Growth of polar and non-polar nitride semiconductor quasi-substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy for the development of optoelectronic devices by molecular beam epitaxy

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThe family of nitride semiconductors has had a profound influence on the development of optoelectronics for a large variety of applications. However, as of yet there are no native substrates commercially available that are grown by liquid phase methods as with Si and GaAs. As a result, the majority of electronic and optoelectronic devices are grown heteroepitaxially on sapphire and SiC. This PhD research addresses both the development of polar and nonpolar GaN and AIN templates by Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) on sapphire and SiC substrates, as well as the growth and characterization of optoelectronic devices on these templates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Polar and non-polar GaN templates have been grown in a vertical HVPE reactor on the C- and R-planes of sapphire respectively. The growth conditions have been optimized to allow the formation for thick (50µm) GaN templates without cracks. These templates were characterized structurally by studying their surface morphologies by SEM and AFM, and their structure through XRD and TEM. The polar C-plane GaN templates were found to be atomically smooth. However, the surface morphology of the non-polar GaN films grown on the R-plane of sapphire were found to have a facetted surface morphology, with the facets intersecting at 120° angles. This surface morphology reflects an equilibrium growth, since the A-plane of GaN grows faster than the M-planes of GaN due to the lower atomic density of the plane. For the development of deep-UV optoelectronics, it is required to grow AIGaN quantum wells on AIN templates. However, since AIN is a high melting point material, such templates have to be grown at higher temperatures, close to half the melting point of the material (1500 °C). As these temperatures cannot be easily obtained by traditional furnace heating, an HVPE reactor has been designed to heat the substrate inductively to these temperatures. This apparatus has been used to grow high-quality, transparent AIN films with a screw dislocation density of 10^6 cm^-2 on sapphire repeatedly. On such templates, both lnGaN- and AIGaN-based quantum wells (QWs) and quantum dots (QDs) were formed by MBE and were characterized. lnGaN/GaN and AIGaN/AIN QWs were grown on the non-polar GaN templates and found to emit at near green and deep UV respectively with internal quantum efficiency (IQE) close to 90%. The lnGaN GaN QWs and QDs have been investigated to understand the influence of plasmonic nanoparticles on the efficiency of corresponding green LEOS

A dynamic network of transcription in LPS-treated human subjects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Understanding the transcriptional regulatory networks that map out the coordinated dynamic responses of signaling proteins, transcription factors and target genes over time would represent a significant advance in the application of genome wide expression analysis. The primary challenge is monitoring transcription factor activities over time, which is not yet available at the large scale. Instead, there have been several developments to estimate activities computationally. For example, Network Component Analysis (NCA) is an approach that can predict transcription factor activities over time as well as the relative regulatory influence of factors on each target gene.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we analyzed a gene expression data set in blood leukocytes from human subjects administered with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a prototypical inflammatory challenge, in the context of a reconstructed regulatory network including 10 transcription factors, 99 target genes and 149 regulatory interactions. We found that the computationally estimated activities were well correlated to their coordinated action. Furthermore, we found that clustering the genes in the context of regulatory influences greatly facilitated interpretation of the expression data, as clusters of gene expression corresponded to the activity of specific factors or more interestingly, factor combinations which suggest coordinated regulation of gene expression. The resulting clusters were therefore more biologically meaningful, and also led to identification of additional genes under the same regulation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Using NCA, we were able to build a network that accounted for between 8–11% genes in the known transcriptional response to LPS in humans. The dynamic network illustrated changes of transcription factor activities and gene expressions as well as interactions of signaling proteins, transcription factors and target genes.</p

Pretreatment with a 55-kDa Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-Immunoglobulin Fusion Protein Attenuates Activation of Coagulation, but not of Fibrinolysis, during Lethal Bacteremia in Baboons

Baboons (Papio anubis) receiving a lethal intravenous infusion with live Escherichia coli were pretreated with either a 55-kDa tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-IgG fusion protein (TNFR55:IgG) (n = 4, 4.6 mg/kg) or placebo (n = 4). Neutralization of TNF activity in TNFR55:IgG-treated animals was associated with a complete prevention of mortality and a strong attenuation of coagulation activation as reflected by the plasma concentrations of thrombin-antithrombin III complexes (P < .05). Activation of fibrinolysis was not influenced by TNFR55:IgG (plasma tissue-type plasminogen activator and plasmin-a2-antiplasmin complexes), whereas TNFR55:IgG did inhibit the release of plasminogen activator inhibitor type I (P < .05). Furthermore, TNFR55:IgG inhibited neutrophil degranulation (plasma levels of elastase-α1-antitrypsin complexes, P < .05) and modestly reduced release of secretory phospholipase A2. These data suggest that endogenous TNF contributes to activation of coagulation, but not to stimulation of fibrinolysis, during severe bacteremi

LIPid Intensive Drug therapy for Sepsis Pilot (LIPIDS-P): Phase I/II clinical trial protocol of lipid emulsion therapy for stabilising cholesterol levels in sepsis and septic shock.

INTRODUCTION: Sepsis is a life-threatening, dysregulated response to infection. Both high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol should protect against sepsis by several mechanisms; however, for partially unknown reasons, cholesterol levels become critically low in patients with early sepsis who experience poor outcomes. An anti-inflammatory lipid injectable emulsion containing fish oil is approved by the Food and Drug Administration as parenteral nutrition for critically ill patients and may prevent this decrease in serum cholesterol levels by providing substrate for cholesterol synthesis and may favourably modulate inflammation. This LIPid Intensive Drug therapy for Sepsis Pilot clinical trial is the first study to attempt to stabilise early cholesterol levels using lipid emulsion as a treatment modality for sepsis. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a two-centre, phase I/II clinical trial. Phase I is a non-randomised dose-escalation study using a Bayesian optimal interval design in which up to 16 patients will be enrolled to evaluate the safest and most efficacious dose for stabilising cholesterol levels. Based on phase I results, the two best doses will be used to randomise 48 patients to either lipid injectable emulsion or active control (no treatment). Twenty-four patients will be randomised to one of two doses of the study drug, while 24 control group patients will receive no drug and will be followed during their hospitalisation. The control group will receive all standard treatments mandated by the institutional sepsis alert protocol. The phase II study will employ a permuted blocked randomisation technique, and the primary endpoint will be change in serum total cholesterol level (48 hours - enrolment). Secondary endpoints include change in cholesterol level from enrolment to 7 days, change in Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score over the first 48 hours and 7 days, in-hospital and 28-day mortality, lipid oxidation status, inflammatory biomarkers, and high-density lipoprotein function. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Investigators are trained and follow good clinical practices, and each phase of the study was reviewed and approved by the institutional review boards of each institution. Results of each phase will be disseminated through presentations at national meetings and publication in peer-reviewed journals. If promising, data from the pilot study will be used for a larger, multicentre, phase II clinical trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03405870

Overlapping but disparate inflammatory and immunosuppressive responses to SARS-CoV-2 and bacterial sepsis: An immunological time course analysis

Both severe SARS-CoV-2 infections and bacterial sepsis exhibit an immunological dyscrasia and propensity for secondary infections. The nature of the immunological dyscrasias for these differing etiologies and their time course remain unclear. In this study, thirty hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection were compared with ten critically ill patients with bacterial sepsis over 21 days, as well as ten healthy control subjects. Blood was sampled between days 1 and 21 after admission for targeted plasma biomarker analysis, cellular phenotyping, and leukocyte functional analysi

B cells enhance early innate immune responses during bacterial sepsis

Type I interferon–responsive B cells provide early protection against bacterial sepsis