Eosinophilic Esophagitis Drives Tissue Fibroblast Regenerative Programs Towards Pathologic Dysfunction.

Background: Pathologic tissue remodeling with scarring and tissue rigidity has been demonstrated in inflammatory, autoimmune, and allergic diseases. Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an allergic disease that is diagnosed and managed by repeated biopsy procurement, allowing an understanding of tissue fibroblast dysfunction. While EoE associated tissue remodeling causes clinical dysphagia, food impactions and esophageal rigidity and strictures, molecular mechanisms driving these complications remain under investigation.

Atypical B cells consist of subsets with distinct functional profiles.

Atypical B cells are a population of activated B cells that are commonly enriched in individuals with chronic immune activation but are also part of a normal immune response to infection or vaccination. To better define the role of atypical B cells in the human adaptive immune response, we performed single-cell sequencing of transcriptomes, cell surface markers, and B cell receptors in individuals with chronic exposure to the malaria parasite , a condition known to lead to accumulation of circulating atypical B cells. We identified three previously uncharacterized populations of atypical B cells with distinct transcriptional and functional profiles and observed marked differences among these three subsets in their ability to produce immunoglobulin G upon T-cell-dependent activation.

Lymphotoxin beta receptor signaling directly controls airway smooth muscle deregulation and asthmatic lung dysfunction.

Background: Dysregulation of airway smooth muscle cells (ASM) is central to the severity of asthma. Which molecules dominantly control ASM in asthma is unclear. High levels of the cytokine LIGHT (aka TNFSF14) have been linked to asthma severity and lower baseline predicted FEV percentage, implying that signals through its receptors might directly control ASM dysfunction.

Tunable phase transitions in half-Heusler TbPtBi compound.

We report various phase transitions in half-Heusler TbPtBi compound using density functional theory. Specifically, the inclusion of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) leads to the band inversion resulting in the transition from the metallic to the topological semimetallic phase. However, in the presence of SOC, there is a phase transition from the topological semimetal to the trivial semimetal when the material is subjected to compressive strain-7%.

Thermodefect voltage in graphene nanoribbon junctions.

Thermoelectric junctions are often made of components of different materials characterized by distinct transport properties. Single material junctions, with the same type of charge carriers, have also been considered to investigate various classical and quantum effects on the thermoelectric properties of nanostructured materials. We here introduce the concept of defect-induced thermoelectric voltage, namely,, in graphene nanoribbon (GNR) junctions under a temperature gradient.

Transport and noise properties of a normal metal-superconductor-normal metal junction with mixed singlet and chiral triplet pairings.

We study transport and zero frequency shot noise properties of a normal metal-superconductor-normal metal (NSN) junction, with the superconductor having mixed singlet and chiral triplet pairings. We show that in the subgapped regime when the chiral triplet pairing amplitude dominates over that of the singlet, a resonance phenomena emerges out at zero energy where all the quantum mechanical scattering probabilities acquire a value of 0.25.

Spin filtering and switching action in a diamond network with magnetic-nonmagnetic atomic distribution.

We propose a simple model quantum network consisting of diamond-shaped plaquettes with deterministic distribution of magnetic and non-magnetic atoms in presence of a uniform external magnetic flux in each plaquette and predict that such a simple model can be a prospective candidate for spin filter as well as flux driven spintronic switch. The orientations and the amplitudes of the substrate magnetic moments play a crucial role in the energy band engineering of the two spin channels which essentially gives us a control over the spin transmission leading to a spin filtering effect. The externally tunable magnetic flux plays an important role in inducing a switch on-switch off effect for both the spin states indicating the behavior like a spintronic switch.

The crystal structure of sulfamethoxazole, interaction with DNA, DFT calculation, and molecular docking studies.

Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) [4-amino-N-(5-methyl-1,2-oxazol-3-yl)benzenesulfonamide] is structurally established by single crystal X-ray diffraction measurement. The crystal packing shows H-bonded 2D polymer through N(7)-H(7A)-O(2), N(7)-H(7B)-O(3), N(1)-H(1)-N(2), C(5)-H(5)-O(3)-S(1) and N(7)-(H7A)-O(2)-S(1). Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Time Dependent-DFT (TD-DFT) computations of optimized structure of SMX determine the electronic structure and has explained the electronic spectral transitions.