Developmental sensory experience balances cortical excitation and inhibition.

Early in life, neural circuits are highly susceptible to outside influences. The organization of the primary auditory cortex (A1) in particular is governed by acoustic experience during the critical period, an epoch near the beginning of postnatal development throughout which cortical synapses and networks are especially plastic. This neonatal sensitivity to the pattern of sensory inputs is believed to be essential for constructing stable and adequately adapted representations of the auditory world and for the acquisition of language skills by children. One important principle of synaptic organization in mature brains is the balance between excitation and inhibition, which controls receptive field structure and spatiotemporal flow of neural activity, but it is unknown how and when this excitatory-inhibitory balance is initially established and calibrated. Here we use whole-cell recording to determine the processes underlying the development of synaptic receptive fields in rat A1. We find that, immediately after the onset of hearing, sensory-evoked excitatory and inhibitory responses are equally strong, although inhibition is less stimulus-selective and mismatched with excitation. However, during the third week of postnatal development, excitation and inhibition become highly correlated. Patterned sensory stimulation drives coordinated synaptic changes across receptive fields, rapidly improves excitatory-inhibitory coupling and prevents further exposure-induced modifications. Thus, the pace of cortical synaptic receptive field development is set by progressive, experience-dependent refinement of intracortical inhibition

Targeting kidney mesangium by nanoparticles of defined size

Nanoparticles are being investigated for numerous medical applications and are showing potential as an emerging class of carriers for drug delivery. Investigations on how the physicochemical properties (e.g., size, surface charge, shape, and density of targeting ligands) of nanoparticles enable their ability to overcome biological barriers and reach designated cellular destinations in sufficient amounts to elicit biological efficacy are of interest. Despite proven success in nanoparticle accumulation at cellular locations and occurrence of downstream therapeutic effects (e.g., target gene inhibition) in a selected few organs such as tumor and liver, reports on effective delivery of engineered nanoparticles to other organs still remain scarce. Here, we show that nanoparticles of ~75 ± 25-nm diameters target the mesangium of the kidney. These data show the effects of particle diameter on targeting the mesangium of the kidney. Because many diseases originate from this area of the kidney, our findings establish design criteria for constructing nanoparticle-based therapeutics for targeting diseases that involve the mesangium of the kidney

Default mode network connectivity and reciprocal social behavior in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is a genetic mutation associated with disorders of cortical connectivity and social dysfunction. However, little is known about the functional connectivity (FC) of the resting brain in 22q11DS and its relationship with social behavior. A seed-based analysis of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data was used to investigate FC associated with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), in (26) youth with 22qDS and (51) demographically matched controls. Subsequently, the relationship between PCC connectivity and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores was examined in 22q11DS participants. Relative to 22q11DS participants, controls showed significantly stronger FC between the PCC and other default mode network (DMN) nodes, including the precuneus, precentral gyrus and left frontal pole. 22q11DS patients did not show age-associated FC changes observed in typically developing controls. Increased connectivity between PCC, medial prefrontal regions and the anterior cingulate cortex, was associated with lower SRS scores (i.e. improved social competence) in 22q11DS. DMN integrity may play a key role in social information processing. We observed disrupted DMN connectivity in 22q11DS, paralleling reports from idiopathic autism and schizophrenia. Increased strength of long-range DMN connectivity was associated with improved social functioning in 22q11DS. These findings support a \u27developmental-disconnection\u27 hypothesis of symptom development in this disorder

Abelian functions associated with a cyclic tetragonal curve of genus six

We develop the theory of Abelian functions defined using a tetragonal curve of genus six, discussing in detail the cyclic curve y^4 = x^5 + λ[4]x^4 + λ[3]x^3 + λ[2]x^2 + λ[1]x + λ[0]. We construct Abelian functions using the multivariate sigma-function associated with the curve, generalizing the theory of theWeierstrass℘-function. We demonstrate that such functions can give a solution to the KP-equation, outlining how a general class of solutions could be generated using a wider class of curves. We also present the associated partial differential equations satisfied by the functions, the solution of the Jacobi inversion problem, a power series expansion for σ(u) and a new addition formula

Resonance production by neutrinos: I. J=3/2 Resonances

The article contains general formulas for the production of J=3/2 resonances by neutrinos and antineutrinos. It specializes to the P_{33}(1232) resonance whose form factors are determined by theory and experiment and then are compared with experimental results at low and high energies. It is shown that the minimum in the low Q^2 region is a consequence of a combined effect from the vanishing of the vector form factors, the muon mass and Pauli blocking. Several improvements for the future investigations are suggested.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, misprints corrected, 1 reference adde

Decoupling of optoelectronic properties from morphological changes in sodium treated kesterite thin film solar cells

Sodium is typically used during the synthesis of kesterite thin films to enhance the performance of solar cells. As sodium tends to affect grain growth and morphology, it is difficult to analyse solely the electronic effects of sodium as dopant. To decouple the structural and electronic effects from each other, two processes were designed in this work to successfully incorporate sodium into a vacuum-processed Cu2ZnSnSe4absorber without changing the morphology. A thin layer of NaF is deposited before precursor deposition (Pre-NaF) or after absorber synthesis to undergo a post deposition treatment (NaF-PDT). While composition and distribution of matrix elements remain unchanged, the sodium concentration is increased upon sodium treatment up to 140 ppm as measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the surface composition was not altered. Within its detection limit, sodium was not present at the absorber surface. For a Pre-NaF sample measured with atom probe tomography a sodium concentration of 30 ppm was measured in a grain, suggesting that sodium might segregate at grain boundaries. The additional sodium content in the film leads to an increased acceptor concentration, which results in improved open-circuit voltage and fill factor.Financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) in the network of the Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme (ISJRP) [IZLIZ2_157140/1] is gratefully acknowledged. T. Schwarz is grateful for the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG) [Contract GA 2450/1-1]. R. Caballero acknowledges financial support from Spanish MINECO within the Ramón y Cajal program [RYC-2011-08521], MINECO project WINCOST [ENE2016-80788-C5-2-R] and from Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport within the José Castillejo program [CAS 15/00070

Spin states of zigzag-edged Mobius graphene nanoribbons from first principles

Mobius graphene nanoribbons have only one edge topologically. How the magnetic structures, previously associated with the two edges of zigzag-edged flat nanoribbons or cyclic nanorings, would change for their Mobius counterparts is an intriguing question. Using spin-polarized density functional theory, we shed light on this question. We examine spin states of zigzag-edged Mobius graphene nanoribbons (ZMGNRs) with different widths and lengths. We find a triplet ground state for a Mobius cyclacene, while the corresponding two-edged cyclacene has an open-shell singlet ground state. For wider ZMGNRs, the total magnetization of the ground state is found to increase with the ribbon length. For example, a quintet ground state is found for a ZMGNR. Local magnetic moments on the edge carbon atoms form domains of majority and minor spins along the edge. Spins at the domain boundaries are found to be frustrated. Our findings show that the Mobius topology (i.e., only one edge) causes ZMGNRs to favor one spin over the other, leading to a ground state with non-zero total magnetization.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure

Nucleon to Delta Weak Excitation Amplitudes in the Non-relativistic Quark Model

We investigate the nucleon to Delta(1232) vector and axial vector amplitudes in the non-relativistic quark model of the Isgur-Karl variety. A particular interest is to investigate the SU(6) symmetry breaking, due to color hyperfine interaction. We compare the theoretical estimates to recent experimental investigation of the Adler amplitudes by neutrino scattering.Comment: \documentstyle[aps]{revtex}, 21pages; 11 postscript figures. Accepted for publication by Phys. Rev.