Optimisation of Negative Fixed Charge Based Edge Termination for Vertical GaN Schottky Devices.

This study focuses on the impact of negative fixed charge, achieved through fluorine (F) implantation, on breakdown voltage (BV) enhancement in vertical GaN Schottky diodes. Several device and implant-related parameters are examined using Synopsys Sentaurus TCAD simulations in order to determine the optimum fixed negative charge concentration required to achieve the highest BV. The simulated structure consisted of a Schottky diode with a box consisting of negative fixed charges to achieve the edge termination of the Schottky device.

Racial Disparities in Breast Imaging Wait Times Before and After the Implementation of a Same-Day Biopsy Program.

Objective: To examine time from screening to diagnostic workup, biopsy, and surgery for non-Hispanic White (NHW) and Black women following implementation of a same-day biopsy program.

Methods: All NHW and Black women with BI-RADS category 0 screening mammogram at Duke University Hospital were identified between August 1, 2020, and August 1, 2021. Patient characteristics were recorded.

Development of Low-Resistance Ohmic Contacts with Bilayer NiO/Al-Doped ZnO Thin Films to p-type GaN.

The fabrication of low-resistance and thermally stable Ohmic contacts is essential for the realization of reliable GaN power devices. In the particular case of p-type GaN, a thin Ni/Au bilayer is commonly used for Ohmic contacts. However, Au metal contacts are quite expensive, are incompatible with the complementary metal oxide-semiconductor foundries, and also have poor thermal stability.

Coherent tunneling in an AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterojunction captured through an analogy with a MOS contact.

Due to their wide band gaps, III-N materials can exhibit behaviors ranging from the semiconductor class to the dielectric class. Through an analogy between a Metal/AlGaN/AlN/GaN diode and a MOS contact, we make use of this dual nature and show a direct path to capture the energy band diagram of the nitride system. We then apply transparency calculations to describe the forward conduction regime of a III-N heterojunction diode and demonstrate it realizes a tunnel diode, in contrast to its regular Schottky Barrier Diode designation.

The isolated human umbilical vein as a bioassay for kinin-generating proteases: An in vitro model for therapeutic angioedema agents.

Aims: The isolated human umbilical vein is a robust contractile bioassay for ligands of the bradykinin (BK) B2 receptor (B2R), also extendable to B1 receptor (B1R) pharmacology. We hypothesized that, as a freshly isolated vessel, it also contains traces of plasma proteins that may confer responses to exogenous proteases via the formation of kinins.

Main Methods: Rings of human umbilical veins were mounted in organ baths containing Krebs buffer maintained at 37°C and purified proteases were introduced in the bathing fluid along with additional drugs/proteins that permit mechanistic analysis of effects.

Pharmacological effects of recombinant human tissue kallikrein on bradykinin B2 receptors.

Tissue kallikrein (KLK-1), a serine protease, initiates the release of bradykinin (BK)-related peptides from low-molecular weight kininogen. KLK-1 and the BK B2 receptor (B2R) mediate beneficial effects on the progression of type 2 diabetes and renal disease, but the precise role of KLK-1 independent of its kinin-forming activity remains unclear. We used DM199, a recombinant form of human KLK-1, along with the isolated human umbilical vein, a robust bioassay of the B2R, to address the previous claims that KLK-1 directly binds to and activates the human B2R, with possible receptor cleavage.

Autoimmune diabetes is suppressed by treatment with recombinant human tissue Kallikrein-1.

The kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) comprises a cascade of proteolytic enzymes and biogenic peptides that regulate several physiological processes. Over-expression of tissue kallikrein-1 and modulation of the KKS shows beneficial effects on insulin sensitivity and other parameters relevant to type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, much less is known about the role of kallikreins, in particular tissue kallikrein-1, in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D).

Preclinical characterization of recombinant human tissue kallikrein-1 as a novel treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Modulation of the kallikrein-kinin system (KKS) has been shown to have beneficial effects on glucose homeostasis and several other physiological responses relevant to the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). The importance of bradykinin and its receptors in mediating these responses is well documented, but the role of tissue kallikrein-1, the protease that generates bradykinin in situ, is much less understood. We developed and tested DM199, recombinant human tissue kallikrein-1 protein (rhKLK-1), as a potential novel therapeutic for T2D.

A triple-masked, randomized controlled trial comparing ultrasound-guided brachial plexus and distal peripheral nerve block anesthesia for outpatient hand surgery.

Background. For hand surgery, brachial plexus blocks provide effective anesthesia but produce undesirable numbness. We hypothesized that distal peripheral nerve blocks will better preserve motor function while providing effective anesthesia.

Perioperative management of acquired hemophilia a: a case report and review of literature.

Introduction: Acquired hemophilia A is a rare bleeding disorder with a high mortality rate. Diagnosis and treatment of this disorder can be very challenging to anesthesiologists because of lack of a personal or familial abnormal bleeding history.

Case Presentation: We report a 60-year-old woman who presented to the operating room for an urgent fasciotomy.

Using attentional bias modification as a cognitive vaccine against depression.

Background: Negative attentional biases are thought to increase the risk of recurrence in depression, suggesting that reduction of such biases may be a plausible strategy in the secondary prevention of the illness. However, no previous study has tested whether reducing negative attentional bias causally affects risk factors for depressive recurrence. The current experimental medicine study reports the effects of a computerized attentional bias modification (ABM) procedure on intermediate measures of the risk of depressive recurrence (residual depressive symptoms and the cortisol awakening response) in patients with recurrent depression.

Calibration of accelerometer output for adults.

This paper reviews the collective experience of monitor calibration studies in adults and seeks to answer the following questions: What has been done? What have we learned? What could be done to further enhance the comparability of results from future calibration research? Calibration studies in adults have typically used oxygen consumption as a criterion measure, similar types of source activities, and linear regression to obtain prediction equations that calibrate the activity counts to measured activity intensity levels. However, the methodological diversity of these studies has produced a great deal of variation in the resulting prediction equations and cut points, even when using the same monitor. Thus, data obtained from a relatively robust activity monitoring technology that captures many dynamic physical activities reasonably well have been splintered by the calibration process into a wide range of summary measures that are much less comparable than they could otherwise be.

A novel costimulatory signaling in human T lymphocytes by a splice variant of CD28.

We have characterized a splice variant (isoform) of the human CD28 T cell costimulatory receptor. The nucleotide sequence of this CD28 isoform was identical to that of CD28 in the signal peptide, the transmembrane domain, and the cytoplasmic tail, but it was missing a large segment of the extracellular ligand-binding domain, which is encoded by the second exon. This isoform (CD28i), whose message level exceeded 25% of CD28, was a transmembrane homodimer.