Changes in the reflex excitability of the soleus spinal center in humans performing various motor tasks

The reflex excitability of the soleus spinal motoneurons was assessed in healthy subjects performing different types of motor tasks: voluntary contraction of the flexor (dorsal flexion) and extensor (plantar flexion) muscles of the foot. The effect of the contraction strength of these muscles was also evaluated. During dorsal flexion of the ipsi-and contralateral feet, changes in the reflex ecitability of the soleus motoneurons were unidirectional: the excitability decreased. The decrease in the reflex excitability was more profound during dorsal flexion with the maximum strength than with the half-maximum strength. During the plantar flexion of the ipsi-and contralateral feet, the excitability of the soleus motoneurons changed in opposite directions: in some subjects it increased, while in the others it decreased. The reflex excitability of the soleus motoneurons changed to a greater extent during dorsal or plantar flexion of the ipsilateral foot. In the case of plantar flexion, the soleus motor center is possibly affected by a broader spectrum of influences than in the case of dorsal flexion, which can explain the variations in the reflex excitability changes during plantar flexion. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2006

УПРОЩЕННЫЙ МЕТОД АНАЛИЗА, КОНТРОЛЯ И ПРОГНОЗА ВЫСОКОГО ЗАГРЯЗНЕНИЯ ВОДЫ ОТДЕЛЬНЫМИ КОМПОНЕНТАМИ

Assessing the risks and predicting the increased pollution of natural water bodies is especially important in the industrial regions where the instability of the monitored indicators is most significant. This article proposes methods of this activity with the use of non-parametric and more accurate parametric methods of hydro-monitoring data analysis. The results of using these methods for the Ural region have been obtained, and it has been shown that the analytical description of the "tail" parts of the probability distribution in the studied water quality indicators with the use of the Pareto distribution allows to identify the appropriate indicators for the limited volume samples and to give the projected estimates in the unobserved parts of the distributions. It has been noted that the risk of significant water pollution exists even if the situation is relatively favorable according to the hydro-monitoring. In this regard, a methodology of estimating the upper limit of the confidence interval covering the value of the monitored index with the acceptable reliability has been proposed. Practical examples show the effectiveness of this method. The special significance of the application of the proposed approaches to the predicting aspect is due to the possibility of assessing the small risks of the appearance of extreme unit values of the investigated random variables.Keywords: probability of considerable water contamination, prediction, the «tail» of the probability distribution function, ranking the highest concentrations, upper fiducial limit, the theory of order statistics.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15826/analitika.2017.21.2.008 O.M. Rosental’1, L.N. Aleksandrovskaya2, A.V. Kirillin2 1Institute of Water Problems of RAS, Gubkin ul., 3, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation 2Moscow aviation Institute, Volokolamskoe shosse, 4, Moscow, 125993, Russian FederationОценка риска и прогноз повышенного загрязнения природных вод особенно важны в промышленных регионах, где нестабильность контролируемых показателей наиболее высока. Поскольку риск является вероятностной характеристикой степени загрязнения воды отдельными компонентами, для решения этой задачи необходимо привлечение статистических методов. В статье предложена практическая методика такой оценки с использованием непараметрических, основанных на теории порядковых статистик, и более точных параметрических методов статистического анализа данных гидромониторинга, требующих аналитического описания функции распределения концентрации загрязняющих веществ. Результаты использования методики апробированы для уральского региона, для чего обосновано и показано, что аналитическое описание «хвостовых» частей функций распределения вероятностей при больших значениях исследуемых показателей качества воды распределением Парето позволяет по выборкам ограниченного объема определять соответствующие показатели в ненаблюдаемых частях распределений, т.е. давать прогнозные оценки. Отмечено, что риск высокого загрязнения воды существует, даже если ситуация по данным гидромониторинга относительно благополучна. В связи с этим предложена методика оценки доверительного интервала, покрывающего значения контролируемого показателя с заданной доверительной вероятностью, в том числе наиболее важной его верхней доверительной границы. На практических демонстрационных примерах показана эффективность разработанной методики. Особая значимость применения предложенных подходов к прогнозной задаче обусловлена возможностью оценивания малых рисков появления экстремальных единичных значений исследуемых случайных величин.Ключевые слова: вероятность высокого загрязнения воды, прогноз, «хвост» функции распределения вероятностей, ранжирование наибольших значений концентрации, верхняя граница доверительного интервала, теория порядковых статистикDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15826/analitika.2017.21.2.00

Low energy kaon photoproduction from nuclei

We study $K^+$-meson production in $\gamma{A}$ interaction at energies below the reaction threshold in free space. The Thomas-Fermi and spectral function approaches are used for the calculations of the production process. It is found that the measurement of the differential spectra may allow to reconstruct the production mechanism and to investigate the dispersion relations entering the production vertex. It is shown that the contribution from secondary pion induced reactions to the total kaon photoproduction is negligible for $E_\gamma{<}$1.2 GeV so that strangeness production at low energies is sensitive to the nuclear spectral function.Comment: 20 pages, espcrc1, including 12 figures, to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Branching ratio change in K- absorption at rest and the nature of the Lambda(1405)

We investigate in-medium corrections to the branching ratio in K- absorption at rest and their effect on the (positively and negatively) charged pion spectrum. The in-medium corrections are due to Pauli blocking, which arises if the Lambda(1405) is assumed to be a $\bar{K}$-nucleon bound state and leads to a density and momentum dependent mass shift of the Lambda(1405). Requiring that the optical potential as well as the branching ratio are derived from the same elementary T-matrix, we find that the in-medium corrected, density dependent T-matrix gives a better description of the K- absorption reaction than the free, density-independent one. This result suggests that the dominant component of the Lambda(1405) wave function is the $\bar{K}N$ bound state.Comment: 8 Pages, Revtex with epsf, and embedded 8 ps figure

Heterologous reporter expression in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea through somatic mRNA transfection

Planarians have long been studied for their regenerative abilities. Moving forward, tools for ectopic expression of non-native proteins will be of substantial value. Using a luminescent reporter to overcome the strong autofluorescence of planarian tissues, we demonstrate heterologous protein expression in planarian cells and live animals. Our approach is based on the introduction of mRNA through several nanotechnological and chemical transfection methods. We improve reporter expression by altering untranslated region (UTR) sequences and codon bias, facilitating the measurement of expression kinetics in both isolated cells and whole planarians using luminescence imaging. We also examine protein expression as a function of variations in the UTRs of delivered mRNA, demonstrating a framework to investigate gene regulation at the post-transcriptional level. Together, these advances expand the toolbox for the mechanistic analysis of planarian biology and establish a foundation for the development and expansion of transgenic techniques in this unique model system

Simplified method of analysis, control and forecast of high water pollution by separate components

Assessing the risks and predicting the increased pollution of natural water bodies is especially important in the industrial regions where the instability of the monitored indicators is most significant. This article proposes methods of this activity with the use of non-parametric and more accurate parametric methods of hydro-monitoring data analysis. The results of using these methods for the Ural region have been obtained, and it has been shown that the analytical description of the “tail” parts of the probability distribution in the studied water quality indicators with the use of the Pareto distribution allows to identify the appropriate indicators for the limited volume samples and to give the projected estimates in the unobserved parts of the distributions. It has been noted that the risk of significant water pollution exists even if the situation is relatively favorable according to the hydro-monitoring. In this regard, a methodology of estimating the upper limit of the confidence interval covering the value of the monitored index with the acceptable reliability has been proposed. Practical examples show the effectiveness of this method. The special significance of the application of the proposed approaches to the predicting aspect is due to the possibility of assessing the small risks of the appearance of extreme unit values of the investigated random variables.Оценка риска и прогноз повышенного загрязнения природных вод особенно важны в промышленных регионах, где нестабильность контролируемых показателей наиболее высока. Поскольку риск является вероятностной характеристикой степени загрязнения воды отдельными компонентами, для решения этой задачи необходимо привлечение статистических методов. В статье предложена практическая методика такой оценки с использованием непараметрических, основанных на теории порядковых статистик, и более точных параметрических методов статистического анализа данных гидромониторинга, требующих аналитического описания функции распределения концентрации загрязняющих веществ. Результаты использования методики апробированы для уральского региона, для чего обосновано и показано, что аналитическое описание «хвостовых» частей функций распределения вероятностей при больших значениях исследуемых показателей качества воды распределением Парето позволяет по выборкам ограниченного объема определять соответствующие показатели в ненаблюдаемых частях распределений, т.е. давать прогнозные оценки. Отмечено, что риск высокого загрязнения воды существует, даже если ситуация по данным гидромониторинга относительно благополучна. В связи с этим предложена методика оценки доверительного интервала, покрывающего значения контролируемого показателя с заданной доверительной вероятностью, в том числе наиболее важной его верхней доверительной границы. На практических демонстрационных примерах показана эффективность разработанной методики. Особая значимость применения предложенных подходов к прогнозной задаче обусловлена возможностью оценивания малых рисков появления экстремальных единичных значений исследуемых случайных величин

The effects of siblings on the migration of women in two rural areas of Belgium and the Netherlands, 1829-1940

This study explores the extent to which the presence and activities of siblings shaped the chances of women migrating to rural and urban areas in two rural areas of Belgium and the Netherlands during the second half of the nineteenth and first decades of the twentieth century. Shared-frailty Cox proportional hazard analyses of longitudinal data from historical population registers show that siblings exerted an additive impact on women's migration, independently of temporal and household characteristics. Just how siblings influenced women's migration depended on regional modes of production and on employment opportunities. In the Zeeland region, sisters channelled each other into service positions. In the Pays de Herve, where men and women found industrial work in the Walloon cities, women were as much influenced by their brothers' activities. Evidence is found for two mechanisms explaining the effects of siblings: micro-economic notions of joint-household decision-making and social capital theory

A-dependence of phi-meson production in p+A collisions

A systematic analysis of the A-dependence of phi-meson production in proton-nucleus collisions is presented. We apply different formalisms for the evaluation of the phi-meson distortion in nuclei and discuss the theoretical uncertainties of the data analysis. The corresponding results are compared to theoretical predictions. We also discuss the interpretation of the extracted results with respect to different observables and provide relations between frequently used definitions. The perspectives of future experiments are evaluated and estimates based on our systematical study are given.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure