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Using vertical spin-valve devices, we experimentally investigate the room-temperature spin diffusion length in an undoped p -Ge layer grown on ferromagnetic Fe 3 Si. Because low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy techniques enable us to grow vertically stacked and all-epitaxial CoFe/Ge/Fe 3 Si trilayers on Si(111), we can intentionally vary the thickness (t Ge ) of the intermediate undoped p -Ge layer during the growth. With decreasing t Ge , the magnitude of the spin signals gradually increases at room temperature. From the analysis based on the model by Fert and Jaffrès, the room-temperature spin diffusion length in the undoped p -Ge grown on Fe 3 Si is experimentally estimated to be ∼ 8.4 nm, much shorter than those reported in previous works on commercial p -Ge substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Febrile infection-related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES), or acute encephalitis with refractory, repetitive partial seizures (AERRPS), is an epileptic encephalopathy beginning with fever-mediated seizures. The etiology remains unclear. To elucidate the genetic background of FIRES/AERRPS (hereafter FIRES), we recruited 19 Japanese patients, genotyped polymorphisms of the IL1B , IL6 , IL10 , TNFA , IL1RN , SCN1A and SCN2A genes, and compared their frequency between the patients and controls. For IL1RN , the frequency of a variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) allele, RN2, was significantly higher in the patients than in controls ( p = 0.0067), and A allele at rs4251981 in 5′ upstream of IL1RN with borderline significance (p = 0.015). Haplotype containing RN2 was associated with an increased risk of FIRES (OR 3.88, 95%CI 1.40–10.8, p = 0.0057). For SCN1A , no polymorphisms showed a significant association, whereas a missense mutation, R1575C, was found in two patients. For SCN2A , the minor allele frequency of G allele at rs1864885 was higher in patients with borderline significance ( p = 0.011). We demonstrated the association of IL1RN haplotype containing RN2 with FIRES, and showed a possible association of IL1RN rs4251981 G > A and SCN2A rs1864885 A > G, in Japanese patients. These preliminary findings suggest the involvement of multiple genetic factors in FIRES, which needs to be confirmed by future studies in a larger number of FIRES cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]