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Presents a study that determined the chemical constituents present on the surface of small poly-silicon features that were etched in a chlorine plasma. Radio frequency biasing of the sample; Enhancement of anisotropic etching; Detection of monolayer coverages of chlorine and silicon dioxide on the sides of the photoresist mask.

A high frequency millimeter-wave voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) has been designed, manufactured and tested in InP single heterojunction bipolar transistor technology. The fully integrated fundamental differential VCO features high operating frequency up to 80 GHz with low phase noise about -118 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset and 5% tuning range. The VCO consumes only 95-mW power at a power supply of -5 V, while providing -2 dBm single-ended output power and 1 dBm for differential output power. The die size is 0.28 mm2. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this letter a MMIC differential traveling wave driver for 40 Gb/s electro-absorption modulation driver is presented. The driver delivers 2.7 Vp-p or 2.4 V eye amplitude at each output into 50 Ω load. The driver has high gain (>20 dB), a 3 dB bandwidth of 45 GHz, and rise/fall times of only 10/9 ps, respectively. The circuit uses a single -5.0 V power supply and consumes 1.8 W of dc power. The driver also features cross-point control and output amplitude control functions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A high performance modulator driver circuit is presented using 4' InP SHBT technology. The IC was developed for driving EAM modulators in OC-192 (10 Gbit/s) and with forward error correction (FEC: 10.7 Gbit/s or 12.5 Gbit/s) optical fibre systems. The monolithic integrated circuit features output amplitude control, output crossing point control and output DC offset control. Measured results show the circuit operates at 10 to 12.5 Gbit/s with a swing of 3.1 V[sub p-p] at each output and 20/18 ps rise/fall times. The power dissipation is 1.4 W with a standard power supply of -5.2 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about facility-level variation in the use of revascularization procedures for the management of stable obstructive coronary artery disease. Furthermore, it is unknown if variation in the use of coronary revascularization is associated with use of other cardiovascular procedures., Methods and Results: We evaluated all elective coronary angiograms performed in the Veterans Affairs system between September 1, 2007, and December 31, 2011, using the Clinical Assessment and Reporting Tool and identified patients with obstructive coronary artery disease. Patients were considered managed with revascularization if they received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting within 30 days of diagnosis. We calculated risk-adjusted facility-level rates of overall revascularization, PCI, and coronary artery bypass grafting. In addition, we determined the association between facility-level rates of revascularization and post-PCI stress testing. Among 15 650 patients at 51 Veterans Affairs sites who met inclusion criteria, the median rate of revascularization was 59.6% (interquartile range, 55.7%-66.7%). Across all facilities, risk-adjusted rates of overall revascularization varied from 41.5% to 88.1%, rate of PCI varied from 23.2% to 80.6%, and rate of coronary artery bypass graftingvariedfrom 7.5% to 36.5%. Of 6179 patients who underwent elective PCI, the median rate of stress testing in the 2 years after PCI was 33.7% (interquartile range, 30.7%-47.1%). There was no evidence of correlation between facility-level rate of revascularization and follow-up stress testing., Conclusions: Within the Veterans Affairs system, we observed large facility-level variation in rates of revascularization for obstructive coronary artery disease, with variation driven primarily by PCI. There was no association between facility-level use of revascularization and follow-up stress testing, suggesting use rates are specific to a particular procedure and not a marker of overall facility-level use., (© 2017 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.)

Despite widespread use of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine, tuberculosis, caused by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis , remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. As CD8 + T cells are critical to tuberculosis host defense and a phase 2b vaccine trial of modified vaccinia Ankara expressing Ag85a that failed to demonstrate efficacy, also failed to induce a CD8 + T cell response, an effective tuberculosis vaccine may need to induce CD8 + T cells. However, little is known about CD8, as compared to CD4, antigens in tuberculosis. Herein, we report the results of the first ever HLA allele independent genome-wide CD8 antigen discovery program. Using CD8 + T cells derived from humans with latent tuberculosis infection or tuberculosis and an interferon-γ ELISPOT assay, we screened a synthetic peptide library representing 10% of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteome, selected to be enriched for Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens. We defined a set of immunodominant CD8 antigens including part or all of 74 Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins, only 16 of which are previously known CD8 antigens. Immunogenicity was associated with the degree of expression of mRNA and protein. Immunodominant antigens were enriched in cell wall proteins with preferential recognition of Esx protein family members, and within proteins comprising the Mycobacterium tuberculosis secretome. A validation study of immunodominant antigens demonstrated that these antigens were strongly recognized in Mycobacterium tuberculosis -infected individuals from a tuberculosis endemic region in Africa. The tuberculosis vaccine field will likely benefit from this greatly increased known repertoire of CD8 immunodominant antigens and definition of properties of Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins important for CD8 antigenicity., Competing Interests: COMPETING INTERESTS Aeras TB Vaccine Foundation, a non-profit organization, has licensed technology from OHSU of which Drs. David and Deborah Lewinsohn are inventors and which is used in this research. In addition, OHSU and Drs. David Lewinsohn, Deborah Lewinsohn, and Melissa Nyendak have a financial interest in, and Ms. Cansler, Ms. Null, and Ms. Swarbrick are employees of, ViTi, a company that may have a commercial interest in the results of this research and technology. These potential individual and institutional conflicts of interest have been reviewed and managed by OHSU.

Gulls are the known reservoir for H13 and H16 influenza A viruses (IAV) but also host a diversity of other IAV subtypes. Gulls also share habitats with both ducks and shorebirds, increasing the potential for cross-species IAV transmission. We serologically tested laughing gulls (Leucophaeus atricilla) collected at Delaware Bay during May when they were in direct contact with IAV-infected shorebirds; both species feed on horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) eggs on beaches during this month. From 2010 to 2014, antibody prevalence as determined by competitive blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ranged from 25%-72%. Antibodies to H13 and H16 were detected by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests in 12% and 24% of tested gulls, respectively. Results from virus microneutralization (MN) tests for antibodies to H1-H12, H14, and H15 varied among years but the highest prevalence of neutralizing antibodies was detected against H1 (24%), H5 (25%), H6 (35%), H9 (33%), and H11 (42%) IAV. The subtype diversity identified by serology in gulls was dominated by Group 1 HA subtypes and only partially reflected the diversity of IAV subtypes isolated from shorebirds.