Medium energy ion scattering studies of ultrathin epitaxial films

Medium energy ion scattering (MEIS) has been used to investigate ultrathin epitaxial films. The depth profiles of V2O3(0001) films grown on Pd(111) were examined. The results from this demonstrated that on this substrate the films grown are highly non-uniform, with a large distribution of thicknesses observed for each prepared sample. V2O3(0001) films grown on Au(111) were found to form films with a much more even range of thicknesses, good enough to yield blocking curves. The experimental blocking curves obtained are not in good agreement with half-metal or vanadyl terminated structures favoured by most previous studies. Assuming that imperfections exist in the grown films produced better fits, however this lost surface sensitivity. The optimal structure found is an oxygen termination, proposed by a previous density functional theory (DFT) study. This structure is also found to be consistent with re-examined photoelectron diffraction (PhD) data. Ag2S films grown on Ag(111) were found to suffer severely from beam-induced damage, limiting quantity of obtained data. Unusually, an He+ beam was found to produce less severe effects than an H+ beam. Energy cuts were used to confirm, as proposed by an early Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) study, that the silver sulphide thickness continues to increase with increasing sulphur deposition onto Ag(111). The backscattered ion yields of the blocking curves increased with increasing film thickness, and no additional blocking features were present. These curves were found to be consistent with the structural model proposed by a previous normal incidence X-ray standing waves (NIXSW) study. p2gg(4 × 2)Mn/Cu(100) films were found to form with thicknesses far greater than the two layers anticipated by previous studies. The thick disordered layer precluded any structural analysis. The copper and manganese peaks could not be resolved, resulting in the only information obtained being about the thickness of the films

The structure of epitaxial V2O3 films and their surfaces : a medium energy ion scattering study

Medium energy ion scattering, using 100 keV H+ incident ions, has been used to investigate the growth of epitaxial films, up to thicknesses of ~200 Å, of V2O3 on both Pd(111) and Au(111). Scattered-ion energy spectra provide a measure of the average film thickness and the variations in this thickness, and show that, with suitable annealing, the crystalline quality is good. Plots of the scattering yield as a function of scattering angle, so-called blocking curves, have been measured for two different incidence directions and have been used to determine the surface structure. Specifically, scattering simulations for a range of different model structures show poor agreement with experiment for half-metal (….V’O3V) and vanadyl (….V’O3V=O) terminations, with and without surface interlayer relaxations. However, good agreement with experiment is found for the modified oxygen-termination structure, first proposed by Kresse et al., in which a subsurface V half-metal layer is moved up into the outermost V buckled metal layer to produce a VO2 overlayer on the underlying V2O3, with an associated layer structure of ….O3VV’’V’O3

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p<0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p<0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p<0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP >5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

Silver sulphide growth on Ag(111) : a medium energy ion scattering study

The interaction of S-2 with Ag(111) under ultra-high vacuum conditions has been investigated by medium energy ion scattering (MEIS). 100 key He+ MEIS measurements provide a direct confirmation of a previous report, based on thermal desorption, that the growth of multilayer films of Ag2S occurs through a continuous corrosion process. These films show a commensurate (root 7 x root 7)R19 degrees unit mesh in low energy electron diffraction, consistent with the epitaxial growth of (111) layers of the high-temperature F-cubic phase of Ag2S. The substantial range of co-existing film thicknesses found indicates that the growth must be in the form of variable-thickness islands. The use of 100 key H+ incident ions leads to a very rapid decrease in the sulphide film thickness with increasing exposure that we attribute to an unusual chemical leaching, with implanted H atoms interacting with S atoms and desorption of H2S from the surface

V2O3(0001) surface termination : phase equilibrium

Complementary but independent medium-energy and low-energy ion scattering studies of the (0001) surfaces of V2O3 films grown on Pd(111), Au(111) and Cu3Au(100) reveal a reconstructed full O3-layer termination creating a VO2 surface trilayer. This structure is fully consistent with previous calculations based on thermodynamic equilibrium at the surface during growth, but contrasts with previous suggestions that the surface termination comprises a complete monolayer of vanadyl (V=O) species

Medium energy ion scattering investigation of methylthiolate-induced modification of the Au(111) surface

100 keV H+ scattering has been used to investigate the structure of the methylthiolate/Au(111) interface in the Au(111)(√3 × √3)R30° phase. Adsorption of the thiolate onto the clean Au(111) surface leads to a large drop in the scattered ion yield due to the lifting of the clean surface ‘herring-bone’ reconstruction, but the thiolate-covered surface shows an ion yield higher than that of an unreconstructed Au(111) surface, providing direct evidence of a significant number of Au atoms that are displaced from their bulk-terminated positions at the buried interface. Simulations for two different Au adatoms models at the interface, namely, the Au-adatom-monothiolate (AAM) and Au-adatom-dithiolate (AAD) models, show significant sensitivity to the exact values of interlayer spacings and atomic vibrational amplitudes, but the comparison with experimental results appears to favour the AAD model with 0.17 ML Au adatoms in bridging sites at the interface

Inelastic energy loss in 100-keV H+ scattering from single atoms : theory and experiment for K, Rb, and Cs

The energy-loss spectrum associated with scattering of 100-keV H+ ions from K, Rb, and Cs atoms adsorbed on Al(111) has been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. Theoretical simulations were conducted based on calculations of the energy loss experienced in specific ion trajectories at the surface, using coupled-channel calculations to describe inner-shell ionization and excitation as a function of impact parameter. The energy losses can be attributed entirely to single atomic collisions from the alkali atoms, and the experiments reproduce the markedly increased asymmetry in scattering from Rb and Cs relative to K, attributable largely to the role of 3d and 4d excitations, respectively, and particularly the role of multiple excitations of these states. For Rb and Cs scattering, the data show excellent quantitative agreement between theory and experiment; for the K scattering, a discrepancy of a low-energy shoulder is attributed to a problem associated with the sample preparation