As the most intensively studied initiator caspase, caspase-9 is a key player in the intrinsic or mitochondrial pathway which is involved in various stimuli, including chemotherapies, stress agents and radiation. Caspase-9 is activated on the apoptosome complex to remain catalytic status and is thought of involving homo-dimerization monomeric zymogens. Failing to activate caspase-9 has profound physiological and pathophysiological outcomes, leading to degenerative and developmental disorders even cancer. To govern the apoptotic commitment process appropriately, plenty of proteins and small molecules involved in regulating caspase-9. Therefore, this review is to summarize recent pertinent literature on the comprehensive description of the molecular events implicated in caspase-9 activation and inhibition, as well as the clinical trials in progress to give deep insight into caspase-9 for suppressing cancer. We hope that our concerns will be helpful for further clinical studies addressing the roles of caspase-9 and its regulators demanded to identify more effective solutions to overcome intrinsic apoptosis-related diseases especially cancer.

We report the use of highly ordered, dense, and regular arrays of in-plane GaAs nanowires as building blocks to produce antiphase-domain-free GaAs thin films on exact (001) silicon. High quality GaAs nanowires were grown on V-grooved Si (001) substrates using the selective aspect ratio trapping concept. The 4.1% lattice mismatch has been accommodated by the initial GaAs, a few nanometer-thick with high density stacking faults. The bulk of the GaAs wires exhibited smooth facets and a low defect density. An unusual defect trapping mechanism by a “tiara”-like structure formed by Si undercuts was discovered. As a result, we were able to grow large-area antiphase-domain-free GaAs thin films out of the nanowires without using SiO2 sidewalls for defect termination. Analysis from XRD ω-rocking curves yielded full-width-at-half-maximum values of 238 and 154 arc sec from 900 to 2000 nm GaAs thin films, respectively, indicating high crystalline quality. The growth scheme in this work offers a promising path towards integrated III-V electronic, photonic, or photovoltaic devices on large scale silicon platform.

Enhanced high temperature thermoelectric properties of Bi-doped c -axis oriented Ca 3 Co 4 O 9 thin films by pulsed laser deposition

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Please note: Changes made as a result of publishing processes such as copy-editing, formatting and page numbers may not be reflected in this version. For the definitive version of this publication, please refer to the published source. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite this paper.This version is being made available in accordance with publisher policies. See http://orca.cf.ac.uk/policies.html for usage policies. Copyright and moral rights for publications made available in ORCA are retained by the copyright holders. U N C O R R E C T E D P R O O F ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACTMonolithic integration of III-V on silicon has been a scientifically appealing concept for decades. Notable progress has recently been made in this research area, fueled by significant interests of the electronics industry in high-mobility channel transistors and the booming development of silicon photonics technology. In this review article, we outline the fundamental roadblocks for the epitaxial growth of highly mismatched III-V materials, including arsenides, phosphides, and antimonides, on (001) oriented silicon substrates. Advances in hetero-epitaxy and selective-area hetero-epitaxy from micro to nano length scales are discussed. Opportunities in emerging electronics and integrated photonics are also presented.

We calculate, within the random-phase approximation, the elementary excitation spectrum of quasi-one-dimensional electron systems as occurring, for example, in semiconductor microstructures. Using multisubband models, we derive and discuss the dispersion relations for both intrasubband and intersubband excitations and consider the mode-coupling e6'ect between them. We show that the depolarization shift correction for the intersubband excitation could be very large, increasing the intersubband collective mode energy substantially above the single-particle intersubband separation, and, thus explaining a puzzling recent far-infrared spectroscopic experimental observation.Recently, there has been increasing theoretical' and experimental interest in quasi-one-dimensional electron systems (1D ES's) based on semiconductor microstruc-

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A total of 720 newly-hatched Arbor Acres broilers were selected to investigate the effects of fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and B. subtilis on performance and microbial gut concentration in broilers. The result indicated that dietary supplementation with FOS or Bacillus in comparison to an antibiotic had selective effects on increasing caecal concentration of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus and decreasing concentration of harmful bacteria such as E. Coli and Salmonella. However, supplemental aureomycin had non-selective effects on caecal microflora which inhibited all bacteria. Moreover, the combination of FOS and B. subtilis had much better improvement on caecal micro-ecosystem for broiler than they were used solely. Dietary addition of FOS or B. subtilis improved performance of broilers to the levels of those fed the diet with aureomycin and the combination of FOS and bacillus had better effects on reducing diarrhea rate and promoting growth than they were used solely.