Ketamine Modulates Theta and Gamma Oscillations

Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor glutamatergic antagonist, has been studied as a model of schizophrenia when applied in subanesthetic doses. In EEG studies, ketamine affects sensory gating and alters the oscillatory characteristics of neuronal signals in a complexmanner. We investigated the effects of ketamine on in vivo recordings from the CA3 region of mouse hippocampus referenced to the ipsilateral frontal sinus using a paired-click auditory gating paradigm. One issue of particular interest was elucidating the effect of ketamine on background network activity, poststimulus evoked and induced activity. We find that ketamine attenuates the theta frequency band in both background activity and in poststimulus evoked activity. Ketamine also disrupts a late, poststimulus theta power reduction seen in control recordings. In the gamma frequency range, ketamine enhances both background and evoked power, but decreases relative induced power. These findings support a role for NMDA receptors in mediating the balance between theta and gamma responses to sensory stimuli, with possible implications for dysfunction in schizophrenia

Day care study showed no differences in long-term symptoms in children who were and were not infected during COVID-19 outbreaks

Peer Reviewe

Direct and indirect effects of H-NS and Fis on global gene expression control in Escherichia coli

Nucleoid-associated proteins (NAPs) are global regulators of gene expression in Escherichia coli, which affect DNA conformation by bending, wrapping and bridging the DNA. Two of these—H-NS and Fis—bind to specific DNA sequences and structures. Because of their importance to global gene expression, the binding of these NAPs to the DNA was previously investigated on a genome-wide scale using ChIP-chip. However, variation in their binding profiles across the growth phase and the genome-scale nature of their impact on gene expression remain poorly understood. Here, we present a genome-scale investigation of H-NS and Fis binding to the E. coli chromosome using chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq). By performing our experiments under multiple time-points during growth in rich media, we show that the binding regions of the two proteins are mutually exclusive under our experimental conditions. H-NS binds to significantly longer tracts of DNA than Fis, consistent with the linear spread of H-NS binding from high- to surrounding lower-affinity sites; the length of binding regions is associated with the degree of transcriptional repression imposed by H-NS. For Fis, a majority of binding events do not lead to differential expression of the proximal gene; however, it has a significant indirect effect on gene expression partly through its effects on the expression of other transcription factors. We propose that direct transcriptional regulation by Fis is associated with the interaction of tandem arrays of Fis molecules to the DNA and possible DNA bending, particularly at operon-upstream regions. Our study serves as a proof-of-principle for the use of ChIP-seq for global DNA-binding proteins in bacteria, which should become significantly more economical and feasible with the development of multiplexing techniques

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Measurement of the top quark mass using charged particles in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

How Much Dentists are Ethically Concerned about Overtreatment; a Vignette-Based Survey in Switzerland

BACKGROUND: Overtreatment (or unnecessary treatment) is when medical or dental services are provided with a higher volume or cost than is appropriate. This study aimed to investigate how a group of dentists in Switzerland, a wealthy country known to have high standards of healthcare including dentistry, evaluated the meaning of unnecessary treatments from an ethical perspective and, assessed the expected frequency of different possible behaviors among their peers. METHODS: A vignette describing a situation that is susceptible for overtreatment of a patient was presented to a group of dentists. The vignette was followed by five options. A questionnaire including the vignette was posted to 2482 dentists in the German-speaking areas of Switzerland. The respondents were asked to rate each option according to their estimation about its prevalence and their judgment about the degree to which the behavior is ethically sound. RESULTS: 732 completed questionnaires were returned. According to the responses, the most ethical and the most unethical options are considered to be the most and the least prevalent behaviors among dentists practicing in Switzerland, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Suggesting unnecessary treatments to patients seems to be an ethically unacceptable conduct in the eyes of a sample of dentists in Switzerland. Although the respondents believed their colleagues were very likely to behave in an ethical way in response to a situation that is susceptible to overtreatment, they still seemed to be concerned about the prevalence of unethical behaviors in this regard

Using aggregated data from Swedish national quality registries as tools to describe health conditions of older adults with complex needs

Background: Combining National Quality Registries (NQRs) with existing National Health Registries (NHRs) might make it possible to get a wider picture of older adults health situation. The aim was to examine the feasibility of aggregating data across different NQRs and existing NHRs to explore the possibility to investigate trajectories and patterns of disease and care, specifically for the most ill older adults. Method: A Swedish twin population (N = 44,816) was linked to nine NQRs and four NHRs. A descriptive mixed-method study was performed. A manifest content analysis identified which health parameters were collected from each NQR. Factor analysis identified patterns in representation across NQRs. Two case studies illustrated individual trajectories of care by using NQRs and NHRs. Results: About 36% of the population was registered in one or more NQRs. NQRs included 1849 variables that were sorted into 13 categories with extensive overlap across the NQRs. Health and function variables were identified, but few social or cognitive variables. Even though most individuals demonstrated unique patterns of multi-morbidities, factor analysis identified three clusters of representation in the NQRs with sufficient sample sizes for future investigations. The two cases illustrated the possibility of following patterns of disease and trajectories of care. Conclusions: NQRs seem to be a significant source for collecting data about a population that may be underrepresented in most research on aging because of their age and poor health. However, NQRs are primarily disease related, and further development of the registries to maximize coverage and utility is needed. CC BY 4.0Published online: 13 June 2020</p