Optimum design of magnetic field environment for axonal growth control in nerve cell regeneration process using electromagnetic field analyses

In this study, an optimum magnetic field environment for the nerve axonal extension and control of axonal growth direction in the nerve cell generation process was searched by using electromagnetic finite element analyses. Recently, the developments of 3D-scaffold structures employing biodegradable polymers have been an attracting attention for the clinical treatments of damaged nerve tissues. The magnetic stimulation is introduced to accelerate the regeneration speed of nerve axon inside the 3D-scaffold. According to experimental observation of Blackman, C.F. and his research group (1993) [1], it was found that 50 Hz AC magnetic field has promoted the regeneration of axonal extension in the case of pheochromocytoma cells (PC12). They identified the optimum configuration of the coil and the threshold value of driving current for the initiation of PC12 axon growth. However, they did not evaluate analytically the magnetic flux density and the magnetic field in the cell culture liquid for the PC12 axon growth initiation. Therefore, at first we employed the electromagnetic finite element analyses (FEA) to evaluate the magnetic flux density in the case of Blackman’s experiment. Simultaneously, we identified the relative magnetic permeability of Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) as 1.01 at 50 Hz. Finally, we obtained the value of magnetic flux density inside DMEM as 4.2 T. Next, we try to design the configuration of Helmholtz coil, which can generate an optimum magnetic field to stimulate most effectively for PC12 axon extension. It is confirmed that the magnetic field gradient affect the extensional speed of PC12 axon, which can be achieved by setup the one peripheral coil and two coils at the center. We found an optimum configuration of Helmholtz coil to generate the magnetic field environment and fabricate an experimental bioreactor for PC12 cell culture. We examined the effectiveness of magnetic stimulation for PC12 nerve axon’s extension quantitatively. Further, we try to find the relationship between the magnetic field gradient and the direction of nerve axon’s extension

Influence of Mg, Ag and Al substitutions on the magnetic excitations in the triangular-lattice antiferromagnet CuCrO2

Magnetic excitations in CuCrO$_{2}$, CuCr$_{0.97}$Mg$_{0.03}$O$_{2}$, Cu$_{0.85}$Ag$_{0.15}$CrO$_{2}$, and CuCr$_{0.85}$Al$_{0.15}$O$_{2}$ have been studied by powder inelastic neutron scattering to elucidate the element substitution effects on the spin dynamics in the Heisenberg triangular-lattice antiferromagnet CuCrO$_{2}$. The magnetic excitations in CuCr$_{0.97}$Mg$_{0.03}$O$_{2}$ consist of a dispersive component and a flat component. Though this feature is apparently similar to CuCrO$_{2}$, the energy structure of the excitation spectrum shows some difference from that in CuCrO$_{2}$. On the other hand, in Cu$_{0.85}$Ag$_{0.15}$CrO$_{2}$ and CuCr$_{0.85}$Al$_{0.15}$O$_{2}$ the flat components are much reduced, the low-energy parts of the excitation spectra become intense, and additional low-energy diffusive spin fluctuations are induced. We argued the origins of these changes in the magnetic excitations are ascribed to effects of the doped holes or change of the dimensionality in the magnetic correlations.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

D-branes and Closed String Field Theory

We construct solitonic states in the OSp invariant string field theory, which are BRST invariant in the leading order of regularization parameter. One can show that these solitonic states describe D-branes and ghost D-branes, by calculating the scattering amplitudes.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, based on an invited talk presented at the international workshop "Progress of String Theory and Quantum Field Theory" (Osaka City University, December 7-10, 2007), to be published in the proceeding

Observables and Correlation Functions in OSp Invariant String Field Theory

We define BRST invariant observables in the OSp invariant closed string field theory for bosonic strings. We evaluate correlation functions of these observables and show that the S-matrix elements derived from them coincide with those of the light-cone gauge string field theory.Comment: 23 page

Molecular kinetic analysis of a finite-time Carnot cycle

We study the efficiency at the maximal power $\eta_\mathrm{max}$ of a finite-time Carnot cycle of a weakly interacting gas which we can reagard as a nearly ideal gas. In several systems interacting with the hot and cold reservoirs of the temperatures $T_\mathrm{h}$ and $T_\mathrm{c}$, respectively, it is known that $\eta_\mathrm{max}=1-\sqrt{T_\mathrm{c}/T_\mathrm{h}}$ which is often called the Curzon-Ahlborn (CA) efficiency $\eta_\mathrm{CA}$. For the first time numerical experiments to verify the validity of $\eta_\mathrm{CA}$ are performed by means of molecular dynamics simulations and reveal that our $\eta_\mathrm{max}$ does not always agree with $\eta_\mathrm{CA}$, but approaches $\eta_\mathrm{CA}$ in the limit of $T_\mathrm{c} \to T_\mathrm{h}$. Our molecular kinetic analysis explains the above facts theoretically by using only elementary arithmetic.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Enhancement of Superconducting Transition Temperature due to the strong Antiferromagnetic Spin Fluctuations in Non-centrosymmetric Heavy-fermion Superconductor CeIrSi3 :A 29Si-NMR Study under Pressure

We report a 29Si-NMR study on the pressure-induced superconductivity (SC) in an antiferromagnetic (AFM) heavy-fermion compound CeIrSi3 without inversion symmetry. In the SC state at P=2.7-2.8 GPa, the temperature dependence of the nuclear-spin lattice relaxation rate 1/T_1 below Tc exhibits a T^3 behavior without any coherence peak just below Tc, revealing the presence of line nodes in the SC gap. In the normal state, 1/T_1 follows a \sqrt{T}-like behavior, suggesting that the SC emerges under the non-Fermi liquid state dominated by AFM spin fluctuations enhanced around quantum critical point (QCP). The reason why the maximum Tc in CeIrSi3 is relatively high among the Ce-based heavy-fermion superconductors may be the existence of the strong AFM spin fluctuations. We discuss the comparison with the other Ce-based heavy-fermion superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Anisotropic magnetic properties of CeAg2_2Ge2_2 single crystal

In order to investigate the anisotropic magnetic properties of CeAg$_2$Ge$_2$, we have successfully grown the single crystals, for the first time, by high temperature solution growth (flux) method. We have performed a detailed study of the grown single crystals by measuring their electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat and magnetoresistance. A clear anisotropy and an antiferromagnetic transition at $T_{\rm N}$ = 4.6 K have been observed in the magnetic properties. The magnetic entropy reaches $R$ ln 4 at 20 K indicating that the ground state and the first excited state are very closely spaced (a quasi-quartet state). From the specific heat measurements and crystalline electric field (CEF) analysis of the magnetic susceptibility, we have found the level splitting energies as 5 K and 130 K. The magnetization measurements reveal that the a-axis is the easy axis of magnetization and the saturation moment is $\mu_{\rm s}$ = 1.6 $\mu_{\rm B}$/Ce, corroborating the previous neutron diffraction measurements on a polycrystalline sample.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.