Congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries are present in 0.2–1.4% of the general population. These anomalies represent one of the most confusing issues in the field of cardiology and challenges for interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons if the anomalies are unrecognised. Double right coronary artery is one of the rarest coronary arteries. Previously, the probability of developing atherosclerotic changes in patients with a double right coronary artery was considered to be equal to that in those without it. In reality, however, a high prevalence of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease was found in patients with a double right coronary artery originating from a single ostium after our comprehensive literature search through the PubMed database. Owing to the fact that double right coronary artery is both a congenital and potentially atherosclerotic coronary artery disease at diagnosis, coronary intervention or cardiac operation is more complicated than previously believed. Individuals with a double right coronary artery may be unaware of its presence until an accidental finding during coronary angiography or cardiac operation and are at risk for unsuspected complications of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease or during cardiac operation. Therefore, it is important to obtain information on the anatomic variants of this congenital coronary anomaly in patients who are undergoing either coronary intervention, aortic root operation or myocardial revascularisation. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive article to discuss the anomalies and their clinical implications.

Strong influence of the applied or self-induced (i.e. self-biasing) electric field on the alignment, orientation and structures was found in the carbon nano-structure deposition process. This study applied microwave-plasma electron-cyclotron-resonance CVD (ECR-CVD) technique for carbon nano-structure deposition. The deposited structures and properties were characterized with SEM and field emission I–V measurements. The result shows that a negative dc bias applied on the substrate is a necessary condition. In this condition, all carbon nanostructures were well aligned and perpendicular to the substrate surfaces and independent to the plasma/gas flowing directions. Interestingly, when applied an additional electric field near the substrate surface by a guiding metal plate, the CNT growth direction could be manipulated from perpendicular to nearly parallel to the substrate surface. Moreover, a rattan-like CNT would form when prolonging the deposition time or increasing the plasma carbon concentration. These novel nanostructures are expected to have high potential in energy storage, field emission display, nanoelectronics and gas sensing applications accordingly.

The microstructure and field emission properties of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were investigated. The comparisons are made between MWNTs synthesized by high temperature arc methods and low temperature CVD methods. The results of the HRTEM image clearly exhibit characteristic features of a multi walled carbon nanotube. Raman spectrum shows a stronger peak at about 1580 cm-1 indicating the formation of a well-graphitized carbon nanotube. It also shows the high temperature arc process can produce MWNT that has perfect graphitic layer structure and high I(G)/I(D) ratio. The Ratio of G-line (sp2 bond) and D-line(sp3 bond) of these MWNTs are about 2.8 to 5.2. From the field emission measurement, the low onset field is about 1.4 to 2.4 V/ m, and can be attributed to highly sharp tips and high electric conductivity of MWNTs.

Sc-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on Corning 1737 glasses by using RF magnetron co-sputtering system with Sc2O3 and ZnO targets. Different sputtering powers of Sc2O3 target and post annealing of 550°C for 2 hr were investigated to understand the effect on microstructural, optical and electrical properties of Sc-doped ZnO thin films. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) results, the Sc-doped films have (002) preferred orientation. Cross-sectional scanning electron microscope (SEM) show that the Sc-doped ZnO thin films have columnar structure before and after annealing procedure. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) surface measurement also shows that the surface roughness of the films was smoother when the Sc2O3 sputtering power increased. The optical transmission of as deposited Sc-doped films in the visible region all exceeded 80%, and increased about 3% after samples annealed. Electrical resistivity measurement reveals that the as-deposited Sc-doped ZnO thin films had lowest resistivity of 0.97 Ω cm when the Sc2O3 sputtering power was 125W. After annealing the lowest resistivity decreased to 9.85 × 10−2 Ω cm in which 200W of the Sc2O3 sputtering power was applied.

The effects of NH3 and H2 plasma passivation on the characteristics of poly-Si thin-film transistors with source/drain extensions induced by a bottom sub-gate were studied. Our results show that significant improvements in device performance can be obtained by both passivation methods. Moreover, NH3-plasma-treatment appears to be more effective in reducing the off-state leakage, subthreshold swing, compared to H2 plasma passivation. NH3 plasma treatment is also found to be more effective in reducing the anomalous subthrehold hump phenomenon observed in non-plasma-treated short-channel devices. Detailed analysis suggests that all these improvements can be explained by the more effective passivation of the traps distributed in both the front and back sides of the channel by NH3 plasma treatment.

The high sensitivity and spatial resolution enabled by two-photon excitation fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy/fluorescence resonance energy transfer (2PE-FLIM/FRET) provide an effective approach that reveals protein-protein interactions in a single cell during stimulated exocytosis. Enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP)–labeled synaptosomal associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP25A) and red fluorescence protein (mRFP)–labeled Rabphillin 3A (RPH3A) were co-expressed in PC12 cells as the FRET donor and acceptor, respectively. The FLIM images of EGFP-SNAP25A suggested that SNAP25A/RPH3A interaction was increased during exocytosis. In addition, the multidimensional (three-dimensional with time) nature of the 2PE-FLIM image datasets can also resolve the protein interactions in the z direction, and we have compared several image analysis methods to extract more accurate and detailed information from the FLIM images. Fluorescence lifetime was fitted by using one and two component analysis. The lifetime FRET efficiency was calculated by the peak lifetime (τpeak) and the left side of the half-peak width (τ1/2), respectively. The results show that FRET efficiency increased at cell surface, which suggests that SNAP25A/RPH3A interactions take place at cell surface during stimulated exocytosis. In summary, we have demonstrated that the 2PE-FLIM/FRET technique is a powerful tool to reveal dynamic SNAP25A/RPH3A interactions in single neuroendocrine cells.

The separation point of the flow around a circular cylinder has been numerically and experimentally investigated in the regime of Reynolds number less than 280. The present results reveal that the long-existing discrepancy in the data concerning the time-averaged separation angles reported in the literature results mainly from the oscillating characteristics of the flow separation on the cylinder surface and the experimental methodologies rather than the commonly mentioned blockage-ratio effect. In the present experiment, the time-averaged separation angles are obtained by averaging the instantaneous images from a soap-film flow visualization instead of from the commonly used streakline images from finite time exposures. Excellent agreement has been achieved between the present experimental results and numerical simulations by the spectral element method. Particle-streak visualization in a towing tank has also been conducted to compare with that of the two-dimensional soap-film experiments. It reveals that the separation angle is insensitive to the three-dimensional effect. Variations of the time-averaged separation angles with Reynolds number can be represented by a four-term $\theta _{s}\hbox{--}{\it Re}^{-1/2}$ relationship in the range of $7\,{\le}\,{\it Re}\,{\le}\,200$. Moreover, if the data in the very low Reynolds number region are excluded, a simple linear $\theta_{s}\hbox{--}{\it Re}^{-1/2}$ relationship can be derived for $10\,{\le}\,{\it Re}\,{\le}\,200$. Since the dimensionless boundary layer thickness and the Strouhal–Reynolds number relationship for the circular cylinder are also known to be proportional to ${\it Re}^{-1/2}$, this linear relationship offers direct evidence that the flow characteristics of the boundary layer extend downstream along the cylinder surface to the separation point in this ${\it Re}$-range. The blockage effect on the separation angle has also been quantitatively analysed.

X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) is caused by mutations in the Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk). The absence of functional Btk leads to failure of B-cell development that incapacitates antibody production in XLA patients leading to recurrent bacterial infections. Btk SH2 domain is essential for phospholipase C-γ phosphorylation, and mutations in this domain were shown to cause XLA. Recently, the B-cell linker protein (BLNK) was found to interact with the SH2 domain of Btk, and this association is required for the activation of phospholipase C-γ. However, the molecular basis for the interaction between the Btk SH2 domain and BLNK and the cause of XLA remain unclear. To understand the role of Btk in B-cell development, we have determined the stability and peptide binding affinity of the Btk SH2 domain. Our results indicate that both the structure and stability of Btk SH2 domain closely resemble with other SH2 domains, and it binds with phosphopeptides in the order pYEEI > pYDEP > pYMEM > pYLDL > pYIIP. We expressed the R288Q, R288W, L295P, R307G, R307T, Y334S, Y361C, L369F, and I370M mutants of the Btk SH2 domain identified from XLA patients and measured their binding affinity with the phosphopeptides. Our studies revealed that mutation of R288 and R307 located in the phosphotyrosine binding site resulted in a more than 200-fold decrease in the peptide binding compared to L295, Y334, Y361, L369, and I370 mutations in the pY + 3 hydrophobic binding pocket (∼3- to 17-folds). Furthermore, mutation of the Tyr residue at the βD5 position reverses the binding order of Btk SH2 domain to pYIIP > pYLDL > pYDEP > pYMEM > pYEEI. This altered binding behavior of mutant Btk SH2 domain likely leads to XLA.