Effects of the lateral growth rate on wood quality of Gmelina arborea from 3.5-, 7- and 12-year-old plantations

? Awareness of the shortage of fossil resources leads to an increasing demand for woody biomass. We investigated the feasibility of using fast-growing Gmelina arborea wood for material production. Gmelina arborea wood samples were collected from trees of varying cambium ages in Indonesia, from 3.5-, 7- and 12-year-old plantations.

? The lateral growth rate and the cambium age did not significantly affect the longitudinal released strain of the growth stress, xylem density, or microfibril angle at the outermost surface of the secondary xylem at any sampling site. However, fiber length in the 3.5-year-old plantation tended to be shorter in smaller diameter trees, whereas in larger diameter trees it was almost the same as that in trees from the 7- and 12-year-old plantations. This suggests that smaller diameter trees in the 3.5-year-old plantation had not yet produced mature wood.

? Xylem qualities had already reached values appropriate for harvesting, except in the smaller diameter trees from the 3.5-year-old plantation. This indicates that the larger diameter trees had already matured, regardless of their cambium age. These results suggest that the next step is to develop silvicultural treatments to increase the lateral growth rate during the early growing stage, in order to produce as much mature wood as possible, as quickly as possible.

     

Application of high-resolution airborne data using individual tree crowns in Japanese conifer plantations

We investigated conifer plantation management in Japan using high-resolution airborne data based on an individual tree crown (ITC) approach. This study is the first to apply this technique to Japanese forests. We found that forest resources can be measured at the level of a single tree. We also produced a tree-crown map for a test site with Chamaecyparis obtusa, Pinus densiflora, Larix kaempferi, Cryptomeria japonica, other conifers, and broadleaved trees, with a classification accuracy of 78%. Forest-stand polygons with tree-cover types were generated from this map, a tree-density map, and a crown-occupied-area map. Forest information for the stand polygons was extracted automatically and compared with detailed field-survey data. The error between our ITC estimates and the field-survey data ranged from 0.3 to 30.2%, depending on tree crown size, density, and other factors. Errors were highest for high-density stands with mixed compositions and tree crown diameters ≤5.0 m. However, the error for stands with crown diameters ≥6.2 m was 11.6% or less. Therefore, this technique is best suited to pure Japanese conifer plantations without multiple layers or high-density stands.     

Effective combinations of functional groups in chemically modified kraft lignins for reduction of aluminum toxicity

Plant growth tests were performed with radish (Raphanus sativa var. radicula Pers.) in culture solutions containing low molecular weight compounds in the presence of aluminum to determine the types of functional groups in kraft lignin (KL) modified with ozone and alkali that contributed to reducing aluminum toxicity. The low molecular weight compounds used in this study contained carboxyl, formyl, methoxyl, alcohol hydroxyl, and phenolic hydroxyl groups. The compounds that had adjacent two carboxyl groups (oxalic acid), carboxyl/alcohol hydroxyl groups (glycolic acid), or carboxyl/formyl groups (glyoxylic acid) were effective in reducing aluminum toxicity. Malonic acid, having two carboxyl groups, also reduced aluminum toxicity. The ability of ozone-treated KLs to reduce aluminum toxicity was considered to be partly due to these chemical structures. Protocatechuic acid, having two adjacent phenolic hydroxyl groups, was also effective in reducing aluminum toxicity. This indicated that the effectiveness of the alkaline-treated KL was partly due to its catechol structure. This report was presented in part at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Tsukuba, Japan, March 2008     

Development of acid soil conditioning agent from lignin by ozone treatment II

Kraft lignins (KLs) modified with ozone were saponified with 0.1 M NaOH at room temperature overnight and the abilities of the modified KLs in reducing aluminum toxicity in acidic soil were assayed by planting experiments with radish (Raphanus sativa var. radicula Pers.). The abilities of ozone-treated KLs in reducing aluminum toxicity and accelerating root elongation increased markedly by saponification. Furthermore, KL treated with 0.1 M NaOH at room temperature overnight also effectively reduced aluminum toxicity and accelerated root elongation. These results suggest that KL contains chemical structures that contribute toward these favorable effects. Saponified ozone-treated KLs reduced aluminum toxicity at lower dosages than the alkaline-treated KL. This report was presented in part at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Hiroshima, Japan, August 2007, and at the 52nd Lignin Symposium, Utsunomiya, Japan, November 2007     

Correction to: Development of an efficient bioreactor system for delivering foreign proteins secreted from liver into eggs with a vitellogenin signal in medaka Oryzias latipes

Fisheries Science - The article "Development of an efficient bioreactor system for delivering foreign proteins secreted from liver into eggs with a vitellogenin signal in medaka Oryzias...     

Laterality of spinocerebellar neurons in the chicken spinal cord

The aim in this study is to elucidate the laterality of chicken spinocerebellar (SC) neurons that originate from the caudal cervical to caudal lumbosacral spinal cord. SC neurons in the spinal segment (SS) 17-20 consisted of a mixture of crossed and uncrossed axons. SC neurons in the more cranial and caudal SS than SS 17-20 (transitional zone) were generally uncrossed and crossed, respectively. In the transitional zone, SC neurons in spinal border cells and ventral border cells of the ventral horn changed dramatically from an uncrossed to a crossed type between SS 17 and SS 18. Chicken SC neurons are markedly different in laterality from mammalian SC neurons.     

Change in antimicrobial resistance pattern in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium isolates detected in a beef cattle farm

Multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) isolates with four different antimicrobial resistance patterns obtained from a beef cattle farm were characterized to determine their clonality. Macrorestriction analysis of genomic DNA revealed that these four isolates are closely related to each other and can be classified as a newly emerged pulsed-field gel electrophoresis type among cattle: cluster VII. Three of the four isolates showed resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs), and this resistance was mediated by AmpC β-lactamase encoded by the bla(CMY-2) gene in a 190-kbp IncA/C plasmid. Results of restriction analysis and IncA/C backbone PCR suggest that the three 190-kbp plasmids are identical and that a 70-kbp IncA/C plasmid of the ESC-susceptible isolate is derived from the 190-kbp plasmid by a deletion event. Three isolates harboured a virulence-resistance plasmid (165 or 180 kbp), and restriction analysis revealed that these plasmids were identical or closely related to each other. These results suggest that the four S. Typhimurium cluster VII isolates originate from a common ancestor that probably invaded the farm prior to the salmonellosis outbreak. Antimicrobial resistance patterns may not necessarily reflect the relationships of the isolates.     

Interaction between glycogen body cell and neuron: examination in co-culture system

The glycogen body (GB) is in the dorsal area of the lumbosacral spinal cord in birds and is composed of uniform cells characterized by high glycogen storage. The glycogen of GB cells remains unchanged in vivo by the effects of a variety of hormones such as insulin, glucagon, adrenocorticotropic hormone and by physiological conditions such as starvation. In order to investigate the latent functionability of GB cells, we observed morphological changes of glycogen body cells in a co-culture system with cerebellar neurons by light and transmission electron microscopy. Cultured GB cells were labeled with 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI). The cultured neurons derived from cerebellum were co-cultured with the labeled GB cells. Under the co-culture with neurons, 2 types of GB cells were detected. One was conventional with numerous glycogen deposits in the cytoplasm and tended to make clusters. The other type of GB cells singly extended the processes attaching to the neuronal body and axons. In the axons in contact with GB cell processes, small vesicles appearing as synaptic vesicles were observed. These observations suggested that some GB cells can differentiate to an average astrocyte. The GB cells were assumed to involve the synapse formation or maturing as astrocytes in the CNS.