5,367 research outputs found
Soluble tau species, not neurofibrillary aggregates, disrupt neural system integration in a tau transgenic model
Neurofibrillary tangles are a feature of Alzheimer disease and other tauopathies, and while they are generally believed to be markers of neuronal pathology, there is little evidence evaluating whether tangles directly impact neuronal function. To investigate the response of cells in hippocampal circuits to complex behavioral stimuli, we used an environmental enrichment paradigm to induce expression of an immediate-early gene, Arc, in the rTg4510 mouse model of tauopathy. These mice reversibly overexpress P301L tau and exhibit substantial neurofibrillary tangle deposition, neuronal loss, and memory deficits. Employing fluorescent in situ hybridization to detect Arc mRNA, we found that rTg4510 mice have impaired hippocampal Arc expression both without stimulation and in response to environmental enrichment; this likely reflects the combination of functional impairments of existing neurons and loss of neurons. However, tangle-bearing cells were at least as likely as non-tangle-bearing neurons to exhibit Arc expression in response to enrichment. Transgene suppression with doxycycline for 6 weeks resulted in increased percentages of Arc-positive cells in rTg4510 brains compared to untreated transgenics, restoring enrichment-induced Arc mRNA levels to that of wild-type controls despite the continued presence of neurofibrillary pathology. We interpret these data to indicate that soluble tau contributes to impairment of hippocampal function, while tangles do not preclude neurons from responding in a functional circuit
Alzheimer's disease: synapses gone cold
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by insidious cognitive decline and memory dysfunction. Synapse loss is the best pathological correlate of cognitive decline in AD and mounting evidence suggests that AD is primarily a disease of synaptic dysfunction. Soluble oligomeric forms of amyloid beta (AĪ²), the peptide that aggregates to form senile plaques in the brain of AD patients, have been shown to be toxic to neuronal synapses both in vitro and in vivo. AĪ² oligomers inhibit long-term potentiation (LTP) and facilitate long-term depression (LTD), electrophysiological correlates of memory formation. Furthermore, oligomeric AĪ² has also been shown to induce synapse loss and cognitive impairment in animals. The molecular underpinnings of these observations are now being elucidated, and may provide clear therapeutic targets for effectively treating the disease. Here, we review recent findings concerning AD pathogenesis with a particular focus on how AĪ² impacts synapses
Low-Frequency Radio Transients in the Galactic Center
We report the detection of a new radio transient source, GCRT J1746-2757,
located only 1.1 degrees north of the Galactic center. Consistent with other
radio transients toward the Galactic center, this source brightened and faded
on a time scale of a few months. No X-ray counterpart was detected. We also
report new 0.33 GHz measurements of the radio counterpart to the X-ray
transient source, XTE J1748-288, previously detected and monitored at higher
radio frequencies. We show that the spectrum of XTE J1748-288 steepened
considerably during a period of a few months after its peak. We also discuss
the need for a more efficient means of finding additional radio transients
Real Space Renormalization Group Study of the S=1/2 XXZ Chains with Fibonacci Exchange Modulation
Ground state properties of the S=1/2 antiferromagnetic XXZ chain with
Fibonacci exchange modulation are studied using the real space renormalization
group method for strong modulation. The quantum dynamical critical behavior
with a new universality class is predicted in the isotropic case. Combining our
results with the weak coupling renormalization group results by Vidal et al.,
the ground state phase diagram is obtained.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Comparison between disordered quantum spin 1/2 chains
We study the magnetic properties of two types of one dimensional XX spin 1/2
chains. The first type has only nearest neighbor interactions which can be
either antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic and the second type which has both
nearest neighbor and next nearest neighbor interactions, but only
antiferromagnetic in character. We study these systems in the presence of low
transverse magnetic fields both analytically and numerically. Comparison of
results show a close relation between the two systems, which is in agreement
with results previously found in Heisenberg chains by means of a numerical real
space renormalization group procedure.Comment: 7 page
Time-resolved ferromagnetic resonance in epitaxial Fe1-xCox films
Magnetodynamics in epitaxial Fe1-xCox films on GaAs (100) are studied using
time-resolved ferromagnetic resonance, in which the free precession of the
magnetization after an impulsive excitation is measured using the polar Kerr
effect. The sample is rotated with respect to the static and pulsed field
directions, providing a complete mapping of the free energy surface and
characteristic relaxation times. The magnetic response can be simulated with a
simple coherent rotation model except in the immediate vicinity of switching
fields. Bulk and surface anisotropies are identified, and unusual dynamics
associated with the coexistence of cubic and uniaxial anisotropies are
observed.Comment: PDF - 4 figure
Phase diagram of disordered spin-Peierls systems
We study the competition between the spin-Peierls and the antiferromagnetic
ordering in disordered quasi-one-dimensional spin systems. We obtain the
temperature vs disorder-strength phase diagram, which qualitatively agrees with
recent experiments on doped CuGeO_3.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, epsf, 2 Postscript figure
Density Matrix Renormalization Group Study of the Haldane Phase in Random One-Dimensional Antiferromagnets
It is conjectured that the Haldane phase of the S=1 antiferromagnetic
Heisenberg chain and the ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic alternating
Heisenberg chain is stable against any strength of randomness, because of
imposed breakdown of translational symmetry. This conjecture is confirmed by
the density matrix renormalization group calculation of the string order
parameter and the energy gap distribution.Comment: 4 Pages, 7 figures; Considerable revisions are made in abstract and
main text. Final accepted versio
Dynamics and transport in random quantum systems governed by strong-randomness fixed points
We present results on the low-frequency dynamical and transport properties of
random quantum systems whose low temperature (), low-energy behavior is
controlled by strong disorder fixed points. We obtain the momentum and
frequency dependent dynamic structure factor in the Random Singlet (RS) phases
of both spin-1/2 and spin-1 random antiferromagnetic chains, as well as in the
Random Dimer (RD) and Ising Antiferromagnetic (IAF) phases of spin-1/2 random
antiferromagnetic chains. We show that the RS phases are unusual `spin metals'
with divergent low-frequency spin conductivity at T=0, and we also follow the
conductivity through novel `metal-insulator' transitions tuned by the strength
of dimerization or Ising anisotropy in the spin-1/2 case, and by the strength
of disorder in the spin-1 case. We work out the average spin and energy
autocorrelations in the one-dimensional random transverse field Ising model in
the vicinity of its quantum critical point. All of the above calculations are
valid in the frequency dominated regime \omega \agt T, and rely on previously
available renormalization group schemes that describe these systems in terms of
the properties of certain strong-disorder fixed point theories. In addition, we
obtain some information about the behavior of the dynamic structure factor and
dynamical conductivity in the opposite `hydrodynamic' regime for
the special case of spin-1/2 chains close to the planar limit (the quantum x-y
model) by analyzing the corresponding quantities in an equivalent model of
spinless fermions with weak repulsive interactions and particle-hole symmetric
disorder.Comment: Long version (with many additional results) of Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf
84}, 3434 (2000) (available as cond-mat/9904290); two-column format, 33 pages
and 8 figure
Numerical renormalization-group study of spin correlations in one-dimensional random spin chains
We calculate the ground-state two-spin correlation functions of spin-1/2
quantum Heisenberg chains with random exchange couplings using the real-space
renormalization group scheme. We extend the conventional scheme to take account
of the contribution of local higher multiplet excitations in each decimation
step. This extended scheme can provide highly accurate numerical data for large
systems. The random average of staggered spin correlations of the chains with
random antiferromagnetic (AF) couplings shows algebraic decay like ,
which verifies the Fisher's analytic results. For chains with random
ferromagnetic (FM) and AF couplings, the random average of generalized
staggered correlations is found to decay more slowly than a power-law, in the
form close to . The difference between the distribution functions of
the spin correlations of the random AF chains and of the random FM-AF chains is
also discussed.Comment: 14 pages including 8 figures, REVTeX, submitted to Physical Review
- ā¦