Otsuma Women's University

About: Otsuma Women's University is a education organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Differential scanning calorimetry & Population. The organization has 422 authors who have published 913 publications receiving 12796 citations. The organization is also known as: Otsuma-Joshi-Daigaku.

Conceptual mappings from spatial motion to time: analysis of English and Japanese

Abstract: In the metaphorical mapping from spatial motion to time, the path schema is preserved but other source domain structures are constrained by the target domain structure. There are at least four constraints: (1) the Front-Back Constraint, (2) the Straight Path Constraint, (3) Restriction on Manner Information, and (4) Exclusion of Cause, Circumstance, and Resultant State. This is demonstrated by analyzing English and Japanese motion-time metaphors. Thus it is shown that target domain structures play an important role in determining the elements of information preserved in metaphorical mappings which are regarded as "unidirectional."

Water-sorption properties of poly(ε-lysine): Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) dietary complex films

Abstract: To investigate the application of supersorbing materials in the food industry, the water sorption of polyion complex films, prepared by solvent-casting from poly(ϵ-lysine) (PEL) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), were examined and some physical properties of the hydrogels were studied. Three CMC samples having various degrees of substitution (DS) and molecular weights (MW) were applied to show a variety of water-sorption behavior and physical properties. The ratio of PEL/CMC was changed from 10/90 to 50/50. Good film swelling in water was achieved when the complex was made from PEL and CMC with a low DS and an appropriate molecular weight, and when the PEL/CMC ratio was low. This indicated that the carboxyl groups in the CMC are not readily dissociated, and that the strength of cationic and anionic interactions affects the film swelling. In line with this view, the addition of electrolytes markedly lowered the film swelling. Nonelectrolytes such as sucrose or urea had no effect. IR and NMR spectra showed that a fraction of the ionic groups in the polyelectrolytes interact. Tensile moduli of complex dry films decreased linearly as the PEL content increased. Compressive moduli of swollen films were affected by neither the degree of swelling nor the molecular weights of CMC. The lower the DS values of CMC, the higher the compressive moduli were. We also examined the relation between the rigidity of polymer component and the ratio of nonfreezable bound water in complex films. On swelling in acetone–water or ethanol–water mixed solvent, expansion–shrinkage transition of the polymer gels occurred at about 20 mol % acetone or ethanol concentrations for every complex film. The overall characterstics of PEL/CMC consisting of a linear polyanionic polypeptide and a chain of cationic rings are reminiscent of polycationic chitosan and polyanionic polyglutamic acid. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Biogeochemical features of lipids in endolithic microbial communities in the Ross Desert (McMurdo Dry Valleys), Antarctica.

Abstract: Endolithic microbial communities inhabiting porous rocks in the cold, dry mountainous regions of Antarctica have been studied extensively as examples of life's adaptations to extreme environments. Here, we examine hydrocarbons and fatty acids occurring in these communities in order to clarify their biogeochemical features with respect to source organisms, microbial activity, fossilization processes and the influence of Gondwanaland sediments. Unusually, long-chain (>C 1 9 ) n-alkanes and anteiso-alkanes were often the major hydrocarbons in the samples. A suite of n-alkanoic acids (n-C 9 - n-C 3 2 ) and long-chain anteiso-alkanoic acids (a-C 2 0 - a-C 3 0 ) were found, along with short-chain iso- and anteivo-alkanoic acids, and n-alkenoic acids. The relationship between long-chain n-alkanoic acids (n-C 2 0 - n-C 3 2 ) and long-chain anteiso-alkanoic acids suggests that these compounds probably originated from the same group of microorganisms, such as bacteria or endolithic lichens, under moderate pH conditions (pH 3-5). Relatively high trans/cis-C 1 6 : 1 alkenoic acid ratios suggest the presence of unfavorable environmental conditions in the endolithic microbial habitat. Normal-alkenoic/alkanoic acid ratios may be a useful marker for the fossilization of endolithic microbial communities. Thermally matured triterpanes and steppes from fossilized associations on Mount Flaming strongly suggest the presence of Gondwanaland sediments formed during Devonian and Jurassic (400-180 million years ago).

Trends and outcomes of blunt renal trauma management: a nationwide cohort study in Japan.

Abstract: There is a paucity of information for predicting patient outcomes other than the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) renal injury scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the patient characteristics and outcomes of patients with blunt renal trauma using a nationwide database in Japan. We performed a retrospective analysis of the Japan Trauma Data Bank (JTDB) from 2004 to 2018. We identified patients with blunt renal trauma by AIS codes converted to AAST grades. We evaluated trends in patient characteristics and management and assessed factors associated with mortality and nephrectomy using a multivariable logistic regression analysis. We identified 3550 patients with blunt renal trauma. Their median age was 43 years and 74.2% were male. Nephrectomy was performed in 3.8%, and the overall mortality rate was 9.5%. We found increasing trends in age and emergency abdominal angiography and decreasing trends in nephrectomy and mortality over the 15-year period. The following factors were associated with mortality: age ≥ 65 years (adjusted OR 3.36); pedestrian accident (adjusted OR 1.94); fall from height (adjusted OR 1.91); shock on arrival (adjusted OR 4.02); concomitant injuries to the head/neck (adjusted OR 3.14), pelvis/lower-extremity (adjusted OR 1.59), liver (adjusted OR 1.68), spleen (adjusted OR 1.45), and gastrointestinal tract (adjusted OR 1.90); AAST grades III–V (adjusted ORs 1.42, 2.16, and 5.55); and emergency abdominal angiography (adjusted OR 0.70). The following factors were associated with nephrectomy: shock on arrival (adjusted OR 1.98), concomitant injuries to the thorax (adjusted OR 0.46) and spleen (adjusted OR 2.07), AAST grades III, IV, and V (adjusted ORs 18.40, 113.89, and 468.17), and emergency abdominal angiography (adjusted OR 0.28). We demonstrated that the AAST grade and emergency angiography were associated with mortality and nephrectomy in blunt renal trauma in the Japanese population.