Influence of Interfacial Interaction and Composition on Fracture Toughness and Impact Properties of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polyethersulfone.

In this study, the interlaminar fracture toughness and impact strength of polyethersulfone reinforced with continuous carbon fibers were studied. Interlaminar fracture toughness tests were performed using the double cantilever beam method. It was shown that surface modification using the thermal oxidation method of the carbon fibers can strongly increase the interlaminar fracture toughness of the obtained composites. Thus, the maximum value reached 1.72 kJ/m2, which was 40% higher than the fracture toughness of the composites reinforced with initial carbon fibers. Moreover, fractographic analysis using a scanning electron microscope allowed us to highlight the main reasons for the dependence of fracture toughness on fiber content and surface modification conditions of the carbon fibers. It was shown that the main factor that allowed for an increase in fracture toughness was the enhanced interfacial interaction between the fibers and polymer matrix. Additionally, it was found that expectedly, there was a good correlation between interlaminar fracture toughness and interlaminar shear strength results. However, a negative influence of surface modification on the impact properties of composites was found. Such behavior occurred because of higher structural stability and lower exposure to delamination in multiple layers of the composites reinforced with the modified carbon fibers. It was found that impact energy reached ~150 kJ/m2 for the polyethersulfone-based composites reinforced with initial fibers, while the composites reinforced with modified carbon fibers showed impact energy values of only ~80 kJ/m2. Nevertheless, surface modification of carbon fibers using the thermal oxidation method can be an effective method for improving the performance properties of polyethersulfone-based composite materials.

The connection between diverticulosis and colonic superficial neoplastic lesions in patients who underwent screening colonoscopy.

PURPOSE: If could be a potential pathophysiological connection between colonic diverticula and colonic superficial neoplastic lesions, beyond the shared risk factors, has been a subject of debate in the last years. This study tries to evaluate the association between diverticulosis and colonic neoplastic lesions. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study including asymptomatic patients who underwent a screening colonoscopy (patients with a positive fecal occult blood test under the regional program of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening), surveillance after polypectomy resection, or familiarity (first-degree relatives) between 2020 and 2021 to evaluate the association between diverticula and colonic polyps. A multivariate analysis with multiple logistic regression and odds ratio (OR) to study the independent association between adenomas and adenocarcinomas was performed. RESULTS: One thousand five hundred one patients were included. A statistically significant association between adenomas or CRC alone and colonic diverticula was found (p = 0.045). On a multivariate analysis of demographic (age, gender) and clinical parameters (familiarity for diverticula and adenoma/CRC), only age was significantly associated with the development of colorectal adenomas or cancer (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.03-1.07, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a statistically significant association between diverticula and colonic adenomas. However, it is impossible to establish a cause-effect relationship due to the intrinsic characteristics of this study design. A study with a prospective design including both patients with diverticulosis and without colonic diverticula aimed at establishing the incidence of adenoma and CRC could help to answer this relevant clinical question, since a potential association could indicate the need for closer endoscopic surveillance.

Mechanical and Thermophysical Properties of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polyethersulfone.

In this study, the mechanical and thermophysical properties of carbon fiber-reinforced polyethersulfone are investigated. To enhance the interfacial interaction between carbon fibers and the polymer matrix, the surface modification of carbon fibers by thermal oxidation is conducted. By means of AFM and X-ray spectroscopy, it is determined that surface modification changes the morphology and chemical composition of carbon fibers. It is shown that surface modification dramatically increases the mechanical properties of the composites. Thus, flexural strength and the E-modulus of the composites reinforced with modified fibers reached approximately 962 MPa and 60 GPa, respectively, compared with approximately 600 MPa and 50 GPa for the composites reinforced with the initial ones. The heat deflection temperatures of the composites reinforced with the initial and modified fibers were measured. It is shown that composites reinforced with modified fibers lose their stability at temperatures of about 211 °C, which correlates with the glass transition temperature of the PES matrix. The thermal conductivity of the composites with different fiber content is investigated in two directions: in-plane and transverse to layers of carbon fibers. The obtained composites had a relatively high realization of the thermal conductive properties of carbon fibers, up to 55-60%.

Effect of Glass Fibers Thermal Treatment on the Mechanical and Thermal Behavior of Polysulfone Based Composites.

The effect of thermal treatment of glass fibers (GF) on the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties of polysulfone (PSU) based composites reinforced with GF was investigated. Flexural and shear tests were used to study the composites' mechanical properties. A dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and a heat deflection temperature (HDT) test were used to study the thermo-mechanical properties of composites. The chemical structure of the composites was studied using IR-spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to illustrate the microstructure of the fracture surface. Three fiber to polymer ratios of initial and preheated GF composites (50/50, 60/40, 70/30 (wt.%)) were studied. The results showed that the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties improved with an increase in the fiber to polymer ratio. The interfacial adhesion in the preheated composites enhanced as a result of removing the sizing coating during the thermal treatment of GF, which improved the properties of the preheated composites compared with the composites reinforced with initial untreated fibers. The SEM images showed a good distribution of the polymer on the GF surface in the preheated GF composites.

Structure and Properties of Polysulfone Filled with Modified Twill Weave Carbon Fabrics.

Carbon fabrics are widely used in polymer based composites. Nowadays, most of the advanced high-performance composites are based on thermosetting polymer matrices such as epoxy resin. Thermoplastics have received high attention as polymer matrices due to their low curing duration, high chemical resistance, high recyclability, and mass production capability in comparison with thermosetting polymers. In this paper, we suggest thermoplastic based composite materials reinforced with carbon fibers. Composites based on polysulfone reinforced with carbon fabrics using polymer solvent impregnation were studied. It is well known that despite the excellent mechanical properties, carbon fibers possess poor wettability and adhesion to polymers because of the fiber surface chemical inertness and smoothness. Therefore, to improve the fiber-matrix interfacial interaction, the surface modification of the carbon fibers by thermal oxidation was used. It was shown that the surface modification resulted in a noticeable change in the functional composition of the carbon fibers' surface and increased the mechanical properties of the polysulfone based composites. Significant increase in composites mechanical properties and thermal stability as a result of carbon fiber surface modification was observed.

Organic-inorganic materials containing nanoparticles of zirconium hydrophosphate for baromembrane separation.

Organic-inorganic membranes were obtained by stepwise modification of poly(ethyleneterephthalate) track membrane with nanoparticles of zirconium hydrophosphate. The modifier was inserted inside pores of the polymer, a size of which is 0.33 µm. Inner active layer was formed by this manner. Evolution of morphology and functional properties of the membranes were investigated using methods of porosimetry, potentiometry and electron microscopy. The nanoparticles (4 to 10 nm) were found to form aggregates, which block pores of the polymer. Pores between the aggregates (4 to 8 nm) as well as considerable surface charge density provide significant transport numbers of counter ions (up to 0.86 for Na(+)). The materials were applied to baromembrane separation of corn distillery. It was found that precipitate is formed mainly inside the pores of the pristine membrane. In the case of the organic-inorganic material, the deposition occurs onto the outer surface and can be removed by mechanical way. Location of the active layer inside membranes protects it against damage.

Myelodysplastic syndromes with isolated deletion of the long arm of the chromosome X as a sole cytogenetic change.

Deletions of Xq are extremely rare events in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients and were previously described in five patients, in two of them as a sole chromosome abnormality. We found isolated del(Xq) in 3 of 127 MDS patients with clonal chromosome changes. Detailed analysis of clinical and morphological data of presented and previously published cases indicates the following: (1) del(X)(q24) and del(X)(q13) are nonrandom chromosomal abnormalities in MDS; (2) MDS with deletions of Xq affect exclusively females ages 46-65; and (3) deletions of Xq are associated with refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) and indicate an unfavorable prognosis.

Pharmacokinetics of erythrocyte-bound daunorubicin in patients with acute leukemia.

BACKGROUND: The objective of the present study was in vitro and in vivo investigation of erythrocytes as vehicles for anthracycline antibiotics. MATERIAL/METHODS: The kinetics of daunorubicin binding with erythrocytes was studied in blood and in washed erythrocyte suspensions from healthy donors and patients with acute leukemia. The effect of daunorubicin on erythrocyte deformability was studied using cell filtration through membranes with 3 microm-diameter cylindrical pores. Erythrocyte-bound daunorubicin (EBD), prepared by equilibrating anticoagulated autologous blood with the antibiotic, was administered (45 or 60 mg/m2 body surface) to 14 leukemic patients as part of the 7+ 3 or RACOP courses. The pharmacokinetics of daunorubicin and its tolerability were studied. RESULTS: Human erythrocytes bound daunorubicin (rubomycin) in citrated whole blood or in washed saline suspension. The equilibrium erythrocyte/medium daunorubicin concentration ratios (attained in 30-60 min at 37 degrees C) averaged 2.9 +/- 0.5 (n=13) in blood and 5.7 +/- 0.6 (n=8) in suspension (p<0.001), without any significant difference between the erythrocytes of donors and patients with acute drug-resistant leukemia or leukemic relapses. Incubation of patient blood with daunorubicin (0.5 mg/ml cells) did not affect erythrocyte deformability (filterability). After intravenous administration, the peak drug concentration and its elimination rate were lower for EBD than for free daunorubicin. The patients tolerated EBD better than its standard free form. In nine patients who received three EBD infusions, side effects were less frequent than in those treated with free daunorubicin. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that daunorubicin-loaded erythrocytes are promising for clinical application and deserve further clinical study.