Economical Wet Extraction of Lipid from labyrinthula Aurantiochytrium limacinum by Using Liquefied Dimethyl Ether

Recently, a simple method for the extraction of lipids from wet biomass using liquefied dimethyl ether (DME) without drying, cell disruption, or heating was proposed. Here, the versatility of this method was evaluated for labyrinthula Aurantiochytrium limacinum (A. limacinum). The liquefied DME was passed through the extractor that filled by A. limacinum at different time intervals. The extraction of lipids from A. limacinum of moisture-rich microorganism was successfully achieved, the yield of lipid was 46.1 wt% of the dry weight of the sample. In comparison, the yields of lipid were 21.3 wt%, 43.6 wt% and 50.7 wt% when supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2), hexane-Soxhlet and Bligh-Dyer (BD) extraction methods were applied as extractants, respectively. However, the drying and cell-disruption process were required in SCCO2, hexane-Soxhlet, and BD extraction methods

A Feasibility Study of Postoperative Adjuvant Therapy of Carboplatin and Weekly Paclitaxel for Completely Resected Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

IntroductionRecent clinical trials have shown significant survival benefits from postoperative adjuvant therapy for respectable nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, evaluation of adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin combination is still uncertain. The purpose of the study was to test the feasibility of adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin and separate weekly paclitaxel after complete resection of pStage IB, II, IIIA NSCLC in a multicenter study.MethodsThe study was conducted from 2001 to 2006 in the outpatient setting. A total of 61 patients were enrolled. Patients received adjuvant chemotherapy with 4 cycles of carboplatin (AUC 5) on day 1 and paclitaxel (70 mg/m2) on day 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks. Primary endpoints were toxicity and chemotherapy compliance. Secondary endpoints were disease-free survival and overall survival.ResultsMore than 65% of eligible patients had pStage IIIA. The median number of chemotherapy cycles was 4 (range 1–4). Grade 3 or 4 toxicities of neutropenia were 34% (grade 4: 2%). Other hematologic adverse effects were extremely less frequent. Regarding the nonhematologic adverse effect, hair loss was frequent; however, peripheral neuralgia was less frequent. Treatment-related death was not registered. During median follow-up of 21 months, 24 patients developed recurrent disease. Estimated disease-free survival and overall survival at 2 years was 51.2% and 84.6%, respectively.ConclusionsPostoperative carboplatin and weekly paclitaxel showed favorable feasibility and acceptable toxicity in comparison with the cisplatin-containing regimen. Consequently, it is desirable that this regimen would be validated in a phase III clinical trial for NSCLC after curative resection

Evidence for a companion to BM Gem, a silicate carbon star

Balmer and Paschen continuum emission as well as Balmer series lines of P Cygni-type profile from H_gamma through H_23 are revealed in the violet spectra of BM Gem, a carbon star associated with an oxygen-rich circumstellar shell (`silicate carbon star') observed with the high dispersion spectrograph (HDS) on the Subaru telescope. The blue-shifted absorption in the Balmer lines indicates the presence of an outflow, the line of sight velocity of which is at least 400 km s^-1, which is the highest outflow velocity observed to date in a carbon star. We argue that the observed unusual features in BM Gem are strong evidence for the presence of a companion, which should form an accretion disk that gives rise to both an ionized gas region and a high velocity, variable outflow. The estimated luminosity of ~0.2 (0.03-0.6) L_sun for the ionized gas can be maintained by a mass accretion rate to a dwarf companion of ~10^-8 M_sun yr^-1, while ~10^-10 M_sun yr^-1 is sufficient for accretion to a white dwarf companion. These accretion rates are feasible for some detached binary configurations on the basis of the Bond-Hoyle type accretion process. We concluded that the carbon star BM Gem is in a detached binary system with a companion of low mass and low luminosity. However, we are unable to determine whether this companion object is a dwarf or a white dwarf. The upper limits for binary separation are 210 AU and 930 AU for a dwarf and a white dwarf, respectively. We also note that the observed features of BM Gem mimic those of Mira (omi Cet), which may suggest actual similarities in their binary configurations and circumstellar structures.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Ap

Fundamental design activity of fast reactor with inherent safety characteristics for effective transmutation of minor actinide

In order to reduce Minor Actinides (MA), the transmutation of MA in a fast reactor has been studied in Japan. In the transmutation in the fast reactor, MAs are mixed in the ordinary MOX fuel and they are burned up. For the design of a fast reactor with inherent safety characteristics, it is necessary to secure negative void reactivity and cooling via a natural convection under the situation of the severe accident. Therefore, this study aims to fundamentally design the fast reactor for the MA transmutation with inherent safety characteristics. First, in order to clarify the design range of the core design parameter, the parametric study was conducted using four design parameters determining the core configuration. As the result of this parametric study, the feasible combination of each four parameters satisfying the negative void reactivity was clarified. Among parameters satisfying the negative void reactivity, the condition that results in the maximum reduction of MA amount was obtained. Secondly, the CFD simulation focused on the sodium coolant channel between fuel pins was conducted. In this CFD simulation, as the first step for the design activity, the confirmation of the occurrence condition of a natural convection due to the decay heat after shifting to the transient situation was confirmed. Temperature and velocity distribution were evaluated. And the heat transfer efficiency was summarized using Ra number and Nu number

Study on turbulent heat transfer mechanism inside high-speed lithium jet irradiated by ion beam for fusion neutron sources

Liquid lithium (Li) jet is planned as a beam target in fusion neutron sources developed in Japan and EU. We have been studying the hydrodynamic characteristics of the Li jet experimentally and numerically. For the safety and the efficiency of fusion neutron sources, it is necessary to understand the heat transfer inside the Li target irradiated by ion beams. In this paper, in order to evaluate the heat transfer under the turbulent flow with complex vortex structure inside the Li jet, 3-dimensional simulation of it with beam irradiation is conducted using LES. As the first step of this study, the Li jet is modeled as single-phase for reducing the computational load, in which the Li surface is treated as the free-slip boundary condition. Simulation model is large-scale with over thirty million meshes for resolving the detailed vortex structure. In this simulation, it was found that the temperature peak was disturbed by wall turbulence near the bottom wall of the flow channel

Preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio correlates with PD-L1 expression in immune cells of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma and predicts prognosis

Abstract We assessed the prognostic value of five complex inflammatory and nutritional parameters, namely neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), C-reactive protein-to-NLR ratio (C/NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) using data from patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) undergoing extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). Moreover, the correlation between these five parameters and programmed cell death protein 1 ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in the tumor microenvironment was evaluated. This study included consecutive MPM patients who underwent EPP. The histological subtype of the eligible patients (n = 61) correlated with all five parameters. Moreover, the PD-L1 expression scores for immune cells correlated with NLR and PLR, and the PD-L1 expression scores for both tumor cells and immune cells were inversely correlated with both PNI and LMR. Univariate analysis elucidated that NLR, PNI, and C/NLR were predictors of 5-year overall survival (OS), and multivariate analysis revealed that NLR was an independent predictor of 5-year OS, suggesting that NLR is a preoperative, prognostic factor for patients with MPM who are scheduled for EPP. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the prognostic potentials of NLR, PNI, C/NLR, PLR, and LMR simultaneously in patients with MPM who underwent EPP

Spectroscopic Studies of Extremely Metal-Poor Stars with the Subaru High Dispersion Spectrograph. I. Observational Data

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