Abstract: A reagent measuring a glycated protein, comprising a protease and a protein of any one of [1] to [4] below: [1] a protein comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1; [2] a protein comprising an amino acid sequence with one to ten amino acid deletions, substitutions, or additions in the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; [3] a protein comprising an amino acid sequence having 99% or higher homology to the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; and [4] a protein having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity, which is encoded by an expression plasmid harbored by the Escherichia coli XL1-Blue MRF? strain deposited under Accession No. FERM BP-11026.

Abstract: A reagent measuring a glycated protein, comprising a protease and a protein of any one of [1] to [4] below: [1] a protein comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1; [2] a protein comprising an amino acid sequence with one to ten amino acid deletions, substitutions, or additions in the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; [3] a protein comprising an amino acid sequence having 99% or higher homology to the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; and [4] a protein having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity, which is encoded by an expression plasmid harbored by the Escherichia coli XL1-Blue MRF? strain deposited under Accession No.

Abstract: The present invention encompasses: [1] a DNA encoding the protein of any one of (i) a protein comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1; (ii) a protein comprising a sequence with one to ten amino acid deletions, substitutions, or additions in the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; (iii) a protein comprising a sequence having 99% or higher homology to the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; and (iv) a protein having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity, which is encoded by an expression plasmid harbored by the strain deposited under Accession No. FERM BP-11026; [2] a DNA comprising the of SEQ ID NO: 2; and [3] a DNA that hybridizes under stringent conditions with a DNA comprising a sequence complementary to SEQ ID NO: 2, where the DNA encodes a protein having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a protein comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1; a protein comprising an amino acid sequence with one to ten amino acid deletions, substitutions, or additions in the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; a protein comprising an amino acid sequence having 99% or higher homology to the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; and a protein having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity, which is encoded by an expression plasmid harbored by the Escherichia coli XL1-Blue MRF? strain deposited under Accession No. FERM BP-11026; as well as uses of such proteins.

Abstract: A protein described in any one of [1] to [4] below is provided according to the present invention: [1] a protein comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1; [2] a protein comprising an amino acid sequence with one or more amino acid deletions, substitutions, or additions in the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; [3] a protein comprising an amino acid sequence having 80% or higher homology to the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, and having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity; and [4] a protein having fructosyl peptide oxidase activity, which is produced by an expression plasmid harbored by the Escherichia coli XL1-Blue MRF' strain deposited under Accession No. FERM BP-11026.

Abstract: To assure the multiprocessing performance of CPU on a microprocessor, the invention provides a method of memory mapping for multiple concurrent processes, thus minimizing cache thrashing. An OS maintains a management (mapping) table for controlling the cache occupancy status. When a process is activated, the OS receives from the process the positional information for a specific part (principal part) to be executed most frequently in the process and coordinates addressing of a storage area where the process is loaded by referring to the management table, ensuring that the cache address assigned for the principal part of the process differs from that for any other existing process. Taking cache memory capacity, configuration scheme, and process execution priority into account when executing the above coordination, a computer system is designed such that a highest priority process can have a first priority in using the cache.

Abstract: On the occasion of returning an error code to an application program to be executed under different execution environments of a computing system, it is requested to fully utilize a system of the existing instruction set to improve the ROM efficiency in the implementation of its common code and to eliminate useless insertion of instruction. For this purpose, in the present invention, a common error code to be returned, from the program to be used to be independent on different OS, to the execution program corresponding to the application program is determined as a value in the range of numerical value to be set with the instruction set of CPU and the defined instruction to load immediate value and thereby the common error code is held within the instruction code of the instruction to load immediate value. Particularly, a value of common error code is determined within the range where the MSB of the setting part of the instruction to load immediate value becomes zero (0).

Abstract: An electronic circuit of low power consumption and a power consumption reducing method are devised to attain the power consumption reduction without using the scheme of anticipation which incurs the limitation in the effect of power consumption reduction. The electronic circuit includes at least one of a power supply voltage control circuit which varies the power supply voltage in response to a voltage control signal or a clock frequency control circuit which varies the frequency of a clock signal in response to a frequency control signal, a control circuit which produces at least one of the voltage control signal or the frequency control signal, and a data processing circuit which processes an input data signal by being supplied with at least one of the power supply voltage or the clock signal.

Abstract: On the occasion of returning an error code to an application program to be executed under different execution environments of a computing system, it is requested to fully utilize a system of the existing instruction set to improve the ROM efficiency in the implementation of its common code and to eliminate useless insertion of instruction.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a medical composition for atrial fibrillation treatment, comprising a compound represented by the following formula [I]: Formula [I] [wherein R1 represents a hydrogen atom or lower alkoxy group; R2 represents a hydrogen atom, lower alkoxy group or phenyl group (wherein the phenyl group may be substituted with 1 to 3 substituents selected from a group consisting of a hydroxides group and a lower alkoxy group), (wherein R3 represents an acyl group); X represents —CO— or —CH2—, and n represents an integer of 1 or 2.] The present invention also relates to a method of treating atrial fibrillation using said compound, and to the use of said compound for producing a medicine for atrial fibrillation treatment or salts thereof or prodrugs thereof.

Abstract: According to the present invention, a process for producing a practical cholesterol-reduced substance by converting cholesterol contained in foods and feeds to coprostanol having very low intestinal tract absorbability by utilizing enzymatic action is provided. Cholesterol in a cholesterol-containing substance such as meat, egg, milk, seafood and cooked processed foods containing the same, or feeds for animals, poultry and pisciculture, and the like, can be treated with three kinds of enzymes which are a cholesterol dehydrogenase having an optimum pH in a neutral pH range and 4-cholesten-3-one dehydrogenase and coprostan-3-one dehydrogenase each having an optimum pH in a weak acidic range, or microbial cells containing the enzymes, for converting the cholesterol to coprostanol to reduce the amount of the cholesterol.

Abstract: The invention provides a method for allocating registers for various execution environments. Various arguments are passed when a program for unifying various execution environments is called, then the parameters are stored in an argument information set part created in a memory's area pointed to by a general-purpose register. Accordingly, the number of registers actually used for storing the passed arguments is adjusted to be no greater than the number of registers reserved for storing the passed arguments. The number of passed arguments specified for a common function is also suppressed to be no greater than the number of registers for storing the passed arguments. The memory utilization efficiency is thus improved while the program execution speed is prevented from decreasing.

Abstract: An enzymatic process is presented for reducing the cholesterol level of foods and feeds by converting the cholesterol therein to coprostanol which has a very low intestinal tract absorbability. Cholesterol in meat, egg, milk, seafood and cooked processed foods containing the same, or feeds for animals, poultry, and pisiculture can be reduced by the sequential action of three enzymes isolated from a eubacterium: cholesterol dehydrogenase, 4-cholesten-3-one dehydrogenase and coprostan-3-one dehydrogenase.

Abstract: According to the present invention, a process for producing a practical cholesterol-reduced substance by converting cholesterol contained in foods and feeds to coprostanol having very low intestinal tract absorbability by utilizing enzymatic action is provided. Cholesterol in a cholesterol-containing substance such as meat, egg, milk, seafood and cooked processed foods containing the same, or feeds for animals, poultry and pisciculture, and the like, can be treated with three kinds of enzymes which are a cholesterol dehydrogenase having an optimum pH in a neutral pH range and 4-cholesten-3-one dehydrogenase and coprostan-3-one dehydrogenase each having an optimum pH in a weak acidic range, or microbial cells containing the enzymes, for converting the cholesterol to coprostanol to reduce the amount of the cholesterol.

Abstract: According to the present invention, a process for producing a practical cholesterol-reduced substance by converting cholesterol contained in foods and feeds to coprostanol having very low intestinal tract absorbability by utilizing enzymatic action is provided.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for quantitative determination of 1,5-anhydroglucitol in a sample, which comprises mixing the sample and an enzyme having activity that is inhibited by 1,5-anhydroglucitol in a concentration-dependent manner, and measuring the activity of the enzyme; and a reagent for quantitative determination of 1,5-anhydroglucitol which comprises an enzyme having activity that is inhibited by 1,5-anhydroglucitol in a concentration-dependent manner, a substrate for the enzyme, and a reagent for quantitative determination of a product formed by the enzyme activity. The present invention also relates to novel trehalase having a Ki value of 0.33 mM or less for 1,5-anhydroglucitol; and a process for producing novel trehalase having the above-mentioned physicochemical properties, which comprises culturing in a medium a microorganism belonging to the genus Nocardia and capable of producing the trehalase, and recovering the trehalase from the culture.

Abstract: As a public key, a character string which can be easily reasoned by a person, e.g., a character string obtained by adding a specific character string, e.g., "?", of which code is an odd number to the end of a name, is used. A signature given to a document to be sent is encrypted by using a secret key generated from the public key, and the encrypted signature is sent together with a plaintext document. On the reception side, the encrypted signature is decrypted by using a public key obtained by adding a character string, "?" in this case, whose code is an odd number to the end of the name of the sender. The decrypted signature is compared with a signature included in the plaintext document, so that authentication can be performed. Since the public key need not be stored in an electronic dictionary file or the like, illegal authentication is not easily established by falsifying the public key in the electronic dictionary file.

Abstract: A process for producing a disaccharide which comprises: conducting the condensation reaction of .beta.-glucose-1-phosphate with a monosaccharide in an aqueous medium in the presence of an enzyme source which is derived from a microorganism belonging to the genus Catellatospora, Kineosporia, Propionibacterium, or Enterococcus and which has sugar phosphorylase activity; and recovering the disaccharide formed in the aqueous medium, as well as a novel disaccharide obtained by the process. The disaccharide obtained by the present invention is useful as a stabilizer for medicine, food, cosmetic and enzyme.

Abstract: Chroman derivatives of the formula ?I! ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is a cyano, a nitro, a trihalomethyl, a trihalomethoxy or a halogen atom; R.sup.2 is a lower alkoxyalkyl, an aryloxyalkyl or a dialkoxyalkyl; R.sup.3 is a lower alkoxyalkyl or an aryloxyalkyl; R.sup.4 is a hydroxy, a formyloxy or a lower alkanoyloxy; X is N--H, an N--optionally substituted lower alkyl, an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom or a single bond; and Y is an optionally substituted aromatic ring residue or an optionally substituted heterocyclic residue, pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof and pharmaceutical use thereof. The compound of the present invention and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof have selective and excellent coronary vasodilating action and extremely weak hypotensive action.

Abstract: An information processing system which comprises an integral input and display unit comprising a display which enables an object to be selectively displayed at one of a plurality of positions in a display area and a tablet having an input face overlaid on a display face of the display, the input and display face being disposed substantially horizontally, and a display whose display face is disposed substantially uprightly, wherein when an object is presented to a user in the display area of the display, a display position of the object is determined in response to at least one of a state of the user, a state of the input and display face, and a display state of the display, thereby enabling the object to be displayed at an easy-to-use position relative to the user's position.