A study of Al1-xInxN growth by reflection high-energy electron diffraction-incorporation of cation atoms during molecular-beam epitaxy

Molecular-beam epitaxy of Al1-x Inx N alloys with different indium (In) contents, x, were studied by in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Growth rates of the alloys were measured by the RHEED intensity oscillations for different source flux conditions, while the lattice parameters were derived from the diffraction patterns. It was found that under the excess nitrogen growth regime, incorporation of aluminum was complete whereas incorporation of In atoms was incomplete even at temperatures below 400 °C. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Genotyping isolates of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana sensu lato by multi-locus polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) analysis

Multi-locus denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis was developed to investigate the genotypes of Beauveria bassiana sensu lato. Sensitive tests indicated all isolates with one or more nucleotide differences at EF-1 and Bloc could be distinguished by DGGE except for one pair of strains that differed at four nucleotide positions. Ten, twelve and five genotypes were identified at the EF-1, Bloc and ITS locus, respectively, among seventeen isolates, which together differentiated 13 genotypes. These results demonstrated that multi-locus DGGE is a potentially useful molecular marker for genotyping, identifying and tracking the fates of experimentally released strains of B. bassiana sensu lato. Moreover, by multi-locus DGGE for scanning B. bassiana sensu lato isolates with different multilocus sequences, genetic diversity of B. bassiana sensu lato was effectively investigated with substantially reduced time and cost in subsequent DNA sequencing

Design and Testing of Cesium Atomic Concentration Detection System Based on TDLAS

In order to better build the Neutral Beam Injector with Negative Ion Source (NNBI), the pre-research on key technologies has been carried out for the Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT). Cesium seeding into negative-ion sources is a prerequisite to obtain the required negative hydrogen ion. The performance of ion source largely depends on the cesium conditions in the source. It is very necessary to quantitatively measure the amount of cesium in the source during the plasma on and off periods (vacuum stage). This article uses the absorption peak of cesium atoms near 852.1nm to build a cesium atom concentration detection system based on Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) technology. The test experiment based on the cesium cell is carried out, obtained the variation curve of cesium concentration at different temperatures. The experimental results indicate that: the system detection range is within 5*10E6-2.5*10E7 pieces/cm3 and the system resolution better than 1*10E6 pieces/cm3.Comment: 8 pages,7 figures, the 20th International Symposium on Laser-Aided Plasma Diagnostic

Subversion of actin dynamics by EspM effectors of attaching and effacing bacterial pathogens

Rho GTPases are common targets of bacterial toxins and type III secretion system effectors. IpgB1 and IpgB2 of Shigella and Map of enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) Escherichia coli were recently grouped together on the basis that they share a conserved WxxxE motif. In this study, we characterized six WxxxE effectors from attaching and effacing pathogens: TrcA and EspM1 of EPEC strain B171, EspM1 and EspM2 of EHEC strain Sakai and EspM2 and EspM3 of Citrobacter rodentium. We show that EspM2 triggers formation of global parallel stress fibres, TrcA and EspM1 induce formation of localized parallel stress fibres and EspM3 triggers formation of localized radial stress fibres. Using EspM2 and EspM3 as model effectors, we report that while substituting the conserved Trp with Ala abolished activity, conservative Trp to Tyr or Glu to Asp substitutions did not affect stress-fibre formation. We show, using dominant negative constructs and chemical inhibitors, that the activity of EspM2 and EspM3 is RhoA and ROCK-dependent. Using Rhotekin pull-downs, we have shown that EspM2 and EspM3 activate RhoA; translocation of EspM2 and EspM3 triggered phosphorylation of cofilin. These results suggest that the EspM effectors modulate actin dynamics by activating the RhoA signalling pathway

Molecular-beam epitaxy of AlInN: An effect of source flux and temperature on indium atom incorporation in alloys

Growth of AlInN alloys by molecular-beam epitaxy is studied by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, where in-plane lattice constant and specular beam intensity oscillations are recorded for information of lattice misfit and growth rate as a function of source flux and temperature. An unexpected dependence of alloy growth rate on indium flux is observed, which reflects the specific incorporation kinetics of indium in the alloy. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Soliton superlattices in twisted hexagonal boron nitride.

Properties of atomic van der Waals heterostructures are profoundly influenced by interlayer coupling, which critically depends on stacking of the proximal layers. Rotational misalignment or lattice mismatch of the layers gives rise to a periodic modulation of the stacking, the moiré superlattice. Provided the superlattice period extends over many unit cells, the coupled layers undergo lattice relaxation, leading to the concentration of strain at line defects - solitons - separating large area commensurate domains. We visualize such long-range periodic superstructures in thin crystals of hexagonal boron nitride using atomic-force microscopy and nano-infrared spectroscopy. The solitons form sub-surface hexagonal networks with periods of a few hundred nanometers. We analyze the topography and infrared contrast of these networks to obtain spatial distribution of local strain and its effect on the infrared-active phonons of hBN

Evaluation of Phage Display Discovered Peptides as Ligands for Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA)

The aim of this study was to identify potential ligands of PSMA suitable for further development as novel PSMA-targeted peptides using phage display technology. The human PSMA protein was immobilized as a target followed by incubation with a 15-mer phage display random peptide library. After one round of prescreening and two rounds of screening, high-stringency screening at the third round of panning was performed to identify the highest affinity binders. Phages which had a specific binding activity to PSMA in human prostate cancer cells were isolated and the DNA corresponding to the 15-mers were sequenced to provide three consensus sequences: GDHSPFT, SHFSVGS and EVPRLSLLAVFL as well as other sequences that did not display consensus. Two of the peptide sequences deduced from DNA sequencing of binding phages, SHSFSVGSGDHSPFT and GRFLTGGTGRLLRIS were labeled with 5-carboxyfluorescein and shown to bind and co-internalize with PSMA on human prostate cancer cells by fluorescence microscopy. The high stringency requirements yielded peptides with affinities KD∼1 μM or greater which are suitable starting points for affinity maturation. While these values were less than anticipated, the high stringency did yield peptide sequences that apparently bound to different surfaces on PSMA. These peptide sequences could be the basis for further development of peptides for prostate cancer tumor imaging and therapy. © 2013 Shen et al