Room temperature high resolution vectorial Kerr magnetometry measurements have been performed at different applied magnetic field directions in the whole angular range. In general, the magnetic properties of the LSMO films can be interpreted with just the uniaxial term, with the anisotropy axis given by the film morphology, whereas the strength of this anisotropy depends on both structure and film thickness. In particular, LSMO films grown on nominally flat (110)-oriented STO substrates LDK378 presents a well defined uniaxial anisotropy originated from the existence of elongated in-plane [001]-oriented structures, whereas LSMO films grown on nominally flat (001)-oriented STO substrates show
a weak uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, with the easy axis direction aligned parallel to residual substrate step edges. Elongated structures are also this website found for LSMO films grown on vicinal STO(001) substrates. These films present a well-defined uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, with the easy axis lying along the step edges, and its strength increases with the LSMO thickness. It is remarkable that this step-induced uniaxial anisotropy has been found for LSMO films up to 120 nm thickness. Our results are promising for engineering novel half-metallic magnetic devices that exploit tailored magnetic anisotropy. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3605542]“
“. Patients with chronic hepatitis C infection may exhibit
neuropsychological symptoms and cognitive impairment. Post-mortem studies of hepatitis C virus HCV quasispecies and replicative intermediates indicate that the brain might act as a separate compartment for viral replication and microglia may be the locus for infection and subsequent neuroinflammatory activity. We sought to use two independent in vivo imaging techniques to determine evidence of neuroinflammation in patients with histologically mild chronic hepatitis C. Using positron emission HTS assay tomography (PET) with a ligand for microglial/brain macrophage activation, 11C-(R)-PK11195 (PK11195) and cerebral proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we determined whether there was evidence of neuroinflammation
in a pilot study of 11 patients with biopsy-proven mild chronic hepatitis C, compared to healthy volunteers. Patients were characterized by cognitive testing and the fatigue impact scale to assess for CNS impairment. PK11195 binding potential was significantly increased in the caudate nucleus of patients, compared to normal controls (P = 0.03). The caudate and thalamic binding potential were more significantly increased in six patients with genotype 1 infection (P = 0.007) and positively correlated with viraemia (r = 0.77, P = 0.005). Basal ganglia myo-inositol/creatine and choline/creatine ratios were also significantly elevated in patients with chronic hepatitis C compared to normal controls (P = 0.0004 and P = 0.01, respectively).