Signature of the Overhauser field on the coherent spin dynamics of donor-bound electron in a single CdTe quantum well

We have studied the coherent spin dynamics in an oblique magnetic field of electrons localized on donors and placed in the middle of a single CdTe quantum well, by using a time-resolved optical technique: the photo-induced Faraday rotation. We showed that this dynamics is affected by a weak Overhauser field created via the hyperfine interaction of optically spin-polarized donor-bound electrons with the surrounding nuclear isotopes carrying non-zero spins. We have measured this nuclear field, which is on the order of a few mT and can reach a maximum experimental value of 9.4 mT. This value represents 13 % of the maximal nuclear polarization, and corresponds also to 13 % of maximal electronic polarization.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Fractional quantum Hall effect in CdTe

The fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect is reported in a high mobility CdTe quantum well at mK temperatures. Fully-developed FQH states are observed at filling factor 4/3 and 5/3 and are found to be both spin-polarized ground state for which the lowest energy excitation is not a spin-flip. This can be accounted for by the relatively high intrinsic Zeeman energy in this single valley 2D electron gas. FQH minima are also observed in the first excited (N=1) Landau level at filling factor 7/3 and 8/3 for intermediate temperatures.Comment: Submitte

Magneto-resistance quantum oscillations in a magnetic two-dimensional electron gas

Magneto-transport measurements of Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations have been performed on two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) confined in CdTe and CdMnTe quantum wells. The quantum oscillations in CdMnTe, where the 2DEG interacts with magnetic Mn ions, can be described by incorporating the electron-Mn exchange interaction into the traditional Lifshitz-Kosevich formalism. The modified spin splitting leads to characteristic beating pattern in the SdH oscillations, the study of which indicates the formation of Mn clusters resulting in direct anti-ferromagnetic Mn-Mn interaction. The Landau level broadening in this system shows a peculiar decrease with increasing temperature, which could be related to statistical fluctuations of the Mn concentration.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Coherent Functional Modules Improve Transcription Factor Target Identification, Cooperativity Prediction, and Disease Association

Transcription factors (TFs) are fundamental controllers of cellular regulation that function in a complex and combinatorial manner. Accurate identification of a transcription factor's targets is essential to understanding the role that factors play in disease biology. However, due to a high false positive rate, identifying coherent functional target sets is difficult. We have created an improved mapping of targets by integrating ChIP-Seq data with 423 functional modules derived from 9,395 human expression experiments. We identified 5,002 TF-module relationships, significantly improved TF target prediction, and found 30 high-confidence TF-TF associations, of which 14 are known. Importantly, we also connected TFs to diseases through these functional modules and identified 3,859 significant TF-disease relationships. As an example, we found a link between MEF2A and Crohn's disease, which we validated in an independent expression dataset. These results show the power of combining expression data and ChIP-Seq data to remove noise and better extract the associations between TFs, functional modules, and disease

Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in a Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor

We report the observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect in the lowest Landau level of a two-dimensional electron system (2DES), residing in the diluted magnetic semiconductor Cd(1-x)Mn(x)Te. The presence of magnetic impurities results in a giant Zeeman splitting leading to an unusual ordering of composite fermion Landau levels. In experiment, this results in an unconventional opening and closing of fractional gaps around filling factor v = 3/2 as a function of an in-plane magnetic field, i.e. of the Zeeman energy. By including the s-d exchange energy into the composite Landau level spectrum the opening and closing of the gap at filling factor 5/3 can be modeled quantitatively. The widely tunable spin-splitting in a diluted magnetic 2DES provides a novel means to manipulate fractional states

How could nanobiotechnology improve treatment outcomes of anti-TNF-α therapy in infammatory bowel disease? Current knowledge, future directions

Despite significant advances in therapeutic possibilities for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in recent years, there is still a big room for improvement. In particular, biological treatment can induce not only clinical remission but also mucosal healing of the gastrointestinal tract. Among these therapeutic molecules, anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNF-$\alpha$) antibodies were the first to revolutionize treatment algorithms in IBD. However, due to the parenteral route of administration and systemic mode of action, TNF-$\alpha$ blockers are characterised by high rates of immunogenicity-related loss of response and serious adverse events. Moreover, intravenous or subcutaneous therapy is not considered patient-friendly and requires occasional, direct contact with healthcare centres. To overcome these limitations, several attempts have been made to design oral pharmaceutical formulations of these molecules. It is hypothesized that oral anti-TNF-$\alpha$ antibodies therapy can directly provide a targeted and potent anti-inflammatory effect in the inflamed gastrointestinal tissues without significant systemic exposure, improving long-term treatment outcomes and safety. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge and future perspectives regarding different approaches made towards entering a new era of oral anti-TNF-$\alpha$ therapy, namely, the tailoring of biocompatible nanoparticles with anti-TNF-$\alpha$ antibodies for site-specific targeting to IBD. In particular, we discuss the latest concepts applying the achievements of nanotechnology-based drug design in this area.Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT/MCT), European Funds (PRODUCER/COMPETE)—project UIDB/04469/2020 (strategic fund), co-fnanced by FEDER, under the Partnership Agreement PT2020. The study was also supported by the National Science Centre within the MINIATURA 4 for a single research activity (Grant No. 2020/04/X/ST5/00789) and by the START 2021 Program of the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) granted to Aleksandra Zielińska.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Distribution of the DAZ gene transcripts in human testis.

Involvement of variety of genes, especially located on Y chromosome, is critical for the regulation of spermatogenesis. In particular, fertility candidate genes such as deleted in azoospermia (DAZ) are believed to have important function in sperm production, since DAZ is frequently deleted in azoospermic and severy oligozoospermic men. The role of the DAZ gene is supported by its exclusive expression in the testis and by its deletion in about 10% of azoospermic and severely oligozoospermic patients. The distribution of DAZ transcripts in seminiferous epithelium of human testis is reported in the present study. The use of Adobe Photoshop and Scion Image softwares allowed for semi-quantitative analysis of in situ RT-PCR (ISRT-PCR) results. The intensity of ISRT-PCR product's fluorescence was different within individual seminiferous tubules. It was clearly shown by using the pseudocolour scale and transforming the intensity of the fluorescence into levels of greyscale images. The more intense fluorescence characterised single spermatogonia and those organized in small groups inside separate tubules. The most intense accumulation of DAZ mRNA was observed in spermatogonia

Enhancement of the spin-gap in fully occupied two-dimensional Landau levels

Polarization-resolved magneto-luminescence, together with simultaneous magneto-transport measurements, have been performed on a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) confined in CdTe quantum well in order to determine the spin-splitting of fully occupied electronic Landau levels, as a function of the magnetic field (arbitrary Landau level filling factors) and temperature. The spin splitting, extracted from the energy separation of the \sigma+ and \sigma- transitions, is composed of the ordinary Zeeman term and a many-body contribution which is shown to be driven by the spin-polarization of the 2DEG. It is argued that both these contributions result in a simple, rigid shift of Landau level ladders with opposite spins.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure