Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating motoneuron disease characterized by sustained loss of neuromuscular junctions, degenerating corticospinal motoneurons and rapidly progressing muscle paralysis. Motoneurons have unique features, essentially a highly polarized, lengthy architecture of axons, posing a considerable challenge for maintaining long-range trafficking routes for organelles, cargo, mRNA and secretion with a high energy effort to serve crucial neuronal functions. Impaired intracellular pathways implicated in ALS pathology comprise RNA metabolism, cytoplasmic protein aggregation, cytoskeletal integrity for organelle trafficking and maintenance of mitochondrial morphology and function, cumulatively leading to neurodegeneration. Current drug treatments only have marginal effects on survival, thereby calling for alternative ALS therapies. Exposure to magnetic fields, e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) on the central nervous system (CNS), has been broadly explored over the past 20 years to investigate and improve physical and mental activities through stimulated excitability as well as neuronal plasticity. However, studies of magnetic treatments on the peripheral nervous system are still scarce. Thus, we investigated the therapeutic potential of low frequency alternating current magnetic fields on cultured spinal motoneurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells of FUS-ALS patients and healthy persons. We report a remarkable restoration induced by magnetic stimulation on axonal trafficking of mitochondria and lysosomes and axonal regenerative sprouting after axotomy in FUS-ALS in vitro without obvious harmful effects on diseased and healthy neurons. These beneficial effects seem to derive from improved microtubule integrity. Thus, our study suggests the therapeutic potential of magnetic stimulations in ALS, which awaits further exploration and validation in future long-term in vivo studies.

The physical and electrical properties of four recent REBCO CC were assessed: 1) THEVA; 2) Shanghai Supercond. Technology; 3) Faraday Factory Japan; and 4) Fujikura. For estimating their physical properties, the delamination strength of each tape was checked by removing a polyimide ribbon sticked on the tape and by cutting the tape after pre-tinning. Their windability and the uniformity of their thickness were also investigated through our metal-as-insulation winding process. For evaluating their electrical properties, their critical current was measured at 4.2 K under various external magnetic fields perpendicular to their ab-plane. Joint samples of each tape were fabricated and tested in a bath of liquid nitrogen at 77 K in self-field. The results are described in this paper for the four tapes.

Heavily Ga implanted Si nanolayers covered with a thin SiO₂ layer exhibit a superconductor-insulator transition in dependence on annealing conditions. The transition characteristics resemble those of ultrathin quench-condensed metal films although the implanted layer differs clearly in composition, width, and nanostructure. This implies a general physical mechanism for the superconductor-insulator transition in thin, disordered layers which is supposed to be a quantum phase transition between dual states—the superconducting and the superinsulating one. There is a resistance criterion for the phase transition closely associated with a critical hole concentration.

We report Alfvén-wave experiments with liquid rubidium at the Dresden High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Reaching up to 63 T, the pulsed magnetic field exceeds the critical value of 54 T at which the Alfvén speed coincides with the sound speed. At this threshold, we observe a period doubling of an applied 8 kHz cw excitation, which is consistent with the theoretical expectation of a parametric resonance between magnetosonic waves and Alfvén waves. Similar mode conversions are discussed as a possible mechanism for heating the solar corona.

${\mathrm{Fe}}_4{\mathrm{Si}}_2{\mathrm{Sn}}_7{\mathrm{O}}_{16}$ hosts an undistorted kagome lattice of ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{2+}$ ($3d^6, S=2$) ions. We present results of bulk magnetization and Sn nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on an oriented ${\mathrm{Fe}}_4{\mathrm{Si}}_2{\mathrm{Sn}}_7{\mathrm{O}}_{16}$ powder sample oriented in geometries parallel ($\parallel$) and perpendicular ($\perp$) to the external applied magnetic field used for orienting the powder ($B_{\text{ori}}$). The bulk susceptibility $\chi$ shows a broad peak at $T_N\sim 3$ K associated with antiferromagnetic ordering. NMR spectra indicate the presence of planar anisotropy in the kagome planes. From an analysis of the static NMR shift ($K$) and dynamic spin-lattice relaxation rate ($1/T_1$) we conclude the presence of dominant magnetic fluctuations in the kagome planes. For the $\parallel$ orientation, $K$ scales linearly with the bulk susceptibility for temperatures down to $\sim 4$ K, while in the $\perp$ orientation $K$ starts to deviate strongly below $T\sim 30$ K. We associate this deviation with the onset of spin-tilting towards the kagome planes. These correlations are also reflected in the $1/T_1$ data for the $\parallel$ orientation, which starts to decrease below $T\sim 30$ K. In this correlated regime, $T_N<T< \sim 30$ K, we discuss the formation of positive chiral spin correlations in the kagome planes.