This study examined whether propolis, which had many biological activities, affected body fat and lipid metabolism. Four-week-old Wistar rats were fed a control or propolis diet for 8 wk. The control group was fed a high-fat diet, the low and the high group were fed a high-fat diet supplemented with 0.5% (w/w) and 0.05% (w/w) propolis, respectively. The weight of total white adipose tissue of the high group was lower than that of the control group. The level of PPARgamma protein in the adipose tissues of the high group was significantly lower than that of the control group. In plasma and the liver, the high group showed a significantly reduced level of cholesterol and triglyceride compared to the control group. The liver PPARalpha protein level of the high group was significantly higher than that of the control group. The liver HMG-CoA reductase protein in the high group was also significantly lower than that in the control group. Results from rats on an olive oil loading test were used to investigate whether propolis inhibited triglyceride absorption. The serum triglyceride level of the group, which received propolis corresponding to the daily dose of the high group, was significantly lower than that of the control group. It is possible that the administration of propolis improves the accumulation of body fat and dyslipidemia via the change of the expression of proteins involved in adipose depot and lipid metabolism.

The KOTO (K 0 at Tokai) experiment aims to observe the CP-violating rare decay K L → π 0 ν ν by using a long-lived neutral-kaon beam produced by the 30 GeV proton beam at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex. The K L flux is an essential parameter for the measurement of the branching fraction. Three K L neutral decay modes, K L → 3π 0 , K L → 2π 0 , and K L → 2γ were used to measure the K L flux in the beam line in the 2013 KOTO engineering run. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to estimate the detector acceptance for these decays. Agreement was found between the simulation model and the experimental data, and the remaining systematic uncertainty was estimated at the 1.4% level. The K L flux was measured as (4.183 ± 0.017 stat. ± 0.059 sys. ) × 10 7 K L per 2 × 10 14 protons on a 66-mm-long Au target.

The reaction pathways leading to aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene and naphthalene in gas phase reactions of multi-component mixtures derived from cellulose fast pyrolysis were studied both experimentally and numerically. A two-stage tubular reactor was used for evaluating the reaction kinetics of secondary vapor phase cracking of the nascent pyrolysates at temperature

No abstract

This paper proposes catalytic hydrothermal reforming (CHTR) for producing substitute natural gas (SNG) directly from a lignin in aqueous alkaline media, which can fully dissolve the lignin but stabilize it, lowering the reactivity toward water. Among catalysts preliminarily tested, activated-carbon-supported ruthenium (Ru/AC) catalysts showed the highest activity in terms of reduction of the total organic carbon concentration (TOC) in the aqueous solution. CHTR of a lignin was performed employing a 5000 ppm TOC solution of 0.1 M Na 2 CO 3 in a continuous reactor. The presence of Na 2 CO 3 in the solution enabled delivery of the lignin, which is poorly soluble in water, to the reactor as well as suppression of char formation during CHTR. A Ru/AC showed its ability to maintain 98.6% conversion of the lignin at 350 °C even under the alkaline environment for a duration of at least 10 h, with colorless effluent liquid containing 70 ppm TOC of organic carbon. A low content of Ru in the Ru/AC resulted in an insufficient yield of gas because of the deposition of a portion of the lignin as coke over the catalyst, while 20 wt % Ru was enough for the full conversion into gas composed mainly of CH 4 , with cold gas efficiency (CGE) of 100.4% on a higher heating value (HHV) basis. The resulting aqueous solution of Na 2 CO 3 was ready to be reused for CHTR after removal of carbonate ions derived from the lignin by aeration.