Polymer nanocomposite foams have received considerable attention because of their potential use in advanced applications such as bone scaffolds, food packaging, and transportation materials due to their low density and enhanced mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties compared to traditional polymer foams. In this study, silica nanofillers were used as nucleating agents and supercritical carbon dioxide as the foaming agent. The use of nanofillers provides an interface upon which CO₂ nucleates and leads to remarkably low average cell sizes while improving cell density (number of cells per unit volume). In this study, the effect of concentration, the extent of surface modification of silica nanofillers with CO₂‐philic chemical groups, and supercritical carbon dioxide process conditions on the foam morphology of poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA, were systematically investigated to shed light on the relative importance of material and process parameters. The silica nanoparticles were chemically modified with tridecafluoro‐1,1,2,2‐tetrahydrooctyl triethoxysilane leading to three different surface chemistries. The silica concentration was varied from 0.85 to 3.2% (by weight). The supercritical CO₂ foaming was performed at four different temperatures (40, 65, 75, and 85°C) and between 8.97 and 17.93 MPa. By altering the surface chemistry of the silica nanofiller and manipulating the process conditions, the average cell diameter was decreased from 9.62 ± 5.22 to 1.06 ± 0.32 μm, whereas, the cell density was increased from 7.5 ± 0.5 × 10⁸ to 4.8 ± 0.3 × 10¹¹ cells/cm³. Our findings indicate that surface modification of silica nanoparticles with CO₂‐philic surfactants has the strongest effect on foam morphology.

There is accumulating evidence that the proteins encoded by the genes associated with a common disorder interact with each other, participate in similar pathways and share GO terms. It has been anticipated that the functional modules in a disease related functional linkage network can be integrated with bibliomics to reveal association with other complex disorders. In this study, the cardiovascular disease functional linkage network (CFN) containing 1536 nodes and 3345 interactions was constructed using proteins encoded by 234 genes associated with the disease. Integration of CFN with bibliomics showed that 227 out of 566 functional modules are significantly associated with one or more diseases. Analysis of functional modules revealed the possible regulatory roles of SP1 and CXCL12 in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and modulation of their activities may be considered as potential therapeutic tools. The integration of CFN with bibliomics also indicated significant relations of CVD with other complex disorders. In a stratified map the members of 227 functional modules and 58 diseases in 15 disease classes were combined. In this map, leprosy, listeria monocytogenes, myasthenia, hemorrhagic diathesis and Protein S deficiency, which were not previously reported to be associated with CVD, showed significant associations. Several cancers arising from epithelial cells were also found to be linked to other diseases through hub proteins, VEGFA and PTGS2.

There is accumulating evidence that the proteins encoded by the genes associated with a common disorder interact with each other, participate in similar pathways and share GO terms. It has been anticipated that the functional modules in a disease related functional linkage network are informative to reveal significant metabolic processes and disease’s associations with other complex disorders. In the current study, Type 2 diabetes associated functional linkage network (T2DFN) containing 2770 proteins and 15041 linkages was constructed. The functional modules in this network were scored and evaluated in terms of shared pathways, co-localization, co-expression and associations with similar diseases. The assembly of top scoring overlapping members in the functional modules revealed that, along with the well known biological pathways, circadian rhythm, diverse actions of nuclear receptors in steroid and retinoic acid metabolisms have significant occurrence in the pathophysiology of the disease. The disease’s association with other metabolic and neuromuscular disorders was established through shared proteins. Nuclear receptor NRIP1 has a pivotal role in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, indicating the need to investigate subsequent effects of NRIP1 on Type 2 diabetes. Our study also revealed that CREB binding protein (CREBBP) and cardiotrophin-1 (CTF1) have suggestive roles in linking Type 2 diabetes and neuromuscular diseases.

Novel tetrafluoro-λ⁶-sulfanyl-containing oligomers prepared by visible light-promoted addition of 1,4-(bis-chlorotetrafluoro-λ⁶-sulfanyl) benzene or 1,3-(bis-chlorotetrafluoro-λ⁶-sulfanyl) benzene to either 1,4-diethynyl benzene or the 1,3-diethynyl isomers form hard, stress resistant thin films on spin casting. The isomeric oligomers were utilized to establish a structure-function relationship for the mechanical properties of films prepared from the oligomers. The Young’s moduli of 145-nm-thick cured films could reach 60 GPa. The measured hardnesses, between 1.57 and 2.77 GPa, were more than double those of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) films. Curing of the tetrafluoro-λ⁶-sulfanyl-containing polymer films by UV irradiation resulted in coatings that exhibited remarkable hardness and modulus with good surface adhesion to silicon.