Microisland structures of ∼200 μm diameter GaAs circles were fabricated and used to spatially isolate defects during electrochemical operation as an anode in aqueous alkaline electrolytes. The microisland structures allowed one to measure the rate and distribution of the pinhole formation on electrodes protected by 110 nm-thick amorphous titanium dioxide (a-TiO2) films formed by atomic layer deposition. Although no crystalline regions were detected by Raman spectroscopy, a limited number of defects were present in the a-TiO2 layer and developed into new microscopic pinholes within the first 20 h of electrochemical operation. The film dissolved at a rate of <13 nm per day, and hence, intrinsic film dissolution was not the primary mode of pinhole formation during this first 20 h of operation. The fabrication processes presented herein only utilized chemical etching and mechanical polishing and, consequently, should be readily transferable to the fabrication of the more complicated np+-GaAs structures.

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Enolase (2-phospho-D-glycerate hydrolase) is an enzymatic component of the glycolytic pathway and is conserved through evolution. The TR-CaENO1/Caeno1 stain, of which the expression of CaENO1 is under control of the tetracycline-regulatable (TR) expression system, is utilized for elucidating the functions of CaENO1 in Candida albicans. As expected, there was no detectable CaENO1 mRNA when the TR-CaENO1/Caeno1 cells grew on media containing doxycycline repressing the expression of TR-CaENO1.The TR-CaENO1/Caeno1 cells were arrested in media containing doxycycline in the presence of glucose but not in non-fermentable carbon sources, such as glycerol. Furthermore, the TR-CaENO1/Caeno1 cells were also arrested in media containing 4% serum. In this study, we have showed that CaENO1 is required for the cell growth of C. albicans in the presence of glucose. Our findings may help us to design new and more effective antifungal agents for preventing and treating bloodstream fungal infections by blocking the function(s) of enolases.

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