GABAA/benzodiazepine receptor distribution and subunit mRNA expression in human temporal lobe epilepsy

The GABAA/central benzodiazepine receptor (cBZR) complex is a major inhibitory receptor in the vertebrate CNS. A functional impairment of GABAergic inhibition has been proposed as one mechanism which may underlie increased seizure susceptibility in human temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The objective of this study was to characterise abnormalities of the GABAA/cBZR in TLE with a correlative autoradiography, in-situ hybridisation, immunohistochemistry and quantitative neuropathology study. Hippocampal tissue was obtained at surgery from patients with intractable TLE due to hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and autopsies of neurologically normal controls. Neuronal densities were obtained using a 3-D counting method in paraffin-embedded sections. Saturation autoradiographic studies were performed on cryostat sections using [3H]-flumazenil and expression of mRNA encoding the α1-α6, β3 and γ2 subunits of the GABAA receptor was assessed using in-situ hybridisation histochemistry. Distribution of the receptor protein was also determined using immunohistochemistry with antibodies to the GABAA α1 and β2/3 subunits. A significant decrease in central benzodiazepine binding sites was demonstrated in all subfields of the human hippocampus in HS. This loss of cBZR binding sites would appear to be due primarily to changes in neuronal density characteristic of this pathology. However, in the CA 1 subfield, a reduced BZ receptor concentration was evident on surviving neurones in the HS group (p<0.05). Expression of mRNA encoding GABAA receptor subunits α1, α2, α4, α5, and γ2, was upregulated in surviving neurones of the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus in HS. In addition, epilepsy-associated increases in the expression of mRNA encoding the α1 subunit were observed in the hilus and CA2 and α2 mRNA in the hilus and CA1. In contrast, an apparent decrease in expression of β3 mRNA per neurone was detected in CA1 in HS (p<0.07) and of γ2 in the CA2 in HS (p<0.10). These findings imply a functional abnormality of the GABAA/CBZR complex that may have a role in the pathophysiology of epileptogenicity in HS

A5_1 A Drop of Rain

How much energy could we transfer from rainfall to power a 60 W lightbulb by fitting a hydroturbine into the base of a drainpipe attached to the Physics building at the University of Leicester (UoL)? We discovered that the maximum energy you could produce would be enough to power a 60 W lightbulb for approximately 8.5 hours over the course of a year

A5_2 Drop The Bass!

In 2004 two newspaper articles claimed that the cause of the spontaneous pneumothorax that aman suffered in his car was due to the 1000 W ‘bass box’, producing frequencies which causedresonance with the air in his lungs causing them to puncture and collapse. Modelling the alveoliin the lungs as a Helmholtz resonator this paper looks to determine if the cause was really due to the frequencies generated by the subwoofer. It was found that the subwoofer could not produce high enough frequencies to achieve resonance with the alveoli

A5_6 Protective Panning

In the video game ‘PlayerUnknowns’s Battlegrounds’ a cast iron pan is able to ricochet incoming bullets to protect the wearer from harm. We identified the critical incident angle as 45.39° using a Beretta 92S pistol using 9 mm Parabellum ammunition with any incident angle less than this causing complete ricochet

A5_8 The Chalk Is Mightier Than The Board

Using experimental data collected about the rate of use of chalk when drawing on a chalkboard, found to be -0.0189 ± 3.95×10^−5 g/m, and the mean size of characters in the English alphabet we were able to determine that each stick of Crayola writing chalk could write 549.4 ± 1.475 m and it would require 0.6855 ± 0.0979 sticks of chalk to write out the complete Wikipedia page for ‘Chalk’

A5_4 Splash Mountain

In the Gen V Pokédex entry for the Pokémon Magikarp it is stated that Magikarp can jump over mountains using the move ‘Splash’.  This is a Pokémon move that does 0 damage in the game.  By comparing the power of a horse’s kick and the move ‘Stomp’, we have determined that ‘Splash’ should have 424 Poképower in the game (much larger than any other move) but also a very low accuracy  due  to  the  jump  taking  36.94  s  in  total.   Perhaps  this  is  why  the  move  is  said  to  be useless

A5_7 Popeye vs. The Sun

Popeye is a fictional character able to perform amazing feats after eating a can of spinach. One such feat involves him blowing out the Sun. The paper models this situation by using a density profile, and temperature ranges for different layers of the Sun to work out the energy needed to cool the Sun to 0 K. This was found to be 2.4×10^38 J. When compared to the rest energy of the spinach, it has been found that Popeye’s efficiency at converting the spinach to energy was 7.0×10^23 %. Thus, Popeye must be able to perpetually create energy in order to perform this feat

Approaching the adiabatic timescale with machine-learning

The control and manipulation of quantum systems without excitation is challenging, due to the complexities in fully modeling such systems accurately and the difficulties in controlling these inherently fragile systems experimentally. For example, while protocols to decompress Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) faster than the adiabatic timescale (without excitation or loss) have been well developed theoretically, experimental implementations of these protocols have yet to reach speeds faster than the adiabatic timescale. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate an alternative approach based on a machine learning algorithm which makes progress towards this goal. The algorithm is given control of the coupled decompression and transport of a metastable helium condensate, with its performance determined after each experimental iteration by measuring the excitations of the resultant BEC. After each iteration the algorithm adjusts its internal model of the system to create an improved control output for the next iteration. Given sufficient control over the decompression, the algorithm converges to a novel solution that sets the current speed record in relation to the adiabatic timescale, beating out other experimental realizations based on theoretical approaches. This method presents a feasible approach for implementing fast state preparations or transformations in other quantum systems, without requiring a solution to a theoretical model of the system. Implications for fundamental physics and cooling are discussed.Comment: 7 pages main text, 2 pages supporting informatio