Effects of Amino Hyperbranched Polymer-Modified Carbon Nanotubes on the Crystallization Behavior of Poly (L-Lactic Acid) (PLLA).

Poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) is an environmentally friendly and renewable polymer material with excellent prospects, but its low crystallization rate greatly limits its application. Through the amidation reaction between amino hyperbranched polymer (HBP N103) and carboxylated carbon nanotubes (CNTs), CNTs-N103 was obtained. The modification was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray electron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we observed the changes on the surface of modified CNTs. PLLA/CNT composites were prepared, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to investigate the crystallization behavior of the composites. The results showed that the addition of CNTs could greatly improve the crystallization properties of PLLA; at the same concentration, the modified CNTs had better regulation ability in PLLA crystallization than the unmodified CNTs. Moreover, in the concentration range of 0.1-1%, with the increase in HBP concentration, the ability of CNTs-N103 to regulate the crystallization of PLLA increased as well. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) once again proved the improvement of the crystallization ability. The results of polarized optical microscopy (PLOM) showed that the number of nucleation points increased and the crystal became smaller.

Exploring Impacts of Hyper-Branched Polyester Surface Modification of Graphene Oxide on the Mechanical Performances of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene.

In this manuscript, the graphene oxide (GO) was modified by hyper-branched polyester (HBP). The effects of GO or modified GO (HBP-m-GO) on the mechanical performance and wearing properties were investigated. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed the successful grafting of HBP onto GO. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated that the graft amount of HBP is calculated to be 9.6 wt%. The GO or HBP-m-GO was added into acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS) to prepare the ABS/GO composites. The mechanical properties and wear performance of the composites were studied to comparatively study the impact of GO modification on the properties of the composites. The results revealed that the addition of GO has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of ABS, and when HBP-m-GO was added, the elastic modulus and tensile strength of ABS/HBP-m-GO increased evidently compared with ABS/GO. The tensile strength increased from 42.1 ± 0.6 MPa of pure ABS to 55.9 ± 0.9 MPa, up to 30%. Meanwhile, the elongation at break was significantly higher than ABS/GO to 20.1 ± 1.3%, slightly lower than that of pure ABS. For wear performance, the addition of raw GO decreased the friction coefficient, and when the HBP-m-GO was added, the friction coefficient of the ABS/HBP-m-GO dropped more evidently. Meanwhile, the weight loss during the wear test decreased evidently. The related mechanism was discussed.

Identification of Molecular Subtypes and a Prognostic Signature Based on Inflammation-Related Genes in Colon Adenocarcinoma.

Both tumour-infiltrating immune cells and inflammation-related genes that can mediate immune infiltration contribute to the initiation and prognosis of patients with colon cancer. In this study, we developed a method to predict the survival outcomes among colon cancer patients and direct immunotherapy and chemotherapy. We obtained patient data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and captured inflammation-related genes from the GeneCards database. The package "ConsensusClusterPlus" was used to generate molecular subtypes based on inflammation-related genes obtained by differential expression analysis and univariate Cox analysis. A prognostic signature including four genes (PLCG2, TIMP1, BDNF and IL13) was also constructed and was an independent prognostic factor. Cluster 2 and higher risk scores meant worse overall survival and higher expression of human leukocyte antigen and immune checkpoints. Immune cell infiltration calculated by the estimate, CIBERSORT, TIMER, ssGSEA algorithms, tumour immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE), and tumour stemness indices (TSIs) were also compared on the basis of inflammation-related molecular subtypes and the risk signature. In addition, analyses of stratification, somatic mutation, nomogram construction, chemotherapeutic response prediction and small-molecule drug prediction were performed based on the risk signature. We finally used qRT-PCR to detect the expression levels of four genes in colon cancer cell lines and obtained results consistent with the prediction. Our findings demonstrated a four-gene prognostic signature that could be useful for prognostication in colon cancer patients and designing personalized treatments, which could provide new versions of personalized management for these patients.