Integration of sharp silicon nitride tips into high-speed SU8 cantilevers in a batch fabrication process.

Employing polymer cantilevers has shown to outperform using their silicon or silicon nitride analogues concerning the imaging speed of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in tapping mode (intermittent contact mode with amplitude modulation) by up to one order of magnitude. However, tips of the cantilever made out of a polymer material do not meet the requirements for tip sharpness and durability. Combining the high imaging bandwidth of polymer cantilevers with making sharp and wear-resistant tips is essential for a future adoption of polymer cantilevers in routine AFM use.

The effect of child-parent relationship therapy on social skills of Preschool Children: a semi-experimental study.

Background And Objective: Playing games for children is an instinct needed for ensuring happiness, it is a language for communication and self-expression, and a way to learn new things. Therefore, the present study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT) on the social skills of preschool children.

Methods: An experimental study with a pretest-posttest design was conducted on 60 preschool children in Kordkuy City, Golestan Province, Iran in 2017 by using a simple random sampling method in both the experimental and control groups.

Digitally controlled analog proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for high-speed scanning probe microscopy.

Nearly all scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) contain a feedback controller, which is used to move the scanner in the direction of the z-axis in order to maintain a constant setpoint based on the tip-sample interaction. The most frequently used feedback controller in SPMs is the proportional-integral (PI) controller. The bandwidth of the PI controller presents one of the speed limiting factors in high-speed SPMs, where higher bandwidths enable faster scanning speeds and higher imaging resolution.

Design of a high-bandwidth tripod scanner for high speed atomic force microscopy.

Tip-scanning high-speed atomic force microscopes (HS-AFMs) have several advantages over their sample-scanning counterparts. Firstly, they can be used on samples of almost arbitrary size since the high imaging bandwidth of the system is immune to the added mass of the sample and its holder. Depending on their layouts, they also enable the use of several tip-scanning HS-AFMs in combination.

Studying biological membranes with extended range high-speed atomic force microscopy.

High-speed atomic force microscopy has proven to be a valuable tool for the study of biomolecular systems at the nanoscale. Expanding its application to larger biological specimens such as membranes or cells has, however, proven difficult, often requiring fundamental changes in the AFM instrument. Here we show a way to utilize conventional AFM instrumentation with minor alterations to perform high-speed AFM imaging with a large scan range.

Immunomodulatory properties of borage (Echium amoenum) on BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major.

Leishmaniasis is caused by parasitic protozoa transmitted by the bite of a female sand fly and is currently endemic in 88 countries. BALB/c mice are highly susceptible to the infection with the parasite Leishmania major, and this susceptibility has been attributed, in part, to the expansion of Th2 cells, production of their cytokines, and downregulation of Th1 cytokine, interferon gamma (IFN-γ). In this report, we used both aqueous and alcoholic extracts of Iranian borage (Echium amoenum Fisch & C.