Influences of Soaking Temperature and Storage Conditions on Hardening of Soybeans (Glycine max) and Red Kidney Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris).

The influences of soaking treatment and storage conditions on the softening of cooked beans, namely, soybeans and red kidney beans, were investigated. It was revealed that the softening of fresh soybeans and fresh red kidney beans was suppressed during subsequent boiling after soaking treatment at 50 and 60 °C. Furthermore, in treated aged soybeans and red kidney beans that were subjected to storage at 30 °C/75% relative humidity for 6 mo and soaking treatment at 50 to 60 °C, the hardness during cooking was further amplified.

Mepenzolate bromide displays beneficial effects in a mouse model of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The clinical treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) requires not only an improvement of airflow by bronchodilation but also the suppression of emphysema by controlling inflammation. Here we screen a compound library consisting of clinically used drugs for their ability to prevent elastase-induced airspace enlargement in mice. We show that intratracheal administration or inhalation of mepenzolate bromide, a muscarinic antagonist used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, decreases the severity of elastase-induced airspace enlargement and respiratory dysfunction.

Loss of Keap1 function activates Nrf2 and provides advantages for lung cancer cell growth.

Oxidative and electrophilic stresses are sensed by Keap1, which activates Nrf2 to achieve cytoprotection by regulating the expression of drug-metabolizing and antioxidative stress enzymes/proteins. Because oxidative and electrophilic stresses cause many diseases, including cancer, we hypothesized that an abnormality in the Nrf2-Keap1 system may facilitate the growth of cancer cells. We sequenced the KEAP1 gene of 65 Japanese patients with lung cancer and identified five nonsynonymous somatic mutations at a frequency of 8%.

[A study of children with special needs in mainstream schools and the role of nursing teachers].

Objective: Principals of elementary schools and classroom teachers of classes for children with special needs were surveyed by questionnaire to identify the features of children with special needs in mainstream schools and the role of nursing teachers.

Methods: Subjects in Y prefecture were asked to consider several items including the following: 1) presence in class of children with special needs; 2) presence of a child with special needs who was a target of a class or a school for children with special needs; 3) presence of education for special needs experience; 4) obstacles that such children face; 5) the relation with a nursing teacher from June to August in 1998.

Results: 1.