216 research outputs found
Currents, Charges, and Canonical Structure of Pseudodual Chiral Models
We discuss the pseudodual chiral model to illustrate a class of
two-dimensional theories which have an infinite number of conservation laws but
allow particle production, at variance with naive expectations. We describe the
symmetries of the pseudodual model, both local and nonlocal, as transmutations
of the symmetries of the usual chiral model. We refine the conventional
algorithm to more efficiently produce the nonlocal symmetries of the model, and
we discuss the complete local current algebra for the pseudodual theory. We
also exhibit the canonical transformation which connects the usual chiral model
to its fully equivalent dual, further distinguishing the pseudodual theory.Comment: 15 pages, ANL-HEP-PR-93-85,Miami-TH-1-93,Revtex (references updated,
format improved to Revtex
Cardiotrophin-like cytokine/cytokine-like factor 1 is an essential trophic factor for lumbar and facial motoneurons in vivo
The ciliary neurotrophic factor alpha-receptor(CNTFRalpha) is required for motoneuron survival during development, but the relevant ligand(s) has not been determined. One candidate is the heterodimer formed by cardiotrophin-like cytokine (CLC) and cytokine-like factor 1 (CLF). CLC/CLF binds to CNTFRalpha and enhances the survival of developing motoneurons in vitro; whether this novel trophic factor plays a role in neural development in vivo has not been tested. We examined motor and sensory neurons in embryonic chicks treated with CLC and in mice with a targeted deletion of the clf gene. Treatment with CLC increased the number of lumbar spinal cord motoneurons that survived the cell death period in chicks. However, this effect was regionally specific, because brachial and thoracic motoneurons were unaffected. Similarly, newborn clf -/- mice exhibited a significant reduction in lumbar motoneurons, with no change in the brachial or thoracic cord. Clf deletion also affected brainstem motor nuclei in a regionally specific manner; the number of motoneurons in the facial but not hypoglossal nucleus was significantly reduced. Sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglia were not affected by either CLC treatment or clf gene deletion. Finally, mRNA for both clc and clf was found in skeletal muscle fibers of embryonic mice during the motoneuron cell death period. These findings support the view that CLC/CLF is a target-derived factor required for the survival of specific pools of motoneurons. The in vivo actions of CLC and CLF can account for many of the effects of CNTFRalpha on developing motoneurons
Modeling and Validating Chronic Pharmacological Manipulation of Circadian Rhythms
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/1/psp4201334-sup-0010.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/2/psp4201334-sup-0009.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/3/psp4201334-sup-0011.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/4/psp4201334-sup-0008.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/5/psp4201334-sup-0005.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/6/psp4201334-sup-0012.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/7/psp4201334-sup-0006.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/8/psp4201334-sup-0013.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/9/psp4201334.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110096/10/psp4201334-sup-0007.pd
Does Gender Leave an Epigenetic Imprint on the Brain?
The words “sex” and “gender” are often used interchangeably in common usage. In fact, the Merriam-Webster dictionary offers “sex” as the definition of gender. The authors of this review are neuroscientists, and the words “sex” and “gender” mean very different things to us: sex is based on biological factors such as sex chromosomes and gonads, whereas gender has a social component and involves differential expectations or treatment by conspecifics, based on an individual’s perceived sex. While we are accustomed to thinking about “sex” and differences between males and females in epigenetic marks in the brain, we are much less used to thinking about the biological implications of gender. Nonetheless, careful consideration of the field of epigenetics leads us to conclude that gender must also leave an epigenetic imprint on the brain. Indeed, it would be strange if this were not the case, because all environmental influences of any import can epigenetically change the brain. In the following pages, we explain why there is now sufficient evidence to suggest that an epigenetic imprint for gender is a logical conclusion. We define our terms for sex, gender, and epigenetics, and describe research demonstrating sex differences in epigenetic mechanisms in the brain which, to date, is mainly based on work in non-human animals. We then give several examples of how gender, rather than sex, may cause the brain epigenome to differ in males and females, and finally consider the myriad of ways that sex and gender interact to shape gene expression in the brain
Global parameter search reveals design principles of the mammalian circadian clock
Background: Virtually all living organisms have evolved a circadian (~24 hour) clock that controls physiological and behavioural processes with exquisite precision throughout the day/night cycle. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which generates these ~24 h rhythms in mammals, consists of
several thousand neurons. Each neuron contains a gene-regulatory network generating molecular oscillations, and the individual neuron oscillations are synchronised by intercellular coupling, presumably via neurotransmitters. Although this basic mechanism is currently accepted and has
been recapitulated in mathematical models, several fundamental questions about the design principles of the SCN remain little understood. For example, a remarkable property of the SCN is that the phase of the SCN rhythm resets rapidly after a 'jet lag' type experiment, i.e. when the light/ dark (LD) cycle is abruptly advanced or delayed by several hours.
Results: Here, we describe an extensive parameter optimization of a previously constructed simplified model of the SCN in order to further understand its design principles. By examining the top 50 solutions from the parameter optimization, we show that the neurotransmitters' role in generating the molecular circadian rhythms is extremely important. In addition, we show that when
a neurotransmitter drives the rhythm of a system of coupled damped oscillators, it exhibits very robust synchronization and is much more easily entrained to light/dark cycles. We were also able to recreate in our simulations the fast rhythm resetting seen after a 'jet lag' type experiment.
Conclusion: Our work shows that a careful exploration of parameter space for even an extremely simplified model of the mammalian clock can reveal unexpected behaviours and non-trivial predictions. Our results suggest that the neurotransmitter feedback loop plays a crucial role in the
robustness and phase resetting properties of the mammalian clock, even at the single neuron level
Duality in String Cosmology
Scale factor duality, a truncated form of time dependent T-duality, is a
symmetry of string effective action in cosmological backgrounds interchanging
small and large scale factors. The symmetry suggests a cosmological scenario
("pre-big-bang") in which two duality related branches, an inflationary branch
and a decelerated branch are smoothly joined into one non-singular cosmology.
The use of scale factor duality in the analysis of the higher derivative
corrections to the effective action, and consequences for the nature of exit
transition, between the inflationary and decelerated branches, are outlined. A
new duality symmetry is obeyed by the lowest order equations for inhomogeneity
perturbations which always exist on top of the homogeneous and isotropic
background. In some cases it corresponds to a time dependent version of
S-duality, interchanging weak and strong coupling and electric and magnetic
degrees of freedom, and in most cases it corresponds to a time dependent
mixture of both S-, and T-duality.
The energy spectra obtained by using the new symmetry reproduce known results
of produced particle spectra, and can provide a useful lower bound on particle
production when our knowledge of the detailed dynamical history of the
background is approximate or incomplete.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, latex2e using ltwol2e.sty. Based on talks at the
44'th annual meeting of the Israel Physical Society, Apr 8, 1998, Rehovot,
Israel, and ICHEP98, 23-29 July, Vancouver, BC, Canada, and second conf. on
Quantum Aspects of Gauge Theories, Supersymmetry and Unification, Sept 21-26,
1998, Corfu, Greece. To be published in the proceeding
Hamiltonian BRST-anti-BRST Theory
The hamiltonian BRST-anti-BRST theory is developed in the general case of
arbitrary reducible first class systems. This is done by extending the methods
of homological perturbation theory, originally based on the use of a single
resolution, to the case of a biresolution. The BRST and the anti-BRST
generators are shown to exist. The respective links with the ordinary BRST
formulation and with the -covariant formalism are also established.Comment: 34 pages, Latex fil
Current Algebra of Super WZNW Models
We derive the current algebra of supersymmetric principal chiral models with
a Wess-Zumino term. At the critical point one obtains two commuting super
Kac-Moody algebra as expected, but in general there are intertwining fields
connecting both right and left sectors, analogously to the bosonic case.
Moreover, in the present supersymmetric extension we have a quadratic algebra,
rather than an affine Lie algebra, due to the mixing between bosonic and
fermionic fields since the purely fermionic sector displays a Lie algebra as
well.Comment: 13 page
Robustness of circadian clocks to daylight fluctuations: hints from the picoeucaryote Ostreococcus tauri
The development of systemic approaches in biology has put emphasis on
identifying genetic modules whose behavior can be modeled accurately so as to
gain insight into their structure and function. However most gene circuits in a
cell are under control of external signals and thus quantitative agreement
between experimental data and a mathematical model is difficult. Circadian
biology has been one notable exception: quantitative models of the internal
clock that orchestrates biological processes over the 24-hour diurnal cycle
have been constructed for a few organisms, from cyanobacteria to plants and
mammals. In most cases, a complex architecture with interlocked feedback loops
has been evidenced. Here we present first modeling results for the circadian
clock of the green unicellular alga Ostreococcus tauri. Two plant-like clock
genes have been shown to play a central role in Ostreococcus clock. We find
that their expression time profiles can be accurately reproduced by a minimal
model of a two-gene transcriptional feedback loop. Remarkably, best adjustment
of data recorded under light/dark alternation is obtained when assuming that
the oscillator is not coupled to the diurnal cycle. This suggests that coupling
to light is confined to specific time intervals and has no dynamical effect
when the oscillator is entrained by the diurnal cycle. This intringuing
property may reflect a strategy to minimize the impact of fluctuations in
daylight intensity on the core circadian oscillator, a type of perturbation
that has been rarely considered when assessing the robustness of circadian
clocks
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