RESUMEN
Enteroviruses, with their diverse clinical manifestations ranging from mild or asymptomatic infections to severe diseases such as poliomyelitis and viral myocarditis, present a public health threat. However, they can also be used as oncolytic agents. This review shows the intricate relationship between enteroviruses and host cell factors. Enteroviruses utilize specific receptors and coreceptors for cell entry that are critical for infection and subsequent viral replication. These receptors, many of which are glycoproteins, facilitate virus binding, capsid destabilization, and internalization into cells, and their expression defines virus tropism towards various types of cells. Since enteroviruses can exploit different receptors, they have high oncolytic potential for personalized cancer therapy, as exemplified by the antitumor activity of certain enterovirus strains including the bioselected non-pathogenic Echovirus type 7/Rigvir, approved for melanoma treatment. Dissecting the roles of individual receptors in the entry of enteroviruses can provide valuable insights into their potential in cancer therapy. This review discusses the application of gene-targeting techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 technology to investigate the impact of the loss of a particular receptor on the attachment of the virus and its subsequent internalization. It also summarizes the data on their expression in various types of cancer. By understanding how enteroviruses interact with specific cellular receptors, researchers can develop more effective regimens of treatment, offering hope for more targeted and efficient therapeutic strategies.
RESUMEN
We study the transport properties of monolayers MoSi2N4, WSi2N4, and MoSi2As4in a perpendicular magnetic field. The Landau level (LL) band structures including spin and exchange field effects are derived and discussed using a low-energy effective model. We show that the LLs band structures of these materials are similar to those of phosphorene and transition-metal dichalcogenides rather than graphene or silicene. The combination of strong spin-orbit coupling and exchange fields reduces the degradation of the LLs, leading to new plateaus in the Hall conductivity and Hall resistivity and new peaks in the longitudinal conductivity and longitudinal resistivity. The effect of the exchange field, carrier density, and LLs band structure on the conductivities and resistivities have been investigated. At high temperatures, the steps in Hall conductivity and resistivity plateaus disappear and reduce to their corresponding classical forms.
RESUMEN
We study the electronic heat capacity (EHC) and the Pauli spin paramagnetic susceptibility (PSPS) of topological crystalline insulator SnTe (001) thin film in the presence of dilute charged impurities in an effective Hamiltonian model for the low-energy regime such as impurity concentration and impurity scattering potential effects. To calculate the EHC and PSPS using the Boltzmann method, we first calculate the electronic density of states by means of the Green's function approach. Also, the impurity effects are considered with the aid of the T-matrix approximation. We demonstrate that the hybridization potential between the front and back surfaces in SnTe (001) thin films leads to the band gap opening and to the zero PSPS at low temperatures obeying the Fermi liquid theory. In particular, we demonstrate two scenarios including the possibilities of the same and different impurity doping. It is shown that in both cases the midgap states emerge, the cation-anion symmetry breaks down and the Fermi liquid theory loses its validity. Moreover, the critical scattering potential with respect to the hybridization potential is found for the validity limit of the Fermi liquid theory. Finally, the Schottky anomaly and the crossover in EHC and PSPS, respectively, are discussed. Our results have strong implications for applications based on SnTe (001) thin films.
RESUMEN
In this work, we perform first-principles calculations to examine the electronic, optical and photocatalytic properties of the BX-ZnO (X = As, P) heterostructures. The interlayer distance and binding energy of the most energetically favorable stacking configuration are 3.31 Å and -0.30 eV for the BAs-ZnO heterostructure and 3.30 Å and -0.25 eV for the BP-ZnO heterostructure. All the stacking patterns of the BX-ZnO heterostructures are proved to have thermal stability by performing AIMD simulations. The BAs-ZnO and BP-ZnO heterostructures are semiconductors with direct band gaps of 1.43 eV and 2.35 eV, respectively, and they exhibit type-I band alignment, which make them suitable for light emission applications with the ultra-fast recombination between electrons and holes. Both the BAs-ZnO and BP-ZnO heterostructures can exhibit a wider optical absorption range for visible-light owing to their reduced band gaps compared with the isolated BAs, BP and ZnO monolayers. The band alignment of both the BAs-ZnO and BP-ZnO heterostructures can straddle the water redox potential and they would have better performances owing to the direct band gap and the reduced band gap. All these findings demonstrate that the BX-ZnO heterostructures can be considered as potential photocatalysts for water splitting.
RESUMEN
In this work, we systematically studied the electronic structure and optical characteristics of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure composed of a single layer of GaN and GeC using first principles calculations. The GaN-GeC vdW heterostructure exhibits indirect band gap semiconductor properties and possesses type-II energy band arrangement, which will help the separation of photogenerated carriers and extend their lifetime. In addition, the band edge positions of the GaN-GeC heterostructure meet both the requirements of water oxidation and reduction energy, indicating that the photocatalysts have the potential for water decomposition. The GaN-GeC heterostructure shows obvious absorption peaks in the visible region, leading to the efficient use of solar energy. Tensile and compressive strains of up to 10% are also proposed. Tensile strain leads to an increase in the blue shift of optical absorption, whereas a red shift is observed in the case of the compressive strain. These fascinating characteristics make the GaN-GeC vdW heterostructure a highly effective photocatalyst for water splitting.
RESUMEN
Designing van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures of two-dimensional materials is an efficient way to realize amazing properties as well as opening opportunities for applications in solar energy conversion and nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices. In this work, we investigate the electronic, optical, and photocatalytic properties of a boron phosphide-SiC (BP-SiC) vdW heterostructure using first-principles calculations. The relaxed configuration is obtained from the binding energies, inter-layer distance, and thermal stability. We show that the BP-SiC vdW heterostructure has a direct band gap with type-II band alignment, which separates the free electrons and holes at the interface. Furthermore, the calculated absorption spectra demonstrate that the optical properties of the BP-SiC heterostructure are enhanced compared with those of the constituent monolayers. The intensity of optical absorption can reach up to about 105 cm-1. The band edges of the BP-SiC heterostructure are located at energetically favourable positions, indicating that the BP-SiC heterostructure is able to split water under working conditions of pH = 0-3. Our theoretical results provide not only a fascinating insight into the essential properties of the BP-SiC vdW heterostructure, but also helpful information for the experimental design of new vdW heterostructures.
