Unconventional Hall effect and its variation with Co-doping in van der Waals Fe3GeTe2

Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) magnetic materials have attracted a lot of attention owing to the stabilization of long-range magnetic order down to atomic dimensions, and the prospect of novel spintronic devices with unique functionalities. The clarification of the magnetoresistive properties and its correlation to the underlying magnetic configurations is essential for 2D vdW-based spintronic devices. Here, the effect of Co-doping on the magnetic and magnetotransport properties of Fe3GeTe2 have been investigated. Magnetotransport measurements reveal an unusual Hall effect behavior whose strength was considerably modified by Co-doping and attributed to arise from the underlying complicated spin textures. The present results provide a clue to tailoring of the underlying interactions necessary for the realization of a variety of unconventional spin textures for 2D vdW FM-based spintronics.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure

Differential expression of hyaluronic acid binding protein 1 (HABP1)/P32/C1QBP during progression of epidermal carcinoma

Our laboratory has characterized a novel cell surface glycoprotein, Hyaluronic Acid Binding Protein 1 (HABP1), interacting specifically with hyaluronan (HA) and regulating HA-mediated cellular event. The involvement of HA in different stages of carcinoma is well documented. In the present communication, the expression profile of HABP1 was investigated from initiation to progression of epidermal carcinoma in mice, induced by benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) exposure. During tumor initiation, HABP1 accumulated in inflammatory subsquamous tissue and with progression, the protein, was also seen to overexpress in papillomatic and acanthotic tissue. With the onset of metastasis, HABP1 overexpression was confined to metastatic islands, while it disappeared gradually from the surrounding mass. Such expression profiles in metastasized tissue were supported by decreased levels of HABP1, both at protein and transcript levels. These observations taken together suggest that the changes in HABP1 level coincide with specific stages of tumor progression, that lead to disruption of its interaction with HA, implying a role in the regulation of tumor metastasis. (Mol Cell Biochem 267: 133-139, 2004)

In-silico analysis of TCGA data showing multiple POLE-like favourable subgroups overlapping with TP53 mutated endometrial cancer: Implications for clinical practice in low and middle-income countries

Introduction: The Cancer Genome Atlas cohort of endometrial carcinoma (TCGA-UCEC) includes almost 40% TP53-mutants encompassing missense and truncated variants. TCGA revealed ‘POLE’, characterized by POLE gene bearing exonuclease domain mutation (EDM), as the prognostically best molecular profile. The worst profile was characterized by TP53-mutated Type 2 cancer requiring adjuvant therapy having cost implications in low-resource settings. We aimed to find more ‘POLE-like’ favourable subgroups by searching TCGA cohort, especially within TP53 mutated risk group, that could eventually avoid adjuvant treatment in resource-poor settings. Method: Our study was an in-silico survival analysis performed on the TCGA-UCEC dataset using SPSS statistical package. TP53 and POLE mutations, microsatellite instability (MSI), time-to-event and clinicopathological parameters were compared among 512 endometrial cancer cases. Deleterious POLE-mutations were identified by Polyphen2. Progression free survival was studied using Kaplan-Meier plots keeping original ‘POLE’ as comparator. Result: In presence of wild type (WT)-TP53, other deleterious POLE-mutations behaved like POLE-EDM. Only truncated and not missense TP53 benefitted from POLE/MSI overlap. However, TP53 missense mutation, Y220C, was found to be as favourable as ‘POLE’. Overlapping POLE, MSI and WT-TP53 also performed favourably. Truncated TP53 overlapped with POLE and/or MSI, TP53 Y220C alone and, WT-TP53 overlapped with POLE and MSI both, were named ‘POLE-like’ for prognostically behaving like the comparator ‘POLE’. Conclusion: Obesity being a lesser frequent event in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), relative proportion of women with lower BMI and Type 2 endometrial cancers may be high. Identification of ‘POLE-like’ groups may facilitate therapeutic de-escalation in some TP53-mutated cases - a novel option. Instead of 5% (POLE-EDM), potential beneficiary would then comprise 10% (POLE-like) of TCGA-UCEC

Mixed type I and type II superconductivity due to intrinsic electronic inhomogeneities in the type II Dirac semimetal PdTe2

The type 11 Dirac semimetal PdTe2 is unique in the family of topological parent materials because it displays a superconducting ground state below 1.7 K. Despite wide speculation on the possibility of an unconventional topological superconducting phase, tunneling and heat capacity measurements revealed that the superconducting phase of PdTe2 follows predictions of the microscopic theory of Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer for conventional superconductors. The superconducting phase in PdTe2 is further interesting because it also displays properties that are characteristic of type-I superconductors and are generally unexpected for binary compounds. Here, from scanning tunneling spectroscopic measurements we show that the surface of PdTe2 displays intrinsic electronic inhomogeneities in the normal state which leads to a mixed type I and type II superconducting behaviour along with a spatial distribution of critical fields in the superconducting state. Understanding of the origin of such inhomogeneities may be important for understanding the topological properties of PdTe2 in the normal state