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This paper proposes a set of speech samples generated by time and frequency warping based on phase modulation (TFW-PM) for use as references in subjective assessments of synthetic speech, and describes its effectiveness. Their qualities depend on three variable parameters: the number of PARCOR synthesis coefficients, the modulation factor, and the frame length. Repeated assessment tests for four kinds of synthetic speech using the TFW-PM reference generated by combining those parameters showed that the modulation factor (Δθ) had the largest effect on the TFW-PM speech quality. Each optimum value corresponding to the other two parameters was determined based on the minimum deviation criterion of the equivalent Δθ converted from the mean opinion score (MOS) of the synthetic speech via the relationship between Δθ and MOS of the reference. In addition, TFW-PM speech samples and modulated noise reference (MNR) were examined to see whether or not synthetic speech qualities in terms of equivalent Δθ were stable from three viewpoints: repeated testing, subjects divided into groups familiar with and unfamiliar with synthetic speech, and listening environments. The results show that the equivalent Δθ is more stable for all three criteria than the customary equivalent Q. © 1998 Scripta Technica. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 81(1): 59–67, 1998

Capillary electrophoretic methods have been developed for the analysis of Monascus yellow pigments for food additives. Monascus yellow pigments were successfully separated by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with a 20mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solution containing 50mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, and 20% acetonitorile or a 2.0% butyl acrylate/butyl methacrylate/methacrylic acid copolymer sodium salts (BBMA) solution containing 20mM ammonium formate buffer, pH 7.0, and 10% methanol. The xanthomonasin A was identified with the molecular mass measured by FABMS. Monascus yellow pigments were extracted from candies with solid phase extraction and analyzed by the developed technique.

In addition to obesity, abnormalities in glucose and lipid metabolism are common in hypertensives, indicating a possible link between hypertension and hyperinsulinemia. Since the frequency of obesity in Japanese is lower than that in Caucasians, the present study was designed to clarify the frequencies of hyperinsulinemia, glucose and lipid abnormalities, and obesity. We surveyed consecutively 470 men without a history of gastrectomy who visited a health clinic after excluding previously known hypertensives receiving hypotensive agents (4.2%) and diabetics (6.1%). Hypertensives with a blood pressure exceeding 150 and/or 90 mmHg (n = 62) had a significantly higher frequency of diabetes mellitus (6.5%) associated with hypercholesterolemia (24.2%) and mild obesity with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25 (24.2%) than those of normotensives. When reanalyzed according to the presence or absence of hyperinsulinemia after 75 g oral glucose loading, hyperinsulinemic men demonstrated a higher blood pressure. The incidences of impaired glucose tolerance (67.1%), hypertriglyceridemia (64.4%), low HDL-cholesterol (53.4%), hypercholesterolemia (21.9%) and mild obesity (37.0%) were also significantly higher than those of normoinsulinemic subjects. Subjects with either hypertension and/or hyperinsulinemia had a significantly higher incidence of coexistence of these risk factors. Multiple regression analysis revealed that not only BMI, but also the plasma glucose and insulin response during the 75 g glucose loading test independently correlated with mean blood pressure. These results suggest that hypertensive and/or hyperinsulinemic subjects may be associated with excess cardiovascular risk and should be managed more carefully.

Capillary electrophoretic methods were developed for analyzing yellow and red safflower pigments in food. Yellow safflower pigment was successfully separated by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with a 300 mm borate buffer (pH 9.0), but this method could not successfully separate the red safflower pigment. The red safflower pigment was discolored in an alkaline solution. Both the yellow and red pigments could be successfully separated by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with 2.0% butyl acrylate/butyl methacrylate/methacrylic acid copolymer sodium salts (BBMA), but neither pigment could be separated with 20 mm sodium dodecyl sulfate. The yellow safflower pigment was extracted from food samples (juice and candies) by solid-phase extraction cartridges and analyzed by the developed technique.

New antimicrobial substances against Streptomyces scabies, rosmic acid and rosmanol-related compounds, were isolated from leaves of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.). The active compounds were separated in pure form by a combination of gel permeation chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC. Their structures were determined by two-dimensional NMR experiments and HR-MS analyses.

This study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with burdock powder and Aspergillus awamori-fermented burdock powder at 5% on the intestinal luminal environment and body fat in rats fed a high-fat (HF) diet. Food intake and growth were unaffected by dietary manipulation. Consumption of the burdock and fermented burdock diets significantly elevated fecal IgA and mucins (indices of intestinal immune and barrier functions) and reduced fecal lithocholic acid (a risk factor for colon cancer) (p

We consider increasing processes {X(t)∶t≧0} of classL, that is, increasing self-similar processes with inswpendent increments. Leth(t) be an increasing positive function on (0,∞) withh(0+)=0 andh(∞)=∞. By virtue of the zero-one laws, there existsc (resp.C) ∈[0,∞] such that lim inf (resp. lim sup)X(t)/h(t)=c (resp.C) a.s. both ast tends to 0 and ast tends to ∞. We decide a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence ofh(t) withc orC=1 and explicitly constructh(t) in caseh(t) exists withc orC=1. Moreover, we give a criterion to classify functionsh(t) withc (orC)=0 andh(t) withc (orC)=∞ in caseh(t) does not exist withc (orC)=1.

キャピラリー電気泳動によるアントラキノン系食用色素(ラック色素・コチニール色素)の分析及び定量法を検討した.分離法としては,アクリル酸ブチル-メタクリル酸ブチル-メタクリル酸共重合体(BBMA)を2%含む20mMギ酸アンモニウム緩衝液(pH7.0)を泳動液として用いるミセル動電クロマトグラフィー(MEKC)により行った.しかし,同一条件下での連続分析において再現性がなかったため泳動液中に1mM EDTAを添加したところ再現性は改善された.主色素成分を標品として200~10000ppmの間で検量線を作成したところ高い相関係数で直線関係が得られ,この濃度範囲で十分定量が可能であった.又,市販の食品中から抽出した色素もこの条件で分析でき,その分離パターンは元の色素と同様であった.

A micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method was developed for estimating the angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity by separating the hippuric acid liberated in the ACE reaction mixture in the presence of an inhibitor, captopril. The hippuric acid was successfully separated and detected by MEKC with a 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate solution in a 25 mM phosphate-50 mM borate buffer at pH 7.0; the total analysis took about 5 min. A good linear relationship was observed between the inhibitor and the peak area of hippuric acid release. No significant difference in the ACE inhibitory activity (IC50) of captopril (an antihypertensive medicine) or autolyzed-mushrooms (functional foods) was observed between the conventional method and the MEKC method. The MEKC method was found to be a useful technique for a rapid assay of the ACE inhibitory activity.

To clarify the relationship between early diabetic nephropathy and the glycemic control in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) without hypertension, excretion of urinary albumin was studied retrospectively for 8 years. The patients with early diabetic nephropathy were divided into two groups according to the initial urinary albumin index (UAI: mg/g.creatinine), namely, a normoalbuminuric (less than 15 mg/g.creatinine) and a microalbuminuric group (15 or = 200 mg/g.creatinine), although only one case worsened of five patients with good glycemic control (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the development or progression of early diabetic nephropathy in NIDDM was significantly inhibited by good glycemic control (FPG < 140 mg/100 mL and HbA1 < 9.0%), independent of hypertension, and probably irrespective of the mode of therapeutic intervention.

In this paper it is shown that there is a unimodal Levy process with oscillating mode. After the author first constructed an example of such a self-decomposable process, Sato pointed out that it belongs to the class of semi-stable processes with β < 0. We prove that all non-symmetric semi-stable self-decomposable processes with β < 0 have oscillating modes.

This study was conducted to elucidate the effects of dietary polyphenols on intestinal immunoglobulin A (IgA) response and mucin levels in rats fed a high-fat diet. In experiment 1, rats were fed a high-fat diet with or without several polyphenols including curcumin, rutin, D(+)-catechin, ellagic acid and quercetin at the level of 0.5%. Among the polyphenols examined, consumption of curcumin markedly elevated the level of IgA in feces and colon contents. In experiment 2, rats were fed a high-fat diet or a low-fat diet with or without 0.5% curcumin. Fecal level of IgA was higher in the high-fat diet group than in the low-fat diet group. In the rats fed the high-fat diet, dietary curcumin elevated fecal IgA, but not in those fed the low-fat diet. These results imply a novel effect of curcumin on intestinal IgA in animals fed a high-fat diet.

A necessary and sufficient condition for the tail of an infinitely divisible distribution on the real line to be estimated by the tail of its Levy measure is found. The lower limit and the upper limit of the ratio of the right tail of an infinitely divisible distribution to the right tail of its Levy measure are estimated from above and below by reviving Teugels's classical method. The exponential class and the dominated varying class are studied in detail.

We have found that fermented barley extract (FBE), prepared from barley shochu residue, alleviates allergic rhinitis in OVA-sensitized mice. In this study, we examined to determine whether FBE suppresses the development of atopic dermatitis (AD)-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice. The development of AD-like skin lesions in a 5% FBE containing diet group was significantly inhibited, and scratching behavior, one of aggravating factors, was also suppressed. Neither serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels nor interleukin (IL)-4 production by spleen cells in the 5% FBE diet group was found to be significantly reduced. On the other hand, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and IL-17 production by spleen cells in the 5% FBE diet group was significantly reduced. Hence it was assumed that FBE alleviates AD-like skin lesions in NC/Nga mice, probably by modulating the cytokine production involved in chronic inflammation, such as IFN-gamma or IL-17.

To breed industrially useful strains of a slow-growing, red-pigment-producing strain ofMonascus anka, protoplasts ofM. anka MAK1 (arg) andAspergillus oryzae AOK1 (met, thr) were fused. A mixture of protoplasts prepared from mycelia ofM. anka MAK1 treated with 2% Usukizyme and ofA. oryzae AOK1 treated with 2% Usukizyme and 0.2% NovoZym 234 was incubated with 30% (w/v) polyethylene glycol no. 6000. Heterokaryon fusants complementing the auxotrophies of both mutants were isolated on minimal medium, but segregated into red (MAK1) and white (AOK1) sectors after being cultured on a complete medium. After irradiation with UV light, the fusants gave stable heterozygous diploids that formed long white hyphae. These diploids, which had twice as much DNA in the nucleus as their parents, grew more rapidly than the parent strain YZT1, and produced ethanol earlier than the parents. Production of amylase, protease, and kojic acid by the fusants was intermediate in amount between that of the two parents.

A necessary and sufficient condition for the almost sure existence of an absolutely continuous (with respect to the branching measure) exact Hausdorff measure on the boundary of a Galton--Watson tree is obtained. In the case where the absolutely continuous exact Hausdorff measure does not exist almost surely, a criterion which classifies gauge functions $\phi$ according to whether $\phi$-Hausdorff measure of the boundary minus a certain exceptional set is zero or infinity is given. Important examples are discussed in four additional theorems. In particular, Hawkes's conjecture in 1981 is solved. Problems of determining the exact local dimension of the branching measure at a typical point of the boundary are also solved., Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009117906000000629 in the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)

We introduce a new class of distributions by generalizing the subexponential class to investigate the asymptotic relation between the tails of an infinitely divisible distribution and its Lévy measure. We call a one-sided distribution μ O-subexponential if it has positive tail satisfying $\limsup_{x \to \infty} \mu * \mu(x, \infty)/ \mu(x, \infty) < \infty$ . Necessary and sufficient conditions for an infinitely divisible distribution to be O-subexponential are given in a similar way to the subexponential case in work by Embrechts et al. It is of critical importance that the O-subexponential is not closed under convolution roots. This property leads to the difference between our result and that corresponding to the subexponential class. Moreover, under the assumption that an infinitely divisible distribution has exponential tail, it is shown that an infinitely divisible distribution is convolution equivalent if and only if the ratio of its tail and its Lévy measure goes to a positive constant as x goes to infinity. Additionally, the upper and lower limits of the ratio of the tails of a semi-stable distribution and its Lévy measure are given.

We have previously demonstrated the inhibitory effect of chlorophyllin, a green food additive, on the genotoxicities of various carcinogens in Drosophila. Recently, we reported that purpurin, a component of a red food additive produced from madder root (Rubia tinctorium), inhibits the bacterial mutagenicity of heterocyclic amines. In the present study, we examined antigenotoxic activities of various pigments that are either constituents of food or food additives, using Drosophila in vivo DNA repair assay. Third instar larvae of Drosophila were fed a mutagen with or without pigment. The resulting adult flies were monitored for their male (repair deficient)/female (repair proficient) ratios, which reflect the DNA damage. We tested a total of 20 pigments, which are mainly of plant origins, including flavonoids, carotenoids, anthocyanins, anthraquinones and beta-diketone (curcumin)-derivatives, against the genotoxicities of eight carcinogens; IQ, MeIQx, AFB1, NDMA, 2-AAF, DMBA, 4NQO, and MNU. Four anthraquinone pigments (alizarin, purpurin, lac color, and cochineal extract) showed significant antigenotoxic activities. Alizarin and purpurin suppressed the DNA damage induced by IQ, MeIQx, AFB1, NDMA, 2-AAF, DMBA, and MNU. Lac color and cochineal extract showed inhibition against IQ, MeIQx, AFB1, 2-AAF and DMBA. In these inhibitions, suppression of metabolic enzymes may be involved. Since purpurin and alizarin suppressed the activity of MNU, a direct alkylating agent, there may also be a mechanism distinct from enzyme inhibitions in these anthraquinone-mediated suppressions of DNA damage.

Temporal changes in modality and absolute continuity of the distributions of Levy processes are studied. Examples of Levy processes whose distributions can have drastic temporal changes from unimodal to multimodal and from continuous and singular to absolutely continuous are given. Conditions on the distributions of Levy processes to be unimodal at all times or to be absolutely continuous at all times are discussed.

This review describes the quantitative analysis of in-capillary reactions by using capillary electrophoresis (CE) in the food industry. An electrophoretic analysis of products of an enzyme reaction of a substrate by in-capillary reaction was useful for the activity measurement of glucoamylase in sake rice koji. p-Nitrophenyl-beta-D-maltoside was employed as a substrate and p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside was the product of the enzyme reaction. The glucoamylase activity of sake rice koji samples gave a good linear relationship with the peak area observed in the in-capillary enzyme reaction method. Also, in-capillary micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) was used for analyzing the Monascus pigment-mediated degradation of mutagenic 3-hydroxyamino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]indole. During the electrophoresis, the mutagen and the pigment, due to their different migration velocities, mix for a certain period of time to interact, and then they are separated and quantitated. The in-capillary reaction MEKC method can be applied to the routine quality control of enzyme activities in the food industry and the evaluation of mutagenic compounds in food materials.

Lac, cochineal, safflower, gardenia, Monascus and elderberry pigments are used as food color additives in Japan. These natural pigments can be analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (CE). CE has several advantages over thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, such as low capillary cost, reduced operating costs, small sample amounts, low production of waste materials and short analysis time. CE is shown to be a useful technique for the analysis of these natural food pigments and the pigments extracted from commercial food samples by solid-phase extraction method.

The class $L_\infty(b, Q)$ of completely operator semi-selfdecomposable distributions on $\mathbf{R}^d$ for $b$ and $Q$ is studied. Here $0

There are two types of generalizations of selfdecomposability of probability measures on $\mathbf{R}^d, d\geq 1$ : the $c$-decomposability and the $C$-decomposability of Loeve and Bunge on the one hand, and the semi-selfdecomposability of Maejima and Naito on the other. The latter implies infinite divisibility but the former does not in general. For $d\geq 2$ introduction of operator (matrix) normalizations yields four kinds of classes of distributions on $\mathbf{R}^d : L_{0}(b,Q),\tilde{L}_{0}(b,Q),L_{0}(C,Q)$, and $\tilde{L}_{0}(C,Q)$, where $0

A capillary electrophoretic method has been developed for the separation and determination of vanillin, ferulic acid, vanillic acid and 4-vinylguaiacol in Japanese spirituous liquor. These phenolic compounds were extracted from Japanese spirituous liquor by solid-phase extractioin and were successfully separated by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate. MEKC required short analysis times and it could be an alternative technique for the analysis of vanillin, ferulic acid, vanillic acid and 4-vinylguaiacol in Japanese spirituous liquor. These phenolic compounds in five Japanese spirituous liquor samples were determined by this method. No significant difference in separation patterns and amounts was observed among the repeated analysis.

Let Rd be the d-dimensional Euclidean space where each point is expressed by a column vector. Let | x | and ‹x, y› denote the norm and the inner product in Rd. Let Q = (Qjk) be a real d × d-matrix of which all eigenvalues have positive real parts. Let X be a process of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type (OU type process) on Rd associated with a Levy process {Z: t ≥ 0} and the matrix Q. Main purpose of this paper is to give a recurrence-transience criterion for the process X when Q is a Jordan cell matrix and to compare it with the case when Q is diagonalizable. Here by a Levy process we mean a stochastically continuous process with stationary independent increments, starting at 0.

Calcium channel blockers are drugs that bind to the alpha 1 subunit of L-type calcium channels and selectively inhibit ion movements through these channels. Determination of the mechanism of channel blockade requires localization of drug-binding sites within the primary structure of the receptor. In this study the 1,4-dihydropyridine-binding site of the membrane bound receptor has been identified. The covalently labeled receptor was purified and digested with trypsin. The labeled peptide fragments were immunoprecipitated with sequence-directed antibodies. The data indicate the existence of at least three distinct dihydropyridine-binding domains within the primary structure of the alpha 1 subunit.

To study the effect of high glucose on the production of type IV collagen and laminin P1 from the cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), we measured type N collagen and laminin P1 from HUVEC that were cultured under different conditions. The concentrations of type IV collagen in the cultured medium for high glucose (30 mM D-glucose) were significantly higher than those for low glucose (5.6 mM D-glucose), L-glucose (30 mM), or mannitol (30 mM). The increase of type IV collagen was dependent on the glucose concentration in the medium. The contents of type IV collagen in the cultured cells were also increased in high-glucose incubation compared with low glucose or L-glucose incubation. In contrast, the levels of laminin P1 in the medium cultured with high glucose were similar to those with low glucose or L-glucose. These results suggest that the increased production of type IV collagen may contribute to the thickening of basement membranes and may be linked to the development of diabetic nephropathy.

Concentrations of serum or urinary type IV collagen, determined by sandwich enzyme immunoassay, were significantly elevated in diabetics compared to controls (P less than .01). Serum or urinary levels of type IV collagen were significantly increased in patients with microangiopathy compared to those without microvascular disease (P less than .05). Serum type IV collagen levels were also augmented in diabetics who showed an increased albumin index for 1 year. Serum levels of type IV collagen were not affected by any conditions of metabolic control. The measurement of serum or urinary type IV collagen may be a useful indicator for monitoring the development of diabetic microangiopathy, especially in early diabetic nephropathy.

蒸気量の多少が茶葉色の変化にどのような影響を与えるか,生葉及び蒸葉の第2葉目を色差計で測定した。その結果は次のとおりであった。1) 生葉の表裏の色合いは明らかに違ったが,蒸葉は生葉の裏面色に近付く形で表裏の色合いがほぼ近似した。また,表裏の近似程度は蒸気量による影響が認められた。2) 蒸葉の明度は,一度やや高くなるが蒸気量70kg/h以上では,生葉裏面の明度付近で変化しなくなった。3) 蒸葉の色相は,生葉よりわずか緑みを増すが,蒸気量による変化は認められなかった。4) 蒸葉の彩度は,蒸気量の増加につれて最初高く徐々に低下し再び高くなるが,その程度は極くわずかであった。最後に,取りまとめにあたり御指導頂いた農林水産省茶業試験場の岩浅潔博士及び当所坂田寿生所長に深甚なる謝意を表します。

1. 代表的3種の脂肪族ケトオキシムを合成し,此等が何れも鉛と沈澱性化合物をつくらない事より鉛に對する一般脂肪族オキシムの作用の類似性を推察した2. 代表的2種の芳香族ケトオキシムを合成し,此等が何れも鉛と沈澱性化合物をつくること及び前報の實驗例等よりしてオキシムに於て芳香族原子團がたとへ1個なりとも分子中に導入せられる時は其のオキシム類はすべて鉛と沈澱性化合體を構成するならんことを認め得た.故に鉛と沈澱體をつくるオキシム分子内には芳香族原子團の存在が必須的條件なるものゝ樣に推察せられる.3. オキシム團の隣りに移動性の水素原子を有せざるモノオキシムの一般性として鉛2原子にオキシム2分子が結合(1:1)して鎖状化合體が構成せらるべしと云ふ石橋,舟橋の考察が今囘の實驗例にありても成立することを認めた.4. Pb-アセトフェノンオキシム及びPb-ベンゾフェノンオキシムに於ては等しく4分子の水が保有せられることを認めた.即ち(C8H8NO)2Pb2・4H2O及び(Cl3H10NO)2・Pb2・4H2O.5. 此等の鉛オキシムには有効なる有機性溶媒もなく,從つて所謂分子内錯鹽の通性を具備しないものと認められる.6. 此等のオキシムは鉛に對する直接の分析試藥的價値と云ふよりも寧ろ分析化學に於て基礎をなす金屬有機化合物の本質的解明に對して極めて重要なる意義を有するものである.

色素を高分子誘導体とした時, 低分子量の単分子化合物と比較して, 性質がどのように変化するかをしらべるため, 4種類の重合性成分を用いて, アミノアントラキノン類と結合して色素単量体を合成し, ラジカル重合により高分子化した。得られた色素は平均分子量 2000 以下の低重合体であったが, 耐熱性については, 単分子化合物と比較して性質の向上が認められた。さらに重合によりその溶解性が著しく低下することから, 耐溶剤性の高い色素であることがわかった。また, 高分子基材にブレンドした場合に, 特にアントラキノン系色素に多く見られるブリーディング現象がまったく見られなくなることが知られた。

Asymptotic behaviors of tails of semi-stable distributions on the line are analyzed. Two sharp upper and lower estimates of their tails are given by using the tails of their Levy measures and the power functions with the proper exponents. In the case where their Levy measures vanish on the half line, the exact decay orders of the logarithms of their tails are discussed.

[3H]Azidobutyryl clentiazem, a new photoactivable diltiazem derivative, has a higher binding affinity than azidobutyryl diltiazem. It can be covalently incorporated into the alpha 1 subunit of the skeletal muscle calcium channel by UV irradiation, which allows the benzothiazepine binding site to be determined. The photolabeled alpha 1 subunit and its proteolytic fragments were analyzed with a panel of sequence-directed antibodies. The results suggest that the linker region between segment S5 and S6 of domain IV is involved in benzothiazepine binding. This site is different from the dihydropyridine and verapamil binding sites.