Construction and mechanism analysis of flame-retardant, energy-storage and transparent bio-based composites based on natural cellulose template.

With the proposal of sustainable development strategy, bio-based energy storage transparent wood (TW) has shown broad application value in green buildings, cold chain transportation, and optoelectronic device fields. However, its application in most fields is limited due to its own flammability. In this study, epoxy resin, triethyl phosphate (TEP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were introduced into delignified balsa wood template by vacuum pressure impregnation, and bio-based TW/PEG/TEP integrating flame retardant, high strength and phase-change energy-storage performance was prepared. TW/PEG composites have no leakage during phase change process and their transparency is up to 95 %. Compared with TW/PEG, the shielding effect of char layer and the inhibition effect in condensed and gas phase significantly decrease the total heat release of TW/PEG/TEP. TW/PEG/TEP biocomposites still maintained a high enthalpy of phase change and a low peak melting temperature, which was conducive to its application around the area of low temperature phase change energy storage. In addition, the tensile strength of TW/PEG/TEP was nearly 4 times higher than that of DW, and its toughness was obviously enhanced. TW/PEG/TEP biocomposites conformed to the current concept of energy-saving and green development. It has the potential to replace traditional petrochemical-based materials and shows excellent application prospects in emerging fields.

OGG1 prevents atherosclerosis-induced vascular endothelial cell injury through mediating DNA damage repair.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to investigate the role of 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (OGG1) in preventing atherosclerosis-induced vascular EC injury, thereby providing a theoretical basis for the exploration of drug targets and treatment methods for atherosclerosis. METHODS: Human umbilical vein cell line (EA.hy926) was treated with ox-LDL to construct an in vitro atherosclerotic cell model. pcDNA3.1-OGG1 was transfected into EA.hy926 cells to overexpress OGG1. qRT-PCR, CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, oil red O staining, ELISA, comet assay and western blot were used to evaluate the OGG1 expression, viability, apoptosis level, lipid droplet content, 8-OHdG level and DNA damage of cells in each group. RESULTS: Compared with the Control group, ox-LDL stimulation of endothelial cells significantly decreased cell viability, promoted apoptosis and DNA damage, and increased intracellular levels of 8-OHdG and γH2AX, while decreasing protein levels of PPARγ, FASN, FABP4, RAD51 and POLB. However, overexpression of OGG1 can significantly inhibit ox-LDL damage to endothelial cells, promote lipid metabolism, decrease lipid droplet content, and improve DNA repair function. CONCLUSION: Over-expression of OGG1 improves DNA repair. Briefly, OGG1 over-expression enhances the DNA damage repair of ECs by regulating the expression levels of γH2AX, RAD51 and POLB, thereby enhancing cell viability and reducing apoptosis.

An Integrated Multi-Functional Thermal Conductive and Flame Retardant Epoxy Composite with Functionalized Carbon Nitride Nanosheets.

In miniaturized and integrated electronic devices, thermal potential and fire hazards caused by heat diffusion require an efficient thermal management system with versatile electronic packaging equipment. The flame retardancy was endowed on the surface of carbon nitride after thermal etching (CNNS) containing piperazine pyrophosphate (PPAP) by hydrogen bonding, and the obtained nanosheet was defined as PPAP-CNNS. During solution blending and program-controlled curing, PPAP-CNNS was used as a multifunctional filler to fabricate highly thermoconductive and fire retardant epoxy resin (EP) composites. In line with expectations, the resultant EP composites containing 7 wt% PPAP-CNNS had an exceptional thermal conductivity (TC) of 1.1 W·m-1K-1, which was 4.8 times higher than pure EP. Simultaneously, there was a sharp drop in the heat release rate (HRR), total heat release (THR), smoke production rate (SPR), and total smoke production (TSP) compared to pure EP. These reductions were, respectively, 63.7%, 54.2%, 17.9%, and 57.2%. The addition of PPAP-CNNS increased the specific surface area, which increased the heat conduction routes, and also the shape of the compact and solid char layer during burning, protecting the underlying polymer. These improvements to dispersion and surface functionalization were made possible by the compound. These results indicate that the preparation of integrated multi-functional resin described in this study has a wide application.

A systematic review and meta-analysis on sex disparities in the outcomes of fenestrated branched endovascular aortic aneurysm repair.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the risk of mortality and complications between male and female patients undergoing aortic aneurysm repair with fenestrated-branched endovascular aortic repair (FBEVAR). METHODS: The PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases were searched systematically for observational studies in patients undergoing elective fenestrated branched endovascular repair for aortic aneurysm. The included studies compared outcomes of interest based on the sex of the patients. The pooled effect sizes were reported as odds ratio (OR) and weighted mean difference (WMD). STATA software was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The meta-analysis included nine studies. Compared with males, females had a higher risk of perioperative and in-hospital mortality (OR, 3.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.01-4.53), mortality within 1 year postoperatively (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.09-2.93) and mortality at more than 1 year postoperatively (OR, 1.31l 95% CI, 1.02-1.69). Female patients had significantly higher operative time (minutes) (WMD, 33.77; 95% CI, 12.01-55.52), length of hospital stay (days) (WMD, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.52-3.07), and the risk of major complications (OR, 2.93; 95% CI, 1.36-6.32) There was an increased risk of respiratory complications (OR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.20-2.40), renal complications (OR, 2.68; 95% CI, 1.25-5.74), stroke (OR, 2.74; 95% CI, 1.44-5.22), sepsis (OR, 2.24; 95% CI, 1.23-4.09), and ischemic colitis (OR, 2.63; 95% CI, 1.48-4.68) in female patients, and they were less likely to be discharged home postoperatively (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.43-0.77). CONCLUSIONS: In patients undergoing FBEVAR, female sex is associated with higher risk of mortality and complications. These findings suggest the need for careful supervision and management by multidisciplinary team in females undergoing FBEVAR.

Effect of the timing of iliac vein stent implantation on catheter-directed thrombolysis in acute lower extremity deep venous thrombosis patients with severe iliac vein stenosis: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of the timing of iliac vein stent implantation on catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) in acute lower extremity deep venous thrombosis (DVT) patients with severe iliac vein stenosis. METHODS: The clinical data of 66 patients with acute lower extremity DVT complicated with severe iliac vein stenosis from May 2017 to May 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups by timing of iliac vein stent implantation: group A (iliac vein stent implantation before CDT treatment) for 34 and group B (iliac vein stent implantation after CDT treatment) for 32. The detumescence rate of affected limb, the thrombus clearance rate, the thrombolytic efficiency, the complication rate, the hospitalization cost, the stent patency rate within 1 year, and the scores (venous clinical severity score, Villalta, and chronic venous insufficiency questionnaire (CIVIQ) score) at 1 year postoperatively were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The thrombolytic efficiency of group A was higher than that of group B, while the incidence of complications and hospitalization expenses in group A were lower than those in group B. There was no statistical significance in the detumescence rate of affected limb, the thrombus clearance rate, the stent patency rate within 1 year, and the scores (VCSS, Villalta, and CIVIQ score) at 1 year postoperatively between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: For acute lower extremity DVT patients with severe iliac vein stenosis, iliac vein stent implantation before CDT treatment can improve the thrombolytic efficiency, and reduce the incidence of complications and hospitalization costs.

Waterwheel-inspired high-performance hybrid electromagnetic-triboelectric nanogenerators based on fluid pipeline energy harvesting for power supply systems and data monitoring.

In this work, a self-powered system based on a triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid pipeline energy harvesting module is demonstrated. Rabbit fur and poly tetra fluoroethylene (PTFE) are used as triboelectric electrodes to fabricate disk-type soft-contact triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) instead of traditional direct-contact TENGs to collect the mechanical energy of water flow and convert it into electrical energy. This design has a stable electrical output and gives an improved durability. Its simple fabrication process enables excellent potential for practical applications in industry. In addition, the hybridization of electromagnetic generator module and TENGs module to form a triboelectric-electromagnetic hybrid nanogenerator (TEHNG) can improve the electrical output performance, especially the current output. TEHNG cannot only power small electronic devices, such as lighting systems, but also collect independent fluid energy and monitor data signals simultaneously in harsh environments, such as fluid energy harvesting in industrial production pipelines and temperature and humidity in fluid environments. This work provides an efficient strategy to harvest multiple energies simultaneously, significantly increasing the yield and promoting the application of TENGs in engineering.

Biomimetic Nanoarchitectonics of Hollow Mesoporous Copper Oxide-Based Nanozymes with Cascade Catalytic Reaction for Near Infrared-II Reinforced Photothermal-Catalytic Therapy.

Biomimetic nanozyme with natural enzyme-like activities has drawn extensive attention in cancer therapy, while its application was hindered by the limited catalytic efficacy in the complicated tumor microenvironment (TME). Herein, a hybrid biomimetic nanozyme combines polydopamine-decorated CuO with a natural enzyme of glucose oxidase (GOD), among which CuO is endowed with a high loading rate (47.1%) of GOD due to the elaborately designed hollow mesoporous structure that is constructed to maximize the cascade catalytic efficacy. In the TME, CuO could catalyze endogenous H2O2 into O2 for relieving tumor hypoxia and improving the catalytic efficacy of GOD. Whereafter, the amplified glucose oxidation induces starvation therapy, and the generated H2O2 and H+ enhance the catalytic activity of CuO. Significantly, the tumor-specific chemodynamic therapy (CDT) could be realized when CuO degraded into Cu2+ in acidic and reductive TME. Furthermore, the photothermal therapy with high photothermal conversion efficiency (30.2%) is achieved under NIR-II laser (1064 nm) excitation, which could reinforce the generation of reactive oxygen species (•OH and •O2-). The TME initiates the biochemical reaction cycle of CuO, O2, and GOD, which couples with an NIR-II-induced thermal effect to realize O2-promoted starvation and photothermal-chemodynamic combined therapy. This hybrid biomimetic nanozyme enlightens the further development of nanozymes in multimodal cancer therapy.

Identification and validation of differentially expressed chromatin regulators for diagnosis of aortic dissection using integrated bioinformatics analysis and machine-learning algorithms.

Background: Aortic dissection (AD) is a life-threatening disease. Chromatin regulators (CRs) are indispensable epigenetic regulators. We aimed to identify differentially expressed chromatin regulators (DECRs) for AD diagnosis. Methods: We downloaded the GSE52093 and GSE190635 datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Following the merging and processing of datasets, bioinformatics analysis was applied to select candidate DECRs for AD diagnosis: CRs exertion; DECR identification using the "Limma" package; analyses of enrichment of function and signaling pathways; construction of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks; application of machine-learning algorithms; evaluation of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. GSE98770 served as the validation dataset to filter DECRs. Moreover, we collected peripheral-blood samples to further validate expression of DECRs by real-time reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Finally, a nomogram was built for clinical use. Results: A total of 841 CRs were extracted from the merged dataset. Analyses of functional enrichment of 23 DECRs identified using Limma showed that DECRs were enriched mainly in epigenetic-regulation processes. From the PPI network, 17 DECRs were selected as node DECRs. After machine-learning calculations, eight DECRs were chosen from the intersection of 13 DECRs identified using support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) and the top-10 DECRs selected using random forest. DECR expression between the control group and AD group were considerably different. Moreover, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of each DECR was >0.75, and four DECRs (tumor protein 53 (TP53), chromobox protein homolog 7 (CBX7), Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5)) were selected as candidate biomarkers after validation using the external dataset and clinical samples. Furthermore, a nomogram with robust diagnostic value was established (AUC = 0.960). Conclusion: TP53, CBX7, JAK2, and CDK5 might serve as diagnostic DECRs for AD diagnosis. These DECRs were enriched predominantly in regulating epigenetic processes.

LncRNA RUSC1-AS1 contributes to the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by modulating miR-340-5p/CREB1 axis.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have proven that there is a relationship between long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and malignant tumor hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the function of RUSC1-AS1 and its relative regulators in HCC remains unknown. METHODS: In vitro studies, CCK-8 assays, colony formation assays, transwell assays, and wound healing tests were carried out to evaluate the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells. The correlation between RUSC1-AS1 expression with tumor size or weight was studied in nude mice. Bioinformatics analysis, dual luciferase, quantitative Real-Time PCR (qRT-PCR), and Western blot analysis aimed to discover the relevance between miR-340-5p and RUSC1-AS1 or cAMP responsive element binding protein 1 (CREB1). RESULTS: When compared with normal groups, RUSC1-AS1 expression in HCC tissues and HCC cell lines was higher. We also found that knockdown of RUSC1-AS1 inhibited HCC cell progression, including proliferation, migration, and invasion, and suppressed tumorigenesis in vivo. Further studies demonstrated that the expression of RUSC1-AS1 negatively correlated with miR-340-5p expression in HCC cells. In addition, miR-340-5p was identified as a direct target of RUSC1-AS1 and tightly associated with the prevention of tumor progression. Moreover, miR-340-5p bound directly to CREB1. CREB1 overexpression reversed the impact of miR-340-5p on HCC cells. Together, lncRNA RUSC1-AS1 plays a regulatory role in the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in HCC cells. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that lncRNA RUSC1-AS1 influenced HCC cell progression by modulating its downstream target miR-340-5p/CREB1 axis via the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, which may be a potential prognostic and therapeutic target for treating HCC.

LncRNA BACE1-AS enhances the invasive and metastatic capacity of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through mediating miR-377-3p/CELF1 axis.

AIMS: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant cancer that threatened human life seriously. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) BACE1-AS has been reported as a key regulator in tumorigenesis. Yet the specific correlation between BACE1-AS and HCC still needs further investigation. The primary purpose of our study is to reveal the exact correlation between BACE1-AS and HCC. MAIN METHODS: Bioinformatics via TCGA database revealed BACE1-AS closely related with HCC. qRT-PCR confirmed the abnormal BACE1-AS level in HCC tissues and cells. Databases prediction suggested that miR-377-3p might be a modulatory target of BACE1-AS and luciferase assay confirmed this hypothesis. Further study discovered that CELF1 also partook in the regulatory axis of BACE1-AS/miR-377-3p. Wound healing assays and transwell assays were utilized to investigate the impact of BACE1-AS, miR-377-3p and CELF1 in vitro. In vivo metastasis was examined by pulmonary metastasis model. KEY FINDINGS: This study found that BACE1-AS was overexpressed in HCC tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of BACE1-AS could restrain HCC progression in vitro, and inhibit pulmonary metastasis in vivo. MiR-377-3p was negatively modulated by BACE1-AS in HCC tumor tissues and cells. MiR-377-3p up-regulation inhibited HCC cells migration and invasion via inactivating EMT process. Moreover, CELF1 was identified as a downstream regulator of miR-377-3p and served as an oncogene in HCC cells. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings supported that lncRNA BACE1-AS was up-regulated in HCC, promoting invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by modulating miR-377-3p/CELF1 axis via contributing to EMT pathway. BACE1-AS could be a potential biomarker in HCC for future treatment.

Highly Efficient Composite Flame Retardants for Improving the Flame Retardancy, Thermal Stability, Smoke Suppression, and Mechanical Properties of EVA.

Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer has been used extensively in many fields. However, EVA is flammable and releases CO gas during burning. In this work, a composite flame retardant with ammonium polyphosphate (APP), a charring-foaming agent (CFA), and a layered double hydroxide (LDH) containing rare-earth elements (REEs) was obtained and used to improve the flame retardancy, thermal stability, and smoke suppression for an EVA matrix. The thermal analysis showed that the maximum thermal degradation temperature of all composites increased by more than 37 °C compared with that of pure EVA. S-LaMgAl/APP/CFA/EVA, S-CeMgAl/APP/CFA/EVA, and S-NdMgAl/APP/CFA/EVA could achieve self-extinguishing behavior according to the UL-94 tests (V-0 rating). The peak heat release rate (pk-HRR) indicated that all LDHs containing REEs obviously reduced the fire strength in comparison with S-MgAl. In particular, pk-HRR of S-LaMgAl/APP/CFA/EVA, S-CeMgAl/APP/CFA/EVA and S-NdMgAl/APP/CFA/EVA were all decreased by more than 82% in comparison with pure EVA. Furthermore, the total heat release (THR), smoke production rate (SPR), and production rate of CO (COP) also decreased significantly. The average mass loss rate (AMLR) confirmed that the flame retardant exerted an effect in the condensed phase of the composites. Meanwhile, the combination of APP, CFA, and LDH containing REEs allowed the EVA matrix to maintain good mechanical properties.

Safety of laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer in patients with liver cirrhosis: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with liver cirrhosis represent a high risk group for colorectal surgery. The safety and effectiveness of laparoscopy in colorectal surgery for cirrhotic patients is not clear. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of laparoscopic colorectal surgery with those of open procedure for colorectal cancer in patients with liver cirrhosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 62 patients with cirrhosis who underwent radical resections for colorectal cancer from 2005 to 2014 were identified retrospectively from a prospective database according to the technique adopted (laparoscopic or open). Short- and long-term outcomes were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Comparison of laparoscopic group and open group revealed no significant differences at baseline. In the laparoscopic group, the laparoscopic surgery was associated with reduced estimated blood loss (136 vs. 266 ml, p = 0.015), faster first flatus (3 vs. 4 days, p = 0.002) and shorter days to first oral intake (4 vs. 5 days, p = 0.033), but similar operative times (p = 0.856), number of retrieved lymph nodes (p = 0.400) or postoperative hospital stays (p = 0.170). Despite the similar incidence of overall complications between the two groups (50.0% vs. 68.8%, p = 0.133), we observed lower morbidities in laparoscopic group in terms of the rate of Grade II complication (20.0% vs. 50.0%, p = 0.014). Long-term of overall and Disease-free survival rates did not differ between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic colorectal surgery appears to be a safe and less invasive alternative to open surgery in some elective cirrhotic patients in terms of less blood loss or early recovery and does not result in additional harm in terms of the postoperative complications or long-term oncological outcomes.

Synthesis of a Novel Phosphorus-Containing Flame Retardant Curing Agent and Its Application in Epoxy Resins.

A novel phosphorus-containing compound diphenyl-(2,5-dihydroxyphenyl)-phosphine oxide defined as DPDHPPO was synthesized and used as flame retardant and curing agent for epoxy resins (EP). The chemical structure was well characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, 1H, 13C and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance. The flame retardant properties, combusting performances and thermal degradation behaviors of the cured epoxy resins were investigated by limiting oxygen index (LOI), vertical burning tests (UL-94), cone calorimeter and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) tests. The morphologies and chemical compositions of char residues for cured epoxy resins were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The water resistant properties were evaluated by putting the samples into distilled water at 70 degrees C for 168 h. The results revealed that the EP/40 wt% DPDHPPO/60 wt% PDA thermosets successfully passed UL-94 V-0 flammability rating and the LOI value was as high as 31.9%. The cone tests results revealed that the incorporation of DPDHPPO efficiently reduced the combustion parameters of epoxy resins thermosets, such as heat release rate (HRR), total heat release (THR) and so on. The TGA results indicated that the introduction of DPDHPPO promoted epoxy resins matrix decomposed ahead of time compared with that of pure EP and led to a higher char yield and thermal stability at high temperature. The morphological structures and analysis of XPS of char residues revealed that DPDHPPO benefited to the formation of a sufficient, compact and homogeneous char layer with rich flame retardant elements on the epoxy resins materials surface during combustion. After water resistance tests, EP/40 wt% DPDHPPO/60 wt% PDA thermosets still remained excellent flame retardancy, the moisture absorption of epoxy resins thermosets decreased with the increase of DPDHPPO contents in the thermosets due to the existing of P-C bonds and the rigid aromatic hydrophobic structure.

Fabrication of superhydrophobic polymer films with hierarchical silver microbowl array structures.

Flexible superhydrophobic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films with silver bowl-like array structure are fabricated based on the thermal evaporation with sphere monolayer as templates and the modification of 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecanethiol on silver surface. The silver microbowl arrays were composed of silver nanoparticles with an average diameter size of ca. 10 nm. The polymer films exhibit excellent stability and remarkable superhydrophobicity with a high water contact angle (CA) of about 163° and a low sliding angle (SA) of less than 3°.

Fabrication of functional silver nanobowl arrays via sphere lithography.

We report a low-cost and high-throughput method to fabricate large-area silver nanobowl arrays via thermal evaporation of silver on a self-assembled monolayer of nanospheres. The nanobowl array is a hierarchical structure, composed of silver nanoparticles with average diameter size of ca.10 nm, which can serve as a reaction container and catalyst. The optical absorption spectra indicates that surface plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles exists on the nanobowl array, and it can serve as an excellent surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active substrate.

Simple approach to wafer-scale self-cleaning antireflective silicon surfaces.

A simple approach to wafer-scale self-cleaning antireflective hierarchical silicon structures is demonstrated. By employing the KOH etching and silver catalytic etching, pyramidal hierarchical structures were generated on the crystalline silicon wafer, which exhibit strong antireflection and superhydrophobic properties after fluorination. Furthermore, a flexible superhydrophobic substrate was fabricated by transferring the hierarchical Si structure to the NOA 63 film with UV-assisted imprint lithography. This method is of potential application in optical, optoelectronic, and wettability control devices.

Color tuning via adjusting the dye-loading capacity of a polymer.

Color tuning from monomer emission to aggregate emission was accomplished by vacuum thermal evaporation of N,N'-di(n-butyl)quinacridone onto UV-cured photopolymer (NOA-63) with different exposure time. The diffusion of dye molecules into the polymer matrix can be controlled by varying the curing time, which induces the change in the mole ratio between the monomers that are molecularly dispersed into polymer and the aggregates that are shielded on the polymer surface. On the basis of this principle, dual-color and multicolor luminescence patterning were demonstrated by depositing dye molecules onto photolithographically patterned NOA-63 with binary masks and grayscale masks, respectively.