No abstract

No abstract

Recently, superhydrophobic surfaces with tunable wettability have aroused much attention. Noticeably, almost all present smart performances rely on the variation of surface chemistry on static micro/nanostructure, to obtain a surface with dynamically tunable micro/nanostructure, especially that can memorize and keep different micro/nanostructures and related wettabilities, is still a challenge. Herein, by creating micro/nanostructured arrays on shape memory polymer, a superhydrophobic surface that has shape memory ability in changing and recovering its hierarchical structures and related wettabilities was reported. Meanwhile, the surface was successfully used in the rewritable functional chip for droplet storage by designing microstructure-dependent patterns, which breaks through current research that structure patterns cannot be reprogrammed. This article advances a superhydrophobic surface with shape memory hierarchical structure and the application in rewritable functional chip, which could start some fresh ideas for the development of smart superhydrophobic surface.

Cotton is one of the most important raw materials for textile and clothing production. Compared with some synthetic polymer fibers, the main drawback of cotton fibers is its poor mechanical properties and its high flammability, and therefore it can not be used for special textiles. Cotton fabrics treated with modern flame-retardant and reinforcement finishes often can not meet rigid military specifications. In this paper, we show the functionalization of common cotton fibers with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). CNT network armors have been fabricated on the surface of cotton fibers using a simple dipping coating method. Due to the reinforcement and protection of CNTs, the cotton textiles exhibit enhanced mechanical properties, extraordinary flame retardancy, improved UV-blocking and super water repellent properties. Considering the exceptional electronic properties of CNTs, these CNTs functionalized cotton fibers will find a variety of applications in high performance fabrics and smart textiles. The method developed in this paper also provides a simple surface coating method to produce CNT-polymer hybrid materials.

No abstract

Two novel monovinyl β‐cyclodextrin (β‐CD) monomers are synthesized. Their chemical compositions are characterized by means of element analysis, NMR and FT‐IR spectroscopy. The results show that the synthesis techniques used are convenient and efficient. Using N‐isopropylacrylamide as a comonomer, two novel linear copolymers can also be synthesized.Synthesis route of monovinyl β‐CD monomers.magnified imageSynthesis route of monovinyl β‐CD monomers.

No abstract

BackgroundEmerging evidences have indicated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play essential roles in the development and progression of cancers. Dysregulation of lncRNA MIR31HG has recently been reported in several types of cancers, and researches on the function of MIR31HG in cancers suggested that MIR31HG could act as either oncogene or tumor suppressor. But the functional involvement of MIR31HG has not been studied in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsIn this study, MTS assays, colony formation assay, Wound-healing assay, Transwell assy, and tumor xenografts experiments were used to identify biological effects of MIR31HG on HCC cells HCC proliferation and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay were performed to show the interactions of MIR31HG and miR-575. The bioinformatics methods were completed to find the target genes of miR-575. And Dual-luciferase reporter assay and Western blot analysis were further used to confirm the target gene of miR-575.ResultsWe found that overexpression of MIR31HG obviously suppressed HCC proliferation and metastasis in vitro and in vivo, whereas knockdown of MIR31HG had the opposite effects. Besides, overexpression of MIR31HG significantly decreased the expression of microRNA-575 (miR-575), which plays an oncogenic role in HCC. Moreover, dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay revealed that MIR31HG exerted tumor-suppressive functions by binding directly to miR-575, and there was a reciprocal inhibition between MIR31HG and miR-575 in the same RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). Furthermore, overexpression of MIR31HG enhanced the expression of suppression of tumorigenicity 7 like (ST7L), which was identified as a downstream target gene of miR-575. Thus, MIR31HG positively regulated ST7L expression through sponging miR-575, and acted as tumor suppressor in HCC.ConclusionsOverall, our study illuminates the role of MIR31HG as a miRNA sponge in HCC, and sheds new light on lncRNA-directed diagnostics and therapeutics in HCC.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13046-018-0853-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.