787 research outputs found
Myocardial Architecture and Patient Variability in Clinical Patterns of Atrial Fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of stroke by a factor of four to
five and is the most common abnormal heart rhythm. The progression of AF with
age, from short self-terminating episodes to persistence, varies between
individuals and is poorly understood. An inability to understand and predict
variation in AF progression has resulted in less patient-specific therapy.
Likewise, it has been a challenge to relate the microstructural features of
heart muscle tissue (myocardial architecture) with the emergent temporal
clinical patterns of AF. We use a simple model of activation wavefront
propagation on an anisotropic structure, mimicking heart muscle tissue, to show
how variation in AF behaviour arises naturally from microstructural differences
between individuals. We show that the stochastic nature of progressive
transversal uncoupling of muscle strands (e.g., due to fibrosis or gap
junctional remodelling), as occurs with age, results in variability in AF
episode onset time, frequency, duration, burden and progression between
individuals. This is consistent with clinical observations. The uncoupling of
muscle strands can cause critical architectural patterns in the myocardium.
These critical patterns anchor micro-re-entrant wavefronts and thereby trigger
AF. It is the number of local critical patterns of uncoupling as opposed to
global uncoupling that determines AF progression. This insight may eventually
lead to patient specific therapy when it becomes possible to observe the
cellular structure of a patient's heart.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. For supplementary materials please contact Kishan
A. Manani at [email protected]
Superconducting Mechanism through direct and redox layer doping in Pnictides
The mechanism of superconductivity in pnictides is discussed through direct
doping in superconducting FeAs and also in charge reservoir REO layers. The
un-doped SmFeAsO is charge neutral SDW (Spin Density Wave) compound with
magnetic ordering below 150 K. The Superconducting FeAs layers are doped with
Co and Ni at Fe site, whereas REO layers are doped with F at O site. The
electron doping in SmFeAsO through Co results in superconductivity with
transition temperature (Tc) maximum up to 15 K, whereas F doping results in Tc
upto 47 K in SmFeAsO. All these REFe/Co/NiAsO/F compounds are iso-structural to
ZrCuSiAs structure. The samples are crystallized in a tetragonal structure with
space group P4/nmm. Variation of Tc with different doping routes shows the
versatility of the structure and mechanism of occurrence of superconductivity.
It seems doping in redox layer is more effective than direct doping in
superconducting FeAs layer.Comment: 4 Pages text + Figs: ([email protected]
Structural, Magnetic and Magneto-caloric studies of Ni50Mn30Sn20Shape Memory Alloy
We have synthesized a nominal composition of Ni50Mn30Sn20 alloy using arc
melting technique. Rietveld refinement confirms the austenite L21 structure in
Fm-3m space group. Electrical resistivity has been found to clearly exhibiting
two different phenomena viz. a magnetic transition from paramagnetic to
ferromagnetic and a structural transition from austenite to martensitic phase.
Thermo-magnetization measurements M(T) confirms ferromagnetic transition
temperature TC at 222 K and martensitic transition starting at 127 K(MS).
Magnetization measurement M(H) at 10 K confirms the ferromagnetic state.
Frequency dependence of ac susceptibility \c{hi}' at low temperature suggests
spin glass behavior in the system. The isothermal magnetic entropy change
values have been found to be 1.14 J/Kg.K, 2.69 J/Kg.K and 3.9 J/Kg.K, with
refrigeration capacities of 19.6 J/kg, 37.8 J/kg and 54.6 J/kg for the field
change of 1, 2 and 3 Tesla respectively at 227 K.Comment: 16 pages text + Figs. Ni50Mn30Sn20 alloy: reasonable refrigeration
capacity tunable to Room
Electrical and Magnetic behaviour of PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 superconductor
The superconducting and ground state samples of PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 and PrFeAsO
have been synthesised via easy and versatile single step solid state reaction
route. X-ray & Reitveld refine parameters of the synthesised samples are in
good agreement to the earlier reported value of the structure. The ground state
of the pristine compound (PrFeAsO) exhibited a metallic like step in
resistivity below 150K followed by another step at 12K. The former is
associated with the spin density wave (SDW) like ordering of Fe spins and later
to the anomalous magnetic ordering for Pr moments. Both the resistivity
anomalies are absent in case of superconducting PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 sample. Detailed
high field (up to 12Tesla) electrical and magnetization measurements are
carried out for superconducting PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 sample. The PrFeAsO0.8F0.2
exhibited superconducting onset (Tconset) at around 47K with Tc({\rho} =0) at
38K. Though the Tconset remains nearly invariant, the Tc({\rho} =0) is
decreased with applied field, and the same is around 23K under applied field of
12Tesla. The upper critical field (Hc2) is estimated from the Ginzburg Landau
equation (GL) fitting, which is found to be ~ 182Tesla. Critical current
density (Jc) being calculated from high field isothermal magnetization (MH)
loops with the help of Beans critical state model, is found to be of the order
of 103 A/cm2. Summarily, the superconductivity characterization of single step
synthesised PrFeAsO0.8F0.2 superconductor is presented.Comment: 15 Pages Text + Fig
Role of MgO impurity on the superconducting properties of MgB2
We address the effect of MgO impurity on the superconducting properties of
MgB2. The synthesis of MgB2 is very crucial because of sensitivity of Mg to
oxidation which may lead to MgO as a secondary phase. Rietveld refinement was
performed to determine the quantitative volume fraction of MgO in the samples
synthesized by two different techniques. Both the samples were subjected to
magnetization measurements under dc and ac applied magnetic fields and the
observed results were compared as a function of temperature. Paramagnetic
Meissner effect has been observed in a sample of MgB2 having more amount of MgO
(with Tc = 37.1K) whereas the pure sample MgB2 having minor quantity of MgO
shows diamagnetic Meissner effect with Tc = 38.8K. M-H measurements at 10K
reveal a slight difference in irreversibility field which is due to MgO
impurity along with wide transition observed from ac magnetic susceptibility
measurements. The magnetotransport measurements R(T)H using RN = 90%, 50% and
10% criterion on pure sample of MgB2 has been used to determine the upper
critical field whereas the sample having large quantity of MgO does not allow
these measurements due to its high resistance.Comment: 15 pages text + Fig
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