Film products, especially suitable for oral delivery, which can be formed during manufacture in the form of large and/or heavy film strips or sheets and subsequently cut into uniform dosage units, each dosage unit being uniform in content and having distributed therein a linear polysaccharide, such as pullulan, a plasticizer, and an active component.

A nanofiber producing apparatus 10 includes a spinning solution jetting means 11 having a conductive nozzle 13 for jetting a stock spinning solution for nanofiber production, an electrode 14 located away from the nozzle 13, a voltage generating means 101 generating a voltage between the nozzle 13 and the electrode 14, an air jetting means 15 located at such a position as to direct an air jet between the nozzle 13 and the electrode 14, and a nanofiber collecting means. The voltage generating means 101 generates a voltage so that the nozzle 13 serves as a positive pole and the electrode 14 as a negative pole. The electrode 14 is covered, on almost the entire area of its side facing the nozzle 13, with a covering 17 having a dielectric exposed on the surface thereof. The dielectric exposed on the surface of the covering has a thickness of 0.8 mm or greater.

The present inventions relates to beads as biocompatible material adapted for use within the human or animal body. Said beads are highly useful for tissue engineering, in situ tissue regeneration, as well as for drug and/or cells delivery. In addition, said beads may support biotechnological applications such as cell carriers.

Molded articles are disclosed herein, the molded article comprising a polysaccharide, wherein the polysaccharide comprises i) poly alpha-1,3-glucan; ii) poly alpha-1,3-1,6-glucan; iii) a graft copolymer that comprises (A) a backbone comprising dextran with a weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of at least about 100000 Daltons, and (B) poly alpha-1,3-glucan side chains comprising at least about 95% alpha-1,3-glucosidic linkages; or iv) a composition comprising a poly alpha-1,3-glucan ester compound as disclosed herein. Optionally, the molded articles can further comprise a plasticizer and/or starch. The molded articles can be useful as a container, a handle, packaging, a tray, a bottle, a cup, a sheet, a disposable food packaging item, an automotive part, a casing for an electronic device, or a toy.

An electrochromic element includes a pair of electrodes and an electrochromic layer disposed between the pair of electrodes. The electrochromic layer contains an electrochromic material, a solvent, and a cyanoethylated polymer.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a porous scaffold for tissue engineering. It is another object of the present invention to provide a porous scaffold obtainable by the method as above described, and its use for tissue engineering, cell culture and cell delivery. The method of the invention comprises the steps consisting of: a) preparing an alkaline aqueous solution comprising an amount of at least one polysaccharide, an amount of a cross-linking agent and an amount of a porogen agent b) transforming the solution into a hydrogel by placing said solution at a temperature from about 4 C. to about 80 C. for a sufficient time to allow the cross-linking of said amount of polysaccharide and c) submerging said hydrogel into an aqueous solution d) washing the porous scaffold obtained at step c).

The present disclosure relates to a polymer in which bovine serum albumin (BSA) is conjugated to a polysaccharide, a method of preparing the same, an enzyme-stabilizing composition including the same, and a method of amplifying or detecting a target nucleic acid molecule in a biological sample by using the same. The polymer is used to prevent the hydrolysis, oxidation, or reduction of an enzyme, such as a nucleic acid polymerase, in a composition, thereby maintaining the stability of the composition. Even when stored at room temperature and high temperature, a composition including the polymer can stably maintain enzymatic activity equivalent to that of a composition kept frozen. Accordingly, the polymer of the present disclosure and a composition including the same efficiently detect a target nucleic acid molecule associated with the onset of infectious diseases and/or cancer, and thus can be usefully applied to the diagnosis of diseases.

The present invention aims to provide a particulate composition containing pullulan, which can be produced without employing any complicated purification step such as solvent precipitation and, when formed into a film, exhibits a higher rupture strength compared to conventional ones; a process for producing the same; and uses thereof. The present invention solves the above object by providing a particulate composition containing pullulan which is produced from a culture obtained by culturing a mutant of a microorganism of the species Aureobasidium pullulans in a culture medium containing glucose and maltose as carbon sources, without employing a step of removing concomitant saccharides; contains a pullulan fraction and a concomitant saccharide fraction that are respectively insoluble and soluble in 75% by volume of methanol in water; has a percentage of 3% by weight or lower of the content of concomitant saccharides contained in the concomitant saccharide fraction against the content of total saccharides contained in the whole particulate composition, when determined based on the anthrone sulfuric acid method; and contains mannitol; and by providing the process of the same and uses thereof.

The present inventions relates to beads as biocompatible material adapted for use within the human or animal body. Said beads arc highly useful for tissue engineering, in situ tissue regeneration, as well as for drug and/or cells delivery. In addition, said beads may support biotechnological applications such as cell carriers.

A process for preparing (1.fwdarw.6)--D-glucan. A large amount of (1.fwdarw.6)--D-glucan can be prepared from banana by using this process. The chemical structure of (1.fwdarw.6)--D-glucan is shown as Scheme 1. The yield of (1.fwdarw.6)--D-glucan is 3-16 g/kg (with a purity of 85%-95%). This process provides a feasible technique for extensive utilization of banana, and can improve the additional value of banana products. This process is helpful for the sustainable development of banana processing industry. ##STR00001##