3,653 research outputs found
Following one's heart: cardiac rhythms gate central initiation of sympathetic reflexes
Central nervous processing of environmental stimuli requires integration of sensory information with ongoing autonomic control of cardiovascular function. Rhythmic feedback of cardiac and baroreceptor activity contributes dynamically to homeostatic autonomic control. We examined how the processing of brief somatosensory stimuli is altered across the cardiac cycle to evoke differential changes in bodily state. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging of brain and noninvasive beat-to-beat cardiovascular monitoring, we show that stimuli presented before and during early cardiac systole elicited differential changes in neural activity within amygdala, anterior insula and pons, and engendered different effects on blood pressure. Stimulation delivered during early systole inhibited blood pressure increases. Individual differences in heart rate variability predicted magnitude of differential cardiac timing responses within periaqueductal gray, amygdala and insula. Our findings highlight integration of somatosensory and phasic baroreceptor information at cortical, limbic and brainstem levels, with relevance to mechanisms underlying pain control, hypertension and anxiety
Production of protein extracts from Swedish red, green, and brown seaweeds, Porphyra umbilicalis Kützing, Ulva lactuca Linnaeus, and Saccharina latissima (Linnaeus) J. V. Lamouroux using three different methods
peer-reviewedThe demand for vegetable proteins increases globally and seaweeds are considered novel and promising protein sources. However, the tough polysaccharide-rich cell walls and the abundance of polyphenols reduce the extractability and digestibility of seaweed proteins. Therefore, food grade, scalable, and environmentally friendly protein extraction techniques are required. To date, little work has been carried out on developing such methods taking into consideration the structural differences between seaweed species. In this work, three different protein extraction methods were applied to three Swedish seaweeds (Porphyra umbilicalis, Ulva lactuca, and Saccharina latissima). These methods included (I) a traditional method using sonication in water and subsequent ammonium sulfate-induced protein precipitation, (II) the pH-shift protein extraction method using alkaline protein solubilization followed by isoelectric precipitation, and (III) the accelerated solvent extraction (ASE®) method where proteins are extracted after pre-removal of lipids and phlorotannins. The highest protein yields were achieved using the pH-shift method applied to P. umbilicalis (22.6 ± 7.3%) and S. latissima (25.1 ± 0.9%). The traditional method resulted in the greatest protein yield when applied to U. lactuca (19.6 ± 0.8%). However, the protein concentration in the produced extracts was highest for all three species using the pH-shift method (71.0 ± 3.7%, 51.2 ± 2.1%, and 40.7 ± 0.5% for P. umbilicalis, U. lactuca, and S. latissima, respectively). In addition, the pH-shift method was found to concentrate the fatty acids in U. lactuca and S. latissima by 2.2 and 1.6 times, respectively. The pH-shift method can therefore be considered a promising strategy for producing seaweed protein ingredients for use in food and feed
The Abelian Manna model on two fractal lattices
We analyze the avalanche size distribution of the Abelian Manna model on two
different fractal lattices with the same dimension d_g=ln(3)/ln(2), with the
aim to probe for scaling behavior and to study the systematic dependence of the
critical exponents on the dimension and structure of the lattices. We show that
the scaling law D(2-tau)=d_w generalizes the corresponding scaling law on
regular lattices, in particular hypercubes, where d_w=2. Furthermore, we
observe that the lattice dimension d_g, the fractal dimension of the random
walk on the lattice d_w, and the critical exponent D, form a plane in 3D
parameter space, i.e. they obey the linear relationship D=0.632(3) d_g +
0.98(1) d_w - 0.49(3).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, submitted to PRE as a Brief Repor
Quantum theory of light and noise polarization in nonlinear optics
We present a consistent quantum theory of the electromagnetic field in
nonlinearly responding causal media, with special emphasis on
media. Starting from QED in linearly responding causal media, we develop a
method to construct the nonlinear Hamiltonian expressed in terms of the complex
nonlinear susceptibility in a quantum mechanically consistent way. In
particular we show that the method yields the nonlinear noise polarization,
which together with the linear one is responsible for intrinsic quantum
decoherence.Comment: 4 pages, no figure
Self-organized Criticality and Absorbing States: Lessons from the Ising Model
We investigate a suggested path to self-organized criticality. Originally,
this path was devised to "generate criticality" in systems displaying an
absorbing-state phase transition, but closer examination of the mechanism
reveals that it can be used for any continuous phase transition. We used the
Ising model as well as the Manna model to demonstrate how the finite-size
scaling exponents depend on the tuning of driving and dissipation rates with
system size.Our findings limit the explanatory power of the mechanism to
non-universal critical behavior.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX
and resonances on the lattice at nearly physical quark masses and
Working with a pion mass MeV, we study and
scattering using two flavours of non-perturbatively improved Wilson
fermions at a lattice spacing fm. Employing two lattice
volumes with linear spatial extents of and points and moving
frames, we extract the phase shifts for p-wave and scattering
near the and resonances.Comparing our results to those of previous
lattice studies, that used pion masses ranging from about 200 MeV up to 470
MeV, we find that the coupling appears to be remarkably
constant as a function of .Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, v2: "and " added to the title, references
updated, some figures replaced, including improved summary plots, alternative
parametrizations are considered and analytical continations are performed to
determine pole positions on the second Riemann shee
Drift causes anomalous exponents in growth processes
The effect of a drift term in the presence of fixed boundaries is studied for
the one-dimensional Edwards-Wilkinson equation, to reveal a general mechanism
that causes a change of exponents for a very broad class of growth processes.
This mechanism represents a relevant perturbation and therefore is important
for the interpretation of experimental and numerical results. In effect, the
mechanism leads to the roughness exponent assuming the same value as the growth
exponent. In the case of the Edwards-Wilkinson equation this implies exponents
deviating from those expected by dimensional analysis.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, REVTeX; accepted for publication in PRL; added
note and reference
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