环境会计在日本

近年来, 引进环境会计的日本公司激增了。通过前期的调查研究发现, 日本环境会计普及的原因主要为环境管理体系和环境报告书的引进等企业内部因素, 导则指南的制定、循环型社会系列法和环境友好行动促进法等环境政策外部因素, 生态金融和绿色购买、绿色消费者运动等市场和社会的外部因素。基于这些研究, 文中提出了在中国推广环境会计的必要措施。     

Genetic characterization of rabies viruses isolated from frugivorous bat (Artibeus spp.) in Brazil

In Latin America, rabies cases related to frugivorous bats have been reported since 1930's. Recently, two viruses isolated from Artibeus lituratus were proved to be vampire bat variants by monoclonal antibodies panels [2], but their genetic information is not well known. In this report, four rabies viruses were isolated from frugivorous bats (Artibeus spp.) in Brazil and their nucleoprotein gene sequences were determined. These isolates were found to be genotype 1 of lyssavirus and showed the maximum nucleotide sequence homology of 97.6-99.4% with vampire bat-related viruses in Brazil [6]. These results indicate that the Brazilian frugivorous bat rabies viruses in this study are closely related to vampire bat-related viruses that play a main role in rabies virus transmission to livestock in Brazil.     

Detection of specific antibodies against deflagellated Salmonella Enteritidis and S. Enteritidis FliC-specific 9kDa polypeptide

Specific antibody levels of laying hens and young chickens experimentally infected with Salmonella Enteritidis and vaccinated farm flocks were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) with two different antigens, deflagellated S. Enteritidis whole cell (DEWC) and S. Enteritidis FliC-specific 9kDa polypeptide (SEP9). Infected laying hens excreted S. Enteritidis throughout the experimental period, and the specific antibody titers in DEWC-ELISA, were significantly higher than the uninfected group. It suggests that this DEWC-specific antibody will serve as an effective indicator of S. Enteritidis infection, especially for non-vaccinated laying flocks. SEP9-specific antibodies were detected in spray-inoculated young chickens but not in oral-inoculated young chickens. Compared with greatly high SEP9-specific antibody levels of vaccinated farm flocks, no response was observed in orally infected hens. These results indicate that S. Enteritidis discontinues expressing SEP9 once it has crossed the intestinal barrier, and that SEP9-ELISA will serve as a valuable monitoring tool for the status of S. Enteritidis vaccination on a flockwide basis, independent of stable S. Enteritidis infections.     

Kid depletion in mouse oocytes associated with multinucleated blastomere formation and inferior embryo development

This study investigated the knockdown (KD) of Kid on maturation developmental competence and multinucleation of mouse germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes after parthenogenetic activation. Data revealed that Kid messenger RNA (mRNA) was expressed in GV and MII stage oocyte and 1‐ and 2‐cell embryos. Additionally, Kid mRNA expression in the Kid KD group decreased by nearly 46% compared to the control small interfering RNA (siRNA) groups. The rate of multinucleated embryos in the Kid KD group (52.4%) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the control siRNA group (4.7%). Finally, the developmental rates were significantly lower in the Kid siRNA group at > 4‐cell stage (28.6% vs. 53.5%) and the blastocyst stage (2.4% vs. 23.3%) compared to the control siRNA groups. Suppression of Kid using siRNA caused multinucleation in early embryos with high frequency and it may increase 2‐ to 4‐cell arrested embryos and reduce the developmental competence to blastocyst.     

Expression levels of taste‐related genes in palate and tongue tip,and involvement of transient receptor potential subfamily M member 5 (TRPM5) in taste sense in chickens

The elucidation of the mechanisms underlying the taste sense of chickens will contribute to improvements in poultry feeding, because the molecular mechanism of chickens’ taste sense defines the feeding behavior of chickens. Here we focused on the gene expressions in two different oral tissues of chickens – the palate, which contains many taste buds, and the tongue tip, which contains few taste buds. Using the quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction method, we found that the molecular markers for taste buds of chickens, that is α‐gustducin and vimentin, were expressed significantly highly in the palate compared to the tongue tip. Our analyses also revealed that transient receptor potential subfamily M member 5 (TRPM5), a cation channel involved in taste transduction in mammals, was also highly expressed in the palate compared to the tongue tip. Our findings demonstrated that the expression patterns of these genes were significantly correlated. We showed that the aversion to bitter solution was alleviated by a TRPM5 inhibitor in behavior of chickens. Taken together, our findings enabled us to develop a simple method for screening taste‐related genes in chickens. The use of this method demonstrated that TRPM5 was involved in chickens’ taste transduction, and that a TRPM5 inhibitor can alleviate chickens’ bitter taste perception of feed ingredients.     

坡面治理工程对土壤硬度和土壤厚度影响的研究

该文以日本长野县野底川流域的割泽支流域为对象 ,用土壤剖面法和简易打击试验法对坡面治理工程施工地的土壤硬度及厚度变化进行了调查 .用长谷川式简易打击机所得到的调查结果表明 ,坡面治理工程施工后的斜坡土壤硬度的变化是很复杂的 ,与土壤深度没有明显的关系 .土壤A层厚度随着坡面治理工程经过年数的增多而有增大的趋势 ,而简易打击试验所得到的打击值在 1 5cm/次以上的表层土壤厚度的变化却与坡面治理工程经过年数没有关系 ,而可能受施工时挖、填土状况的影响 .本次调查结果进一步证实为了改善植物根系的生育环境 ,必须增大表层土壤的厚度     

A new apparatus for measuring the gas diffusion coefficient in soil using a large sample and controlling soil water suction

A new apparatus that determines the gas diffusion coefficient in soil after establishing steady state gas conditions was developed. The CO₂ concentration is kept constant above and below the soil sample to establish the steady state conditions. The sample column is 60 cm long with an inner diameter of 20 cm. The gas diffusion coefficients of sandy soil were measured at 10 cm intervals using this apparatus while controlling the soil water content. The ratios of gas diffusion coefficients in soil and air,D _s/D₀, with different soil water conditions were determined. A part of this paper was presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Forestry Society (1999).     

Effects of a meal rich in 1,3-diacylglycerol on postprandial cardiovascular risk factors and the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide in subjects with high fasting triacylglycerol concentrations

It was previously reported that compared to triacylglycerol (TAG) oil, diacylglycerol (DAG) oil improves postprandial lipid response. However, the effects of DAG oil on postprandial hyperglycemia and incretin response have not yet been determined. In this study, the effects of DAG oil on both postprandial hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia and the response to the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) were studied. This randomized, double-blind, crossover study analyzed data for 41 individuals with high fasting triacylglycerol concentrations. The subjects ingested test meals (30.3 g of protein, 18.6 g of fat, and 50.1 g of carbohydrate) containing 10 g of DAG oil (DAG meal) or TAG oil (TAG meal) after fasting for at least 12 h. Blood samples were collected prior to and 0.5, 2, 3, 4, and 6 h after ingestion of the test meal. Postprandial TAG concentrations were significantly lower after the DAG meal compared with the TAG meal. Postprandial TAG, insulin, and GIP concentrations were significantly lower after the DAG meal compared with the TAG meal in 26 subjects with fasting serum TAG levels between 1.36 and 2.83 mmol/L. DAG-oil-based meals, as a replacement for TAG oil, may provide cardiovascular benefits in high-risk individuals by limiting lipid and insulin excursions.     

Spontaneous Harderian Gland Adenocarcinoma in a Female F344 Rat: A Case Report

Harderian gland tumors are extremely rare in female F344 rats. An expansive enlarging lesion of the Harderian gland with compression, distortion and invasion of the surrounding muscle was found in a 110-week-old female F344/DuCrj rat, which was diagnosed as a Harderian gland adenocarcinoma. Epithelial growth patterns such as glandular, lobular, papillary and duct forming patterns were exhibited in most areas of the tumor. The tumor cells were pleomorphic and atypical. In one part of the tumor, poorly differentiated areas were found. This case was observed in the middle dose group of a carcinogenicity study of diphenylamine, which was not carcinogenic, we determine to be this case was a spontaneous tumor.