Results and discussion Figure 1 shows the surface images of as-received and etched STO substrates taken by an atomic force microscope (AFM). It can be clearly seen that the STO surface varies from smooth for as-received to rough for etched. The surface roughness of as-received STO substrates is about 1 nm, while the etched STO surface is full of pits or trenches

with a surface roughness of around 20 nm. Although some reports show that the surface of HF-etched selleck screening library STO is atomically flat with Ti-terminated surface since Sr atom is much more sensitive to HF attack than Ti atom [14], the etched STO surface in the present case is full of pits or trenches. The STO used in this work may not be a perfect selleckchem single crystal and is assumed to be made up of nanograins [15]. The HF solution permeates into the grain boundaries and dissolves Sr atoms on the lateral sides. As etching proceeds, the grains shrink and the grain boundaries widen in size, leading to the appearance of pits or trenches. The tilted angles of pits or trenches

from the surface are estimated from AFM to be 56.4°, 41.8°, and 64.0° on etched (001), (011), and (111) STO substrates, respectively. The pits and/or trenches may serve as patterned substrates to control the growth direction of ZnO films, which is essentially important for practical applications. Figure 1 AFM images (10 × 10 μm 2 ).The as-received (a, c, e) and etched (b, d, f) (001) (a, b), (011) (c, d), and (111) (e, f) STO substrates. selleck products X-ray θ-2θ and Ф scans were performed to identify the out-of-plane and in-plane orientation relationships between the films and

substrates. In a Ф scan, the number of peaks corresponds to the number of planes for a particular family that possesses the same angle χ (0°< χ < 90°) with the crystal surface, while the separation between peaks correlates with the angular separation between the corresponding projections of the normals to the scanning family onto the crystal surface. The Ф angles of the ZnO films are respectively these corrected by the Ф scan of the STO substrates. It can be seen from Figure 2a that ZnO films show nonpolar (1120) and polar (0001) orientations on as-received and etched (001) STO substrates, respectively. We first discuss the epitaxial relationship of (1120) ZnO on as-received (001) STO. Several groups have obtained (1120) ZnO epitaxial films on (001) STO, but suppose one-, two-, or four-domain epitaxy [7–9, 16]. In order to clarify the epitaxial relationship of (1120)ZnO/(001) STO in the present work, we performed the Ф scans of ZnO 1010 and STO 112 families, as shown in Figure 2b. In single crystal (1120) ZnO, only two crystal planes in the ZnO 1010 family have the same angle with the surface (χ = 30°), and two peaks separated by 180° are expected in ZnO 1010 Ф patterns, which is just the case in single-domain (1120) ZnO on r-sapphire [17].

L. asiaticus’ sequences in GenBank. Figure 3 Sequence comparison of five types of PCR amplicons (P1-P5) derived from primer set Lap5640f/Lap5650r. Annotation of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ strain Psy62 is used as a reference and shown in the first row where primer set Lap5640f/Lap5650r flanks a region of 797 bp. Open reading frame CLIBASIA05640,05645 and 05655 encode hypothetical proteins. CLIBASIA_05650 encodes a phage associated protein. Nucleotide positions

574 and 722 are marked as insertion/deletion sites. In silico analyses of CLIBASIA_05650 alleles ORF PLX-4720 datasheet CLIBASIA_05650 was annotated as interrupted gp229, a phage-associated protein [9]. A 72-bp (24 amino acids) insertion as shown in P2 and P5, which distributed in E-type F, G, or H (Figure 3), created an in frame mutation. Close examination showed that CLIBASIA_05650 was mostly composed of imperfect six amino acids (or 18 bp nucleotides) tandem repeats leading by residue V (Figure 4). Such hexapeptide domains are common to many bacterial transferases represented by LpxA-like enzymes. The secondary and tertiary (3-D) structure predictions learn more on translated amino acid sequences were constructed (Figure 4). The 24 amino acid insertion apparently shortened many of the beta-sheets (Figure 4A) and added a structure motif (Figure 4B) along with the increases of prediction stability in both secondary and tertiary structures. Interestingly, of the 66 strains which have P2 and P5 amplicons, 64

(97.0%) were collected from Florida, U.S., and only 2 (3.0%) were from Guangdong, China (Table 1). Figure 4 Predictions of secondary and tertiary (3-D) structures of CLIBASIA_05650 by PSIPRED and Phyre servers. Histidine ammonia-lyase Panel A (top): CLIBASIA_05650 allele with a 24-amino acid sequence insert. Six motifs are shown in tertiary structure. The 24-amino acid repeat unit is underlined in red and the second 24-amino acid sequence insert is

underlined in green. Panel B (bottom): CLIBASIA_05650 allele without a 24-amino acid sequence insert. Five motifs are shown with the tertiary structure. The potential 24-amino acid repeat unit is underlined in black. In both A and B, the first amino acid of a hexapeptide unit, V, is highlighted in red. Confidence of prediction is presented in bar graph (1-9) in the secondary structure and in P-value in the tertiary structure. Discussion In this study, primer set Lap5640f/Lap5650r yielded one to three amplicons for a given HLB samples. A total of five amplicons with this website different sizes were identified. They are related by insertion/deletion events, demonstrating the mosaicism in the population genome of ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’. In another word, at the locus of CLIBASIA_05640-CLIBASIA_05650, ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ possesses alleles composed of sequences identical in some parts but polymorphic in other parts. DNA mosaicism described in this study is largely from size variation of different PCR amplicons and confirmed by sequencing with limited strains. Deng et al.

Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of a single oral dose of nitrazepam in healthy volunteers: an interethnic comparative study between Japanese and European volunteers. J Clin Pharmacol. 1998;38:1129–36.PubMed 37. Abernethy DR, Greenblatt DJ, Locniskar A, Ochs HR, Harmatz JS, Shader RI. Obesity effects on nitrazepam disposition. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 1986;22:551–7.PubMedCrossRef 38. Greenblatt DJ, Abernethy DR, Locniskar A, Ochs HR, Harmatz JS, Shader

RI. Age, sex, and nitrazepam kinetics: relation to antipyrine disposition. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1985;38:697–703.PubMedCrossRef 39. Sugimoto K, Araki N, Ohmori M, Harada K, Cui Y, Tsuruoka S, Kawaguchi A, Fujimura Chk inhibitor A. Interaction between grapefruit juice and hypnotic drugs: comparison of triazolam and quazepam. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2006;62:209–15.PubMedCrossRef 40. Otani K, Yasui N, Furukori H, Kaneko S, Tasaki H, Ohkubo T, Nagasaki T, Sugawara K, Hayashi K. Relationship between single oral dose pharmacokinetics of alprazolam and triazolam. Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 1997;12:153–7.PubMedCrossRef

41. Aoshima T, Fukasawa T, Otsuji Y, Okuyama N, Gerstenberg G, Miura M, Ohkubo T, Sugawara K, Otani K. Effects of the CYP2C19 genotype and cigarette smoking on the single oral dose pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of estazolam. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Erastin Biol Psychiatry. 2003;27:535–8.PubMedCrossRef 42. Mancinelli A, Guiso G, Garattini S, Urso R, Caccia S. Kinetic and pharmacological studies on estazolam in mice and man. Xenobiotica. 1985;15:257–65.PubMedCrossRef 43. Evans D, Hodgkinson B, Lambert L, Wood J. Falls risk factors in the hospital setting: Interleukin-3 receptor a systematic review. Int J Nurs Pract. 2001;7:38–45.PubMedCrossRef 44. Oliver D, Connelly JB, Victor CR, Shaw FE, Whitehead A, Genc Y, Vanoli A, Martin FC, Gosney MA. Strategies to prevent falls and fractures in hospitals and care homes and effect of cognitive impairment: systematic review and meta-analyses. BMJ. 2007;334:82–8.PubMedCrossRef 45. Ramakrishnan K, Scheid DC. Treatment options for buy TPCA-1 insomnia. Am Fam Physician. 2007;76:517–26.PubMed 46. Shirakawa K. Pharmacological profile and clinical effect

of zolpidem (Myslee tablets), a hypnotic agent. Folia Pharmacol Jpn. 2002;119:111–8.CrossRef 47. Darcourt G, Pringuey D, Salliere D, Lavoisy J. The safety and tolerability of zolpidem—an update. J Psychopharmacol. 1999;13:81–93.PubMedCrossRef 48. Scharf MB, Roth T, Vogel GW, Walsh JK. A multicenter, placebo-controlled study evaluating zolpidem in the treatment of chronic insomnia. J Clin Psychiatry. 1994;55:192–9.PubMed 49. Olsen RW, Sieghart W. International Union of Pharmacology. LXX. Subtypes of gamma-aminobutyric acid(A) receptors: classification on the basis of subunit composition, pharmacology, and function. Update. Pharmacol Rev. 2000;60:243–60.CrossRef 50. Sieghart W. Structure and pharmacology of gamma-aminobutyric acid(A) receptor subtypes. Pharmacol Rev. 1995;47:181–234.PubMed 51.

No protein bands other than those of 70 and

65 kDa indicated by asterisks, which might be non-specific, were detected in the hbp35 full length deletion mutant (KDP166), whereas the hbp35 insertion mutant (KDP164), which had an insertion of the ermF-ermAM DNA cassette just upstream of the F110 residue within the HBP35 protein, showed 29-and 27-kDa proteins (Figure 1). We checked independent 18 isolates of KDP164 and 5 isolates of KDP166. All of the isolates showed the same results as shown in Figure 1. The 40-kDa protein appeared as the full length gene product of hbp35, which coincided with results of previous studies [6, 7]. Figure find more 1 Immunoblot analysis of cell extracts of various P. gingivalis strains with anti-HBP35. Cell extracts (approximately 10 μg protein) of various P. gingivalis strains were analyzed by SDS-PAGE under reducing conditions

followed by immunoblotting with anti-HBP35 antibody. Lane 1, 33277 (wild type); lanes 2, 3 and 4, KDP164 (hbp35 insertion mutant); lanes 5, 6 and 7, KDP166 (hbp35 deletion mutant). Asterisks indicate protein bands with molecular Pritelivir in vivo masses of 70-and 65-kDa non-specifically recognized by anti-HBP35 antibody. Pigmentation and ICG-001 gingipain activities of P. gingivalis hbp35 mutants Both full length deletion and insertion P. gingivalis hbp35 mutants formed black pigmented colonies on blood agar plates. No difference was observed in Rgp, Kgp and hemagglutinating activities between the hbp35 mutants and the wild type (data not shown). These results suggest that HBP35 does not influence expression of gingipain-encoding genes. Northern blot analysis of hbp35 To determine whether the hbp35 gene produces multiple transcripts, total RNAs were prepared from the wild type and hbp35 mutants. Northern blot analysis was then carried out with an hbp35 DNA probe that hybridized to

the hbp35 region coding for Q22-P344. The wild type showed a 1.1-kb transcript hybridizing to the hbp35 probe (Additional file 1). In the hbp35 insertion and full length Glutamate dehydrogenase deletion mutants, there was no 1.1-kb transcript, indicating that the 1.1-kb mRNA was produced from the hbp35 gene. The hbp35 insertion mutant produced transcripts with 1.3-2.2 kb that hybridized to the probe. The ermF probe hybridized to transcripts with similar length in the hbp35 insertion mutant (Additional file 1). Subcellular localization of HBP35 protein In an approach to understand the potential roles of HBP35 proteins with different molecular masses, we fractionated cells of the wild type and the hbp35 insertion mutant into cytoplasm/periplasm, total membrane, and inner and outer membrane fractions. These fractions were subjected to SDS-PAGE and immunoblot analysis with the anti-HBP35 antibody.

However, in the case of the GO, the oxygen-containing groups could create strong local electric field [45] under laser excitation, so large polarizability of graphene domains induces additional local electric field and increases the cross-section of RS of the adsorbed molecules. Additional enhancement could be explained by resonant excitation for one or two photons in the case of CARS of nanocarbons (Table 1) also. Indeed, our optical study in the near-visible range confirms the appearance of local density states of MWCNTs and GNPs in the

region of 500 to 900 nm. So, resonant excitation could be the other reason of giant enhancement in CARS. All this mechanisms need further study and analysis. Conclusions Therefore, it was shown that the CARS spectra

of carbon nanostructures (GNPs, GO, and MWCNTs) are definitely different from the corresponding spontaneous Raman spectra. At the same time, the CARS and Raman LY2835219 solubility dmso spectra of Thy are rather close and could be used for analytical purposes. The GECARS effect was shown for the Thy/GO complex with minor shifts of Thy bands. The enhancement factor of the GECARS signal for the Thy/GO complex is greater than approximately 105. In our view, the enhancement effect could have several reasons: (a) the so-called chemical mechanism, which involves charge transfer between the molecule and the carbon nanostructure, as well Evofosfamide cost as the increase of the dipole moment in the molecule; (b) the resonant interaction of exciting light with electronic states of the carbon nanostructures; and (c) the increase the local electromagnetic field at the edges of the GO nanosheets. Fenbendazole Authors’ information GD has a scientific degree of Doctor of Sciences in Solid State Physics and Biophysics and received degree of professor in 2012. She is a Head of Physics of the Biological Systems Department of Institute of Physics of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Her scientific areas of interest are Biophysics, nucleic acids, Solid State Physics, surface solids, plasmonics, experimental physics (FTIR, SEIRA, SERS, UV, Raman, NMR spectroscopy,

Langmuir-Blodgett technique, AFM microscopy, and Computational Chemistry). She was involved in the study of biological molecule interaction with low doses of ionizing and microwave irradiation, ligands, anti-cancer drugs, metal and carbon nanostructures. She has more than 250 publications in international scientific MAPK inhibitor journals. OF received her degree of Senior Researcher in 2009 and her Ph.D. at Institute of Physics of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 2007 with a thesis about effects and mechanisms of enhancement of optical transition of bio-organical molecules near metal surface. Now, she is the Head of the Innovations and Technology Transfer Department of the Institute of Physics of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

However, based on the composition of highly repetitive tRNA arrays, E. histolytica has been shown to have distinct genotypes with different potentials to cause disease [23–27]. E. histolytica tRNA genes are unusually organized in 25 arrays containing up to 5 tRNA genes in each array, with intergenic regions 17DMAG in vivo between tRNA genes containing

short selleck screening library tandem repeats (STRs) [27]. A 6-locus (D-A, S-Q, R-R, A-L, STGA-D, and N-K) tRNA gene-linked genotyping system has shown that the number of STRs at these loci differ in parasite populations isolated from three clinical groups (asymptomatic, diarrhea/dysentery and liver abscess) [24, 26]. The variations occurring in tRNA genotypes, even between the ameba strains isolated from the intestine and in the liver abscess of the same patient, suggest that not all strains of E. histolytica have the same capacity to reach the liver of the infected host [28]. However, the

diversity of tRNA linked STR genotypes occurring even in a restricted geographic region, and the frequent occurrence of novel genotypes, limit their usefulness to predict infection outcome or to probe the population structure of E. histolytica [25, 29, 30]. The extensive genetic polymorphism in the repeat sequences of SREHP, chitinase and tRNA arrays for instance could reflect slippage occurring during E. histolytica DNA replication as Tibayrenc et al. hypothesize that the parasites exist as clonal populations that are stable over large geographical areas and long periods of time [31, 32]. Compared with other DNA markers, single nucleotide Entospletinib polymorphisms (SNPs) are genetically stable, amenable to future automated methods of detection, and in contrast to the highly repetitive tRNA arrays, their location can be mapped in the E. histolytica genome [33–35]. After the first sequencing and assembly of Entamoeba histolytica HM-1:IMSS genome was published by Loftus et al. Bhattacharya et al. amplified and sequenced 9 kb of coding and non-coding DNA to evaluate the variability of E. histolytica SNPs in 14 strains

and identified a link between some genotypes and clinical outcome [36]. The advent of the next Nintedanib (BIBF 1120) generation of high throughput genomic sequencing (NGS) technologies has provided more comprehensive opportunities to investigate variation in the genome of E. histolytica and clinical outcome by allowing the fast and efficient way to sequence laboratory-cultured ameba of clinical relevance [35, 37]. These cultured strains were isolated from different geographical areas endemic for amebiasis and contained large numbers of “strain-specific” SNPs in addition to SNPs present in more than one strain [35]. The sequence variations associated with virulence strains previously identified in the sequenced 9 kb DNA (a synonomous SNP in XM_001913658.1the heavy subunit of the Gal/GalNAc lectin gene (894A/G), and SNPs in the non-coding DNA either between XM_652295.

Res Microbiol 2011, 162:506–513.PubMedCrossRef 50. Gomes AMP, Malcata FX: Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus acidophilus: biological, biochemical, technological and therapeutical properties relevant for use as probiotics. Trends Food Sci. Technol 1999, 10:139–157.CrossRef 51. Verstraelen H, Verhelst R, Vaneechoutte M, Temmerman M: Group A streptococcal vaginitis: an unrecognized cause of vaginal symptoms in adult women. Arch Gynecol Obstet 2011, 284:95–8.PubMedCrossRef 52. Cerqueira L, Azevedo NF, Almeida C, Jardim T, Keevil C, www.selleckchem.com/products/px-478-2hcl.html Vieira MJ: DNA mimics for the rapid identification

of microorganisms by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Int J Mol Sci 2008, 9:1944–1960.PubMedCrossRef 53. Huys G, Vancanneyt M, D’Haene K, Falsen E, Wauters G, Vandamme P: Alloscardovia omnicolens gen. nov., sp. nov., from human clinical samples. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2007, 57:1442–1446.PubMedCrossRef

54. Aroutcheva AA, Simoes JA, Behbakht K, Faro S: Gardnerella vaginalis isolated from patients with bacterial vaginosis and from patients with healthy vaginal ecosystems. Clin Infect Dis 2001, 33:1022–1027.PubMedCrossRef 55. Briselden check details A, Hillier S: Longitudinal study of the biotypes of Gardnerella vaginalis . J Clin Microbiol 1990, 28:2761–2764.PubMed 56. Eren AM, Zozaya M, Taylor CM, Dowd SE, Martin DH, Ferris MJ: GS-4997 Exploring the diversity of Gardnerella vaginalis in the genitourinary tract microbiota of

monogamous couples through subtle nucleotide variation. PLoS One 2011, 6:e26732-e26740.PubMedCrossRef 57. Udayalaxmi J, Bhat GK, Kotigadde S: Biotypes and virulence factors of Gardnerella vaginalis isolated from cases of bacterial vaginosis. Indian J Med Microbiol 2011, 29:165–168.PubMedCrossRef 58. Harwich MD, Alves JM, Buck GA, Strauss JF, Patterson JL, Oki AT, Girerd PH, Jefferson KK: Drawing the line between commensal and pathogenic Gardnerella vaginalis through genome analysis and virulence studies. BMC Genomics 2010, 11:375–386.PubMedCrossRef 59. Witt A, Petricevic L, Kaufmann U, Gregor H, Kiss H: DNA hybridization test: rapid diagnostic tool for excluding bacterial vaginosis in pregnant women with symptoms suggestive of infection. J Clin Microbiol 2002, 40:3057–3059.PubMedCrossRef 60. Berlier JE, Rothe Flavopiridol (Alvocidib) A, Buller G, Bradford J, Gray DR, Filanoski BJ, Telford WG, Yue S, Liu J, Cheung C, Chang W, Hirsch JD, Beechem JM, Haugland RP: Quantitative comparison of long-wavelength alexa fluor dyes to Cy dyes: fluorescence of the dyes and their bioconjugates. J Histochem Cytochem 2003, 51:1699–1712.PubMedCrossRef Competing interests This work has been submitted as a patent. Authors’ contributions AM, CA, DS and AH conceived of the study and participated in its design and drafted the manuscript. AM and CA carried out the PNA probes design and PNA-FISH assays.

The SSM and S sites have a higher divergence from W than the CE assemblages (see Tables 2 and 3). This suggests that the division of the WERD phylogroup in Figure 3 could have been more appropriately made at the connection between W and SSM (between WH39 and SSMH5), only differentiating the W matriline from the rest of the Spanish groups. With respect to the final paragraph of the Discussion subsection “Two episodes of red deer mtDNA evolution in the context of WERD subspecies”, we do not consider that

there is enough support from the NJ tree and the MJ network to infer the suggested evolutionary relationships among haplogroups. In particular, the interpretation of the origin of each north European subspecies from the four haplogroups found in WERD lineage requires more extensive and critical phylogenetic analyses. There are other questionable remarks 3-MA molecular weight in the Discussion. Although Cabrera did describe two subspecies of red deer in Spain in 1914, the discovery of two mtDNA lineages

cannot be presumed to correspond with Cabrera’s subspecies. Cabrera actually distinguished the red deer in the Doñana National Park from those in the rest of Iberian Peninsula. Similarly, the EGFR inhibitor mention by Cabrera that he was informed that red deer from northern Europe might have been introduced into central Spain cannot on its own support a suggestion as to the origin of haplogroup SSMH4. The phylogenetic relationships between this haplogroup and those of other Iberian and west European red deer require new analyses. The actual phylogenetic

divergence between the two Iberian lineages, their precise composition of mitochondrial D-loop sequences and their current BMS202 mw geographical Resminostat location, merit further work based on more extensive sampling. But moreover, the phylogenetic relationships between lineages based not only on mtDNA but also on nuclear DNA are needed to inform conservation and wildlife management plans. The Iberian red deer is currently considered a separate subspecies (Cervus elaphus hispanicus), and therefore subject to measures aimed at preventing genetic introgression with other subspecies. For instance, the Spanish Trophy Body of the Ministry of the Environment, and the Spanish branch of the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC), agreed to reject as trophies deserving medals all those red deer specimens showing evidence of genetic admixture with non- Iberian genotypes. Likewise, according to Spanish legislation, regional governments include the prerequisite of genetic analyses before issuing permits for red deer introductions in hunting areas. The geographical range affected by these considerations includes Portugal, where similar genetic controls for trophies and introductions are being implemented.

The logarithmic I-V curve of the sample annealed at 700°C is shown in Figure 5b, and its inset shows the corresponding linear I-V curve in magnification. It clearly exhibits not only a good rectification ratio of 3.4 × 103 at ±5 V but also a low turn-on voltage (V t) of 0.48 V, which agrees with the reported results of the n-ZnO/p-Si AZD0156 mouse heterojunction (HJ) diode [19, 20]. Even though the Si QDs are embedded in the

ZnO matrix, we show that the fabricated ZnO thin film on p-Si can still possess good p-n HJ diode behavior with large rectification ratio and low V t. Figure 5 Electrical properties. (a) Vertical resistivity of the Si QD-embedded ZnO thin films under different T ann. (b) Logarithmic I-V curve of the sample annealed at 700°C. The inset shows the linear I-V curve in magnification. To investigate the carrier transport mechanism, the temperature-dependent forward I-V curves of the sample annealed at 700°C are examined and shown in Figure 6a. The I-V curves exhibit the typical temperature dependence of a p-n junction diode. The current clearly increases as we raise the measurement temperature (T meas). In the low bias region (smaller than approximately

0.5 V), the currents can be well fitted to be proportional to about V 1.2 for different Baf-A1 in vitro T meas, which slightly deviates from the ohmic behavior. This means that the surface states and/or an inherent insulating SiO2 thin layer at the interface of the n-ZnO matrix/p-Si substrate has influence on the transport of carriers [21]. In the high bias region (larger than approximately 0.5 V), the forward currents can be well expressed by I = I s[exp(BV) - 1] for different T meas, where I s is the reverse saturation current and parameter B is a coefficient dependent or independent on temperature decided by the dominant carrier transport mechanism [21,

22]. The fitted results for parameter B are shown in Figure 6b, which reveal that the parameter B is almost invariant for different T meas. This independence of T meas indicates that the carrier transport Progesterone is dominated by the multistep tunneling mechanism, which had been reported by Zebbar et al. and Dhananjay et al. for the n-ZnO/p-Si HJ diode [21, 23]. The multistep tunneling process usually occurs at the HJ region of the n-ZnO matrix and p-Si substrate, which is attributed to the www.selleckchem.com/products/VX-680(MK-0457).html recombination of electrons, tunneling from ZnO into the empty gap states in the p-Si substrate, and holes, tunneling through the HJ barrier from the p-Si substrate to the n-ZnO matrix between the empty states [21, 23]. Hence, our results show that the carriers in the Si QD-embedded ZnO thin film mainly transport via the ZnO matrix but not through Si QDs with direct, resonant, or phonon-assisted tunneling mechanisms, as reported for Si QDs embedded in the traditional matrix materials [24, 25].

The ultimate atomic-scale thickness of the present system leads to a very large λ ⊥ in the order of millimeters [8], thus making it a candidate for observing the KT transition. We fitted the experimental data of R □ using Equation 6 within the range of 2.25 KNU7026 ic50 superconductor, which is not applicable

to the ( )-In surface with high crystallinity. Unfortunately, the present experimental setup does not allow us to observe the expected temperature dependence of Equation 6 down to T K because of the presence of the stray magnetic field. Furthermore, the predicted I-V characteristics V∝I a where the exponent a jumps from 1 to 3 at T K should be examined to conclude the observation of the KT

transition [31, 32]. selleck kinase inhibitor Construction of a UHV-compatible cryostat with an effective magnetic shield and a lower achievable temperature will be indispensible for such future studies. Conclusions We have HKI 272 studied the resistive phase transition of the ( )-In surface in detail for a series of samples. In the normal state, the sheet resistances R □ of the samples decrease significantly between 20 and

5 K, which amounts to 5% to 15% of the residual resistivity R res. Their characteristic temperature dependence Unoprostone suggests the importance of electron-electron scattering in electron transport phenomena. The poor correlation between the variations in T c and R res indicate different mechanisms for determining these quantities. The decrease in R □ was progressively accelerated just above T c due to the superconducting fluctuation effects. Quantitative analysis indicates the parallel contributions of fluctuating Cooper pairs corresponding to the AL and MT terms. A minute but finite resistance tail was found below T c down to the lowest temperature of 1.8 K, which may be ascribed to a dissipation due to free vortex flow. The interpretation of the data based on the KT transition was proposed, but further experiments with an improved cryostat are required for the conclusion. Acknowledgements This work was partly supported by World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative on Materials Nanoarchitectonics, MEXT, Japan, and by the Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows. The authors thank M. Aono at MANA, NIMS, for his stimulous discussions. References 1. Lifshits VG, Saranin AA, Zotov AV: Surface Phases on Silicon: Preparation, Structures, and Properties. Chichester: Wiley; 1994. 2. Mönch W: Semiconductor Surfaces and Interfaces. Berlin: Springer; 2001.CrossRef 3.