Search

We studied several proposals to address the problems encountered when single-pole-type giant magnetoresistive (SPT-GMR) heads are applied to an actual recording system. The first area of problems was regarding side erasure when there is a head skew. We fabricated a trapezoid-shaped main pole using a focus-ion-beam trimming or using a new wafer-processing technique and examined their write performances and their effects on reducing side erasure. The second area of problems concerned the stray field robustness of SPT-GMR heads when combined with a double-layered perpendicular recording medium. We tried to optimize the robustness and write performance by changing the width of a yoke in the main pole or by positioning a shield above the main pole. The stray field robustness and write performance were adequate in both cases, but a tradeoff relationship exists between both performances. Index Terms--External field robustness, head skew, perpendicular magnetic recording, single pole head.

In 2018, a patient was diagnosed with Shimokoshi type scrub typhus in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. The causative pathogen was likely a variant type because 43 (8.3%) of 521 deduced amino acid sequences of the 56‐kDa type‐specific antigen (TSA) were different from those of the Shimokoshi prototype strain. The patient's paired sera showed low antibody titers against the Shimokoshi prototype strain. Two cases of scrub typhus reported in the Tohoku region during 2011–2012 also involved the same 56‐kDa TSA gene sequence. These findings suggest the presence of diversity in Shimokoshi type Orientia tsutsugamushi, which may impede the laboratory diagnosis of scrub typhus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among metal additives M(M:Pt, Pd, Rh, Ir, and Cu) of antiferromagnetic CrMnM[sub x] films, Pd was the most suitable M for obtaining large exchange coupling. For the 50 nm CrMnPd[sub 5]/40 nm Nig[sub 1]Fe[sub l9] films, the exchange coupling field of ∼28 Oe and the blocking temperature of ∼380 °C could be obtained. The CrMn(Pt, Pd, or Rh)[sub x] films having the optimum content of ∼8, ∼5, or ∼11 at.% exhibited the same high blocking temperature. The high blocking temperature of the CrMnPt[sub 8], CrMnPd[sub 5], and CrMnRh[sub 11] films was attributed to the nearest neighbor Mn-Mn within the respective films being at the same distance as that at which the Mn-Mn exchange integral showed the maximum negative value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of the study is to investigate whether the lifestyle-related disease (LSRD) hypertension, type II diabetes mellitus, and lipid abnormality are associated with conversion and reversion in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) over 12 months of follow-up.Methods: One hundred and thirteen patients with MCI were prospectively enrolled and longitudinally assessed. Methods used include mini-mental state examination, the Japanese version of the cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale, the Clinical Dementia Rating, the Frontal Assessment Battery, the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, magnetic resonance imaging, and quantitative single-photon emission computed tomography. In addition, laboratory examinations of glucose and lipids were also performed. All measurements were performed at first intake and again at the end of the 12-month follow-up. Conversion was identified as a change in Clinical Dementia Rating from 0.5 to 1 and reversion as a change from 0.5 to 0.Results: Patients with MCI with reversion had lower comorbid lipid abnormality at baseline and higher cognitive and behaviour function across the 12-month follow-up compared with those with no change or conversion. Patients without comorbid LSRD had lower systolic pressure and lower glucose and triglyceride levels at baseline, as well as less cognitive decline compared with other groups across the follow-up period.Conclusions: The absence of lipid abnormality at baseline may contribute to reversion in patients with MCI. The presence of multiple LSRD was associated with cognitive decline. Our results highlight the contribution of multiple LSRD on increasing conversion and decreasing reversion in patients with MCI. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We inserted NiFe/CoFe/antiferromagnetic-MnIr/ CoFe layers between two CoTaZr soft layers to enhance the exchange-bias field (Heb) and then evaluated the effect of this lamination on the spike noise and recording characteristics of CoCrPt-SiOx media with an exchange-biased soft magnetic underlayer (SUL). The two CoTaZr layers were exchange-biased radially throughout the disk, and a higher Heb was obtained for the upper CoThZr layer. By using the laminated SUL, spike noise was suppressed even when the total thickness of the CoTaZr layers was increased to 300 mn. Although the medium had a high Hc of 7.0 kOe, a fairly good overwrite and signal-to-noise ratio were obtained. As another application of exchange biasing, we also examined the possibility of combining exchange biasing and antiparallel-coupled (APC) soft layers; i.e., a pinned APC SUL. An exchange-bias field from the pinning layers to the lower CoTaZr layer and an exchange-coupled field between the two CoThZr layers were successfully applied. The medium with the pinned APC SUL showed no spike noise throughout the disk, and wide-area adjacent track erasure was effectively suppressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]