Low-Density Particleboards Modified with Expanded and Unexpanded Fillers—Characteristics and Properties

Reducing the density of wood-based materials is a desirable research direction in the development of the wood-based materials sector. Even though lightweight wooden particleboards have been commercially available for many years, they still have a number of disadvantages, especially their low strength parameters. The aim of this paper was to determine the possibility of producing particleboards of reduced density for use in the furniture industry, as a result of using expanded polystyrene and two types of microspheres (expanded and unexpanded) to modify the core layer of three-layer particleboards. Analysis of the results of testing the particleboards’ properties when using various types of modifiers (expanded and unexpanded fillers), urea formaldehyde (UF) glue content (high: 10%/12% and low: 8%/10%), various glue-dosing methods, and different particle sizes, allows us to conclude that the most satisfactory effect was found when using EPS. One partly positive effect was observed when using the Expancel-type 031 DU 40 as a filler; therefore, it is recommended that research be continued in this area. Using microspheres that have not been used before as a filler in the production of wood-based panels is the novelty of the presented research. The proposed technology has potential for application in the industry

Killer Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor 2DS2 (KIR2DS2), KIR2DL2-HLA-C1, and KIR2DL3 as Genetic Markers for Stratifying the Risk of Cytomegalovirus Infection in Kidney Transplant Recipients

Infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) remains a major problem in kidney transplant recipients, resulting in serious infectious complications and occasionally mortality. Accumulating evidence indicates that natural killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and their ligands affect the susceptibility to various diseases, including viral infections (e.g., CMV infection). We investigated whether KIR genes and their ligands affect the occurrence of CMV infection in a group of 138 kidney transplant recipients who were observed for 720 days posttransplantation. We typed the recipients for the presence of KIR genes (human leukocyte antigen C1 [HLA-C1], HLA-C2, HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DR1) by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers. The multivariate analysis revealed that the lack of KIR2DS2 (p = 0.035), the presence of KIR2DL3 (p = 0.075), and the presence of KIR2DL2⁻HLA-C1 (p = 0.044) were risk factors for posttransplant CMV infection. We also found that a lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (p = 0.036), an earlier time of antiviral prophylaxis initiation (p = 0.025), lymphocytopenia (p = 0.012), and pretransplant serostatus (donor-positive/recipient-negative; p = 0.042) were independent risk factors for posttransplant CMV infection. In conclusion, our findings confirm that the KIR/HLA genotype plays a significant role in anti-CMV immunity and suggest the contribution of both environmental and genetic factors to the incidence of CMV infection after kidney transplantation