Neural correlates of intentional and stimulus-driven inhibition: a comparison

People can inhibit an action because of an instruction by an external stimulus, or because of their own internal decision. The similarities and differences between these two forms of inhibition are not well understood. Therefore, in the present study the neural correlates of intentional and stimulus-driven inhibition were tested in the same subjects. Participants performed two inhibition tasks while lying in the scanner: the marble task in which they had to choose for themselves between intentionally acting on, or inhibiting a prepotent response to measure intentional inhibition, and the classical stop signal task in which an external signal triggered the inhibition process. Results showed that intentional inhibition decision processes rely on a neural network that has been documented extensively for stimulus-driven inhibition, including bilateral parietal and lateral prefrontal cortex and pre-supplementary motor area. We also found activation in dorsal frontomedian cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus during intentional inhibition that depended on the history of previous choices. Together, these results indicate that intentional inhibition and stimulus-driven inhibition engage a common inhibition network, but intentional inhibition is also characterized by additional context-dependent neural activation in medial prefrontal cortex

Ueber Gallorubin

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A Rule-Based Approach to Analyzing Database Schema Objects with Datalog

Database schema elements such as tables, views, triggers and functions are typically defined with many interrelationships. In order to support database users in understanding a given schema, a rule-based approach for analyzing the respective dependencies is proposed using Datalog expressions. We show that many interesting properties of schema elements can be systematically determined this way. The expressiveness of the proposed analysis is exemplarily shown with the problem of computing induced functional dependencies for derived relations. The propagation of functional dependencies plays an important role in data integration and query optimization but represents an undecidable problem in general. And yet, our rule-based analysis covers all relational operators as well as linear recursive expressions in a systematic way showing the depth of analysis possible by our proposal. The analysis of functional dependencies is well-integrated in a uniform approach to analyzing dependencies between schema elements in general.Comment: Pre-proceedings paper presented at the 27th International Symposium on Logic-Based Program Synthesis and Transformation (LOPSTR 2017), Namur, Belgium, 10-12 October 2017 (arXiv:1708.07854

Neural circuitry underlying rule use in humans and nonhuman primates

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The strong thirteen spheres problem

The thirteen spheres problem is asking if 13 equal size nonoverlapping spheres in three dimensions can touch another sphere of the same size. This problem was the subject of the famous discussion between Isaac Newton and David Gregory in 1694. The problem was solved by Schutte and van der Waerden only in 1953. A natural extension of this problem is the strong thirteen spheres problem (or the Tammes problem for 13 points) which asks to find an arrangement and the maximum radius of 13 equal size nonoverlapping spheres touching the unit sphere. In the paper we give a solution of this long-standing open problem in geometry. Our computer-assisted proof is based on a enumeration of the so-called irreducible graphs.Comment: Modified lemma 2, 16 pages, 12 figures. Uploaded program packag

GTP and Ca2+ Modulate the Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate-Dependent Ca2+ Release in Streptolysin O-Permeabilized Bovine Adrenal Chromaffin Cells

The inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)-induced Ca2+ release was studied using streptolysin O-permeabilized bovine adrenal chromaffin cells. The IP3-induced Ca2+ release was followed by Ca2+ reuptake into intracellular compartments. The IP3-induced Ca2+ release diminished after sequential applications of the same amount of IP3. Addition of 20 μM GTP fully restored the sensitivity to IP3. Guanosine 5'-O-(3-thio)triphosphate (GTPγS) could not replace GTP but prevented the action of GTP. The effects of GTP and GTPγS were reversible. Neither GTP nor GTPγS induced release of Ca2+ in the absence of IP3. The amount of Ca2+ whose release was induced by IP3 depended on the free Ca2+ concentration of the medium. At 0.3 μM free Ca2+, a half-maximal Ca2+ release was elicited with ∼0.1 μM IP3. At 1 μM free Ca2+, no Ca2+ release was observed with 0.1 μM IP3; at this Ca2+ concentration, higher concentrations of IP3 (0.25 μM) were required to evoke Ca2+ release. At 8 μM free Ca2+, even 0.25 μM IP3 failed to induce release of Ca2+ from the store. The IP3-induced Ca2+ release at constant low (0.2 μM) free Ca2+ concentrations correlated directly with the amount of stored Ca2+. Depending on the filling state of the intracellular compartment, 1 mol of IP3 induced release of between 5 and 30 mol of Ca2+

Anisotropic vortex pinning in superconductors with a square array of rectangular submicron holes

We investigate vortex pinning in thin superconducting films with a square array of rectangular submicron holes ("antidots"). Two types of antidots are considered: antidots fully perforating the superconducting film, and "blind antidots", holes that perforate the film only up to a certain depth. In both systems, we observe a distinct anisotropy in the pinning properties, reflected in the critical current Ic, depending on the direction of the applied electrical current: parallel to the long side of the antidots or perpendicular to it. Although the mechanism responsible for the effect is very different in the two systems, they both show a higher critical current and a sharper IV-transition when the current is applied along the long side of the rectangular antidots