Dynamical depinning of chiral domain walls

The domain wall depinning field represents the minimum magnetic field needed to move a domain wall, typically pinned by samples' disorder or patterned constrictions. Conventionally, such field is considered independent on the Gilbert damping since it is assumed to be the field at which the Zeeman energy equals the pinning energy barrier (both damping independent). Here, we analyse numerically the domain wall depinning field as function of the Gilbert damping in a system with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Contrary to expectations, we find that the depinning field depends on the Gilbert damping and that it strongly decreases for small damping parameters. We explain this dependence with a simple one-dimensional model and we show that the reduction of the depinning field is related to the internal domain wall dynamics, proportional to the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, and the finite size of the pinning barriers

Analytic continuation of nucleon electromagnetic form factors in the time-like region

The possibility to compute nucleon electromagnetic form factors in the time-like region by analytic continuation of their space-like expressions has been explored in the framework of the Skyrme model. We have developed a procedure to solve analytically Fourier transforms of the nucleon electromagnetic current and hence to obtain form factors defined in all kinematical regions and fulfilling the first-principles requirements. The results are discussed and compared to data, both in space-like and time-like region.Comment: 34 pages, 15 figure

Factors shaping community assemblages and species co-occurrence of different trophic levels

Species assemblages are the results of various processes, including dispersion and habitat filtering. Disentangling the effects of these different processes is challenging for statistical analysis, especially when biotic interactions should be considered. In this study, we used plants (producers) and leafhoppers (phytophagous) as model organisms, and we investigated the relative importance of abiotic versus biotic factors that shape community assemblages, and we infer on their biotic interactions by applying three-step statistical analysis. We applied a novel statistical analysis, that is, multiblock Redundancy Analysis (mbRA, step 1) and showed that 51.8% and 54.1% of the overall variation in plant and leafhopper assemblages are, respectively, explained by the two multiblock models. The most important blocks of variables to explain the variations in plant and leafhopper assemblages were local topography and biotic factors. Variation partitioning analysis (step 2) showed that pure abiotic filtering and pure biotic processes were relatively less important than their combinations, suggesting that biotic relationships are strongly structured by abiotic conditions. Pairwise co-occurrence analysis (step 3) on generalist leafhoppers and the most common plants identified 40 segregated species pairs (mainly between plant species) and 16 aggregated pairs (mainly between leafhopper species). Pairwise analysis on specialist leafhoppers and potential host plants clearly revealed aggregated patterns. Plant segregation suggests heterogeneous resource availability and competitive interactions, while leafhopper aggregation suggests host feeding differentiation at the local level, different feeding microhabitats on host plants, and similar environmental requirements of the species. Using the novel mbRA, we disentangle for the first time the relative importance of more than five distinct groups of variables shaping local species communities. We highlighted the important role of abiotic processes mediated by bottom-up effects of plants on leafhopper communities. Our results revealed that in-field structure diversification and trophic interactions are the main factors causing the co-occurrence patterns observed.Fil: Trivellone, Valeria. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research; SuizaFil: Bougeard, Stephanie. French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety; FranciaFil: Giavi, Simone. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research; SuizaFil: Krebs, Patrik. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research; SuizaFil: Balseiro, Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; ArgentinaFil: Dray, Stephane. Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1; FranciaFil: Moretti, Marco. Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research; Suiz

Cardiac Meets Skeletal: What's New in Microfluidic Models for Muscle Tissue Engineering

In the last few years microfluidics and microfabrication technique principles have been extensively exploited for biomedical applications. In this framework, organs-on-a-chip represent promising tools to reproduce key features of functional tissue units within microscale culture chambers. These systems offer the possibility to investigate the effects of biochemical, mechanical, and electrical stimulations, which are usually applied to enhance the functionality of the engineered tissues. Since the functionality of muscle tissues relies on the 3D organization and on the perfect coupling between electrochemical stimulation and mechanical contraction, great efforts have been devoted to generate biomimetic skeletal and cardiac systems to allow high-throughput pathophysiological studies and drug screening. This review critically analyzes microfluidic platforms that were designed for skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue engineering. Our aim is to highlight which specific features of the engineered systems promoted a typical reorganization of the engineered construct and to discuss how promising design solutions exploited for skeletal muscle models could be applied to improve cardiac tissue models and vice versa

Human 3D vascularized organotypic microfluidic assays to study breast cancer cell extravasation

A key aspect of cancer metastases is the tendency for specific cancer cells to home to defined subsets of secondary organs. Despite these known tendencies, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here we develop a microfluidic 3D in vitro model to analyze organ-specific human breast cancer cell extravasation into bone- and muscle-mimicking microenvironments through a microvascular network concentrically wrapped with mural cells. Extravasation rates and microvasculature permeabilities were significantly different in the bone-mimicking microenvironment compared with unconditioned or myoblast containing matrices. Blocking breast cancer cell A[subscript 3] adenosine receptors resulted in higher extravasation rates of cancer cells into the myoblast-containing matrices compared with untreated cells, suggesting a role for adenosine in reducing extravasation. These results demonstrate the efficacy of our model as a drug screening platform and a promising tool to investigate specific molecular pathways involved in cancer biology, with potential applications to personalized medicine.National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Grant R33 CA174550-01)National Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Grant R21 CA140096)Italian Ministry of HealthCharles Stark Draper Laboratory (Fellowship

Spin-orbit torques for current parallel and perpendicular to a domain wall

We report field- and current-induced domain wall (DW) depinning experiments in Ta/Co20Fe60B20/MgO nanowires through a Hall cross geometry. While purely field-induced depinning shows no angular dependence on in-plane fields, the effect of the current depends crucially on the internal DW structure, which we manipulate by an external magnetic in-plane field. We show for the first time depinning measurements for a current sent parallel to the DW and compare its depinning efficiency with the conventional case of current flowing perpendicularly to the DW. We find that the maximum efficiency is similar for both current directions within the error bars, which is in line with a dominating damping-like spin-orbit torque (SOT) and indicates that no large additional torques arise for currents parallel to the DW. Finally, we find a varying dependence of the maximum depinning efficiency angle for different DWs and pinning levels. This emphasizes the importance of our full angular scans compared to previously used measurements for just two field directions (parallel and perpendicular to the DW) and shows the sensitivity of the spin-orbit torque to the precise DW structure and pinning sites.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Mechanisms of endothelial cell dysfunction in cystic fibrosis

Although cystic fibrosis (CF) patients exhibit signs of endothelial perturbation, the functions of the cystic fibrosis conductance regulator (CFTR) in vascular endothelial cells (EC) are poorly defined. We sought to uncover biological activities of endothelial CFTR, relevant for vascular homeostasis and inflammation. We examined cells from human umbilical cords (HUVEC) and pulmonary artery isolated from non-cystic fibrosis (PAEC) and CF human lungs (CF-PAEC), under static conditions or physiological shear. CFTR activity, clearly detected in HUVEC and PAEC, was markedly reduced in CF-PAEC. CFTR blockade increased endothelial permeability to macromolecules and reduced trans‑endothelial electrical resistance (TEER). Consistent with this, CF-PAEC displayed lower TEER compared to PAEC. Under shear, CFTR blockade reduced VE-cadherin and p120 catenin membrane expression and triggered the formation of paxillin- and vinculin-enriched membrane blebs that evolved in shrinking of the cell body and disruption of cell-cell contacts. These changes were accompanied by enhanced release of microvesicles, which displayed reduced capability to stimulate proliferation in recipient EC. CFTR blockade also suppressed insulin-induced NO generation by EC, likely by inhibiting eNOS and AKT phosphorylation, whereas it enhanced IL-8 release. Remarkably, phosphodiesterase inhibitors in combination with a β2 adrenergic receptor agonist corrected functional and morphological changes triggered by CFTR dysfunction in EC. Our results uncover regulatory functions of CFTR in EC, suggesting a physiological role of CFTR in the maintenance EC homeostasis and its involvement in pathogenetic aspects of CF. Moreover, our findings open avenues for novel pharmacology to control endothelial dysfunction and its consequences in CF