Magnetism and magnetoresistance in the critical region of a dilute ferromagnet.

We present detailed experimental measurements and simulations of the field-dependent magnetization and magnetoresistance in the vicinity of the Curie temperature in the highly disordered dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As. The observed dependence of the magnetization on external magnetic field and temperature is consistent with three-dimensional Heisenberg equation of state calculations including a narrow distribution of critical temperatures. The magnetoresistance shows a peak at the Curie temperature due to the suppression of magnetic scattering in an applied magnetic field, which is well-described by considering changes in the square of the magnetization induced by the magnetic field.

Genome-wide association study identifies four novel loci associated with Alzheimer's endophenotypes and disease modifiers.

More than 20 genetic loci have been associated with risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD), but reported genome-wide significant loci do not account for all the estimated heritability and provide little information about underlying biological mechanisms. Genetic studies using intermediate quantitative traits such as biomarkers, or endophenotypes, benefit from increased statistical power to identify variants that may not pass the stringent multiple test correction in case-control studies. Endophenotypes also contain additional information helpful for identifying variants and genes associated with other aspects of disease, such as rate of progression or onset, and provide context to interpret the results from genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

Chitinase-3-like 1 protein (CHI3L1) locus influences cerebrospinal fluid levels of YKL-40.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology appears several years before clinical symptoms, so identifying ways to detect individuals in the preclinical stage is imperative. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Tau/Aβ ratio is currently the best known predictor of AD status and cognitive decline, and the ratio of CSF levels of chitinase-3-like 1 protein (CHI3L1, YKL-40) and amyloid beta (Aβ) were reported as predictive, but individual variability and group overlap inhibits their utility for individual diagnosis making it necessary to find ways to improve sensitivity of these biomarkers.

Methods: We used linear regression to identify genetic loci associated with CSF YKL-40 levels in 379 individuals (80 cognitively impaired and 299 cognitively normal) from the Charles F and Joanne Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

SORL1 variants across Alzheimer's disease European American cohorts.

The accumulation of the toxic Aβ peptide in Alzheimer's disease (AD) largely relies upon an efficient recycling of amyloid precursor protein (APP). Recent genetic association studies have described rare variants in SORL1 with putative pathogenic consequences in the recycling of APP. In this work, we examine the presence of rare coding variants in SORL1 in three different European American cohorts: early-onset, late-onset AD (LOAD) and familial LOAD.

Electrical switching of an antiferromagnet.

Antiferromagnets are hard to control by external magnetic fields because of the alternating directions of magnetic moments on individual atoms and the resulting zero net magnetization. However, relativistic quantum mechanics allows for generating current-induced internal fields whose sign alternates with the periodicity of the antiferromagnetic lattice. Using these fields, which couple strongly to the antiferromagnetic order, we demonstrate room-temperature electrical switching between stable configurations in antiferromagnetic CuMnAs thin-film devices by applied current with magnitudes of order 10(6) ampere per square centimeter.