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Birefringence is a fundamental optical property that can induce phase retardation of polarized light. Tuning the birefringence of liquid crystals is a core technology for light manipulation in current applications in the visible and infrared spectral regions. Due to the strong absorption or instability of conventional liquid crystals in deep-ultraviolet light, tunable birefringence remains elusive in this region, notwithstanding its significance in diverse applications. Here we show a stable and birefringence-tunable deep-ultraviolet modulator based on two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride. It has an extremely large optical anisotropy factor of 6.5 × 10

Magnetic skyrmion is a promising information carrier for its low critical driven current density, topological stability, and small size, which has been proposed for various devices such as racetrack memory and logic gates. However, the skyrmion Hall effect originating from Magnus force leads to transverse motion, which hinders the development of skyrmionic device applications. Here, we propose artificial tracks built by standing surface acoustic waves (SSAWs) to suppress the skyrmion Hall effect through micromagnetic simulations. We systematically study the dynamics of an isolated skyrmion under SSAWs and driven currents in a prototype of the ferromagnetic skyrmion system. The skyrmion Hall angle changes from 80° to 0°, where the skyrmion motion is along the driven current. An analytical model considering magnetoelastic energy induced by SSAWs is developed, and a linear relation between the current density and the critical SSAW amplitude to eliminate the skyrmion Hall effect is achieved. Furthermore, a reconfigurable multichannel skyrmion racetrack is constructed through the change of SSAW wavelengths. Our work opens a feasible route for the suppression of skyrmion Hall effect via SSAWs.

Tunable resonator is a powerful building block in fields like color filtering and optical sensing. The control of its polarization characteristics can significantly expand the applications. Nevertheless, the methods for resonator dynamic tuning are limited. Here, a magnetically regulated circular polarized resonant microcavity is demonstrated with an ultrathin ferrimagnetic composite metal layer Ta/CoTb. We successfully tuned the cavity resonant frequency and polarization performance. A huge magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) signal (∼3.41%) is observed, and the microcavity valley position shifts 5.41 nm when a small magnetic field is applied. This resonant cavity has two-stable states at 0 T due to the magnetic remanence of CoTb film and can be switched using a tiny magnetic field (∼0.01 T). Our result shows that the ferrimagnetic film-based tunable microcavity can be a highly promising candidate for on-chip magneto-optical (MO) devices.

Kaida Huang,1 Yubiao Lin,1 Keyin Wang,2 Jianfen Shen,3 Dahai Wei2– 4 1Department of Oncology, Xiamen Haicang Hospital, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Infectious Diseases, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Central Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of China; 4Institute of Hepatology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dahai Wei, Institute of Hepatology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86-573-89975669, Email weidahai3166@hotmail.comPurpose: ARFIP2, a canonical BAR domain-containing protein, is closely associated with regulating cargo exit from the Golgi. However, the potential biological functions of ARFIP2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been well investigated. This study aimed to explore the critical role of ARFIP2 in HCC cells.Methods: The expression of proteins related to epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cell autophagy in HCC cells and tissues was assayed by quantitative real-time PCR, Western blotting, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining. The ability of cells to proliferate, migrate and invade was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8, Transwell migration and invasion assays. In addition, the function of ARFIP2 in vivo was assessed using a tumour xenograft model.Results: ARFIP2 expression is significantly upregulated in early recurrent and metastatic HCC patients and was positively correlated with a poor prognosis. ARFIP2 overexpression promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by inducing EMT and inhibiting autophagy in vitro. Furthermore, the regulatory effects of ARFIP2 on autophagy and EMT were partially attributed to its regulation of the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway. The in vivo results also showed that ARFIP2 modulates HCC progression.Conclusion: Our results substantiate a novel mechanism by which ARFIP2 can regulate the activity/phosphorylation of Akt to promote EMT and inhibit autophagy in part via the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway. The ARFIP2/PI3K/Akt axis may be a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC.Graphical Abstract: Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, ARFIP2, PI3K/AKT, EMT, autophagy

The emerging two-dimensional ferromagnetic materials present atomic layer thickness and a perfect interface feature, which have become an attractive research direction in the field of spintronics f...

Yunqing Chen,1,2 Dahai Wei,1– 3 Min Deng1– 3 1Department of Infectious Diseases, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Infectious Diseases, First Hospital of Jiaxing, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of China; 3Institute of Hepatology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Dahai Wei; Min DengDepartment of Infectious Diseases, The Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, 1882 South Zhonghuan Road, Jiaxing, 314001, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86-573-89975669Email weidahai3166@hotmail.com; milixiaozhu@163.comPurpose: In clinical practice, the clinicopathological profiles and outcomes of patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) are different between genotypes B and C. However, little is known about the potential mechanism and differences in specific biological pathways associated with the different genotype. This study aimed to compare the serum protein profile between patients infected with HBV genotype B and those infected with HBV genotype C.Patients and Methods: A total of 54 serum samples from patients with chronic HBV genotype B infection and those with chronic HBV genotype C infection, and healthy controls were used for the proteomic analysis (n = 18 samples in per group). Serum proteomic profiles were analyzed using data-independent acquisition (DIA)-based liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify differentially expressed proteins (up- or downregulation of at least 1.5-fold) between serum samples from HBV patients infected with HBV genotype B and those infected with genotype C.Results: We identified 1010 proteins, 53 of which were differentially expressed between the serum samples of the healthy controls and those of HBV genotype B infected patients, and 59 that were differentially expressed between the samples of the healthy controls and those of HBV genotype C infected patients. Furthermore, our results indicated that two proteins identified as being differentially expressed (VWF and C8B) have potential as biomarkers for distinguishing genotype B infected HBV patients from those infected with genotype C.Conclusion: The results of our DIA-based quantitative proteomic analysis revealed that HBV genotypes B and C are associated with different molecular profiles and may provide fundamental information for further detailed investigations of the molecular mechanism underlying these differences.Keywords: serum protein profiles, complement and coagulation cascade, von Willebrand factor, complement C8 beta chain

Background Talaromyces marneffei (TM) is an emerging pathogenic fungus that can cause a fatal systemic mycosis in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Although global awareness regarding HIV/TM coinfection is increasing little is known about the mechanism that mediates the rapid progression to HIV/AIDS disease in coinfected individuals. The aim of this study was to analyze the serum proteome of HIV/TM coinfected patients and to identify the associated protein biomarkers for TM in patients with HIV/AIDS. Methods We systematically used multiplexed isobaric tandem mass tag labeling combined with liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) to screen for differentially expressed proteins in the serum samples from HIV/TM-coinfected patients. Results Of a total data set that included 1099 identified proteins, approximately 86% of the identified proteins were quantified. Among them, 123 proteins were at least 1.5-fold up-or downregulated in the serum between HIV/TM-coinfected and HIV-mono-infected patients. Furthermore, our results indicate that two selected proteins (IL1RL1 and THBS1) are potential biomarkers for distinguishing HIV/TM-coinfected patients. Conclusions This is the first report to provide a global proteomic profile of serum samples from HIV/TM-coinfected patients. Our data provide insights into the proteins that are involved as host response factors during infection. These data shed new light on the molecular mechanisms that are dysregulated and contribute to the pathogenesis of HIV/TM coinfection. IL1RL1 and THBS1 are promising diagnostic markers for HIV/TM-coinfected patients although further large-scale studies are needed. Thus, quantitative proteomic analysis revealed molecular differences between the HIV/TM-coinfected and HIV-mono-infected individuals, and might provide fundamental information for further detailed investigations. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12014-018-9219-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Schistosoma japonicum is a parasitic flatworm that is the aetiological agent of human schistosomiasis, an important cause of hepatic fibrosis. Schistosomiasis-induced hepatic fibrosis is a consequence of the highly fibrogenic nature of egg-induced granulomatous lesions, which are the main pathogenic features of schistosomiasis. Although global awareness of the association between schistosomiasis-induced hepatic fibrosis and S. japonicum infection is increasing, little is known about the molecular differences associated with rapid progression to schistosomiasis in cirrhotic patients. Methods We systematically used data-independent acquisition (DIA)-based liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify differentially expressed proteins in serum samples from patients with advanced S. japonicum-induced hepatic fibrosis. Results Our analysis identified 1144 proteins, among which 66 were differentially expressed between the healthy control group and the group of patients with advanced S. japonicum-induced hepatic fibrosis stage F2 (SHF-F2) and 214 were differentially expressed between the SHF-F2 and SHF-F4 groups (up- or downregulation of at least 1.5-fold in serum samples). The results also indicated that two selected proteins (C1QA and CFD) are potential biomarkers for distinguishing between patients with SHF-F2 and those with SHF-F4 due to S. japonicum infection. Conclusions We provide here the first global proteomic profile of serum samples from patients with advanced S. japonicum-induced hepatic fibrosis. The proteins C1QA and CFD are potential diagnostic markers for patients with SHF-F2 and SHF-F4 due to S. japonicum infection, although further large-scale studies are needed. Our DIA-based quantitative proteomic analysis revealed molecular differences among individuals at different stages of advanced S. japonicum-induced hepatic fibrosis and may provide fundamental information for further detailed investigations. Graphical Abstract

Rare-earth-transition-metal (RETM) ferrimagnets have received great attention for their small magnetic moments and fast dynamics in the development of next-generation spintronic devices. Here, we study spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) in the RETM ferrimagnet and heavy-metal bilayers of ${\mathrm{Co}}_{1\text{\ensuremath{-}}x}{\mathrm{Tb}}_{x}/\mathrm{Pt}$. Anomalous temperature dependence of the SMR is observed, where the SMR changes nonmonotonically and has a valley next to the magnetization compensation temperature. Additionally, we find that the SMR varies significantly for different chemical compositions of ${\mathrm{Co}}_{1\text{\ensuremath{-}}x}{\mathrm{Tb}}_{x}$ alloys. These anomalous behaviors are interpreted as the dramatically altered spin polarization of the ${\mathrm{Co}}_{1\text{\ensuremath{-}}x}{\mathrm{Tb}}_{x}$ layer near the compensation point. By deducing spin polarization from the abnormal temperature dependence of SMR, we provide a convenient way to access spin polarization of the RETM ferrimagnets. These experimental results show implications for tunable spin-current sources of RETM ferrimagnets.

Background: Liver fibrosis due to Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection is an important public health concern worldwide. An accurate assessment of liver fibrosis is crucial for the identification of susceptible patients to severe clinical conditions and selection of treatment for patients with Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) infection. Today, the development of simple, accurate, cost-effective, and non-invasive liver fibrosis tests is essential in clinical practice. Methods: According to liver biopsy as the reference standard, we compared the efficacy of hepatic arterial blood flow index (HBI) versus liver stiffness measurement (LSM), aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet count ratio index (APRI), and fibrosis index based on 4 factors (FIB-4) to predict various degrees of liver fibrosis among 87 patients with CHB infection. Results: Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient of HBI versus the degree of liver fibrosis, according to the METAVIR scoring system, was 0.672 (P < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of HBI (0.884; 95% CI: 0.806 - 0.961; P = 0.000) was greater than that of LSM (0.807; 95% CI: 0.703 - 0.912; P = 0.00), APRI (0.684; 95% CI: 0.556 - 0.812; P = 0.009), and FIB-4 (0.757; 95% CI: 0.641 - 0.873; P = 0.000) for the diagnostic analysis of significant liver fibrosis (≥ F2); similar results were obtained for the prediction of other liver fibrosis stages. Conclusions: The present findings shed new light on the association of HBI with the degree of liver fibrosis in patients with CHB infection. Hepatic Arterial Perfusion Scintigraphy (HAPS) with the measurement of HBI is a promising diagnostic method of liver fibrosis stage, which can guide therapy in CHB patients, although further large-scale studies are needed.

The emerging two-dimensional ferromagnetic materials present atomic layer thickness and a perfect interface feature, which have become an attractive research direction in the field of spintronics for low power and deep nanoscale integration. However, it has been proven to be extremely challenging to achieve a room-temperature ferromagnetic candidate with well controlled dimensionality, large-scale production, and convenient heterogeneous integration. Here, we report the growth of wafer-scale two-dimensional Fe

The topological material of $\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{o}}_{2}\mathrm{MnGa}$ with potentially high spin polarization has attracted more and more attention, in the fields of fundamental science and spintronic applications. Here we report the electrical- and magnetotransport behaviors in epitaxial $\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{o}}_{2}\mathrm{MnGa}$ thin films. An angle-independent negative linear magnetoresistance and a negative anisotropy magnetoresistance are observed in the whole temperature range from 3 to 300 K, indicating the existence of weak spin disorder and a high spin polarization. Intriguingly, with decreasing temperature an anomalous resistivity upturn that exhibits $\ensuremath{-}{T}^{1/2}$ dependence is observed, and this phenomenon is robust under magnetic fields. Further analysis demonstrates that the three-dimensional enhanced electron-electron interaction effect is responsible for these phenomena rather than the orbital two-channel Kondo effect or other quantum interference effects, which provides deeper insight into the transport behavior of the $\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{o}}_{2}\mathrm{MnGa}$ materials.

In superconducting/ferromagnet heterostructures, spin-triplet Cooper pairs that carry spin information are crucial for the realization of superconducting spintronics. It has been theoretically proposed that they can be generated and controlled by the magnetic proximity effect and spin–orbit coupling (SOC), resulting in a change in the critical temperature (T C). However, experiments are still lacking, which limits the development of device applications. Here, we fabricate a series of Co/Nb/Pt heterostructures and reference samples, where the SOC and magnetic proximity can be independently controlled. We found the suppression of T C up to 11% by the different Rashba-SOC at the Nb/Pt and Nb/Cu interfaces, and the normalized T C/T C 0 was successfully tuned by 24% with the coeffect of SOC and magnetic proximity. Through rigorous comparison, we attribute the tuning of superconductivity to the spin-triplet Cooper pairs, which is controlled by both the SOC strength and magnetic proximity. Our results offer a new pathway to control superconductivity with SOC and pave a new direction for the design of superconducting spintronics devices.

Compensated ferrimagnetic materials such as Co–Tb and Co–Gd have been confirmed to have significant spin–orbit torque (SOT) efficiency. However, the large coercivity and a relatively small spin-mixing conductance may hinder the applications of the near compensated ferrimagnets. In this work, we investigate the SOT effect and its potential applications in Ta/Co–Tb/Pt heterostructures. Based on a Co-rich ferrimagnetic alloy, we obtain a significant SOT switching efficiency of 15 ± 1 (10−6 Oe cm2/A) and a considerable effective spin Hall angle of θ eff = 0.270 ± 0.005. Using harmonic Hall measurement, the temperature dependence of the damping-like effective field has been extracted. The SOT efficiency scales linearly with 1/Ms in the high-temperature range but significantly deviates from this linear scaling law at a lower temperature, which is near the compensation point. In the Tb rich Ta/Co–Tb/Pt SOT device, we demonstrate the functionality of a neuron and the dependence of firing possibility on the intensity of coming stimulus, which is mimicked by the SOT switching dynamics in the ferrimagnetic Co–Tb alloy.

Here we report on the Ga self-catalyzed growth of near full-composition-range energy-gap-tunable GaAs1–xSbx nanowires by molecular-beam epitaxy. GaAs1–xSbx nanowires with different Sb content are systematically grown by tuning the Sb and As fluxes, and the As background. We find that GaAs1–xSbx nanowires with low Sb content can be grown directly on Si(111) substrates (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.60) and GaAs nanowire stems (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.50) by tuning the Sb and As fluxes. To obtain GaAs1–xSbx nanowires with x ranging from 0.60 to 0.93, we grow the GaAs1–xSbx nanowires on GaAs nanowire stems by tuning the As background. Photoluminescence measurements confirm that the emission wavelength of the GaAs1–xSbx nanowires is tunable from 844 nm (GaAs) to 1760 nm (GaAs0.07Sb0.93). High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images show that the grown GaAs1–xSbx nanowires have pure zinc-blende crystal structure. Room-temperature Raman spectra reveal a redshift of the optical phonons in the GaAs1–xSbx nanowires with x increasing fro...

Infection by Zika virus (ZIKV) is linked to microcephaly and other neurological disorders, posing a significant health threat. Innate immunity is the first line of defense against invading pathogens, but relatively little is understood regarding host intrinsic mechanisms that guard against ZIKV. Here, we show that host tripartite motif-containing protein 56 (TRIM56) poses a barrier to ZIKV infection in cells of neural, epithelial and fibroblast origins. Overexpression of TRIM56, but not an E3 ligase-dead mutant or one lacking a short C-terminal portion, inhibited ZIKV RNA replication. Conversely, depletion of TRIM56 increased viral RNA levels. Although the C-terminal region of TRIM56 bears sequence homology to NHL repeat of TRIM-NHL proteins that regulate miRNA activity, knockout of Dicer, which abolishes production of miRNAs, had no demonstrable effect on ZIKV restriction imposed by TRIM56. Rather, we found that TRIM56 is an RNA-binding protein that associates with ZIKV RNA in infected cells. Moreover, a recombinant TRIM56 fragment comprising the C-terminal 392 residues captured ZIKV RNA in cell-free reactions, indicative of direct interaction. Remarkably, deletion of a short C-terminal tail portion abrogated the TRIM56-ZIKV RNA interaction, concomitant with a loss in antiviral activity. Altogether, our study reveals TRIM56 is an RNA binding protein that acts as a ZIKV restriction factor and provides new insights into the antiviral mechanism by which this E3 ligase tackles flavivirus infections., Author summary The E3 ligase TRIM56 was previously shown to inhibit the replication of several viruses in the family Flaviviridae, including dengue virus serotype 2, yellow fever virus and bovine viral diarrhea virus, but had not demonstrable antiviral effect against hepatitis C virus, a hepatotropic virus in the same family. Nonetheless, the antiviral mechanism remains unclear and whether TRIM56 restricts other flaviviruses remains to be determined. In this study we demonstrated that TRIM56 inhibits ZIKVs of Asian and African lineages and a dengue virus serotype 1 replicon. We additionally uncovered that TRIM56 is an RNA-binding protein and that a portion of the C-terminal NHL-like domain mediates the association of TRIM56 with ZIKV RNAs in infected cells. Importantly, the RNA-binding activity of TRIM56 was found to be required for its antiviral function, although it alone is insufficient. In contrast, TRIM56 restricted ZIKV in Dicer-deficient cells, indicating an antiviral mechanism independent of miRNA regulation, a function known to be associated with NHL-containing proteins. In aggregate, our work identifies TRIM56 as a novel restriction factor of ZIKV and sheds new lights on the antiviral mechanism of TRIM56 against flaviviruses.

Low-dimensional narrow-band-gap III-V semiconductors are key building blocks for the next generation of high-performance nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, and quantum devices. Realizing these various applications requires an efficient methodology that enables the material dimensional control during the synthesis process and the mass production of these materials with perfect crystallinity, reproducibility, low cost, and outstanding electronic and optoelectronic properties. Although advances in one- and two-dimensional narrow-band-gap III-V semiconductors synthesis, the progress toward reliable methods that can satisfy all of these requirements has been limited. Here, we demonstrate an approach that provides a precise control of the dimension of InAs from one-dimensional nanowires to wafer-scale free-standing two-dimensional nanosheets, which have a high degree of crystallinity and outstanding electrical and optical properties, using molecular-beam epitaxy by controlling catalyst alloy segregation. In our approach, two-dimensional InAs nanosheets can be obtained directly from one-dimensional InAs nanowires by silver-indium alloy segregation, which is much easier than the previously reported methods, such as the traditional buffering technique and select-area epitaxial growth. Detailed transmission electron microscopy investigations provide solid evidence that the catalyst alloy segregation is the origination of the InAs dimensional transformation from one-dimensional nanowires to two-dimensional nanosheets and even to three-dimensional complex crosses. Using this method, we find that the wafer-scale free-standing InAs nanosheets can be grown on various substrates including Si, MgO, sapphire, GaAs, etc. The InAs nanosheets grown at high temperature are pure-phase single crystals and have a high electron mobility and a long time-resolved terahertz kinetics lifetime. Our work will open up a conceptually new and general technology route toward the effective controlling of the dimension of the low-dimensional III-V semiconductors. It may also enable the low-cost fabrication of free-standing nanosheet-based devices on an industrial scale.

Current-induced magnetization switching plays an essential role in spintronic devices exhibiting nonvolatility, high-speed processing, and low-power consumption. Here, we report on the spin–orbit torque-induced magnetization switching in perpendicularly magnetized L10-MnGa/FeMn/Pt trilayers grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. An antiferromagnetic FeMn layer is inserted between the spin current generating Pt layer and spin absorbing MnGa layer. Due to the exchange bias effect, the trilayers show field-free spin–orbit torque switching. Overall, the spin transmission efficiency decreases monotonically as the FeMn thickness increases. It is found that the spin current can be transmitted through an 8 nm-thick FeMn layer as evidenced by partial switching of the L10-MnGa. The damping-like spin–orbit torque efficiency shows a peak value at tFeMn = 1.5 nm due to the enhanced interfacial spin transparency and crystalline quality of the FeMn. These results help demonstrate the efficacy of emerging spintronic devices containing antiferromagnetic elements.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the main cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in southeast Asia where HBV genotype B and genotype C are the most prevalent. Viral genotypes have been reported to significantly affect the clinical outcomes of HCC. However, the underlying molecular differences among different genotypes of HBV virus infected HCC have not been revealed. Here, we applied isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) technology integrated with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis to identify the proteome differences between the HBV genotypes B- and C-induced HCC. In brief, a total of 83 proteins in the surrounding noncancerous tissues and 136 proteins in the cancerous tissues between HBV genotype-B- and genotype-C-induced HCC were identified, respectively. This information revealed that there might be different molecular mechanisms of the tumorigenesis and development of HBV genotypes B- and C-induced HCC. Furthermore, our results indicate that the two proteins ARFIP2 and ANXA1 might be potential biomarkers for distinguishing the HBV genotypes B- and C-induced HCC. Thus, the quantitative proteomic analysis revealed molecular differences between the HBV genotypes B- and C-induced HCC, and might provide fundamental information for further deep study.

A synthetic antiferromagnet based on a thin antiferromagnetically coupled Co2MnSi/MnGa bilayer with Pt capping is proposed in this work. Square magnetic loops measured by anomalous Hall effect reveal that a well perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is obtained in this structure. A very large coercivity of 83 kOe (1 Oe = 79.5775 A⋅m−1) is observed near the magnetic moment compensation point of 270 K, indicating an antiferromagnetic behavior. Moreover, the anomalous Hall signal does not go to zero even at the magnetic compensation point, for which the difficulty in detecting the conventional antiferromagnets can be overcome. By changing the temperature, the polarity of the spin–orbit torque induced switching is changed around the bilayer compensation point. This kind of thin bilayer has potential applications in spin–orbit-related effects, spintronic devices, and racetrack memories.

An ultra-thin Co2MnSi(0.5 nm)/MnGa(1.5 nm) bilayer capped with Pt (5 nm) has been successfully grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. It is a potential candidate of synthetic antiferromagnets due to antiferromagnetic coupling between Co2MnSi and MnGa, which is a promising skyrmion-racetrack-memory medium without skyrmion Hall effect after capping with a Pt layer. Unusual humps in transverse Hall resistance loops are clearly observed in the temperature range from 260 to 400 K. This anomaly is generally attributed to topological Hall effect, but other than that, we prove that non-uniform rotation of magnetic moments in the bilayer with magnetic field sweeping is also a possible mechanism contributed to the unusual hump.

Perpendicularly magnetized L10 -MnAl thin films with Co 2 MnSi buffer layers were prepared on GaAs (001) substrates by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). The samples with high crystalline quality show a maximum uniaxial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy constant of 1.4 × 107 erg/cm 3. Ultrafast spin dynamics with a magnetization precession frequency up to 200 GHz was investigated by using time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TRMOKE) measurements, from which the Gilbert damping constant α of epitaxial L10 -MnAl thin films is evaluated to be less than 0.0175. This work provides an important reference for analyzing the current-induced magnetization switching process in MnAl-based spintronic devices.

The viral Bcl-2 homolog (vBcl2) of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) displays efficient antiapoptotic and antiautophagic activity through its central BH3 domain, which functions to prolong the life span of virus-infected cells and ultimately enhances virus replication and latency. Independent of its antiapoptotic and antiautophagic activity, vBcl2 also plays an essential role in KSHV lytic replication through its amino-terminal amino acids (aa) 11 to 20. Here, we report a novel molecular mechanism of vBcl2-mediated regulation of KSHV lytic replication. vBcl2 specifically bound the tegument protein open reading frame 55 (ORF55) through its amino-terminal aa 11 to 20, allowing their association with virions. Consequently, the vBcl2 peptide derived from vBcl2 aa 11 to 20 effectively disrupted the interaction between vBcl2 and ORF55, inhibiting the incorporation of the ORF55 tegument protein into virions. This study provides new insight into vBcl2's function in KSHV virion assembly that is separable from its inhibitory role in host apoptosis and autophagy. IMPORTANCE KSHV, an important human pathogen accounting for a large percentage of virally caused cancers worldwide, has evolved a variety of stratagems for evading host immune responses to establish lifelong persistent infection. Upon viral infection, infected cells can go through programmed cell death, including apoptosis and autophagy, which plays an effective role in antiviral responses. To counter the host response, KSHV vBcl2 efficiently blocks apoptosis and autophagy to persist for the life span of virus-infected cells. Besides its anti-programmed-cell-death activity, vBcl2 also interacts with the ORF55 tegument protein for virion assembly in infected cells. Interestingly, the vBcl2 peptide disrupts the vBcl2-ORF55 interaction and effectively inhibits KSHV virion assembly. This study indicates that KSHV vBcl2 harbors at least three genetically separable functions to modulate both host cell death signaling and virion production and that the vBcl2 peptide can be developed as an anti-KSHV therapeutic application.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Overall technical route of this project. Figure S2. Reproducibility analysis of this project. Figure S3. QC validation of MS data. (A) Mass error distribution of all identified peptides, (B) Peptide length distribution. Figure S4. Distribution of quantification results (at least 1.5-fold up-or downregulated). Figure S5. Protein domain enrichment analysis of upregulated (A) and downregulated (B) proteins (B vs A). Table S3. TMT-Labeling information. Table S4. Baseline Characteristics of the HIV/TM-coinfected-and HIV-mono-infected individual groups in verification samples.

SUMMARYHBV genotypes have specific geographical distributions and can serve as epidemiological markers. Accumulated data have shown that the major HBV genotypes in China are B and C. Here, the HBV genotypes were examined from 6817 blood samples, which were collected from patients with chronic HBV infection in Fujian Province during 2006–2013; genotype B was identified in 3384 patients (49·6%), while genotype C was identified in 3430 patients (50·3%). The percentage of patients infected with genotype C gradually increased with age from 39·5% (patients aged 50 years), reaching a peak of 67·3% in the 45–50 years age group. These results clearly demonstrate that the genotype distribution of HBV in Fujian Province has significantly changed in recent years with almost equal numbers of genotype B and genotype C infections existing in the entire patient population, while higher incidence of genotype C infection exists in older patients, but genotype B is no longer dominant in the Fujian area as previously reported.

Because tetragonal structured MnGa alloy has intrinsic (not interface induced) giant perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), ultra-low damping constant and high spin polarization, it is predicted to be a kind of suitable magnetic electrode candidate in the perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction (p-MTJ) for high density spin transfer torque magnetic random access memory (STT-MRAM) applications. However, p-MTJs with both bottom and top MnGa electrodes have not been achieved yet, since high quality perpendicular magnetic MnGa films can hardly be obtained on the MgO barrier due to large lattice mismatch and surface energy difference between them. Here, a MnGa-based fully p-MTJ with the structure of MnGa/Co2MnSi/MgO/Co2MnSi/MnGa is investigated. As a result, the multilayer is with high crystalline quality, and both the top and bottom MnGa electrodes show well PMA. Meanwhile, a distinct tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio of 65% at 10 K is achieved. Ultrathin Co2MnSi films are used to optimize the interface quality between MnGa and MgO barrier. A strong antiferromagnetic coupling in MnGa/Co2MnSi bilayer is confirmed with the interfacial exchange coupling constant of −5erg/cm2. This work proposes a novel p-MTJ structure for the future STT-MRAM progress.

Here we report on the Ga self-catalyzed growth of near full-composition-range energy-gap-tunable GaAs

We report on the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) effect in fully perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJs) with the core structure of L10-MnAl/MgO/Co2MnSi/MnAl. The multilayer is epitaxially grown on GaAs (0 0 1) substrate by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), and both the top and bottom MnAl layers show well perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). Meanwhile, an inverse TMR effect with the MR ratio of 10% is observed at 5 K, which is attributed to the intrinsic negative spin polarization of MnAl in contrast to the positive one in Co2MnSi. This work proposes a MnAl-based fully p-MTJ for future STT-MRAM applications.