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The main objective of this study was to investigate the expression of acrosin inhibitor (AI), ubiquitin (Ub), and small ubiquitin-related modifier 1 (SUMO1) proteins during in vitro capacitation of pig sperm. Duroc pig sperm was divided into fresh sperm and capacitation treatment groups. Protein expression was evaluated using computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) systems, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), western blotting, and immunofluorescence. The results showed that the expression of AI (30 kDa) incapacitated sperm was significantly lower than that in fresh sperm (P < 0.05), and that the levels of ubiquitinated and SUMO1-ylated proteins in capacitated sperm were significantly higher than those in fresh sperm (P < 0.05). Immunofluorescence results showed that AI, Ub, and SUMO1 were located in the acrosome region of the fresh and capacitated sperm heads. After capacitation, the fluorescence intensity of AI and SUMO1 decreased, while that of Ub increased. The protein band at 30 kDa represented the AI-Ub-SUMO1 complex, indicating that this complex was involved in sperm capacitation. Furthermore, SUMO1 increased the stability of AI at 30 kDa, preventing its complete decomposition, while at 46 kDa, in the absence of SUMO1, AI is bound to ubiquitin, and was completely degraded.

Glycerol is used as a bovine semen osmotic cryoprotectant that greatly improves the quality of frozen and thawed bovine sperm. However, high glycerol concentrations can have a toxic effect on frozen and thawed bovine sperm. Therefore, this experiment investigated the effect of replacing a portion of the glycerol in a cryoprotectant solution with crocin on the sperm apoptosis, protamine deficiency and membrane lipid oxidation of frozen and thawed Yanbian yellow cattle sperm. The experiment included a control group (6% glycerol) and four treatment groups: I (3% glycerol), II (3% glycerol +0.5 mM crocin), III (3% glycerol + 1 mM crocin) and IV (3% glycerol + 2 mM crocin). Computer assisted semen analysis was used to detect sperm motility, Hoechst 33,342, propidium iodide, and JC-1 staining were used to analyse sperm viability and mitochondrial membrane potential, chromomycin A3 staining was used to detect protamine deficiency and DNA damage, flow cytometry was used for sperm membrane lipid disorder detection and analysis, and real-time quantitative RT-qPCR was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of protamine-related genes (PRM2, PRM3), sperm acrosome-associated genes (SPACA3), oxidative stress-related genes (ROMO1) and apoptosis-related genes (BCL2, BAX). Compared to the control group, replacing a portion of glycerol with 1 mM crocin significantly improved sperm motility, plasma membrane integrity, membrane lipid disorders (p < .05) and viability, mitochondrial membrane potential, protamine deficiency (p < .01). The expression level of PRM2, PRM3, SPACA3 and BCL2 significantly increased (p < .05), while the expression levels of ROMO1 and BAX significantly decreased (p < .05). Accordingly, the BCL2/BAX ratio significantly increased (p < .05). In summary, the substitution of a portion of glycerol with crocin in cryoprotective solution improved the quality of Yanbian yellow cattle sperm after freezing and thawing.

This study investigates the effects of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) on porcine sperm capacitation and its interactions with the cAMP-PKA pathway. The semen of adult Landrace boars was divided into four groups: non-capacitated, capacitated, 10 μM/mL MG132, and 10 μM/mL DMSO groups. We characterized the parameters related to sperm dynamics using a computer-assisted sperm analysis system. The level of sperm protein tyrosine phosphorylation was detected using Western blotting, and the change of zinc ion signal was detected via flow cytometry. The relationship between A-kinase-anchor protein 3 (AKAP3), ubiquitin (Ub), and protein kinase A (PKA) was assessed by co-precipitation assays; to evaluate the interactions between the UPP and cAMP-PKA pathway, threonine, serine, and tyrosine phosphorylation were detected using Western blotting to evaluate the interaction between the UPP and cAMP-PKA pathway; Hoechst staining was used to detect the sperm-egg binding state and evaluate the effects of UPP inhibition. During capacitation, the levels of protein tyrosine, serine, and threonine phosphorylation and ubiquitination of porcine sperm increased, and sperm-egg binding was inhibited (P 0.05). AKAP3 was degraded by UPP, and after inhibiting the 26 S proteasome, ubiquitinated AKAP3 accumulated in large quantities. Our findings indicate that, after the 26 S proteasome was inhibited, PKA was uncoupled from AKAP3 and degraded by UPP; the level of tyrosine phosphorylation induced by PKA-AKAP3 was reduced, the level of serine threonine phosphorylation increased, and the ubiquitination pathway interacted with the phosphorylation pathway and was involved in sperm capacitation.

To investigate the proteomic differences between the capacitated and non-capacitated sperm of the Yanbian yellow cattle, semen was collected from three Yanbian yellow cattle, aged 3-5 years, pooled, and divided into capacitated and non-capacitated groups (n = 9) to be analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Gene ontology enrichment, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment, and protein-protein interactions were used for bioinformatics analysis. The results showed that 598 were described as differentially expressed proteins during sperm capacitation. In the capacitated sperm, 89 proteins were up-regulated, and 509 proteins were downregulated, compared to the non-capacitated sperm. Western blot analysis confirmed that the expression of the Heat Shock 70-kDa Protein 5 (HSPA5) proteins was down-regulated. After HSPA5 inhibition, the level of tyrosine phosphorylation decreased, and the cleaved caspase 3 increased. The results showed that HSPA5 could regulate sperm capacitation and slow down apoptosis. Thus, providing a basis for studying the changes in protein expression during sperm capacitation, which can help identify the marker proteins potentially related to sperm capacitation. Hence, this study can deepen our understanding of the molecular processes involved in the sperm capacitation in Yanbian yellow cattle and provide a framework for future research.

Thermal mismatch problems can trigger the cracking of the InSb photosensitive layer, the local delamination and the performance degradation of the InSb infrared detector arrays (IDAs). We preferred the balanced composite structure (BCS) proposed by Jeffrey Barton to eliminate these typical failure phenomena. In the BCS, the silicon readout integrated circuit (Si-ROIC) was thinned to make its effective coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) match the CTE of the InSb photosensitive layer. In order to assess the efficacy of the thinner Si-ROIC in the BCS, with the help of the established InSb IDAs assembly equivalent structure model, we quantitatively analyzed the effectivity of the thinned Si-ROIC in the elimination of the tensile stress (causing the InSb photosensitive layer to crack), the interfacial shear stress (leading to the local delamination of the InSb IDAs), and the peeling stress (giving rise to the edge delamination of the InSb IDAs). We observed that the tensile stress in the InSb photosensitive layer decreases linearly with the thinned Si-ROIC, besides, the interfacial shear stress and the peeling stress also decrease linearly with the thinned Si-ROIC in the range of 300–50 μm. When the Si-ROIC is thinner than 50 μm, the location, in which the local maximal shear stress or the maximal peeling stress appears, moves inward and deviates from its preceding location. All these simulation results clearly confirm that the thinner Si-ROIC in the BCS is an effective approach to concurrently reducing the three main failure stress components in the InSb IDAs assembly, and this major characteristic of concurrently decreasing the three main failure stress components contributes to completely solve the thermal mismatch problems in the InSb IDAs assembly.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the E1 activating enzyme UBA2 on the expression of the SUMO-1 protein during in vitro maturation (IVM) of pig oocytes and embryonic development. In the 5 μg/ml UBA2 treatment group, the expression of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 and the embryo cleavage rate was significantly increased, while the proapoptotic gene Bax was significantly reduced. When 10 μg/ml UBA2 was added, the in vitro maturation rate, blastocyst rate, and SUMO-1 protein content of oocytes increased significantly (p < .05), and the expression of proapoptotic gene Caspase3 was significantly decreased (p < .05), while the viability of cumulus cells was extremely significantly reduced (p < .01). In summary, UBA2 can regulate the content of the SUMO-1 protein in mature pig oocytes in vitro, which in turn affects the maturation rate of oocytes, expression of apoptosis genes, cumulus cell viability, and the development of embryos after fertilization.

Background: Sperm capacitation is a process which occurs prior to fertilization, and is essential for producing high-quality living embryos. The main purpose of this study was to explore the difference of proteomics between capacitated and non-capacitated sperm of Yanbian yellow cattle. Bioinformatic analyses of LC-MS/MS data included GO enrichment, KEGG pathway enrichment, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis. Results: The results revealed 23 specific proteins in the capacitated group and 345 in the non-capacitated group. Compared with non-capacitated sperm, capacitated sperm exhibited 89 upregulated proteins and 509 downregulated proteins. Western blotting was used to confirm our proteomics data. The expression level of PSMD1 in the capacitated sperm group was significantly lower than that in the non-capacitated sperm group, and the expression level of HSPA5 was significantly higher than in the non-capacitated sperm group. Conclusions: Our results revealed that many proteins were differentially expressed between capacitated and non-capacitated sperm, particularly those involved in the proteasome signaling and protein transport signaling pathways. This work enhances our understanding of molecular processes involved in sperm viability in Yanbian yellow cattle, and provides a framework for future studies.

Infrared(IR)photo detectors based on InAs/GaSb type II superlattice have developed quickly in recent years. Many groups show great interest in InAs/GaSb superlattice detector for its superiors as high quantum efficient, high working temperature, high uniformity and low dark current densities. Inductively coupled plasma(ICP) etching of GaSb and InAs/ GaSb superlattices were performed using Cl2/Ar/CH4/H2. This paper introduceste inductively coupled plasma( ICP) etching of Inas/GaSb with SiO2 mask by the Cl2/Ar/CH4/H2 mixed-gas process. The effects of process parameters such as gas combination, ICP and RF power on the etch rate and quality of InAs/GaSb It is found that the ratio of Cl2 flow rate significantly affects the etch rate, due to the trade-off between physical and chemical component of etching. The etch rate of InAs/GaSb increases with the increase of percent of Cl2, there will InClx remains in the etching channel when the etching depth exceeded 2μm, which can stop the etching going on. This phenomenon can be eliminated by decrease the Cl2 ratio,to make sure the etching depth reach 6μm under a certain low etching rate. The surface morphology and SEM of the superlattice material after etching shows that dry etching morphology is better than wet etching.After the electrode is grown, the superlattice chip have a good diode characteristic curve.

Background In the agricultural areas of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, temperature varies widely from day to night during the growing season, which makes the extreme temperature become one of the limiting factors of crop yield. Turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa) is a traditional crop of Tibet grown in the Tibet Plateau, but its molecular and metabolic mechanisms of freezing tolerance are unclear. Results Here, based on the changes in transcriptional and metabolic levels of Tibetan turnip under freezing treatment, the expression of the arginine decarboxylase gene BrrADC2.2 exhibited an accumulative pattern in accordance with putrescine content. Moreover, we demonstrated that BrrICE1.1 (Inducer of CBF Expression 1) could directly bind to the BrrADC2.2 promoter, activating BrrADC2.2 to promote the accumulation of putrescine, which was verified by RNAi and overexpression analyses for both BrrADC2.2 and BrrICE1.1 using transgenic hair root. The function of putrescine in turnip was further analyzed by exogenous application putrescine and its inhibitor DL-α-(Difluoromethyl) arginine (DFMA) under freezing tolerance. In addition, the BrrICE1.1 was found to be involved in the ICE1-CBF pathway to increase the freezing stress of turnip. Conclusions BrrICE1.1 could bind the promoter of BrrADC2.2 or CBFs to participate in freezing tolerance of turnip by transcriptomics and targeted metabolomics analyses. This study revealed the regulatory network of the freezing tolerance process in turnip and increased our understanding of the plateau crops response to extreme environments in Tibet.

SUMOylation is a dynamic post-translational modification process. However, the function of small ubiquitin-like modifiers (SUMOs) in the maturation of porcine oocytes and embryo growth is not well known. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of E2 binding enzyme UBC9 on the expression of SUMO-1 protein during the in vitro maturation of porcine oocytes and embryo development after in vitro fertilization. Four groups were used: 0 (Control), 5, 10 and 15 µg/ml UBC9. Western blotting, flow cytometry and RT-qPCR were used to detect the in vitro maturation of porcine oocytes, SUMO-1 content, viability and the expression of apoptotic genes. Compared to those in the control treatment, the maturation rate (p < .05) and viability (p < .01) of oocytes in the 5 μg/ml treatment group decreased significantly. SUMO-1 protein markers appeared at 59 and 71 kDa and the content of SUMO-1 protein in the 10 µg/ml treatment group decreased significantly (p < .05). In the expression of apoptosis-related genes, Bcl-2 gene expression was significantly downregulated in the 10 μg/ml treatment group (p < .05). However, Bax and Caspase-3 were significantly upregulated in the 5 μg/ml treatment group (p < .05). During embryonic development, the cleavage rate of oocytes in the 10 µg/ml treatment group was significantly reduced (p < .05), whereas blastocyst formation rate in the 5 µg/ml treatment group was significantly reduced. UBC9 regulates SUMO-1 content in mature pig oocytes in vitro, which affects oocyte maturation rate, viability, apoptotic genes expression and embryo development after fertilization.

Purpose. To evaluate the performance of amide proton transfer-weighted (APTw) imaging against the reference standard of gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (Gd-T1w) in children with intracranial infection. Materials and Methods. Twenty-eight pediatric patients (15 males and 13 females; age range 1-163 months) with intracranial infection were recruited in this study. 2D APTw imaging and conventional MR sequences were conducted using a 3 T MRI scanner. Kappa (κ) statistics and the McNemar test were performed to determine whether the hyperintensity on APTw was related to the enhancement on Gd-T1w. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of APTw imaging to predict lesion enhancement were calculated. Result. In twelve patients with brain abscesses, the enhancing rim of the abscesses on the Gd-T1w images was consistently hyperintense on the APTw images. In eight patients with viral encephalitis, three showed slight spotted gadolinium enhancement, while the APTw image also showed a slight spotted high signal. Five of these patients showed no enhancement on Gd-T1w and isointensity on the APTw image. In eleven patients with meningitis, increased APTw signal intensities were clearly visible in gadolinium-enhancing meninges. Sixty infectious lesions (71%) showed enhancement on Gd-T1w images. The sensitivity and specificity of APTw were 93.3% (56/60) and 91.7% (22/24). APTw demonstrated excellent agreement (κ=0.83) with Gd-T1w, with no significant difference (P=0.69) in detection of infectious lesions. Conclusions. These initial data show that APTw MRI is a noninvasive technique for the detection and characterization of intracranial infectious lesions. APTw MRI enabled similar detection of infectious lesions to Gd-T1w and may provide an injection-free means of evaluation of intracranial infection.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The decision of power value. a The horizontal axis represents different power values. b The average network connectivity under different power values. c Network heatmap, the gene expression profile of the entire module.

Both the local delamination and the local fracture, appearing in the InSb infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) detectors in liquid nitrogen shock tests, restrict the final yield of the InSb IRFPAs detectors. To explore the mechanism of the local delamination appearing in the region of the negative electrode of the InSb IRFPAs detectors, basing on the created structural modeling of the InSb IRFPAs detectors, we obtain the distributions of the interfacial stresses in the different interfaces of the InSb IRFPAs detectors. After comparing the distributions of the simulated interfacial stresses with the measured local delamination region in the InSb IRFPAs detectors, we think that the local delamination originates from the interfacial shear stresses, and the crack extension is the typical sliding mode. Besides, the weakened gluing strength between the InSb chip and the underfill in the negative electrode region also causes this region to be prone to the local delamination. All these findings provide the theoretical references for both the structure design and the structure optimization of the InSb IRFPAs detectors assembly in the future.

An empirical expression for the energy bandgap as a function of alloy composition x and temperature for In1−xAlxSb was reported. The In1−xAlxSb epitaxial layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on InSb(1 0 0) substrate, utilizing a p+–p+–n–n+ structure. High resolution X-ray diffraction was used to characterize the epitaxial layers. The Al composition of 2.8% was obtained by assuming the Bragg’s formula and Vegard’s law. Spectral response measurement of the diodes has been employed to investigate the temperature dependence of the band gap of In1−xAlxSb alloys in the range between 77 K and 260 K. The calculated results for energy gap of InAlSb were in good agreement with the available data and our experimental observation.

The positive selection site of the wax ester synthase/diacylglycerol acyltransferase gene changed the wax ester metabolism profile of S. purpurea and increased its adaptability to an extreme drought environment., Natural selection drives local adaptations of species to biotic or abiotic environmental stresses. As a result, adaptive phenotypic divergence can evolve among related species living in different habitats. However, the genetic foundation of this divergence process remains largely unknown. Two closely related alpine grass species, Stipa capillacea and Stipa purpurea, are distributed in different rainfall regions of northern Tibet. Here, we analyzed the drought tolerance of these two closely related Stipa species, and found that S. purpurea was more resistance to drought stress than S. capillacea. To further understand the genetic diversity behind their adaptation to drought environments, a comprehensive gene repertoire was generated using PacBio isoform and Illumina RNA sequencing technologies. Bioinformatics analyses revealed that differential transcripts were mainly enriched in the wax synthetic pathway, and a threonine residue at position 239 of WSD1 was identified as having undergone positive selection in S. purpurea. Using heterologous expression in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant H1246, site-directed mutagenesis studies demonstrated that a positive selection site results in changes to the wax esters profile. This difference may play an important role in S. purpurea in response to drought conditions, indicating that S. purpurea has evolved specific strategies involving its wax biosynthetic pathway as part of its long-term adaptation to the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.

In light of the proposed equivalent method, a three-dimensional structural modeling of InSb infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) is created, and the simulated strain distribution is identical to the deformation distribution on the top surface of InSb IRFPAs. After comparing the deformation features at different regions with the structural characteristics of IRFPAs, we infer that the flatness of InSb IRFPAs will be improved with a thinner indium bump array, and this inference is verified by subsequent simulation results. That is, when the diameter of indium bump is smaller than 20 μm, the simulated Z-components of strain on the whole top surface of InSb IRFPAs is uniform, and the deformation amplitude is small. When the diameter of indium bump is larger than 28 μm, the simulated Z-components of strain increases rapidly with the thicker indium bump, and the flatness of InSb IRFPAs is worsened rapidly. According to the changing trend of deformation amplitude with diameters of indium bump, and employing element pitches normalization method, a design rule of indium bump is proposed. That is, when the diameter of indium bump is shorter than 0.4 times the element pitch, the flatness of InSb IRFPAs is in an acceptable range. This design rule was supported by different IRFPAs with different formats delivered by several main research groups for achieving a longer cycling life.

The thermal deformation appearing in indium antimonide infrared focal plane arrays (InSb IRFPAs) subjected to thermal shock tests, will easily incur the fracture of InSb chip, this phenomenon restricts the final yield of InSb IRFPAs. In light of the proposed equivalent method, the three dimensional structural modeling of InSb IRFPAs is developed, and the simulated strain distributions are consistent with the buckling pattern, the shallow groove and the local flatness, appearing on the top surface of InSb IRFPAs at the corresponding regions. After comparing the deformation profiles at different regions, we deduce that the top surface flatness of InSb IRFPAs will be improved with frustum pyramid indium bump arrays, and this deduction is verified by the subsequent simulation results. That is, when the top surface area of indium bump is smaller than its bottom surface area, in this paper, the diameter of indium bump bottom surface is set with 24 μm, the simulated Z-components of strain is uniformly covering the whole top surface of InSb IRFPAs, and the deformation amplitude is decreased slowly with the decreasing top surface area of indium frustum pyramid arrays. These findings are beneficial to further improve the flatness of InSb IRFPAs, correspondingly, to lengthen its temperature cycling life.

When an indium antimonide (InSb) infrared focal plane array (IRFPA) is subjected to a thermal shock test, most of the cracks originate from the region over the negative electrode, which restricts its final yield. In light of the proposed equivalent modeling, three negative electrode structures are assessed to eliminate the accumulated deformation around the negative electrode. Simulation results show that when a thicker indium bump array is connected directly with negative InSb material, the accumulated thermal deformation is the minimum, the top surface of InSb chip is the smoothest, and the square checkerboard buckling pattern, present clearly in both gold buffer layer and sparse thicker indium bump array structure, seems to be unclear. All these mean that a thicker indium bump array structure is a good choice, which will benefit to reduce fracture probability of InSb IRFPAs under thermal shock.

A higher fracture probability appearing in indium antimonide (InSb) infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) subjected to the thermal shock test, restricts its final yield. In light of the proposed equivalent method, where a 32 × 32 array is employed to replace the real 128 × 128 array, a three-dimensional modeling of InSb IRFPAs is developed to explore its deformation rules. To research the damage degree to the mechanical properties of InSb chip from the back surface thinning process, the elastic modulus of InSb chip along the normal direction is lessened. Simulation results show when the out-of-plane elastic modulus of InSb chip is set with 30% of its Young’s modulus, the simulated Z-components of strain distribution agrees well with the top surface deformation features in 128 × 128 InSb IRFPAs fracture photographs, especially with the crack origination sites, the crack distribution and the global square checkerboard buckling pattern. Thus the Z-components of strain are selected to explore the deformation rules in the layered structure of InSb IRFPAs. Analyzing results show the top surface deformation of InSb IRFPAs originates from the thermal mismatch between the silicon readout integrated circuits (ROIC) and the intermediate layer above, made up of the alternating indium bump array and the reticular underfill. After passing through both the intermediate layer and the InSb chip, the deformation amplitude is reduced firstly from 2.23 μm to 0.24 μm, finally to 0.09 μm. Finally, von Mises stress criterion is employed to explain the causes that cracks always appear in the InSb chip.

Higher fracture probability, appearing in large format InSb infrared focal plane arrays detector under thermal shock loadings, limits its applicability and suitability for large format equipment, and has been an urgent problem to be solved. In order to understand the fracture mechanism and improve the reliability, three dimensional modeling and stress analysis of large format InSb detector is necessary. However, there are few reports on three dimensional modeling and simulation of large format InSb detector, due to huge meshing numbers and time-consuming operation to solve. To solve the problems, basing on the thermal mismatch displacement formula, an equivalent modeling method is proposed in this paper. With the proposed equivalent modeling method, employing the ANSYS software, three dimensional large format InSb detector is modeled, and the maximum Von Mises stress appearing in InSb chip dependent on array format is researched. According to the maximum Von Mises stress location shift and stress increasing tendency, the adaptability range of the proposed equivalent method is also derived, that is, for 16 × 16, 32 × 32 and 64 × 64 format, its adaptability ranges are not larger than 64 × 64, 256 × 256 and 1024 × 1024 format, respectively. Taking 1024 × 1024 InSb detector as an example, the Von Mises stress distribution appearing in InSb chip, Si readout integrated circuits and indium bump arrays are described, and the causes are discussed in detail. All these will provide a feasible research plan to identify the fracture origins of InSb chip and reduce fracture probability for large format InSb detector.

When exploring the buckling mechanism in indium antimonide (InSb) detector, the global square checkerboard buckling pattern reappears in finite element simulation results. The contributions from the three layered materials to the deformations along the Z-direction are systematically analyzed. Analysis of results shows that the buckling deformation originated from the thermal difference between silicon readout integrated circuits (silicon-ROIC) and the intermediate layer directly above. Furthermore, the buckling pattern is determined by indium bumps array. After passing through the 10 μm intermediate layer, the deformation amplitude is significantly reduced from 2.23 μm to 0.24 μm. Afterwards, passing upward through the 10 μm InSb chip, the maximal deformation is further decreased to 0.09 μm.

Aim Using diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) to assess the impact of emotional disorders on microstructural changes of the brain in children with haemophilia A. Materials and Methods Diffusional kurtosis imaging was acquired from haemophilia A (n = 22) and controls (n = 22) using a 3T scanner. A regression analysis of frontal, cingulate, hippocampus, insula and amygdala regions of interest (ROIs) was conducted. Clinical data and results of psychological tests were collected. A paired t-test was used to analyse the differences between the two groups’ ROIs, and the Spearman test was used to analyse the correlation between ROIs and psychological tests or clinical data. Results Fractional anisotropy (FA) in the left middle cingulate and right hippocampus; mean diffusion (MD) in the frontal lobe, right anterior cingulate and right middle cingulate showed varying degrees of increase in the ROI compared to controls (P

The recent progresses of our research in InxAl1-xSb infrared detector based on molecular beam epitaxy are presented. Al composition with 0-0.3 is used for adjusting energy gaps of InSb and a p-i-n structure is utilized to decrease dark current. InxAl1-xSb ternary alloys are grown by molecular beam epitaxy on InSb substrates, and the material quality is characterized using high resolution x-ray diffraction. In order to exploit this epitaxial material we have developed new mesa and passivation technology based on matured InSb fabrication process. The InAlSb diodes has a cut-off wavelength of around 4.8μm. The reverse bias dark current of InAlSb diodes have been measured. The dark current of the pin InAlSb diode is seen to smaller that of the bulk p+n InSb diodes by 4-5 times in 77K.

The defective elements from indium bump preparation in FPA fabrication are tested by optical microscopy and FPA testing bench. Results show that the defective elements from indium bump fabrication include connecting defective elements and missing defective elements. It is easy to identify missing defective elements by FPA testing bench because the response voltage of defective elements is zero and response voltage of other elements around defective element is higher than that of normal elements. And it is difficult to identify connecting defective elements by FPA testing bench because the response voltage of connecting defective elements is basically the same as that of normal elements. The defective elements from indium bump fabrication are due to the indium bump with connecting or missing caused by the process of photolithography, eroding and lift-off. Fabrication process such as photolithography, eroding and lift-off is optimized to reduce defective elements from indium bump fabrication.

Based on viscoplastic Anand's model, structural stress of 8� 8 InSb array detector dependent on indium bump sizes is systemically researched by finite element method. For the detector with underfill, simulation results show that as the diameters of indium bump decrease from 36μm to 20μm in step of 2μm, the maximum stress existing in InSb chip first reduces sharply, then increases flatly, and reaches minimum with indium bump diameter 32μm. When the height of indium bump increases from 9μm to 21μ m in step of 6μm, the maximal stress in InSb chip first reduces sharply from 800MPa to 500MPa, then almost remains constant. This phenomenon is contrary to the detector without underfill, where the stress is smaller with lower indium height. In the whole device, the maximal Von Mises stress appears in the InSb chip with 10μm, and the minimal Von Mises stress appears in the indium bump array with 16MPa, almost 1/10 of that in underfill encapsulate, where the stress is180MPa. It is noticed that when the Von Mises stress reaches minimum with some selected indium bump dimensions, its stress distribution is uniform and concentrated at all contacting areas, this is favorable to reduce the crack happening in InSb chip, and improve the yield.

Based on viscoplastic Anand's model, the structural stress of 8� 8 InSb infrared focal plane array detector with underfill is systematically analyzed by finite element method, and the impacts of design parameters including indium bump diameters, heights on both Von Mises stress and its distribution are discussed in this manuscript. Simulation results show that for the given indium bump height, the maximum stress existing in InSb chip is almost unchanged with reduced indium bump diameters, and with thicker indium bump, the stress is smaller, when the indium bump height is over than 15� m, the stress reduces slowly with decreased standing off height. When the InSb IRFPA format increases from 8� 8 to 32� 32, the maximal Von Mises stress increases from 500MPa to 900Mpa, almost twice over, and is not proportional to array format scale.

Aims: Our previous studies have shown that myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is related closely with early growth response (Egr)-1 overexpression. The present study is to confirm thoroughly the effects of Egr-1 on the occurrance and development of myocardial I/R injury. Methods: The Sprague-Dawley rat myocardial I/R model and cultured cardiomyocyte hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) model were established. The synthesized Egr-1 antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide (AS-ODN) was transfected into myocardial tissues and cells. Hemodynamic parameters, myeloperoxidase (MPO), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), morphology, spontaneous beat and cell viability were measured to assess the degree of injury and inflammation of myocardial tissues and cells. Results: In vivo, Egr-1 AS-ODN significantly attenuated injury and inflammation of myocardial tissues caused by I/R evidenced by the amelioration of hemodynamics and the reduction in MPO activity. In vitro, Egr-1 AS-ODN significantly relieved injury and inflammation of cultured cardiomyocyte caused by H/R evidenced by the improvement in morphology, structure and beat as well as the decrease in leakage of cTnI and release of TNF-α from cultured cardiomyocyte. Conclusions: These data suggest that Egr-1 plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of myocardial I/R injury and Egr-1 AS-ODN could protect the myocardium from I/R injury.

Aims: Our previous studies have shown that N-n-butyl haloperidol iodide (F2) can antagonize myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury by blocking intracellular Ca2+ overload. The present study is to test the hypothesis that the protective effects of F2 on myocardial I/R injury is mediated by downregulating Egr-1 expression. Methods: The Sprague–Dawley rat myocardial I/R model and cardiomyocyte hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) model were established. With antisense Egr-1 oligodeoxyribonucleotide (ODN), the relationship between Egr-1 expression and myocardial I/R injury was investigated. Hemodynamic parameters, myeloperoxidase (MPO), cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured to assess the degree of injury and inflammation of myocardial tissues and cells. Egr-1 mRNA and protein expressions were examined by Northern-blot and Western-blot analyses. Results: Treatment with antisense Egr-1 ODN significantly reduced Egr-1 protein expression and attenuated injury of myocardial tissues and cells. Meanwhile, treatment with F2 significantly inhibited the overexpression of Egr-1 mRNA and protein in myocardial tissues and cells. Consistent with downregulation of Egr-1 expression by F2, inflammation and other damages were significantly relieved evidenced by the amelioration of hemodynamics, the reduction in myocardial MPO activity as well as the decrease in leakage of cTnI and release of TNF-α from cardiomyocyte. Conclusions: These results suggested that the overexpression of Egr-1 was causative in myocardial I/R or H/R injury, and F2 could protect myocardial tissues and cells from I/R or H/R injury, which was largely due to the inhibition of Egr-1 overexpresssion.

A novel chip pattern with extinction function in Lead salt detectors is specified. Lead Sulfide (PbS) polycrystalline film is prepared by Chemical Bath Deposition (CMD) on a transparent substrate, then a special figure and structure is saved by lithography techonology on the substrate. As a quaternion detector chip that made by PbS thin film for example in this paper, whose performance including signal, noise, weak-peaks and the uniformity of the chip are too poor to meet the detecting system at the initial stage of research, and the qualified ratio of chips is only 3% .This paper explains the reason why the performance and qualified ratio of chips were so poor, focuses on a novel chip pattern with extinction which avoided the disadvantages of traditional one. the novel chip pattern has been applied in detectors. The novel chip pattern is prepared with PbS thin film which both “extinction slice” and detector chip are based on a same substrate , which not only had absorbed the jumbled light , improved the uniformity and other performance of photosensitive elements, but also had left out the assembly diffculty and precision demand when a extinction slice assembly in the restricted space of inswept detector chip, omitted the production process of extinction slice and shorten the assembly process of the detectors, and the qualified ratio of chips had been improved from 3% to 98%.

Carrier lifetime maps and distributions of doped n-InGaAs in a MBE-grown p-InP/n-InGaAs/n-InP double heterostructure (DH) were measured at 300 K and 85 K using the μ-PCD lifetime screening technique. The theoretical considerations required in this technique are discussed in detail. The average carrier lifetimes are 168.2 ns and 149.4 ns at 300 K and 85 K, respectively. The results are consistent with those of ZnS/n-InGaAs/n-InP DHs. InGaAs lifetime mapping of the InP/InGaAs/InP DH is easily obtained without destruction by μ-PCD carrier lifetime measurement. Therefore, it could be a potential method to characterize the uniformity of the wafers, which is necessary to fabricate InGaAs focal plane arrays (FPAs).

We have successfully grown a new ordered langasite structure piezoelectric single crystal Ca3TaGa3Si2O14 (CTGS) using the Czochralski (CZ) method. The single crystal structure was investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) experiments and showed that the CTGS single crystals had a single phase and had the same structure as the La3Ga5SiO14 (LGS) crystal. The transmittance spectra from 190 to 3200 nm were measured and the transmittance of CTGS crystal was about 85% above 350 nm. The specific heat of the crystal has been measured to be 0.52 J/g K at room temperature. The thermal expansion coefficients perpendicular and parallel to Z direction has been measured to be 5.2×10−6 and 3.7×10−6/K between 298.15 and 450 K by a thermomechanical analyzer (TMA).

For counteracting background current of photoconductive (PC) PbS detector, an example of layout design and analyze 1×128 linear PbS infrared focal plane array (IRFPA) detector using resistance selection of blind sensitive element is given. 1×128 linear PC PbS infrared focal plane array detector is fabricated and characterized by IRFPA test-bench. Results show that average responsivity of detector is 4.19×10 6 V/W; average detectivity of detector is 5.79×10 9 cm•Hz 1/2 •W -1 .

Type II InAs/GaSb superlattice material, because of its excellent predominance, is becoming the best choice for the third generation infrared detector. Surface passivation, which is one of the most important process during the device fabricated, can improve the performance of superlattice detector greatly. In this work, three passivation methods were experimented based on MWIR superlattices, then after electrodes were fabricated, detectors were tested. From the measurements, the passivation of anodic sulfide cooperating with SiO 2 is more effective than others, zero-bias resistance area product of device with 5μm cutoff wavelength reach up to 10 4 Ω•cm 2 at 77K, reverse-bias dark current density is reduced to 10 -5 A/cm 2 at -1V, peak detectivity is 10 10 cm•Hz 1/2 /W and quantum efficiency reach 35%. Retest after a month later, the performance of photodiodes without diversity.

We presented a fabrication of MWIR dual-color FPA based on type-II InAs/GaSb strain layer superlattice (SLs). The red and blue channel FPA devices with 128×128 pixels showed a 50% cutoff wavelength of 3.1μm and 4.73μm, the average blackbody detectivity of the detectors are 2.8 ×1010 cmHz1/2/W and 1.3× 1010 cmHz1/2/W at 77K separately.

Planar InGaAs/InP p-i-n photodiodes have been successfully fabricated, and its spectral response, current-voltage characteristic, photogenerated signal and noise were measured at 300 K and 77 K with the blackbody temperature fixed at 900 K. It was found that the measured voltage signals reduced from 14.0 mV to 7.0 mV when the temperature decreased from 300 K to 77 K. All measured results at 77 K show that the peak voltage responsivity of InGaAs detector is R vp = 2.41×10 7 V/W, and its peak detectivity D p * = 1.51×10 12 (cmHz) 1/2 /W. Measurement of transmittance spectral indicated that the transmittance rate is over 80% at middle wavelength range. The results show that short wavelength infrared InGaAs detector can be integrated with middle wavelength infrared detector to form dual-band detector worked at liquid nitrogen temperature.

We found that the contact resistance of Au/Pt/Ti on p-InP increases with the increase of annealing time and annealing temperature. Au/Pt/Ti is ohmic contact metal as deposited with specific contact resistance of 2.49×10-3 Ωcm2 when p-InP doped by 7.5×1018 cm-3 and is Schottky contact when doped by 2×1018 cm-3. Surface morphologies of Au/Pt/Ti after rapid thermal processing (RTP) were analyzed by atom force microscopy (AFM). An interface layer dominated by TiIn compound, which increase the specific contact resistance, was found in Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis. P-InP and n-InP ohmic contacts can be achieved at the same time as deposited when added p-In0.53Ga0.47As layer on p-InP/InGaAs/n-InP without annealing.

Our previous studies have shown that N-n-butyl haloperidol iodide (F(2)) can antagonize myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury by blocking intracellular Ca(2+) overload. The present study is to test the hypothesis that the protective effects of F(2) on myocardial I/R injury is mediated by downregulating Egr-1 expression.The Sprague-Dawley rat myocardial I/R model and cardiomyocyte hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) model were established. With antisense Egr-1 oligodeoxyribonucleotide (ODN), the relationship between Egr-1 expression and myocardial I/R injury was investigated. Hemodynamic parameters, myeloperoxidase (MPO), cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were measured to assess the degree of injury and inflammation of myocardial tissues and cells. Egr-1 mRNA and protein expressions were examined by Northern-blot and Western-blot analyses.Treatment with antisense Egr-1 ODN significantly reduced Egr-1 protein expression and attenuated injury of myocardial tissues and cells. Meanwhile, treatment with F(2) significantly inhibited the overexpression of Egr-1 mRNA and protein in myocardial tissues and cells. Consistent with downregulation of Egr-1 expression by F(2), inflammation and other damages were significantly relieved evidenced by the amelioration of hemodynamics, the reduction in myocardial MPO activity as well as the decrease in leakage of cTnI and release of TNF-alpha from cardiomyocyte.These results suggested that the overexpression of Egr-1 was causative in myocardial I/R or H/R injury, and F(2) could protect myocardial tissues and cells from I/R or H/R injury, which was largely due to the inhibition of Egr-1 overexpression.

We have made 256x1 front-illuminated mesa doped-InGaAs infrared focal plane array (FPA) with two CTIA-structure L128 read out integrate circuit at two sides. The mean peak detectivity of the detectors is 1.33x1012 cmHz1/2W-1 at 278 K. The un uniformity of response is 19.3% at room temperature.

When Zinc diffuses into undoped InP, the diffusion profiles are severely influenced by the process parameters, such as the diffusion temperature, the diffusion time, etc. In order to reduce the surface damage and enhance reproducibility, the diffusion temperature and the diffusion time are optimized. Under optimized. diffusion temperature, curve of diffusion depth versus the square root of the diffusion time is achieved. From this curve, the diffusion coefficient for zinc under the optimized temperature is calculated. The zinc profile was determined by electrochemical capacitance-voltage profiling (ECV), according to which zinc diffusion mechanism was explained.

Infrared sensors, such as indium antimonide (InSb) detectors, are generally required to be cooled to 77 K in operation. High fracture probability under thermal shock, especially in large InSb infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs), limits their applicability. It is necessary to establish a realistic three-dimensional (3-D) structural model of large-format InSb IRFPAs. However, few data are available on 3-D high-fidelity structural modeling and simulation of large IRFPAs due to their complicated structure and huge meshing numbers. A simple equivalent modeling method had been used in our early works, which could reduce meshing numbers, but did not consider the complicated structure, and also brought a new problem that the equivalent outer region of the model was not consistent with the actual IRFPAs. To solve the problems, an improved equivalent modeling method is proposed, where a small-format array is first split into two parts and then employed to equivalently replace the real large-format array. A 3-D high-fidelity structural model of large-format hybrid InSb IRFPAs is developed; here, a 32×32 array is adopted to replace the real 128×128 array. The results show that the simulated stress and strain distribution characteristics of InSb chip are well in agreement with the fracture photograph of actual 128×128 InSb IRFPAs in testing, verifying the validity and feasibility of the 3-D structural model of large-format IRFPAs. All these are beneficial to further explore fracture mechanisms and improve the reliability of large-format hybrid InSb IRFPAs.