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The C-terminal half molecule (C lobe) of bovine lactoferrin was isolated by mild tryptic hydrolysis of lactoferrin followed by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography. The identity of the fragment was established by determining its N-terminal and C-terminal amino acid sequences and comparing them with the amino acid sequence of intact lactoferrin. The isoelectric point of the C lobe ranged between pH 6.2 and 6.5 as measured by isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gels. The circular dichroic spectrum in the range of 250 to 350 nm of the C lobe differed slightly from that of intact lactoferrin. The pattern of lectin reactivity was similar for both the C lobe and intact lactoferrin. The C lobe showed partial antigenic identity with intact lactoferrin as demonstrated by the double immunodiffusion method, and pH dependence of iron binding of C lobe is the same as that of intact lactoferrin molecule.

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A Japanese case of pemphigoid vegetans is described. The clinical, histopathological and immunological features were similar to the previously reported cases. The patient also developed vesicular lesions. Indirect immunoelectronmicroscopy revealed that the autoantibody in this patient's serum reacted with basal cell hemidesmosomes. This study provides further evidence that pemphigoid vegetans is a subtype of bullous pemphigoid.

We developed a concise synthetic method for benzotrifurans and benzotripyrroles from 1,3,5-triethynyl-2,4,6-trifluorobenzenes by one-pot reactions in good to excellent yield. By investigating 2-D and 3-D structures of a variety of benzotrifuran and benzotripyrrole derivatives using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques, we found both similarities and dissimilarities. We also found that diverse molecular 3-D orientations were derived in their single crystals according to substituents on the molecules and that the emission properties in the solid state are dependent on their packing manners.

The purpose of this study is to examine the preferences of Japanese consumers for certified forest products and estimate their price premiums using a discrete choice experiment. Although Japanese consumers have almost no opportunity to purchase forest certification products now, except paper and paper-related products, Japan may be a promising market with significant scope for increasing the demands for the forest certification products. Each choice task of our discrete choice experiment contained alternative wall renovation scenarios with interior wood materials showing five attributes. In 2008, 150 respondents living in Sapporo, northern Japan, completed our questionnaire, which contained a series of the choice tasks. To understand heterogeneous preferences and identify consumer segments in a systematic way, a latent class model was applied. The results show that the mean price premium on Forest Stewardship Council certification of interior materials was 40.5% under a ceteris paribus condition. However, two identified consumer segments both placed greater value on other attributes of the interior materials: dimensional stability and/or area of production. The results indicate that for suppliers of forest products outside of Japan, the merit of forest certification and the demerit of foreign product will cancel each other out in Japan. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A versatile method for the synthesis of dibenzo[g,p]chrysene (DBC) derivatives based on regio- and stereoselective stannyllithiation to diarylacetylenes is described. This method affords a variety of DBCs possessing both electron-donating and electron-withdrawing functional groups. These twisted molecules take brickwork packing structures in single crystals. Thus, ambipolar carrier transport properties with mobility values of up to 10(-3)  cm(2)  V(-1)  s(-1) in the amorphous state were achieved. Functional groups on DBC frameworks are considered to increase carrier mobility through the enhancement of intermolecular interactions in the brickwork packing structures.