No evidences of midline shift were observed. The presence of a possible intracranial hematoma or a cranial bone fracture was ruled out. Notable oedema of the facial soft tissues, without however underlining fractures, was an additional finding. Approximately, six hours after the initial imaging evaluation, the persistence of patient’s symptoms i.e. vomiting as well as the migration of pain into the lower thorax dictated an additional workup. A second chest x-ray was obtained. (Figures 1. An elevated left hemi-diaphragm

with the stomach in the left chest was observed. Abdominal CT scan confirmed the presence of a left-sided diaphragmatic tear with herniation of abdominal context within the left hemi-thorax. (Figures 2. Figure 1 Plain chest x-ray with the stomach in the left hemi-diaphragm. Figure 2 Computed tomography scan image showing the herniation of the stomach RXDX-106 into the chest. The patient underwent emergency laparotomy via a midline incision where a near total herniation

of the stomach into the left hemithorax was observed. No resection was necessary as there were no ischemic changes or signs of perforation of the involved organ. The stomach was then successfully reduced into the abdomen revealing the hernia opening about 5 cm in length. (Figures 3. A primary repair with interrupted non-absorbable sutures was carried out without the use of a prosthetic mesh. (Figures 4. The relatively small size of the hernia opening was the main argument for this approach.

A chest tube was not necessary as pleura was not violated and a pneumothorax was not present. Operating SB525334 supplier time was 45 minutes. The patient had an uneventful postoperative period and was discharged on the fifth postoperative Dolutegravir day. Figure 3 An intraoperative photo showing the diaphragmatic defect after the reduction of the hernia contents. Figure 4 An intraoperative photo showing the final repair result. Discussion DR after blunt abdominal injury is a rare trauma condition. Correct diagnosis is often difficult and is usually established late raising significantly the associated mortality and morbidity. Single or serial plain chest radiographs with a high index of suspicion are diagnostic in many cases of DR [1, 4, 5]. However, missed cases result in herniation of the abdominal organs into the chest which finally enlarges the diaphragm defect. Chronic intermittent abdominal or chest pain, constipation, strangulation and perforation of the involved abdominal viscera are symptoms and consequences associated with the progressive herniation of the abdominal organs into the chest. As lung on the affected side is compressed, shortness of breath, dyspnea, and respiratory infections appear [3]. Tears of the diaphragm usually originate at the musculotendinous junction, mostly in the posterolateral aspect of the hemidiaphragms. The majority of these tears are on the left side.

Other examples were described in the results and discussion section, showing that for similar transcriptional responses, different regulatory strategies were implemented in the case of each organism. The considerable differences between the mechanism controlling gene expression and the small set of orthologous genes found in the conditions tested, are a consequence of the large phylogentic distance between these screening assay bacteria. These analyzes also revealed how incomplete

our knowledge still is, concerning gene regulation in B. subtilis. We are aware that processes such as catabolic repression, nitrogen assimilation and sporulation have been extensively analyzed, whereas other functions shared with E. coli, such as certain genes of the main glycolytic pathways, TCA cycle, and respiratory function, are not well Smoothened Agonist in vivo understood. Integrative analysis of transcriptome and transcriptional regulatory data as undertaken here, as well as the comparison between organisms should provide a framework for the future generation of

models. These will help explain the cell’s capaCity to respond to a changing environment and increase understanding of the evolutionary forces, which enable life forms to harmonize their regulatory processes in order to improve their adaptation. Methods Data analysis and identification of differential transcribed genes Transcriptome data was obtained from previously described experiments Methane monooxygenase performed with B. subtilis strain ST100 broth, containing 50 mM potassium phosphate, pH 7.4, and 0.2 mM L-cysteine with (LB+G) or without (LB) 0.4% glucose. The average expression data from three repeated experiments was collected from web http://​biology.​ucsd.​edu/​~msaier/​regulation2/​ of the B. subtilis antisense. DNA arrays used in this work were custom designed and manufactured by Affymetrix (Santa Clara, CA) [8]. As we only had access to the average of the crude expression data, we applied the rank product method [44]. This method is based on the calculation

of rank products, from which significance thresholds can be extracted, in order to distinguish significantly regulated genes. In the case of our data, we chose a RP-value of 3.5 × 10-2 as a cutoff point, and in this way we distinguished the most significant 150 up-regulated and 150 down-regulated genes. However, as we also were interested in the differential expression under both conditions, we picked up those genes exhibiting a > 3-fold change between LB and LB+G. Finally, we took the logical union of such populations. Using this method a set of 503 genes were taken into account for subsequent analysis. As in our previous work, concerning differentially expressed genes of E. coli [13], the terms “”induced”" and “”repressed”" were used in this work to indicate increased or decreased transcript levels, respectively. These terms do not imply a particular mechanism for gene regulation.

Boonen, University of Leuven, BelgiumP.M. Christensen, University https://www.selleckchem.com/products/MK-2206.html of Odense, DenmarkC. Cooper, University of Southampton, UKJ.P. Devogelaer, St. Luc University Hospital, Brussels, BelgiumM. Diaz Curiel, Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, Madrid, SpainJ. Eisman, University of New South Wales, AustraliaD.

Felsenberg, Freie Universität Berlin, GermanyS. Goemaere, Ghent University Hospital, BelgiumO. Johnell, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden (deceased)J. Kanis, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UKA. Leplege, Hôpital de Bicêtre, Le Kremlin Bicêtre Cedex, FranceP. Lips, Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsG. Lyritis, “Th. Garofalidis” Athens University, Athens, GreeceJ. Morales Torres, MexicoM. McClung, Oregon Osteoporosis Center, USAT. O’Neill, University of Manchester, UKJ. Reeve, University of Cambridge, UKJ.Y. Reginster, University of Liège, BelgiumJ. Stepan, Charles University Praque, Czech Republic Acknowledgements The International Osteoporosis Foundation is acknowledged for its support in the design and performance of the study. Conflicts of interest None. Open Access This article is distributed

under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Appendix IOF-wrist fracture click here questionnaire Quality of life questionnaire for patients with wrist fracture. All questions regard the situation in the last week, except question 12. All questions should be answered irrespective of the side of fracture and the side of dominance. References 1. Lips P (1997) Epidemiology and predictors of fractures associated with osteoporosis. Am J Med 103:3S–11SCrossRefPubMed 2. Cooper C (1997) The crippling consequences of fractures and their impact on quality of life. Am J Med 103:12S–19SCrossRefPubMed 3. World Health Organization (2003) The burden of musculoskeletal conditions

at the start of the new millennium. WHO Technical Report Series 919. WHO Geneva, pp 1–218 4. Dijkstra Cyclin-dependent kinase 3 PU, Groothoff JW, ten Duis HJ, Geertzen JHB (2003) Incidence of complex regional pain syndrome type I after fractures of the distal radius. Eur J Pain 7:457–462CrossRefPubMed 5. Burger H, Van Daele PLA, Grashuis K, Hofman A, Grobbee DE, Schutte HE, Birkenhager JC, Pols HAP (1997) Vertebral deformities and functional impairment in men and women. J Bone Miner Res 12:152–157CrossRefPubMed 6. Nevitt MC, Ettinger B, Black DM, Stone K, Jamal SA, Ensrud K, Segal M, Genant HK, Cummings SR (1998) The association of radiologically detected vertebral fractures with back pain and function: a prospective study. Ann Intern Med 128:793–800PubMed 7. Pluijm SMF, Tromp AM, Smit JH, Deeg DJH, Lips P (2000) Consequences of vertebral deformities in older men and women. J Bone Miner Res 15:1564–1572CrossRefPubMed 8. Lips P, Van Schoor NM (2005) Quality of life in patients with osteoporosis.

CL participated in the design and preparation, analyzed the results, and helped draft the manuscript. ZL and ZZ participated in the design and coordination of the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Background Solar cells have attracted considerable attention buy BAY 80-6946 because of their potential application in low-cost and flexible energy generation devices. Since the seminal work pioneered by O’Regan and Grätzel

in 1991, dye-sensitized solar cells have been investigated extensively all over the world [1–11]. Assembly of branched nanostructures also received intense scrutiny due to their potential effects to a number of promising applications such as solar cells, water splitting, optoelectronics, sensing, field emission, and more [12, 13]. In 2013, Roh et al. studied solar cells based on nano-branched TiO2 nanotubes, specifically, nanotubes characterized by increased surface area [14]. The results were attractive; they were able to achieve an impressive light-to-electricity conversion rate. Also of note, Roh et al. used organic dye as a sensitizer to fabricate solar devices. However, the use of dye as a sensitizer is problematic for two reasons: first, organic dye is expensive; second, and perhaps more importantly, the organic

dye proved to be unstable. As a result, using dye to sensitize solar cells is still not feasible for practical applications. Because it is critical to tailor materials to be not only cost-effective but also long-lasting, inorganic

semiconductors GSK126 such as CdSe [15, 16], PbS [17–19], CdS [20], and Sb2S3[21, 22] have several advantages over conventional dyes: first, the band gap of semiconductor nanoparticles can be tuned by size to match the solar spectrum; second, their large intrinsic dipole moments can lead to rapid charge separation and a large extinction coefficient, which is known to reduce the dark current and increase the overall efficiency; third, and Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II finally, semiconductor sensitizers provide new chances to utilize hot electrons to generate multiple charge carriers with a single photon. Hence, nano-sized, narrow band gap semiconductors are ideal candidates for the optimization of solar cells to achieve improved performance. To date, CdS-sensitized solar cells have been studied by many groups [23–26]. In most reported works, CdS quantum dots were grown on TiO2 nanotubes and TiO2 nanoporous photoanodes with hierarchical pore distribution. However, little work has been carried out on utilizing nano-branched TiO2 arrays as photoanodes. Compared to polycrystal TiO2 nanostructures, such as nanotubes and nanoparticles, nano-branched TiO2 nanorod arrays, which are grown directly on transparent conductive oxide electrodes, increase the photocurrent efficiency by avoiding the particle-to-particle hopping that occurs in polycrystalline films.

Experimental All of the chemicals used – potassium permanganate (KMnO4), potassium hydroxide (KOH), hydrochloric acid (HCl), boric acid (H3BO3), urea (CO(NH2)2), and melamine (C3H3N6) – were supplied by Sigma-Aldrich Company, Ltd. (St. Louis, MO, USA). The natural minerals tungstenite (WS2) and molybdenite (MoS2) were obtained from US Research Nanomaterials, Inc. (Houston, TX, USA) and from Rokospol Ltd. (Uherský Brod, Czech Republic), respectively. Preparation of bulk h-BN and h-BCN The bulk h-BN was prepared from boric acid and urea by the modified method reported by Nag et al. [33]. This chemical method allows for the control of the number of layers through the composition of the starting feedstock because the number

of BN layers decreases with increasing urea content in the reaction mixture. The boric acid and urea, in a molar ratio of 1:3, were dissolved in 100 ml of water and heated at 70°C until the full evaporation of water occurred. The selleck chemical dried crystal powder was heated at 950°C for 5 h under a nitrogen atmosphere. To synthesize the h-BCN bulk compound [34], boric acid was mixed with melamine in the ratio of 1:2 in an agate mortar. The mixture was then heated in a beaker at 200°C for 1 h and subsequently at 300°C for an additional 2 h. The obtained precursor was heated under a nitrogen atmosphere

at 1,300°C for 5 h. Preparation of bulk g-C3N4 The g-C3N4 was prepared by direct heating of 5 g melamine powder and was put into an alumina crucible with a cover [35]. The sample was heated at 580°C for 2 h with a heat MK-2206 rate of 10°C/min. After heating, a yellow powder of bulk g-C3N4 was obtained. Exfoliated samples in a hydrophobic environment Exfoliated MoS2, WS2, h-BN, h-BCN, and g-C3N4 were prepared in a large quantity from synthesized bulk samples

CYTH4 by using a high-intensity cavitation field in a pressurized ultrasound reactor (UIP2000 hd, 20 kHz, 2,000 W, Hielscher Ultrasonics, GmbH, Teltow, Germany). A portion of 0.75 to 1 g of the bulk sample was suspended in 120 ml of appropriate aprotic solvent (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, N,N-dimethylformamide, or dimethyl sulfoxide) and exposed to an intense cavitation field in a pressurized batch ultrasonic reactor for 20 min. The pressure of 6 bar was set in the reactor by means of an air compressor [29]. The exfoliation led to the formation of stable suspensions in the hydrophobic (organophilic) solvents. Exfoliated samples in a hydrophilic environment The exfoliated IAGs stabilized in an aqueous solution were prepared through high-intensity ultrasound in a solution of KMnO4 in an alkaline environment. Generally, 1 g of IAG was mixed with 120 ml of an aqueous solution of 1.5 g KMnO4 and 24 g KOH in an ultrasonic reactor. The reactor was sealed and pressurized to 6 bar, and the reaction mixture was sonicated for 10 min. After irradiation, a suspension of IAG and MnO2 in a dark green solution of K2MnO4 was obtained.

PubMed 10. Azuma K, Sasada T, Kawahara A, Takamori S, Hattori S, Ikeda J, Itoh K, Yamada A, Kage M, Kuwano M, Aizawa H: Expression of ERCC1 and class III [beta]-tubulin in non-small cell lung cancer patients Maraviroc datasheet treated with carboplatin and paclitaxel. Lung Cancer 2009, 64:326–333.PubMedCrossRef 11. Burkhart CA, Kavallaris M, Band Horwitz S: The role of beta-tubulin isotypes in resistance to antimitotic drugs. Biochim Biophys Acta 2001, 1471:O1-O9.PubMed 12. Crino L, Weder W, van Meerbeeck

J, Felip E: Early stage and locally advanced (non-metastatic) non-small-cell lung cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol 2010,21(Suppl 5):v103-v115.PubMedCrossRef 13. Gossage L, Madhusudan S: Current status of excision repair cross complementing-group 1 (ERCC1) in cancer. Cancer Treat Rev 2007, 33:565–577.PubMedCrossRef 14. Li J-J, Ding Y, Li D-D, Peng R-Q, Feng G-K, Zeng Y-X, Zhu X-F, Zhang X-S: The overexpression of ERCC-1 is involved in

the resistance of lung cancer cells to cetuximab combined with PD-0332991 mouse DDP. Cancer Biol Ther 2009, 8:1914–1921.PubMedCrossRef 15. Li J, Li ZN, Yu LC, Bao QL, Wu JR, Shi SB, Li XQ: Association of expression of MRP1, BCRP, LRP and ERCC1 with outcome of patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Lung Cancer 2010, 69:116–122.PubMedCrossRef 16. Wang X, Zhao J, Yang L, Mao L, An T, Bai H, Wang S, Liu X, Feng G, Wang J: Positive expression of ERCC1 selleck inhibitor predicts a poorer platinum-based treatment outcome in Chinese patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. Medical Oncology 2010, 27:484–490.PubMedCrossRef 17. Cobo M, Isla D, Massuti B, Montes A, Sanchez JM, Provencio M, Vinolas N, Paz-Ares L, Lopez-Vivanco G, Munoz MA, et al.: Customizing cisplatin based on quantitative excision repair cross-complementing 1 mRNA expression: a phase III trial in non-small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol 2007, 25:2747–2754.PubMedCrossRef

18. Zheng Z, Chen T, Li X, Haura E, Sharma A, Bepler G: DNA synthesis and repair genes RRM1 and ERCC1 in lung cancer. N Engl J Med 2007, 356:800–808.PubMedCrossRef 19. Lee KH, Min HS, Han SW, Oh DY, Lee SH, Kim DW, Im SA, Chung DH, Kim YT, Kim TY, et al.: ERCC1 expression by immunohistochemistry and EGFR mutations in resected non-small cell lung cancer. Lung Cancer 2008, 60:401–407.PubMedCrossRef 20. Ota S, Ishii G, Goto K, Kubota K, Kim YH, Kojika M, Murata Y, Yamazaki M, Nishiwaki Y, Eguchi K, Ochiai A: Immunohistochemical expression of BCRP and ERCC1 in biopsy specimen predicts survival in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Lung Cancer 2009, 64:98–104.PubMedCrossRef 21. Cutress RI, Townsend PA, Brimmell M, Bateman AC, Hague A, Packham G: BAG-1 expression and function in human cancer. Br J Cancer 2002, 87:834–839.PubMedCrossRef 22. Takayama S, Reed JC: Molecular chaperone targeting and regulation by BAG family proteins. Nat Cell Biol 2001, 3:E237-E241.PubMedCrossRef 23.

The buckypaper is particularly suitable for the present study because it is comprised solely of CNTs (i.e., no binder or other foreign material), and the fabrication is relatively simple, merely requiring filtration of a SWCNT dispersion. We fabricated a series of buckypapers Selleck NVP-BEZ235 from SWCNT forests of different heights, which are schematically illustrated in Figure 1a. The fabrication process comprises three main steps: (1) synthesis of SWCNT forests of determined length; (2) dispersion of the SWCNTs; and (3) fabrication of the

buckypaper. Figure 1 Schematic representation of fabrication process, SEM images of SWCNT forest, photographs of buckypaper and of dispersion of SWCNT. (a) Schematic representation of the fabrication process of buckypaper comprising SWCNT forest with different heights. SEM images of SWCNT forest with (b) 350-, (c) 700-, and (d) 1,500-μm heights. (e) Photograph of the dispersion of SWNCT. (f) Photograph of the buckypaper obtained after the filtration. buy XL765 SWCNT forests of various lengths were synthesized in a fully automated CVD synthetic system equipped with a telecentric height measurement system using the water-assisted CVD process. A Fe/Al2O3 catalyst-sputtered silicon substrate was inserted into the 1-in. diameter quartz tube reactor (1 atm, 750°C). First, the substrate was exposed to a carrier gas (He, total flow of 1,000 sccm)

containing hydrogen (40%) to form catalytic nanoparticles, and then SWCNTs were synthesized using a C2H4 (100 sccm) carbon feedstock and precisely regulated water vapor (100 to 150 ppm). The SWCNT forest

height was controlled by using the height as feedback Resminostat to the control software to automatically stop when the target height was achieved [32]. In this way, SWCNT forests with precisely regulated heights (350, 700, 1,500 μm) could be synthesized in mass quantities. The uniformity of SWCNT forest heights was verified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM; Figure 1b,c,d) and digital photography (see Additional file 1: Figure S1). Next, dispersions of the series of SWCNT forests of differing heights were prepared. Although conventional dispersion strategies aim to completely disentangle the CNTs into isolated particles, it also results in scission. Our strategy minimizes the scission by suspending the SWCNT agglomerates in a solvent while retaining the entanglement (Yoon et al.: Controlling the balance between exfoliation and damage during dispersion long SWCNTs for advanced composites, unpublished). We selected jet milling as the dispersion method because it has shown to preserve the SWCNT length with minimal scission, and it has also been shown that the resulting materials are suitable to fabricate SWCNT/polymer composite materials of high electrical conductivity (Yoon et al.: Controlling the balance between exfoliation and damage during dispersion long SWCNTs for advanced composites, unpublished) [24, 25, 33].

The sample size was calculated based on study by Sepp et al [50], which reported a higher prevalence

of Lactobacillus at 12 months of age in Estonian infants (63%) compared with Swedish infants (38%). We therefore anticipated the difference ICG-001 to be approximately 25% with a power of 90% and a two-sided test size of 5%, 49 subjects were required in each group. No probiotics and prebiotics consumption was reported for SG cohort during the early infancy. Four infants within the IN cohort were partially fed with milk formula that contained prebiotics. Written informed consent for participation in the study was obtained from the parents/guardians of all infants. The study was approved by the National University Hospital’s ethics review committee (Ref Code: B/00/322). www.selleckchem.com/products/PD-0325901.html Stool sampling Stool samples were collected on day 3, and at 1, 3, and 12 month after birth based on collection and processing produce as described previously [51]. Stool samples were collected into sterile plastic vials by parents, stored in the freezer at -20°C and delivered to the laboratory within 20 hours. The samples were kept cool on a dry-ice pack during transport and, immediately upon arrival at the laboratory, diluted with 0.85% sodium chloride solution (saline)

to give a 0.1 g/ml homogenate. After preparation of the homogenate, samples were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA), and stored in TN (10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 8], 150 Ibrutinib mM NaCl) buffer at -80°C for later FISH-FC and DNA extraction respectively. Stool samples stored in PFA and TN buffer from Indonesia were shipped on dry-ice pack to single location (laboratory in National

University of Singapore) for analysis. DNA extraction and T-RFLP Analysis Bacterial DNA extractions from stool samples were carried out as described previously [51] using 0.3 g of 0.1 mm zirconia/silica beads (Biospec, Inc) and a mini bead-beater (Biospec, Inc). In brief, the aqueous supernatant containing DNA will be subsequently subjected to two phenol-chloroform (1:2) extractions and precipitated with 1 ml of ethanol and 50 μl of 3 M sodium acetate. Finally, DNA will be dissolved in 25 μl of sterile TE Buffer (pH 8.0) and stored at -20°C until analysis. For T-RFLP analysis, 16S rRNA genes were amplified using primers 47F (5′- Cy5 -GCY TAA YAC ATG CAA GT -3′) and 1492R (5′-GGY TAC CTT GTT ACG ACT T-3′). PCR reaction mix comprises of 50 ng of DNA template, 0.2 μM (each) of forward and reverse primers, 0.2 mM dNTP, 1.5 U of Ex Taq DNA polymerase (Takara Bio Inc., Japan) and the volume added up to 50 μl with molecular biological grade water. The PCR conditions were as follow: 3 mins at 95°C, 20 cycles (30 seconds at 95°C, 45 seconds at 50°C, 1 min at 72°C), and 5 mins at 72°C. After PCR amplification, mung bean digestion (New England Biolabs [NEB], MA) was carried out to digest single-stranded overhangs.

25 MeV. In the aligned spectrum, there are two additional peaks due to the scattering from Al and O in the amorphous Al2O3 surface oxide (typically approximately find more 4 nm thick), which formed upon exposure of the sample to air. The low value of χ min = 7.3% indicates a high crystalline quality of the Al film. A simulation of the random spectrum (Figure 1) by the RUMP code [14] reveals that the thickness of the Al film is 150 nm. Figure 1 RBS/channeling for Al/Si heterostructure. Random (■), aligned (○), and simulated (—) spectra of 2.023 MeV He+ backscattered from the Al film on Si (111). The symmetric XRD θ-2θ scans of the Al/Si(111) heterostructure in the 2θ range 20° to 70° are shown in Figure 2. The only Al peak that can be

detected is the Al(111) diffraction peak at 2θ ≈ 38.5°, Selleckchem NVP-BEZ235 illustrating that the crystalline Al film is highly oriented with respect to the Si substrate as Al(111)//Si(111).

Figure 2 XRD θ -2 θ scans of the Al/Si heterostructure. Determination of the implanted Pb content and depth distribution Immediately after implantation, the implanted Pb content and Pb depth profile in Al were obtained from the experimental RBS spectra. Figure 3 shows the random RBS spectra of the samples with the same implantation current density at 2.0 μAcm-2 but different implantation fluences (<4.0 × 1016 cm-2). The detector geometry is shown in the inset. At low fluences, Pb is deposited inside the Al layer and only Al can be sputtered. This leads to a recession of the surface and a shifting of the Pb peak to the Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase sample surface. After careful analysis of the RBS spectra, an average experimental sputtering yield is estimated to be approximately 3.2, which is smaller than the result of Stopping and Ranges of Ions in Matter (SRIM) simulation (7.0 ± 0.2) for random implantation in pure Al [15]. The reduced sputtering yield is probably due to the lower deposited energy density at the surface for the channeled ions compared to the random implanted ions [16]. Our results show that the sputtering

yield of channeled Pb implantation is reduced by a factor 2.2 compared to the one of non-channeling implantation (obtained from SRIM simulation). This reduction is consistent with a reduction by a factor of 2 to 5, which is generally found for bombardment close to the major crystal axes with respect to other directions in single-crystalline targets [17]. In addition, with increasing fluence, the increased stopping power (both elastic and inelastic) in the Pb-enriched zone results in a reduced projected range of implanted Pb ions. The fluence-dependent projected range not only causes the Pb depth profile to move towards the surface but also leads to an enhancement of Pb concentration in the Pb-enriched zone. When the Pb depth profile reaches the surface, Pb starts to get self-sputtered. In this case, if the sputtering yield of Pb is larger than 1, a decrease of the Pb content with increasing implantation fluence can be observed.