Lactoferrin (LF), a multifunctional glycoprotein in mammalian milk, is reported to exert a modulatory effect on lipid metabolism. The aim of the present study was to elucidate whether enteric-coated LF (eLF) might improve visceral fat-type obesity, an underlying cause of the metabolic syndrome. Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled design, Japanese men and women (n 26; aged 22–60 years) with abdominal obesity (BMI>25 kg/m2, and visceral fat area (VFA)>100 cm2) consumed eLF (300 mg/d as bovine LF) or placebo tablets for 8 weeks. Measurement of the total fat area, VFA and subcutaneous fat area from computed tomography images revealed a significant reduction in VFA ( − 14·6 cm2) in the eLF group, as compared with the placebo controls ( − 1·8 cm2; P = 0·009 by ANCOVA). Decreases in body weight, BMI and hip circumference in the eLF group ( − 1·5 kg, − 0·6 kg/m2, − 2·6 cm) were also found to be significantly greater than with the placebo (+1·0 kg, +0·3 kg/m2, − 0·2 cm; P = 0·032, 0·013, 0·041, respectively). There was also a tendency for a reduction in waist circumference in the eLF group ( − 4·4 cm) as compared with the placebo group ( − 0·9 cm; P = 0·073). No adverse effects of the eLF treatment were found with regard to blood lipid or biochemical parameters. From these results, eLF appears to be a promising agent for the control of visceral fat accumulation.

We have discovered a novel chemisorption method using octadecyltrimethoxysilane (ODMS), titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP), water, and toluene [1] to form highly-ordered self-assembled monolayers (SAM) of ODMS. The SAMs were formed rapidly from the active solution even when it was kept for three months. The solution and layers were characterized by several methods. We propose a mechanism for the rapid formation of the ODMS-SAM.

We studied the crystallization mechanism of ultra-fast phase change optical disks with recording layers made of GaSb material for digital versatile disk (DVD) systems. The results of a static recording test and an amorphous mark formation simulation suggest that GaSb maintains a high crystal growth rate even at temperatures 150 degrees lower than the material's melting point. Disks with recording layers made of this material have a write speed margin ranging from DVD 3× to 8× or more.

We have proposed a coupled and de-coupled combined method to solve partial differential equations for a transient enhanced diffusion model. In the case of a boron diffusion process, the sum of concentrations of interstitial Si and of impurity-interstitial pair, the sum of concentrations of vacancy and of impurity-vacancy pair and each chemical impurity concentration are kept constant. The charge neutrality law is also applied. This procedure has realized a robust solution system which is implemented into our in-house FEM-based 2-D process simulator, and transient enhanced diffusion simulations for a sub-quarter micron nMOSFET have been demonstrated.