the microorganisms was investigated.

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For the purpose of investigating the formation of ε-lysine activity in molds, especially, Aspergillus oryzae was studied, from which it was found to be an inducible enzyme system whose activity is undetectable without induction.
The respective activities inducted with ε-benzoyl-L-, -D-, and -DL-lysines are capable of hydrolyzing both optical isomers of ε-benzoyllysine regardless of the optical nature of the inducers employed.
Several enzymatic properties of this fungal ε-lysine acylase are also presented.

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The infrared absorption spectra of native (potato) and new modified starches were observed in about 4500cm^-1_??_670cm^-1 region using film technique as a new attempt. Deuteration was attempted to investigate the physicochemical properties and to assign the absorption bands partially. And the absorption band attributed to the H₂O molecule was explained, The absorption band, which appeared in the modified starch only and which was thought as one great difference bet-ween two starches seems to be related to CO.

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Effects of materials extracted from potatoes with hot 80% ethanol on the course of phos-phorylase reactions were examined. These materials had no effect on phosphorylase activities as determined by the rate of liberation of inorganic phosphate from glucose-l-phosphate in the presence of u large amount of primer; however, in the presence of a small amount of primer or in its absence, these materials had significant effects on the liberation of inorganic phosphate and starch formation. These results suggested the presence of a small amount of primers in these materials. Evidence was presented against the participation of D-enzyme on the formation of starch when partially purified preparations of potato phosphorylase or crude extracts from potatoes were used as the enzyme.

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In the medium of the low pH value, acid antiseptics (salicylic, benzoic, dehydroacetic and sorbic acid) transfer very rapidly from the medium to yeast cells, and these antiseptics are accumulated in the cells.
The transferred quantity is in equilibrium with the concentration of the undissociated anti-septics in the medium, and the ratio of the transferred quantity to the concentration of the total antiseptics in the medium is limited by the pH in the medium. Accordingly, it has been considered that the pH value affects the transfer ratio and results in the variation of the toxic effect of the antiseptics.
In connection with this, not only the ionization equilibrium, but also the adsorption of the undissociated antiseptics on the solid phase of the cell has been assumed to be related to the accumlatian of the antiseptics.

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Phyllocladanol, a saturated tetracyclic diterpene alcohol present in the neutral portion of methanol extract from Cryptomeria japonica, is shown to readily dehydrate to phyllocladene, and the constitution (I) is proposed. Occurrence of a further compound, isophyllocladene, in steam-volatile material of the extract is described.

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Screening tests were carried out in order to obtain microorganisms which are able to pro-duce L-glutamic acid from glucose and nitrogen sources.
Five strains having exceedingly high L-glutamic acid productivity were obtained.
Most of these strains were found to belong to the Genus Brevibacterium. “Brevibacteriurn divaricatum nov. sp. ” was the name proposed by the authors for the new group of these strains.

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(1) The addition of amino-acids to a medium resulted in the protection of E. coli irradiated with cobalt-60 gamma-ray.
(2) The tendencies of the protective effects differed from each other. From this viewpoint, they could further be divided into four groups.
(3) In order to compare the protective effect of each amino-acid, the Sin-value obtained from each survival-curve was chosen as the indicator.
(4) Proline was found to be most protective, and phenylalanine the least, whereas arginine was not protective.
(5) The addition of proteinous materials also resulted in the protection of E. coli irradiated with cobalt-60 gamma-ray.
(6) The addition of proteinous materials to nutrient agar medium resulted in only weak protection. However, their addition to a minimum medium was very protective.

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(1) The survival-ratios of E. coli irradiated with an equal gamma-ray total dose were almost constant at a dose-rate exceeding a certain limit. This limit differed from each another. In case of nutrient medium containing 10% horse-serum, the limit was 4, 000 rep/hr, in case of minimum medium 2, 000 rep/hr, and in non-nutrient me-dium 1, 700 rep/hr.
(2) Also, in case of applying the gamma-ray dose-rate below a certain limit, the lower the dose-rate, the more bacteria survived.
(3) When E. coli was preserved in an ice-box as long as 6 hours in a nutrient agar or on a pure agar prior to irradiation, no change was observed on the survival of the strain irra-diated in either case.
(4) When E. coli suspended in saline was preserved in an incubator for 6 hours prior to preparation of the samples, survival of the strain was higher than that of the control. The higher survival is probably due to the formation of resting cells of the bacteria.
(5) When perished cells sterilized with gamma-ray were added to the living cells of the same strain of E. coli, no-influences on the survival-curve of the living cells were observed.
(6) The survivals of E. coli irradiated and incubated at 18°C were slightly higher than survivals of E. coli incubated at 37°C. Some reactivation occurred in incubation of the irradiated bacteria at 18°C.
(7) The survivals obtained from samples irradiated in vacuum were higher than those irradiated in the air.
(8) The protective effects of Pereston-N, which is regarded as an artificial serum, were recognized when E. coli was irradiated with gamma-ray.

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In regard of the reduction of (+)-pulegone with sodium in aqueous-ammonia, application of infra-red analyses and chemical methods revealed the product to be composed of 75% (-)-menthol and 25% (+)-isomenthol.

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κ-Casein and crude λ-casein were separated from crude κ-casein (calcium soluble fraction of Warner's α-casein). Development of turbidity and liberation of non protein nitrogen (NPN) in crude κ-casein by rennin, as already reported, was assumed to be attributed to the change of κ-casein itself.
Liberation of NPN from α_R-casein (calcium insoluble fraction of Warner's α-casein) and purified κ-casein by pepsin and chymotrypsin was compared with that by rennin. It was demonstrated that pepsin, as well as rennin, liberated a definite amount of NPN from κ-casein and scarcely liberated it from α_R;-casein, while chymotrypsin liberated NPN from both fractions increasingly with the increment of re-action time.

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Paracasein was found to differ from casein markedly in its behaviour to urea. The former is partially denatured by urea. Precipitate appears in paracasein which is dialyzed against calcium free buffer after treatment with 6.66M urea at. low temperature. It is assumed that this precipitate may have mainly originated from para α-casein and possibly be related to para K-casein.

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Raw milk and skim milk powder collected monthly from several districts in Japan (from June 1956 to May 1957) were burnt to ashes and their total radioactivities were measured.
As a result, total radioactivities showed 40_??_50cpm per 1g of ash. There was neither sea-sonal variation nor regional variation in the total radioactivity.
Skim milk powder (or whole milk powder) collected every season from six districts in Tanan (August, October in 1957, Fubruary, May in 1958) was burnt to ashes and its Sr-90 concentration was measured.
Results obtained showed that Sr-90 concen-tration in skim milk powder manufactured in the northern districts were higher than those in the central or southern districts of Japan.
The Sr-90 concentrations are as indicated in the following districts.
Hokkaido:4.2_??_6.7 Sr-90uuc/g of Ca
Tohoku: 0.9_??_2.0 Sr-90uuc/g of Ca
Kanto: 1.0_??_1.4 Sr-90uuc/g of Ca
Chubu: 0.8_??_2.2 Sr-90uuc/g of Ca
Kinki:0.5_??_1.3 Sr-90uuc/g of Ca
Chugoku and Shikoku: 1.0_??_1.6 Sr-90uuc/g of Ca
The authors wish to thank Dr. Yamazaki and Mr. Hashizume, Physical and Chemical Research Institute, for having taken charge of counting in the measurement of Sr-90 concen-tration, and to Dr. Asari, Japan Inspection Co. Ltd., for his valuable counsel and good offices given in the measurement of Sr-90 concentration.

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