This corroborates well

with the absence of any distinct spots symmetrically spaced about the central spot seen in the FFT image. Figure  2c,d depicts the morphologies of nanofaceted Si templates after deposition of AZO overlayers having nominal thicknesses of 30 and 75 nm, respectively. Both these images clearly manifest the conformal growth of AZO on Si facets, albeit with increasing AZO thickness, sharpness of the facets reduces and they gradually transform from conical shapes into rod-like structures. Figure  2d documents the existence of nanoscale grains on the conformally grown AZO facets. Figure 2 Plan-view SEM images. (a) Faceted Si nanostructures. (b) AFM topographic image GSK3326595 purchase where inset shows the 2D FFT. (c, d) After growing AZO films on nanofaceted

Si having thicknesses of 30 and 75 nm, respectively. The black arrows indicate the direction of ionbeam bombardment, whereas the yellow arrows represent the direction of AZO flux during sputter deposition. The elemental composition of these samples was studied by energy AR-13324 supplier dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) analysis which does not reveal the presence of any metallic impurity in these facets. A representative EDS spectrum corresponding to the 60-nm-thick AZO film on nanofaceted Si is depicted in Figure  3a. Thickness-dependent EDS study demonstrates that concentration of Zn increases with increasing film thickness, while that of silicon decreases rapidly (Figure  3b). Subsequent elemental mapping exhibits Zn-rich apex of the conformally grown AZO faceted structures. Morphological evolution for AZO overlayer Cell press of more than 75 nm

thick is not presented here since the reflectance minimum goes beyond the spectral range (will be discussed later). Crystalline nature of the AZO overlayers was revealed from XRD studies (Figure  3c), where the appearance of only one peak, in YAP-TEAD Inhibitor 1 concentration addition to the substrate silicon signal (not shown), can be attributed to the oriented nature of grains. This peak, at all thicknesses, matches well with the (002) reflection of the hexagonal wurzite phase of AZO indicating a preferential growth along the c-axis [16]. The average grain size determined from Scherrer’s formula is seen to grow bigger with increasing AZO thickness [17]. This corroborates well with the grain size analysis performed on the basis of the SEM studies. Figure 3 EDS and XRD study results. (a) Representative EDS spectrum of 60-nm-thick AZO overlayer grown on Si nanofacets, showing the presence of Si, Zn, and O. (b) Plot of atomic concentration versus AZO overlayer thickness obtained from EDS analyses. The solid lines are guide to the eyes. (c) X-ray diffractograms of AZO films grown on nanofaceted silicon. The signal corresponding to the 30-nm-thick AZO overlayer is not strong, and therefore, the corresponding diffractogram is not shown here.

Furthermore, the instrument was not in agreement with the results obtained by the different analysis systems for the marker Bruce 19. The reduced discriminatory ability could be due to the different resolution achieved by such platform related to the fragment sizes (routinely ± 10% in a 150-500 -bp range, ± 15% in a 100-150 -bp range and in a 500-1500 -bp range and ± 20%

in a 1500-5000 -bp range). However, the comparison of the results obtained by the MLVA-16 method on the Caliper selleck products LabChip 90 platform and those previously resolved by capillary electrophoresis sequencing system and the Lab on a chip technology (Agilent Technologies) showed a good size correlation. Therefore, this platform can be considered a valid alternative to standard genotyping technique, particularly useful dealing with a large number of samples in short time. Conclusion In this paper we evaluated high throughput system as the LabChip 90 for MLVA-16 typing of Brucella strains. The MLVA typing data obtained on this equipment showed accurate correlation click here for those obtained by capillary electrophoresis sequencing and the Agilent

2100 Bioanalyzer, with the exception of Bruce 19. This new platform represents a significant improvement of the genotyping techniques in terms of turnaround times and computational efficiency. Methods Brucella strains and DNA extraction In this study fifty-three field isolates submitted for typing by the Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali to the National Reference Laboratory for brucellosis at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise-G. Caporale (Istituto G. Caporale) during

the 2001-2008 period (Table 1), ten DNA samples, collected in UK, provided at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise-G. Caporale (Istituto G. Caporale) for Brucella suis ring-trial 2006 (COST 845-Brucellosis in man and animals), seventeen Brucella strains isolated from Sicilian hospitalized patients with acute brucellosis [33], and twelve DNA samples, provided by Dr. Falk Melzer for the Ring trial Brucella 2007 [32], were analysed. The provided DNA samples were extracted by Maxwell 16 Cell DNA purification kit (Promega), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. VNTR amplification VNTR amplifications were performed according to the method described by Le Flèche et al. [29] ever and then adapted by Al Dahouk et al [12]. Sixteen sets of primers previously proposed were used in sixteen singleplex: Bruce06, Bruce08, Bruce11, buy LXH254 Bruce12, Bruce42, Bruce43, Bruce45, Bruce55 (panel 1), Bruce18, Bruce 19, Bruce21, Bruce04, Bruce07, Bruce09, Bruce16, and Bruce30 (panel 2). Amplification reaction mixtures were prepared in 15 μl volumes using 1U FastStart polymerase Taq (Roche) and containing 1 ng of DNA, 1 × PCR Roche reaction buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl, 2,5 mM MgCl2, 50 mM KCl pH 8.3), 0.2 mM dNTPs (Roche) and 0.3 μM of each flanking primer.