Lack of evidence for sprouting of Aβ afferents into the superficial laminas of the spinal cord dorsal horn after nerve section

The central arborizations of large myelinated cutaneous afferents normally extend as far dorsally as the ventral part of lamina II in rat spinal cord. Woolf et al. (1992) reported that after nerve injury some of these afferents sprouted into lamina I and the dorsal part of lamina II, and it has been suggested that this could contribute to allodynia associated with neuropathic pain. Part of the evidence for sprouting was on the basis of the use of cholera toxin B subunit as a selective tracer for A-fibers, and the validity of this approach has recently been questioned; however, sprouting was also reported in experiments involving intra-axonal labeling of chronically axotomized afferents. We have used intra-axonal labeling in the rat to examine central terminals of 58 intact sciatic afferents of presumed cutaneous origin and 38 such afferents axotomized 7-10 weeks previously. Both normal and axotomized populations included axons with hair follicle afferent-like morphology and arbors that entered the ventral half of lamina II; however, none of these extended farther dorsally. We also performed bulk labeling of myelinated afferents by injecting biotinylated dextran into the lumbar dorsal columns bilaterally 8-11 weeks after unilateral sciatic nerve section. We observed that both ipsilateral and contralateral to the sectioned nerve, arbors of axons with hair follicle afferent-like morphology in the sciatic territory extended only as far as the ventral half of lamina II. Therefore these results do not support the hypothesis that Aβ afferents sprout into the superficial laminas after nerve section

Evidence against AMPA receptor-lacking glutamatergic synapses in the superficial dorsal horn of the rat spinal cord

Pure NMDA receptor (NMDAr)-mediated EPSCs, thought to correspond to "silent" glutamatergic synapses that lack AMPA receptors (AMPArs), have been observed in superficial spinal dorsal horn of neonatal but not adult rats. Recent anatomical studies suggest that AMPArs are present at virtually all glutamatergic synapses in this region in adults. We used antigen retrieval to examine colocalization of AMPArs and PSD-95 (a marker for glutamatergic synapses) in laminae I–II of neonatal and adult rats. We found a high degree of colocalization in all cases, which suggests that AMPArs are present in the great majority of glutamatergic synapses even in neonatal animals. We therefore reexamined evidence for silent synapses by performing blind whole-cell recordings from superficial dorsal horn neurons in slices from neonatal or adult rats, with focal stimulation to activate glutamatergic synapses. On some occasions in both neonatal (10 of 109, 9%) and adult (9 of 77, 12%) slices, NMDAr-mediated EPSCs were observed when the holding potential was raised to +50 mV at a stimulus strength that had failed to evoke AMPAr-mediated EPSCs. However, in all cases tested, AMPAr-mediated EPSCs were then observed when the cell was returned to –70 mV; this and other properties of the EPSCs suggest that they do not represent genuine silent synapses. When compared with previous findings, our results indicate that the appearance of silent synapses depends on experimental protocol. This suggests that pure NMDAr-mediated EPSCs seen in previous studies do not correspond to AMPAr-lacking synapses but result from another mechanism, for example, loss of labile AMPArs from recently formed synapses

Modal quantum theory

We present a discrete model theory similar in structure to ordinary quantum mechanics, but based on a finite field instead of complex amplitudes. The interpretation of this theory involves only the "modal" concepts of possibility and necessity rather than quantitative probability measures. Despite its simplicity, our model theory includes entangled states and has versions of both Bell's theorem and the no cloning theorem.Comment: Presented at the 7th Workshop on Quantum Physics and Logic, Oxford University (29-30 May 2010). Revised 1 Aug 2011 in response to referee comment

Prioritized Detection of Personally Familiar Faces

We investigated whether personally familiar faces are preferentially processed in conditions of reduced attentional resources and in the absence of conscious awareness. In the first experiment, we used Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) to test the susceptibility of familiar faces and faces of strangers to the attentional blink. In the second experiment, we used continuous flash interocular suppression to render stimuli invisible and measured face detection time for personally familiar faces as compared to faces of strangers. In both experiments we found an advantage for detection of personally familiar faces as compared to faces of strangers. Our data suggest that the identity of faces is processed with reduced attentional resources and even in the absence of awareness. Our results show that this facilitated processing of familiar faces cannot be attributed to detection of low-level visual features and that a learned unique configuration of facial features can influence preconscious perceptual processing

Magnetic Field Stimulated Transitions of Excited States in Fast Muonic Helium Ions

It is shown that one can stimulate, by using the present-day laboratory magnetic fields, transitions between the $lm$ sub-levels of fast $\mu He^+$ ions formating in muon catalyzed fusion. Strong fields also cause the self-ionization from highly excited states of such muonic ions. Both effects are the consequence of the interaction of the bound muon with the oscillating field of the Stark term coupling the center-of-mass and muon motions of the $\mu He^+$ ion due to the non-separability of the collective and internal variables in this system. The performed calculations show a possibility to drive the population of the $lm$ sub-levels by applying a field of a few $Tesla$, which affects the reactivation rate and is especially important to the $K\alpha$ $x$-ray production in muon catalyzed fusion. It is also shown that the $2s-2p$ splitting in $\mu He^+$ due to the vacuum polarization slightly decreases the stimulated transition rates.Comment: 5 figure

Partial Description of Quantum States

One of the most central and controversial element of quantum mechanics is the use of non zero vectors of a Hilbert space (or, more generally, of one dimension subspaces) for representing the state of a quantum system. In particular, the question whether such a representation is complete has been debated since almost the early days of quantum mechanics. In this article, we develop an alternate way to formalize knowledge about the state of quantum systems, based solely on experimentally accessible elements, namely on outcomes of finite measurements. We introduce what we call partial description which, given a feasible measurement, indicates some outcomes which are known to be impossible (i.e. known to have a probability equal to 0 to occur) and hence have to be discarded. Then, we introduce partial states (which are partial descriptions providing as much information as possible) and compare this way to describe quantum states to the orthodox one, using vector rays. Finally, we show that partial states allow to describe quantum states in a strictly more expressive way that the orthodox description does

Using the Mass Media

Patterns of media use in an urban setting are related to media gratification processes, but the relationship of media use to the needs of the media users is a complex one. Television, newspapers, and books are perceived as the most helpful media sources of need gratification, while radio, magazines, and films are perceived as less helpful. Use of the media is, in general, related to their perceived helpfulness. However, use of the media is not clearly related to the expressed needs of the audience members. The media appear to form two groups, books, magazines, and films as contrasted to radio, television, and newspapers. This dichotomy appears to be based not only on content but on availability and accessibility.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67162/2/10.1177_009365028000700304.pd

Tracking and assessing practical chemistry skills development: practical skills portfolios

We present the evaluation of the student response to a novel form of practical assessment; the Practical Skills Portfolio (PSP). The PSP is a concise record of a practical activity for the purposes of assessment, which prompts students to engage in reflective practice on laboratory skills, and provides opportunities for enhanced feedback delivered in a timely manner. Key goals of this new approach are to assist students in assimilating the practical skills they are developing during their studies and to support them in developing their ability to write the different components of a full lab report

The SCUBA Half Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) - III : Identification of radio and mid-infrared counterparts to submillimetre galaxies

Peer reviewe