We report Schizophyllum commune as the aetiological agent of one case each of allergic broncho-pulmonary mycosis (ABPM) and pulmonary fungal ball, and present a literature review. The fungus was characterised by clamp connections, hyphal spicules, and formation of basidiocarps with basidiospores. The phenotypic identification was confirmed by sequencing of the ITS region. To-date, ABPM and pulmonary fungal ball to S. commune have been reported exclusively from Japan and North America respectively. Of the 71 globally reported cases due to S. commune, 45 (63%) were bronchopulmonary, 22 (31%) sinusitis and 4 extrapulmonary. Taken together, cases of bronchopulmonary disease and sinusitis numbered 67 (94%), indicating the respiratory tract as the primary target of disease. Concerning the country-wise distribution, Japan topped the list with 33 cases (46%), followed by Iran - 7 cases (10%), U.S.A. - 6 cases (9%), and a lower prevalence of 1.4-6% for the remaining 12 countries. The preponderance of the disease in Japan may be attributed to its greater awareness vis-à-vis that in other countries rather than to any geographical/climatic factors. We believe that the burden of S. commune-incited disease is currently underestimated, warranting comprehensive prospective studies to determine its prevalence.
Use of waste or by-products from different industries and the agricultural sector has received increasing attention in the scientific, technology, ecological, economic and social spheres in recent years. Rice husk (RH) is a by-product of rice milling and rice husk ash (RHA) is generated by combustion in a separate boiler. Both RH and RHA are abundantly accessible in rice growing countries such as China, India, Brazil, the USA, and Southeast Asia. RH has therefore been recycled by burning it for energy production. This generates RHA, which contains a huge quantity (85-95%) of amorphous silica. Over the past two decades, RHA has been used extensively in numerous fields for manufacturing of different silicates, zeolites, catalysts, nanocomposite, cement, lightweight construction materials, insulators, and adsorbents. This paper presents a comprehensive overview on the processing of nano-silica from RH/RHA. It tries at the same time, to present a critical review of the application of RHA as an ingredient for the production of various ceramic materials, e.g. refractory, glass, whiteware, oxide and non-oxide ceramics, silica aerogel and SiO 2 /C composites. In summary, amorphous silica derived from RHA or RH provides a potential alternative to conventional silica sources (e.g. quartz) for the manufacture of value-added ceramics for practical applications.
Thermally grown Si(001)/SiO2 samples were studied by x-ray reflectivity. Fits of model electron density profiles to the data reveal the existence of an interfacial layer at the Si/SiO2 interface up to 15-Å-thick, with density higher than either the crystalline Si or the main oxide layer. This density of the layer is reduced by a postoxidation anneal.
Advances in lithography and thinner SiO2 gate oxides have enabled the scaling of metal–oxide–semiconductor technologies to sub-0.25 μm feature size. A major hurdle in the gate dielectric scaling using conventional thermally grown SiO2 has been excessive tunneling that occurs in ultrathin (<25 Å) SiO2. High dielectric constant materials such as Ta2O5 have been suggested as a substitute for SiO2. However, these materials have high concentrations of bulk fixed charge, unacceptable levels of Si–Ta2O5 interface trap states, and low silicon interface carrier mobilities. This letter summerizes an elegant solution to these issues through synthesis of a thermally grown SiO2(15 Å)–Ta2O5(30 Å)–SiO2(5–10 Å) dielectric with improvements in leakage, tunneling, charge trapping behavior, and interface substructure. Transistors fabricated using this stacked gate dielectric exhibit excellent subthreshold, saturation, and drive currents.
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