148 research outputs found
Field-dependent diamagnetic transition in magnetic superconductor
The magnetic penetration depth of single crystal
was measured down to 0.4 K in dc fields up
to 7 kOe. For insulating , Sm spins order at the
N\'{e}el temperature, K, independent of the applied field.
Superconducting ( K) shows a
sharp increase in diamagnetic screening below which varied from
4.0 K () to 0.5 K ( 7 kOe) for a field along the c-axis. If the
field was aligned parallel to the conducting planes, remained
unchanged. The unusual field dependence of indicates a spin freezing
transition that dramatically increases the superfluid density.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex
Magnetic penetration depth in electron-doped cuprates - evidence for gap nodes
The in-plane penetration depth \lambda(T) is measured in electron-doped
single crystals Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4-x (NCCO) and Pr1.85Ce0.15CuO4-x (PCCO) using a
11 MHz LC resonator. In NCCO, \lambda(T) exhibits a minimum at 3.8 K and a
pronounced upturn down to 0.4 K due to the paramagnetic contribution of Nd3+
ions. The London penetration depth contribution is linear in T. The
paramagnetic contribution is absent in PCCO, where \lambda(T)~T^2 at low
temperatures. Our results indicate the presence of nodes in the superconducting
gap, i.e., non s-wave symmetry of the order parameter in electron-doped
cuprates.Comment: 2 pages Acrobat-3 optimized PDF. To be presented at M2S-HTSC-V
Conductance quantization in etched Si/SiGe quantum point contacts
We fabricated strongly confined Schottky-gated quantum point contacts by
etching Si/SiGe heterostructures and observed intriguing conductance
quantization in units of approximately 1e2/h. Non-linear conductance
measurements were performed depleting the quantum point contacts at fixed
mode-energy separation. We report evidences of the formation of a half 1e2/h
plateau, supporting the speculation that adiabatic transmission occurs through
1D modes with complete removal of valley and spin degeneracies.Comment: to appear in Physical Review
Measurements of the absolute value of the penetration depth in high- superconductors using a tunnel diode resonator
A method is presented to measure the absolute value of the London penetration
depth, , from the frequency shift of a resonator. The technique
involves coating a high- superconductor (HTSC) with film of low - Tc
material of known thickness and penetration depth. The method is applied to
measure London penetration depth in YBa2Cu3O{7-\delta} (YBCO)
Bi2Sr2CaCu2O{8+\delta} (BSCCO) and Pr{1.85}Ce{0.15}CuO{4-\delta}\lambda (0)\lambda \approx 2790$ \AA, reported for the first
time.Comment: RevTex 4 (beta 4). 4 pages, 4 EPS figures. Submitted to Appl. Phys.
Let
Topological Hysteresis in the Intermediate State of Type-I Superconductors
Magneto-optical imaging of thick stress-free lead samples reveals two
distinct topologies of the intermediate state. Flux tubes are formed upon
magnetic field penetration (closed topology) and laminar patterns appear upon
flux exit (open topology). Two-dimensional distributions of shielding currents
were obtained by applying an efficient inversion scheme. Quantitative analysis
of the magnetic induction distribution and correlation with magnetization
measurements indicate that observed topological differences between the two
phases are responsible for experimentally observable magnetic hysteresis.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex
Are Markers of Systemic Inflammatory Response Useful in the Management of Patients With Neuroendocrine Neoplasms?
Given the increasing incidence of neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) over the past few decades, a more comprehensive knowledge of their pathophysiological bases and the identification of innovative NEN biomarkers represents an urgent unmet need. There is still little advance in the early diagnosis and management of these tumors, due to the lack of sensible and specific markers with prognostic value and ability to early detect the response to treatment. Chronic systemic inflammation is a predisposing factor for multiple cancer hallmarks, as cancer proliferation, progression and immune-evading. Therefore, the relevance of inflammatory biomarkers has been identified as critical in several types of tumours, including NENs. A bidirectional relationship between chronic inflammation and development of NENs has been reported. Neuroendocrine cells can be over-stimulated by chronic inflammation, leading to hyperplasia and neoplastic transformation. As the modulation of inflammatory response represents a therapeutic target, inflammatory markers could represent a promising new key tool to be applied in the diagnosis, the prediction of response to treatment and also as prognostic biomarkers in NENs field. The present review provides an overview of the pre-clinical and clinical data relating the potentially usefulness of circulating inflammatory markers: neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), cytokines and tissue inflammatory markers (PD-1/PD-L1), in the management of NENs. (1) NLR and PLR have both demonstrated to be promising and simple to acquire biomarkers in patients with advanced cancer, including NEN. To date, in the context of NENs, the prognostic role of NLR and PLR has been confirmed in 15 and 4 studies, respectively. However, the threshold value, both for NLR and PLR, still remains not defined. (2) Cytokines seem to play a central role in NENs tumorigenesis. In particular, IL-8 levels seems to be a good predictive marker of response to anti-angiogenic treatments. (3) PD-1 and PD-L1 expression on tumour cells and on TILs, have demonstrated to be promising predictive and prognostic biomarkers in NENs. Unfortunately, these two markers have not been validated so far and further studies are needed to establish their indications and utility
Infodemiological patterns in searching medication errors: Relationship with risk management and shift work
INTRODUCTION: Western world health care systems have been trying to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in order to respond properly to population aging and non-communicable diseases epidemic. Treatment of the elderly population is becoming complex due to the high number of prescribed drugs because of multimorbidity. Errors in drugs administration in different health care related settings are an actual important issue due to different causes. Aim of this observational study is to measure the online interest in seeking medication errors information related to risk management and shift work. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated Google Trends® for popular search relating to medication errors, risk management and shift work. Relative search volumes (RSVs) were evaluated from 2008 to 2018. A comparison between RSV curves related to medication errors, risk management and shift work was carried out. Then, we compared the world to Italian search. RESULTS: RSVs were persistently higher for risk management than for medication errors (mean RSVs 069 vs. 48%) and RSVs were stably higher for medication errors than shift work (mean RSVs 48 vs. 22%). In Italy, RSVs were much lower compared to the rest of the world, and RSVs for medication errors during the study period were negligible. Mean RSVs for risk management and shift work were 3 and 25%, respectively. RSVs related to medication errors and clinical risk management were correlated (r=0.520, p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Google Trends® search query volumes related to medication errors, risk management and shift work are different. RSVs for risk management are higher, and they are correlated with medication errors. Also, shift work search appears to be lower. These results should be interpreted in order to correctly evaluate how to decrease the number of medication errors in different health care related setting
Evidence for Surface Andreev Bound states in Cuprate Superconductors from Penetration Depth Measurements
Tunneling and theoretical studies have suggested that Andreev bound states
form at certain surfaces of unconventional superconductors. Through studies of
the temperature and field dependence of the in-plane magnetic penetration depth
lambda_ab at low temperature, we have found strong evidence for the presence of
these states in clean single crystal YBCO and BSCCO. Crystals cut to expose a
[110] interface show a strong upturn in lambda_ab at around 7K, when the field
is oriented so that the supercurrents flow around this surface. In YBCO this
upturn is completely suppressed by a field of ~0.1 T.Comment: 4 pages 2 column revtex + 4 postscript figures. Submitted to PR
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