Ecological Approach to Graphene Oxide Reinforced Poly (methyl methacrylate) Nanocomposites

Graphene oxide (GO) possesses the desirable characteristic of aqueous solution processability attributed to the oxygen-containing functional groups on the basal planes and edges of graphene. To provide an alternative to conventional procedures for fabricating poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/GO nanocomposites, which use organic solutions and/or surfactants, we have developed an environmentally friendly technique in which PMMA is polymerized by soap-free emulsion polymerization and incorporated with GO using water as a processing medium. Experimental results showed that the fabricated PMMA/GO nanocomposites had excellent mechanical, thermal, and O₂ barrier properties with the nanodispersion of GO

New Route of Acetylene Synthesis via Electrochemical Formation of Metal Carbides from CO₂ in Chloride Melts

Electrochemical conversion of CO2 in high-temperature molten salts provides a unique process for synthesizing materials that cannot be obtained in low-temperature aqueous systems. In this study, we propose a novel route to produce acetylene utilizing the electrochemical reduction of CO2 in chloride melts. Acetylene is generated by the reaction between water and metal carbides, which are formed by the reduction of CO2 and cations in the melts. We demonstrated the proposed process by electrochemical measurements and quantitative gas analysis. To investigate the electrolytic system suitable for forming Li2C2 and CaC2 as the metal carbides at high current efficiency, two types of melts: LiCl–KCl–CaCl2–CaO melt at 723 K and NaCl–KCl–CaCl2–CaO melt at 823 K, and two types of electrodes: metallic electrodes (Fe, SUS304, SUS316, Mo, Ta and Ti) and carbon electrodes (graphite, glassy carbon, and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite) were used. It was found that acetylene was obtained with a current efficiency of 68% by galvanostatic electrolysis at −200 mA cm–2 on a Fe electrode in the NaCl–KCl–CaCl2–CaO melt mixed with 7.0 mol % CaC2 under CO2 atmosphere. The CaC2 played a key role in preventing the dissolution of electrodeposited metal carbides into the melts

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BackgroundCD44 and CD133 are stem cell markers in colorectal cancer (CRC). CD44 has distinctive isoforms with different oncological properties like total CD44 (CD44T) and variant CD44 (CD44V). Clinical significance of such markers remains elusive.MethodsSixty colon cancer were examined for CD44T/CD44V and CD133 at mRNA level in a quantitative PCR, and clarified for their association with clinicopathological factors.Results(1) Both CD44T and CD44V showed higher expression in primary colon tumors than in non-cancerous mucosas (pCD133 was expressed even in non-cancerous mucosa and rather decreased in the tumors (p = 0.048). (2) CD44V expression was significantly associated with CD44T expression (R = 0.62, pCD133 at all in the primary tumors. (3) CD44V/CD44T expressions were significantly higher in right colon cancer than in left colon cancer (p = 0.035/p = 0.012, respectively), while CD133 expression were not (p = 0.20). (4) In primary tumors, unexpectedly, CD44V/CD44T/CD133 mRNA expressions were not correlated with aggressive phenotypes, but CD44V/CD44T rather significantly with less aggressive lymph node metastasis/distant metastasis (p = 0.040/p = 0.039, respectively). Moreover, both CD44V and CD133 expressions were significantly decreased in liver metastasis as compared to primary tumors (p = 0.0005 and p = 0.0006, respectively).ConclusionOur transcript expression analysis of cancer stem cell markers did not conclude that their expression could represent aggressive phenotypes of primary and metastatic tumors, and rather represented less demand on stem cell marker-positive cancer cells.</div

Clinical significance of CD133 expression in primary colon cancer tissues.

(a) There was no significant difference in the expression of CD133 between right and left primary colon cancer in non cancerous mucosa tissues (p = 0.34). And similar results were obtained for N factors and M factors (p = 0.58 and p = 0.12, respectively). (b) As well as (a), there was no significant difference in the expression of CD133 between right and left primary colon cancer in colon cancer tumor tissues (p = 0.20) as well as N factors and M factors(p = 0.12 and p = 0.28, respectively). (PDF)</p

<i>CD44</i> transcripts expression in CRC cell lines.

(a) CD44 transcripts in CRC included both CD44S (standard) and CD44V (variants), and CD44V always included variant 8–10 from the reference 17. PrimerF1 and primerR1 can amplify both CD44S and CD44V. (b) For CD44V (v8-10), primerF2 and primerR2 were selected on the variant 8 and variant 10, respectively, with probe 2. On the other hand, for CD44T (total CD44), primerF3 and primerR3 were selected on the exon 3 and exon 5, respectively, with probe 3. (c) In semi-quantitative RT-PCR (F1-R1), multiple bands representing CD44 Variants and CD44S (185 bp) were seen in 8 CRC cell lines (upper panel). Using F2-R2 primer sets, CD44V (157 bp) could be amplified as a single band (middle panel). The lower panel showed β-actin expression as internal controls. (d) In quantitative real time PCR, CD44V and CD44T transcripts were measured in 8 CRC cell lines. Transcriptional discrepancy was seen in LOVO cells. (e) In CRC cell lines, there were close association (R = 0.83, P = 0.0092) of transcripts between CD44T and CD44V.</p

Clinicopathological factors and <i>CD44V</i> expression in primary right colon cancer.

Clinicopathological factors and CD44V expression in primary right colon cancer.</p

Clinical significance of CD133 expression in primary colon cancer tissues.

(a) In semi-quantitative RT-PCR, CD133 transcripts were seen in Colo205 and HCT116 among 8 CRC cell lines (lower panel). Quantitative PCR is consistent with the semi-quantitative RT-PCR (upper panel). (b) CD133 expression was significantly reduced in 60 colon cancer tissues as compared to in 60 non-cancerous mucosa tissues (p = 0.048). (c) CD133 expressions in colon cancer tissues were significantly associated with those in non-cancerous mucosa tissues (R = 0.26, p = 0.026). (d) Public database of microdissection followed by microarray revealed that CD133 expression is rather higher in non-cancerous tissues than in cancer tissues. N.E., normal epithelia N.S., normal stroma C.E., cancer epithelia C.S., cancer stroma (e) CD133 expression in colon cancer tumor tissues was not different according to T factors (upper panel), whereas CD133 expression in non-cancerous mucosa tissues was significantly higher in T4 than in non-T4 (p = 0.048). (f) CD44T expression was not significantly different between primary colon cancer and liver metastasis (p = 0.24, left panel). On the other hand, CD44V expression was significantly lower in liver metastasis than in primary colon cancers (p = 0.0006, middle panel). CD133 expression was significantly lower in liver metastasis than in primary colon cancers, either (p = 0.0005, right panel).</p

Clinical significance of CD44T expression in primary colon cancer tissues.

(a) CD44T expression is elevated in 60 primary colon cancer tissues as compared to in 60 non-cancerous mucosa tissues (p (PDF)</p

The primer sequences used in the real-time PCR experiments.

The primer sequences used in the real-time PCR experiments.</p

Clinical significance of CD44 expression in primary colon cancer tissues in the TCGA database.

(a) There was significant difference in the expression of CD44 between right and left primary colon cancer (p = 0.00030). (b) M factor and CD44 expression tended to be inversely correlated (p = 0.089). (PDF)</p