Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains an incurable disease and lacks efficient diagnostic methods. Most AD treatments have focused on amyloid-β (Aβ) targeted therapy; however, it is time to consider the alternative theranostics due to accumulated findings of weak correlation between Aβ deposition and cognition, as well as the failures of Phase III clinical trial on Aβ targeted therapy. Recent studies have shown that the tau pathway is closely associated with clinical development of AD symptoms, which might be a potential therapeutic target. We herein construct a methylene blue (MB, a tau aggregation inhibitor) loaded nanocomposite (CeNC/IONC/MSN-T807), which not only possesses high binding affinity to hyperphosphorylated tau but also inhibits multiple key pathways of tau-associated AD pathogenesis. We demonstrate that these nanocomposites can relieve the AD symptoms by mitigating mitochondrial oxidative stress, suppressing tau hyperphosphorylation, and preventing neuronal death both in vitro and in vivo. The memory deficits of AD rats are significantly rescued upon treatment with MB loaded CeNC/IONC/MSN-T807. Our results indicate that hyperphosphorylated tau-targeted multifunctional nanocomposites could be a promising therapeutic candidate for Alzheimer's disease.

Silane-functionalized graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were synthesized by chemically grafting cmethacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTS) onto GO sheets. The resulting MPTS-functionalized GO (MPTS-GO) nanosheets were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectra, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. Bismaleimide (BMI) composites filled with GO and MPTS-GO were prepared at different filler loading levels. The study showed that the exfoliation and dispersion of graphene sheets in BMI resin were significantly improved due to the surface functionalization effect. The tensile test indicated that the MPTS-GO/BMI nanocomposites showed higher tensile strength and modulus than the neat BMI resin and GO/BMI composites. Meanwhile, the impact strength of composites was also improved. The maximum increment of the tensile strength, tensile modulus, and impact strength of MPTS-GO/BMI nanocomposites were 22.17, 33.05, and 66.64 %, respectively. The fracture surface analysis revealed that the highly dispersed MPTS-GO nanosheets could trigger large-scale plastic deformation of resin matrix.

Ether-bond-free polyfluorene (PBF) anion exchange membranes (AEMs) containing flexible alkyl pendent chains terminated with piperidinium cations were prepared via one-pot, superacid-catalyzed polycondensation and a subsequent quaternization reaction. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic microphase segregation was observed in all AEMs. The hydroxide conductivity of PBF2-Br reaches up to 86 mS cm–1 at 80 °C, and 1H NMR showed no measurable degradation after alkaline treatment in aqueous NaOH (1 M) solution for 1200 h at 80 °C. Besides, a peak power density of 410 mW cm–2 was achieved at 60 °C for an alkaline fuel cell using the selected PBF1-OH (OH– form) as AEM.

A novel variable reluctance (VR) resolver with nonoverlapping tooth-coil windings is proposed in this paper. It significantly simplifies the manufacturing process of multilayer windings in conventional products. Finite element (FE) analysis is used to illustrate the basic operating principle, followed by analytical derivation of main parameters and optimization of major dimensions, including air-gap length and slot opening width. Based on winding distributions and FE results, it is shown that identical stator and winding can be employed for a resolver with three different numbers of rotor poles. Further, other stator slot/rotor pole combinations based on the nonoverlapping tooth-coil windings are generalized. In addition, the influence of eccentricity and endwinding leakage on the proposed topology is investigated. Finally, a prototype is fabricated and tested to verify the analysis, including main parameters and electrical angle error.

A series of bismaleimide resins based on phthalide‐containing monomer have been prepared by the copolymerization reaction of 3,3‐bis[4‐(4‐maleimidophenoxy)phenyl] ‐phthalide (PPBMI), 4, 4'‐dimaleimido diphenylmethane (MBMI) and 2, 2'‐diallyl bisphenol A (DABPA) in different feed ratios. The curing behavior, thermal, mechanical and physical properties and compatibility of all resultant resins were carefully characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), notched Izod impact test, water absorption test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). DSC investigations showed that with an increase of the weight ratio of PPBMI, the dominating exothermic polymerization temperature (Tp) increased. The glass transitions were observed from DMA thermograms for the cured BMI resins in the temperature range from 277°C to 311°C and decreased with increasing PPBMI content. The TGA results indicated the thermal stability was improved as PPBMI content increased. The investigations of the mechanical properties showed a complicated trend with an increase in PPBMI content. In addition, the equilibrium water uptake of the modified resins was reduced as PPBMI content increased. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 1084‐1091, 2013