Application of an electron backscatter diffraction pattern to Cu damascene-fabricated interconnections filled by a high-pressure anneal process

The microstructure of Cu interconnections fabricated by high-pressure annealing was evaluated using a field emission scanning electron microscope/electron backscatter diffraction pattern (FE-SEM/EBSP) technique, and the results are compared with as-deposited and normally annealed Cu films. The results show some grains extending from the bulk field to the via regions in the case of the high-pressure annealed Cu films. The existence of via holes was also observed, in which all grains were (111) oriented. This indicates that the high-pressure annealing process enables the Cu that in-fills the via holes to develop into favorable microstructures, i.e., single-crystal and with (111) orientation.     

Relationship between psychosocial functioning and body fat in preschool children: A longitudinal investigation.

Examined whether preschool children differed on measures of psychosocial functioning both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. 132 children who varied in levels of body fat participated in the study along with their natural parents. Results indicated that the children did not differ in levels of self-esteem and family functioning as a function of their body fat. Prospectively, physical self-esteem weakly (but significantly) correlated with body fat at ages 1 and 2 yrs, and father's perception of family functioning predicted body fat at age 1 yr only. Results suggested that childhood obesity may not develop as a result of psychosocial factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bitline GND sensing technique for low-voltage operation FeRAM

In this sensing technique, pMOS charge transfer maintains the bitline level near the GND when the plate line goes high. It gives 0.5-V higher readout voltages across the cell capacitors and enables a 0.4-V higher differential amplitude in a 512-cell per bitline structure compared with the conventional high-impedance bitline sensing technique. Using the shifted bias plate line layout, only eight cells and eight sense amplifiers per cell mat are activated, and simulations show 8.06 mW at 3 V and 5 MHz, which is about the same power consumption as the conventional device     

Late postoperative outcome of plastic operation versus valve replacement for mitral regurgitation]

Between January 1980 and August 1991, 99 patients underwent operation for mitral valve regurgitation (MR). The ages of the patients ranged from 12 to 67 years, (49.4 +/- 11.9 years), and there were 39 males and 60 females. Pathological cause of regurgitation, which was determined by intraoperative inspection and histological findings of excised leaflets, was rheumatic in 46, degenerative in 38, infective endocarditis in 9, ischemic in 4 and unknown in 2 patients. Cardiac rhythm was atrial fibrillation in 73, normal sinus rhythm in 24 and junctional rhythm in 2 patients. Our principles for valve repair were (1) excision of responsible segment and repair for prolapsed leaflet due to torn chordae, (2) shortening of elongated chordae, (3) annuloplasty, and (4) repair of perforated leaflet. Finally, 19 patients endured plastic operation, and 80 patients underwent prosthetic valve replacement. The rate of plastic procedure was 62.5% (10/16) in degenerative MR with mural chordal lesions, 42.9% (3/7) in rheumatic MR without stenosis, 22.2% (2/9) in infective endocarditis and 100% (2/2) in MR with unknown etiology. Mitral valve repair was failed both in rheumatic MR associated with stenosis (39 patients) and in ischemic MR (4 patients). A ten-year survival rate after operation was 92.2 +/- 3.1% in patients with valve replacement and 83.6 +/- 10.0% with valve repair (N.S.), and a proportion of event-free survival in patients with valve replacement was similar to valve. Late postoperative cardiac catheterization revealed decreased left ventricular volume indices and increased left ventricular end-systolic stress/volume ratio in both groups compared to preoperative values, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Glibenclamide-sensitive mechanism is involved in helodermin-produced vasodilatation in rat mesenteric artery

Helodermin-caused vascular relaxation was simultaneously measured with intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) in rat mesenteric artery. Helodermin caused concentration-dependent relaxation in the mesenteric artery preconstricted with norepinephrine (NE). Helodermin-caused relaxation was accompanied by decrease in [Ca2+]i, D-cis-Diltiazem, a Ca2+ channel blocker, also lowered the [Ca2+]i and tension increased by NE. However, helodermin relaxed the artery more efficiently than D-cis-diltiazem, suggesting that the peptide decreased myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity. The vascular relaxation and the corresponding decrease in [Ca2+]i induced by helodermin were partly, but significantly attenuated by glibenclamide. Helodermin-induced vascular responses were mimicked by vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) or forskolin. Furthermore, helodermin increased cAMP contents in the mesenteric artery. These findings show that vasodilatation induced by helodermin is attributable to lowered [Ca2+]i of arterial smooth muscle partly through the activation of glibenclamide-sensitive K+ channels, and to decrease in the myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity. The increase in the cellular cAMP content probably plays a key role in the peptide-induced vasorelaxation.     

Later development of Fas ligand-mediated cytotoxicity as compared with granule-mediated cytotoxicity during the maturation of natural killer cells

We classified CD56+ CD3- natural killer (NK) cells into CD2- CD56dim (CD2- NK), CD2+ CD56dim (CD2+ NK) and CD2+ CD56bright populations, and investigated mainly functional differences between the former two populations. CD2- and CD2+ NK cells were the same in their morphology and several surface molecules except for CD2. The percentages of CD2- NK cells in total NK cells were higher in the cord blood and marrow than in the peripheral blood of adults or children. Freshly isolated CD2- NK cells had CD2 in the cytoplasm, and gradually expressed it on the surface upon incubation with interleukin-2 (IL-2). These results demonstrated that CD2 is an antigen which appears on the surface during the maturation of NK cells. The granule-mediated cytotoxicities, which are mainly performed by the perforin molecule, of CD2+ NK cells against K562 and Daudi cells were higher than those of CD2- NK cells, and they were inhibited to the levels of CD2- NK cells by the addition of a blocking anti-CD2 monoclonal antibody (mAb). Fas ligand (FasL) mRNA was expressed in freshly isolated CD2+ NK cells but not in the CD2- NK cells. Neither freshly isolated NK populations showed FasL-mediated cytotoxicity, and only CD2+ NK cells lysed Fas-transfected targets after the 24-hr incubation with IL-2. Based on these results, CD2- NK cells have already developed granule-mediated cytotoxicity equal to that of CD2+ NK cells except for the CD2-associated activity, but they, unlike CD2+ NK cells, totally lack FasL-mediated cytotoxicity. These findings suggest that FasL-mediated cytotoxicity may be acquired at more mature stages of NK-cell maturation than granule-mediated cytotoxicity.     

Probabilistic fault grading based on activation checking and observability analysis

A simplified probabilistic fault grading method is described. The concept of propagation probability is introduced in place of the sensitization probability of STAFAN, and the empirical parameters of STAFAN are eliminated. The division of input vectors into subsets is monitored by the activation or toggle rate. The accuracy of the method is examined for fault coverage estimation and for predicting the undetected faults.     

Nitric oxide inactivates NADPH oxidase in pig neutrophils by inhibiting its assembling process

The effects of nitric oxide (NO) on superoxide (O-2) generation of the NADPH oxidase in pig neutrophils were studied. NO dose-dependently suppressed O-2 generation of both neutrophil NADPH oxidase and reconstituted NADPH oxidase. Effects of NO on NADPH-binding site and the redox centers including FAD and low spin heme in cytochrome b558 and the electron transfer rates from NADPH to heme via FAD were examined under anaerobic conditions. Both reaction rates and the Km value for NADPH were unchanged by NO. Visible and EPR spectra of cytochrome b558 showed that the structure of heme was unchanged by NO, indicating that NO does not affect the redox centers of the oxidase. In reconstituted NADPH oxidase system, NO did not inhibit O-2 generation of the oxidase when added after activation. The addition of NO to the membrane component or the cytosol component inhibited the activity by 24.0 +/- 5.3 or 37.4 +/- 7.1%, respectively. The addition of NO during the activation process or to the cytosol component simultaneously with myristate inhibited the activity by 74.0 +/- 5.2 or 70.0 +/- 8.3%, respectively, suggesting that cytosol protein(s) treated with myristate becomes susceptible to NO. Peroxynitrite did not interfere with O-2 generation.