Depth Profiling Photoelectron-Spectroscopic Study of an Organic Spin Valve with a Plasma-Modified Pentacene Spacer

[[abstract]]We report an enhanced magnetoresistance (MR) in an organic spin valve with an oxygen plasma-treated pentacene (PC) spacer. The spin valve containing PC without the treatment shows no MR effect, whereas those with moderately plasma-treated PC exhibit MR ratios up to 1.64% at room temperature. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with depth profiling is utilized to characterize the interfacial electronic properties of the plasma-treated PC spacer which shows the formation of a derivative oxide layer. The results suggest an alternative approach to improve the interface quality and in turn to enhance the MR performance in organic spin valves.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]電子

Subcortical dementia associated with striking enlargement of the Virchow-Robin spaces and transneural degeneration of the left mammillo-thalamic tract

We report a case of subcortical dementia in a 68-year-old woman. MR examination of the patient's brain revealed two types of alterations as a possible cause of the dementia, both anomalous in respect of their entity and incidence: the first was a striking enlargement of the Virchow-Robin spaces, and the second an anterograde transneural degeneration of the left mammillo-thalamic tract and mammillary body secondary to a lacunar infarction of the ipsilateral anterior thalamus. Copyright © 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel

Transsynaptic degeneration of lateral geniculate bodies in blind children: in vivo MR demonstration.

To investigate signal alterations in the thalamic lateral geniculate bodies of blind patients compatible with transsynaptic degeneration of these nuclei caused by pregeniculate or postgeniculate interruption of the visual pathway.Six patients were selected from a group of blind children in our care. Four had cerebral palsy caused by periventricular leukomalacia, one had infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy, and one had Chiari I malformation and hydrocephalus, which was worsened by bilateral ischemic lesions of the occipital lobes. MR examinations (obtained at 0.5 T) were reviewed retrospectively by two neuroradiologists, with particular attention to the visual pathway.Symmetric, focal areas of T2 prolongation were found at the precise site of the lateral geniculate bodies.Anterograde (pregeniculate) and retrograde (postgeniculate) transsynaptic degeneration of the second neurons of the visual pathway produce alterations in MR signal