) larvae Vet Microbiol

2010, 144:153–159 PubMedCrossRef

) larvae. Vet Microbiol

2010, 144:153–159.PubMedCrossRef 66. Kullen MJ, Sanozky-Dawes RB, Crowell DC, Klaenhammer TR: Use of the DNA sequence of variable regions of the 16S rRNA gene for rapid and accurate identification of bacteria in the Lactobacillus acidophilus complex. J Appl Microbiol 2000, 89:511–516.PubMedCrossRef 67. Poyart C, Quesnes G, Trieu-Cuot P: Sequencing the gene encoding manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase for rapid species identification of enterococci. J Clin Microbiol 2000, 38:415–418.PubMed 68. Cintas LM, Rodríguez JM, Fernández MF, Sletten K, Nes IF, Hernández PE, Holo H: Isolation and characterization of pediocin L50, a new bacteriocin from Pediococcus acidilactici with a broad inhibitory Momelotinib purchase spectrum. Appl Environ Microbiol 1995, 61:2643–2648.PubMed learn more 69. Gilmore MS, Segarra RA, Booth MC, Bogie CP, Hall LR, Clewell DB: Genetic structure of the Enterococcus faecalis plasmid pAD1-encoded cytolytic toxin system and its relationship to lhttps://www.selleckchem.com/products/JNJ-26481585.html antibiotic determinants. J Bacteriol 1994, 176:7335–7344.PubMed 70. Hickey RM, Twomey DP, Ross RP, Hill C: Production of enterolysin A by a raw milk enterococcal isolate exhibiting multiple virulence factors. Microbiology 2003, 149:655–664.PubMedCrossRef 71. CLSI: Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing: Twenty–first Informational Supplement M100–S21. Wayne, PA, USA: CLSI;

2011. 72. Klare I, Konstabel C, Müller-Bertling S, Reissbrodt R, Huys G, Vancanneyt M, Swings J, Goossens H, Witte W: Evaluation Erastin of new broth media for microdilution antibiotic susceptibility testing of Lactobacilli, Pediococci, Lactococci, and Bifidobacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 2005, 71:8982–8986.PubMedCrossRef 73. Noriega L, Cuevas I, Margolles

A, Reyes-Gavilán CG Dl: Deconjugation and bile salts hydrolase activity by Bifidobacterium strains with acquired resistance to bile. Int Dairy J 2006, 16:850–855.CrossRef 74. Donabedian SM, Thal LA, Hershberger E, Perri MB, Chow JW, Bartlett P, Jones R, Joyce K, Rossiter S, Gay K, et al.: Molecular characterization of gentamicin-resistant Enterococci in the United States: evidence of spread from animals to humans through food. J Clin Microbiol 2003, 41:1109–1113.PubMedCrossRef 75. Sutcliffe J, Grebe T, Tait-Kamradt A, Wondrack L: Detection of erythromycin-resistant determinants by PCR. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1996, 40:2562–2566.PubMed 76. Sutcliffe J, Tait-Kamradt A, Wondrack L: Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes resistant to macrolides but sensitive to clindamycin: a common resistance pattern mediated by an efflux system. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1996, 40:1817–1824.PubMed 77. Strommenger B, Kettlitz C, Werner G, Witte W: Multiplex PCR assay for simultaneous detection of nine clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes in Staphylococcus aureus. J Clin Microbiol 2003, 41:4089–4094.PubMedCrossRef 78.

[in Japanese] Daiichi-shuppan, Tokyo Mirabelli MC, Zock JP, Plana

[in Japanese] Daiichi-shuppan, Tokyo Mirabelli MC, Zock JP, Plana E, Antó JM, Benke G, Blanc PD, Dahlman-Höglund A, Jarvis DL, Kromhout H, Lillienberg L, Norbäck D, Olivieri Lazertinib solubility dmso M, Radon K, Sunyer J, Torén K, van Sprundel M, Villani S, Kogevinas M (2007) Occupational risk factors for asthma among nurses and related healthcare professionals in an international

study. Occup Environ Med 64:474–479. doi:10.​1136/​oem.​2006.​031203 CrossRef Nettis E, Assennato G, Ferrannini A, Tursi A (2002) Type I allergy to natural rubber latex and type IV allergy to rubber chemicals in health care workers with glove-related skin symptoms. Clin Exp Allergy 32:441–447CrossRef Ng TP, Tan WC (1994) Epidemiology of allergic rhinitis and its associated risk factors in Singapore. Int J Epidemiol 23:553–558CrossRef Norbäck D, Zhao ZH, Wang ZH, Wieslander G, Mi YH, Zhang Z (2007) Asthma, eczema, and reports on pollen and cat allergy among pupils in Shanxi province, China. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 80:207–216. doi:10.​1007/​s00420-006-0123-6 CrossRef Ogino S, Irifune M, Harada T, Matsunaga T, Ishida M (1990) Nasal allergy in medical students. Rhinology 28:163–168 Pastorello EA, Incorvaia C, Pravettoni V, Marelli A, Farioli L, Ghezzi M (1992) Clinical evaluation of CAP System and RAST in the measurement of specific IgE. Allergy 47:463–466CrossRef Pearce N, Weiland S,

Keil U, Langridge P, Anderson HR, Strachan D, Bauman A, Young L, Gluyas P, Ruffin D, Crane J, Beasley R (1993) Self-reported prevalence of asthma symptoms in children in Australia, England, Germany and New Zealand: an international comparison using the ISAAC protocol. Eur Respir Osimertinib datasheet J 6:1455–1461 Pechter E, Davis LK, Tumpowsky C, Flattery J, Harrison R, Reinisch F, Reilly MJ, Rosenman KD, Schill DP, Valiante D, Filios M (2005) Work-related asthma among health care workers: surveillance data from California, Massachusetts,

Michigan, and New Jersey, 1993–1997. Am J Ind Med 47:265–275CrossRef Peduzzi P, Concato J, Kemper E, Holford TR, Feinstein AR (1996) A simulation study of the number of events per variable in logistic regression analysis. J Clin Epidemiol 49:1373–1379CrossRef Ronchetti R, Villa MP, Barreto M, Rota R, Pagani J, Martella S, Falasca Telomerase C, Paggi B, Guglielmi F, Ciofetta G (2001) Is the increase in childhood asthma coming to an end? Findings from three surveys of schoolchildren in Rome, Italy. Eur Respir J 17:881–886CrossRef San Martín Ciges E, Chesa-Jiménez J, Sanmartín Gil M, Ruiz Hernández G, Moreno Frígols JL (1998) Estudio de la relación entre la concentración plasmática total de IgE y la Dactolisib nmr prevalencia de las distintas clases RAST (Radio-Allergo-Sorbent-Test) de alergia. [Article in Spanish] Allergol Immunopathol (Madr) 26:228–233 Sato K, Kusaka Y, Suganuma N, Nagasawa S, Deguchi Y (2004) Occupational allergy in medical doctors. J Occup Health 46:165–170CrossRef Taylor B, Broom BC (1981) Atopy in medical students.

We tested the potential impact provided by deletion of the putati

We tested the potential impact provided by deletion of the putative tellurite resistance gene (tehB) included in vGI-19 on 316FNOR1960 phenotype. Tellurite is highly toxic to bacteria due to its action on DNA synthesis. It is an important mechanism by which animals combat intracellular microorganisms [27] and was used

in early studies as a tuberculosis/leprosy therapeutic [36]. Bacterial resistance to tellurite is inducible, is associated with virulence [28] and is linked to catalases which are required to process the superoxide anions generated as a result of bacterial metabolic SP600125 concentration mechanisms used to inactivate tellurite. We show a significantly this website increased sensitivity to tellurite in 316FNOR1960 whilst other 316 F KPT-8602 datasheet strains either matched or exceeded the resistance of the two wildtype strains tested (K10:bovine, CAM87:caprine). Interestingly the strains most sensitive to tellurite were IIUK2000 and 2eUK2000 which lack the tehB gene. The metabolism of tellurite generates high reactive oxygen species which subsequently need to be de-toxified by catalase [37]. Significantly

the vGI-20 deletion in these strains includes loss of the catalase gene homologue MAP1725c. Both vaccine deletion regions thus involve alterations in metabolic pathways associated with deactivation of high reactive oxygen species toxicity, which suggests this may be an important mechanism underlying attenuation in these strains. Several of the other vaccine strains tested are also reported to have been maintained on markedly different media which may have similarly promoted or selected for genomic and phenotypic diversities. 316FNLD1978, available as a heat killed vaccination for dairy cattle since 1985 [38], was found to contain a large tandem duplication (vGI-22) unique to

this strain. It is notable that Calpain this isolate was selectively subcultured on potato starch medium to enhance its growth (P. Willemsen personal communication) and now grows with difficulty on other media. It is tempting to speculate that the acquisition of extra copies of 14 ORFs including cell wall, fatty acid biosynthesis genes and two extra copies of IS900 are a direct result of the selective process performed on this strain. We demonstrated in this study that vaccine strain 316FUK2001 was clearly attenuated with respect to wild type MAP strain JD87/107. The vGI-19 deletion found in 316FNOR1960 and the vGI-20 deletion found in 2eUK2000 and IIUK2000 were not detected by PCR in this strain suggesting that attenuation in this strain is due to different genetic polymorphisms. A duplicated region (vGI-1b) was detected in vaccine strain 316FUK2000, which may possibly have arisen as an adaptation to growth on liquid Watson Reid media.

PCR primers, rscSSBW25 (5′-ATGGAACCAATCGATCTGTTC-3′) and SBWrscU

PCR primers, rscSSBW25 (5′-ATGGAACCAATCGATCTGTTC-3′) and SBWrscU (5′-TCAGTGCCGTTCAAGCTC-3′), synthesized by Eurogentec (Angers, France), were designed to amplify rscSTU genes (2156 bp), a region of the rsp #NSC23766 mw randurls[1|1|,|CHEM1|]# cluster I of SBW25, corresponding to genes hrcSTU affected by hrpU-like operon disruption in MFN1030. PCR was carried out in a 50 μL reaction volume, in a MJ mini thermal cycler (Bio-rad laboratories incorporation, USA). Reaction

mixture contained 4 μL DNA, 0.5 μL Taq phusion polymerase (Biolabs, new England), 10 μL corresponding buffer, 4 μL primers (20 μM) and 4 μL deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate (2.5 mM). After initial denaturation for 10 seconds at 98°C, the reaction mixture was subjected to 30 cycles of 30 seconds at 98°C, 30 seconds at 49°C and 1 minute at 72°C, followed by a final 5 minutes extension at 75°C. Aliquots (10 μL) of the PCR products were analyzed by electrophoresis in 1% agarose gels, stained with ethidium bromide and photographed under UV illumination. PCR product was cloned with the pBBR1MCS-5(4,8KB) digested by Sma I [38]. This construction, pBBR-rscSTU (6,9 kb), was then introduced into Escherichia coli DH5α mcr cells by electroporation. White colonies were selected for their resistance to gentamycin (20 μg/mL). Plasmids were

isolated using the QIAprep Spin Miniprep Kit (Qiagen), checked by sequencing (beckman coulter genomics, Germany) and then transferred into the Escherichia coli conjugative strain S17.1. MFN1030 (tetracyclin resistant) cells were conjugated with S17.1 cells carrying the Tofacitinib chemical structure pBBR-rscSTU plasmid and strains were selected for their resistance to tetracycline (20 μg.mL-1) and gentamycin (20 μg.mL-1). The resulting strain was called MFN1030-pBBR-rscSTU. Bacterial strains and culture conditions The origin of each strain tested in this study can be found in Table 1. The bacteria were cultured in Luria Bertani Glutamate dehydrogenase medium (LB) at optimum growth temperatures, i.e. 28°C for P. fluorescens (for MF37 origin, see [39]) and P. syringae DC3000

[40], 37°C for P. aeruginosa CHA or PA14 [41, 42] and Klesiella aerogenes[43], with shaking at 180 rpm. When necessary, 80 μg/mL Xgal, 20 μg/mL tetracycline, 20 μg/mL gentamycin or 30 μg/mL kanamycin were added. The bacterial density was determined by measuring optical density (OD) at 580 nm (Spectronic Unicam spectrophotometer). Acknowledgements This study was supported by grant from the Région Haute-Normandie. We thank INRA UR1282, infectiologie animale et santé publique, groupe “signalisation, portage et virulence bactérienne” for help with macrophage J774A.1 infection. We thank Azeddine Driouich and Sophie Bernard, Laboratoire de Glycobiologie et Matrice Extracellulaire Végétale (GlycoMEV), EA 4358, Université de Rouen, for help in tobacco assay. We thank Magalie Barreau for technical assistance and Christine Farmer and Victor Norris for linguistic support. References 1.

The climate of the area is semi-arid warm-Mediterranean, with

The climate of the area is semi-arid warm-Mediterranean, with

a mean annual precipitation of 220 mm (with 37 % of inter-annual variation and 76 to 215 % of monthly variation). The number of days with rain each year varies from 25 to 55 (average 37). Mean annual temperature is 18.5 °C, with a monthly mean of buy Regorafenib 4.1 °C in the coldest month and 34.7 °C in the hottest month. Potential evapotranspiration is around 5–7 times higher than annual precipitation. The average annual insolation is more than 3,000 h/year. About one-third of the total badland surface consists of eroded soil which is almost bare; another third is covered by a mosaic of grasses, shrubs, annual plants and BSCs, often dominated by lichens. The remaining third is mainly covered by BSC, with some sparse vascular plants. Shrubs include several endemics and a high proportion of Iberian-North African species. BSCs include cyanobacteria, occasional mosses and numerous lichens (Catapyrenium rufescens, Cladonia convoluta, Collema cristatum, Diplochistes diacapsis, Endocarpon pusillum, Fulgensia fulgida, BI 10773 supplier F. poeltii, F. desertorum, Placynthium nigrum, Psora albilabra, P. decipiens, Squamarina cartilaginea, T. sedifolia, etc.) (Gutiérrez and Casares 1994). Land use has probably been minimal during the last 60 years and certainly it has been very

light during the last 23 years. The area has been protected since 1989 as “Paraje Natural”.   Methods Climate All investigation

sites are equipped with similar climate stations, monitoring wind speed and direction, air temperature, air humidity, solar radiation (Photosynthetically Active Photon Flux Density, PPFD), UV-radiation, and precipitation every 5 min (supplementary material Fig. 2a). All stations run for at least one year, but preferably 2–2.5 years. Where L-NAME HCl necessary, the climate stations are fenced as security against damage. Vegetation analyses Sampling for the vegetation analyses, biodiversity and soil property assessment was conducted in one concerted approach: First, at each of the four geographical sites, homogeneous vegetation units 100 × 100 m were defined and coverage of the different elements was determined by 150 subplots 25 × 25 cm applying the point-intercept method. We differentiated between BSCs light and BSCs dark, the latter represent successional development of BSC from a species-poor, light-coloured cyanobacterial BSC to a species-rich BSC community dominated by dark cyanobacteria (Belnap and Eldridge 2003), cyanolichen-dominated, chlorolichen-dominated, bryophyte-dominated, vascular plants, litter, open soil, stones and gravel. Second, 10 restoration plots were established at each of the four geographical sites in relatively well-developed vegetation units to buy Ruxolitinib investigate the speed and successional pattern of BSC recovery. Each restoration plot (100 × 100 cm) is accompanied by a control plot (100 × 100 cm; supplementary material Fig. 2b).

subtilis subtilisin-like

subtilis subtilisin-like selleck protease [13]. Isolation and purification

of elgicins Genomic analysis of P. elgii B69 revealed the presence of a new lantibiotic-like gene cluster. To express this elg gene cluster, P. elgii B69 was grown aerobically at 30°C for 120 h in different fermentation media designed for the production of active substances. At harvest, extractions of B69 fermentation broths were achieved using column chromatographic fractionation on AB-8 macroporous resin (Haiguang Chemical Ltd., Tianjin, China). The KL medium fraction (5 g/L glucose, 4 g/L (NH4)2SO4, 2.6 g/L K2HPO4, 4 g/L MgSO4, 2 g/L NaCl, 2 g/L CaCl2, 2 mg/L FeSO4·7H2O, 2 mg/L ZnSO4·7H2O, and 1.5 mg/L MnSO4·H2O, pH 7.2) eluted by 80% methanol showed activity

against the indicator strain P. ehimensis. This fraction was then applied to the solid-phase extraction (SPE) column. The fraction with activity against the indicator strain was eluted with PRT062607 in vivo 50% methanol and further separated by analytical reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Aided by the presence of several tyrosine residues within the precursor peptide ElgA, its ultraviolet (UV) absorption was measured at 280 nm during analytical HPLC. The fractions corresponding to the retention time of 21.290-22.036 min were isolated, and they showed activity against P. ehimensis. Large-scale fermentation of P. elgii B69 was carried out in KL medium for the production

of active substances. The target compounds were then isolated by a simple three-step purification procedure consisting of AB-8 resin fractionation, SPE, and preparative RP-HPLC, as described in the “”Methods”" section. In the preparative RP-HPLC profile, the three peaks corresponding to retention times of 34.21, 35.43, and 36.53 min (Figure 2) were pooled and designated elgicin A, B, and C, respectively, of which elgicin B was the major component. These fractions were lyophilized and subjected to electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) 17-DMAG (Alvespimycin) HCl for molecular analyses. Figure 2 Reverse-phase HPLC profile of crude SPE-extraction. UV absorption was measured at 280 nm. MV, millivolt. Peak 1, with retention time of 34.21 min, corresponds to elgicins AI and AII. Peaks 2 and 3, with retention times of 35.43 and 36.53 min, correspond to elgicins B and C, respectively. ESI-MS analyses of elgicins To determine the molecular masses of elgicins, the lyophilized elgicins A, B, and C were dissolved in sterile water and subjected to ESI-MS. The MS spectrum of HPLC-purified elgicin A revealed four Napabucasin solubility dmso signals at the mass-to-charge ratios (m/z) 1135.07 [M + 4H]4+, 1512.89 [M + 3H]3+, 1149.31 [M + 4H]4+, and 1532.58 [M + 3H]3+ (Figure 3A). The molecular weight calculated from the two former signals was 4536 Da, and the others corresponded to a molecular weight of 4593 Da.

Several other medications (including cyclosporine, corticosteroid

Several other medications (including cyclosporine, corticosteroids, azathioprine, thalidomide, mycophenolate mofetil, chlorambucil, penicillamine, methotrexate, and colchicine) have been tried in patients who had inadequate this website response to UDCA, but none of them showed promising effects [2, 3, 18], apart from budesonide combined

with UDCA in an early stage of the disease [20]. Autoimmune cholangitis (AIC) – or antimitochondrial antibody-negative primary biliary cirrhosis (AMA negative PBC) – is an autoimmune cholestatic liver disease that was described in 1987. Over the following years, an increasing number of patients with similar presentations have been observed [4]. AIC has distinctive features from PBC in that the AMA is negative, the serum IgM is normal, whereas showing a higher frequency of positive in antinuclear antibodies (ANA) INCB024360 concentration and smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) [4, 21]. The subsequent identification of more cases of AIC that mimicked PBC raised the possibility that AIC may be a transitional stage of PBC [22, 23]. In some patients who had PBC, the detection of AMA may be a false negative if lower sensitivity assays are used and those patients will be misdiagnosed as AIC [24]. Earlier reports on the treatment of AIC had shown poor response to the treatment both to corticosteroids and UDCA [23]. However, in a recent study, it was shown that AIC patients

had a similar response rate to that of patients with AMA plus PBC [25]. Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic, progressive cholestatic liver disease of unknown etiology, characterized by

an inflammatory and fibrotic structuring process affecting both intra- and extra-hepatic bile ducts. It is a disease that is more common in men at their 40s, with a male:female ratio of 2:1 [2, 3, 26]. In 80% of patients PSC is associated with inflammatory bowel disease, more commonly with Selleckchem IWR 1 ulcerative colitis. The diagnosis of PSC is made in the presence of a cholestatic biochemical profile and the typical cholangiographic findings SPTLC1 of multifocal strictures and segmental dilatations, and secondary bile ducts changes on magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRCP), endoscopicretrograde cholangiography or percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography. The causes of secondary sclerosing cholangitis have to be excluded [4, 26]. Elevated serum IgG and positive autoantibodies are other features for PSC. The most frequently encountered autoantibody in PSC is the antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), in 26-94% of PSC patients. Although not specific, the liver biopsy finding may help to support the diagnostic [4, 26]. Patients who had biochemical, immunological and histological features for PSC, but normal cholangiographic examination, are classified as small duct PSC [26, 27]. Although less promising in PSC compared to PBC, UDCA is the only medication to date found to be effective in PSC patients.

Recombinant DNA work Plasmids were constructed in E coli DH5α fr

Recombinant DNA work Plasmids were constructed in E. coli DH5α from PCR-generated fragments (KOD, Novagen, Darmstadt, Germany) and isolated with the QIAprep spin miniprep kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany). Oligonucleotides used in this study were obtained from Eurofins MWG Operon (Ebersberg, Germany) and are listed in Additional file 3: Table S1. Standard reactions like restriction, ligation and PCR were performed as described previously [37]. If applicable, PCR products were purified using the PCR purification kit or MinElute PCR purification

kit (QIAGEN, Hilden, Germany). For transformation of E. coli the RbCl method was used [38] and C. glutamicum was transformed via electroporation [39] at 2.5 kV, 200 Ω and 25 μF. All cloned DNA fragments were shown to be correct by sequencing. Determination of the transcriptional start point of crtE and crtB2 Total RNA was isolated from an exponentially growing culture of C. glutamicum WT as described GSK461364 mw previously [40]. Purified RNA was analyzed by UV-spectrometry in regard to quantity and quality and was stored at −20°C until use. 2 μg of total RNA were used to GSK126 supplier perform 5’ rapid amplification of cDNA ends-PCR (5’ RACE_PCR) basically CH5424802 concentration as described previously [41] with use of crtE-rv and crtB2-rv primers, respectively, for

reverse transcription. Both, individual C tailing and A tailing were performed and analyzed. RACE_PCR was performed with primers crtE-RACE and crtB2-RACE and either OligoT or OligoG. Sequencing of the generated PCR fragments was accomplished

using the suitable RACE primers and gave identical results for C tailing and A tailing reactions. Reverse transcription (RT) for the analysis of transcription units Total RNA was isolated from an exponentially growing culture of C. glutamicum WT as described previously [40]. Purified RNA was analyzed by UV-spectrometry in regard to quantity Fluorometholone Acetate and quality and was stored at −20°C until use. 2 μg of total RNA were used to perform reverse transcription to generate cDNA that was subsequently used as template for PCRs applying primer that bind at adjacent genes. The reverse transcription reactions were performed using SuperScript™ II reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen, Karlsruhe, Germany), and the remaining RNA was removed by the use of RNase H (MBI Fermentas GmbH, St. Leon-Rot). Overexpression of carotenogenic genes from C. glutamicum Plasmids harboring a carotenogenic gene allowed its IPTG-inducible overexpression and were based on pEKEx3 [42] or pVWEx1 [43], respectively. Amplification of a carotenogenic gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from genomic DNA of C. glutamicum WT, which was prepared as described [44], was carried out using the respective primers (Additional file 3: Table S1). The amplified products were cloned into the appropriately restricted pEKEx3 or pVWEx1 plasmid DNA. Deletion of carotenogenic genes in C. glutamicum WT For deletion of a carotenogenic gene, the suicide vector pK19mobsacB was used [36].

However, the price of gold is

high, while silver tracks a

However, the price of gold is

high, while silver tracks are plagued by electrochemical migration. Strategies such as alloying and core-shell structure have been proposed to achieve better performance. Nanoalloys of gold and silver metals, which have attracted much attention due to high catalytic activities and unique Momelotinib cost optical properties [10–13], exhibit essentially identical lattice constants and are completely miscible [14], presenting new opportunities for the development of interconnect materials [15–17]. With respect to ligand-protected NPs, the protect shell must be thermally or chemically eliminited, and the NPs need to join together to form continuous conductive networks in order to generate electrical conductance [18]. Coalescence of gold nanoparticles has been studied by means of simulation, surface plasmon resonance absorption,

and thermogravimetric analysis [18–21]. Recently, synchrotron X-ray radiations, powerful probing sources to study the structural, physical, and chemical properties of nano-materials [22], were applied to study the morphological and phase transitions of NP deposits [23, MK-4827 24]. Using synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), Ingham et al. [24] proposed the mechanisms of coalescence; in sequence, they are desorption or melting of the capping ligands, aggregation of nanocrystals, necking of particles, and subsequent grain growth. However, there is still a lack of insight regarding the alloying effect on the coalescence of NPs. In

this report, a real-time and systematic study into the coalescence of binary gold-silver alloy NPs was performed. The phase evolution upon heating of thiol-protected NPs of gold, silver, and their alloys with various Au/Ag ratios (3:1, 1:1, and 1:3) was monitored by synchrotron radiation XRD. The interactions between ligands and surface atoms of alloy NPs as well as their influence on the coalescence and related properties these were investigated. Methods The preparation of the octanethiolate-stabilized gold-silver alloy nanoparticles followed a modified BIBW2992 purchase two-phase protocol proposed by Murray [25], which has been described in a previous work [26]. The nanoparticles were synthesized with varying initial Au/Ag molar ratios (0:1, 0.25:0.75, 0.5:0.5, 0.75:0.25, and 1:0) and designated as Au, Au3Ag, AuAg, AuAg3, and Ag, respectively. The UV-visible spectra of the nanoparticle solutions were measured by a spectrophotometer (Varian Cary 100 UV-Visible spectrometer, Palo Alto, CA, USA) with a 10-mm quartz cell. A transmission electron microscope (FEI-TEM, Philips Technai G2, Amsterdam, Netherlands) with an accelerating voltage of 200 kV was used to observe the morphology of the NPs and the particle size was measured using Scion Image 4.0.2 image analysis software. NPs were suspended in tolune solvent with the proportion of 20% by weight.

In investigating the passivation effect of the a-Si:H shell, we f

In investigating the passivation effect of the a-Si:H shell, we find that the combination

of the a-Si:H shell and SiNW solar cell leads to enhanced power conversion efficiency, open-circuit voltage, and short-circuit current by more than MK-1775 order 37%, 15%, and 12%, respectively, compared to the SiNW cells. This is mainly due to the suppression of the surface recombination of the large surface area of SiNWs. We expect that the a-Si:H will have a significant role in passivation of the SiNW surface with more optimization of its thickness and more ACP-196 in vitro theoretical understanding of its interface with SiNWs. Acknowledgements This work has been funded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malaysia, and Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), UKM. References 1. Huia S, Zhang J, Chena X, Xua H, Maa D, Liua Y, Taoa B: Study of an amperometric glucose sensor based on Pd–Ni/SiNW electrode. Sensor Actuator B Chem 2011, 155:592–597.CrossRef 2. Zaremba-Tymieniecki M, Li C, Fobelets K, Durrani ZAK: Field-effect transistors using

silicon nanowires prepared by electroless chemical etching. IEEE Electron Device Lett 2010, 31:860–862.CrossRef SB203580 3. Huang Z, Zhang X, Reiche M, Liu L, Lee W, Shimizu T, Senz S, Gösele U: Extended arrays of vertically aligned sub-10 nm diameter [100] Si nanowires by metal-assisted chemical etching. Nano Lett 2011, 8:3046–3051.CrossRef 4. Jung JY, Guo Z, Jee SW, Um HD, Park KT, Hyun MS: A waferscale Si wire solar cell using radial and bulk p–n junctions. Nanotechnology 2010, 21:5303–5306. 5. Kumar D, Srivastava SK, Singh PK, Husain M, Kumar V: Fabrication of silicon about nanowire arrays based solar cell with improved performance. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 2011, 95:215–218.CrossRef 6. Peng K, Xu Y, Wu Y, Yan Y, Lee ST, Zu J: Aligned single crystalline silicon nanowire arrays for photovoltaic applications. Small 2005, 1:1062–1067.CrossRef 7. Kodambaka S, Tersoff J, Reuter CM,

Ross MF: Diameter-independent kinetics in the vapor–liquid-solid growth of Si nanowires. Phys Rev Lett 2006, 96:6105–6108.CrossRef 8. Zhang YF, Tang YF, Wang N, Lee CS, Bello I, Lee ST: Silicon nanowires prepared by laser ablation at high temperature. Appl Phys Lett 1998, 72:1835–1837.CrossRef 9. Niu J, Sha J, Yang D: Silicon nanowires fabricated by thermal evaporation of silicon monoxide. Phys E 2004, 23:131–134.CrossRef 10. Holmes DJ, Johnston PK, Doty CR, Korgel AB: Control of thickness and orientation of solution-grown silicon nanowires. Science 2000, 287:1471–1473.CrossRef 11. Huang Z, Fang H, Zhu J: Fabrication of silicon nanowire arrays with controlled diameter, length, and density. J Adv Mater 2007, 19:744–19748.CrossRef 12. Dai AH, Chang CH, Lai YC, Lin AC, Chung JR, Lin RG, He HJ: Subwavelength Si nanowire arrays for self-cleaning antireflection coatings. J Mater Chem 2010, 20:10924–10930.CrossRef 13.