59,758 research outputs found
Planar cell polarity genes Frizzled3a, Vangl2, and Scribble are required for spinal commissural axon guidance
Background A fundamental feature of early nervous system development is the guidance of axonal projections to their targets in order to assemble neural circuits that control behavior. Spinal commissural neurons are an attractive model to investigate the multiple guidance cues that control growth cone navigation both pre- and post-midline crossing, as well as along both the dorsalâventral (DâV) and anteriorâposterior (AâP) axes. Accumulating evidence suggests that guidance of spinal commissural axons along the AâP axis is dependent on components of the planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling pathway. In the zebrafish, the earliest born spinal commissural neuron to navigate the midline and turn rostrally is termed commissural primary ascending (CoPA). Unlike mammalian systems, CoPA axons cross the midline as a single axon and allow an analysis of the role of PCP components in anterior pathfinding in single pioneering axons. Results Here, we establish CoPA cells in the zebrafish spinal cord as a model system for investigating the molecular function of planar cell polarity signaling in axon guidance. Using mutant analysis, we show that the functions of Fzd3a and Vangl2 in the anterior turning of commissural axons are evolutionarily conserved in teleosts. We extend our findings to reveal a role for the PCP gene scribble in the anterior guidance of CoPA axons. Analysis of single CoPA axons reveals that these commissural axons become responsive to PCP-dependent anterior guidance cues even prior to midline crossing. When midline crossing is prevented by dcc gene knockdown, ipsilateral CoPA axons still extend axons anteriorly in response to AâP guidance cues. We show that this ipsilateral anterior pathfinding that occurs in the absence of midline crossing is dependent on PCP signaling. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that anterior guidance decisions by CoPA axons are dependent on the function of planar cell polarity genes both prior to and after midline crossing
Green functions and nonlinear systems: Short time expansion
We show that Green function methods can be straightforwardly applied to
nonlinear equations appearing as the leading order of a short time expansion.
Higher order corrections can be then computed giving a satisfactory agreement
with numerical results. The relevance of these results relies on the
possibility of fully exploiting a gradient expansion in both classical and
quantum field theory granting the existence of a strong coupling expansion.
Having a Green function in this regime in quantum field theory amounts to
obtain the corresponding spectrum of the theory.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Version accepted for publication in International
Journal of Modern Physics
Current-driven magnetization decrease in single crystalline ferromagnetic manganese oxide
The electrical and magnetic response to a bias current has been investigated
in a singlecrystalline ferromagnetic manganese oxide
CaMnO . A significant decrease of the magnetization is
observed at the same threshold current where a non-linearity of V-I
characteristics appears. Such a behavior cannot be understood in the framework
of the filamentary picture usually invoked for the non linearity of the other
manganese oxides. Instead, an analogy with spintronic features might be useful
and experimental signatures seem to be in agreement with excitations of spin
waves by an electric current. This provides an example of a bulk system in
which the spin polarized current induces a macroscopic change in the
magnetization.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Stochastic Properties of Static Friction
The onset of frictional motion is mediated by rupture-like slip fronts, which
nucleate locally and propagate eventually along the entire interface causing
global sliding. The static friction coefficient is a macroscopic measure of the
applied force at this particular instant when the frictional interface loses
stability. However, experimental studies are known to present important scatter
in the measurement of static friction; the origin of which remains unexplained.
Here, we study the nucleation of local slip at interfaces with slip-weakening
friction of random strength and analyze the resulting variability in the
measured global strength. Using numerical simulations that solve the
elastodynamic equations, we observe that multiple slip patches nucleate
simultaneously, many of which are stable and grow only slowly, but one reaches
a critical length and starts propagating dynamically. We show that a
theoretical criterion based on a static equilibrium solution predicts
quantitatively well the onset of frictional sliding. We develop a Monte-Carlo
model by adapting the theoretical criterion and pre-computing modal convolution
terms, which enables us to run efficiently a large number of samples and to
study variability in global strength distribution caused by the stochastic
properties of local frictional strength. The results demonstrate that an
increasing spatial correlation length on the interface, representing geometric
imperfections and roughness, causes lower global static friction. Conversely,
smaller correlation length increases the macroscopic strength while its
variability decreases. We further show that randomness in local friction
properties is insufficient for the existence of systematic precursory slip
events. Random or systematic non-uniformity in the driving force, such as
potential energy or stress drop, is required for arrested slip fronts. Our
model and observations..
Directional supercontinuum generation: the role of the soliton
In this paper we numerically study supercontinuum generation by pumping a
silicon nitride waveguide, with two zero-dispersion wavelengths, with
femtosecond pulses. The waveguide dispersion is designed so that the pump pulse
is in the normal-dispersion regime. We show that because of self-phase
modulation, the initial pulse broadens into the anomalous-dispersion regime,
which is sandwiched between the two normal-dispersion regimes, and here a
soliton is formed. The interaction of the soliton and the broadened pulse in
the normal-dispersion regime causes additional spectral broadening through
formation of dispersive waves by non-degenerate four-wave mixing and
cross-phase modulation. This broadening occurs mainly towards the second
normal-dispersion regime. We show that pumping in either normal-dispersion
regime allows broadening towards the other normal-dispersion regime. This
ability to steer the continuum extension towards the direction of the other
normal-dispersion regime beyond the sandwiched anomalous-dispersion regime
underlies the directional supercontinuum notation. We numerically confirm the
approach in a standard silica microstructured fiber geometry with two
zero-dispersion wavelengths
Twin-Photon Confocal Microscopy
A recently introduced two-channel confocal microscope with correlated
detection promises up to 50% improvement in transverse spatial resolution
[Simon, Sergienko, Optics Express {\bf 18}, 9765 (2010)] via the use of photon
correlations. Here we achieve similar results in a different manner,
introducing a triple-confocal correlated microscope which exploits the
correlations present in optical parametric amplifiers. It is based on tight
focusing of pump radiation onto a thin sample positioned in front of a
nonlinear crystal, followed by coincidence detection of signal and idler
photons, each focused onto a pinhole. This approach offers further resolution
enhancement in confocal microscopy
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