<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-arachidonoyl glycine,an abundant endogenous lipid,potently drives directed cellular migration through GPR18, the putative abnormal cannabidiol receptor

Background  

Microglia provide continuous immune surveillance of the CNS and upon activation rapidly change phenotype to express receptors that respond to chemoattractants during CNS damage or infection. These activated microglia undergo directed migration towards affected tissue. Importantly, the molecular species of chemoattractant encountered determines if microglia respond with pro- or anti-inflammatory behaviour, yet the signaling molecules that trigger migration remain poorly understood. The endogenous cannabinoid system regulates microglial migration via CB₂ receptors and an as yet unidentified GPCR termed the 'abnormal cannabidiol' (Abn-CBD) receptor. Abn-CBD is a synthetic isomer of the phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) and is inactive at CB₁ or CB₂ receptors, but functions as a selective agonist at this G_i/o-coupled GPCR. N-arachidonoyl glycine (NAGly) is an endogenous metabolite of the endocannabinoid anandamide and acts as an efficacious agonist at GPR18. Here, we investigate the relationship between NAGly, Abn-CBD, the unidentified 'Abn-CBD' receptor, GPR18, and BV-2 microglial migration.     

Degradation study in flexible substrate organic light-emitting diodes

Indium tin oxide (ITO) coated polycarbonate (PC) multilayer flexible substrates have been subjected to different cycles of bending. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) results on bent ITO surfaces show that bending results in much rougher ITO surfaces. The Ca degradation test shows that the ITO cracks are perpendicular to the flexing direction and that barrier performance deteriorated after bending. When an organic light emitting device is fabricated on the bent substrate, electrical and optical performance decrease. This can be attributed to moisture and oxygen permeated through deteriorated substrate and barrier degraded polymer and oxidized cathode materials. However, optical microscopy observation found that the dark spots have less relationship with the size and position of the cracks on oxide film. Instead to a great extent, they are directly related to the ITO surface spikes. The results further prove that the dark spot is due to electrical stress generated by intense local current at sharp anode and cathode points, which degrade the polymer causing the formation of the dark center. PACS 78.66.Qn; 82.35.Cd; 62.60.Mk     

Microstructural and mechanical analysis of Cu and Au interconnect on various bond pads

Effects of High Temperature Storage (HTS) and bonding toward microstructure change of intermetallic compound (IMC) at the wire bonding interface of 3 types of bond pad (Al, AlSiCu and NiPdAu) were presented in this paper. Optical and electron microscope analyses revealed that the IMC growth rate of samples under 175 and 200 °C HTS increased in the order of Al > AlSiCu > NiPdAu. Besides, higher HTS and bonding temperatures also promoted higher IMC thickness. The compositional study showed that higher HTS and bonding temperature developed rapid interdiffusion in bonding interface. In the mechanical ball shear test, a decrease of the shear force of Al and AlSiCu bond pads after 500 h HTS was believed due to poorly developed IMC at bonding interface. On the other hand, shear force degradation at 1000 h was due to excessive growth of IMC that in turn causes the formation of defects. For NiPdAu bond pad, increasing trend of shear force with HTS duration at 175 °C implied a good reliability of the Cu wire bonding. The rapid microscopic inspection on Cu wired Al bond pad under HTS 175 °C showed the IMC development from the periphery to the center of the ball bond. However, after 500 h voids started to develop until the crack was observed at 1000 h.     

Laser cutting of thick ceramic tile

This paper details developments in the CO₂ laser cutting of thick ceramic tiles, that is thicknesses of 8.5 mm and 9.2 mm. These tiles were cut at a combination of different cutting speeds to determine the necessary cutting parameters for various tile geometries. Different cutting modes were used in conjunction with different cutting speeds to investigate cut quality after laser processing. The work also looked into the effects on cutting through using various shield gases. Multipass cutting and underwater cutting were performed to examine their effects on thermal load during processing.     

Temperature and injection current dependent electroluminescence study of GaInP/AlGaInP quantum well laser diode grown using tertiarybutylarsine and tertiarybutylphosphine

GaInP/AlGaInP triple quantum well (TQW) lasers, grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using tertiarybutylarsine (TBAs) and tertiarybutylphosphine (TBP), were fabricated with a pulsed anodic oxidation (PAO) process. The devices worked at room temperature (RT) with the lowest threshold current density (J_th) of 1.5 kA/cm² ever reported for GaInP/AlGaInP lasers grown using TBAs and TBP. Temperature dependent (35–250 K) electroluminescence (EL) study of the GaInP/AlGaInP laser diode showed almost the same luminescence quenching behavior at a high temperature region (120–250 K), independent of the injection current (100–150 mA). A model involving a nonradiative recombination mechanism was presented to interpret the EL quenching behavior over the experimental temperature range. The nonradiative recombination centers in the Al-containing barrier or cladding layer are believed to contribute to the loss of carriers via nonradiative recombination. PACS 78.60.Fi; 71.20.Nr; 78.67.De; 81.15.Gh; 42.55.Px