Avalanche buildup time of InP/InGaAsP/InGaAs avalanche photodiodes with separate absorption, grading, and multiplication regions

The avalanche buildup time of an avalanche photodiode can be determined from the frequency response of the noise power as a function of the dc multiplication M0. In this paper we report on the first measurements of the avalanche buildup time of InP/InGaAsP/ InGaAs avalanche photodiodes with separate absorption, grading, and multiplication regions (SAGM-APD's). Measurements on several different device structures reveal that the avalanche buildup time (gain-bandwidth product) decreases (increases) with increasing carrier concentration in the multiplication region. The shortest buildup time that we have observed wasM_{0} times 4.2ps which corresponds to a gain-bandwidth Product of 38 GHz.     

Assessing the reliability of the M5-120 on Amazon’s mechanical Turk

Amazon’s online service, Mechanical Turk (MTurk) has become a popular option for data collection among social scientists. Early work (Buhrmester, Kwang, & Gosling, 2011) indicated that data collection through MTurk was faster and less expensive than traditional collection methods (undergraduate human subject pool), as well as being reliable when administered at different dates. Building on their work, we sought to extend this investigation of reliability to a larger measure. For the current research we chose a 120-item measure of personality. After collecting data through MTurk, it was determined that our MTurk sample had strong test–retest reliability, indicating that they did not significantly change between administration dates.     

Corneal erosions in contact lens wear

Contact lens wear continues to be the highest single risk factor for microbial keratitis, particularly when worn in the extended wear modality. For microbial keratitis to occur, the presence of at least a bacterial load as well as a break in the corneal surface is required. One such break occurs in the case of a corneal erosion. These well-circumscribed areas of full thickness epithelial loss can occur both with and without contact lens wear, however the risk of infection is greater in the presence of a lens due to its capacity to provide a vector for the entry of bacterial pathogens. While erosions in non-contact lens wearers are thought to result from defective epithelial basement membrane anchoring, the underlying causes during contact lens wear are yet unknown. This article sets out to review corneal erosions associated with contact lens wear, their associated risk factors such as extended wear, the mechanisms that may be responsible for their formation and the factors that differentiate them from other contact lens related adverse events. Appropriate diagnosis and understanding of the relevant pathophysiology is important to the effective treatment and an understanding of the aetiological factors responsible for erosions is critical to the development of preventative strategies and effective clinical care.     

Processing of tomato: impact on in vitro bioaccessibility of lycopene and textural properties

BACKGROUND: Human studies have demonstrated that processing of tomato can greatly increase lycopene bioavailability. However, the difference between processing methods is not widely investigated. In the current study different thermal treatments of tomato were evaluated with regard to their impact on in vitro bioaccessibility and retention of lycopene and β‐carotene as well as textural properties. Thermal treatments used were low (60 °C) and high (90 °C) temperature blanching followed by boiling. RESULTS: Lycopene was relatively stable during thermal treatment, whereas β‐carotene was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by all heat treatments except for low temperature blanching. In vitro bioaccessibility of lycopene was significantly increased from 5.1 ± 0.2 to 9.2 ± 1.8 and 9.7 ± 0.6 mg kg^?1 for low and high temperature blanching, respectively. An additional boiling step after blanching did not further improve lycopene bioaccessibility for any treatment, but significantly reduced the consistency of low temperature treated samples. CONCLUSION: Choice and order of processing treatments can have a large impact on both lycopene bioavailability and texture of tomato products. Further investigations are needed, but this study provides one of the first steps towards tomato products tailored to optimise nutritional benefits. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Genome-wide bacterial toxicity screening uncovers the mechanisms of toxicity of a cationic polystyrene nanomaterial

By exploiting a genome-wide collection of bacterial single-gene deletion mutants, we have studied the toxicological pathways of a 60-nm cationic (amino-functionalized) polystyrene nanomaterial (PS-NH(2)) in bacterial cells. The IC(50) of commercially available 60 nm PS-NH(2) was determined to be 158 μg/mL, the IC(5) is 108 μg/mL, and the IC(90) is 190 μg/mL for the parent E. coli strain of the gene deletion library. Over 4000 single nonessential gene deletion mutants of Escherichia coli were screened for the growth phenotype of each strain in the presence and absence of PS-NH(2). This revealed that genes clusters in the lipopolysaccharide biosynthetic pathway, outer membrane transport channels, ubiquinone biosynthetic pathways, flagellar movement, and DNA repair systems are all important to how this organism responds to cationic nanomaterials. These results, coupled with those from confirmatory assays described herein, suggest that the primary mechanisms of toxicity of the 60-nm PS-NH(2) nanomaterial in E. coli are destabilization of the outer membrane and production of reactive oxygen species. The methodology reported herein should prove generally useful for identifying pathways that are involved in how cells respond to a broad range of nanomaterials and for determining the mechanisms of cellular toxicity of different types of nanomaterials.     

Absence of sterol biosynthesis in oyster tissue culture

An oyster heart tissue culture was used to investigate the ability of the American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) to synthesize sterols from [¹⁴C]acetate. Lipids were extracted from cultured oyster heart cells and no label was found in the purified fatty acid fraction, 90% of which was located in the saturated and monounsaturated fractions. Although these results cannot rule out the possibility of sterol synthesis in other oyster tissues, this and previous evidence are in support of the hypothesis that the American oyster is unable to synthesize sterols.     

Performance evaluation of canine-associated Bacteroidales assays in a multi-laboratory comparison study

The contribution of fecal pollution from dogs in urbanized areas can be significant and is an often underestimated problem. Microbial source tracking methods (MST) utilizing quantitative PCR of dog-associated gene sequences encoding 16S rRNA of Bacteroidales are a useful tool to estimate these contributions. However, data about the performance of available assays are scarce. The results of a multi-laboratory study testing two assays for the determination of dog-associated Bacteroidales (DogBact and BacCan-UCD) on 64 single and mixed fecal source samples created from pooled fecal samples collected in California are presented here. Standardization of qPCR data treatment lowered inter-laboratory variability of sensitivity and specificity results. Both assays exhibited 100% sensitivity. Normalization methods are presented that eliminated random and confirmed non-target responses. The combination of standardized qPCR data treatment, use of normalization via a non-target specific Bacteroidales assay (GenBac3), and application of threshold criteria improved the calculated specificity significantly for both assays. Such measures would reasonably improve MST data interpretation not only for canine-associated assays, but for all qPCR assays used in identifying and monitoring fecal pollution in the environment.