901 research outputs found
Enhanced myometrial vascularity secondary to retained pregnancy tissue: time has come to stop misusing the term arterio-venous malformation!
Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy in MgB2
We present scanning tunneling microscopy measurements of the surface of
superconducting MgB2 with a critical temperature of 39K. In zero magnetic field
the conductance spectra can be analyzed in terms of the standard BCS theory
with a smearing parameter Gamma. The value of the superconducting gap is 5.2
meV at 4.2 K, with no experimentally significant variation across the surface
of the sample. The temperature dependence of the gap follows the BCS form,
fully consistent with phonon-mediated superconductivity in this novel
superconductor. The application of a magnetic field induces strong
pair-breaking as seen in the conductance spectra in fields up to 6 T.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Temperature Dependence of the Flux Line Lattice Transition into Square Symmetry in Superconducting LuNiBC
We have investigated the temperature dependence of the H || c flux line
lattice structural phase transition from square to hexagonal symmetry, in the
tetragonal superconductor LuNi_2B_2C (T_c = 16.6 K). At temperatures below 10 K
the transition onset field, H_2(T), is only weakly temperature dependent. Above
10 K, H_2(T) rises sharply, bending away from the upper critical field. This
contradicts theoretical predictions of H_2(T) merging with the upper critical
field, and suggests that just below the H_c2(T)-curve the flux line lattice
might be hexagonal.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Predominantly Superconducting Origin of Large Energy Gaps in Underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8-d from Tunneling Spectroscopy
New tunneling data are reported in underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8-d using
superconductor-insulator-superconductor break junctions. Energy gaps, Delta, of
51+2, 54+2 and 57+3 meV are observed for three crystals with Tc=77, 74, and 70
K respectively. These energy gaps are nearly three times larger than for
overdoped crystals with similar Tc. Detailed examination of tunneling spectra
over a wide doping range from underdoped to overdoped, including the Josephson
IcRn product, indicate that these energy gaps are predominantly of
superconducting origin.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Theory of tunneling conductance for normal metal/insulator/triplet superconductor junctions
Tunneling conductance spectra of normal metal/insulator/triplet
superconductor junctions are investigated theoretically. As triplet paring
states we select several types of symmetries that are promising candidates for
the superconducting states in UPt and in SrRuO. The
calculated conductance spectra are sensitive to the orientation of the junction
which reflects the anisotropy of the pairing states. They show either zero-bias
conductance peaks or gap-like structures depending on the orientation of the
junctions. The existence of a residual density of states, peculiar to
nonunitary states, is shown to have a significant influence on the properties
of the conductance spectra. Present results serve as a guidefor the
experimental determination of the symmetry of the pair potentials in UPt
and SrRuO.Comment: 10 pages, 11 eps figures, J.Phys.Soc.Jpn.67,No.9(1998
RHYTHM-AF: design of an international registry on cardioversion of atrial fibrillation and characteristics of participating centers
BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation is a serious public health problem posing a considerable burden to not only patients, but the healthcare environment due to high rates of morbidity, mortality, and medical resource utilization. There are limited data on the variation in treatment practice patterns across different countries, healthcare settings and the associated health outcomes. METHODS/DESIGN RHYTHM-AF was a prospective observational multinational study of management of recent onset atrial fibrillation patients considered for cardioversion designed to collect data on international treatment patterns and short term outcomes related to cardioversion. We present data collected in 10 countries between May 2010 and June 2011. Enrollment was ongoing in Italy and Brazil at the time of data analysis. Data were collected at the time of atrial fibrillation episode in all countries (Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom), and cumulative follow-up data were collected at day 60 (±10) in all but Spain. Information on center characteristics, enrollment data, patient demographics, detail of atrial fibrillation episode, medical history, diagnostic procedures, acute treatment of atrial fibrillation, discharge information and the follow-up data on major events and rehospitalizations up to day 60 were collected. DISCUSSIN A total of 3940 patients were enrolled from 175 acute care centers. 70.5% of the centers were either academic (44%) or teaching (26%) hospitals with an overall median capacity of 510 beds. The sites were mostly specialized with anticoagulation clinics (65.9%), heart failure (75.1%) and hypertension clinics (60.1%) available. The RHYTHM-AF registry will provide insight into regional variability of antiarrhythmic and antithrombotic treatment of atrial fibrillation, the appropriateness of such treatments with respect to outcomes, and their cost-efficacy. Observations will help inform strategies to improve cardiovascular outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation. TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinical trials NCT01119716Harry JGM Crijns, Lori D Bash, François Chazelle, Jean-Yves Le Heuzey, Thorsten Lewalter, Gregory YH Lip, Aldo P Maggioni, Alfonso MartĂn, Piotr Ponikowski, MĂ„rten Rosenqvist, Prashanthan Sanders, Mauricio Scanavacca, Alexandra A Bernhardt, Sreevalsa Unniachan, Hemant M Phatak and Anselm K Git
Possible pseudogap behavior of electron doped high-temperature superconductors
We have measured the low-energy quasiparticle excitation spectrum of the
electron doped high-temperature superconductors (HTS) Nd(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y)
and Pr(1.85)Ce(0.15)CuO(4-y) as a function of temperature and applied magnetic
field using tunneling spectroscopy. At zero magnetic field, for these optimum
doped samples no excitation gap is observed in the tunneling spectra above the
transition temperature Tc. In contrast, below Tc for applied magnetic fields
well above the resistively determined upper critical field, a clear excitation
gap at the Fermi level is found which is comparable to the superconducting
energy gap below Tc. Possible interpretations of this observation are the
existence of a normal state pseudogap in the electron doped HTS or the
existence of a spatially non-uniform superconducting state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 ps-figures included, to be published in Phys. Rev. B,
Rapid Com
Home bitter home? Gender, living arrangements, and the exclusion from homeownership among older Europeans
Abstract Homeownership is the most important asset among the elderly in Europe, but very little is known about gender and living arrangement differences in this domain. This paper aims at exploring patterns of exclusion from homeownership among middle-aged and older Europeans from a gender perspective, and with a special focus on their household composition. The analysis is based on the fourth wave of the âSurvey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europeâ and includes a sub-sample of about 56,000 individuals aged 50 or over, living in 16 European countries. We estimated a set of multinomial logit models to examine the probability of being either tenant or rent-free occupiers versus homeowners. Our findings show that women are generally more likely to be excluded from homeownership than men. Nevertheless, a closer look suggests that the gender gap in homeownership is essentially generated by compositional differences between men and women, with the most relevant factor being household type. Older women are almost as twice as likely as men to live alone, which is associatedâother things being equalâwith a particular low likelihood to be homeowners virtually in every European country
Coherent quasiparticle weight and its connection to high-T_c superconductivity from angle-resolved photoemission
In conventional superconductors, the pairing energy gap (\Delta) and
superconducting phase coherence go hand-in-hand. As the temperature is lowered,
both the energy gap and phase coherence appear at the transition temperature
T_c. In contrast, in underdoped high-T_c superconductors (HTSCs), a pseudogap
appears at a much higher temperature T^*, smoothly evolving into the
superconducting gap at T_c. Phase coherence on the other hand is only
established at T_c, signaled by the appearance of a sharp quasiparticle (QP)
peak in the excitation spectrum. Another important difference between the two
types of superconductors is in the ratio of 2\Delta / T_c=R. In BCS theory,
R~3.5, is constant. In the HTSCs this ratio varies widely, continuing to
increase in the underdoped region, where the gap increases while T_c decreases.
Here we report that in HTSCs it is the ratio z_A\Delta_m/T_c which is
approximately constant, where \Delta_m is the maximum value of the d-wave gap,
and z_A is the weight of the coherent excitations in the spectral function.
This is highly unusual, since in nearly all phase transitions, T_c is
determined by an energy scale alone. We further show that in the
low-temperature limit, z_{\it A} increases monotonically with increasing doping
x. The growth is linear, i.e. z_A(x)\propto x, in the underdoped to optimally
doped regimes, and slows down in overdoped samples. The reduction of z_A with
increasing temperature resembles that of the c-axis superfluid density.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, revised versio
Nesting properties and anisotropy of the Fermi surface of LuNiBC
The rare earth nickel borocarbides, with the generic formula
NiBC, have recently been shown to display a rich variety of
phenomena. Most striking has been the competition between, and even coexistence
of, antiferromagnetism and superconductivity. We have measured the Fermi
surface (FS) of LuNiBC, and shown that it possesses nesting
features capable of explaining some of the phenomena experimentally observed.
In particular, it had previously been conjectured that a particular sheet of FS
is responsible for the modulated magnetic structures manifest in some of the
series. We report the first direct experimental observation of this sheet.Comment: 4 pages, 4 PS figure
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