Homozygous mutation of focal adhesion kinase in embryonic stem cell derived neurons: normal electrophysiological and morphological properties in vitro

Background  

Genetically manipulated embryonic stem (ES) cell derived neurons (ESNs) provide a powerful system with which to study the consequences of gene manipulation in mature, synaptically connected neurons in vitro. Here we report a study of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), which has been implicated in synapse formation and regulation of ion channels, using the ESN system to circumvent the embryonic lethality of homozygous FAK mutant mice.     

On a decoupled linear FEM integrator for eddy-current-LLG

We propose a numerical integrator for the coupled system of the eddy-current equation with the nonlinear Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation. The considered effective field contains a general field contribution, and we particularly cover exchange, anisotropy, applied field and magnetic field (stemming from the eddy-current equation). Even though the considered problem is nonlinear, our scheme requires only the solution of two linear systems per time-step. Moreover, our algorithm decouples both equations so that in each time-step, one linear system is solved for the magnetization, and afterwards one linear system is solved for the magnetic field. Unconditional convergence – at least of a subsequence – towards a weak solution is proved, and our analysis even provides existence of such weak solutions. Numerical experiments with micromagnetic benchmark problems underline the performance and the stability of the proposed algorithm.     

Flux line lattice symmetries in the borocarbide superconductor LuNi2B2C

We compare the results of small angle neutron scattering on the flux line lattice (FLL) obtained in the borocarbide superconductor LuNi₂B₂C with the applied field along the c- and a-axes. For H‖c the temperature dependence of the FLL structural phase transition from square to hexagonal symmetry was investigated. Above 10 K the transition onset field. H ₂(T), rises sharply, bending away from H _c2(T) in contradiction to theoretical predictions of the two merging. For H‖a a first order FLL reorientation transition is observed at H _tr=3–3.5 kOe. Below H _tr the FLL nearest neighbor direction is parallel to the b-axis, and above H _tr to the c-axis. This transition cannot be explained using nonlocal corrections to the London model.