183 research outputs found
Recording from two neurons: second order stimulus reconstruction from spike trains and population coding
We study the reconstruction of visual stimuli from spike trains, recording
simultaneously from the two H1 neurons located in the lobula plate of the fly
Chrysomya megacephala. The fly views two types of stimuli, corresponding to
rotational and translational displacements. If the reconstructed stimulus is to
be represented by a Volterra series and correlations between spikes are to be
taken into account, first order expansions are insufficient and we have to go
to second order, at least. In this case higher order correlation functions have
to be manipulated, whose size may become prohibitively large. We therefore
develop a Gaussian-like representation for fourth order correlation functions,
which works exceedingly well in the case of the fly. The reconstructions using
this Gaussian-like representation are very similar to the reconstructions using
the experimental correlation functions. The overall contribution to rotational
stimulus reconstruction of the second order kernels - measured by a chi-squared
averaged over the whole experiment - is only about 8% of the first order
contribution. Yet if we introduce an instant-dependent chi-square to measure
the contribution of second order kernels at special events, we observe an up to
100% improvement. As may be expected, for translational stimuli the
reconstructions are rather poor. The Gaussian-like representation could be a
valuable aid in population coding with large number of neurons
Defective repair of cisplatin-induced DNA damage caused by reduced XPA protein in testicular germ cell tumours
AbstractMetastatic cancer in adults usually has a fatal outcome. In contrast, advanced testicular germ cell tumours are cured in over 80% of patients using cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy [1]. An understanding of why these cells are sensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs is likely to have implications for the treatment of other types of cancer. Earlier measurements indicate that testis tumour cells are hypersensitive to cisplatin and have a low capacity to remove cisplatin-induced DNA damage from the genome [2,3]. We have investigated the nucleotide excision repair (NER) capacity of extracts from the well-defined 833K and GCT27 human testis tumour cell lines. Both had a reduced ability to carry out the incision steps of NER in comparison with extracts from known repair-proficient cells. Immunoblotting revealed that the testis tumour cells had normal amounts of most NER proteins, but low levels of the xeroderma pigmentosum group A protein (XPA) and the ERCC1–XPF endonuclease complex. Addition of XPA specifically conferred full NER capacity on the testis tumour extracts. These results show that a low XPA level in the testis tumour cell lines is sufficient to explain their poor ability to remove cisplatin adducts from DNA and might be a major reason for the high cisplatin sensitivity of testis tumours. Targeted inhibition of XPA could sensitise other types of cells and tumours to cisplatin and broaden the usefulness of this chemotherapeutic agent
Bifurcations, order, and chaos in the Bose-Einstein condensation of dipolar gases
We apply a variational technique to solve the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii
equation for Bose-Einstein condensates in which an additional dipole-dipole
interaction between the atoms is present with the goal of modelling the
dynamics of such condensates. We show that universal stability thresholds for
the collapse of the condensates correspond to bifurcation points where always
two stationary solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation disappear in a
tangent bifurcation, one dynamically stable and the other unstable. We point
out that the thresholds also correspond to "exceptional points," i.e. branching
singularities of the Hamiltonian. We analyse the dynamics of excited condensate
wave functions via Poincare surfaces of section for the condensate parameters
and find both regular and chaotic motion, corresponding to (quasi-)
periodically oscillating and irregularly fluctuating condensates, respectively.
Stable islands are found to persist up to energies well above the saddle point
of the mean-field energy, alongside with collapsing modes. The results are
applicable when the shape of the condensate is axisymmetric.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, minor changes in the text and additional
reference adde
Fungal Chitin Dampens Inflammation through IL-10 Induction Mediated by NOD2 and TLR9 Activation
Funding: JW and NARG thank the Wellcome Trust (080088, 086827, 075470), The Wellcome Trust Strategic Award in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology (097377) and the European Union ALLFUN (FP7/2007 2013, HEALTH-2010-260338) for funding. MGN was supported by a Vici grant of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. AJPB and DMM were funded by STRIFE, ERC-2009-AdG-249793 and AJPB additionally by FINSysB, PITN-GA-2008-214004 and the BBSRC [BB/F00513X/1]. MDL was supported by the MRC (MR/J008230/1). GDB and SV were funded by the Wellcome Trust (086558) and TB and MK were funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Bi 696/3-1; Bi 696/5-2; Bi 696/10-1). MS was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Sch 897/1-3) and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (R01 DE017514-01). TDK and RKSM were funded by the National Institute of Health (AR056296, AI101935) and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Clinical benefit of fulvestrant in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer and primary or acquired resistance to aromatase inhibitors: final results of phase II Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research Trial (SAKK 21/00)
Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of fulvestrant, an estrogen receptor antagonist, in postmenopausal women with hormone-responsive tumors progressing after aromatase inhibitor (AI) treatment. Patients and methods: This is a phase II, open, multicenter, noncomparative study. Two patient groups were prospectively considered: group A (n = 70) with AI-responsive disease and group B (n = 20) with AI-resistant disease. Fulvestrant 250 mg was administered as intramuscular injection every 28 (±3) days. Results: All patients were pretreated with AI and 84% also with tamoxifen or toremifene; 67% had bone metastases and 45% liver metastases. Fulvestrant administration was well tolerated and yielded a clinical benefit (CB; defined as objective response or stable disease [SD] for ≥24 weeks) in 28% (90% confidence interval [CI] 19% to 39%) of patients in group A and 37% (90% CI 19% to 58%) of patients in group B. Median time to progression (TTP) was 3.6 (95% CI 3.0 to 4.8) months in group A and 3.4 (95% CI 2.5 to 6.7) months in group B. Conclusions: Overall, 30% of patients who had progressed following prior AI treatment gained CB with fulvestrant, thereby delaying indication to start chemotherapy. Prior response to an AI did not appear to be predictive for benefit with fulvestran
Generalized Particle Statistics in Two-Dimensions: Examples from the Theory of Free Massive Dirac Field
In the framework of algebraic quantum field theory we analyze the anomalous
statistics exhibited by a class of automorphisms of the observable algebra of
the two-dimensional free massive Dirac field, constructed by fermionic gauge
group methods. The violation of Haag duality, the topological peculiarity of a
two-dimensional space-time and the fact that unitary implementers do not lie in
the global field algebra account for strange behaviour of statistics, which is
no longer an intrinsic property of sectors. Since automorphisms are not inner,
we exploit asymptotic abelianness of intertwiners in order to construct a
braiding for a suitable -tensor subcategory of End(). We
define two inequivalent classes of path connected bi-asymptopias, selecting
only those sets of nets which yield a true generalized statistics operator.Comment: 24 page
Sum rule for the backward spin polarizability of the nucleon from a backward dispersion relation
A new sum rule for , the backward spin polarizability of the
nucleon, is derived from a backward-angle dispersion relation. Taking into
account single- and multi-pion photoproduction in the s-channel up to the
energy 1.5 GeV and resonances in the t-channel with mass below 1.5 GeV, it is
found for the proton and neutron that = -39.5 +/- 2.4 and
= 52.5 +/- 2.4, respectively, in units of 10^{-4} fm^4.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, revtex. Submitted to Phys. Lett.
SU(N) Evolution of a Frustrated Spin Ladder
Recent studies indicate that the weakly coupled spin-1/2 Heisenberg
antiferromagnet with next nearest neighbor frustration supports massive spinons
when suitably tuned. The straightforward SU(N) generalization of the low energy
ladder Hamiltonian yields two independent SU(N) Thirring models with N-1
multiplets of massive ``spinon'' excitations. We study the evolution of the
complete set of low-energy dynamical structure factors using form factors.
Those corresponding to the smooth (staggered) magnetizations are qualitatively
different (the same) in the N=2 and N>2 cases. The absence of single-particle
peaks preserves the notion of spinons stabilized by frustration. In contrast to
the ladder, we note that the N=infinity limit of the four chain magnet is not a
trivial free theory.Comment: 10 pages, RevTex, 5 figures; SU(N) approach clarifie
Integrable models: from dynamical solutions to string theory
We review the status of integrable models from the point of view of their
dynamics and integrability conditions. Some integrable models are discussed in
detail. We comment on the use it is made of them in string theory. We also
discuss the Bethe Ansatz solution of the SO(6) symmetric Hamiltonian with SO(6)
boundary.
This work is especially prepared for the seventieth anniversaries of
Andr\'{e} Swieca (in memoriam) and Roland K\"{o}berle.Comment: 24 pages, to appear in Brazilian Journal of Physic
Weakly coupled one-dimensional Mott insulators
We consider a model of one-dimensional Mott insulators coupled by a weak
interchain tunnelling . We first determine the single-particle Green's
function of a single chain by exact field-theoretical methods and then take the
tunnelling into account by means of a Random Phase Approximation (RPA). In
order to embed this approximation into a well-defined expansion with a small
parameter, the Fourier transform of the interchain coupling is
assumed to have a small support in momentum space such that every integration
over transverse wave vector yields a small factor . When
\tp(0) exceeds a critical value, a small Fermi surface develops in the form of
electron and hole pockets. We demonstrate that Luttinger's theorem holds both
in the insulating and in the metallic phases. We find that the quasi-particle
residue increases very fast through the transition and quickly reaches a
value of about . The metallic state close to the transition retains
many features of the one-dimensional system in the form of strong incoherent
continua.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure
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