Performance Research of Natural Mica Modified with Zirconium-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks for an Epoxy Resin Anti-Corrosion Coating.

A new composite material made from mica and a metal-organic framework (MOF) has been developed to improve the anticorrosive capabilities of epoxy resin coatings. The layered mica was loaded with denser and more uniform UIO-66 nanoparticles after modifying the composite with polyethyleneimine (PEI). The composites were used as fillers to prepare epoxy coatings that exhibited long-lasting active (labyrinth effect produced by mica) and passive (pH-sensitive release of corrosion inhibitors) corrosion protection. Settling experiments showed that polyethyleneimine improved the composites' compatibility in epoxy resin. After being immersed in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution for 60 days, the adhesion of PMC-UIO@MBT/EP increases to 9.01 MPa, while the water absorption rate only reaches 2.57%. It indicates that the coating has good barrier properties and stability. After being soaked in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution for 60 days at pH = 7, PMC-UIO@MBT/EP exhibits high low-frequency impedance (8.30 × 108 Ω), as demonstrated by the electronic impedance spectrum (EIS). In addition, the coating also exhibited the highest low-frequency impedance after 30 days in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution at pH = 11.

A High-Performance Anti-Corrosive Epoxy Coating Based on Ultra-Thin Hydroxyapatite Nanosheets with pH-Responsive Functions.

The changes in the working environment have necessitated greater requirements in terms of the long-term anti-corrosion ability of metal anti-corrosion coatings, and the emergence of intelligent coatings has met this demand. A nanocontainer with a hydrophobic inner cavity and hydrophilic outer cavity called ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) was grafted onto the surface of hydroxyapatite (HAp) with a silane coupling agent, encapsulating benzotriazole (BTA) and embedded in epoxy resin to improve the coating anticorrosion performance. The excellent corrosion resistance of the coating in immersion and scratch experiments was derived from the inert protective layer formed by the reaction of the rapidly released corrosion inhibitor with the corrosion products on the metal surface. After 30 days of immersion experiment, the coating could still maintain the low-frequency impedance value of 6.28 × 107 Ω cm2. In this work, the enhancement of the physical barrier function of HAp nanoparticle and the pH-response function conferred by ß-cyclodextrin provided the coating with good passive and active acting abilities in corrosive environments, respectively.

Difunctional Silicon Dioxide Combined with Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite to Enhance the Anticorrosion Performance of Epoxy Coatings.

The nanocomposite BTA-SiO2-GO was fabricated for the purpose of metal corrosion protection. Herein, the BTA-loaded mesoporous silica nanocontainers were prepared through a facile one-step synthetic method. Subsequently, graphene oxide (GO) was combined with the resultant BTA-SiO2 compound because GO had a superior barrier property and impermeability. We must note that the double functional groups exist on SiO2. Benzotriazole (BTA), as an inhibitor, can be loaded into the nanocontainer and GO can also be modified by it, resulting in excellent dispersion in epoxy coatings, which were conducive to enhancing its anticorrosion performance. In this way, the nanocomposite endows the coating system with both self-healing and physical barrier abilities. The EIS results indicated that the impedance value of the BTA-SiO2-GO composite coatings was up to 1.2 × 109 Ω cm2, which indicated excellent corrosion resistant properties.

Role of ANO1 in tumors and tumor immunity.

Dysregulation of gene amplification, cell-signaling-pathway transduction, epigenetic and transcriptional regulation, and protein interactions drives tumor-cell proliferation and invasion, while ion channels also play an important role in the generation and development of tumor cells. Overexpression of Ca2+-activated Cl- channel anoctamin 1 (ANO1) is shown in numerous cancer types and correlates with poor prognosis. However, the mechanisms involved in ANO1-mediated malignant cellular transformation and the role of ANO1 in tumor immunity remain unknown. In this review, we discuss recent studies to determine the role of ANO1 in tumorigenesis and provide novel insights into the role of ANO1 in the context of tumor immunity. Furthermore, we analyze the roles and potential mechanisms of ANO1 in different types of cancers, and provide novel notions for the role of ANO1 in the tumor microenvironment and for potential use of ANO1 in clinical applications. Our review shows that ANO1 is involved in tumor immunity and microenvironment, and may, therefore, be an effective biomarker and therapeutic drug target.

Superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge based on sepiolite for efficient oil/water separation.

Massive oil leakage accidents and illegal discharge of oily wastewater have not just destroyed the sustainability of the ecological environment but caused permanent damage to marine ecosystems, which makes it urgent to handle it. In this paper, by means of sol-gel, micro-nan silica that grew from the surface of fibrous sepiolite was organically modified with 1 H, 1 H, 2 H, 2 H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (PFDS). The superhydrophobic sepiolite/silica firmly attached to the surface of polyurethane sponge under the action of oily epoxy resin with strong adhesion. The sponge exhibited superhydrophobicity and excellent selective oil adsorption capacity (19.98-40 times of their own weight). More importantly, besides the effective separation of immiscible oil-water mixtures (the separation rate reached 98.72%), it could also efficiently separate oil with water and oil with salt solution emulsions. In addition, the sponges kept hydrophobic even after floating in extremely corrosive liquids for 20 h, showing a strong resistance to strong acidic as well as alkaline liquids. After 100 times of mechanical compression, the three-dimensional structure of sponge held still and the water contact angle was greater than 144°, demonstrating an excellent mechanical stability, which provided a reference for its practical application in oil-water separation.

Analysis of risk factors for lower limb deep vein thrombosis in patients after Lumbar Fusion Surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the risk factors of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of lower limb in patients undergoing lumbar fusion surgeries, to provide a better understanding of DVT and take prophylactic measures. METHODS: This study was carried out in our hospital between January 2016 and February 2020, patients undergoing lumbar fusion surgeries were included and divided into DVT group and non-DVT group, and the medical data including basic demographics, clinical characteristics, operative data, and routine biochemical parameters were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: In the current study, 390 cases were included, 48 cases were enrolled in DVT group and 342 in non-DVT group. The incidence of DVT was 12.3%. There were significant differences in age, hyperlipemia, hypertension, occupation type, D-dimer level, hospital stay, and postoperative exercises (p<0.05), but no significant differences in gender, smoking status, drinking status, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, fused segments, and operation time (p>0.05) between the two groups. In multivariate analysis, age>50 years, hypertension, D-dimer>500ug/L were independent risk factors, while postoperative exercises were protective factor for DVT. CONCLUSION: Those patients undergoing lumbar fusion surgeries should take more prophylactic measures including postoperative exercises if they were elderly, or hypertensive, or have high D-dimer level, in order to decrease the incidence of DVT.

A novel strategy to construct a visible-light-driven Z-scheme (ZnAl-LDH with active phase/g-C3N4) heterojunction catalyst via polydopamine bridge (a similar "bridge" structure).

A novel strategy to construct a visible-light-driven Z-scheme heterojunction catalyst was employed by crosslinking ZnAl-layered double hydroxide (ZnAl-LDH) nanosheets with the active phase on carbon nitride (g-C3N4) substrates via a polydopamine bridge (a similar "bridge" structure). In this paper, multiple optical and electrochemical detection methods indicated that the 0.5P-LDH_500CN photocatalyst demonstrated excellent visible-light absorption properties, photo-generated electron-hole separation ability and photocatalytic activity for p-nitrophenol under visible-light (> 420 nm), etc. A Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism via PDA bridge was proposed to achieve heterojunction charge separation. This mechanism involved the recombination of photo-induced electrons directly on the ZnAl-LDH_500 valence band through the PDA channel and the holes were captured at the conduction band energy level of the g-C3N4. The detection of active species, including O2-, h+ and OH, further proofed the Z-scheme charge transfer mechanism, which could be speculated that all active species affected the photocatalytic reaction with the order of h+ >OH >O2-. Meanwhile, this work also exposed that the formation of active phase in ZnAl-LDH could synergize with PDA to promote the application of visible-light-active photocatalysts based on g-C3N4 materials in high-efficiency energy.

MgAl-Layered-Double-Hydroxide/Sepiolite Composite Membrane for High-Performance Water Treatment Based on Layer-by-Layer Hierarchical Architectures.

One of the major challenges in the removal of organic pollutants is to design a material with high efficiency and high flux that can remove both cationic and anionic dyes, oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion and heavy metal ions. Herein, we constructed novel chemically stabilized MgAl-layered-double-hydroxide/sepiolite (MgAl-LDH/Sep) composite membranes via 3D hierarchical architecture construction methods. These membranes were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), etc. Benefiting from the presence of hydrophilic functional groups on the surface of the film, the membranes show an enhanced water flux (~1200 L·m-2 h-1), while keeping a high dyes rejection (above 99.8% for anionic and cationic dyes). Moreover, the CA membrane coupled with MgAl-LDH/Sep exhibits a multifunctional characteristic for the efficient removal of mesitylene (99.2%), petroleum ether (99.03%), decane (99.07%), kerosene (99.4%) and heavy metal ion in water due to the layer-by-layer sieving. This hierarchical architecture is proved to have excellent environmental and chemical stability. Therefore, the membrane has potential in the treatment of sewage wastewater.

Attached ß-cyclodextrin/γ-(2,3-epoxypropoxy) propyl trimethoxysilane to graphene oxide and its application in copper removal.

The environmental applications of graphene oxide and ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) have attracted great attention since their first discovery. Novel nanocomposites were successfully prepared by using an esterification reaction between ß-cyclodextrin/γ-(2,3-epoxypropoxy) propyl trimethoxysilane grafted graphene oxide (ß-CD/GPTMS/GO). The ß-CD/GPTMS/GO nanocomposites were used to remove the Cu2+ from aqueous solutions. The characteristics of ß-CD/GPTMS/GO were detected by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The dispersibility of graphene oxide was excellent due to the addition of ß-CD. The adsorption isotherms data obtained at the optimum pH 7 were fitted by Langmuir isotherm model. The excellent adsorption properties of ß-CD/GPTMS/GO for Cu2+ ions could be attributed to the apolar cavity structure of ß-CD, the high surface area and abundant functional groups on the surface of GO. The adsorption patterns of ß-CD/GPTMS/GO were electrostatic attraction, formation of host-guest inclusion complexes and the ion exchange adsorption. The efficient adsorption of ß-CD/GPTMS/GO for Cu2+ ions suggested that these novel nanocomposites may be ideal candidates for removing other cation pollutants from waste water.

Risk factors for deep venous thrombosis of lower limbs in postoperative neurosurgical patients.

OBJECTIVES: To detect the risk factors for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in patients after neurosurgery. METHODS: Three hundred and seventy-six patients treated in the department of neurosurgery of our hospital from February 2013 to November 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical data including age, gender, hospital stay, operation time, occupation type, hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, smoking status, drinking status, postoperative exercises, malignant tumor, and postoperative hormone or dehydrating agent were collected. RESULTS: In this study, 52 patients were included in the DVT group and 295 patients in the Non-DVT group. There was significant difference in age, hypertension, occupation type, malignant tumors, operation time, smoking status, and postoperative exercises between the two groups (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in gender, drinking status, coronary heart disease, diabetes, hospital stay, and postoperative hormone or dehydrating agent (p>0.05). In multivariate analysis, age, malignant tumor, hypertension were independent risk factors, while physical labour and postoperative exercises were protective factor for DVT. CONCLUSION: The postoperative patients with older age, malignant tumor or hypertension should be paid high attention to prevent DVT, and postoperative exercises should be selected as precautionary measures.

Novel polyvinylidene fluoride nanofiltration membrane blended with functionalized halloysite nanotubes for dye and heavy metal ions removal.

Membrane separation is an effective method for the removal of hazardous materials from wastewater. Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) were functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), and novel polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofiltration membranes were prepared by blending with various concentrations of APTES grafted HNTs (A-HNTs). The morphology structure of the membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The contact angle (CA), pure water flux (PWF) and antifouling capacity of membranes were investigated in detail. In addition, the separation performance of membranes were reflected by the removal of dye and heavy metal ions in simulated wastewater. The results revealed that the hydrophilicity of A-HNTs blended PVDF membrane (A-HNTs@PVDF) was enhanced significantly. Owing to the electrostatic interaction between membrane surface and dye molecules, the dye rejection ratio of 3% A-HNTs@PVDF membrane reached 94.9%. The heavy metal ions rejection ratio and adsorption capacity of membrane were also improved with the addition of A-HNTs. More importantly, A-HNTs@PVDF membrane exhibited excellent rejection stability and reuse performances after several times fouling and washing tests. It can be expected that the present work will provide insight into a new method for membrane modification in the field of wastewater treatment.

Long-term prognostic analysis of early interventional therapy for lower extremity deep venous thrombosis.

The aim of the present study was to observe the long-term prognostic value of early interventional therapy for lower extremity deep venous thrombosis (LDVT). In total, 85 patients diagnosed with LDVT for the first time were consecutively selected (identified course of disease was <3 months), and were divided into the control group with 43 cases and the observation group with 42 cases according to different therapeutic methods. The control group received anticoagulation therapy and thrombolysis, or integrated surgical thrombectomy, a conventional open operation, while the observation group received comprehensive treatment, combining endovascular catheter-directed thrombolysis and thrombectomy. The therapeutic effects were compared. After treatment, the differences in circumference of the thigh and shank between the affected and unaffected extremities, and vein dysfunction score of the two groups were decreased compared with before treatment. In addition, the above indexes of the observation group were significantly lower than in the control group (P<0.05). The clinical effective rate and effective extent of the observation group were higher than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The occurrence rate of post-thrombotic syndrome in the observation group was lower than that of the control group, and there was no difference in comparison of grading. The recurrence rate and restenosis rate of the observation group were lower than in the control group, while the patency rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). In conclusion, early catheter-directed invention of thrombolysis with thrombectomy for LDVT has good clinical effect in the short-term and long-term.

Synthesis, vibrational spectral and nonlinear optical studies of N-(4-hydroxy-phenyl)-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde-imine: a combined experimental and theoretical investigation.

The study of imine-bridged organics has been the one hot spot of photo-responsive material sciences in recent years. Herein we make a study of the synthesis, characteristics and potential application of N-(4-hydroxy-phenyl)-2-hydroxy-benzaldehyde-imine (HPHBI), C13H11NO2. The studied compound was synthesized in one step by the condensation reaction of salicylaldehyde and 4-aminophenol in methanol solution, and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and FT-Raman techniques with theoretical calculations at B3LYP/6-31G(d) level. The molecule adopts trans configuration about central CN bond with intramolecular hydrogen bonding, and the adjacent molecules form wave-shaped structure linked by strong intermolecular hydrogen bonding mechanism along b axis. The vibrational spectra have been precisely assigned with the aid of theoretical frequencies. Furthermore, the thermodynamic properties have been obtained by the theoretical vibrational analysis for HPHBI. The total linear polarizability and first-order hyperpolarizabilities calculated on the studied compound respectively present 25.378 Å3 and 1.655×10(-29) cm5/esu, which indicates the compound has relatively good nonlinear optical property.

Experimental and theoretical studies on vibrational spectra of 4-(2-furanylmethyleneamino)antipyrine, 4-benzylideneaminoantipyrine and 4-cinnamilideneaminoantipyrine.

This work deals with the IR and Raman spectroscopy of 4-(2-furanylmethyleneamino) antipyrine (FAP), 4-benzylideneaminoantipyrine (BAP) and 4-cinnamilideneaminoantipyrine (CAP) by means of experimental and quantum chemical calculations. The equilibrium geometries, harmonic frequencies, infrared intensities and Raman scattering activities were calculated by density functional B3LYP method with the 6-31G(d) basis set. The comparisons between the calculated and experimental results covering molecular structures, assignments of fundamental vibrational modes and thermodynamic properties were investigated. The optimized molecular geometries have been compared with the experimental data obtained from XRD data, which indicates that the theoretical results agree well with the corresponding experimental values. For the three compounds, comparisons and assignments of the vibrational frequencies indicate that the calculated frequencies are close to the experimental data, and the IR spectra are comparable with some slight differences, whereas the Raman spectra are different clearly and the strongest Raman scattering actives are relative tightly to the molecular conjugative moieties linked through their Schiff base imines. The thermodynamic properties (heat capacities, entropies and enthalpy changes) and their correlations with temperatures were also obtained from the harmonic frequencies of the optimized structures.