Feasibility of Cordia trichotoma (Vell.) wood and its by-products for particleboard manufacturing

The wood panel industry uses a large volume of wood and it is essential to research the use of new tree species for these types of products. As such, the aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of Cordia trichotoma (Vell.) wood, both on its own and as a mixture with Pinus spp., as well as to understand the effect on particleboard quality when adding the species’ bark and shavings. The experimental design included nine treatments that assessed various mixture proportations of C. trichotoma and Pinus; for example, 10% bark, and 10% shavings of C. trichotoma with Pinus spp. and C. trichotoma particles, as well as mixtures of these two species in proportions of 25/75%, 50%/50%, and 75/25%. The results indicate that the Cordia trichotoma specie is technically feasible when manufacturing particleboards in pure form. The incorporation of bark (at 10% of the mixture) is also technically feasible. It is also feasible to use the shavings of C. trichotoma. In general, all treatments produced outputs that showed dimensional stability and mechanical strength statistically equal or higher than control treatments (Pinus spp.); thus, these products may be used for non-structural applications in dry and/or moist conditions.     

Multilocus phylogenetic analysis revealed a new cryptic lineage of Serpula himantioides in Japan

Serpula himantioides is a widely distributed saprotrophic fungus that causes root and butt rot in various tree species. In Japan, butt rot associated with S. himantioides is observed in Chamaecyparis pisifera and Abies sachalinensis. Previous studies have shown that S. himantioides includes five phylogenetically defined cryptic lineages, but the placement of Japanese isolates remains unclear. To clarify the phylogenetic relationship between Japanese S. himantioides and the five known lineages, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis using three newly collected Japanese isolates along with 74 S. himantioides isolates, based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, the 28 S large subunit (LSU) rDNA, the beta-tubulin (tub) gene, and the heat stress protein (hsp) gene. The concatenated phylogenetic tree showed that Japanese isolates composed a clade with a high bootstrap value distinct from the known lineages, indicating the Japanese isolates present a new cryptic lineage of S. himantioides.     

Lymphoproliferative responses in pigs infected with Mycobacterium avium

Naturally infected cases of swine mycobacteriosis were divided into two groups, localized infection (LI) and disseminated infection (DI). Lymphoproliferative response (LPR) was then examined to estimate their immunological states. Both control and LI groups showed strong response to Concanavalin A (Con A) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in the LPR, and lymphocytes recovered from the LI responded well to purified protein derived from M. avium (PPD). On the other hand, the DI group showed weak response to both Con A and PHA, despite their strong response to PPD stimulation. These data suggest that the low LPR to Con A and PHA observed in the DI groups was probably not due to the general unresponsiveness of T-cells.     

Experimental study on the removal of dioxins and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) from fish oil

Recently, it has been found that fish oils contain a high proportion of contaminants, namely, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (cPCBs). In this study, the removal of contaminants from fish oil by supercritical CO2 extraction (SCE) and by using adsorbents (0.13 wt % of oil) was investigated. Dioxins and cPCBs were extracted from fish oil by SCE at a temperature of 60 degrees C and a pressure of 28 MPa, and the removal efficiencies for PCDDs and PCDFs were in the range of 15-90% and those for cPCBs were in the range of 70-90%. However, 40% of the oil was extracted simultaneously with contaminants. On the adsorbent treatment, activated carbon showed high efficiency, and the removal efficiencies were >90% for PCDDs and PCDFs, but below 30% for cPCBs. A combination of both of these methods is more effective, and almost 100% of the total toxicity equivalence quantity value could be reduced.