Influence of the preliminary annealing conditions on step motion at the homoepitaxy on the Si(100) surface

In this paper, the motion of steps SA and SB on the Si(100) surface in the process of Si Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is explored. The study was carried out by means of the reflection intensity dependence behavior analysis of reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) corresponding to the (2×1) and (1×2) reconstructions. Superstructural rearrangement from a two-domain to a single-domain surface is associated with the bilayer step formation, which occurs due to the different motion rates of the steps SA and SB. Based on the research conducted, the conditions under which the step doubling occurs were determined. A behavior analysis of the diffraction reflection intensity dependences showed that an increasing of preliminary annealing time and temperature facilitates to the faster convergence of the steps SA and SB, but to the slower recovery of the initial surface. The presented experimental results indicate that step movement rate difference depends on the step A edge kink density

Electron and hole injection barriers between silicon substrate and RF magnetron sputtered In2O3 : Er films

In2O3 : Er films have been synthesized on silicon substrates by RF magnetron sputter deposition. The currents through the synthesized metal/oxide/semiconductor (MOS) structures (Si/In2O3 : Er/In-contact) have been measured for n and p type conductivity silicon substrates and described within the model of majority carrier thermoemission through the barrier, with bias voltage correction to the silicon potential drop. The electron and hole injection barriers between the silicon substrate and the film have been found to be 0.14 and 0.3 eV, respectively, by measuring the temperature dependence of the forward current at a low sub-barrier bias. The resulting low hole injection barrier is accounted for by the presence of defect state density spreading from the valence band edge into the In2O3 : Er band gap to form a hole conduction channel. The presence of defect state density in the In2O3 : Er band gap is confirmed by photoluminescence data in the respective energy range 1.55–3.0 eV. The band structure of the Si/In2O3 : Er heterojunction has been analyzed. The energy gap between the In2O3 : Er conduction band electrons and the band gap conduction channel holes has been estimated to be 1.56 eV

ИНТИМАЛЬНАЯ САРКОМА ЛЕГОЧНОЙ АРТЕРИИ, ПРОТЕКАЮЩАЯ ПОД МАСКОЙ ТРОМБОЭМБОЛИИ ЛЕГОЧНОЙ АРТЕРИИ: РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ ХИРУРГИЧЕСКОГО ЛЕЧЕНИЯ

HighlightsThe article describes a rare case of surgical treatment of pulmonary artery intimal sarcoma. The authors analyzed the causes for incorrect diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in detail, and proposed alternative options for distinguishing the diseases under consideration. Moreover, the authors analyzed different surgical treatment modalities of intracardial sarcomas, and demonstrated the prospect of using molecular hydrogen as a component of an anesthetics during surgical interventions with cardiopulmonary bypass. AbstractThe article describes a rare clinical case of a patient with pulmonary artery sarcoma. The absence of specific symptoms of sarcoma, as well as features of developing cardiovascular and respiratory failure, characteristic of pulmonary embolism, contributed to the incorrect diagnosis. The article analyzes the main problems of primary diagnostics, and proposes new parameters for evaluating manifesting symptoms and the results of additional examination, which should improve the results of surgical treatment of malignant tumors.Основные положенияВ статье представлен редкий случай хирургического лечения интимальной саркомы легочной артерии. Детально проанализированы причины гипердиагностики тромбоэмболии легочной артерии, а также предложены альтернативные варианты дифференциальной верификации рассматриваемых заболеваний. Рассмотрены возможные варианты хирургического лечения сарком внутрикардиальной локализации. Кроме этого, продемонстрирована перспектива применения молекулярного водорода в качестве компонента анестезиологического пособия при выполнении оперативных вмешательств в условиях искусственного кровообращения. РезюмеВ статье описано редкое клиническое наблюдение пациентки с саркомой легочной артерии. Отсутствие специфических симптомов саркомы, а также особенности развивающейся сердечно-сосудистой и дыхательной недостаточности, характерные для тромбоэмболии легочной артерии, способствовали постановке неправильного диагноза. В работе проанализированы основные проблемы первичной диагностики, а также предложены параметры оценки манифестирующих симптомокомплексов и результатов объективных методов обследования, что в свете повышенной онкологической настороженности позволит улучшить результаты хирургического лечения злокачественных заболеваний сердца

Electron and hole injection barriers between silicon substrate and RF magnetron sputtered In2O3 : Er films

In2O3 : Er films have been synthesized on silicon substrates by RF magnetron sputter deposition. The currents through the synthesized metal/oxide/semiconductor (MOS) structures (Si/In2O3 : Er/In-contact) have been measured for n and p type conductivity silicon substrates and described within the model of majority carrier thermoemission through the barrier, with bias voltage correction to the silicon potential drop. The electron and hole injection barriers between the silicon substrate and the film have been found to be 0.14 and 0.3 eV, respectively, by measuring the temperature dependence of the forward current at a low sub-barrier bias. The resulting low hole injection barrier is accounted for by the presence of defect state density spreading from the valence band edge into the In2O3 : Er band gap to form a hole conduction channel. The presence of defect state density in the In2O3 : Er band gap is confirmed by photoluminescence data in the respective energy range 1.55–3.0 eV. The band structure of the Si/In2O3 : Er heterojunction has been analyzed. The energy gap between the In2O3 : Er conduction band electrons and the band gap conduction channel holes has been estimated to be 1.56 eV

Apremilast Pharmacogenomics in Russian Patients with Moderate-to-Severe and Severe Psoriasis

One of the target drugs for plaque psoriasis treatment is apremilast, which is a selective phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor. In this study, 34 moderate-to-severe and severe plaque psoriasis patients from Russia were treated with apremilast for 26 weeks. This allowed us to observe the effectiveness of splitting patient cohorts based on clinical outcomes, which were assessed using the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI). In total, 14 patients (41%) indicated having an advanced outcome with delta PASI 75 after treatment; 20 patients indicated having moderate or no effects. Genome variability was investigated using the Illumina Infinium Global Screening Array. Genome-wide analysis revealed apremilast therapy clinical outcome associations at three compact genome regions with undefined functions situated on chromosomes 2, 4, and 5, as well as on a single single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on chromosome 23. Pre-selected SNP sets were associated with psoriasis vulgaris analysis, which was used to identify four SNP-associated targeted therapy efficiencies: IL1β (rs1143633), IL4 (IL13) (rs20541), IL23R (rs2201841), and TNFα (rs1800629) genes. Moreover, we showed that the use of the global polygenic risk score allowed for the prediction of onset psoriasis in Russians. Therefore, these results can serve as a starting point for creating a predictive model of apremilast therapy response in the targeted therapy of patients with psoriasis vulgaris

Single-crystal sapphire microstructure for high-resolution synchrotron X-ray monochromators

We report on the growth and characterization of sapphire single crystals for X-ray optics applications. Structural defects were studied by means of laboratory double-crystal X-ray diffractometry and white-beam synchrotron-radiation topography. The investigations confirmed that the main defect types are dislocations. The best quality crystal was grown using the Kyropoulos technique. Therein the dislocation density was 102–103 cm−2 and a small area with approximately 2*2 mm2 did not show dislocation contrast in many reflections. This crystal has suitable quality for application as a backscattering monochromator. A clear correlation between growth rate and dislocation density is observed, though growth rate is not the only parameter impacting the quality