Effect of Poly(methacrylic acid) on the Cytokine Level in an In Vivo Tumor Model

Cancer is a leading cause of mortality globally. Despite remarkable improvements in cancer-treatment approaches, disease recurrence and progression remain major obstacles to therapy. While chemotherapy is still a first-line treatment for a variety of cancers, the focus has shifted to the development and application of new approaches to therapy. Nevertheless, the relationship between immune response, neoplastic diseases and treatment efficiency is not fully understood. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the immunopharmacological effects of methacrylic acid homopolymer in an in vivo tumor model. Materials and methods: Monomeric methacrylic acid was used to synthesize polymers. Methacrylic acid was polymerized in dioxane in the presence of 4-Cyano-4-[(dodecylsulfanylthiocarbonyl)sulfanyl]pentanoic acid. To study the molecular weight characteristics of PMAA by GPC, carboxyl groups were preliminarily methylated with diazomethane. An experimental cancer model was obtained by grafting RMK1 breast cancer cells. The serum levels of IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) were measured by ELISA. Results: The effect of PMAA on the serum concentrations of several cytokines was studied upon its single administration to laboratory animals in early neoplastic process. The IL-6, IL-17 and TGF-β1 concentrations were found to change significantly and reach the level observed in intact rats. The IL-10 concentration tended to normalize. Conclusion: The positive results obtained are the basis for further studies on the effect of methacrylic-acid polymers with different molecular-weight characteristics on the neoplastic process.     

Comparison of Physical Adsorption and Covalent Coupling Methods for Surface Density-Dependent Orientation of Antibody on Silicon

The orientation of antibodies, employed as capture molecules on biosensors, determines biorecognition efficiency and bioassay performance. In a previous publication we demonstrated for antibodies attached covalently to silicon that an increase in their surface amount Γ, evaluated with ellipsometry, induces changes in their orientation, which is traced directly using Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy combined with Principal Component Analysis. Here, we extend the above studies to antibodies adsorbed physically on a 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) monolayer. Antibodies physisorbed on APTES (0 ≤ Γ ≤ 3.5 mg/m²) reveal the Γ ranges for flat-on, side-on, and vertical orientation consistent with random molecular packing. The relation between orientation and Γ is juxtaposed for silicon functionalized with APTES, APTES modified with glutaraldehyde (APTES/GA) and N-hydroxysuccinimide-silane (NHS-silane). Antibody reorientation occurs at lower Γ values when physisorption (APTES) is involved rather than chemisorption (APTES/GA, NHS-silane). At high Γ values, comparable proportions of molecules adapting head-on and tail-on vertical alignment are concluded for APTES and the NHS-silane monolayer, and they are related to intermolecular dipole–dipole interactions. Intermolecular forces seem to be less decisive than covalent binding for antibodies on the APTES/GA surface, with dominant head-on orientation. Independently, the impact of glutaraldehyde activation of APTES on vertical orientation is confirmed by separate TOF-SIMS measurements.     

Gray photorefractive polymeric optical spatial solitons

We show that gray spatial optical solitons are possible in biased photorefractive polymers under steady-state conditions. We find that for a given material parameter the absolute value of a gray photorefractive polymeric soliton's phase decreases with an increase in the beam's grayness, whereas it increases with the material parameter for a given beam's grayness and that the full width half maximum (FWHM) of the gray soliton beam's intensity increases with the beam's grayness when the normalized background intensity and the material parameter are fixed and decreases with an increase in the normalized background intensity when the material parameter is fixed. On the other hand, we also show that N coupled beam evolution equations in biased photorefractive polymers can exhibit multicomponent gray solitons. These multicomponent gray solitons can be obtained provided that the N coupled beams share the same polarization, wavelength, and are incoherent with one another. The characteristics and stability properties of these multicomponent gray solitons are also discussed in detail.     

R相C60聚合物的磁性研究

在高温高压条件下利用高压合成装置合成了二维R相C60聚合物,并利用X射线衍射(XRD)和超量子干涉(SQUID)对合成的样品进行了研究.X射线衍射(XRD)数据表明,在6 Gpa压力和7000C-7250C的温度条件下合成的聚合物为纯度较高的二维R相C60聚合物,当温度升高至8000C时,富勒烯的笼状结构塌陷,样品全部变为无定形碳结构.超量子干涉(SQUID))数据表明,在富勒烯笼状结构出现破缺或共价键结构出现断裂的边界条件下制备的二维R相C60聚合物具有铁磁性,样品的磁性来源于破缺的C60分子笼和断裂的共价键.     

纳米晶聚合物复合薄膜PbTiO3-PEK-c的电光特性及其弛豫过程的研究

制备了掺杂型纳米晶聚合物钛酸铅聚醚醚酮 (PbTiO3 PEK c)复合薄膜 ,采用简单透射技术测量了该复合薄膜的线性电光系数 ,并研究了该复合薄膜的电光特性的弛豫过程     

Benzothiadiazole-based Conjugated Polymers for Organic Solar Cells

Benzothiadiazole(BT) is an electron-deficient unit with fused aromatic core, which can be used to construct conjugated polymers for application in organic solar cells(OSCs). In the past twenty years, huge numbers of conjugated polymers based on BT unit have been developed,focusing on the backbone engineering(such as by using different copolymerized building blocks), side chain engineering(such as by using linear or branch side units), using heteroatoms(such as F, O and S atoms, and CN group), etc. These modifications enable BT-polymers to exhibit distinct absorption spectra(with onset varied from 600 nm to 1000 nm), different frontier energy levels and crystallinities. As a consequence, BT-polymers have gained much attention in recent years, and can be simultaneously used as electron donor and electron acceptor in OSCs, providing the power conversion efficiencies(PCEs) over 18% and 14% in non-fullerene and all-polymer OSCs. In this article, we provide an overview of BTpolymers for OSCs, from donor to acceptor, via selecting some typical BT-polymers in different periods. We hope that the summary in this article can invoke the interest to study the BT-polymers toward high performance OSCs, especially with thick active layers that can be potentially used in large-area devices.     

一种蓝色聚合物激光材料

聚合物作为一种有机发光材料,由于在平板显示和光电子器件中的良好应用前景而受到广泛研究［１～２］．近年来,一个重要进展是在聚合物中观测到了受激发射（简称Ｐｏｌｙ－ｍｅｒ激光）现象［３～６］．Ｐｏｌｙｍｅｒ激光最早是在溶液中实现的［３～４］．作为一种新型...     

小波图像融合在太赫兹无损检测中的应用

玻璃纤维增强复合材料被广泛应用于航天、航空及其他军民各领域,它在制备和使用过程中通常会出现多个缺陷。太赫兹时域光谱成像技术有望成为玻璃纤维增强复合材料无损检测的有力补充手段。在太赫兹时域光谱成像过程中,可以选取时域或频域波形中的不同参数来进行成像。对于不同的缺陷,能够有效地对其进行检测的参数是不一样的。采用基于小波分解的图像融合方法将多幅不同参数获取的太赫兹反射图像结合起来,得到一幅包含所有缺陷信息的新图像。研究表明,基于小波分解的图像融合方法在太赫兹无损检测中的应用,能够获取单一参数成像无法检测的缺陷信息,为复合材料太赫兹图像后期处理提供了新的技术方法。     

Spectroscopic Studies of the Stability of Doped Polythiophenes Under Air

Abstract

The stability of the doped state of conductive polythiophenes under air was investigated by the use of Infrared (IR) and UV-visible (UV) spectroscopies. Poly(3-methyl thiophene) doped with BF₃-ethyl ether (BFEE). shows higher stability due to its stereoregularity-chain structure. While the doped polythiophene (PT) degrades easily under the moisture.     

Effect of graft polymer prepared by living radical polymerisation on electro-optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal

In this study, a graft polymer matrix prepared by living radical polymerisation had been incorporated into polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs). The electro-optical properties of the PDLCs were investigated. The results showed that the length and density of graft chain had a great influence on the memory effect of the PDLCs. Low-driving-voltage and weak-memory-effect PDLCs could easily be obtained with a graft polymer matrix.