Many sport beverages contain glucose and additional

Many sport beverages contain glucose and selleck kinase inhibitor additional MRT67307 clinical trial nutritional components, specifically electrolytes (i.e., sodium, potassium, vitamin B12, etc.) which element(s) benefitted

cognitive function relative to water. Therefore, rehydration with comparable beverages, with the exception of carbohydrate content, would allow for more accurate examination of between-condition differences. The purpose of the current investigation is to examine the effects of a fluid replacement drink that contains electrolytes, glucose and calories versus a fluid replacement drink containing solely electrolytes (GLU), non-digestible artificial sweeteners, and zero calories (NON-GLU) on Selleck IWP-2 rectal temperature, skin temperature, and mood state after protracted exercise in 37°C for 90 minutes. It was hypothesized that a GLU containing drink will elicit improved mood state during recovery after prolonged exercise in the heat compared to a NON-GLU beverage. The findings increase our knowledge and safety for exercise in the heat and the role of glucose on mental and physiological processes during rehydration. Methods Subjects Ten males (22 ± 2 yrs, 181.4 ± 6.6 cm, 88.4 ± 10.4 kg) volunteered to take part in the current investigation and

reported to the laboratory on three occasions (preliminary, GLU, NON-GLU). Through completion of a medical history screening, subjects were excluded with the presence or history of medical, neurological, developmental, or psychiatric disorders or a history of heat illness. The sample consisted

of males, as exercise intensity and duration could be confounded with a co-ed sample (i.e., males vs. females may require a different Amino acid level of exercise to produce the level of dehydration desired) [13–15]. Further, only Caucasian males were utilized, as non-whites and female have demonstrated differences in thermoregulation [16, 17]. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Kent State University. All subjects provided written informed consent before participating. Measurements Rectal temperature (Tre) was measured by a thermistor inserted 13 cm into the rectum (ER400-12, Respiratory Diagnostic Products, Irvine, CA). Skin thermistors (Model 409B, Yellow Springs, OH) were used to measure skin temperature at the following sites: chest, triceps, forearm, thigh, and calf [18]. Rectal, skin and air temperatures were collected by an interface (iNet-100HC, Omega Engineering, Stamford, CT). Mean skin temperature (Tsk) was calculated using the formula supported in the current literature [18]: Tsk = (0.22 × calf temperature) + (0.28 × thigh temperature) + (0.28 × chest temperature) + (0.14 × forearm temperature) + (0.08 × triceps temperature).

[21] No patients included in our analysis received primary prophy

[21] No patients included in our analysis received primary prophylaxis with myeloid growth factors, and some of them had complete blood counts performed during the RO4929097 mw second week of treatment even if they were asymptomatic. Both facts may explain the frequency of neutropenia we observed. There were few episodes of neutropenic fever Selleckchem C188-9 in our series, suggesting that use of primary prophylaxis with

granulocyte colony-stimulating factor might not be indicated. Of note, no patient with CNS metastases in our series presented with CNS bleeding during treatment with bevacizumab. This was also shown by the phase IV ARIES study,[13] in which 101 patients with brain lesions were treated with bevacizumab. Our results reinforce the observation of the European Medicines Agency that patients with brain metastasis can receive bevacizumab safely.[22] Although

they present inherent limitations, analyses of different ethnicities are important, since they can suggest particular responses depending on the genetic background. For example, a subgroup analysis of Asian patients from the AVAiL trial showed an OS benefit that was not present in the main population,[23] reinforcing the assumption that Asian ethnicity can be a positive predictor of increased Belinostat price OS in NSCLC.[24] Since our population was constituted of mixed ethnicity, including individuals of Caucasian, Asian, and Black origin, we cannot assume that there was any influence of genetic constitution on our results. Despite being the biggest reported clinical experience with bevacizumab in Brazil, this study has several limitations. First, our results are based on pheromone a retrospective chart review in which the possibility

of underreporting adverse events was real, although most of the clinically significant toxicities were expected to be captured. Second, 14 patients had insufficient follow-up data and were excluded from the analysis, which could have led to a selection bias favoring better results and less toxicity. Third, as previously discussed, response rates were not evaluated by objective criteria and a radiologic review of the images was not performed, so higher response rates than expected could have been reported. Finally, our sample size was not sufficient to permit conclusions about subgroup analysis. The data reported herein may not provide great novelty for the management of lung cancer worldwide, although patients from South America have not been adequately represented in phase III trials[4,5] and the phase IV trial[8] of bevacizumab. However, our study does provide important data for the oncology community in South America, since it describes an effort by a cancer center in a developing country to share its clinical experience and the encouraging results obtained when advances in oncology are incorporated into routine clinical practice.

Med Oncol 2011, in press 30 Kim HR,

Lin HM, Biliran H,

Med Oncol 2011, in press. 30. Kim HR,

Lin HM, Biliran H, Raz A: Cell cycle arrest and inhibition of anoikis by galectin-3 in human breast epithelial cells. Cancer Res 1999,59(16):4148–4154.PubMed 31. Zhu X, Ohtsubo M, Bohmer RM, Roberts JM, Assojan RK: Adhesion-dependent cell cycle progression linked to the expression of cyclin D1, activation of BMN673 cyclin E-cdk2, and phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein. J Cell Biol 1996,133(2):391–403.PubMedCrossRef 32. Mac Kinnon AC, Kopatz J, Sethi T: The molecular and cellular biology of lung cancer: identifying novel therapeutic strategies. Br Med Bull 2010, 95:47–61.CrossRef Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions MK collected informations about patients (clinicopathological findings, survival time), carried out immunohistochemical studies, performed statistical analysis and drafted manuscript.

PP, AK and MG participated in collection of patient’s data. RJ coordinated the study and improved manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Background Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated as one of the causes of skeletal muscle fatigue during both aerobic and anaerobic exercise [1]. Although small increases in exercise induced ROS are important for stimulating cellular growth and maximising muscular force production [2, 3], excessive accumulation leads to a pro-oxidant environment which https://www.selleckchem.com/products/c646.html Rutecarpine can damage DNA, lipid and protein membranes [4, 5]. Cellular damage may also impair cross-bridge cycling during skeletal muscle contraction and accelerate

the onset of fatigue [2, 6, 7]. This is supported by previous work suggesting that a bout of resistance training induces an excessive increase in ROS production which could be implicated in the reduction in skeletal muscle force generating capacity observed during exercise [4, 8, 9]. To maximise gains in muscular hypertrophy an RT session would typically involve exercising at a moderate intensity, defined as lifting a load between 65-85% of an individual’s one repetition maximum (RM), and using a high volume, typically 3–6 sets of 6–15 repetitions of the exercise [10]. Goldfarb and colleagues [8] found significant increases in the plasma ROS markers malondialdehyde (MDH) and protein carbonyls (PC) following arm flexor exercise involving four sets of a 12 repetition maximum (RM) load. Similar results have also been found for lower body resistance exercise where plasma measures of oxidised gluthanione (GSSG) and protein oxidation were elevated following 30 min of sub-maximal learn more squatting exercise [4]. The primary cause of RT induced oxidative damage appears to result from increased xanthine and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase production, together with ischemia–reperfusion which results in an increase in xanthine oxidase (XO) and peroxynitrite [9, 11, 12].

The results have not been used yet for describing the energy tran

The results have not been used yet for describing the energy transfer properties, but it was concluded that the concentration of low-energy exciton states in the antenna is larger

on one side of the RC, implying asymmetric delivery of excitation energy to the RC (Adolphs et al. 2010). The authors also proposed experiments to verify their calculations/predictions. Sener et al. (2002) also simulated EET transfer in PSI from Thermosynechococcus elongatus using a Förster-type approach and concluded that the overall transfer process does not depend very much on room-temperature fluctuations of the site energies, which were all chosen to fluctuate around a common average value. Damjanovic et al. (2002) performed quantum-chemical calculations that showed substantial variations of the site energies of the Chls in PSI, eFT-508 clinical trial leading to an overall absorption spectrum that was in reasonable agreement with the experimental one. However, these values did

not lead to substantial changes in the overall BI 10773 mouse diffusion time of excitations according to Sener et al. (2002). A very insightful modeling study is the one of Yang et al. (2003) in which excitonic interactions are not only used to calculate steady-state spectroscopic properties but are also included to model the excitation dynamics. The authors find that spectral and spatial equilibration outside the RC both occur within 5 ps, whereas the excitation transfer to the primary

donor P700 is responsible for the largest Buspirone HCl contribution to the trapping time. Omitting the linker pigments in the simulations leads to somewhat slower transfer to the RC, but the overall trapping time is not changed substantially. Interestingly, the transfer from the antenna to P700 proceeds to a large extent via the other Chls in the RC and omitting those from the simulations slows down the transfer to P700 considerably. It is concluded that the combination of linker and RC pigments form a quasi-funnel structure that is highly optimized for efficient trapping. This trapping process is Selleckchem LY3039478 preceded by ultrafast “equilibration” in the antenna (within 5 ps), leading to a so-called transfer equilibrium state, and is followed by charge separation with a time constant between 0.9 and 1.7 ps. However, the actual value of the latter time constant does not influence the overall trapping time to a large extent, in contrast to the situation in trap-limited models. It should, however, be mentioned that not everyone agrees with these results; Muller et al. (2003) have for instance presented a transient absorption study in which it was concluded that charge separation in PSI with red forms is trap-limited. However, we are not aware of any theoretical studies so far that have been able to support this conclusion.

qPCR for BoNT Type-Specific

qPCR for BoNT Type-Specific SAR302503 datasheet Detection The qPCR assay consisted of seven separate reactions, each specific for one of the seven neurotoxin gene types. For absolute quantification, template standards for each of the neurotoxin gene types were run alongside

the DNA samples for each of the seven qPCRs. qPCR conditions were as follows: 95°C for 5 minutes, then 45 cycles of 95°C for 15 seconds and 60°C for 1 minute. PCR reaction mixture contained PCR Buffer, 3.5 uM MgCl2, 200 nM dNTPs, 500 nM forward or reverse primer, 200 nM Fam/BHQ1-labeled probe, 3 nM BD636 reference dye, 0.25 U Taq Polymerase (Invitrogen Corp, Carlsbad, CA). 5 μL of purified DNA or plasmid standard was used in each 25 μL PCR reaction. Based on cycle of threshold (Ct) values with known copy numbers of plasmid in each reaction, a standard curve is generated that will be used to calculate the values of unknown samples. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Dr. David Kulesh from USAMRIID for his expert technical advice and the use of equipment. We would also Natural Product Library chemical structure like to

thank Dr. Nir Dover for extracting and providing fecal DNA from the California patient with infant botulism. We also thank Alma Boritz for contributing a healthy infant stool sample. The opinions, interpretations and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the US Army. References 1. Montecucco C: Clostridial neurotoxins: the molecular pathogenesis of tetanus and botulism. Current Topics of Microbial immunology 1995, 195:1–278. 2. Gill DM: Bacterial second toxins: a table of lethal amounts. Microbiol Rev 1982,46(1):86–94.PubMed 3. Montecucco C, Molgo J: Botulinal neurotoxins: revival of an old killer. Curr Opin Pharmacol 2005,5(3):274–279.PubMedCrossRef 4. Arnon SS, Schechter R, Inglesby TV, Henderson DA, Bartlett JG, Ascher MS, Eitzen E, Fine AD, Hauer J, Layton M, et al.: Botulinum toxin as a biological weapon: medical and public health management. Jama 2001,285(8):1059–1070.PubMedCrossRef 5. Centers for Disease Control C: Centers for Disease Control and FRAX597 clinical trial Prevention: Botulism

in the United States, 1899–1996. Handbook for Epidemiologists, Clinicians, and Laboratory Workers, Atlanta, GA. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 1998. 6. Koepke RJS, Arnon SS: Global Occurrence of Infant Botulism, 1976–2006. Pediatrics 2008, in press. 7. Akbulut D, Dennis J, Gent M, Grant KA, Hope V, Ohai C, McLauchlin J, Mithani V, Mpamugo O, Ncube F, et al.: Wound botulism in injectors of drugs: upsurge in cases in England during 2004. Euro Surveill 2005,10(9):172–174.PubMed 8. Artin I, Bjorkman P, Cronqvist J, Radstrom P, Holst E: First case of type E wound botulism diagnosed using real-time PCR. J Clin Microbiol 2007,45(11):3589–3594.PubMedCrossRef 9. Sobel J: Botulism. Clin Infect Dis 2005,41(8):1167–1173.PubMedCrossRef 10. Hall JD, McCroskey LM, Pincomb BJ, Hatheway CL: Isolation of an organism resembling Clostridium barati which produces type F botulinal toxin from an infant with botulism.

The linear operators P d , Q d , P m , and Q m can be expressed i

The linear operators P d , Q d , P m , and Q m can be expressed in the form of (A.4a) (A.4b) where i (i = 0, 1, 2,…) is determined by the viscoLuminespib elastic model to be selected, t is time, and , , , and are the components Combretastatin A4 related to the materials property constants, such as elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio etc. For a pure elastic

system, the four linear operators are reduced to (A.5) which, according to the elastic stress-strain relations, are correlated as (A.6) where G and K are the shear modulus and bulk modulus, respectively. Combining Equation (A.6) with (A.7) the reduced elastic modulus can be expressed by the elastic linear operators as (A.8) Hence, Equation (A.1) becomes (A.9) To evolve the elastic solution into a viscoelastic solution, the linear operators in the viscoelastic system need to be determined. To this end, the standard solid model, shown in Figure 2(a), was used to simulate the viscoelastic behavior of the sample, since both the instantaneous and retarded elastic responses can be reflected in this model, which well describes the mechanical response of most viscoelastic bodies. It is customary to assume that the volumetric MK0683 response under the hydrostatic stress is elastic deformation; thus, it is uniquely determined by the spring in

series [55]. Hence, the four linear operators for the standard solid model can be expressed as (A.10) where , E 1, E 2, v 1, and v 2 are the elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the two elastic components, respectively, shown in Figure 2. Plugging Equation (A.10) into Equation (A.9), the relation between F(t) and δ(t) can be found. The functional differential equation that extends the elastic solution of indentation to viscoelastic system is obtained (A.11) where A 0 = 2q 0 + 3K 1, A 1 = p 1(3K

1 + 2q 0) + (3p 1 K 1 + 2q 1), A 2 = p 1(3p 1 K 1 + 2q 1), B 0 = q 0(1 + 6 K 1), B 1 = q 0(p 1 + 6K 1 p 1) + q 1(6K 1 + 1), and B 2 = q 1(p 1 + 6K 1 p 1). Acknowledgements Funding support is provided by ND NASA EPSCoR FAR0017788. Use of the Advanced Photon Source, Electron Microscopy Center, and Center of Nanoscale Materials, an Office of Science User Docetaxel chemical structure Facilities operated for the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory, was supported by the U.S. DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. References 1. Zaitlin M: Discoveries in Plant Biology, ed S D K a S F Yang. HongKong: World Publishing Co., Ltd; 1998:105–110.CrossRef 2. Hou CX, Luo Q, Liu JL, Miao L, Zhang CQ, Gao YZ, Zhang XY, Xu JY, Dong ZY, Liu JQ: Construction of GPx active centers on natural protein nanodisk/nanotube: a new way to develop artificial nanoenzyme. ACS Nano 2012, 6:8692–8701.CrossRef 3. Hefferon KL: Plant virus expression vectors set the stage as production platforms for biopharmaceutical proteins. Virology 2012, 433:1–6.CrossRef 4.

The spoke model was used to derive binary interactions from the c

The spoke model was used to derive binary interactions from the copurification data. Only proteins discussed in the text are shown. The complete network is depicted in Additional file 6. The prefixes “Che” and

“Htr” were omitted from the protein labels. The core signaling proteins CheA, CheW1 and CheY are highlighted by red shading. The weak binding of CheW2 to the core signaling complexes (see text) is indicated by red and white stripes. The gray areas delineate different groups of Htrs that can be distinguished by their interactions with CheA, CheR, CheW1, CheW2 and www.selleckchem.com/products/gsk1838705a.html CheY (see text). For clarity, interactions identified with these baits are shown in different colors. The interactions detected in this study were compared to interactions between the Che proteins in other prokaryotic organisms (Additional file 7). However, the comparability of the datasets is rather low because the only other protein-protein interaction (PPI) study in an archaeal organism (P.horikoshii, [66]) reported just one interaction between Che proteins (CheC-CheD). The large-scale studies in bacteria (Escherichia coli[67, 68], Helicobacter pylori[69], Campylobacter jejuni[70], Treponema pallidum[71]) as well as a dedicated PPI MI-503 study of the E.coli taxis signaling

system [72] were performed in organisms with quite different taxis signaling Cyclosporin A systems compared to that of Hbt.salinarum. For example, none of these organisms contains CheC and CheD proteins, which together account for a substantial part of the interactions described in the present study. Figure 4 presents a general interaction network for Farnesyltransferase prokaryotic taxis signaling systems. Figure 4 Physical and functional interactions in prokaryotic taxis signaling systems. The interactions of the core signaling

proteins are generally in agreement between Hbt.salinarum and the data of the other organisms. The Hbt.salinarum dataset probably contains indirect interactions (e. g. CheY-CheW, CheY-Htr) because it was generated by AP-MS. The interactions of the other Che proteins have, with the exception of CheC-CheD, not been described in other organisms. References for literature data are given in Additional file 7. The core signaling structure The centerpiece of the chemotaxis signal transduction system is the histidine kinase CheA, which is bound to the Htrs together with the coupling protein CheW. It phosphorylates the response regulator CheY to generate the output signal CheY-P [19, 73]. Bait fishing experiments with the core signaling proteins confirmed this assumed organization of the core structure (Figure 3) and also led to the identification of novel protein complexes around the core signaling proteins (described below). CheA was found to strongly interact with CheW1, and 6 of the 18 Htrs were found to interact with both CheA and CheW1.

At 82 h, continuous feed is stopped and the rate of base addition

At 82 h, continuous feed is stopped and the rate of base addition decreases to 0 ml/h while the remaining cellobiose is entirely consumed. The percentage of L-forms (○) present in the AR-13324 mw culture increases steadily after the feed is stopped until nearly all cells have transitioned. B) Cells at 82 hr, just before the feed is stopped. C) Cells at 90 hr (8 hours after

the feed is stopped), L-forms begin to form. D) Cells at 110 hr (28 hours after the feed is stopped), only L-forms are observed in the culture. Error bars represent one standard deviation, n = 3. Figure 3 TEM images of L-forms, spores and cells. TEM was used to obtain images of L-forms, spores and cells to compare their morphology and structure. The L-form population lacks a cell wall resulting in spherical or pleomorphic cell morphology (Figure 3 A and 3 B). The cell membrane (M) is visible,

and in many cases, a dark protrusion (D) of unknown function is observed (3B). Images of cells clearly show the cell wall (CW), and C. thermocellum’s JIB04 ic50 normal rod morphology (Figure 3 C and 3 D). Coccoid-looking cells in Figure 3 C are indicative of cells that were cross-sectioned across their diameter, but the cell wall structure is still easily recognized. The spore coat (SC) is also easily recognized as a BTK inhibitor solubility dmso several dense layers (Figure 3 D). During normal cultivation of C. thermocellum, L-forms are occasionally observed, but the clear transition rapidly following termination of feeding in continuous culture seemed to indicate a well-defined physiological response. Arrest of growth and metabolism following feeding termination was confirmed by HPLC analysis, showing that cellobiose was exhausted within

60 minutes and by the simultaneous cessation of base addition used for pH control (Figure 2, Panel A). No additional acetic acid, lactic acid, or ethanol was produced during this transition or after L-form formation (data not shown). Tau-protein kinase The complete transition into the L-form morphology occurred approximately 24 h after the feed was stopped (Figure 2, Panel D). Once the transition from rods to L-forms was complete, viability was determined by plating. Viable counts indicated that 108 CFU/ml cells remained viable in the culture at this initial time point, but that viability decreased with age (data not shown). The resulting colonies exhibited normal morphology, and all cells within the colonies were rod shaped when examined microscopically. This suggests that these L-forms were unstable, and able to revert back to the normal morphology once sufficient nutrients were supplied. To be certain the culture was free of contaminants, 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on several single colonies obtained, and no such contaminants were found. Determination of heat tolerance Tolerance to 100°C was evaluated for preparations of spores, rod-shaped vegetative cells, and L-forms.

006, OR = 1 69) Additionally, SNP rs7623768 and the haplotype G–

006, OR = 1.69). Additionally, SNP rs7623768 and the haplotype G–C of rs4076086–rs7623768 in CRTAP is associated with femoral neck BMD (p = 0.009 and p = 0.003, respectively). PTHR1

showed haplotypic associations with lumbar spine and femoral neck BMD (p = 0.02 and p = 0.044, respectively). Mutations in FLNB have been observed in a number of human skeletal disorders, including boomerang dysplasia [16], Larson #Akt inhibitor randurls[1|1|,|CHEM1|]# syndrome [17, 18], spondylocarpotarsal synostosis [18, 19], and atelosteogenesis I and III [18, 20]. Together with the intense and uniform FLNB expression detected throughout the growth plate in normal mouse embryos in resting, proliferating, and prehypertrophic and hypertrophic chondrocytes, it is thought that FLNB plays a central role in skeletogenesis and joint formation [18]. Interestingly, a number of mutations that lead to the broad phenotypic spectrum are located within the actin-binding domain of FLNB. A functional actin cytoskeleton may be important for many normal morphogenetic processes, including skeletogenesis [16]. The phenotypes of FLNB-deficient

mice also revealed the importance of the gene in skeletogenesis. FLNB −/− mice have vertebral fusions and abnormalities and decreased hyaline cartilage in the vertebral, carpal, and tarsal bones I-BET-762 cell line (Table 1) similar to the human clinical malformations seen in vertebral segmentation, joint formation, and skeletogenesis in the syndromes of spondylocarpotarsal syndrome [22, 23], atelosteogenesis I and III [23], Larsen syndrome [23], and boomerang dysplasia [23]. Scoliotic and kyphotic abnormalities of the vertebral column in FLNB −/− mice resemble those observed in human boomerang dysplasia [23]. In addition to these monogenic bone diseases, FLNB is also associated with human BMD measured at various sites. SNPs rs9822918 and rs2177153 Niclosamide were associated with age-corrected BMD at both the femoral neck (p = 0.02–0.0002) and total hip (p = 0.02–0.0006) in 771 women from the GENOS sib-pairs study [21]. Such association was replicated in a

population-based cohort of 1,192 unrelated Caucasian women from the CAIFOS (CAlcium Intake Fracture Outcome Study)/CARES (Caring for Adults Recovering from the Effects of Stroke) study [21]. Both rs9822918 and rs2177153 were included in our present study. In our cohort, rs9822918 was also significantly associated with total hip BMD (p = 0.017, OR = 1.55). No association was nevertheless observed for rs2177153 (p > 0.05). The large discrepancy between the MAF of rs2177153 in Caucasian (MAF = 0.292 from HapMap) and southern Chinese women (MAF = 0.02 from the present study) may explain the association difference. Kiel et al. [47] used the Affymetrix 100K SNP GeneChip marker set in the Framingham Heart Study to examine genetic associations with BMD. Two SNPs in FLNB were included in the 100K marker set. According to the results available at http://​www.​ncbi.​nlm.​nih.​gov/​projects/​gap/​cgi-bin/​study.​cgi?​study_​id=​phs000007.

Figure 1 Calculated reflectance of Si nanostructures Calculated

Figure 1 Calculated reflectance of Si nanostructures. Calculated (a) period- (i.e., distance between Selleck NVP-BGJ398 adjacent nanostructures) and (b) height-dependent reflectance of Si nanostructures as a function of wavelength when the height and period were fixed at 300 nm, respectively. (c) Calculated average reflectance as functions of period and height

of the Si nanostructures in a wavelength range of 300 to 1,100 nm. The bottom diameter to period LY2874455 solubility dmso ratio and the top diameter to period ratio of the Si nanostructures used in the simulation were assumed as 0.8 and 0.15, respectively. Fabrication of Si nanostructures Figure  2a shows a schematic illustration of the process steps to fabricate antireflective nanostructures on a Si substrate by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching using spin-coated Ag nanoparticles as the etch mask. The spin-coating process was performed at 5,000 rpm for 20 s, and the sintering process was carried out at 250°C on a hotplate for 5 min in order to transform

the as-coated Ag ink layer into nano-scale Ag etch masks. During the sintering process, the solvent-based Ag ink, which consisted of soluble Ag clusters containing Ag atoms of 10 wt.%, randomly agglomerated to reach an energetically stable state [7, 8, 15]. For this reason, the sintering temperature was carefully chosen. It is worth noting that the temperature and process time to make Ag nanoparticles is much lower and shorter, respectively,

than the previously reported method in which metal nanoparticles were formed through Geneticin in vitro thermal dewetting of evaporated thin metal film [7, 11, 12, 15]. The Ag ink ratio in a mixture of Ag ink and isopropanol was adjusted to produce differently distributed Ag nanoparticles because their distribution predominantly determines the distribution of the resulting nanostructures, which strongly affects their antireflection properties [6–8, 12]. Figure  2b shows the top-view field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM, S-4700, Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) images of the randomly distributed Ag nanoparticles formed on the Si substrate for PDK4 various Ag ink ratios. As the Ag ink ratio was decreased, the size and the distance between adjacent Ag nanoparticles became smaller and closer, respectively, as can be seen in Figure  2b. The fractional surface coverage of Ag nanoparticles on Si substrate also decreased from 54.2% to 40.3% when Ag ink ratio was decreased from 50% to 25%. This can be attributed to the reduced quantity of Ag atoms in the spin-coated Ag ink due to dilution. We calculated the average distance between adjacent Ag nanoparticles, which in turn affect the distance between adjacent Si nanostructures, using a free-ware image processing program (ImageJ 1.42q, NIH).