Quantification of resin efficiency in wood composite panels

Efficient usage of resin is of critical importance to industry in the manufacture of wood composite panels, because resin represents a significant proportion of product costs. However, resin efficiency is poorly defined in literature, making it difficult to compare manufacturing processes in quantifiable terms. Additionally, resin content in the product is often confused with resin input in the process. Developing a method to quantify resin efficiency would provide industry a quality control tool which help to minimize resin usage. The ultimate objective of this project was to develop a set of tools and guidelines by which board manufacturers could assess resin usage in product, and make specific recommendations to improve resin efficiency in PB and MDF manufacture. To further this objective, the following tasks were identified: First, determine a metric by which resin efficiency could be quantified. Second, survey industry to identify resin systems used in the manufacture of particleboard, as well as partners to collect samples of resinated furnishes and boards for analysis in this project. Third, identify a methodology by which resin content and distribution could be quantified in both resinated furnish and finished product. Finally, apply this methodology to collected samples, and correlate this resin content and distribution with board performance. For this project, a quantifiable metric for resin efficiency was proposed as the product of two terms, a metric for board performance and a metric for resin usage. The metric for board performance was further defined for particleboard and fiberboard as the ratio of measured internal bond strength to the tensile strength perpendicular to the grain of the species of wood used, modified by the compaction ratio of the finished board. A survey of industry was performed to identify resin systems used in the manufacture of particleboard and fiberboard and to obtain particleboard and fiberboard samples for analysis in this project. Sixty-three plants in the United States and Canada were contacted. However, only 19 plants completed the survey and only 3 provided usable sample sets (2 particleboard, 1 fiberboard) of furnish and furnished panels. A method was developed by which actual resin coverage could be quantified in product without modification to the manufacture process. This method was applied to the 3 industry sample sets and 3 sets of laboratory samples that were prepared for comparison. All furnish samples were stained using Toluidine Blue O, which allows urea-formaldehyde and pMDI resins to be distinguished from wood under fluorescent illumination. A total of 450 micrographs (75 per sample) were taken of the industrial and laboratory samples. A semi-automatic image analysis program was written to quantify resin and wood coverage in each image obtained. A review of prior literature led to the expectation that resin coverage would be correlated to actual resin content in the product. However, an analysis of the micrographs of the industry samples showed the industry samples to have lower resin coverage than expected. There was also no clear trend correlating resin coverage to resin content in the laboratory samples. Based on the results of this work it was determined that the staining process of the methodology by which resin content and resin coverage were quantified was inadequate for calculating resin efficiency as proposed. Improvements to this methodology were identified and suggested for future work. The proposed definition of resin efficiency also shows a strong dependency on the board performance metric, which may be modified in future work. Resin efficiency and resin coverage were found to be greater in the laboratory samples than the industrial samples. In conclusion, this paper proposes a new metric for resin efficiency which allows resin efficiency to be quantitatively compared for different manufacturing processes and parameters. The staining process used in this paper has been shown to be capable of detecting UF and pMDI resins and quantifying resin coverage without modification to the manufacturing process. These could be used by industry as a quality control tool to minimize resin usage and decrease product costs

Studies on the Cobalt Deficiency in Ruminants (III) : Effects of Thiamine, Glucose and Cobalamin Injection on the Metabolism of Cobalt-deficient Sheep

International audienceN-terminal acetylation is a common protein modification in eukaryotes associated with numerous cellular processes. Inherited mutations in NAA10, encoding the catalytic subunit of the major N-terminal acetylation complex NatA have been associated with diverse, syndromic X-linked recessive disorders, whereas de novo missense mutations have been reported in one male and one female individual with severe intellectual disability but otherwise unspecific phenotypes. Thus, the full genetic and clinical spectrum of NAA10 deficiency is yet to be delineated. We identified three different novel and one known missense mutation in NAA10, de novo in 11 females, and due to maternal germ line mosaicism in another girl and her more severely affected and deceased brother. In vitro enzymatic assays for the novel, recurrent mutations p.(Arg83Cys) and p.(Phe128Leu) revealed reduced catalytic activity. X-inactivation was random in five females. The core phenotype of X-linked NAA10-related N-terminal-acetyltransferase deficiency in both males and females includes developmental delay, severe intellectual disability, postnatal growth failure with severe microcephaly, and skeletal or cardiac anomalies. Genotype–phenotype correlations within and between both genders are complex and may include various factors such as location and nature of mutations, enzymatic stability and activity, and X-inactivation in females

Standardised Chinese herbal treatment delivered by GPs compared with individualised treatment administered by practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine for women with recurrent urinary tract infections (RUTI): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundIn the UK urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the commonest bacterial infection presented by women within primary care. Recurrent urinary tract infections (RUTIs) are defined as three episodes of UTI in the last 12 months, or two episodes in the last 6 months. Between 20-30% of women who have had one episode of UTI will have a RUTI, around 25% of these will develop subsequent recurrent episodes. RUTIs can have a significant negative effect on quality of life, and have a high impact on health care costs as a result of outpatient visits, diagnostic tests and prescriptions. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has a recorded history of treating the symptoms of UTIs for over 2000 years. More recent clinical research in China has provided some preliminary evidence that CHM can alleviate the symptoms of UTIs and reduce the rate of recurrence but more rigorous investigation is required.Methods/designThe RUTI trial is a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled feasibility trial. A total of 80 women will be randomised to ‘individualised’ herbs prescribed by Chinese herbal practitioner, or to ‘standardised’ herbs provided by Primary care clinicians. Both arms will have herbs for prevention of UTIs and treatment of acute episodes. Treatment duration is for 16 weeks.The primary outcomes are the number of episodes of recurrent UTIs during the trial period and after 6 months follow up, and the number of days of symptoms rated moderately bad or worse based on patient diaries. Secondary outcomes will assess participant expectations and beliefs, adherence to the treatment, adverse events, health economics, and provide quantitative and qualitative assessments of the impact of recurrent infections on the lives of women.DiscussionThe RUTI trial is the first instance of CHM delivered as a Clinical Trial of an Investigatory Medicinal Product in the UK. This study provides important information regarding the feasibility and acceptability of researching and using CHM in Primary care. Once completed it will provide provisional estimates of the variance of change in continuous outcomes to inform a power calculation for a larger, more definitive trial. Trial registration: EudraCT number 2013-004657-24 Registered 5th September 2014.NHS ethics ref: 14/LO/1425<br/

A mitochondrial electron transport chain with atypical subunit composition confers oxygen sensitivity to a mammalian chemoreceptor

The carotid body (CB) is the major chemoreceptor for blood oxygen in the control of ventilation in mammals, contributing to physiological adaptation to high altitude, pregnancy, and exercise, and its hyperactivity is linked to chronic conditions such as sleep-disorder breathing, hypertension, chronic heart failure, airway constriction, and metabolic syndrome. Upon acute hypoxia (PO2=100 mmHg to <80 mmHg), K+ channels on CB glomus cells are inhibited, causing membrane depolarization to trigger Ca+2 influx and neurotransmitter release that stimulates afferent nerves. A longstanding model proposes that the CB senses hypoxia through atypical mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) metabolism that is more sensitive to decreases in oxygen than other tissues. This model is supported by observations that ETC inhibition by pharmacology and gene knockout activates CB sensory activity and that smaller decreases in oxygen concentration inhibit ETC activity in CB cells compared to other cells. Determining the composition of atypical ETC subunits in the CB and their specific activities is essential to delineate molecular mechanisms underlying the mitochondrial hypothesis of oxygen sensing. Here, we identify HIGD1C, a novel hypoxia inducible gene domain factor isoform, as an ETC Complex IV (CIV) protein highly and selectively expressed in glomus cells that mediates acute oxygen sensing by the CB. We demonstrate that HIGD1C negatively regulates oxygen consumption by CIV and acts with the hypoxia-induced CIV subunit COX4I2 to enhance the sensitivity of CIV to hypoxia, constituting an important component of mitochondrial oxygen sensing in the CB. Determining how HIGD1C and other atypical CIV proteins expressed in the CB work together to confer exquisite oxygen sensing to the ETC will help us better understand how tissue- and condition-specific CIV subunits contribute to physiological function and disease and allow us to potentially target these proteins to treat chronic diseases characterized by CB dysfunction. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest

Tissue-specific mitochondrial HIGD1C promotes oxygen sensitivity in carotid body chemoreceptors.

Mammalian carotid body arterial chemoreceptors function as an early warning system for hypoxia, triggering acute life-saving arousal and cardiorespiratory reflexes. To serve this role, carotid body glomus cells are highly sensitive to decreases in oxygen availability. While the mitochondria and plasma membrane signaling proteins have been implicated in oxygen sensing by glomus cells, the mechanism underlying their mitochondrial sensitivity to hypoxia compared to other cells is unknown. Here, we identify HIGD1C, a novel hypoxia-inducible gene domain factor isoform, as an electron transport chain complex IV-interacting protein that is almost exclusively expressed in the carotid body and is therefore not generally necessary for mitochondrial function. Importantly, HIGD1C is required for carotid body oxygen sensing and enhances complex IV sensitivity to hypoxia. Thus, we propose that HIGD1C promotes exquisite oxygen sensing by the carotid body, illustrating how specialized mitochondria can be used as sentinels of metabolic stress to elicit essential adaptive behaviors

Optical properties and thermal durability of copper cobalt oxide thin film coatings with integrated silica antireflection layer

Copper cobalt oxide (Cu2CoO3) thin film coatings integrated with silica (SiO2) antireflection (AR) layer have been deposited on the top of aluminum substrates using a simple sol-gel dip-coating method. Reflectance spectra of the coatings were generated using spectroscopic methods while the coatings were subjected to an accelerated thermal durability test. The addition of silica changed the reflectance spectra of coatings within the wavelength range of 0.3–15.4 µm. The absorptance decreased with the increase of the withdrawal rate in range of 10–40 mm/min, while the emittance increased with the increase of the withdrawal rate. The optimum optical parameters for this study were absorptance, αS=84.96%; emittance, εT=5.63% corresponding to the coating with a silica AR layer at withdrawal rate of 10 mm/min. The coatings with the silica AR layer were shown to be thermally durable in which no discernible ‘cracking’ phenomenon was observed. The degradation of the coatings with the silica AR layer was predominantly governed by temperature changes rather than exposure time