Cellular-Resolution Population Imaging Reveals Robust Sparse Coding in the Drosophila Mushroom Body

Sensory stimuli are represented in the brain by the activity of populations of neurons. In most biological systems, studying population coding is challenging since only a tiny proportion of cells can be recorded simultaneously. Here we used two-photon imaging to record neural activity in the relatively simple Drosophila mushroom body (MB), an area involved in olfactory learning and memory. Using the highly sensitive calcium indicator GCaMP3, we simultaneously monitored the activity of >100 MB neurons in vivo (similar to 5% of the total population). The MB is thought to encode odors in sparse patterns of activity, but the code has yet to be explored either on a population level or with a wide variety of stimuli. We therefore imaged responses to odors chosen to evaluate the robustness of sparse representations. Different odors activated distinct patterns of MB neurons; however, we found no evidence for spatial organization of neurons by either response probability or odor tuning within the cell body layer. The degree of sparseness was consistent across a wide range of stimuli, from monomolecular odors to artificial blends and even complex natural smells. Sparseness was mainly invariant across concentrations, largely because of the influence of recent odor experience. Finally, in contrast to sensory processing in other systems, no response features distinguished natural stimuli from monomolecular odors. Our results indicate that the fundamental feature of odor processing in the MB is to create sparse stimulus representations in a format that facilitates arbitrary associations between odor and punishment or reward

Correlated Strength in Nuclear Spectral Function

We have carried out an (e,e'p) experiment at high momentum transfer and in parallel kinematics to measure the strength of the nuclear spectral function S(k,E) at high nucleon momenta k and large removal energies E. This strength is related to the presence of short-range and tensor correlations, and was known hitherto only indirectly and with considerable uncertainty from the lack of strength in the independent-particle region. This experiment confirms by direct measurement the correlated strength predicted by theory.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Phenomenology of the Deuteron Electromagnetic Form Factors

A rigorous extraction of the deuteron charge form factors from tensor polarization data in elastic electron-deuteron scattering, at given values of the 4-momentum transfer, is presented. Then the world data for elastic electron-deuteron scattering is used to parameterize, in three different ways, the three electromagnetic form factors of the deuteron in the 4-momentum transfer range 0-7 fm^-1. This procedure is made possible with the advent of recent polarization measurements. The parameterizations allow a phenomenological characterization of the deuteron electromagnetic structure. They can be used to remove ambiguities in the form factors extraction from future polarization data.Comment: 18 pages (LaTeX), 2 figures Feb. 25: minor changes of content and in Table

Imaging a population code for odor identity in the Drosophila mushroom body

The brain represents sensory information in the coordinated activity of neuronal ensembles. Although the microcircuits underlying olfactory processing are well characterized in Drosophila, no studies to date have examined the encoding of odor identity by populations of neurons and related it to the odor specificity of olfactory behavior. Here we used two-photon Ca(2+) imaging to record odor-evoked responses from >100 neurons simultaneously in the Drosophila mushroom body (MB). For the first time, we demonstrate quantitatively that MB population responses contain substantial information on odor identity. Using a series of increasingly similar odor blends, we identified conditions in which odor discrimination is difficult behaviorally. We found that MB ensemble responses accounted well for olfactory acuity in this task. Kenyon cell ensembles with as few as 25 cells were sufficient to match behavioral discrimination accuracy. Using a generalization task, we demonstrated that the MB population code could predict the flies' responses to novel odors. The degree to which flies generalized a learned aversive association to unfamiliar test odors depended upon the relative similarity between the odors' evoked MB activity patterns. Discrimination and generalization place different demands on the animal, yet the flies' choices in these tasks were reliably predicted based on the amount of overlap between MB activity patterns. Therefore, these different behaviors can be understood in the context of a single physiological framework

Alluvial record of an early Eocene hyperthermal within the Castissent Formation, the Pyrenees, Spain

The late Palaeocene to the middle Eocene (57.5 to 46.5 Ma) recorded a total of 39 hyperthermals – periods of rapid global warming documented by prominent negative carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) as well as peaks in iron content – have been recognized in marine cores. Documenting how the Earth system responded to rapid climatic shifts during hyperthermals provides fundamental information to constrain climatic models. However, while hyperthermals have been well documented in the marine sedimentary record, only a few have been recognized and described in continental deposits, thereby limiting our ability to understand the effect and record of global warming on terrestrial systems. Hyperthermals in the continental record could be a powerful correlation tool to help connect marine and continental deposits, addressing issues of environmental signal propagation from land to sea. In this study, we generate new stable carbon isotope data (δ13C values) across the well-exposed and time-constrained fluvial sedimentary succession of the early Eocene Castissent Formation in the south central Pyrenees (Spain). The δ13C values of pedogenic carbonate reveal – similarly to the global records – stepped CIEs, culminating in a minimum δ13C value that we correlate with the hyperthermal event “U” at ca. 50 Ma. This general trend towards more negative values is most probably linked to higher primary productivity leading to an overall higher respiration of soil organic matter during these climatic events. The relative enrichment in immobile elements (Zr, Ti, Al) and higher estimates of mean annual precipitation together with the occurrence of small iron oxide and iron hydroxide nodules during the CIEs suggest intensification of chemical weathering and/or longer exposure of soils in a highly seasonal climate. The results show that even relatively small-scale hyperthermals compared with their prominent counterparts, such as PETM, ETM2, and ETM3, can leave a recognizable signature in the terrestrial stratigraphic record, providing insights into the dynamics of the carbon cycle in continental environments during these events

A precise measurement of the deuteron elastic structure function A(Q^2)

The A(Q^2) structure function in elastic electron-deuteron scattering was measured at six momentum transfers Q^2 between 0.66 and 1.80 (GeV/c)^2 in Hall C at Jefferson Laboratory. The scattered electrons and recoil deuterons were detected in coincidence, at a fixed deuteron angle of 60.5 degrees. These new precise measurements resolve discrepancies between older sets of data. They put significant constraints on existing models of the deuteron electromagnetic structure, and on the strength of isoscalar meson exchange currents.Comment: 3 LaTeX pages plus 2 PS figure

Water isotopes in desiccating lichens

The stable isotopic composition of water is routinely used as a tracer to study water exchange processes in vascular plants and ecosystems. To date, no study has focussed on isotope processes in non-vascular, poikilohydric organisms such as lichens and bryophytes. To understand basic isotope exchange processes of non-vascular plants, thallus water isotopic composition was studied in various green-algal lichens exposed to desiccation. The study indicates that lichens equilibrate with the isotopic composition of surrounding water vapour. A model was developed as a proof of concept that accounts for the specific water relations of these poikilohydric organisms. The approach incorporates first their variable thallus water potential and second a compartmentation of the thallus water into two isotopically distinct but connected water pools. Moreover, the results represent first steps towards the development of poikilohydric organisms as a recorder of ambient vapour isotopic composition

Measurement of Tensor Polarization in Elastic Electron-Deuteron Scattering at Large Momentum Transfer

Tensor polarization observables (t20, t21 and t22) have been measured in elastic electron-deuteron scattering for six values of momentum transfer between 0.66 and 1.7 (GeV/c)^2. The experiment was performed at the Jefferson Laboratory in Hall C using the electron HMS Spectrometer, a specially designed deuteron magnetic channel and the recoil deuteron polarimeter POLDER. The new data determine to much larger Q^2 the deuteron charge form factors G_C and G_Q. They are in good agreement with relativistic calculations and disagree with pQCD predictions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, for associated informations, see http://isnwww.in2p3.fr/hadrons/t20/t20_ang.html clarification about several topics, one figure has been had, extraction of form factors use AQ interpolation in our Q2 range onl

Coherent States of the q--Canonical Commutation Relations

For the $q$-deformed canonical commutation relations $a(f)a^\dagger(g) = (1-q)\,\langle f,g\rangle{\bf1}+q\,a^\dagger(g)a(f)$ for $f,g$ in some Hilbert space ${\cal H}$ we consider representations generated from a vector $\Omega$ satisfying $a(f)\Omega=\langle f,\phi\rangle\Omega$, where $\phi\in{\cal H}$. We show that such a representation exists if and only if $\Vert\phi\Vert\leq1$. Moreover, for $\Vert\phi\Vert<1$ these representations are unitarily equivalent to the Fock representation (obtained for $\phi=0$). On the other hand representations obtained for different unit vectors $\phi$ are disjoint. We show that the universal C*-algebra for the relations has a largest proper, closed, two-sided ideal. The quotient by this ideal is a natural $q$-analogue of the Cuntz algebra (obtained for $q=0$). We discuss the Conjecture that, for $d<\infty$, this analogue should, in fact, be equal to the Cuntz algebra itself. In the limiting cases $q=\pm1$ we determine all irreducible representations of the relations, and characterize those which can be obtained via coherent states.Comment: 19 pages, Plain Te

A Measurement of the Electric Form Factor of the Neutron through d⃗(e⃗,e′n)p\vec{d}(\vec{e},e'n)p at Q2=0.5Q^2 = 0.5 (GeV/c)2^2

We report the first measurement of the neutron electric form factor $G_E^n$ via $\vec{d}(\vec{e},e'n)p$ using a solid polarized target. $G_E^n$ was determined from the beam-target asymmetry in the scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons from polarized deuterated ammonia, $^{15}$ND$_3$. The measurement was performed in Hall C at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF) in quasi free kinematics with the target polarization perpendicular to the momentum transfer. The electrons were detected in a magnetic spectrometer in coincidence with neutrons in a large solid angle segmented detector. We find $G_E^n = 0.04632\pm0.00616 (stat.) \pm0.00341 (syst.)$ at $Q^2 = 0.495$ (GeV/c)$^2$.Comment: Latex2e 5 pages, 3 figure