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Hemp hurd fiber, a low-value waste stream from the hemp industry, has potential downstream applications as an alternative to non-renewable plastics for single-use food service ware and packaging applications. Packaging paper substrates made from chemically pulped hemp hurd, mixed in varying ratios with bleached thermomechanical radiata pine pulp were developed and tested. Handsheets were characterized using several mechanical property tests including tensile strength, tearing resistance, burst strength, short-span compression, ring crush, together with Gurley air resistance, contact angle, and Cobb60 tests. Generally, addition of hemp hurd fibers significantly improved handsheet mechanical properties. Hot-pressing of the handsheets so as to approximate molded fiber thermoforming further enhanced their performance, with pure hemp hurd handsheets having the highest mechanical properties and barrier performance. A prototype was successfully thermoformed from hemp fiber, demonstrating overall feasibility of this fibre source for molded fibre objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction of macrophages with apoptotic cells involves multiple steps including recognition, tethering, phagocytosis, and anti-inflammatory macrophage responses. Defective apoptotic cell clearance is associated with pathogenesis of autoimmune disease. CD14 is a surface receptor that functions in vitro in the removal of apoptotic cells by human and murine macrophages, but its mechanism of action has not been defined. Here, we demonstrate that CD1 4 functions as a macrophage tethering receptor for apoptotic cells. Significantly, CD14F macrophages in vivo are defective in clearing apoptotic cells in multiple tissues, suggesting a broad role for CDI 4 in the clearance process. However, the resultant persistence of apoptotic cells does not lead to inflammation or increased autoantibody production, most likely because, as we show, CD14-/- macrophages retain the ability to generate anti-inflammatory signals in response to apoptotic cells. We conclude that CD14 plays a broad tethering role in apoptotic cell clearance in vivo and that apoptotic cells can persist in the absence of proinflammatory con sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]