Formation of nanoporous Ge layers by ion implantation at different temperatures of c-Ge substrate

The flat monocrystalline c-Ge wafers implanted by 108Ag + ions with the energy E = 30 keV, dose D = 1.3·1016 ion/cm2 and at current density J = 5 μA/cm2 for various substrate temperatures from 25 to 400 °C were studied. By scanning electron microscopy and optical reflection spectroscopy it was found that as a result of ion implantation in the temperature range from 25 to 300 °C an amorphous porous Ag:PGe layers of a spongy structure consisting of Ge nanowires on the c-Ge substrate surface are formed. The diameter of Ge nanowires increases from 16 to 24 nm with a rising of substrate temperature. It is shown that at the highest temperature of 400 °C, the porous structure does not form and the Ge surface remains flat on which the formation of Ag nanoparticles can be observed. A change in the level of the sample surface in dependence on substrate temperature due to swelling up to 280 °C was replaced by effective ion sputtering at higher temperatures

Genome-wide association analysis identifies three new breast cancer susceptibility loci

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. To date, 22 common breast cancer susceptibility loci have been identified accounting for ∼8% of the heritability of the disease. We attempted to replicate 72 promising associations from two independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in ∼70,000 cases and ∼68,000 controls from 41 case-control studies and 9 breast cancer GWAS. We identified three new breast cancer risk loci at 12p11 (rs10771399; P = 2.7 × 10(-35)), 12q24 (rs1292011; P = 4.3 × 10(-19)) and 21q21 (rs2823093; P = 1.1 × 10(-12)). rs10771399 was associated with similar relative risks for both estrogen receptor (ER)-negative and ER-positive breast cancer, whereas the other two loci were associated only with ER-positive disease. Two of the loci lie in regions that contain strong plausible candidate genes: PTHLH (12p11) has a crucial role in mammary gland development and the establishment of bone metastasis in breast cancer, and NRIP1 (21q21) encodes an ER cofactor and has a role in the regulation of breast cancer cell growth

Evolution of genes and genomes on the Drosophila phylogeny

Comparative analysis of multiple genomes in a phylogenetic framework dramatically improves the precision and sensitivity of evolutionary inference, producing more robust results than single-genome analyses can provide. The genomes of 12 Drosophila species, ten of which are presented here for the first time (sechellia, simulans, yakuba, erecta, ananassae, persimilis, willistoni, mojavensis, virilis and grimshawi), illustrate how rates and patterns of sequence divergence across taxa can illuminate evolutionary processes on a genomic scale. These genome sequences augment the formidable genetic tools that have made Drosophila melanogaster a pre-eminent model for animal genetics, and will further catalyse fundamental research on mechanisms of development, cell biology, genetics, disease, neurobiology, behaviour, physiology and evolution. Despite remarkable similarities among these Drosophila species, we identified many putatively non-neutral changes in protein-coding genes, non-coding RNA genes, and cis-regulatory regions. These may prove to underlie differences in the ecology and behaviour of these diverse species