Reconstituting ring-rafts in bud-mimicking topography of model membranes.

During vesicular trafficking and release of enveloped viruses, the budding and fission processes dynamically remodel the donor cell membrane in a protein- or a lipid-mediated manner. In all cases, in addition to the generation or relief of the curvature stress, the buds recruit specific lipids and proteins from the donor membrane through restricted diffusion for the development of a ring-type raft domain of closed topology. Here, by reconstituting the bud topography in a model membrane, we demonstrate the preferential localization of cholesterol- and sphingomyelin-enriched microdomains in the collar band of the bud-neck interfaced with the donor membrane. The geometrical approach to the recapitulation of the dynamic membrane reorganization, resulting from the local radii of curvatures from nanometre-to-micrometre scales, offers important clues for understanding the active roles of the bud topography in the sorting and migration machinery of key signalling proteins involved in membrane budding

Spatial scale and distribution of neurovascular signals underlying decoding of orientation and eye of origin from fMRI data

Multivariate pattern analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data is widely used, yet the spatial scales and origin of neurovascular signals underlying such analyses remain unclear. We compared decoding performance for stimulus orientation and eye of origin from fMRI measurements in human visual cortex with predictions based on the columnar organization of each feature and estimated the spatial scales of patterns driving decoding. Both orientation and eye of origin could be decoded significantly above chance in early visual areas (V1–V3). Contrary to predictions based on a columnar origin of response biases, decoding performance for eye of origin in V2 and V3 was not significantly lower than that in V1, nor did decoding performance for orientation and eye of origin differ significantly. Instead, response biases for both features showed large-scale organization, evident as a radial bias for orientation, and a nasotemporal bias for eye preference. To determine whether these patterns could drive classification, we quantified the effect on classification performance of binning voxels according to visual field position. Consistent with large-scale biases driving classification, binning by polar angle yielded significantly better decoding performance for orientation than random binning in V1–V3. Similarly, binning by hemifield significantly improved decoding performance for eye of origin. Patterns of orientation and eye preference bias in V2 and V3 showed a substantial degree of spatial correlation with the corresponding patterns in V1, suggesting that response biases in these areas originate in V1. Together, these findings indicate that multivariate classification results need not reflect the underlying columnar organization of neuronal response selectivities in early visual areas. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Large-scale response biases can account for decoding of orientation and eye of origin in human early visual areas V1–V3. For eye of origin this pattern is a nasotemporal bias; for orientation it is a radial bias. Differences in decoding performance across areas and stimulus features are not well predicted by differences in columnar-scale organization of each feature. Large-scale biases in extrastriate areas are spatially correlated with those in V1, suggesting biases originate in primary visual cortex

Absolute Upper Bound on the 1-loop Corrected mass of S1S_1 in the NMSSM

We examine in detail radiative corrections to the lightest scalar Higgs boson mass due to the top quark and scalar quark loops in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM). We take into account the nondegenerate state for the top scalar quark masses. In our analysis, the mass matrix of the top scalar quark contains the gauge terms. Therefore our formula for the scalar Higgs boson mass matrix at the 1-loop level includes the contribution of the gauge sector as well as the effect of the top scalar quark mass splitting. Thus we calculate the upper bound on the lightest scalar Higgs boson mass using our formula. We find that the absolute upper bound on the 1-loop corrected mass of the lightest scalar Higgs boson is about 156 GeV.Comment: 12 pages(Latex), 6 Postscript figures are included Figur

Dissolution of Spinel Oxides and Capacity Losses in 4 V Li/LixMn2O4 Cells

Dissolution of spinel manganese oxides and the concomitant cathodic capacity losses were examined in 4 V Li/PC + DME + LiClO4/LiMn2O4 cells where PC is propylene carbonate and DME is dimethoxyethane. Dissolved Mn2 contents in the electrolytes were analyzed as a function of cathode potential and carbon contents in the composite cathodes. Characteristically, manganese dissolution was notably high at the charged state (at >4.1 V vs. Li/Lit), in which potential range an electrochemical oxidation of the solvent molecules was also prominent. From this and another observation whereby the Mn dissolution increased with increasing carbon content in the composite cathodes, it was proposed that, at the charged state of the cathode the solvent molecules are electrochemically oxidized on carbon surfaces and an as-generated species promotes the manganese dissolution. Results of an ac impedance study revealed that Mn dissolution brings about an increase in contact resistances at the Mn-depleted spinel/carbon interface, and also in the electrode reaction resistances for Li intercalation/deintercalation. Thus, the Mn dissolution causes capacity losses in two different pathways; material loss of the loaded spinel and polarization loss due to a cell resistance increment. The former prevailed when cathodes contained excess amounts of carbon, while the latter became more of a problem as the carbon contents decreased

Prospects for terahertz imaging the human skin cancer with the help of gold-nanoparticles-based terahertz-to-infrared converter

The design is suggested, and possible operation parameters are discussed, of an instrument to inspect a skin cancer tumour in the terahertz (THz) range, transferring the image into the infrared (IR) and making it visible with the help of standard IR camera. The central element of the device is the THz-to-IR converter, a Teflon or silicon film matrix with embedded 8.5 nm diameter gold nanoparticles. The use of external THz source for irradiating the biological tissue sample is presumed. The converter's temporal characteristics enable its performance in a real-time scale. The details of design suited for the operation in transmission mode (in vitro) or on the human skin in reflection mode {in vivo) are specified.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the FANEM2018 workshop - Minsk, 3-5 June 201

Delayed surgical intervention in central cord syndrome with cervical stenosis

Study Design Review of the literature. Objective It is generally accepted that surgical treatment is necessary for central cord syndrome (CCS) with an underlying cervical stenosis. However, the surgical timing for decompression is controversial in spondylotic cervical CCS. The purpose of this study is to review the results of early and delayed surgery in patients with spondylotic cervical CCS. Methods MEDLINE was searched for English-language articles on CCS. There were 1,653 articles from 1940 to 2012 regarding CCS, 5 of which dealt with the timing of surgery for spondylotic cervical CCS. Results All five reports regarding the surgical timing of spondylotic cervical CCS were retrospective. Motor improvement, functional independence measures, and walking ability showed similar improvement in early and late surgery groups in the studies with follow-up longer than 1 year. However, greater improvement was seen in the early surgery group in the studies with follow-up shorter than 1 year. The complication rates did not show a difference between the early and late surgery groups. However, there are controversies regarding the length of intensive care unit stay or hospital stay for the two groups. Conclusions There was no difference in motor improvement, functional independence, walking ability, and complication rates between early and late surgery for spondylotic cervical CCS