Highly Permeable Polylactic Acid Membrane Grafted with Quaternary Ammonium Salt for Effective and Durable Water Disinfection.

Given the increasing usage of drinking water purifiers, highly permeable membranes with strong antimicrobial functions are desperately desirable for effective and durable water disinfection. Hereby, we prepared such antimicrobial membranes by chemical grafting of quaternary ammonium salt (QAS) molecules, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyldimethyloctadecyl ammonium chloride (TPMMC), onto air plasma pretreated biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) substrates. The high chemical grafting density promoted very strong and positive zeta potential charge of the resulted PLA-QAS membrane, contributing to effective and broad-spectrum antimicrobial efficiencies (>99.

Effective Antibacterial Glass Fiber Membrane Prepared by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Grafting.

This paper reports a novel glass fiber membrane with an effective antibacterial performance by chemical grafting of quaternary ammonium salt (QAS) which is enhanced by a plasma bombardment technique. Plasma bombardment as a pretreatment of the membrane can increase the QAS anchored on the membrane from 0.8 to 1.

Bone Marrow-Derived CD44 Cells Migrate to Tissue-Engineered Constructs via SDF-1/CXCR4-JNK Pathway and Aid Bone Repair.

Background And Aims: Host-derived cells play crucial roles in the regeneration process of tissue-engineered constructs (TECs) during the treatment of large segmental bone defects (LSBDs). However, their identity, source, and cell recruitment mechanisms remain elusive.

Methods: A complex model was created using mice by combining methods of GFP bone marrow transplantation (GFP-BMT), parabiosis (GFP-BMT and wild-type mice), and femoral LSBD, followed by implantation of TECs or DBM scaffolds.

Free-Radical Copolymerization of Dibenzofulvene with (Meth)acrylates Leading to π-Stacked Copolymers.

Copolymerizations of dibenzofulvene (DBF) with methyl methacrylate (MMA), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), methyl acrylate (MA), and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) were conducted under free radical conditions in toluene using α,α'-azobisisobutylonitrile (AIBN) as the initiator. In the copolymerizations, DBF indicated much higher reactivity than the comonomers, and the products comprised mainly of DBF units. NMR, UV, and fluorescence spectra, as well as electrochemical features indicated that the copolymers possess both isolated and rather short, sequential (meth)acrylate units, as well as π-stacked and unstacked DBF sequences.

Nanofibrous polymeric beads from aramid fibers for efficient bilirubin removal.

Polymer based hemoperfusion has been developed as an effective therapy to remove the extra bilirubin from patients. However, the currently applied materials suffer from either low removal efficiency or poor blood compatibility. In this study, we report the development of a new class of nanofibrous absorbent that exhibited high bilirubin removal efficiency and good blood compatibility.