(C) RSNA, 2009″
“Composition modulations are observed by transmission electron microscopy in In0.53Ga0.37Al0.10As barrier layers that overgrow both single- and multilayer InAs quantum wire structures SYN-117 grown on an InP substrate. Indium-rich (gallium-deficient) regions were observed in the region of the barrier layer lying directly above individual quantum wires, while indium-deficient (gallium-rich) regions were detected in the barrier above the gaps between adjacent underlying

quantum wires. The magnitude of such modulation was typically 7% (atomic percent) for both indium and gallium as estimated from the energy dispersive x-ray analysis. The origin of such composition modulations was determined by modeling the chemical potential distribution for indium and gallium on the growth front of the barrier layer at the initial capping stage of the quantum wires with finite element simulations. It is found that the number and positions of the indium-rich regions are determined by the combined effects of strain and surface energy distributions on the barrier material capping the quantum wires. Moreover the estimated magnitudes of the composition modulation for both indium and gallium from the finite element models are

in good agreement with the experimental observations. This method provides a simple way to understand the origin of, and to estimate the magnitude of the quantum wire-induced composition modulation in the barrier layer. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3460643]“
“Despite the development of modern chemotherapeutic BAY 80-6946 regimens, acute leukaemia remains incurable in the majority of adult patients and potential cure is associated with considerable side effects. Clinical and experimental research of the last two decades has demonstrated that acute leukaemia is the consequence of multiple collaborative molecular Q-VD-Oph aberrations affecting protein kinases and transcriptional regulators induced by genetic alterations and/or epigenetic mechanisms. New technologies have been developed to

detect aberrations of the entire (epi)genome of a leukaemic blast that will result in a long list of potential therapeutic targets needing to be functionally validated in cellular and animal leukaemia models. Using these methods, several “”druggable”" protein kinases have been identified. These kinases exert their oncogenic potential not only through expansion of the leukaemic clone, but also by regulating critical interactions of leukaemic stem cells with the microenvironment. Due to the molecular complexity of acute leukaemia, new functional genome-wide screens have been established and may help to identify targets that when blocked result in synthetic lethality of the leukaemic blasts harbouring distinct (epi)genomic lesions. A close interaction between the academic and the pharmaceutical biomedical research will be essential to translate these exciting new molecular findings into improved therapies for acute leukaemia.