GFORCE-PD still going strong in 2016

In 2014, a new initiative was undertaken by groups working on plans for the transplantation of stem-cell-based derived dopaminergic neurons for treating Parkinson’s disease patients. This GForce-PD group held its annual meeting on 18–19 April 2016 in Chicago at Rush University to discuss their progress and the challenges that the translation of this experimental therapy still faces. Over 2 days, the key issues were discussed around the cell lines that will be used, the differentiation protocols, preclinical testing, GMP-adaptation, and cell manufacturing to allow first in human clinical trials, which are anticipated to start in 2017–2018. GForce-PD members also discussed how they can improve outreach and be of better service to the Parkinson's disease (PD) community and help them to make the best possible decisions when pursuing stem cell treatments.The group acknowledges generous funding from the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation and Rush University

Theoretical Analysis of Resonant Inelastic X-Ray Scattering Spectra in LaMnO3

We analyze the resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) spectra at the K edge of Mn in the antiferromagnetic insulating manganite LaMnO3. We make use of the Keldysh-type Green-function formalism, in which the RIXS intensity is described by a product of an incident-photon-dependent factor and a density-density correlation function in the 3d states. We calculate the former factor using the 4p density of states given by an ab initio band structure calculation and the latter using a multi-orbital tight-binding model. The ground state of the model Hamiltonian is evaluated within the Hartree-Fock approximation. Correlation effects are treated within the random phase approximation (RPA). We obtain the RIXS intensity in a wide range of energy-loss 2-15 eV. The spectral shape is strongly modified by the RPA correlation, showing good agreement with the experiments. The incident-photon-energy dependence also agrees well with the experiments. The present mechanism that the RIXS spectra arise from band-to-band transitions to screen the core-hole potential is quite different from the orbiton picture previously proposed, enabling a comprehensive understanding of the RIXS spectra.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, To be published in PR

Human Trials of Stem Cell-Derived Dopamine Neurons for Parkinson's Disease: Dawn of a New Era.

Stem cell-based therapies for Parkinson's disease are moving into a new and exciting era, with several groups pursuing clinical trials with pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived dopamine neurons. As many groups have ongoing or completed GMP-level cell manufacturing, we highlight key clinical translation considerations from our recent fourth GForce-PD meeting.We would like to thank Jeanne Loring and her team for contributing to the discussion and Table 1, Ulrika Blank Savukinas for illustration help, as well as all the funding agencies that have supported work within GForce-PD over the last few years including the EU (TRANSEURO and NeuroStemcellRepair no. 602278); the UK RMP Pluripotent stem cell hub; Cure Parkinson’s Trust; Rosetrees Trust; MRC-WT funding of the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and the NIHR funding of the Biomedical Research Centre in Cambridge; The Swedish Research Council; The Swedish Brain foundation and the Swedish Parkinson Foundation; New York State Stem Cell Science (NYSTEM), and a grant from the Network Program for Realization of Regenerative Medicine from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. MP is a New York Stem Cell Foundation Robertson Investigator

Linear-response theory of spin Seebeck effect in ferromagnetic insulators

We formulate a linear response theory of the spin Seebeck effect, i.e., a spin voltage generation from heat current flowing in a ferromagnet. Our approach focuses on the collective magnetic excitation of spins, i.e., magnons. We show that the linear-response formulation provides us with a qualitative as well as quantitative understanding of the spin Seebeck effect observed in a prototypical magnet, yttrium iron garnet.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Added references and revised argument on the length scales at the end of Sec.

Implications of Variability Patterns observed in TeV Blazars on the Structure of the Inner Jet

The recent long look X-ray observations of TeV blazars have revealed many important new features concerning their time variability. In this paper, we suggest a physical interpretation for those features based on the framework of the internal and external shock scenarios. We present a simplified model applicable to TeV blazars, and investigate through simulations how each of the model parameters would affect to the observed light curve or spectrum. In particular, we show that the internal shock scenario naturally leads to all the observed variability properties including the structure function, but for it to be applicable, the fractional fluctuation of the initial bulk Lorentz factors must be small, with sigma_gamma / gamma_average < 0.01. This implies very low dynamical efficiency of the internal shock scenario. We also suggest that several observational quantities -- such as the characteristic time scale, the relative amplitude of flares as compared to the steady (``offset'') component, and the slope of the structure function -- can be used to probe the inner jet. The results are applied to the TeV blazar Mrk421, and this, within the context of the model, leads to the determination of several physical parameters: the ejection of a shell with average thickness of ~1E13 cm occurs on average every 10 minutes, and the shells collide ~1E17 cm away from the central source.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, to appear in Ap

G-Force PD: a global initiative in coordinating stem cell-based dopamine treatments for Parkinson's disease.

Translating new cell-based therapies to the clinic for patients with neurodegenerative disorders is complex. It involves pre-clinical testing of the cellular product and discussions with several regulatory agencies, as well as ethical debates. In an attempt to support efforts around the world, we set up a global consortium that brings together the major funded teams working on developing a stem cell-derived neural transplantation therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). This consortium, G-Force PD, involves teams from Europe, USA, and Japan, and has already met on two occasions to discuss common problems, solutions, and the roadmap to the clinic. In this short review, we lay out the brief history and rationale for this initiative and discuss some of the issues that arose in our most recent meeting (May 2015) as we consider undertaking first-in-human clinical trials with stem cell-derived neurons for PD.We would like to thank all the respective funding agencies that support our work in this area including the EU FP7 programmes that fund TRANSEURO (HEALTH-F5-2010-242003) and Neurostemcellrepair (HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1-602278), NYSTEM (C028503) that supports the work of Studer et al, and a grant from the Network Program for Realization of Regenerative Medicine from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) that supports the work of Takahashi et al. We would also like to thank Parkinson’s UK for help funding the first GForce-PD meeting in London and the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (PDF) and Weill Cornell for the second in New York.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npjparkd.2015.1

Mechanism of resonant x-ray magnetic scattering in NiO

We study the resonant x-ray magnetic scattering (RXMS) around the K edge of Ni in the antiferromagnet NiO, by treating the 4p states of Ni as a band and the 3d states as localized states. We propose a mechanism that the 4p states are coupled to the magnetic order through the intra-atomic Coulomb interaction between the 4p and the 3d states and through the p-d mixing to the 3d states of neighboring Ni atoms. These couplings induce the orbital moment in the 4p band, and thereby give rise to the RXMS intensity at the K edge in the dipolar process. It is found that the spin-orbit interaction in the 4p band has negligibly small contribution to the RXMS intensity. The present model reproduces well the experimental spectra. We also discuss the azimuthal angle dependence of the intensity.Comment: 10 pages (revtex) and 7 postscript figure

Meson - nucleon vertex form factors at finite temperature

In this paper the dependence of meson-nucleon-nucleon vertex form factors is studied as a function of termperature. The results are obtained starting from a zero temperature Bonn potential. The temperature dependence of the vertex form factors and radii is studied in the thermofield dynamics, a real-time operator formalism of finite temperature field theory. It is anticipated that these results will have an impact on the study of relativistic heavy-ion collisions as the critical temperature for the phase transition from hadronic to quark-gluon system is approached.Comment: 19 pages, Revtex, 11 figures (Ps), 171k

Finite temperature amplitudes and reaction rates in Thermofield dynamics

We propose a method for calculating the reaction rates and transition amplitudes of generic process taking place in a many body system in equilibrium. The relationship of the scattering and decay amplitudes as calculated in Thermo Field Dynamics the conventional techniques is established. It is shown that in many cases the calculations are relatively easy in TFD.Comment: 32 pages, RevTex, 2 PS figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.