By the same treatment as the previous report, holocellulose was prepared from the leaves and stems of Petasites Japonicus or Osmunda Cinnamomea. From the 5% NaOH-soluble fraction, hemicellulose A, hemicellulose B and hemicellulose C were fractionated by Buston's method, and their chemical compositions were roughly determined on the hydrolysed solution of the hemicelluloses, at first by paper chromatography and then by tests for carbohydrate under usual way. These hemicelluloses consisted of a large amount of xylose and of a small amount of glucose.

View full abstract

Authors examined at first the influence of pH on the precipitation of hemicellulose A from 5% NaOH solution of holocellulose, and then the influence of the concentration of NaOH on the extraction of hemicellulose from holocellulose as well as the effect of 1% NaOH in 50%-80% ethanol, butanol and acetone on the removal of lignin in bolocellulose.
The results obtained as follows:
The optimum pH for precipitation of hemicellulose A was 3-4. Hemicellulose A was extracted with diluted NaOH solution, but hemicellulose C with concentrated NaOH solution. Effect on the removal of lignin followed the order of butanol>acetone>ethanol. Hemicellulose B1 newly obtained from hemicellulose B was found to have fucose as a constituting sugar.

View full abstract

By availing oneself of solubility with the solvents, α-cellulose, β-cellulose and γ-cellulose were separated from Artemisia Capillaris helocellulose. The quantitative analysis gave the following results.
1. All these celluloses contained lignin, and α-cellulose, especially, had much of them. As their sugar components, glucose, xylose and galactose were detected in α-cellulose, and xylose and galactose in both β-cellulose and γ-cellulose. Glucose in α-cellulose was about 46%, the molecular ratio between xylose and galactose in each cellulose being 4: 1, the same as hemicellulose.
2. In the extracts of each cellulose, by 50% alcohol including 1% NaOH or NaClO₂, xylose and galactose were detected as the hydrolysed sugars, their molecular ratio being 4: 1. Xylose combining with lignin was also detected.
3. It was concluded that the hemicellulose was a kind of galactoxylan consisting of four parts of xylose and one part of galactose, at a uniform rate, combining with lignin.

View full abstract

The effect of ultraviolet rays on the vitamin C in 12 kinds of vegetable and fruit juices was studied, and tbe following results were obtained.
1) Vitamin C in juice of some kinds of vegetables and fruits such as radish, summer orange, tomato, onion and French-bean, in almost all of which the vitamin is contained mostly as AsA and is comparatively hard to be oxidized in the air, was affected by the ultraviolet rays. The amounts of total C and especially of AsA in those juices were remarkably diminished.
2) The vitamin C in some kinds of juice, such as potato, sweet potato, carrot, cucumber and peach, quickly oxidized during their preparation by the severe action of oxidase and consequently containing DAsA in the majority of total C, was affected searcely by ultraviolet rays.
3) The action of visible ray was, though far less severe, quite similar to that of the ultraviolet.

View full abstract

The effect of ultraviolet ray radiation on the vitamin C in 11 kinds of vegetables and fruits was studied with the following results.
1) Ultraviolet ray radiation for 2 hours on the round slices of vegetables and fruits, such as radish, summer orange, tomato and onion, diminished the amounts of total C and, especially, of ascorbic acid (AsA). On the other hand, in the case of round slices of potato, sweet potato and carrot, the amount of vitamin C was scarcely changed by the same treatment.
2) The vitamin C in short and small-cut pieces of radish was affected more seriously than that in its round slices.
3) Ultraviolet ray radiation for 16 hours on the whole sample with rind, peel and skin did not influenced on the amounts of vitamin C in radish, summer orange, tomato and onion, but distinctly lowered the amounts of C in cabbage, French beans and spinach.

View full abstract

A study on calcium metabolism in the blood of cases of malignant tumor revealed a decrease in serum ionic calcium and an increase of magnesium The changes are more pronounced as the disease becomes more severe.
Sesame oil, rapeseed oil, calcium mesotartrate and vitamin K₅, with the action of increasing serum ionic calcium and decreasing magnesium and inorganic phosphate, were given to mice transplanted with Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, to study the body weight curve, effect of life prolongation, changes in components of ascites and number of tumor cells, in relation to serum ionic calcium.
Body weight curves were not remarkably different from controls upon vegetable oil administration. However, the groups given sesame oil and rapeseed oil showed a slight prolongation of the survival period. Some animals lived longer in each experiment. Administration of calcium mesotartrate and vitamin K₅ resulted in a smaller increase in body weight than in controls, with a definite prolongation of survival in some animals.

View full abstract

As reported previously, full-fat or defatted soybeans showed decrease in total sugar by heating. These decreases were presumed to be due to the amino-carbonyl reaction, since available lysine decreased by autoclaving defatted soybean flakes (moisture 20%) at 100° or 120° for 60-40 min. The whiteness of flakes also decreased, as the Maillard reaction progressed. Available lysine was determined by the process of Rao, Carter and Frampton following dinitrophenylation and hydrolysis by the method of Adachi and Nakanishi. All the three oligosaccharides (sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose) tended to decrease by autoclaving.

View full abstract

An animal experiment has been performed to measure the effects of calcium deficiency and its later replenishment on growth and bone development of the young animal, and to see if there was any age difference. A diet deficient in calcium was fed to the young rats for 30 days at one of the three stages of growth, and then the diet was switched over to a stock diet containing the minimum requirement of calcium, which was fed till the 90th day after weaning. The body and bone lengths were not affected by the calcium deficiency, but the effect on weight growth was greater on the younger. The effect on ash, calcium, and phosphorus contents of the bone was more remarkable than that on the body weight, but with little age difference. The calcium replenishment resulted in an appreciable recovery of both body weight and bone development in the early and late deprivation groups, but not in the group of middle stage deprivation.

View full abstract

The effects of the 30 days calcium deficiency in various stages of growth of the young rats and of the later calcium replenishment were examined on the bone composition, the serum alkali-phosphatase value, the X-ray picture of bones and food intakes. The calcium deficiency yielded only a slight change in the ash, calcium, phosphorus, and concentration of the bone, compared with the considerable reduction in the absolute amount of these elements. This suggests that calcium deficiency does not give great change in bone ash composition. The serum alkali-phosphatase value showed an increase at the end of the deprivation period, with the highest rise in the youngest group, and was lowered near to the control level by calcium replenishment. The smaller food intake and the lowered food efficiency observed on the calcium deficient groups might account in part for their retarded growth of weight. The calcium was retained much efficiently during the period of calcium deprivation, compared with the control group.

View full abstract

Rats were fed with the diet of various cholesterol esters for three weeks, and the effect on fatty acid composition of serum and liver cholesterol ester was studied. The result indicated that:
1) Fatty acid of dietary cholesterol ester was increased in serum cholesterol ester. But its increase in liver was only small.
2) Linoleic acid and arachidonic acid (with other polyunsaturated acids) in liver cholesterol ester were less than those in serum cholesterol ester.

View full abstract

The distribution of B-vitamins in the rice grain has been investigated by the microbiological assay procedure in which a uniform medium available for the assays of B-vitamins with lactic acid bacteria, as shown in Table 1, was applied. The rice grains used were three varieties, Asahi No. 4 and Omachi in Japan, and Calrose in California, U.S.A. The rice grain (whole brown rice) was divided into three parts, i, e., embryo, rice bran and polished rice, and the B-vitamins content in each part was determined. The results indicated that the B-vitamins in the rice grain could be classified into three groups. The first group including thiamine, riboflavin and folic acid, the second group including pyridoxal and biotin, and the third group including nicotinic acid and pantothenic acid showed the order of embryo>rice bran>polished rice, embryo≅ rice bran>polished rice, and rice bran>embryo>polished rice, respectively, in the concentration of the vitamins in each part of the grain as shown in Fig. 1 (Part 1-3). Concerning with the distribution of B-vitamins in the rice grain, the rice bran was generally the richest part of the vitamins in the grain as shown in Table 4.

View full abstract

The effects of the addition of a mixture of essential amino acids which lacked one of them to a low but well-balanced amino acid diet on the growth as well as the activities of, liver histidase and alanine transaminase of rats were investigated. The removal of methionine, phenylalanine, or isoleucine from the surplus amino acid mixture retarded the growth of rats compared with that of the control animals. In the case of the omission of either threonine, histidine, leucine, or valine from the surplus amino acids, the retardation of growth was observed only for the first few days. The growth rate was improved by the addition of the amino acids from which either tryptophan, lysine, or arginine was omitted. These results show the difference of inducibility of imbalance by the type of the amino acid mixtures.
The addition of incomplete amino acid mixture increased more or less the enzyme activities, especially when histidine was omitted from the mixture.

View full abstract

Concentrated rice protein was prepared from the polished rice powder by the elimination of starch with bacterial amylase. Two groups of trained rats were fed 3g of this “high protein rice”. One and 3 hours after feeding, each group of rats were killed, the gastrointestinal contents were washed out and hydrolyzed with HCl. The remaining amino acids in gastrointestinal tracts were analyzed using an amino acid analyzer, and the amount of absorbed amino acids was calculated. Thirtyseven percent and 74% of injested nitrogen was absorbed 1 and 3 hours after feeding, respectively. Among the essential amino acids, Lys disappeared most rapidly from the gastrointestinal tracts, and Met disappeared most slowly. Thr and His belonged to the intermediate group. Similar experiment was carried out with a diet containing an amino acid mixture simulating rice protein. The absorption of nitrogen from this diet was 37 and 70 percent, 1 hour and 3 hours after feeding, respectively. The rate of absorption of each amino acid in this amino acid mixture was different from that of the previous experiment with rice protein. The rate of Lys, Met and Thr was intermediate, that of Arg and His was rapid. The absorption of Tyr was extremely slow. Relation to the supplemental effect of amino acids to rice protein was discussed.

View full abstract

Fluorine was determined in 83 market samples of condiments by the Zirconium-Eriochrome cyanin R method.
The fluorine content varied from 240.56ppm (ginger powder) to 2.34ppm (white pepper). Ginger, parsley seeds, celery seeds, red pepper, peelings of orange and Japanese pepper contained much fluorine, and white pepper, nutmeg, mustard seeds, garlic powder and clove showed low contents of fluorine.

View full abstract

The content of water soluble fluorine in 75 chewing gums purchased in Japan was determined. The maximum content of water soluble fluorine was 925.92μg per sheet (sample No. 46) and the minimum 0μg. The average content was 150.41μg per sheet.
Thirty-six per cent of the samples contained 0-49μg of water soluble fluorine per sheet, and 30.7% contained 50-149μg.

View full abstract