5,184 research outputs found
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Assessment of Thermal Pain Sensation in Rats and Mice Using the Hargreaves Test.
The Hargreaves test is specifically designed to assess thermal pain sensation in rodents such as rats and mice. This test has been used in experiments involving pain sensitization or recovery of thermal pain response following neural injury and regeneration. We present here a step-by-step protocol highlighted with important notes to guide first-time users through the learning process. Additionally, we have also included representative data from a rat model of sensory denervation showing how the data can be analysed to obtain meaningful results. We hope that this protocol can also assist potential users in deciding whether the Hargreaves test is a suitable test for their experiment
Stress-Energy Tensor for the Massless Spin 1/2 Field in Static Black Hole Spacetimes
The stress-energy tensor for the massless spin 1/2 field is numerically
computed outside and on the event horizons of both charged and uncharged static
non-rotating black holes, corresponding to the Schwarzschild,
Reissner-Nordstrom and extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"om solutions of Einstein's
equations. The field is assumed to be in a thermal state at the black hole
temperature. Comparison is made between the numerical results and previous
analytic approximations for the stress-energy tensor in these spacetimes. For
the Schwarzschild (charge zero) solution, it is shown that the stress-energy
differs even in sign from the analytic approximation. For the
Reissner-Nordstrom and extreme Reissner-Nordstrom solutions, divergences
predicted by the analytic approximations are shown not to exist.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, additional discussio
Correcting the polarization effect in low frequency Dielectric Spectroscopy
We demonstrate a simple and robust methodology for measuring and analyzing
the polarization impedance appearing at interface between electrodes and ionic
solutions, in the frequency range from 1 to Hz. The method assumes no
particular behavior of the electrode polarization impedance and it only makes
use of the fact that the polarization effect dies out with frequency. The
method allows a direct and un-biased measurement of the polarization impedance,
whose behavior with the applied voltages and ionic concentration is
methodically investigated. Furthermore, based on the previous findings, we
propose a protocol for correcting the polarization effect in low frequency
Dielectric Spectroscopy measurements of colloids. This could potentially lead
to the quantitative resolution of the -dispersion regime of live cells
in suspension
Retinal glia promote dorsal root ganglion axon regeneration.
Axon regeneration in the adult central nervous system (CNS) is limited by several factors including a lack of neurotrophic support. Recent studies have shown that glia from the adult rat CNS, specifically retinal astrocytes and Müller glia, can promote regeneration of retinal ganglion cell axons. In the present study we investigated whether retinal glia also exert a growth promoting effect outside the visual system. We found that retinal glial conditioned medium significantly enhanced neurite growth and branching of adult rat dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRG) in culture. Furthermore, transplantation of retinal glia significantly enhanced regeneration of DRG axons past the dorsal root entry zone after root crush in adult rats. To identify the factors that mediate the growth promoting effects of retinal glia, mass spectrometric analysis of retinal glial conditioned medium was performed. Apolipoprotein E and secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) were found to be present in high abundance, a finding further confirmed by western blotting. Inhibition of Apolipoprotein E and SPARC significantly reduced the neuritogenic effects of retinal glial conditioned medium on DRG in culture, suggesting that Apolipoprotein E and SPARC are the major mediators of this regenerative response.This work was supported by a van Geest Fight for Sight Early Career Investigator Award, grant number 1868 [BL].This is the final version of the article. It first appeared at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.011599
Magnetic phase diagram of the Hubbard model
The competition between commensurate and incommensurate spin-density-wave
phases in the infinite-dimensional single-band Hubbard model is examined with
quantum Monte Carlo simulation and strong and weak coupling approximations.
Quantum fluctuations modify the weak-coupling phase diagram by factors of order
unity and produce remarkable agreement with the quantum Monte Carlo data, but
strong-coupling theories (that map onto effective Falicov-Kimball models)
display pathological behavior. The single-band model can be used to describe
much of the experimental data in Cr and its dilute alloys with V and Mn.Comment: 12 pages plus 3 uuencoded postscript figures, ReVTe
Expression of an Activated Integrin Promotes Long-Distance Sensory Axon Regeneration in the Spinal Cord.
UNLABELLED: After CNS injury, axon regeneration is blocked by an inhibitory environment consisting of the highly upregulated tenascin-C and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs). Tenascin-C promotes growth of axons if they express a tenascin-binding integrin, particularly α9β1. Additionally, integrins can be inactivated by CSPGs, and this inhibition can be overcome by the presence of a β1-binding integrin activator, kindlin-1. We examined the synergistic effect of α9 integrin and kindlin-1 on sensory axon regeneration in adult rat spinal cord after dorsal root crush and adeno-associated virus transgene expression in dorsal root ganglia. After 12 weeks, axons from C6-C7 dorsal root ganglia regenerated through the tenascin-C-rich dorsal root entry zone into the dorsal column up to C1 level and above (>25 mm axon length) through a normal pathway. Animals also showed anatomical and electrophysiological evidence of reconnection to the dorsal horn and behavioral recovery in mechanical pressure, thermal pain, and ladder-walking tasks. Expression of α9 integrin or kindlin-1 alone promoted much less regeneration and recovery. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The study demonstrates that long-distance sensory axon regeneration over a normal pathway and with sensory and sensory-motor recovery can be achieved. This was achieved by expressing an integrin that recognizes tenascin-C, one of the components of glial scar tissue, and an integrin activator. This enabled extensive long-distance (>25 mm) regeneration of both myelinated and unmyelinated sensory axons with topographically correct connections in the spinal cord. The extent of growth and recovery we have seen would probably be clinically significant. Restoration of sensation to hands, perineum, and genitalia would be a significant improvement for a spinal cord-injured patient
Enhancement of the electronic contribution to the low temperature specific heat of Fe/Cr magnetic multilayer
We measured the low temperature specific heat of a sputtered
magnetic multilayer, as well as separate
thick Fe and Cr films. Magnetoresistance and magnetization
measurements on the multilayer demonstrated antiparallel coupling between the
Fe layers. Using microcalorimeters made in our group, we measured the specific
heat for and in magnetic fields up to for the multilayer. The
low temperature electronic specific heat coefficient of the multilayer in the
temperature range is . This is
significantly larger than that measured for the Fe or Cr films (5.4 and respectively). No magnetic field dependence of was
observed up to . These results can be explained by a softening of the
phonon modes observed in the same data and the presence of an Fe-Cr alloy phase
at the interfaces.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Recommended from our members
Designing theoretically-informed implementation interventions
Clinical and health services research is continually producing new findings that may contribute to effective and efficient patient care. However, the transfer of research findings into practice is unpredictable and can be a slow and haphazard process. Ideally, the choice of implementation strategies would be based upon evidence from randomised controlled trials or systematic reviews of a given implementation strategy. Unfortunately, reviews of implementation strategies consistently report effectiveness some, but not all of the time; possible causes of this variation are seldom reported or measured by the investigators in the original studies. Thus, any attempts to extrapolate from study settings to the real world are hampered by a lack of understanding of the effects of key elements of individuals, interventions, and the settings in which they were trialled. The explicit use of theory offers a way of addressing these issues and has a number of advantages, such as providing: a generalisable framework within which to represent the dimensions that implementation studies address, a process by which to inform the development and delivery of interventions, a guide when evaluating, and a way to allow for an exploration of potential causal mechanisms. However, the use of theory in designing implementation interventions is methodologically challenging for a number of reasons, including choosing between theories and faithfully translating theoretical constructs into interventions. The explicit use of theory offers potential advantages in terms of facilitating a better understanding of the generalisability and replicability of implementation interventions. However, this is a relatively unexplored methodological area
Spin and charge excitations in incommensurate spin density waves
Collective excitations both for spin- and charge-channels are investigated in
incommensurate spin density wave (or stripe) states on two-dimensional Hubbard
model. By random phase approximation, the dynamical susceptibility
\chi(q,\omega) is calculated for full range of (q,\omega) with including all
higher harmonics components. An intricate landscape of the spectra in
\chi(q,\omega) is obtained. We discuss the anisotropy of the dispersion cones
for spin wave excitations, and for the phason excitation related to the motion
of the stripe line. Inelastic neutron experiments on Cr and its alloys and
stripe states of underdoped cuprates are proposed
Optical Properties of Heavy Fermion Systems with SDW Order
The dynamical conductivity , reflectivity , and
tunneling density of states of strongly correlated systems (like
heavy fermions) with a spin-density wave (SDW) magnetic order are studied as a
function of impurity scattering rate and temperature. The theory is generalized
to include strong coupling effects in the SDW order. The results are discussed
in the light of optical experiments on heavy-fermion SDW materials. With some
modifications the proposed theory is applicable also to heavy fermions with
localized antiferromagnetic (LAF) order.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
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