DISCOVERY OF THE LOWER MURGABIAN (MIDDLE PERMIAN) BASED ON NEOSCHWAGERINIDS AND VERBEEKINIDS IN THE TAURIDES, SOUTHERN TURKEY

Lower Murgabian (Roadian) beds have been discovered for the first time in a thick carbonate sequence ranging from Devonian to Triassic in the Hadim area, central Taurides, southern Turkey. The Roadian limestone consists of black algal fusuline packstone and black bioclastic packstone, and contains Presumatrina ciryi n. sp., an evolved form of the genus, Verbeekina erki n. sp., an earliest species of Verbeekina, Dunbarula protomathieui n. sp., an ancestral form of Dunbarula mathieui, and several smaller foraminifera.

PERMIAN FUSULINACEANS OF THE SURMAQ FORMATION IN THEABADEH REGION, CENTRAL IRAN

Fusulinaceans consisting of 56 species belonging to 30 genera are distinguished from the Surmaq Formation distributed in the Abadeh region, central Iran.  Among them, 23 species, including three species newly proposed: Parafusulina tarazi, Skinnerella abadehensis, and Sphaerulina iranensis, are systematically described and discussed.  Many microphotographs of fusulinaceans are illustrated so as to understand their wide intraspecific variation and to compare them with other faunas  from the Tethyan regions.  The Surmaq Formation is biostratigraphically divided into six zones from lower to upper: Darvasites ordinatus, Pseudofusulina quasifusuliniformis, Eopolydiexodina persica, Afghanella schencki, Neoschwagerina occidentalis, and Chusenella abichi. The first zone is probably Yakhtashian, the second is possibly Kubergandian, the third to fifth are Murgabian, and the last is Midian in age, based on the stratigraphic distribution and faunal correlation of neoschwagerinids and schwagerinids in Middle Permian formations of the Tethyan regions.  Schwagerinids are dominant in these six zones, whereas almost all neoschwagerinids and verbeekinids are restricted to the fourth and fifth zones.  Middle Permian fusulinacean faunas in South West Asian and Mediterranean Sea regions are well represented by those of the Surmaq Formation, and paleobiogeographically assignable to Province A (Western Tethyan Province).  Fusulinacean faunas of Province A are largely different from those in Province B (Eastern Tethyan Province) by the very rare occurrence of typical Colania and Lepidolina, and from Province C (Panthalassan Province) by the presence of Afghanella and Sumatrina.&nbsp

Bank Distress and Productivity of Borrowing Firms: Evidence from Japan

We investigate the effects of bank distress on productivity of borrowing firms using micro data on listed companies in Japanese manufacturing industry during the 1990s. We find some evidence suggesting that deterioration in financial health of banks, like a decline in capital-asset-ratio, decreased productivity of their borrowers during the period of FY1994-1996. Although huge nonperforming loans had been a serious problem in Japanese economy since the collapse of asset prices bubble in 1991, resolution of the problem was postponed during the early 1990s. The Japanese economy plunged into serious banking crisis from 1997 to 1999. Our finding is consistent with the hypothesis that forbearance lending by banks that was prevalent during the early 1990s lowered the aggregate productivity of the economy.

Two-Fingered Haptic Device for Robot Hand Teleoperation

A haptic feedback system is required to assist telerehabilitation with robot hand. The system should provide the reaction force measured in the robot hand to an operator. In this paper, we have developed a force feedback device that presents a reaction force to the distal segment of the operator's thumb, middle finger, and basipodite of the middle finger when the robot hand grasps an object. The device uses a shape memory alloy as an actuator, which affords a very compact, lightweight, and accurate device

The Banking Crisis and Productivity of Borrowing Firms - Evidence from Japan (Japanese)

This paper empirically analyzes how the decline in Japanese banks' capital adequacy ratios during the 1990s affected the productivity of borrowing firms, using the financial data of Japanese firms. The findings indicate a high probability that the decline in the capital adequacy ratios at main banks caused a decline in the productivity of borrowing firms during the financial crisis period from FY1997 through FY2000 (especially during FY1997 and FY1998). The outbreak of the financial crisis (November 1997) overlapped with the introduction of prompt corrective action (April 1998). The empirical findings show that the decline in bank capital adequacy ratios brought about a large worsening of productivity at those firms whose main banks had a low capital adequacy ratio to begin with, suggesting the possibility that efforts by banks to achieve capital adequacy standards in a short period of time may have caused a decline in productivity in the real economy.

Job strain and smoking cessation among Japanese male employees: a two-year follow-up study

The purpose of the present study was to assess the association between job strain and smoking cessation among Japanese male employees. In 1997, a baseline questionnaire was given to 2,625 (2,113 males and 512 females) employees of an electronics firm in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. The self-administered questionnaire was a set of questions on smoking habits and consisted of items on socio-demographic variables and smoking habits, including the Japanese version of the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ). The JCQ consists of scales of job control, job demand, supervisory support, coworker support, job insecurity, physical demands, and isometric load. A total of 733 male smokers were then followed for 2 years, with 446 completing a follow-up questionnaire in 1999 (follow-up rate, 61%). Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine associations between job strain and smoking cessation. Among the 446 participants, 38 had quit smoking. After adjusting for age ((odds ratio: OR) = 0.38, 95% (contidence interval: CI) = 0.15-0.94), men with a high level of physical demands at baseline showed a lower smoking cessation rate at follow-up than did those with a low level. However, when adjustments were made for age and other socio-demographic variables, the odds ratio of smoking cessation showed marginal significance (OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.16-1.29). There was no significant association between other job strain variables and smoking cessation at the 2-year follow-up. No significant association was found between job strain and change in the number of smoked cigarettes per day. The present study did not support the hypothesis that higher levels of job stressors are associated with a lower rate of smoking cessation among men.</p

A synthesis method of indole-3-methanamine and/or gramine from indole-3-carboxaldehyde, and its application for the syntheses of brassinin, its 4-substituted analogs, and 1,3,4,5-tetrahydropyrrolo[4,3,2-de]quinoline

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科生理活性物質科学金沢大学薬学

Broccoli consumption and chronic atrophic gastritis among Japanese males: an epidemiological investigation.

Previous in vitro and animal experiments have shown that sulforaphane, which is abundant in broccoli, inhibits Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and blocks gastric tumor formation. This suggests that broccoli consumption prevents chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) introduced by H. pylori infection and, therefore, gastric cancer. For an epidemiological investigation of the relationship between the broccoli consumption and CAG, a cross-sectional study of 438 male employees, aged 39 to 60 years, of a Japanese steel company was conducted. CAG was serologically determined with serum cut-off values set at pepsinogen I &#60; or = 70 ng/ml and a ratio of serum pepsinogen I/pepsinogen II &#60; or = 3.0. Broccoli consumption (weekly frequency) and diet were monitored by using a 31-item food frequency questionnaire. The prevalence of CAG among men who ate broccoli once or more weekly was twice as high as that among men who consumed a negligible amount (P &#60; 0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that broccoli consumption once or more weekly significantly increased the risk for CAG (odds ratio, 3.06; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-8.38; P &#60; 0.05), after controlling for age, education, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption. The present study failed to show an expected association between frequent broccoli consumption and a low prevalence of CAG.</p