No abstract

No abstract

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), CO pulse, and N2O pulse titration were applied to measuring Ni particle sizes on Ni/α-Al2O3 catalysts. It was clarified for the first time that the N2O pulse titration could estimate the size at titration temperature between 50 and 100 °C, which was confirmed by TEM observation. This agreement in the Ni particle sizes by N2O titration and TEM observation means that the Ni surface was fully covered with the monolayer of oxygen formed by N2O decomposition and the adsorption of N2 and N2O on the catalysts was negligible. The Ni particle sizes estimated from the CO pulse technique were larger than those measured by the TEM observations. This is because the stoichiometry of CO to Ni was assumed to be one despite the complicated adsorption states of CO on Ni surface. On the contrary, the stoichiometry of oxygen to Ni using N2O pulse titration was one, which indicates that the stoichiometry measurements were not required for this method.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Dietary β-carotene induces muscle hypertrophy and prevents muscle atrophy in red slow-twitch soleus muscles, but not in white fast-twitch extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles and gastrocnemius muscles. However, it remains unclear why these beneficial effects of β-carotene are elicited in soleus muscles. To address this issue, we focused on carotenoid transporters in skeletal muscles. In mice, Cd36 mRNA levels were higher in red muscle than in white muscle. The siRNA-mediated knockdown of CD36 decreased β-carotene uptake in C2C12 myotubes. In soleus muscles, CD36 knockdown inhibited β-carotene-induced increase in muscle mass. Intravenous injection of the hypoxia marker pimonidazole produced more pimonidazole-bound proteins in soleus muscles than in EDL muscles, and the hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) α protein level was higher in soleus muscles than in EDL muscles. In C2C12 myotubes, hypoxia increased the expression of CD36 and HIF-1α at the protein and mRNA levels, and HIF-1α knockdown reduced hypoxia-induced increase in Cd36 mRNA level. In soleus muscles, HIF-1α knockdown reduced Cd36 mRNA level. These results indicate that CD36 is predominantly involved in β-carotene-induced increase in soleus muscle mass of mice. Furthermore, we demonstrate that CD36 expression depends on HIF-1α in the soleus muscles of mice, even under normal physiological conditions.

The injection of CO 2 by micro-bubbles is one of the promising technologies for CO 2 dissolution into the formation water. Realization of this technology requires stable generation of micro-bubbles underground. This research focuses on CO 2 injection through the porous filter, and evaluates the suited condition under which micro-bubbles are stably generated through a filter. The CO 2 /Water flow simulation with lattice Boltzmann method is conducted in this research. It is obtained that the radius of generated CO 2 droplet is proportional to Weber number (the dimensionless number defined as the ratio of inertia force to interfacial force).