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“A biophysical model of receptor potential generation in the male moth olfactory receptor neuron is presented. It takes into account all pre-effector processes-the translocation of pheromone molecules from air to sensillum lymph, their deactivation and interaction with

the receptors, and the G-protein and effector enzyme activation-and focuses on the main post-effector processes. These processes involve the production and degradation of second messengers (IP(3) Akt inhibitor and DAG), the opening and closing of a series of ionic channels (IP(3)-gated Ca(2+) channel, DAG-gated cationic channel, Ca(2+)-gated Cl(-) channel, and Ca(2+)-and voltage-gated K(+) channel), and Ca(2+) extrusion mechanisms. The whole network is regulated by modulators (protein

kinase C and Ca(2+)-calmodulin) that exert feedback inhibition on the effector and channels. The evolution in time of these linked chemical species and currents and the resulting membrane potentials in response to single pulse stimulation of various intensities were simulated. The unknown parameter values were fitted by comparison to the amplitude and temporal characteristics (rising and falling times) of the experimentally measured receptor potential at various pheromone doses. The model obtained captures the main features of the dose-response curves: the wide dynamic range of six decades with the same amplitudes as the experimental data, the short rising time, and the long falling time. It also reproduces the second messenger Selumetinib cost kinetics. It suggests that the two main types of depolarizing ionic channels play different roles BTK inhibitor nmr at low and high pheromone concentrations; the DAG-gated cationic channel plays the major role for depolarization at low concentrations, and the Ca(2+)-gated Cl(-) channel plays the major role for depolarization at middle and high concentrations. Several testable predictions are proposed, and future developments are discussed.”
“We report on the stability of high-permittivity (high-k) TiO2 films incorporated in metal-oxide-silicon capacitor structures with a TiN metal gate electrode, focusing on oxygen migration. Titanium oxide films are deposited

by either Ti sputtering [physical vapor deposition (PVD)] followed by radical shower oxidation or by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) from titanium isopropoxide (TiOCH(CH3)(2)(4)) and O-2 plasma. Both PVD and PEALD films result in near-stoichiometric TiO2 prior to high-temperature annealing. We find that dopant activation anneals of TiO2-containing gate stacks at 1000 degrees C cause 5 angstrom or more of additional SiO2 to be formed at the gate-dielectric/Si-channel interface. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that oxygen released from TiO2 diffuses through the TiN gate electrode and oxidizes the poly-Si contact. The thickness of this upper SiO2 layer continues to increase with increasing TiO2 thickness, while the thickness of the regrown SiO2 at the gate-dielectric/Si interface saturates.