Construction and verification of a novel circadian clock related long non-coding RNA model and prediction of treatment for survival prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract Circadian clock genes are significant in the occurrence and development of HCC and long-non coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are closely related to HCC progression. In this study, we aimed to establish a prognostic risk model for HCC. Circadian clock-related lncRNAs expressed in HCC were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas. A nomogram was established to predict individual survival rate. Biological processes enriched for risk model transcripts were investigated by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. Further, we evaluated the relationship between risk score and immune-checkpoint inhibitor-related gene expression level. The Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) database was used to assess the sensitivity of tumors in high- and low-risk score groups to different drugs. A total of 11 circadian clock-related lncRNAs were included in multi-Cox proportional hazards model analysis to establish a risk model. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the risk model was an independent risk factor in HCC. The risk model was a significantly associated with the immune signature. Further GDSC analysis indicated that patients in each risk score group may be sensitive to different anti-cancer drugs. QRT-PCR analysis results showed that C012073.1, PRRT3-AS1, TMCC1-AS1, LINC01138, MKLN1-AS, KDM4A-AS1, AL031985.3, POLH-AS1, LINC01224, and AC099850.3 were more highly expressed in Huh-7 and HepG2, compared to LO2, while AC008549.1 were lower expressed. Our work established a prognostic model for HCC. Risk score analysis indicated that the model is significantly associated with modulation tumor immunity and could be used to guide more effective therapeutic strategies in the future

Dynamic behavior of carbon nanofiber-modified epoxy with the effect of polydopamine-coated interface

Understanding the dynamic mechanical behaviors of nano-modified composites are essential for designing the anti-collision structures. In this work, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were coated by mussel-inspired polydopamine ad-layer for modifying the interface and dispersion behaviors while incorporated into epoxy. Quasi-static and dynamic compression mechanical responses of CNFs-modified epoxy were systematically investigated. The polydopamine-coated CNFs composites (D-CNFs/epoxy) show the improved strength and strain energy density in comparison with the pristine CNFs/epoxy. The results also indicate that the yield stress and stress-softening properties of polydopamine-coated-CNFs/epoxy are more sensitive to strain rate compared with the neat epoxy and pristine CNFs/epoxy. An empirical constitutive equation in consideration of the strain rate and the strain-softening was proposed to characterize the stress–strain curve. The equivalent epoxy/filler simulation model was built to reveal that a higher interface friction is beneficial in improving the strength of composites, but deteriorating the strength while the interface friction is lower than a certain value.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11602267, 11872361, 11672286, and 11472264). The project supported by Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 1708085MA05). This work was also supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WK 2090050040, WK 2480000003)

Perfluoroalkylsilane-Modified Boron Nitride Nanosheets for Epoxy Composites with Improved Thermal Conductivity and Dielectric Performance

The development of polymer-based packaging materials with excellent heat dissipation capacities and low dielectric constants is increasingly desired for the modern microelectronic industry. Herein, boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) were coated with polydopamine (PDA) and subsequently grafted with tridecafluorooctyl trimethoxy silane. Compared with unmodified BNNSs, as-prepared perfluoroalkylsilane-modified BNNSs (PFOS-BNNSs) show distinctly improved miscibility in the epoxy matrix. Consequently, the epoxy/PFOS-BNNSs (30 wt %) composite shows a higher thermal conductivity of 1.15 W m–1 K–1, which increases by 538 and 42% when compared to the neat epoxy and the epoxy/BNNSs composite, respectively. Notably, the ultralow molar polarizability of C–F bonds enables the epoxy/PFOS-BNNSs composite to have lower dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent than those of the epoxy/BNNSs composite. Finally, the impacts of the surface modification of BNNSs on the rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties of the resulting epoxy composites were also investigated in detail