Compression-molded products based on wet ball-milled wood and effect of various preparation conditions

This study prepared compression-molded products from ball-milled wood by thermally plasticizing lignin without adhesives or resins. Wet ball milling for 120 min produced smooth, creamy slurries. The resultant products were hot-pressed at 180 °C and exhibited a plastic-like glossy surface and a high Young’s modulus (7.9 GPa), which was attributed to an increased bonding area. However, hydrogen bond formation occurs more predominantly during wood molding than thermoplasticization of lignin, because a hydrophilic surface was formed on wood fragments after wet ball milling in water. In contrast, when wood powder was ball-milled in toluene, drying aggregation due to hydrogen bond formation hardly occurred probably because the hydrophobic regions were preferentially cleaved. In this case, the hot-pressed product at 180 °C was formed mostly through the bonding owing to the thermoplasticization of lignin. These results suggest that the choice of the solvent for the mechanical disintegration of wood allows for control of the wood fragment surface and can affect the properties of the molded products.

Discharging sinus from the eyelid following accidental impaction of wood fragment

Injury to the eyelid is one of the most common emergencies at eye hospitals. Injuries to the eye and its surrounding tissues may result from several types of foreign bodies. The injured eye must be carefully and gently examined to prevent missed injuries and to avoid putting pressure on the globe, which might cause prolapse of intraocular contents. We report an unsightly upper eyelid discharging sinus with wood fragment impaction that was incompletely removed by the first attending physician for a period of eleven months. The wood fragments were carefully and completely removed under local anaesthesia, and debridement and dressing of the wound were done by an ophthalmic plastic surgeon when the patient was eventually referred to the tertiary institution. The need to include basic eye care courses in continued medical education for all general practitioners is advocated to reduce resultant ocular morbidity from such ocular injuries. This will aid this group of physicians in decision-making while providing care to patients with eye injuries.

Late Miocene wood recovered in Bengal–Nicobar submarine fan sediments by IODP Expedition 362

Drilling and coring during IODP Expedition 362 in the eastern Indian Ocean encountered probably the largest wood fragment ever recovered in scientific ocean drilling. The wood is Late Miocene in age and buried beneath ∼800 m of siliciclastic mud and sand of the Bengal–Nicobar Fan. The wood is well preserved. Possible origins include the hinterland to the north, with sediment transported as part of the submarine fan sedimentary processes, or the Sunda subduction zone to the east, potentially as a megathrust tsunami deposit.

New geochemical data on fossil wood from the Albian of the Dolomites (Southern Alps, Italy)

Information is provided about organic-matter bearing sediments and fossil drift-wood from the Puez area (Col de Puez, Southern Alps) near Wolkenstein (S. Tyrol, Italy). The locality is located on the Trento Plateau which represents a submarine high during the Lower Cretaceous. Its terpenoid hydrocarbon composition indicates that the wood fragment derived from a conifer belonging to the family Podocarpaceae or Araucariaceae. Intense degradation of OM argues for lengthier drifting. Long-term drifting is also indicated by the infestation of the bivalve Teredo (“shipworm”). The finding of a fossil tree trunk sheds some light on the early Lower Cretaceous tectonic history of the Trento Plateau and the Dolomites.

Finding of a Holocene marine layer in Algarrobo (33°22'S), central Chile. Implications for coastal uplift

A buried Holocene marine bed was discovered upon drilling a water well in Algarrobo (33°22'S), located on the coast of central Chile. Radiocarbon dating of a wood fragment found within the deposit indicates an age of 6450 cal yr BP. The top of this bed, 0.25 m-thick, was reached at an elevation of 3.8 m above mean sea level. This bed contains abundant monospecific faunas of foraminifers (Ammonia tepida) and ostracodes (Cyprideis beaconensis), indicative of deposition in a very shallow, transitional marine environment. Palynologic analysis reveals a Chenopodiaceae-dominated (~70%) assemblage, indicating a relatively arid and warm climate.

Contramolde medular em conexão orgânica com fragmento lenhoso de Retemedulloxylon da Formação Rio Bonito (Eopermiano da Bacia do Paraná), Santa Catarina, Brasil

This work records the occurrence of a pith cast connected with wood fragment in a fossil assemblage proceeding from Pouso Redondo County, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, in sediments from the Rio Bonito Formation, Eopermian of the Paraná Basin. The pith cast, cylindrical, is highly siliceous and unprovided of diagnosis impressions and tissular vestiges. The fragment, which has a half-cylindrical shape and a concavity along the longitudinal axis, is devoid of primary xylem and reveals a secondary xylem with few defined axial and radial systems. The anatomic characteristics of the secondary wood body indicate taxonomic affinity of the fossil wood with the most representative genus in the assemblage, increasing the establishing of relationships between the pith casts and the gondwanic taxa describe until the present, and suggest that the occurrence of these pith casts in the gondwanic sediments is probably because of environmental influences.