Benzyl methacrylate (BzMA) is polymerized using a poly(lauryl methacrylate) macromolecular chain transfer agent (PLMA macro-CTA) using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization at 70 °C in n-dodecane. This choice of solvent leads to an efficient dispersion polymerization, with polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) occurring via the growing PBzMA block to produce a range of PLMA–PBzMA diblock copolymer nano-objects, including spheres, worms, and vesicles. In the present study, particular attention is paid to the worm phase, which forms soft free-standing gels at 20 °C due to multiple inter-worm contacts. Such worm gels exhibit thermo-responsive behavior: heating above 50 °C causes degelation due to the onset of a worm-to-sphere transition. Degelation occurs because isotropic spheres interact with each other much less efficiently than the highly anisotropic worms. This worm-to-sphere thermal transition is essentially irreversible on heating a dilute solution (0.10% w/w) but is more or less reversible on heating a more concentrated dispersion (20% w/w). The relatively low volatility of n-dodecane facilitates variable-temperature rheological studies, which are consistent with eventual reconstitution of the worm phase on cooling to 20 °C. Variable-temperature 1H NMR studies conducted in d26-dodecane confirm partial solvation of the PBzMA block at elevated temperature: surface plasticization of the worm cores is invoked to account for the observed change in morphology, because this is sufficient to increase the copolymer curvature and hence induce a worm-to-sphere transition. Small-angle X-ray scattering and TEM are used to investigate the structural changes that occur during the worm-to-sphere-to-worm thermal cycle; experiments conducted at 1.0 and 5.0% w/w demonstrate the concentration-dependent (ir)reversibility of these morphological transitions.

Thermo-responsive vermicious (or worm-like) diblock copolymer nanoparticles prepared directly in n-dodecane are used to stabilise water-in-oil Pickering emulsions.

The rational formulation of Pickering double emulsions is described using a judicious combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic block copolymer worms as highly anisotropic emulsifiers. More specifically, RAFT dispersion polymerization was utilized to prepare poly(lauryl methacrylate)–poly(benzyl methacrylate) worms at 20% w/w solids in n-dodecane and poly(glycerol monomethacrylate)–poly(2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate)–poly(benzyl methacrylate) worms at 13% w/w solids in water by polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). Water-in-oil-in-water (w/o/w) double emulsions can be readily prepared with mean droplet diameters ranging from 30 to 80 μm using a two-stage approach. First, a w/o precursor emulsion comprising 25 μm aqueous droplets is prepared using the hydrophobic worms, followed by encapsulation within oil droplets stabilized by the hydrophilic worms. The double emulsion droplet diameter and number of encapsulated water droplets can be readily varied by adjusting the stirring rate employed during the second stage. For each stage, the droplet volume fraction is relatively high at 0.50. The double emulsion nature of the final formulation was confirmed by optical and fluorescence microscopy studies. Such double emulsions are highly stable to coalescence, with little or no change in droplet diameter being detected over storage at 20 °C for 10 weeks as judged by laser diffraction. Preliminary experiments indicate that the complementary o/w/o emulsions can also be prepared using the same pair of worms by changing the order of homogenization, although somewhat lower droplet volume fractions were required in this case. Finally, we demonstrate that triple and even quadruple emulsions can be formulated using these new highly anisotropic Pickering emulsifiers.

Non-aqueous Pickering emulsions of 16–240 μm diameter have been prepared using diblock copolymer worms with ethylene glycol as the droplet phase and an n-alkane as the continuous phase. Initial studies using n-dodecane resulted in stable emulsions that were significantly less turbid than conventional water-in-oil emulsions. This is attributed to the rather similar refractive indices of the latter two phases. By utilizing n-tetradecane as an alternative oil that almost precisely matches the refractive index of ethylene glycol, almost isorefractive ethylene glycol-in-n-tetradecane Pickering emulsions can be prepared. The droplet diameter and transparency of such emulsions can be systematically varied by adjusting the worm copolymer concentration.

No abstract

3921 adults randomly selected from across Great Britain were interviewed. Subjects were asked to assess a selection of 10 out of 200 vignettes. Each vignette contained four elements: a category of individual; access to some or all of the health record; specified purpose; and level of patient identifier. Subjects were asked to say how happy they would be to allow access to their health record in the circumstances described.The public were generally happy to provide access to health information. For almost a third of vignettes, subjects said that they would be very happy to allow access to their health information. 9.1% of subjects said that they would be very happy to allow access within all of the vignettes that they were asked to assess. There was however, a significant minority of responses (11.6%) to vignettes where subjects said that they would be very unhappy to allow access. In addition 2.1% of individuals said that they were very unhappy with all of the vignettes presented to them. Individuals from higher social groups, older people and males were more likely to be happy with access to their health information. The individual requesting information was the most important factor determining permission to access health information. Subjects were happier to release anonymised rather than personally identifiable data. Content of the information to be released did not seem to be that important, even when the health record contained sensitive information. With the exception of teaching students, the use of the information wasn't an important determinant of consent.Despite a level of support for use of health information in most circumstances, this doesn't mean that patients don't want to be asked for consent, nor that the views of the small minority can be ignored. The ethical and policy implications of these findings will be discussed.