265 research outputs found
Properties and characterization of ALD grown dielectric oxides for MIS structures
We report on an extensive structural and electrical characterization of
under-gate dielectric oxide insulators Al2O3 and HfO2 grown by Atomic Layer
Deposition (ALD). We elaborate the ALD growth window for these oxides, finding
that the 40-100 nm thick layers of both oxides exhibit fine surface flatness
and required amorphous structure. These layers constitute a base for further
metallic gate evaporation to complete the Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor
structure. Our best devices survive energizing up to ~3 MV/cm at 77 K with the
leakage current staying below the state-of-the-art level of 1 nA. At these
conditions the displaced charge corresponds to a change of the sheet carrier
density of 3 \times 1013 cm-2, what promises an effective modulation of the
micromagnetic properties in diluted ferromagnetic semiconductors.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 14 reference
Altered miRNA Expression in Canine Retinas During Normal Development and in Models of Retinal Degeneration
Background
Although more than 246 loci/genes are associated with inherited retinal diseases, the mechanistic events that link genetic mutations to photoreceptor cell death are poorly understood. miRNAs play a relevant role during retinal development and disease. Thus, as a first step in characterizing miRNA involvement during disease expression and progression, we examined miRNAs expression changes in normal retinal development and in four canine models of retinal degenerative disease. Results
The initial microarray analysis showed that 50 miRNAs were differentially expressed (DE) early (3 vs. 7 wks) in normal retina development, while only 2 were DE between 7 and 16 wks, when the dog retina is fully mature. miRNA expression profiles were similar between dogs affected with xlpra2, an early-onset retinal disease caused by a microdeletion in RPGRORF15, and normal dogs early in development (3 wks) and at the peak of photoreceptor death (7 wks), when only 2 miRNAs were DE. However, the expression varied much more markedly during the chronic cell death stage at 16 wks (118 up-/55 down-regulated miRNAs). Functional analyses indicated that these DE miRNAs are associated with an increased inflammatory response, as well as cell death/survival. qRT-PCR of selected apoptosis-related miRNAs (“apoptomirs”) confirmed the microarray results in xlpra2, and extended the analysis to the early-onset retinal diseases rcd1 (PDE6B-mutation) and erd (STK38L-mutation), as well as the slowly progressing prcd (PRCD-mutation). The results showed up-regulation of anti-apoptotic (miR-9, -19a, -20, -21, -29b, -146a, -155, -221) and down-regulation of pro-apoptotic (miR-122, -129) apoptomirs in the early-onset diseases and, with few exceptions, also in the prcd-mutants. Conclusions
Our results suggest that apoptomirs might be expressed by diseased retinas in an attempt to counteract the degenerative process. The pattern of expression in diseased retinas mirrored the morphology and cell death kinetics previously described for these diseases. This study suggests that common miRNA regulatory mechanisms may be involved in retinal degeneration processes and provides attractive opportunities for the development of novel miRNA-based therapies to delay the progression of the degenerative process
Canine Multifocal Retinopathy in the Australian Shepherd: A Case Report
A 1-year-old Australian Shepherd (AS) was presented for a routine hereditary eye examination. During the examination multiple raised, brown to orange lesions were noted in the fundus, which could not be attributed to a known retinal disease in this breed. As they clinically most closely resembled canine multifocal retinopathy (cmr) and no indication of an acquired condition was found, genetic tests for BEST1 gene mutations were performed. These showed the dog to be homozygous for the cmr1 (C73T/R25X) gene defect. Furthermore, ultrasound (US), electroretinography (ERG), and optical coherence tomography were performed, confirming changes typical for cmr. Subsequently, the AS pedigree members were genetically and clinically tested, demonstrating autosomal recessive inheritance with no clinical symptoms in carrier animals, as was previously described for cmr. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of canine multifocal retinopathy in the AS breed. Further investigations are under way
Nonlocal resistance and its fluctuations in microstructures of band-inverted HgTe/(Hg,Cd)Te quantum wells
We investigate experimentally transport in gated microsctructures containing
a band-inverted HgTe/Hg_{0.3}Cd_{0.7}Te quantum well. Measurements of nonlocal
resistances using many contacts prove that in the depletion regime the current
is carried by the edge channels, as expected for a two-dimensional topological
insulator. However, high and non-quantized values of channel resistances show
that the topological protection length (i.e. the distance on which the carriers
in helical edge channels propagate without backscattering) is much shorter than
the channel length, which is ~100 micrometers. The weak temperature dependence
of the resistance and the presence of temperature dependent reproducible
quasi-periodic resistance fluctuations can be qualitatively explained by the
presence of charge puddles in the well, to which the electrons from the edge
channels are tunnel-coupled.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, published versio
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