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This study aimed to evaluate the in vivo osseointegration of implants with hydrophobic antimicrobial GL13K-peptide coating in rabbit femoral condyles by micro-CT and histological analysis. Six male Japanese Rabbits (4 months old and weighing 2.5 kg each) were included in this study. Twelve implants (3.75 mm wide, 7 mm long) were randomly distributed in two groups, with six implants in the experimental group coated with GL13K peptide and six implants in the control group without surface coating. Each implant in the test and the control group was randomly implanted in the left or right side of femoral condyles. On one side randomly-selected of the femur, each rabbit received a drill that was left without implant as control for the natural healing of bone. After 3 weeks of healing radiographic evaluation of the implant sites was taken. After 6 weeks of healing, rabbits were sacrificed for evaluation of the short-term osseointegration of the dental implants using digital radiography, micro-CT and histology analysis. To perform evaluation of osseointegration, implant location and group was double blinded for surgeon and histology/radiology researcher. Two rabbits died of wound infection in sites with non-coated implants 2 weeks after surgery. Thus, at least four rabbits per group survived after 6 weeks of healing. The wounds healed without suppuration and inflammation. No implant was loose after 6 weeks of healing. Radiography observations showed good osseointegration after 3 and 6 weeks postoperatively, which proved that the tissues followed a natural healing process. Micro-CT reconstruction and analysis showed that there was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05) in volume of bone around the implant between implants coated with GL13K peptide and implants without coating. Histomorphometric analysis also showed that the mineralized bone area was no statistically different (P > 0.05) between implants coated with GL13K peptide and implants without coating. This study demonstrates that titanium dental implants with an antimicrobial GL13K coating enables in vivo implant osseointegration at similar bone growth rates than gold-standard non-coated dental implants up to 6 weeks of implantation in rabbit femurs.

Autophagy is a common physiological activity in cells. Studies show that dysregulation of autophagy is involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). As a commonly used anti-epileptic drug, valproic acid (VPA) has shown neuroprotective effects in PD. The aim of this study was to explore whether the autophagy induced by VPA involved in the neuroprotective effects in PD cell model. We found that VPA treatment counteracted MPP

We report significant improvement of the TiSi / p-SiGe contact resistance by using a cryogenic (cold) boron implantation technique inside the contact trench of FinFET devices, providing both a source of dopants and a localized amorphization of the source/drain, self-aligned on the contact trench. A record low p-type contact resistivity of 5.9×10−9 ohm-cm2 is demonstrated and a 7.5% performance improvement is achieved. The variation of the implant temperature demonstrates a further improvement of the contact resistance when going to cryogenic (cold) implantation (−100 °C). Using TCAD, we demonstrate that the reduced implant temperature provides a higher degree of amorphization and reduces defects. This is the key to provide an enhanced recrystallization of the doped amorphized region through Solid Phase Epitaxial Regrowth (SPER) low temperature activation. We propose in this paper a novel mechanism for p-type contacts, and demonstrate it for the first time on state-of-the-art FinFET p-type devices using cryogenic (cold) implants and SPER regrowth.

Low-power embedded memory and an ARM Cortex-M0 core that operate at 30 MHz were fabricated in combination with a 60-nm c-axis aligned crystalline indium-gallium-zinc oxide FET and a 65-nm Si CMOS. The embedded memory adopted a structure in which oxide semiconductor-based 1T1C cells are stacked on Si sense amplifiers. This memory achieved a standby power of 3 nW while retaining data and an active power of 11.7 µW/MHz by making each bitline as short as each sense amplifier. The M0 core adopted the flip-flop in which an oxide semiconductor-based 3T1C cell is stacked on the Si scan flip-flop cell without area overhead and achieved a standby power of 6 nW while retaining data. The combination of the embedded memory and the M0 core provided high-performance, low-power Internet of Things devices operating with a broad range of active standby power ratios.

To analyze the applied condition of ovary function suppression (OFS) before and after joint analysis of TEXT and SOFT trials and SOFT trial, and to identify the relevant factors of OFS usage.The analysis was performed in premenopausal women with hormone receptor (HR) positive breast cancer receiving surgical treatment from Apr 2013 to Oct 2015 in Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine. Adjuvant treatment strategy was made in the multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings. We analyzed the applied condition of OFS before and after joint analysis, SOFT trial and its relevant factors.Among 454 patients, 114 (25.1%) patients received OFS. Before the results of joint analysis came out, all the patients (38/38) received OFS together with tamoxifen (TAM); after the results came out, clinicians began to put OFS with exemestane into practice, among 76 patients, 41(53.9%) patients received OFS with exemestane while 35 (46.1%) patients received OFS together with TAM. Before the results of SOFT trial came out, 71 out of 310 (22.9%) patients received OFS while 43 out of 144 (29.9%) patients received OFS after that. No significant difference was found between the proportion of patients receiving OFS before and after the results of SOFT trial came out (P=0.112). Age, histological grade, pN status, Ki-67 status, molecular subtype and acceptance of chemotherapy were correlated with OFS treatment (P0.05). Age, tumor grade and pN were independent significant predictors of OFS usage.After the results of joint analysis came out, clinicians began to apply OFS with exemestane to premenopausal women with HR positive breast cancer. There is no significant difference between the proportion of patients receiving OFS before and after SOFT trial. Age, tumor grade and pN status are independent significant predictors of OFS treatment. Patients younger than 40, with histological grade Ⅱ or Ⅲ tumor and with pN1 or pN2 status are prone to receive OFS.

We present a 16-channel front-end readout board for the OpenPET electronics system. A major task in developing a nuclear medical imaging system, such as a positron emission computed tomograph (PET) or a single-photon emission computed tomograph (SPECT), is the electronics system. While there are a wide variety of detector and camera design concepts, the relatively simple nature of the acquired data allows for a common set of electronics requirements that can be met by a flexible, scalable, and high-performance OpenPET electronics system. The analog signals from the different types of detectors used in medical imaging share similar characteristics, which allows for a common analog signal processing. The OpenPET electronics processes the analog signals with Detector Boards. Here we report on the development of a 16-channel Detector Board. Each signal is digitized by a continuously sampled analog-to-digital converter (ADC), which is processed by a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to extract pulse height information. A leading edge discriminator creates a timing edge that is "time stamped" by a time-to-digital converter (TDC) implemented inside the FPGA. This digital information from each channel is sent to an FPGA that services 16 analog channels, and then information from multiple channels is processed by this FPGA to perform logic for crystal lookup, DOI calculation, calibration, etc.

For 3D IC application, The thickness of micro joint is basically smaller than that in the conventional joint. IMCs can easily occupy micro joints during assembling or operation and then dominate the properties of micro joint. It is predicted that IMCs are going to be utilized as structural materials in near submicron-scale micro joint in these few years. The micromechanical behavior of IMCs is the important criterion to evaluate the suitability of IMCs as structural material in micro joints. In this study, the micromechanical behaviors of single crystalline IMCs generally formed in micro joints was conducted by micropillar compression. The failure mode of single-crystalline Cu6Sn5 and Ni3Sn4 are cleavage, however, the in-situ images and cross-section view showed that both Cu6Sn5 and Ni3Sn4 still preformed plastic deformation before failure, however, both Cu6Sn5 and Ni3Sn4 somehow plastically deformed through slip along the certain crystallographic direction on certain crystallographic planes. Most importantly, Ni3Sn4 can withstand a large amount of plastic deformation strain by compression which is more than 4 % in certain orientation. In comparison of these two IMCs, Ni3Sn4 showed the better mechanical performance including yield strength, strain to yield, failure strength, strain to failure and Young's modulus than Cu6Sn5. Thus, Ni3Sn4 has higher toughness and should be more promising to use as structure materials of 3D IC micro joints.

To explore the metabolic characteristics of lethal bradycardia induced by myocardial ischemia in rat's serum.A rat myocardial ischemia-bradycardia-sudden cardiac death （MI-B-SCD） model was established, which was compared with the sham-operation group. The metabolic profile of postmortem serum was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry （GC-MS）, coupled with the analysis of serum metabolic characteristics using metabolomics strategies.The serum metabolic profiles were significantly different between the MI-B-SCD rats and the control rats. Compared to the control rats, the MI-B-SCD rats had significantly higher levels of lysine, ornithine, purine, serine, alanine, urea and lactic acid; and significantly lower levels of succinate, hexadecanoic acid, 2-ketoadipic acid, glyceraldehyde, hexendioic acid and octanedioic acid in the serum. There were some correlations among different metabolites.There is obvious metabolic alterations in the serum of MI-B-SCD rat. Both lysine and purine have a high value in diagnosing MI-B-SCD. The results are expected to provide references for forensic and clinical applications of prevention and control of sudden cardiac death.

To identify the sensitive scales and the early change of nerve conduction for chronic oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (OXLIPN), and to investigate correlation between the symptoms of acute OXLIPN and chronic OXLIPN.Between December 2014 and August 2015, 16 colorectal cancer patients confirmed by pathology, from department of Oncology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, scheduled to receive XELOX, completed the acute neurotoxic symptoms questionnaire at the end of 1 cycles and the scales of TNSc and NCI-CTC at the baseline and the end of 4 cycles. Nerve conduction studies (bilateral peroneal nerves and sural nerves) were performed in 11 patients at the baseline and the end of 4 cycles.After chemotherapy, TNSc increased 1-9 points for all cases, while NCI-CTC increased 1 point for only 9 cases, the remaining 7 cases had the same NCI-CTC score before and after chemotherapy, where TNSc increased 1-6 points. Left sural nerve a-SNAP (amplitude of sensory nerve action potential) was (15.3±5.8)μV before chemotherapy and(12.3±5.0)μV after chemotherapy. Right sural nerve a-SNAP was (17.4±8.6)μV before chemotherapy and (13.3±6.7)μV after chemotherapy. After chemotherapy, these datum were significantly reduced for left peroneal nerve distal and proximal a-CMAP (amplitude of compound muscle action potential), bilateral sural nerve a-SNAP and left sural nerve SCV (sensory conduction velocity) (P0.05). After chemotherapy, TNSc was correlated significantly with the acute neurotoxic symptoms questionnaire (Spearman r=0.698, P=0.003).TNSc is more sensitive to the severity and changes in chronic OXLIPN than NCI-CTC. Sural nerve a-SNAP has a higher sensitivity for the early changes of nerve conduction studies in chronic OXLIPN. Patients who have more symptoms of acute OXLIPN are those who eventually develop more severe chronic OXLIPN.

The time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) reliability performance of back-end-of-line (BEOL) structures has been demonstrated to obviously correlate with the surface roughness of Cu metal line. Larger Cu surface roughness could induce the cracking of metal capping layer and the degradation of TDDB. More ultra-low k (ULK) polishing amount and higher de-ionized water (DIW) dilute ratio post-Cu chemical mechanical polishing (Cu-CMP) chemical cleaning process have been developed to reduce Cu surface roughness for better TDDB performance read-out. An optimized post-cleaning process with adjusted brush gap condition has been demonstrated to eliminate microscratch level with the improvements of the yield of Cu wide line serpent open test structures and TDDB performance at 28nm technology node.

In order to separate the effects of a specific microbial species (Pseudomonas) in sea water on carbon steel, a comparative study of the corrosion and mechanical properties of AISI 1045 carbon steel in natural sea water, sterile sea water and Pseudomonas inoculated sea water was carried out using tensile testing, mass loss experiments and microscopy. The results of mass loss showed that the corrosion rate of the specimens in the single Pseudomonas system was faster than that in sterile sea water but slower than in natural sea water. Microscopy revealed that a loose corrosion product layer formed on the surface of carbon steel, and micropitting corrosion occurred underneath the corrosion product. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis of this deposit indicated that iron and oxygen were the main components, and a large amount of carbon, which most likely originated from the bacteria and its exopolymer, could also be detected. The tensile strength of carbon steel was reduced by the action of Pseudomonas, bu...

An advanced in situ pre-contact dry cleaning process with fluorine species has been comprehensively investigated to effectively remove the native oxide on the top surface of Ni-salicide layer for ensuring lower contact resistance (Rc) without the drawbacks, including the clipping of contact top opening, the formation of by-product re-deposition and severe Ni-salicide loss, of the conventional argon ion bombardment process. In this study, two kinds of in situ dry cleaning approaches, called saturation and low etch rate (LER) modes, have been evaluated to further reduce Rc and prevent the contact to poly short issue as keeping contact size scaling down to 28nm node. The Rc reduction of ~40% at 45nm and no contact to poly short issue at 28nm contact design rules can be simultaneously demonstrated by implementing optimized in situ saturation and LER dry cleaning conditions.

A through-silicon-via (TSV) chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process with three polishing steps, including Cu polishing, Cu barrier/isolation layers polishing and dielectric SiN stop layer polishing, has been proposed to form the [email protected] deep with [email protected] diameter size via-middle TSV structures at 28nm technology node. The integrated process optimizations of pre-TSV CMP anneal and electrochemical deposition (ECD) of Cu have been evaluated to enlarge TSV CMP process window and prevent the formations of the Cu extrusion and voids post-back-end-of-line (BEOL) processes. Less than 150A of within wafer and within lot inter-layer dielectric (ILD) mapping thickness range control and less than 100A Cu extrusion level without voids post-TSV capping layer deposition can be achieved as implementing 400^oC for 10min pre-TSV CMP annealing condition and uniform TSV ECD profile electroplated in less impurity chemical solution.

The replacement metal gate (RMG) height range and defectivity (fall on particle, Al residue, corrosion and micro-scratch) performance controls are very challenging for high-k metal gate (HKMG) RMG chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) processes. In this study, a robust aluminum metal CMP (Al-CMP) process development was investigated to meet the criteria of RMG at 28nm technology node. The Al metal gate height loss post-Al-CMP was found to increase with increasing the total area and pattern density of metal gates. Adding at least one extra ghost metal gate dummy structure on both sides of each metal gate and optimizing the metal gate dummy structure can effectively eliminate the metal gate height loss. Furthermore, implementing a real-time profile control (RTPC) end-point detecting system with lower down force polishing condition can further reduce the Al metal gate height loss and range levels. The defectivity issues of the microscratches and fall on particles can be fixed by using a soft pad with chemical wafer buff process on the final Al-CMP polishing step.

Two new zinc(II) complexes, [ZnBr2L1] (I) and [ZnBr2L2] (II), where L1 is 2-[(2-isopropylaminoethylimino)methyl]-5-methoxyphenol and L2 is N,N-dimethyl-N′-(1-pyridin-2-yl-ethylidene)ethane-1,2-diamine, were prepared and characterized using elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. In complex I, the Zn(II) atom is coordinated by one phenolic O and one imino N atoms of L1 and two Br atoms, forming a tetrahedral coordination geometry. In complex II, the Zn(II) atom is in a trigonal bipyramidal coordination geometry with the equatorial plane formed by the imino N atom of L2 and two Br atoms and with the two axial positions occupied by one pyridine N and one amino N atoms of L2. In the crystal structure of I, the mononuclear zinc complex molecules are linked through intermolecular N-H…O and N-H…Br hydrogen bonds, forming chains running along the y axis. The chains are further linked via intermolecular C-H…Br hydrogen bonds. In the crystal structure of II, the mononuclear zinc complex molecules are linked through intermolecular C-H…Br hydrogen bonds, forming a 3D network.

Transition from oxide gates to replacement metal gates is well underway and performance benefits have been demonstrated in state-of-the-art microprocessors. High-K/metal gate combination is important for all emerging new applications that require high-performance and low gate-leakage including all silicon and non-silicon nanoelectronic transistors. Picosecond ultrasonic measurements are used as checkpoints during various stages of development and integration of high-K/metal gate. The small spot, non-destructive nature of this technology allows for measurements directly on product wafers and on various line array structures in small measurement sites ([email protected]@mm). The technique has shown excellent correlation with cross-section TEM, demonstrating capability for monitoring advanced gate stacks. Picosecond ultrasonics provides high-throughput and can be used for in-line monitoring after the process is transferred to high volume manufacturing.

The situation of career identity and job satisfaction among young hospital pharmacists in Guangdong, China was investigated. A mail-based questionnaire was sent to young hospital pharmacists in Guangdong, China. The questionnaire was designed to obtain information regarding demographic characteristics, career identity and job satisfaction. Pharmacists who were under 35 years old were defined as young pharmacists. Data were analyzed using SAS software. Of the 625 questionnaires mailed, 619 questionnaires, returned from 14 hospitals in Guangdong, were completed and suitable for analysis. Regarding career identity, only about 22% of young pharmacists thought pharmacists have high social status. Less than half of respondents felt pride when they were introduced as pharmacist in social activity. Only about 28% of respondents expected to obtain professional achievement. Only about 11% of respondents would not change profession had they got more work pay from other jobs. Regarding job satisfaction, about 90% of respondents were satisfied with their working environment, utilization of skills and promotion. About 76% of young hospital pharmacists were satisfied with their work pay. The authors concluded that, although the young hospital pharmacists in Guangdong province, China were satisfied with their current job on the whole, they showed low career identity. Key words: Career, hospital pharmacists, job satisfaction, China.

For the reduction of the manufacturing cost, a high deposition rate of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film in fabrication is very important. Thus high plasma density and low process temperature deposition technique is keen to develop. Another issue of a-Si:H thin film uses plasma enhanced CVD which causes plasma damage to the film. We use electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECRCVD) to deposit a-Si:H layers with varying microwave power, magnetic field, and hydrogen dilution. The major advantages of ECRCVD are high deposition rate and remote plasma zone that can avoid surface damage. A high deposition rate more than 2 nm/sec was developed by ECRCVD. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is used for measuring the microstructure factor (R*) to interpret the effects of microwave power, magnetic field, and hydrogen dilution.

The electronic and optical properties of monolayer and bilayer graphene are investigated to verify the effects of interlayer interactions and external magnetic field. Monolayer graphene exhibits linear bands in the low-energy region. Then the interlayer interactions in bilayers change these bands into two pairs of parabolic bands, where the lower pair is slightly overlapped and the occupied states are asymmetric with respect to the unoccupied ones. The characteristics of zero-field electronic structures are directly reflected in the Landau levels. In monolayer and bilayer graphene, these levels can be classified into one and two groups, respectively. With respect to the optical transitions between the Landau levels, bilayer graphene possesses much richer spectral features in comparison with monolayers, such as four kinds of absorption channels and double-peaked absorption lines. The explicit wave functions can further elucidate the frequency-dependent absorption rates and the complex optical selection rules. These numerical calculations would be useful in identifying the optical measurements on graphene layers.

In order to realize the high performance of RC delay, direct polished porous type ultra low-K film (ULK) is integrated into Cu dual-damascene interconnects for 45 nm and beyond. In the past, metal line seems not an important role in the world of TDDB. However, because of the minimized feature size and the relative fragile ULK film properties, it was found that the Cu roughness of polished surface also plays an important role to effect on the reliability such as TDDB from this generation. Post-cleaning of Cu CMP is a major process to manage the Cu surface roughness. In this paper, the correlation for post-cleaning time to the TDDB was discussed. The mechanism with two models was built up to explain this behavior as well.

In this paper, the electrical failure is analyzed in failure map of 28nm logic pattern wafer. As CD shrinks to 28nm and beyond, the contact metallization face poor gap fill of tungsten and low process win tolerance, is like erosion and within-wafer uniformity. The poor interconnection between metal copper via and contact tungsten via of failure include metal1 (M1) Cu bridge and metal1 open. The M1 bridge is induced by large erosion at high contact via density. Another M1 open is induced by W recess at iso via. A novel non-selective slurry buff process provide non-selective removal speciality and splendid uniformity to reduce erosion and recess, are less than 50A to meet 28nm technology node and beyond.

This study shows that a spatially modulated sinusoidal electric field can significantly tune the magneto-absorption spectra of a graphene ribbon. The pattern of absorption spectra evolves with the amplitude of electric potential (V0). When V0 is weaker than the state energy of the first Landau level, E1, the modulated electric field not only changes the peak intensity and peak position of the absorption lines, but also generates new peaks. These additional peaks follow the unusual optical selection rule. When V0 is stronger than E1, the intensity of original peaks, induced by the uniform magnetic field, shrinks, and an anomalous lowest peak appears. Most importantly, the energy position of the first peak strongly depends on both the amplitude of the electric potential and the strength of the magnetic field. These characteristics can be used to modulate the threshold frequency of the magneto-absorption spectra.

Inactivation of E scherichia coli and B acillus subtilis using the jet region of a parallel-plate air dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) driven by a distorted sinusoidal voltage power supply under atmospheric-pressure condition is reported. Various types of working gases, including pure N 2 , pure O 2 , and compressed air, were tested. Discharges were characterized electrically by measuring the discharge current, applied voltage and absorbed power, and optically by measuring the optical emission spectra in the UV–visible range and absorption spectra in the IR range. Results of survival rate show that both E. coli and B. subtilis cells (up to 10 7 CFU/mL) can be effectively inactivated using less than 18 passes (1.8 s of residence time in total) of exposure to the post-discharge jet region of compressed air and oxygen discharges at different treating distances in the range of 4–20 mm. Among these, the compressed-air discharge performs the best in inactivating both two types of the bacterial cells, because of the abundant ozone generation and probably through the assistance of nitrous oxide generated in the discharge. In summary, the post-discharge jet region of an oxygen-contained parallel-plate DBD driven by a distorted sinusoidal voltage power driven is very effective in inactivating both E. coli and B. subtilis cells under the present test conditions.

The neuronal repellent SLIT2 is repressed in a number of cancer types primarily through promoter hypermethylation. SLIT2, however, has not been studied in prostate cancer. Through genome-wide location analysis we identified SLIT2 as a target of Polycomb group (PcG) protein EZH2. The EZH2-containing Polycomb repressive complexes bound to the SLIT2 promoter inhibiting its expression. SLIT2 was down-regulated in a majority of metastatic prostate tumors exhibiting a negative correlation with EZH2. This repressed expression could be restored by methylation inhibitors or EZH2-suppressing compounds. In addition, a low level of SLIT2 expression was associated with aggressive prostate, breast and lung cancers. Functional assays showed that SLIT2 inhibited prostate cancer cell proliferation and invasion. Thus, this study demonstrated for the first time epigenetic silencing of SLIT2 in prostate tumors, and supported SLIT2 as a potential biomarker for aggressive solid tumors. Importantly, PcG-mediated repression may serve as a precursor for the silencing of SLIT2 by DNA methylation in cancer.

We have performed magnetoresistance measurements on a Si delta-doped GaAs single quantum well. With increasing temperature T , a crossover from negative magnetoresistance (NMR) to positive magnetoresistance (PMR) can be observed. Our experimental results suggest that such a crossover corresponds to a transition from variable range hopping regime to activated electron transport. This is also consistent with the measured non-monotonic carrier density dependence on T .

The low energy magnetoelectronic structures for a nanographene ribbon under modulated magnetic fields are investigated through the Peierls tight-binding model. They are dominated by the field strength, period, phase, the ribbon width, and edge structure. The modulated magnetic field could add state degeneracy, modify energy dispersions, alter subband spacings, affect carrier-density distributions, create additional band-edge states, and extend the partial flat bands. The main features of energy bands are directly reflected in density of states, such as the position, the height, the structure, and the number of the prominent peaks. These results are compared with a zigzag ribbon under a uniform magnetic field. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Iris lactea is a perennial herbaceous plant that is rapidly gaining popularity in gardens and for vegetation regeneration in its native northern China. However, its seeds have a high level of apparent dormancy with seedling emergence percentages being 60%. Increased soil temperatures not only raised emergence percentages but also shortened the emergence period. However, there were no significant differences in the soil thermal-time requirements for seedling emergence. A second-order polynomial function model was used to describe the correlation between seedling emergence and soil thermal time. The use of a clear film cover is recommended to protect I. lactea seedlings in early April, and to ensure better establishment and survival of the young plants before the onset of cold weather in the autumn.

Rs1046AB is a dominant genic male sterile (DGMS) Brassica napus line derived from Yi-3A. Until now the molecular mechanism of its male sterility is still unknown. In this paper, cytological observations demonstrated that all cells in sterile plants contained condensed nuclei at the beginning stage of meiosis; this implied that meiotic cells were degenerating. Although 31% (93/300) cells escaped from the state of nuclei condensation in buds about 3 mm in length (in such length, normal plants are at tetrade stage), no cells could pass the pachytene stage. Then pachytene-or zygotene-like chromatin/chromosomes sometimes congregated into two or more groups with different size, which resulted in the formation of micronuclei. A nucleoplasmic bridge could also be found in some meiotic cells. Even when the “microspore’s analogue” appeared in sterile buds about 4 mm in length (in such length, mature pollens could be detected in normal buds), the nuclei condensation and escaped cells with a pachytene-like chromosome still could be found in the sterile anthers. So it could be concluded that male sterility was caused by meiotic abnormality. According to our previous research, four genes related to cell cycle/DNA processing were identified in fertile plants. RT-PCR further confirmed that three DNA repair genes were partially or completely repressed in the sterile plants and were only expressed in the early stage fertile flower buds, i.e., the buds

The effects of the modulated magnetic field on one dimension at energy bands of nanographite ribbons are investigated by the Peierls tight-binding model. Electronic properties strongly depend on the strength and the period of the modulated magnetic field, the ribbon width, and the edge structure. The modulated magnetic field could destroy state degeneracy, modify energy dispersions, alter subband spacings, affect wave functions, create additional band-edge states, and cause semiconductor–metal transitions. The main features of energy bands are directly reflected in density of states, such as the number, the positions, the heights, and divergent structures of the prominent peaks.

The success of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation depends in part on the accuracy of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching between the donor-recipient pair. The higher the number of matching HLA alleles, the smaller the chance that the transplant recipient will develop complications. Umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation was noted to result in a remarkably low frequency and severity of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and graft rejection compared to that in unrelated bone marrow transplant recipients. At present most banks match UCB donors for respective recipients by HLA-A, -B low-resolution typing and -DRB1 high-resolution typing. We retrospectively conducted high-resolution sequence-based HLA typing on DNA samples available from 65 Chinese UCB-recipient pairs typed previously by using low-resolution sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes and sequence-specific primers, and evaluated the clinical outcome. High-resolution typing revealed imperceptible HLA alleles that were hardly identified in low-resolution typing. Univariate analyses demonstrated no significant correlation between the extents of high-resolution HLA disparity with engraftment, graft failure, acute GvHD, transplant-related mortality and long-term 6-year overall survival. Data from the study suggest that high-resolution typing for HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 contributed no substantial improvement to UCB transplant outcome. Low-resolution typing appears to be amenable to matching UCB-recipient pairs without compromising the quality of transplant.

To define the nature and incidence of minor anomalies in Chinese newborn infants and to evaluate the validity of the hypothesis that infants with three or more minor surface anomalies will also have a major malformation.A total of 3,345 Chinese newborn infants were examined based on a list of 67 items of minor anomalies.About 44.9% of the newborn infants had at least one minor anomaly that was unrelated to gender, maternal age, or gestational age, but significantly associated with fetal presentation. Breech-presented newborn infants had double the risk of minor anomalies. Simian crease, upward slant and frontal bossing could be considered normal variants for Chinese newborn infants, because the incidence of each was higher than 4%.Although some studies have shown that approximately 90% of infants having three or more minor anomalies are associated with a major malformation, we found only a 10.1% predictive value based on this study. Nevertheless, we suggest that infants with three or more minor anomalies be carefully evaluated for the possibility of major malformation in order to provide early management.

A rat model of ventilation-induced lung injury (VILI) during anesthesia was generated to investigate the potential role and possible mechanism of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and recombinant human keratinocyte growth factor-2 (rhKGF-2) in protecting anesthetized rats against VILI. A total of 50 male SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (N = 10 each): control, VILI, IL-10, rhKGF-2, and IL-10 + rhKGF-2. The VILI (model) group was generated via ventilation, with a tidal volume of 20 mL/kg. Rats in the IL-10 and rhKGF-2 groups received 8 mg/kg IL-10 and 5 mg/kg rhKGF-2, respectively, prior to ventilation. The rats in the IL-10 + rhKGF-2 group received both 8 mg/kg IL-10 and 5 mg/kg rhKGF-2 72 h before ventilation. The total number of nucleated cells and neutrophils in the bronchial alveolar lavage fluid was quantified, and the pathological changes in the pulmonary tissues examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The transcript and protein levels of surfactant protein C (SP-C) in lung tissues were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses. The SP-C mRNA expression in both IL-10 and rhKGF-2 groups was similar to that in the VILI group. However, this was significantly elevated in the combined treatment group (P < 0.05), indicating that IL-10 and rhKGF-2 could synergistically protect the lung tissue from VILI via the enhancement of SP-C mRNA expression in lung tissues. The protein assay showed a decreased level of infiltration and activation of inflammatory cells, in addition to increased expression of SP-C, thereby confirming the efficacy of this treatment in preventing VILI during anesthesia.

This paper presents a comparative study of three multi-function three-phase inverters, which include three-phase three-wire full-bridge (FB) inverter, three-phase four-wire half-bridge (HB) inverter and neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter. Each inverter is controlled by the division-summation (D-Σ) digital control and the control law for each inverter is derived in short. The comparison among these inverters is based on the criteria of common-mode voltage (CMV) issue for a PV system, component stress/count, efficiency, application and control complexity. Moreover, operation in both grid-connection and rectification modes are considered in the comparison. Experimental results measured from the inverters are included for performance evaluation.

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is the backbone in an e-business framework and is a process-oriented business management paradigm. An implementation of an ERP system can achieve “real-time” and “integration”. The staffs with manipulation skills of an ERP system are thus demanded for enterprises. E-learning are increasingly widespread by using information and telecommunication technologies. Therefore, this study develops a Moodle-based e-learning framework, consisting of a Moodle learning management system with a mobile learning (m-learning) solution and Web 2.0 applications (such as Wiki), and a proposed planning template of an e-learning content development for manipulation skill training of an ERP system. This study exhibits an implementation demo of the proposed framework, and indicating that (1) the used Moodle LMS can support e-learning and m-learning well, (2) an e-learning content (HTML5 format) created by the proposed template can be easily delivered to a Web and mobile devices. In future work, this study will integrate the proposed framework with a flipped classroom approach for ERP courses in a University. A statistical questionnaire analysis method will be performed to verify that the proposed framework can efficiently acquire the manipulation skills of an ERP system for learners.

The control of gate height uniformity, especially within-die gate height uniformity, and metal gate surface properties of 14nm technology node replacement metal gate (RMG) chemical mechanical polishing is important for 14nm high-k metal gate (HKMG) process. Good within-die uniformity would benefit for the following Tungsten etching back process(WEB) to have a uniform within-die etching depth, and proper post CMP Tungsten gate surface properties would generate a thinner Tungsten oxide surface to reduce WEB process loading. This study demonstrated the possibility of Tungsten gate CMP(WGCMP) to obtain good within-die gate height uniformity by selection of slurry and proper Tungsten gate surface by post buffing step CMP treatment. Due to high hardness of Tungsten, hardness of polishing pad and abrasive of slurry selection should be not a gap for micro scratch improvement, what the performance focus would put on within-die uniformity and post CMP Tungsten surface properties. In this study, the first result showed the control of erosion was important for within-die gate height uniformity. The criteria of slurry selection for WGCMP were higher Tungsten removal rate and lower oxide removal rate which especially resulted in lower pattern density area of erosion. And the second result showed Chemical-A polish time of post-Tungsten buffing CMP would dominate the Tungsten surface properties and influence WEB behavior.

For 3D IC application, solder volume in micro joint is much smaller than in the conventional joint. IMCs can easily occupied micro joints and dominate the properties of micro joint. Thus, it is anticipated that IMCs are to be used as structural materials in commercial scale in a few years. However, mechanical property data for reliability modelling are lacking. To characterize mechanical properties of IMCs becomes an urgent issue. In this study, we investigated the micromechanical behaviors of single crystalline IMCs generally formed in micro joints. Testing structures were produced by focused ion beam machining and subsequently tested by picoindenter in SEM which can simultaneously observe the sequence of failure of test structure. Our results are helpful on understanding the fracture modelling of IMCs.

Background Bismuth salts are not available worldwide. It remains unknown whether clarithromycin can replace bismuth salts as an adjuvant agent in the rescue regimens for Helicobacter pylori infection. We therefore designed the prospective study to compare the efficacies of two rescue therapies for H. pylori infection after standard triple therapies. Patients and methods Ninety-three patients who failed H. pylori eradication using proton pump inhibitor plus clarithromycin and amoxicillin were randomly assigned to undergo rescue therapy with esomeprazole, clarithromycin, tetracycline and metronidazole (ECTM group, n = 46) or esomeprazole, bismuth subcitrate, tetracycline and metronidazole (EBTM group, n = 47). Follow-up endoscopy was performed at 8 weeks after the end of treatment to assess the treatment response. Results Intention-to-treat analysis demonstrated both groups had similar eradication rates (ECTM 74% vs. EBTM 77%; P = 0·76) and drug compliance (ECTM 94% vs. EBTM 96%; P = 0·68). However, the frequency of adverse events in the ECTM group was higher than that in EBTM group (ECTM 57% vs. EBTM 36%, P = 0·05). In the EBTM group, eradication rate of metronidazole-resistant strains was lower than that of metronidazole-susceptible strains (67%[8/12] vs. 100%[9/9], P = 0·05). However, eradication rates were similar between metronidazole-susceptible and metronidazole-resistant strains in ECTM group (69%[9/13] vs. 70%[7/10], P = 1·00). Conclusions The new ECTM second-line therapy can achieve similar eradication rate as standard EBTM therapy. It may be very useful in countries where bismuth salts are not available.

N-acetyltransferases (NATs) are recognized to play a key role in the primary step of arylamine compounds metabolism. Polymorphic NAT is coded for rapid or slow acetylators, which are being thought to involve cancer risk related to environmental exposure. Berberine has been shown to induce apoptosis and affect NAT activity in human leukemia cells. The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not berberine could affect arylamine NAT activity and gene expression (NAT mRNA) and the levels of NAT protein in mouse leukemia cells (L 1210). N-acetylated and non-N-acetylated AF were determined and quantited by using high performance liquid chromatography. NAT mRNA was determined and quantited by using RT-PCR. The levels of NAT protein were examined by western blotting and determined by using flow cytometry. Berberine displayed a dose-dependent inhibition to cytosolic NAT activity and intact mice leukemia cells. Time-course experiments indicated that N-acetylation of AF measured from intact mice leukemia cells were inhibited by berberine for up to 24 h. The NAT1 mRNA and NAT proteins in mouse leukemia cells were also inhibited by berberine. This report is the first demonstration, which showed berberine affect mice leukemia cells NAT activity, gene expression (NAT1 mRNA) and levels of NAT protein.

Copper(II) complex with piperidine-4-carboxylic acid (HPipe-4), Cu(HPipe-4)4(ClO4)2 (I) was prepared and characterized by IR, X-ray diffraction, and thermal analysis. The crystal is orthorhombic with space group Ccca, Z = 8, a =17.415(3) A, b =17.399(2) A, c = 21.426(3) A. The copper atom has a square surrounding and is coordinated by four carboxylato oxygen atoms in monodentate coordination mode. Full-matrix least-squares refinements gave a final R value of 0.0723 for 22169 reflections. The complex consists of two perpendicularly arranged molecules differing slightly in conformations and shows a three-dimensional polymeric structure formed by hydrogen bonds.

The demand of high speed and miniaturization of electronic components results in increased power dissipation requirement for thermal management. In this work, the effects of porosity ( e ), pore density (PPI) and air velocity on the heat-transfer characteristics of aluminum-foam heat sinks are investigated experimentally. The phenomenon of non-local thermal equilibrium (NLTE) is also observed and reported. Results show that the Nu increases as the pore density increases, due to the fact that aluminum foam with a larger pore density has a larger heat-transfer area. The Nusselt number also increases with the increase of porosity due to the same reason. It is noted that temperatures of the solid and gas phases of the aluminum foam decrease as Reynolds number increases, caused by the increased convective heat-transfer rate at higher Reynolds number. The deduced temperature difference between the solid and gas phases clearly indicates the existence of non-local thermal equilibrium condition within the aluminum-foam heat sink. The increase of the porosity and the pore density enhances the phenomenon of non-local thermal equilibrium. The temperature difference increases with the decrease of Reynolds number and the distance away from the heat source.

We introduce a new geometric notion, collapsing indicator, to describe the collapsing phenomena of complete Riemannian manifolds with a lower sectional curvature bound. By investigating the theory of pointed Gromov-Hausdorff convergence and the results developed by Fukaya, Yamaguchi and Otsu, we will also show a fibration theorem.

Effects of material feed rate, water addition amount, screw speed and sets of kneading elements on sweet bread dough handling properties and bread qualities were studied by Response Surface Methodology in twin screw extrusion. Results showed that dough stickiness was significantly affected by water addition amount and screw speed (p < 0.001, R2 = 0.9227). Firmness of bread crumb and spread ratio, which is an index for bread appearance, were both significantly affected by water addition amount, screw speed, and sets of kneading elements (p < 0.001, R2 = 0.8940; p < 0.001, R2 = 0.8884). The optimal conditions for sweet bread dough processing are water addition amount ranging from 45 to 50 %, screw speed ranging from 180 to 280 min−1, with material feed rate and kneading element set fixed at 40 min−1 and ten, respectively.

The complete nucleotide sequence of a Chinese isolate of tobacco bushy top virus (TBTV), designated TBTV-Ch, was determined from cDNA generated from double-stranded RNA extracted from diseased tobacco. The genome is 4152 nucleotides (nt) in size, contains four putative open reading frames (ORFs) and untranslated regions of 10 nt and 645 nt at the 5' and 3' ends, respectively. In genome organization and in the amino acid sequence of its potential products, the RNA of TBTV-Ch is similar to other umbraviruses sequenced to date. The results suggested that TBTV should be regarded as a definitive species of the genus Umbravirus.

In this letter, we have demonstrated that cryogenic implant in the source and drain formation offers advantages for reducing the threshold voltage mismatch in pMOSFET. A discrete dopant profiling method is used to verify the presence of boron out-diffusion from the drain, which further induces the random dopant fluctuation. Results show that this boron out-diffusion can be greatly reduced in this new process. Two major factors in improving the device variability by cryogenic implant are discussed, i.e., the polysilicon grain size control and the embedded-SiGe dislocation defect reduction during source and drain formation.

This study successfully demonstrates 50-80% NiSi defect reduction and P-FET 3% leakage improvement using Pt(10at.%) additive for 28nm node silicide process. Additionally, this study also discovers that lower thermal budget is required for getting same thick NiSi and better NiSi Rs distribution with higher concentration of Pt additive.

Through numerical spectral analysis and an experimental verification program, this paper studies the dynamic responses of three commonly used specimens (i.e. 150 × 150 × 150 mm cubes, Ф150 × 300 mm cylinders and Ф100 × 100 mm drilled cores) under elastic impacts in an effort to find a more convenient and efficient way to obtain the actual one- and three-dimensional P-wave speeds of concrete by applying impact-echo tests. It is found from the spectral analysis that the apparent P-wave speeds of the cylinder, cube and core are 99.2%, 91.1% and 94.9% of the theoretical one-dimensional P-wave speed of concrete, respectively. The average apparent P-wave speed of the cubes obtained from the experiment is found to be 90.5% of that of the cylinders, which is almost equal to the theoretical value 91.1% obtained from the spectral analysis. It is also found that reasonable impact durations have no influence on the predominant frequencies of the response spectra of the specimens.

Current body mass index (BMI) norms for children and adolescents are developed from a reference population that includes obese and slim subjects. The validity of these norms is influenced by the observed secular increase in body weight and BMI. We hypothesized that the performance of children in health-related physical fitness tests would be negatively related to increased BMIs, and therefore fitness tests might be used as criteria for developing a more appropriate set of BMI norms. We evaluated the existing data from a nation-wide fitness survey for students in Taiwan (444 652 boys and 433 555 girls) to examine the relationship between BMI and fitness tests. The fitness tests used included: an 800/1600-m run/walk; a standing long jump; bent-leg curl-ups; and a sit-and-reach test. The BMI percentiles developed from the subgroup whose test scores were better than the 'poor' quartile in all four tests were compared with those of the whole population and linked to the adult criteria for overweight and obesity. The BMIs were significantly related to the results of fitness testing. A total of 43% of students had scores better than the poorest quartile in all of their tests. The upper BMI percentile curves of this fitter subgroup were lower than those of the total population. The 85th and 95th BMI percentile values of the fitter 18-year-old-students (23.7 and 25.5 kg m(-2) for boys; 22.6 and 24.6 kg m(-2) for girls) linked well with the adult cut-off points of 23 and 25 kg m(-2), which have been recommended as the Asian criteria for adult overweight and obesity. Hence, the BMI norms for children and adolescents could be created from selected subgroups that have better physical fitness. We expect that the new norms based on this approach will be used not only to assess the current status of obesity or overweight, but also to encourage activity and exercise.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether vitamin D receptor (VDR) genes BsmI polymorphisms were markers for susceptibility to or severity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Chinese patients in Taiwan. The study included 47 Chinese patients with SLE. In addition, 90 unrelated, healthy individuals living in central Taiwan served as control subjects. Each polymorphism was detected as a result of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based restriction analysis. A PCR product length was determined to be 580 bp (BB) whereas two fragments of 405 and 175 bp were determined to be excisable lengths (bb) by BsmI endonuclease. The relationship between Bsm polymorphisms and clinical manifestations of SLE was evaluated. We found that BB was significantly more common and bb less common in SLE than in control group (w2 54.2, P 0.0001). In addition, the frequency of B allele was also significantly more common in patients with SLE than in the healthy control subjects (w2 38.7, P 0.0001), giving an odds ratio of 7.14 (95% confidence interval 3.53–14.4). In the SLE patients, we did not detect any associations of VDR genotype with the clinical, laboratory profiles, or lupus nephritis (w2 2.34, P 0.3). This study indicated an increased distribution of VDR BB genotype and B allelic frequencies in the Chinese SLE patients in Taiwan. However, there were no associationsbetween the frequency of VDR allelic variations and clinical manifestations, laboratory profiles, or lupus nephritis.