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Titanium nitride (TiN) is a new plasmonic material with advantages due to its greater thermal and chemical stability, compared to traditional metallic materials, i.e. gold and silver. TiN fabrication methods generally require reactive sputtering, which limits and complicates patterning capabilities. In this work, we demonstrate the fabrication of TiN films, as well as nano-patterned surfaces and three-dimensional (3D) structures by nitridation of crystalline titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle-based structures. TiO2 films are created by spin coating nanoparticle-based solutions, and TiO2 patterns are fabricated directly via solvent-assisted soft nanoimprint lithography. TiO2 films and structures were annealed in air and then reacted with ammonia gas at 1000 °C for 0, 2, 4, or 6 hours. SEM analysis shows that patterned TiO2 surfaces and 3D structures retain their structural integrity after treatment, allowing for a convenient method of fabricating patterned TiN nanopatterned surfaces and structures. Treated samples demonstrate the crystalline transition from tetragonal to cubic, which is consistent with the transition from anatase TiO2 to TiN. Additionally, using spectroscopic ellipsometry, we observe a change in the real permittivity from positive to negative. For 0 and 6 hour treatments, the real permittivity changes from 3.1 to −9.6 (at 1000 nm). TiN has potential use for many plasmonic and metamaterial applications. In this work, we demonstrate the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) via grating coupling using 1 μm-period TiN line gratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Triple-negative (TN) tumours are the predominant breast cancer subtype in BRCA1 mutation carriers. Recently, it was proposed that all individuals below 50 years of age with TN breast cancer should be offered BRCA testing. We have evaluated the BRCA1 mutation frequency and the implications for clinical practice of undertaking genetic testing in women with TN breast cancer.Methods:We undertook BRCA1 mutation analysis in 308 individuals with TN breast cancer, 159 individuals from unselected series of breast cancer and 149 individuals from series ascertained on the basis of young age and/or family history.Results:BRCA1 mutations were present in 45 out of 308 individuals. Individuals with TN cancer <50 years had >10% likelihood of carrying a BRCA1 mutation in both the unselected (11 out of 58, 19%) and selected (26 out of 111, 23%) series. However, over a third would not have been offered testing using existing criteria. We estimate that testing all individuals with TN breast cancer <50 years would generate an extra 1200 tests annually in England.Conclusion:Women with TN breast cancer diagnosed below 50 years have >10% likelihood of carrying a BRCA1 mutation and are therefore eligible for testing in most centres. However, implementation may place short-term logistical and financial burdens on genetic services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spouses of persons with hearing loss served as talkers to examine the benefits of clear speech intervention. One talker received intervention on clear speech. A second talker was simply instructed to speak clearly. Each talker was recorded reading sentences in three conditions: conversational speech, clear speech one week postintervention, and clear speech one month postintervention. Speech acoustic measures were obtained. Then the sentences were presented to subjects with normal hearing and subjects with hearing loss to measure speech recognition. Results showed that simply asking a talker to speak clearly was effective in eliciting clear speech; however, providing intervention yielded changes in more speech parameters, more stable changes, and better speech recognition. When listening to the talker who received intervention, subjects with hearing loss achieved the same performance as subjects with normal hearing. However, they performed worse than subjects with normal hearing when listening to the talker who received clear speech instructions only. Individuals with hearing loss would receive speech recognition benefits if their partners were provided with clear speech intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]