Phylogenetic comparison of the HA-gene revealed a rather homogeneous cluster with other local isolates from recent years, the A36R-gene was mostly related to elephant derived strains from Germany. Despite

causing disease in human, the isolate AT/Carinthia/788/07 surprisingly even at high titers showed a highly reduced virulence in BALB/c mice upon intranasal inoculation as compared to vaccinia virus. This contrasts earlier reports on other CPXV isolates. Using shotgun DNA sequencing several insertions and deletions were found in genes presumably involved in host range, immune regulation as well as established virulence factors. These preliminary data could be an indication that CPXV strains with proven pathogenicity for humans may have reduced virulence

in mice and vice versa. Additionally strains with a reduced virulence may have an advantage in persisting in Fludarabine price less dense rodent populations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“We have investigated the microstructure and local chemistry of Ta/Ru/Ta/CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB/Ta/Ru magnetic tunnel junctions with different values of tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) as a result of annealing at different temperatures. Annealing at 500 degrees C led to the templated crystallization of the amorphous CoFeB layer having coherent interfaces with MgO grains with an orientation relationship of < 001 >[011](MgO)parallel to < 001 >[001](CoFe), and the B rejected from crystallized CoFeB was found to be dissolved Selleck SHP099 in upper amorphous Ta layers and segregated in the bottom crystalline Ta layer. Annealing at 600 degrees C led to the dissolution of 3-4 at. % Ta in the MgO barrier, and B was found to be segregated at the CoFeB/MgO and Ta/Ru interfaces as a result of the crystallization of the top amorphous Ta layer. Further degradation in TMR of the samples annealed at 650 degrees C results from the loss of bcc-CoFe (001) texture in the bottom CoFeB electrode due to the pronounced Ta diffusion into the CoFe/MgO/CoFe layers. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3182817]“
“Organoclay was prepared

by a precipitation-adsorption process in which sodium-montmorillonite (Na-MMT) suspension was fully mixed Torin 1 inhibitor with an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate, and then precipitation agent CaCl(2) was added to produce a precipitate of organophilic montmorillonite (OMMT). The Na-MMT suspension was obtained by ion-exchange reaction of bentonite with sodium cation resin. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectral analysis confirmed the adsorption of organic groups on the MMT, and the organic groups content was calculated from the results of thermal gravimetric analysis. X-ray diffraction results indicated that the OMMT prepared was exfoliated. In this article, the mechanism of the precipitation-adsorption process was discussed. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.