16,953 research outputs found
Octopamine increases the excitability of neurons in the snail feeding system by modulation of inward sodium current but not outward potassium currents
Background: Although octopamine has long been known to have major roles as both transmitter and modulator in arthropods, it has only recently been shown to be functionally important in molluscs, playing a role as a neurotransmitter in the feeding network of the snail Lymnaea stagnalis. The synaptic potentials cannot explain all the effects of octopamine-containing neurons on the feeding network, and here we test the hypothesis that octopamine is also a neuromodulator. Results: The excitability of the B1 and B4 motoneurons in the buccal ganglia to depolarising current clamp pulses is significantly (P << 0.05) increased by (10 mu M) octopamine, whereas the B2 motoneuron becomes significantly less excitable. The ionic currents evoked by voltage steps were recorded using 2-electrode voltage clamp. The outward current of B1, B2 and B4 motoneurons had two components, a transient I-A current and a sustained I-K delayed-rectifier current, but neither was modulated by octopamine in any of these three buccal neurons. The fast inward current was eliminated in sodium - free saline and so is likely to be carried by sodium ions. 10 mu M octopamine enhanced this current by 33 and 45% in the B1 and B4 motoneurons respectively (P << 0.05), but a small reduction was seen in the B2 neuron. A Hodgkin-Huxley style simulation of the B1 motoneuron confirms that a 33% increase in the fast inward current by octopamine increases the excitability markedly. Conclusion: We conclude that octopamine is also a neuromodulator in snails, changing the excitability of the buccal neurons. This is supported by the close relationship from the voltage clamp data, through the quantitative simulation, to the action potential threshold, changing the properties of neurons in a rhythmic network. The increase in inward sodium current provides an explanation for the polycyclic modulation of the feeding system by the octopamine-containing interneurons, making feeding easier to initiate and making the feeding bursts more intense
Renal fibrosis in feline chronic kidney disease: known mediators and mechanisms of injury
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common medical condition of ageing cats. In most cases the underlying aetiology is unknown, but the most frequently reported pathological diagnosis is renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Renal fibrosis, characterised by extensive accumulation of extra-cellular matrix within the interstitium, is thought to be the final common pathway for all kidney diseases and is the pathological lesion best correlated with function in both humans and cats. As a convergent pathway, renal fibrosis provides an ideal target for the treatment of CKD and knowledge of the underlying fibrotic process is essential for the future development of novel therapies. There are many mediators and mechanisms of renal fibrosis reported in the literature, of which only a few have been investigated in the cat. This article reviews the process of renal fibrosis and discusses the most commonly cited mediators and mechanisms of progressive renal injury, with particular focus on the potential significance to feline CKD
Modelling cell motility and chemotaxis with evolving surface finite elements
We present a mathematical and a computational framework for the modelling of cell motility. The cell membrane is represented by an evolving surface, with the movement of the cell determined by the interaction of various forces that act normal to the surface. We consider external forces such as those that may arise owing to inhomogeneities in the medium and a pressure that constrains the enclosed volume, as well as internal forces that arise from the reaction of the cells' surface to stretching and bending. We also consider a protrusive force associated with a reaction-diffusion system (RDS) posed on the cell membrane, with cell polarization modelled by this surface RDS. The computational method is based on an evolving surface finite-element method. The general method can account for the large deformations that arise in cell motility and allows the simulation of cell migration in three dimensions. We illustrate applications of the proposed modelling framework and numerical method by reporting on numerical simulations of a model for eukaryotic chemotaxis and a model for the persistent movement of keratocytes in two and three space dimensions. Movies of the simulated cells can be obtained from http://homepages.warwick.ac.uk/maskae/CV_Warwick/Chemotaxis.html
A mixed-mode shell-model theory for nuclear structure studies
We introduce a shell-model theory that combines traditional spherical states,
which yield a diagonal representation of the usual single-particle interaction,
with collective configurations that track deformations, and test the validity
of this mixed-mode, oblique basis shell-model scheme on Mg. The correct
binding energy (within 2% of the full-space result) as well as low-energy
configurations that have greater than 90% overlap with full-space results are
obtained in a space that spans less than 10% of the full space. The results
suggest that a mixed-mode shell-model theory may be useful in situations where
competing degrees of freedom dominate the dynamics and full-space calculations
are not feasible.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, revtex 12p
Clinical Toxicologic Studies on Freon R FE 1301
After conducting appropriate animal tests to ascertain safe levels, human subjects were exposed to concentrations of from 1.25% to 16.9% V/V of FE 1301. Assessment of judgement, alertness and neuromuscular skill indicated minimal but discernible effects at the lowest concentration in some individuals. At 10% V/V all subjects were effected. Stage I anesthesia occurred at 15% and Stage II would probably have occurred at 20%. A marked cardiac arrhythmia resulted in one subject exposed to 14%. There was complete recovery in all subjects within 20 minutes after exposure. No liver dysfunction occurred. The critical level for effective fire control is near 6%. This level would be acceptable on clinical toxicologic criteria
Universal Quantum Viscosity in a Unitary Fermi Gas
A Fermi gas of atoms with resonant interactions is predicted to obey
universal hydrodynamics, where the shear viscosity and other transport
coefficients are universal functions of the density and temperature. At low
temperatures, the viscosity has a universal quantum scale where
is the density, while at high temperatures the natural scale is
where is the thermal momentum. We employ breathing mode damping to
measure the shear viscosity at low temperature. At high temperature , we
employ anisotropic expansion of the cloud to find the viscosity, which exhibits
precise scaling. In both experiments, universal hydrodynamic
equations including friction and heating are used to extract the viscosity. We
estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density and compare to
that of a perfect fluid.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Pharmacist-led management of chronic pain in primary care:results from a randomised controlled exploratory trial
To compare the effectiveness of pharmacist medication review, with or without pharmacist prescribing, with standard care, for patients with chronic pain
Stability of Relativistic Matter With Magnetic Fields
Stability of matter with Coulomb forces has been proved for non-relativistic
dynamics, including arbitrarily large magnetic fields, and for relativistic
dynamics without magnetic fields. In both cases stability requires that the
fine structure constant alpha be not too large. It was unclear what would
happen for both relativistic dynamics and magnetic fields, or even how to
formulate the problem clearly. We show that the use of the Dirac operator
allows both effects, provided the filled negative energy `sea' is defined
properly. The use of the free Dirac operator to define the negative levels
leads to catastrophe for any alpha, but the use of the Dirac operator with
magnetic field leads to stability.Comment: This is an announcement of the work in cond-mat/9610195 (LaTeX
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