Search

The piranha, the RCA and the half-RCA methods of cleaning semiconductor wafers are evaluated. An experiment involving a silicon, an oxide and a nitride wafer that underwent exposure to the KOH etchant at 80 degrees Celsius is presented. A secondary mass ion spectrometric instrument and the current-voltage measurement method facilitatesanalysis of the residual potassium on the wafer surface.

The year 2020 started with the emergence of novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), which causes COVID‐19 infection. Soon after the first evidence was reported in Wuhan, China, the World Health Organization declared global public health emergency and imminent need to understand the pathogenicity of the virus was required in limited time. Once the genome sequence of the virus was delineated, scientists across the world started working on the development of vaccines. Although, some laboratories have been using previously developed vaccine platforms from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) and middle east respiratory syndrome‐related coronavirus and apply them in COVID‐19 vaccines due to genetic similarities between coronaviruses. We have conducted a literature review to assess the background and current status of COVID‐19 vaccines. The worldwide implementation and strategies for COVID‐19 vaccine development are summarized from studies reported in years 2015–2020. While discussing the vaccine candidates, we have also explained interpretative immune responses of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. There are several vaccine candidates at preclinical and clinical stages; however, only 42 vaccines are under clinical trials. Therefore, more industry collaborations and financial supports to COVID‐19 studies are needed for mass‐scale vaccine development. To develop effective vaccine platforms against SARS‐CoV‐2, the genetic resemblance with other coronaviruses are being evaluated which may further promote fast‐track trials on previously developed SARS‐CoV vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcription factors (TFs), such as heat shock transcription factors (HSFs), usually play critical regulatory functions in plant development, growth, and response to environmental cues. However, no HSFs have been characterized in pineapple thus far. Here, we identified 22 AcHSF genes from the pineapple genome. Gene structure, motifs, and phylogenetic analysis showed that AcHSF families were distinctly grouped into three subfamilies (12 in Group A, seven in Group B, and four in Group C). The AcHSF promoters contained various cis-elements associated with stress, hormones, and plant development processes, for instance, STRE, WRKY, and ABRE binding sites. The majority of HSFs were expressed in diverse pineapple tissues and developmental stages. The expression of AcHSF-B4b/AcHSF-B4c and AcHSF-A7b/AcHSF-A1c were enriched in the ovules and fruits, respectively. Six genes (AcHSF-A1a, AcHSF-A2, AcHSF-A9a, AcHSF-B1a, AcHSF-B2a, and AcHSF-C1a) were transcriptionally modified by cold, heat, and ABA. Our results provide an overview and lay the foundation for future functional characterization of the pineapple HSF gene family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Suaeda glauca (S. glauca) is a halophyte widely distributed in saline and sandy beaches, with strong saline-alkali tolerance. It is also admired as a landscape plant with high development prospects and scientific research value. The S. glauca chloroplast (cp) genome has recently been reported; however, the mitochondria (mt) genome is still unexplored. Results: The mt genome of S. glauca were assembled based on the reads from Pacbio and Illumina sequencing platforms. The circular mt genome of S. glauca has a length of 474,330 bp. The base composition of the S. glauca mt genome showed A (28.00%), T (27.93%), C (21.62%), and G (22.45%). S. glauca mt genome contains 61 genes, including 27 protein-coding genes, 29 tRNA genes, and 5 rRNA genes. The sequence repeats, RNA editing, and gene migration from cp to mt were observed in S. glauca mt genome. Phylogenetic analysis based on the mt genomes of S. glauca and other 28 taxa reflects an exact evolutionary and taxonomic status of S. glauca. Furthermore, the investigation on mt genome characteristics, including genome size, GC contents, genome organization, and gene repeats of S. gulaca genome, was investigated compared to other land plants, indicating the variation of the mt genome in plants. However, the subsequently Ka/Ks analysis revealed that most of the protein-coding genes in mt genome had undergone negative selections, reflecting the importance of those genes in the mt genomes. Conclusions: In this study, we reported the mt genome assembly and annotation of a halophytic model plant S. glauca. The subsequent analysis provided us a comprehensive understanding of the S. glauca mt genome, which might facilitate the research on the salt-tolerant plant species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of percutaneous needle aspiration (PNA) and percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD) in the treatment of liver abscess. Methods: A prospective randomized study was conducted in the Department of Surgery, JN Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, UP, India, between February 2018 and August 2019, after getting approval from the institutional ethics committee. A total of 543 patients with liver abscess were randomized into two groups using computer‐generated randomization method. Appropriate details regarding patients' clinico‐demographic profile and investigations were also collected. The effectiveness of either treatment was measured in terms of duration of intravenous antibiotic, clinical improvement, reduction in the size of cavity, treatment success rate, duration of hospital stay including long‐term outcomes such as sonographic resolution of cavity and recurrence rate at 6 months post‐treatment. Results: The PCD group had statistically significant rate of duration of antibiotics need, days for clinical improvement and time for 50% reduction in abscess cavity and treatment success rate with comparable long‐term outcomes. Conclusion: PCD is more efficient than PNA and can be used primarily in the treatment of both amoebic and pyogenic liver abscesses along with systemic antibiotics. However, PNA can serve as a safe alternative when PCD is not available. This study described percutaneous catheter drainage versus percutaneous needle aspiration in liver abscess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with family history of diabetes carry nearly double the risk of diabetes than those without. However, the mechanism for this increased risk of diabetes in them is not fully understood. To study fasting and postprandial triglyceride levels in individuals with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) who had family history of diabetes and to ascertain their association with insulin resistance. Fasting triglyceride levels and HOMA-IR were compared in 671 NGT individuals with and without a family history of diabetes. A standardized fat challenge test was also done in one tenth of individuals of each group and postprandial triglyceride responses were compared between them. Association of HOMA-IR with fasting and postprandial triglyceride levels was ascertained through pearson's coefficient of correlation. Individuals with family history of diabetes had significantly higher HOMA-IR (P < 0.001) and significantly higher postprandial triglyceride AUC (P = 0.04) after standardized fat meal despite having similar fasting triglyceride levels (P = 0.51) as those without family history of diabetes. Fasting as well as postprandial triglyceride levels significantly correlated with HOMA-IR (r = 0.35, P < 0.001 and r = 0.39, P = 0.04) only in those with a positive family history of diabetes but not in those without. Triglyceride levels mediated the associations of BMI (Δ β = −0.053) and waist circumference (Δ β = −0.075) with HOMA-IR. Triglyceride levels, both in the fasting and the postprandial state are associated with insulin resistance in NGT individuals with a family history of diabetes but not in those without. • Postprandial hypertriglyceridemia in NGT individuals with family history of diabetes. • Significantly high HOMA-IR in NGT individuals with family history of diabetes (FHD). • Individuals with or without FHD have similar fasting triglyceride levels. • Positive association of FTG & PPTG levels with HOMA-IR only in those with FHD. • Triglycerides mediate association of BMI & waist with HOMA-IR in subjects with FHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]