Spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) is studied in metallic bilayers that consist of a heavy metal (HM) layer and a ferromagnetic metal (FM) layer. We find a nearly tenfold increase of SMR in W/CoFeB compared to previously studied HM/ferromagnetic insulator systems. The SMR increases with decreasing temperature despite the negligible change in the W layer resistivity. A model is developed to account for the absorption of the longitudinal spin current to the FM layer, one of the key characteristics of a metallic ferromagnet. We find that the model not only quantitatively describes the HM layer thickness dependence of SMR, allowing accurate estimation of the spin Hall angle and the spin diffusion length of the HM layer, but also can account for the temperature dependence of SMR by assuming a temperature dependent spin polarization of the FM layer. These results illustrate the unique role a metallic ferromagnetic layer plays in defining spin transmission across the HM/FM interface.

The spin Nernst effect, direct conversion of heat current to spin current, is observed in W/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures.

ROLL and SLN biopsy are emerging procedures that can be used simultaneously. They permit exact breast lesion excision, immediate local breast surgery, and intraoperative SLN biopsy in a single procedure. The combination of radioguided nonpalpable lesion localization and SLN biopsy is a suitable alternative to working up subclinical imaging-detected breast carcinomas.

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The authors report their experience with a new strategy for radioguided breast surgery that combines radioguided occult lesion localisation (ROLL) and sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping. The study population comprised 38 women with non-palpable breast lesions suspicious for breast cancer (BI-RADS 4-5). On the day before surgery, 0.2 ml solution containing particles of dextran labelled with approximately 15 MBq of technetium-99m was injected under stereotaxic guidance by mammography. All patients underwent open surgical biopsy guided by gamma probe, radiographic control of the surgical specimen and frozen section analysis. The rate of confirmation of lesion removal was 100% and the rate of simultaneous SLN mapping was 97.3% (37/38). Eleven cases of infiltrating carcinoma and eight of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) were diagnosed intraoperatively. In the first eight invasive lesions, the SLN was biopsied and complete axillary lymph node dissection was performed; in the three other invasive lesions and in two aggressive cases of DCIS, only the SLN was dissected. The intraoperative results of SLN analysis and the definitive histopathological examinations of the SLN were always negative. It is concluded that ROLL and SLN can be employed simultaneously when dextran is used as a tracer; this technique allows frozen section diagnosis and intra-operative node analysis, and has many advantages over the conventional two-step procedure.