Don\u27t Confuse Metatags with Initial Interest Confusion

This Comment focuses on whether the legal doctrine of initial interest confusion should be applied in metatag related trademark infringement cases. The Comment agues that because initial interest confusion does not improve or clarify the existing process of legal inquiry in a trademark infringement litigation, the doctrine is a superfluous legal tool and may even be harmful from a public policy perspective

Formation of laser plasma channels in a stationary gas

The formation of plasma channels with nonuniformity of about +- 3.5% has been demonstrated. The channels had a density of 1.2x10^19 cm-3 with a radius of 15 um and with length >= 2.5 mm. The channels were formed by 0.3 J, 100 ps laser pulses in a nonflowing gas, contained in a cylindrical chamber. The laser beam passed through the chamber along its axis via pinholes in the chamber walls. A plasma channel with an electron density on the order of 10^18 - 10^19 cm-3 was formed in pure He, N2, Ar, and Xe. A uniform channel forms at proper time delays and in optimal pressure ranges, which depend on the sort of gas. The influence of the interaction of the laser beam with the gas leaking out of the chamber through the pinholes was found insignificant. However, the formation of an ablative plasma on the walls of the pinholes by the wings of the radial profile of the laser beam plays an important role in the plasma channel formation and its uniformity. A low current glow discharge initiated in the chamber slightly improves the uniformity of the plasma channel, while a high current arc discharge leads to the formation of overdense plasma near the front pinhole and further refraction of the laser beam. The obtained results show the feasibility of creating uniform plasma channels in non-flowing gas targets.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physics of Plasma

Multidimensional analysis of data obtained in experiments with X-ray emulsion chambers and extensive air showers

Nonparametric statistical methods are used to carry out the quantitative comparison of the model and the experimental data. The same methods enable one to select the events initiated by the heavy nuclei and to calculate the portion of the corresponding events. For this purpose it is necessary to have the data on artificial events describing the experiment sufficiently well established. At present, the model with the small scaling violation in the fragmentation region is the closest to the experiments. Therefore, the treatment of gamma families obtained in the Pamir' experiment is being carried out at present with the application of these models

Maternal Immune Activation Causes Behavioral Impairments and Altered Cerebellar Cytokine and Synaptic Protein Expression

Emerging epidemiology studies indicate that maternal immune activation (MIA) resulting from inflammatory stimuli such as viral or bacterial infections during pregnancy serves as a risk factor for multiple neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. Although alterations in the cortex and hippocampus of MIA offspring have been described, less evidence exists on the impact on the cerebellum. Here, we report altered expression of cytokines and chemokines in the cerebellum of MIA offspring, including increase in the neuroinflammatory cytokine TNFα and its receptor TNFR1. We also report reduced expression of the synaptic organizing proteins cerebellin-1 and GluRδ2. These synaptic protein alterations are associated with a deficit in the ability of cerebellar neurons to form synapses and an increased number of dendritic spines that are not in contact with a presynaptic terminal. These impairments are likely contributing to the behavioral deficits in the MIA exposed offspring

Glial plasticity

Editoria

Developmental regulation of spine motility in the mammalian central nervous system

The function of dendritic spines, postsynaptic sites of excitatory input in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS), is still not well understood. Although changes in spine morphology may mediate synaptic plasticity, the extent of basal spine motility and its regulation and function remains controversial. We investigated spine motility in three principal neurons of the mouse CNS: cerebellar Purkinje cells, and cortical and hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Motility was assayed with time-lapse imaging by using two-photon microscopy of green fluorescent protein-labeled neurons in acute and cultured slices. In all three cell types, dendritic protrusions (filopodia and spines) were highly dynamic, exhibiting a diversity of morphological rearrangements over short (<1-min) time courses. The incidence of spine motility declined during postnatal maturation, but dynamic changes were still apparent in many spines in late-postnatal neurons. Although blockade or induction of neuronal activity did not affect spine motility, disruption of actin polymerization did. We hypothesize that this basal motility of dendritic protrusions is intrinsic to the neuron and underlies the heightened plasticity found in developing CNS. Dendritic spines are the major sites of excitatory input in mammalian central nervous system (CNS) neurons (1, 2), but their function is still not well understood. In recent years, dendritic spines have been shown to act as biochemical compartments (3–5) that could mediate synapse-specific plasticity (6, 7), perhaps through rapid changes in spine morphology (8). Indeed, recent studies have demonstrated that activity can elicit new spine-like protrusions (9, 10). Nevertheless, the question of whether spines are inherently motile remains controversial. In developing hippocampal neurons from both dissociated and slice cultures, dendritic filopodia, proposed to be precursors of mature spines, are highly dynamic (11, 12). However, after synapse formation in culture and in acute slices of mature hippocampus, spines appear to be relatively immotile (12, 13). In contrast, spines on hippocampal neurons in long-term cultures are extremely dynamic, even though these neurons bear synaptic contacts (14). To determine the extent of motility of dendritic spines, its developmental regulation and mechanisms, we imaged three major classes of spiny neurons of the CNS: cerebellar Purkinje neurons, and pyramidal neurons from cortex and hippocampus. Acute or cultured slices were transfected with enhanced green fluorescent protein DNA, expressed under a cytomegalovirus promoter (CMV-EGFP), by using biolistic gene transfer (15). Labeled cells were then imaged by using a custom-built two-photon microscope (16). We find that in the cells examined at mid- to late-postnatal stages, the majority of dendritic spines are motile structures over time scales as short as a minute, and that motility subsides, although does not disappear, with increasing age of the cell. Spines are motile in both cultured and acute cortical slices of the same chronological age, and this motility is actin based, suggesting that motility may occur in vivo. Finally, spine motility is surprisingly unaffected by global changes in activity. Our results imply that spine motility is an intrinsic feature of CNS neurons

Decreased home cage movement and oromotor impairments in adult \u3ci\u3eFmr1\u3c/i\u3e-KO mice

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a common inherited disorder that significantly impacts family and patient day-to-day living across the entire lifespan. The childhood and adolescent behavioral consequences of FXS are well-appreciated. However, there are significantly fewer studies (except those examining psychiatric comorbidities) assessing behavioral phenotypes seen in adults with FXS. Mice engineered with a genetic lesion of Fmr1 recapitulate important molecular and neuroanatomical characteristics of FXS, and provide a means to evaluate adult behavioral phenotypes associated with FXS. We give the first description of baseline behaviors including feeding, drinking, movement, and their circadian rhythms; all observed over 16 consecutive days following extensive environmental habituation in adult Fmr1-KO mutant mice. We find no genotypic changes in mouse food ingestion, feeding patterns, metabolism, or circadian patterns of movement, feeding, and drinking. After habituation, Fmr1-KO mice demonstrate significantly less daily movement during their active phase (the dark cycle). However, Fmr1-KO mice have more bouts of activity during the light cycle compared to wildtypes. In addition, Fmr1-KO mice demonstrate significantly less daily water ingestion during the circadian dark cycle, and this reduction in water intake is accompanied by a decrease in the amount of water ingested per lick. The observed water ingestion and circadian phenotypes noted in Fmr1-KO mice recapitulate known clinical aspects previously described in FXS. The finding of decreased movement in Fmr1-KO mice is novel, and suggests a dissociation between baseline and novelty-evoked activity for Fmr1-KO mice

On a possibility of inelasticity partial coefficient K sub gamma determination in pi C and pi Pb interactions at 10 to the 14th power eV (experiment PAMIR 1)

The investigation of hadron-nuclear interactions in Pamir experiment is carried out by means of X-ray emulsion chambers of two types: carbon (C) and lead (Pb). While comparing the results from the chambers of both types it was found a discrepancy in n sub h and E sub h(1)R values. The observed discrepancy in C and Pb chambers is connected with the difference in values of effective coefficients of energy transfer to the soft component K sub eff for C and Pb chambers