Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Suntory Holdings Limited

Minolta Camera Co., Ltd.

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Minolta Camera K.k.

Suntory Limited

Minolta Camera Corporation

Masaaki Nakai

Nobuyuki Taniguchi

Akihiko Fujino

Masayoshi Sahara

Takanobu Omaki

Masatake Niwa

Shuji Izumi

Minoru Sekida

Manabu Inoue

Akira Fujii

Hiroshi Ootsuka

Takeo Hoda

Hiroshi Hosomizu

Toshio Yamaki

Hiromu Mukai

Kenji Tsuji

Kunio Kawamura

Tokuji Ishida

Norio Ishikawa

Tadahiro Yoshida

Mashio Kitaura

Yoshiiku Kikukawa

Toshihiko Ishimura

Takeshi Egawa

Takehiro Katoh

Masayasu Hirano

Masayuki Nakasa

Yasuteru Yamano

Sumio Asami

Toru Inoue

Hisashi Tokumaru

Hisayuki Masumoto

Yuko Fukui

Tsuneyo Metabi

Yuji Takarabe

Hiroyuki Okada

Toshio Kobori

Yukihiro Aoshima

Hiroshi Ueda

Hideo Hotomi

Junichi Tanii

Kohtaro Hayashi

Takashi Kondo

Shigeru Wada

Sadafusa Tsuji

Shinji Tominaga

Yoshihiko Azuma

Naohiro Kageyama

Toshihiko Taniguchi

Keizou Ochi

Katsuhiko Asai

Isamu Uchida

Yasuzi Kogure

Tetsuro Oya

Koichi Kohriyama

Shinichi Nishimura

Kazuaki Okumura

Fumio Hashimoto

Masataka Hamada

Kenji Ishibashi

Yasuaki Akada

Koichi Nakahara

Kiyofumi Hashimoto

Naoki Masazumi

Eiji Yamakawa

Takahisa Shimada

Shuji Yoneda

Koh Hayama

Yoshiyuki Ishikura

Fumio Yoshida

Norihiro Inoue

Akira Okuno

Hirokazu Kuroda

Koji Hata

Tetsuro Ohya

Makiko Mandai

Yasuo Nakanishi

Kenji Katano

Keiichi Abe

Shuji Endo

Aki Kusumoto

Yasuhisa Honda

Asako Okada

Hiroaki Sasaki

Nobuyuki Tanijuchi

Yukiyoshi Tamura

Takehiro Katch

Hitoshi Matsubara

An object of the invention is to provide compositions containing lignan-class compounds as dissolved at high concentrations. The compositions having lignan-class compounds such as sesamin and episesamin dissolved in solvent oils or fats that contain triglycerides of middle-chain fatty acids having 8-12 carbon atoms, preferably triglycerides of caprylic acid and/or capric acid and/or lauric acid can contain the lignan-class compounds stably at higher concentrations than when other solvents are used and, hence, have high enough value as foods and pharmaceuticals.

Compositions containing lignan-class compounds

There are provided foods and beverages that will suppress the absorption of dietary lipids, thereby suppressing the rise of triglyceride in blood. High-molecular weight polyphenol fractions recovered from oolong tea are added to foods or beverages as an active ingredient for inhibiting lipase activity. The foods and beverages of the present invention are safe and their inherent flavor has not been impaired; hence, they may be taken in routinely so that the lipase inhibitory action of the high-molecular weight polyphenol fractions will suppress the rise of triglyceride in blood and prevent obesity.

Lipase activity inhibitors containing high-molecular weight polyphenol fractions, tea extracts, and processes for producing the same

The present invention provides lipase inhibitors containing dimers of flavan-3-ols derived from teas as well as foods and beverages and medicines containing said inhibitors. More specifically, the present invention provides lipase inhibitors containing at least one of assamicains represented by the formula: wherein G represents a galloyl group;theasinensins represented by the formula: wherein Rrepresents G or H, and Rrepresents G; andtheaflavins represented by the formula: wherein Rand Rindependently represent G or H; as well as foods and beverages and medicines containing said lipase inhibitors.

Lipase inhibitors

An object of the present invention is to provide a lipase activity inhibitor that shows high inhibitory activity against pancreatic lipase to suppress the absorption of meal-derived fat and/or which contributes to suppressing and preventing obesity, as well as a food or beverage that has such lipase activity inhibitor incorporated therein. Another object of the invention is to provide a lipase inhibitor of tea origin that suits most consumers' taste and which will not impair the flavor of the food or beverage when incorporated therein. Still another object of the invention is to provide a process for producing said lipase inhibitors. Further object of the invention is to provide antioxidants. To attain these objects, epigallocatechin dimers (oolong homobisflavans) or trimers are incorporated in foods or beverages. As a result, the absorption of meal-derived fat can be suppressed and, in addition, antioxidation effect is obtained. The compounds of the invention can be produced by reacting epigallocatechin gallate with formaldehyde in the presence of an acid.

Epigallocatechin dimers or trimers having lipase inhibitory activity and/or antioxidant activity

There is disclosed an episesamin refining method in which a mixture of sesamin components that contains sesamin, episesamin and the like is brought into contact with an aqueous medium to form a slurried mixture, and thereafter the solids are separated from the mixture or the slurried mixture is dissolved in a suitable aqueous medium under heating and, thereafter, the solution is slowly cooled to recrystallize, thereby yielding an episesamin-enriched composition with an increased relative episesamin content. By the present invention, episesamin can be conveniently and efficiently refined from a mixture of sesamin components that mainly comprises sesamin and episesamin.

Method of refining episesamin

To provide a process and an apparatus by means of which a composition that contains episesamin in a concentration greater than 50 wt % on the basis of the sum weight of sesamin and episesamin can be produced conveniently and at high yield. There are provided a process and an apparatus which comprise the step of applying epimerization to sesamin or a sesamin-containing composition so that at least part of the sesamin is converted to episesamin and the step of selectively crystallizing episesamin by recrystallization and by means of which a composition that contains episesamin in a concentration greater than 50 wt % can be produced conveniently and at high yield.

Process and an apparatus for producing episesamin-rich compositions

The present invention provides lipase inhibitors containing flavan-3-ol monomers or acylates thereof derived from teas as well as foods and beverages and medicines containing said inhibitors. More specifically, the present invention provides lipase inhibitors containing at least one of flavan-3-ol monomers represented by the formula: wherein Rand Rindependently represent H or OH, Rrepresents H, Rrepresents H, G, 3MeG or p-cou, Rrepresents H or G, R' and R&#x2032; independently represent H or G, R&#x2033; represents H or G, and G, 3MeG and p-cou respectively represent the groups of the formulae: or acylates thereof; as well as foods and beverages and medicines containing said lipase inhibitors.

The present invention provides lipase inhibitory agents comprising a gallotannin or ellagitannin component(s) isolated from teas oras well as foods and beverages and medicines containing said inhibitory agents. The present invention provides lipase inhibitory agents comprising at least one of compounds represented by formula I below: wherein R, Rand Rindependently represent H or a gallic acid residue, and Rand Rrepresent H or a gallic acid residue, or Rand Rtogether form an HHDP group represented by the formula below: provided that at least two of Rto Rrepresent a gallic acid residue or when all of R, Rand Rare H, Rand Rtogether form the HHDP group; as well as foods and beverages and medicines containing said lipase inhibitory agents.

A display device which has a liquid crystal display which has a plurality liquid crystal pixels arranged in a matrix and which writes an image thereon after resetting the liquid crystal. The method of writing on the liquid crystal display can be selected from driving methods according to interlace scanning in which a frame is divided into a plurality of fields and writing by interlace scanning is performed and driving methods according to sequential scanning in which scanning lines are subjected to writing serially. When high-speed writing is required, for example, when display of a motion picture, display of inputted letters or scroll display is desired, one of the driving methods according to interlace scanning is selected. In interlace scanning, based on the end of a blackout state of a scanning line in a field, selection of a scanning line in the next field for writing is started. Writing on a scanning line comprises a reset step of resetting the liquid crystal, a selection step of selecting the final state of the liquid crystal, an evolution step of stabling the liquid crystal into the selected state, and one of the length of the reset step and the total length of the selection step and the evolution step is n times (n: natural number) the other. For example, when the length of the reset step is n times the total length of the selection step and the evolution step and when a frame is divided into m fields (m: natural number larger than n) for interlace scanning, there is a moment when, in serial m scanning lines, n scanning lines of them are in the reset step, one of them is in the selection step or in the evolution step, and the other m-n-1 scanning lines are in a display step.

Liquid crystal display device having a liquid crystal display driven by interlace scanning and/or sequential scanning

A display device which has a liquid crystal display which has a plurality liquid crystal pixels arranged in a matrix and which writes an image thereon after resetting the liquid crystal. The method of writing on the liquid crystal display can be selected from driving methods according to interlace scanning in which a frame is divided into a plurality of fields and writing by interlace scanning is performed and driving methods according to sequential scanning in which scanning lines are subjected to writing serially. When high-speed writing is required, for example, when display of a motion picture, display of inputted letters or scroll display is desired, one of the driving methods according to interlace scanning is selected. In interlace scanning, based on the end of a blackout state of a scanning line in a field, selection of a scanning line in the next field for writing is started. Writing on a scanning line comprises a reset step of resetting the liquid crystal, a selection step of selecting the final state of the liquid crystal, an evolution step of stabling the liquid crystal into the selected state, and one of the length of the reset step and the total length of the selection step and the evolution step is n times (n: natural number) the other. For example, when the length of the reset step is n times the total length of the selection step and the evolution step and when a frame is divided into m fields (m: natural number larger than n) for interlace scanning, there is a moment when, in serial m scanning lines, n scanning lines of them are in the reset step, one of them is in the selection step or in the evolution step, and the other m&#x2212;n&#x2212;1 scanning lines are in a display step.

A camera in which the ratio of an object to the photographing frame can be set comprises a varifocal lens in which the in-focus position is changed in accordance with the change in the focal lens and a focusing lens for correcting the focus by the varifocal lens. The size of the object is set to the desired size by using the varifocal lens, and thereafter the deviation of the in-focus point is controlled by the focusing lens. Since the zooming is carried out by using a varifocal lens, a camera can be provided in which the ratio of an object to the photographing frame can be set in a simple structure.

Camera having a varifocal lens

An antiobestic agent of the present invention having antiobestic effect, carbohydrase inhibitory effect, blood sugar increase inhibitory effect, monosaccharide absorption inhibitory effect, cholic acid adsorptive excretion promoting effect, cholesterol lowering effect, blood triglyceride lowering effect and lipase inhibitory effect and being useful not only as an antiobestic agent but also as an antilipotrophic agent, an antihyperlipemic agent, an antiarteriosclerotic agent and an antidiabetic agent. Tamarind seed coat extract containing a large amount of procyanidin, which is a trimer represented by the following formula and serves as the active ingredient in the present invention, exhibits a potent antiobestic effect as such without the need for further purification. The antiobestic agent of the present invention is usable as a carbohydrase inhibitor, a blood sugar increase inhibitor, a monosaccharide absorption inhibitor, a cholic acid adsorptive excretion promoter, a cholesterol lowering agent, a blood triglyceride lowering agent and a lipase inhibitor. Moreover, use of the antiobestic agent makes it possible to produce foods or beverages and animal feeds having these effects, thus contributing to the relief or prevention of diabetes and obesity in our daily life

Antiobestic agent containing procyanidin as the active ingredient

A camera having a covering member which covers the upper side of the camera and having a projecting portion shaped as a pentagonal reflecting member; a first manually operable portion located at the covering member on one side of the projecting portion for designating one of a plurality of kinds of photographic data; a second manually operable portion located at the covering member on the other side of the projecting portion and adapted for commonly altering any of the plurality of kinds of photographing data to actually alter the designated one thereof in combination with the actual designation by the first manually operable portion; a light measuring device for measuring the luminance of the object to be photographed; a calculator for carrying out an exposure calculation based on the result of the light measuring; a display portion for displaying at least either one of shutter speed and aperture value obtained by the exposure calculation; and a display controller for controlling the display such that, when the first manually operable portion is operated, the display of at least either one of shutter speed and aperture value is turned off, and instead a designated photographing data is displayed.

Camera system

Growing community of inventors

Kawachinagano, Japan

Masaaki Nakai