The detection limit of these three cytokines was 2 4 pg/ml for IL

The detection limit of these three cytokines was 2.4 pg/ml for IL-2, 3.1 pg/ml for IL-4 and 1.6 pg/ml for TNF-α, respectively. Intranasal challenge with B. pertussis Two week after the second immunization, five mice from each group were challenged intranasally with the B. pertussis strain 18323 according to

the method described by Cheung et al [30]. Bacteria were subcultured on BG agar medium containing 20% defibrinated sheep blood and resuspended in PBS with 1% casamino acids. For each anesthetized mouse, 50 μL of bacterial suspension at approximately 1 × 106 CFU was injected into the nostril. On day 7 after the injection, lungs of each mouse were removed and homogenized in 1 mL of PBS. Bacterial Ipatasertib viable counting was performed by plating serial dilutions on BG agar medium. find more Intracerebral challenge with B. pertussis The B. pertussis strain 18323 was used for the intracerebral challenge assay for the immunized mice. Bacterial suspension (30 μL) with approximately 8 × 104 CFU suspended in PBS containing 1% casamino acids were injected into the mouse brain using a 0.25-mL glass syringe. Animal survival number was enumerated at 14 days post challenge. Statistical analysis All analyses were performed by use of SPSS 13.0 software. One-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett’s (two-sided) test was utilized for the statistical analysis of the host immune responses

and protection against intranasal challenges with B. pertussis in mice. To compare the difference for the protective efficacies against intracerebral challenge with a lethal www.selleckchem.com/products/Pazopanib-Hydrochloride.html dose of B. pertussis, the data were analyzed by a Chi-Square test (Mantel-Haenszed Method). P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Mr Luming Zhang and Mrs Yawen Liang for excellent technical assistant in animal assays. Part of the research work had been granted a Chinese patent (No. 200710098928.8) Selleckchem Tenofovir References 1. Crowcroft NS, Stein C, Duclos P, Birmingham

M: How best to estimate the global burden of pertussis? Lancet Infect Dis 2003, 3:413–418.CrossRefPubMed 2. The world health report 2004-changing history World Health Organization report. Geneva 2006. 3. Zhang XL, Yang ZW, Zhou J, Yu JJ, Wang KA: An Analysis on Current Epidemiological Characteristics of Bordetella pertussis in China. Chin J Vac Immun 2000, 6:93–95. 4. Vermeer-deBondt PE, Labadie J, Rümke HC: Rate of recurrent collapse after vaccination with whole cell pertussis vaccine: follow up study. Br Med J 1998, 316:902–903. 5. Pichichero ME, Deloria MA, Rennels MB, Anderson EL, Edwards KM, Decker MD, Englund JA, Steinhoff MC, Deforest A, Meade BD: A safety and immunogeniCity comparison of 12 acellular pertussis vaccines and one whole-cell pertussis vaccine given as a fourth dose in 15- to 20-month-old children. Pediatrics 1997, 100:772–788.CrossRefPubMed 6. Watanabe M, Nagai M: Acellular pertussis vaccines in Japan: past, present and future.

Transcript from the bat genes is present in

the WT strain

Transcript from the bat genes is present in

the WT strain but undetectable in the ΔbatABD mutant, as expected. In the ΔbatA mutant strain, only the batA transcript is undetectable, but transcripts from the downstream ORFs, including batB and batD, were detected. Although the arrangement of the 11 genes suggest they may be co-transcribed in an operon, the deletion of the bat genes does not eliminate transcript from the Staurosporine molecular weight downstream ORFs and we hypothesize that each gene has an independent promoter. Interestingly, even ORFs immediately downstream of the deleted genes had observable levels of transcript, even though their promoter regions were most likely located in the deleted sequences. However, the levels of transcript from the downstream genes were significantly lower in the mutant strains compared to transcript levels in the WT: htpG transcript levels were 3.7-fold lower in the ΔbatABD strain, and batB Selleck JAK inhibitor transcript levels were >12-fold lower in the ΔbatA mutant. Figure 3 Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of the bat locus and downstream genes. Gene targets are shown below the corresponding section of the bar-graph using specific primer-probe sets for each gene (Table 1). Transcript from each gene was see more normalized to 104 copies of flaB transcript

from the respective strain. –X–, indicates deletion of the corresponding gene indicated above. Values represent the mean of triplicate reactions ± the standard error. Unpaired T test with Welch’s correction was used to determine significant differences between two groups (e.g. batB transcript levels between WT and ΔbatA mutant strains). For statistical analysis of more than 2 groups (such as comparisons of gene transcripts between WT, ΔbatA mutant and ΔbatABD mutant strains), one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the

Bonferroni’s post test was applied. P values < 0.0001 are denoted by ***. Morphology and growth rate of bat mutants are equivalent to wild-type The signal sequence of BatD suggests a periplasmic or membrane-associated location for at least one member of this protein family. We therefore examined whether the absence of Bat proteins affected cellular Mirabegron shape or structure. L. biflexa morphology was assessed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, including negative stains and freeze-substitution fixation to retain a more native state of the cells. As shown in representative images in Figure 4A, no morphological or ultrastructural differences were observed between the WT and mutant strains by any of these analyses. Figure 4 Deletion of bat loci does not alter morphology or growth of L. biflexa . (A) Electron micrographs of WT and mutant L. biflexa strains. No difference was observed in the morphology of the mutant strains relative to the WT (batA images not shown). Top panel – SEM images of L.

2009) Some studies have shown that parents will inform young chi

2009). Some studies have shown that parents will inform young children (e.g., below age 13) regardless of their ability to truly understand and before monitoring, genetic testing, or prophylactic surgeries such as mastectomies or oophorectomies (surgical removal of the ovaries) are recommended (Mackenzie et al. 2009; McGivern et al. 2004). There are risks, such as emotional harm, that accompany in telling a child of genetic risk at an age when #Batimastat randurls[1|1|,|CHEM1|]# they are too young to fully comprehend its meaning or participate in monitoring,

testing, and screening programs. However, delaying disclosure could lead to a feeling of dishonesty on the part of the parent (Bradbury et al. 2009; Cappelli et al. 2005; American Academy of Pediatrics and Committee on Bioethics 2001), and the child might still be able to determine through other methods (non-verbal cues, overheard fragments of discussion, knowledge of ongoing medical treatment) that something is wrong and they are not being told. An additional consideration supporting disclosure is that knowledge

of risk at a young age can also help reduce behaviors that increase risk (Clarke et al. 2008), although the evidence of this is not conclusive (Bradbury et al. 2009). There is no established framework as to when and how parents should inform children about their genetic selleck chemicals llc risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and whether children should be part of the counseling process. The parent’s need to inform the child and the child’s

ability to understand are considerations. Although waiting until a child is of an age when monitoring and screening are recommended has been advised (early adulthood), disclosing when they are able to understand and adopt risk-reducing behaviors (such as adolescence) might provide some level of benefit. In addition, parents might need the guidance of health professionals—who are often better equipped to understand the types of information that should be disclosed at a given age, as well as the best way of going about it—when disclosing this Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II information to children (McBride et al. 2010). The right not to know Although there should be a personal responsibility for patients to inform family members of genetic risk, there might be circumstances when those family members legitimately do not want to know: this is their purported right not to know. Traditionally, the right not to know one’s genetic status has been considered in the context of the physician–patient relationship. The existence of this right among family members, however, has been and continues to be debated (Gilbar 2007).

In everyday surgical practice infections that are life threatenin

In everyday surgical practice infections that are life threatening conditions and which require early recognition and aggressive surgical debridement along with broad spectrum antibiotics therapy, are rare. When NF becomes a rapidly progressing necrosis of the subcutaneous fat and fascia,

it develops into a life threatening disease that needs prompt recognition, extensive debridement, immediate antibiotic therapy and intensive care treatment. Early and aggressive surgery is mandatory for establishing the JQEZ5 right diagnosis as well as for removing as much infected tissue as possible in a single operation. The diagnosis remains primarily clinical, but diagnostic adjuncts such as LRINEC scoring system can be useful for early and precise diagnosis [5]. Different types of microorganisms can cause NF. As seen in our clinical study, the majority of cases begin with an existing infection, most frequently on the extremities, in the perineum or on the AW. As previously stressed, the treatment

modalities of NF in different patient groups are very heterogeneous, but the most important factor of mortality is the time of operative intervention, as well as the number of co-morbidities [36]. Patients with DM appear to be particularly at risk, representing over 70% of cases in one large review [46]. The other co-morbidities include obesity, alcohol abuse, immune-deficiency, chronic renal failure, liver cirrhosis, hypertension, peripheral vascular disease and age above 60 years [1, 2]. In cases where the diagnosis is uncertain, repeated clinical GDC 973 assessment and multiple vectors approach integrating a range of diagnostic PI3K inhibitor modalities will optimize the final diagnosis [1]. MG-132 cell line Many physicians today are not familiar enough with NSTI and NF to proceed rapidly with an accurate diagnosis and the necessary management [36]. The majority of cases today are treated on an outpatient basis or in outpatient clinics. On the other hand, each untreated necrotizing infection or a misdiagnosed case has a poor prognosis and severe course. In highly suspicious cases of necrotizing infections a multidisciplinary team approach is mandatory, involving the GP doctor, general and plastic surgeons, radiologists,

microbiologists, physiotherapists and nutritionists. In the majority of clinical cases, surgeons have a high responsibility level for timely and appropriate surgical treatment and therefore the final outcome. Thus, early surgical debridement, combined with broad spectrum antibiotics, intensive care therapy and adjuvant HBO therapy should become part of the “”Treatment doctrine for NSTI and NF”", as well as for the treatment of clostridial myonecrosis [36]. Patient Consent Written informed consent was obtained from the patients for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal. References 1. Morgan MS: Diagnosis and management of necrotizing fasciitis: A multiparametric approach.

It is essential to define the generic type species Diaporthe eres

It is essential to define the generic type species Diaporthe eres for a meaningful phylogenetic reappraisal of Diaporthe, as well as to reveal its biology, ecology and host associations (Udayanga et al. 2011; Gomes et al. 2013; Rossman et al. 2014). Diaporthe eres has been reported as a weak to moderate pathogen of woody plants. Kaliterna et al. (2012) reported the association of D. eres with grapevine trunk disease in Croatia having moderate pathogenicity. They suggest that this plurivorous species could play an important role in the aetiology of grapevine trunk disease. Selleckchem Tideglusib Baumgartner et al. (2013) characterised the isolates of Diaporthe from North American vineyards and recognised the wide occurrence

of D. eres in their collection. Interestingly, they recovered both ITS types of Diaporthe eres, one of which was named Phomopsis fukushii because of the high similarity with authentic isolates from Japan included in their analysis. However, they did not notice any morphological variability or differences in virulence and pathogenicity within the two groups.

The weak pathogenic D. eres has been widely reported associated with ericaceous, rosaceous fruit trees and grapevines from Asia, Selleckchem BTK inhibitor Europe and USA (Kanematsu et al. 1999, 2000, 2007; Kaliterna et al. 2012; Lombard et al. 2014). Additionally Phomopsis sp. 6, reported from South Africa (van Niekerk et al. 2005), was confirmed as D. eres based on the sequence comparison, MEK inhibitor which also supports the association of this species as a weak pathogen or opportunistic saprobe of grape in different geographic regions. Gomes et al. Cediranib (AZD2171) (2013), observed an unresolved sub-clade, which they referred to as the Diaporthe nobilis species complex, represented by CBS 587.79, CBS 113470 and some of the isolates used in our analysis. Many of the isolates in that clade clustered within Diaporthe eres based on the application of GCPSR in our analysis except for CBS 338.89, which is identified herein

as D. pulla. We confirm that this poorly supported non-monophyletic grouping can be observed when ITS sequences are included in the combined analysis. Therefore, the recognition of the Diaporthe nobilis species complex (sensu Gomes) is redundant. As large numbers of sequences from Diaporthe species have accumulated, subsequent rigorous analyses have shown that the interpretation of phylogenetic trees at species level is subject to much confusion, especially in taxa associated with broad host ranges (Udayanga et al. 2014). These issues are not only significant in biodiversity and evolutionary contexts, but also in situations in which the accurate identification of plant pathogenic species is required for quarantine or other purposes. The nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region has been proposed as the standard fungal barcode (Schoch et al. 2012) and is also being used for sequence-based species delimitation in environmental surveys of fungi (Horton and Bruns 2001; Begerow et al. 2010; Peršoh 2013; Schoch et al.

Occup Environ Med 64(5):343–348CrossRef Bossuyt PM, Reitsma JB, B

Occup Environ Med 64(5):343–348CrossRef Bossuyt PM, Reitsma JB, Bruns DE, Gatsonis CA, Glasziou PP, Irwig LM et al (2003) The STARD statement for reporting studies of diagnostic accuracy: explanation and elaboration. Ann Int Med 138:W1–W12 Brauer C, Mikkelsen S (2003) The context of a study influences the reporting of symptoms. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 76(8):621–624CrossRef

Cegolon et al Selleckchem Crenolanib (2010) The primary care practitioner and the diagnosis of occupational diseases. BMC Public Health 10:405CrossRef Chen PY, Popovich PM (2002) Correlation: parametric and nonparametric measures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Choi SW, Peek-Asa C, Zwerling C, Sprince NL, Rautiainen RH, Whitten PS et al (2005) A comparison of self-reported hearing and pure tone threshold average in the Iowa farm LY3023414 family health and hazard survey. J Agromed 10(3):31–39CrossRef Cohen J, Cohen P (1983) Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd edn. NJ Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale Cvetkovski RS, Jensen H, Olsen J, Johansen JD, Agner T (2005) Relation between patients’ and physicians’ severity assessment of occupational hand eczema. Br

J Dermatol 153(3):596–600CrossRef Dasgupta S, Meisner C, Wheeler D, Xuyen K, Thi LN (2007) Pesticide poisoning of farm workers-implications of blood test results from Vietnam. Int J Hyg Environ find more Health 210(2):121–132CrossRef de Joode

BW, Vermeulen R, Heederik D, van GK, Kromhout H (2007) Evaluation LCZ696 of 2 self-administered questionnaires to ascertain dermatitis among metal workers and its relation with exposure to metalworking fluids. Contact Dermat 56(6):311–317CrossRef Demers RY, Fischetti LR, Neale AV (1990) Incongruence between self-reported symptoms and objective evidence of respiratory disease among construction workers. Soc Sci Med 30(7):805–810CrossRef Descatha A, Roquelaure Y, Chastang JF, Evanoff B, Melchior M, Mariot C et al (2007) Validity of Nordic-style questionnaires in the surveillance of upper-limb work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Scand J Work Environ Health 33(1):58–65CrossRef Eskelinen L, Kohvakka A, Merisalo T, Hurri H, Wagar G (1991) Relationship between the self-assessment and clinical assessment of health status and work ability. Scand J Work Environ Health 17(Suppl 1):40–47 Fleisher JM, Kay D (2006) Risk perception bias, self-reporting of illness, and the validity of reported results in an epidemiologic study of recreational water associated illnesses. Mar Pollut Bull 52(3):264–268CrossRef Gomez MI, Hwang SA, Sobotova L, Stark AD, May JJ (2001) A comparison of self-reported hearing loss and audiometry in a cohort of New York farmers.

Our first observation was that a majority of clinical strains wer

Our first observation was that a majority of clinical strains were in fact not trueP. agglomeransas defined by Gavini et al. [1] based on taxonomic discrepencies revealed by sequence analysis of the 16S rDNA andgyrBgenes. All biocontrol strains in the collection were found to be correctly identified asP. agglomerans. The reason for this discrepancy is ascribed to the fact that bacteria selected for their biological

Selleckchem PRIMA-1MET control properties are typically better characterized, including DNA sequencing, in comparison to those obtained in clinical diagnostics where rapid identification for implementation of therapeutic treatment is the primary concern and relies on less precise biochemical identification methods (e.g., API20E and Vitek-2 from bioMerieux or Phoenix from BD Diagnostic Systems). Biochemical methods have previously been shown to misidentifyP. agglomeransandEnterobacterspp. [43,46–49], which our results confirm. Additionally, many archival strains were deposited in culture collections more than 30 years ago when the genusPantoeawas not yet taxonomically established and biochemical identification was less accurate. TheEnterobacter/Pantoeagenus has undergone numerous taxonomical rearrangements [1,41,48,50–53] (Figure8) and our

results indicate that many strains previously identified asE. agglomeransorE. herbicolahave been improperly transferred into the compositeP. agglomeransspecies [1]. Although previous studies based on DNA-DNA hybridization alerted EX 527 that theE. agglomerans-E. herbicolacomplex is composed from several unrelated species [52,54,55] (Figure8), these names continue to be utilized as subjective synonyms. In this study, we analyzed the current subdivisions ofP. agglomeransbased on DNA-DNA hybridization and used sequence analysis to establish valid identity of representative strains for eachE. agglomeransbiotype as defined by Brenner et al. [41], and biotype XILeclercia

adecarboxylata[52]. We could not confirm the identity of strain LMG 5343 asP. agglomerans, NVP-BGJ398 in vivo indicating that biotype V should not be included inP. agglomeransas previously hypothesized by Beji et al. [53]. Our BLAST analysis of strains belonging to other biotypes that have not yet been assigned to a particular species showed the highest similarity of these strains to undefinedEnterobacterorErwiniaspp. Phosphatidylinositol diacylglycerol-lyase Sequences belonging toP. agglomeransisolates and a wide-range of other bacteria described as unknown or uncultured bacterium frequently were scattered as top hits in the BLAST-search (see Additional file 2 -Table S2). These sequences were not closely related to any of the individual type strains of thePantoeaspecies. This indicates the risk that a high number ofEnterobacterandErwiniastrains present in the databases are misidentified asPantoea. The problematic classification of strains belonging to the classicalE. agglomeransbasonym is further demonstrated by the observation of incorrect culture collection designations.

We determined that p73 was responsible for UHRF1 down-regulation

We determined that p73 was responsible for UHRF1 down-regulation through a caspase-3 dependent process. PF-3084014 A subsequent study allowed us to propose that down-regulation of phosphodiesterase 1A (PDE1A), a modulator of cAMP and cGMP cyclic nucleotides, could be the key event to explain the TQ-induced down-regulation of UHRF1 and the occurrence of apoptosis [82]. All these findings showed for the first time that a natural compound induces apoptosis by acting on the epigenetic integrator UHRF1 through a p73-dependent mitochondrial pathway. Epidemiological studies

report that diets rich in fruits and vegetables reduce the rate of cancer mortality [83–87]. The beneficial effects of these diets are attributed, at least partly, to polyphenols which

have been described to have in vitro and in vivo anti-tumoral properties in several types of cancer cells [88–90]. Red wine is one of the most HDAC inhibitor drugs abundant source of polyphenols and represents an important occidental dietary component. In recent years, epidemiological studies have demonstrated the cancer chemopreventive effects of red wine polyphenols (RWPs) [91, 92]. In this context, we found that a whole HSP990 in vivo extract of RWPs dose-dependently inhibits the proliferation of various cancer cell lines, including the acute lymphoblastic leukemia Jurkat and the P19 teratocarcinoma cell lines [93, 94]. This growth inhibition was correlated with an arrest of cell cycle progression in G1 and to subsequent apoptosis. Further investigations allowed us to observe that RWPs-exposed leukemia cells exhibit a sharp increase of p73 level associated with a significant decrease in UHRF1 expression, in agreement with Alhosin et al., [67]. These findings indicate,

therefore, that RWPs extract likely triggers cell cycle arrest and apoptosis by targeting UHRF1 through a p73-dependent pathway and a ROS-dependent process. Interestingly we have also observed that a RWPs extract significantly increased the formation of ROS (Figure 3A). Consistently, it has been recently shown that saikosaponins sensitize cancer cells to cisplatin through ROS-mediated apoptosis, and the combination of saikosaponins with cisplatin could be an effective therapeutic strategy [95]. Figure 3 Schematic representation of RWPs-induced apoptosis involving p73 and UHRF1 Galeterone deregulation in Jurkat cells and in an in vivo colorectal cancer model. A. Schematic representation of RWPs-induced apoptosis involving p73 and UHRF1 deregulation in Jurkat cells. RWPs triggers production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and putatively DNA damage. The activation of the p73 gene results in enhanced caspase 3 level inducing UHRF1 decrease with subsequent G1/S arrest and apoptosis. B. The pathway involved in vivo is similar to that observed in Jurkat cells by involving a down-regulation of UHRF1 with subsequent increase of p16 INK4A gene expression. The down-regulation of UHRF1 is probably driven by p53 and/or p53.

Nano Lett 2011,11(6):2311–2317 CrossRef 6 Alonso-Álvarez D, Tabo

Nano Lett 2011,11(6):2311–2317.CrossRef 6. Alonso-Álvarez D, Taboada AG, Ripalda JM, Alén B, González Y, González L, García JM, Briones F, Martí A, Luque A, Sánchez Pictilisib AM, Molina SI: Carrier recombination effects in strain compensated quantum dot stacks embedded in solar cells. Appl Phys Lett 2008,93(12):123114.CrossRef

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cells. J Mater Chem 2012, 22:22832–22839.CrossRef 15. Hsu TM, Lan YS, Chang W, Yeh NT, Chyi J: Tuning the energy levels of self-assembled InAs quantum dots by rapid thermal annealing. Appl Phys Lett 2000,76(6):691.CrossRef 16. Fu L, McKerracher I, Tan HH, Jagadish C, Vukmirovic N, Harrison P: Effect of GaP strain compensation layers on rapid thermally annealed InGaAs/GaAs quantum dot infrared photodetectors grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. Appl Phys Lett 2007,91(7):073515.CrossRef 17. Pierz K, Ma Z, Keyser UF, Haug RJ: Kinetically limited quantum dot formation on AlAs(100) surfaces. J Cryst Growth 2003,249(3–4):477–482.CrossRef 18. Sanguinetti S, Watanabe K, Kuroda T, Minami F, Gotoh Y, Koguchi N: Effects of post-growth annealing on the optical properties of self-assembled GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots. J Cryst Growth 2002,242(3–4):321–331.CrossRef Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The XRD analysis showed that BFO thin films were

The XRD analysis showed that BFO thin films were equiaxial polycrystalline in nature, albeit that the predominant (110) orientation and a rougher surface morphology were gradually developed with increasing deposition temperature. Nanoindentation results find more indicated that, depending on the grain size which is intimately related to the deposition temperature, BFO thin films have hardness ranging

from 6.8 to 10.6 GPa and Young’s modulus ranging from 131.4 to 170.8 GPa with the higher values corresponding to lower deposition temperatures. In addition, the hardness of BFO thin films appears to follow the Hall–Petch equation rather satisfactorily, and the Hall–Petch constant of 43.12 GPa nm1/2 suggests the effectiveness of grain boundary in inhibiting the dislocation movement in BFO thin films. Authors’ information SRJ is an associate professor and YCT is a designated topic student (in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan). HWC is an associate professor and PHC is a master student (in the Department of Applied Physics, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan). JYJ is a professor (in the Department of Electrophysics, National Chiao Tung University,

Hsinchu, Taiwan). Acknowledgments This work was partially supported see more by the National Science Council of Taiwan under grant no. NSC101-2221-E-214-017. JYJ is partially supported by the NSC of Taiwan and the MOE-ATU program operated at NCTU. References 1. Hill NA: Why are there so few magnetic ferroelectrics? J Phys Chem B 2000, 104:6694.CrossRef 2. Neaton JB, Ederer C, Waghmare UV, Spaldin NA, Rabe KM: First-principles study of spontaneous polarization in multiferroic BiFeO Florfenicol 3 . Phys Rev B 2005, 71:014113.CrossRef

3. Simões AZ, Aguiar EC, Gonzalez AHM, Andrés J, Longo E, Varela JA: Strain behavior of lanthanum modified BiFeO 3 thin films prepared via soft chemical method. J Appl Phys 2008, 104:104115.CrossRef 4. Catalan G, Scott JF: Physics and applications of bismuth ferrite. Adv Mater 2009, 21:2463.CrossRef 5. Wei J, Xue D, Xu Y: Photoabsorption characterization and magnetic property of multiferroic BiFeO3 nanotubes synthesized by a facile sol–gel template process. Scripta Mater 2008, 58:45.CrossRef 6. Kim HH, Dho JH, Qi X, Kang SK, Macmanus-Driscoll JL, Kang DJ, Kim KN, Blamire MG: Growth and characterization of BiFeO3 film for novel device applications. Ferroelectrics 2006, 333:157.CrossRef 7. Vasudevan RK, Liu Y, Li J, Liang WI, Kumar A, Jesse S, Chen YC, Chu YH, Nagarajan V, Kalinin SV: Nanoscale control of phase Sepantronium variants in strain-engineered BiFeO 3 . Nano Lett 2011, 11:3346.CrossRef 8. Ni H, Li XD, Gao H: Elastic modulus of amorphous SiO 2 nanowires. Appl Phys Lett 2006, 88:043108.CrossRef 9. Ni H, Li XD, Cheng G, Klie R: Elastic modulus of single-crystal GaN nanowires. J Mater Res 2006, 21:2882.CrossRef 10.