Comparative Study on Liver Enzymes Activity and Blood Group Variations

The aim of this study is to determine the activities of some selected liver enzymes amongst apparently healthy subjects of different blood groups. The study involved 95 apparently healthy students of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria, between the ages of 18-30, and distributed as follows; blood group O (30), group AB (18), group A (22) and blood group B (25). Blood samples were collected from the antecubital vein and separated to obtain serum. The activities of Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Aspartate amino transferase (AST) and Alanine amino transferase (ALT) in the serum were determined using the spectrophometric method and the results were compared using SPSS (version 15). The results showed that the activities of AST and ALT were not significantly different (p>0.05) among the blood groups. However, the activity of ALP was significantly different (p<0.05) from those of blood group A, AB and O. Based on the findings of this study therefore, ABO blood group variations may have an influence on some liver enzymes activity.Keywords: ABO Blood Groups, Liver enzymes, Liver functio

Half-Metallic Ferromagnetism in Double Perovskite Ca2CoMoO6 Compound : DFT + U Calculations

A systematic investigation on magnetism and spin-resolved electronic properties in double perovskite Ca2CoMoO6 compound was performed by using the full-potential augmented plane wave plus local orbitals (APW+lo) method within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA-PBE) and GGA-PBE+U scheme. The stability of monoclinic phase (P2114) relative to the tetragonal (I487) and cubic (Fmm 225) phase is evaluated. We investigate the effect of Hubbard parameter Uon the ground-state structural and electronic properties of Ca2CoMoO6 compound. We found that the ferromagnetic ground state is the most stable magnetic configuration. The calculated spin-polarized band structures and densities of states indicate that the Ca2CoMoO6 compound is half-metallic (HM) and half-semiconductor (HSC) ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductor with a total magnetic moment of 6.0 using GGA-PBE and GGA-PBE+U, respectively. The Hubbard U parameter provides better description of the electronic structure. Using the Vampire code, an estimation of exchange couplings and magnetic Curie temperature is calculated. Further, our results regarding the magnetic properties of this compound reveal their ferromagnetic nature. The GGA-PBE+U approach provides better band gap results as compared to GGA-PBE approximation. These results imply that Ca2CoMoO6 could be a promising magnetic semiconductor for application in spintronic devices

Modification of the band offset in boronitrene

Using density functional methods within the generalized gradient approximation implemented in the QUANTUM ESPRESSO codes, we modify the band offset in a single layer of boronitrene by substituting a double line of carbon atoms. This effectively introduces a line of dipoles at the interface. We considered various junctions of this system within the zigzag and armchair orientations. Our results show that the “zigzag-short” structure is energetically most stable, with a formation energy of 0.502 eV and with a band offset of 1.51 eV. The “zigzag-long” structure has a band offset of 1.99 eV. The armchair sturctures are nonpolar, while the zigzag-single structures show a charge accumulation for the C-substituted B and charge depletion for the C-substituted N at the junction. Consequently there is no shifting of the bands.The University of Pretoria and the National Institute for Theoretical Physics.http://prb.aps.org/nf201

First principles LDA + U

The electronic structure and properties of protactinium and its oxides (PaO and PaO2) have been studied within the framework of the local density approximation (LDA), the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation [GGA(PBE)], LDA C U and GGA(PBE) C U implementations of density functional theory. The dependence of selected observables of these materials on the effective U parameter has been investigated in detail. The examined properties include lattice constants, bulk moduli, the effect of charge density distributions, the hybridization of the 5f orbital and the energy of formation for PaO and PaO2. The LDA gives better agreement with experiment for the bulk modulus than the GGA for Pa but the GGA gives better structural properties. We found that PaO is metallic and PaO2 is a Mott–Hubbard insulator. This is consistent with observations for the other actinide oxides. We discover that GGA and LDA incorrectly give metallic behavior for PaO2. The GGA(PBE) + U calculated indirect band gap of 3.48 eV reported for PaO2 is a prediction and should stimulate further studies of this material.http://iopscience.iop.org/0953-8984hb201

Silicene and transition metal based materials: prediction of a two-dimensional piezomagnet

We use first-principles density functional theory based calculations to determine the stability and properties of silicene, a graphene-like structure made from silicon, and explore the possibilities of modifying its structure and properties through incorporation of transition metal ions (M: Ti, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo and W) in its lattice, forming MSi2. While pure silicene is stable in a distorted honeycomb lattice structure obtained by opposite out-of-plane displacements of the two Si sub-lattices, its electronic structure still exhibits linear dispersion with the Dirac conical feature similar to graphene. We show that incorporation of transition metal ions in its lattice results in a rich set of properties with a clear dependence on the structural changes, and that CrSi2 forms a two-dimensional magnet exhibiting a strong piezomagnetic coupling