Magnetization Decay due to Vortex Phase Boundary Motion in BSCCO

We identify a new regime of decay of the irreversible magnetization in clean Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8}$ crystals, at induction values close to the ``second peak field'' at which the bulk critical current density steeply increases. A time window is identified during which the decay of the induction is controlled by the slow propagation of the phase transformation front across the sample.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures Paper submitted to the conference proceedings of M2S-2000 Houston T

Self-organization of vortices in type-II superconductors during magnetic relaxation

We revise the applicability of the theory of self-organized criticality (SOC) to the process of magnetic relaxation in type-II superconductors. The driving parameter of self-organization of vortices is the energy barrier for flux creep and not the current density. The power spectrum of the magnetic noise due to vortex avalanches is calculated and is predicted to vary with time during relaxation.Comment: RevTex, 5 pages, 2 PS figures. Accepted in Phys. Rev.

Strong Pinning and Plastic Deformations of the Vortex Lattice

We investigate numerically the dynamically generated plastic deformations of a 3D vortex lattice (VL) driven through a disorder potential with isolated, strong pinning centers (point-like or extended along the field direction). We find that the VL exhibits a very peculiar dynamical behavior in the plastic flow regime, in particular, topological excitations consisting of three or four entangled vortices are formed. We determine the critical current density $j_c$ and the activation energy for depinning $U_c$ in the presence of a finite density of strong pinning centers.Comment: 12 pages, TeX type, Postscript figure

Dynamics of Flux Creep in Underdoped Single Crystals of Y_1-xPr_xBa_2Cu_3O_7-d

Transport as well as magnetic relaxation properties of the mixed state were studied on strongly underdoped Y_1-xPr_xBa_2Cu_3O_7-d crystals. We observed two correlated phenomena - a coupling transition and a transition to quantum creep. The distribution of transport current below the coupling transition is highly nonuniform, which facilitates quantum creep. We speculate that in the mixed state below the coupling transition, where dissipation is nonohmic, the current distribution may be unstable with respect to self-channeling resulting in the formation of very thin current-carrying layers.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Effect of electron irradiation on vortex dynamics in YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x} single crystals

We report on drastic change of vortex dynamics with increase of quenched disorder: for rather weak disorder we found a single vortex creep regime, which we attribute to a Bragg-glass phase, while for enhanced disorder we found an increase of both the depinning current and activation energy with magnetic field, which we attribute to entangled vortex phase. We also found that introduction of additional defects always increases the depinning current, but it increases activation energy only for elastic vortex creep, while it decreases activation energy for plastic vortex creep.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submited to Phys. Rev.

Plasticity and memory effects in the vortex solid phase of twinned YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals

We report on marked memory effects in the vortex system of twinned YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals observed in ac susceptibility measurements. We show that the vortex system can be trapped in different metastable states with variable degree of order arising in response to different system histories. The pressure exerted by the oscillating ac field assists the vortex system in ordering, locally reducing the critical current density in the penetrated outer zone of the sample. The robustness of the ordered and disordered states together with the spatial profile of the critical current density lead to the observed memory effects

Hysteretic behavior of the vortex lattice at the onset of the second peak for HgBa2_2CuO4+δ_{4+\delta} superconductor

By means of local Hall probe ac and dc permeability measurements we investigated the phase diagram of vortex matter for the HgBa$_2$CuO$_{4+\delta }$ superconductor in the regime near the critical temperature. The second peak line, $H_{\rm sp}$, in contrast to what is usually assumed, doesn't terminate at the critical temperature. Our local ac permeability measurements revealed pronounced hysteretic behavior and thermomagnetic history effects near the onset of the second peak, giving evidence for a phase transition of vortex matter from an ordered qausilattice state to a disordered glass

Humanistic and economic impact of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in Brazil

Introduction Psoriasis is an immune-mediated, chronic, inflammatory disease, which has a substantial humanistic and economic burden. This study aimed to assess the impact of this disease on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), work productivity, and direct and indirect costs from a societal perspective among Brazilian patients. Methods This is a cross-sectional, observational, multicenter study, enrolling patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis according to physician evaluation. Data collection was performed from December 2015 to November 2016 through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire and five standardized patient-reported outcomes instruments. Direct costs were estimated by multiplying the amount of resources used (12-month recall period) by the corresponding unit cost. Indirect costs were grouped in two time horizons: annual costs (income reduction and absenteeism) and lifetime costs (demission and early retirement). Results A total of 188 patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis were included, with mean age of 48.0 (SD 13.1). “Anxiety and depression” and “pain and discomfort” were the most impaired dimensions, according to the EuroQol Five-Dimension-Three-Level (EQ-5D-3L). The highest effect was found for “symptoms and feelings” [mean (SD) 2.4 (1.7)] Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) subscale. Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) presence and biologic-naïve status were associated with worse HRQoL. Presenteeism was more frequent than absenteeism, according to the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire-General Health (WPAI-GH) [17.4% vs. 6.3%], while physical demands and time management were the most affected Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ) subscales [means (SD) 23.5 (28.5) and 17.7 (24.9), respectively]. The estimated annual cost per patient was USD 4034. Direct medical costs accounted for 87.7% of this estimate, direct non-medical costs for 2.4%, and indirect costs for 9.9%. Conclusions Results evidenced that moderate to severe plaque psoriasis imposes substantial costs to society. Our data showed that this disease negatively affects both work productivity and HRQoL of Brazilian patients. Subgroups with PsA and biologic-naïve patients presented lower HRQoL, showing the impact of this comorbidity and the relevance of biologics in psoriasis treatment

Pinning-induced transition to disordered vortex phase in layered superconductors

Destruction of the vortex lattice by random point pinning is considered as a mechanism of the ``second peak'' transition observed experimentally in weakly coupled layered high temperature superconductors. The transition field separating the topologically ordered quasilattice from the amorphous vortex configuration is strongly influenced by the layered structure and by the nonlocal nature of the vortex tilt energy due to the magnetic interlayer coupling. We found three different regimes of transition depending on the relative strength of the Josephson and magnetic couplings. The regimes can be distinguished by the dependence of the transition fieldComment: 8 pages, 3 Postscript figures. Accepted to Phys. Rev.B. (regular article

Functional immunomics: Microarray analysis of IgG autoantibody repertoires predicts the future response of NOD mice to an inducer of accelerated diabetes

One's present repertoire of antibodies encodes the history of one's past immunological experience. Can the present autoantibody repertoire be consulted to predict resistance or susceptibility to the future development of an autoimmune disease? Here we developed an antigen microarray chip and used bioinformatic analysis to study a model of type 1 diabetes developing in non-obese diabetic (NOD) male mice in which the disease was accelerated and synchronized by exposing the mice to cyclophosphamide at 4 weeks of age. We obtained sera from 19 individual mice, treated the mice to induce cyclophosphamide-accelerated diabetes (CAD), and found, as expected, that 9 mice became severely diabetic while 10 mice permanently resisted diabetes. We again obtained serum from each mouse afterCAD induction. We then analyzed the patterns of antibodies in the individualmice to 266 different antigens spotted on the antigen chip. We identified a select panel of 27 different antigens (10% of the array) that revealed a pattern of IgG antibody reactivity in the pre-CAD serathat discriminated between the mice resistant or susceptible to CAD with 100% sensitivity and 82% specificity (p=0.017). Surprisingly, the set of IgG antibodies that was informative before CAD induction did not separate the resistant and susceptible groups after the onset of CAD; new antigens became criticalfor post-CAD repertoire discrimination. Thus, at least for a model disease, present antibody repertoires can predict future disease; predictive and diagnostic repertoires can differ; and decisive information about immune system behavior can be mined by bioinformatic technology. Repertoires matter.Comment: See Advanced Publication on the PNAS website for final versio