Fuji Oil (Japan)

ABSTRACTBackground and AimsEmployees often cannot monitor their locomotor status or measure physical and motor functions during working hours owing to time constraints. This study aimed to examine whether presenteeism can be improved through repetitive motor function measurements and individual feedback provided by professionals and company employees.MethodsParticipants underwent motor function measurements and completed a self‐administered questionnaire. Presenteeism was assessed using the Single‐Item Presenteeism Questionnaire (SPQ). Body composition was measured using the bioimpedance method to determine limb skeletal muscle mass, which was divided by height to calculate the Skeletal Muscle Mass Index. Dynamic balance capacity was evaluated using the two‐step test, grip strength, and finger floor distance (FFD)—all individually measured by a physiotherapist. A self‐administered questionnaire assessed the presence of pain and lifestyle habits. Repeat measurements were conducted 6 months later using the same test items and assessments of lifestyle and exercise statuses.ResultsOf the 134 participants (aged 18–67 years), 70 (52.2%) completed the repeated measurements and were included in the analysis. The SPQ score improved from 13.1 ± 13.6% in the pre‐survey to 10.7 ± 12.6% in the post‐survey, indicating a trend of a 2.4% improvement. Regarding motor function, FFD demonstrated a significant improvement in flexibility, increasing from 3.1 ± 9.5 cm pre‐survey to 4.6 ± 9.6 cm post‐survey, with an average increase of 1.5 cm.ConclusionA behavioral change approach based on motor function measurements in employees significantly improved flexibility and showed a trend toward improved SPQ scores. Furthermore, the behavioral change group that initiated exercise demonstrated significant improvements in flexibility.

典型的な動物性食品であるとんこつラーメンスープと, その代替である植物性のとんこつ風ラーメンスープを試料として, 共通した評価項目を用いて官能評価を行った. 得られたデータをもとに「動物性食品らしさ」の要因を検討した.

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is an annual plant of the legume family that is ancestral to the Glycine bean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc.). Soybeans are a key component of "Japanese cuisine," which has been registered as a UNESCO Heritage of Intangible Differentiation and has become an essential part of the Japanese diet. Despite being an important crop in Japan's food culture, the self-sufficiency rate of Japan's domestically produced soybean crop has declined considerably to ~24 % for use in food products and ~6% for combined non-food uses. Although domestic consumption of processed soybean products such as tofu has been increasing annually, imported soybeans have been used as raw materials. From the food security perspective, improving the self-sufficiency rate by promoting the development of soybean varieties that are internationally competitive and of superior quality is a prominent issue. Therefore, the Soybean Subcommittee of the 70th Anniversary Meeting of the Japanese Society for Food Science and Technology invited Dr. Yohei Nanjo of the Crops Research Division of the National Institute of Agrobiological Science in 2023 to give a presentation on the current state of soybean breeding and its future outlook.

Soybeans are rich in proteins and lipids and are often called “meat of the field.” Green soybeans, which are immature soybeans, are also highly nutritious and contain high levels of carotene and vitamin C. In Japan, green soybeans used to be harvested and consumed from May to November; however, with the development of freezing and storage technologies, they are now available throughout the year. Globally, there has been an increase in the consumption of the green soybean food, edamame, which originated in Japan, along with tofu and soy sauce. Currently, there are more than 400 unique green soybean varieties in Japan; nonetheless, studies investigating the components that determine green soybean palatability at the genetic level are scarce. During the Soybean Research Session of the 69th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Food Science and Technology in 2022, the results and future prospects of the present study were presented by Dr. Tomoki Hoshino from the Department of Food, Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture at Yamagata University, who is currently developing new varieties of green soybean cultivars by analyzing the genes that determine consumer palatability.

For several commercial plant-protein stabilisers, we investigated how surface shear and dilatational properties affect dynamic emulsion stability under high bulk shear conditions. Potato protein isolates Potato-1 (rich in patatin) and Potato-2 (rich in protease inhibitors) showed a stiffer, more solid-like response than soy and pea protein isolates in large amplitude oscillatory surface shear. Soy protein isolates had the weakest interfaces and showed a more liquid-like behaviour. Potato-2 had the highest stiffness and most brittle interface in large amplitude oscillatory dilatational deformations. It also showed more significant softening, evident from both the shear and dilatational Lissajous plots. Only the Potato-1-stabilised emulsion was stable against coalescence at high bulk shear (although that emulsion was unstable against flocculation because of its low zeta potential). The low stiffness imparted to the interface by the pea and soy protein isolates was not suitable for preparing emulsions with high dynamic stability. In the linear regime, both Potato-1 and Potato-2 produced interfaces with similar surface shear moduli, and in dilatation, Potato-2 gave a higher modulus. The lower stability of the Potato-2 emulsions appears to be linked to the higher brittleness and stronger softening effect for increasing deformation amplitude. Both in surface shear and dilatation, the maximum linear strain for the Potato-1-stabilised interface is larger. The lower maximum linear strain and stronger softening effect at high deformations for Potato-2 may have resulted in more disruption of the interfacial microstructure, and this induced (partial) coalescence.

Surface modification technology is applied in various situations, and it is a method that can be made into a multi-material by coating different materials on the material.For example, it is possible to coat a tough metal with a high-hardness material, or to combine the coating material itself to have a plurality of functions.In this report, we will explain LMD (Laser Metal Deposition), which is one of the methods, with examples for regular use.