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The selenium distribution in the scales or skin as the some inedible tissues and the ordinary muscle of several species of fish at lower trophic levels in marine ecosystem (Japanese sardine Sardinops melenostictus, Silver-stripe herring Spratelloides gracilis, Japanese horse mackerel Trachurus japonicas, Chub mackerel Scomber japonicas, Pacific saury Cololabis saira and Flying fish Cypselurus agoo agoo), generally called "Aomono" in Japanese, containing a small amount of mercury with a large amount of polyunsaturated fatty acid, was investigated in order to clarify the possibility of the available utilization of selenium from those tissues, in relation with the mercury distribution involving the tissues. As a result, each selenium level in the scales or skin in all subjected fish was about the same or somewhat higher than that involving muscle. On the other hand, the mercury level was extremely low compared with the muscle and Se/Hg (the molar ratio of selenium to mercury) as an indicator of the safety of marine products was extremely high compared with that involving muscle, suggesting that the scale or skin will be usually inedible but significantly safe tissue in which low levels of heavy metals such as mercury will tend to accumulate, as in the case of a preceding paper. Moreover, in the present study, the similar results were also obtained for the pectoral fin characteristics of Flying fish. These findings suggest that the available utilization of selenium can also be expected from pectoral fin in addition to the scales or skin of fish, including the improvement of environment.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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Evaluation methods of superoxide scavenging capacity have been studied by many researchers. One of the methods is a spin- trapping electron spin resonance (ESR) technique, in which 5,5-diemthyl-1-pyrroline 1-oxide (DMPO) was usually used as a spin-trapping reagent. In previous reports, the evaluation method based on a competition reaction and spin-trapping ESR technique were proposed. However, a big key issue and unavoidable problem remained in this evaluation. This is the rapid decrease of DMPO-O2- adduct by the following chemical reactions. Therefore, the initial signal intensity of DMPO-O2- has to be estimated with an approximation from a decreasing curve. This approximation, however, includes at least a thirty-second time lag before starting an ESR measurement. So, the measurement of a shorter time lag is required to obtain a more accurate initial intensity of DMPO-O2- adduct. In this study, the pseudo flow-injection ESR method using a peristaltic pump was adopted to inject the test solution directly into a quartz cell in ESR cavity. This method achieved a 10 times shorter time lag (ca. 3 seconds) compared with the previous method (ca. 30 seconds) using a hematocrit capillary. As a consequence, the initial signal intensity within 10 % error was obtained without any estimation. The second-order rate constants of the reaction between various phenolic compounds and superoxide were obtained as one of the applications of this method.

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[in Japanese]

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At the turn of the 20th century, stories circulated about the life and times of Jujiro Wada in Alaska as well as western Canada. Jujiro Wada came to Alaska from Japan as a young man in 1892 and spent the next 50 years on whaling ships, exploring the country, and pursuing elusive dreams seeking. Newspaper accounts track him not only in Alaska and the Yukon, but also mushing in the Northwest Territories; Jujiro Wada was also knowledgeable about the Russian Far East. Several books and numerous romanticized articles (in both English and Japanese) and movies have been made about him, but his actual feats are hard to distinguish from the romantic accounts of the journalists, authors and movie directors. Jujiro Wada was present at the founding of Fairbanks, carried word of the Fairbanks gold strike to Dawson City and almost became the first Fairbanksan lynched by the resultant mob of angry, unsuccessful gold seekers. This short, wiry man ran competitive, long-distance, 50-mile marathon races in Nome (1907) and Fairbanks. He mushed long distances to Herschel Island and the MacKenzie River Delta. He pioneered the trails now known as the Yukon Quest (1903) and the Iditarod Trail (1909). He sought financing for Alaska mining schemes from many people including the Louisiana Tabasco sauce McIlhenney family. He died impoverished in 1937 in San Diego. This article attempts to sort the "thin" facts from fiction of the Wada story, especially as it relates to early Nome, Seward and Fairbanks. Also discussed will be the upcoming live Alaska presentation of Wada's life "The Samurai Musher" by the song and dance of the Jujiro Wada Memorial Association of Ehime, Japan, in the Spring of 2015 at the Alaska Performing Arts Center in Anchorage, Alaska on May 1, 2015.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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