Arachidonic Acid as a Possible Negative Feedback Inhibitor of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors on Neurons

Neuronal acetylcholine receptors, being highly permeable to calcium, are likely to regulate calcium-dependent events in neurons. Arachidonic acid is a membrane-permeant second messenger that can be released from membrane phospholipids by phospholipases in a calcium-dependent manner. We show here that activation of neuronal acetylcholine receptors triggers release of 3H-arachidonic acid in a calcium-dependent manner from neurons preloaded with the fatty acid. Moreover, low concentrations of arachidonic acid reversibly inhibit the receptors and act most efficiently on receptors likely to have the highest permeability to calcium, namely receptors containing α7 subunits. Low concentrations of arachidonic acid also reversibly inhibit α7- containing receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes following injection of α7 cRNA. The oocyte results indicate following injection of α7 cRNA. The oocyte results indicate that the inhibition is a feature of the receptors rather than a consequence of neuron-specific machinery. The inhibition is not mediated by specific metabolites of arachidonic acid because the effects can be mimicked by other fatty acids; their effectiveness correlates with their content of double bonds. In contrast to arachidonic effects on calcium currents, inhibition of neuronal nicotinic receptors by the fatty acid cannot be prevented by blocking production of free radicals or by inhibiting protein kinase C. An alternative mechanism is that arachidonic acid binds directly to the receptors or perturbs the local environment in such a manner as to constrain receptor function

Memperkecil Kesenjangan Gender melalui Kebijakan Pengarusutamaan Gender (Pug)

Judul Buku : Negara dan Perempuan – Reorientasi Kebijakan PublikPengarang : Dr. Muhadjir M. Darwin, MPAPenerbit : Media Wacana Yogyakarta.Tahun Terbit : 2005Jumlah halaman : 313Buku “Negara dan Perempuan –Reorientasi Kebijakan Publik” merupakanhasil refleksi perhatian Penulis -yangditakdirkan berjenis kelamin laki-laki dalamwaktu yang panjang, yakni 13 tahun, melaluikedekatannya dengan tugas-tugas yang terkaitdengan issue (Penulis menggunakan kata„isu‟) gender

The weakly perturbed Schwarzschild lens in the strong deflection limit

We investigate the strong deflection limit of gravitational lensing by a Schwarzschild black hole embedded in an external gravitational field. The study of this model, analogous to the Chang & Refsdal lens in the weak deflection limit, is important to evaluate the gravitational perturbations on the relativistic images that appear in proximity of supermassive black holes hosted in galactic centers. By a simple dimensional argument, we prove that the tidal effect on the light ray propagation mainly occurs in the weak field region far away from the black hole and that the external perturbation can be treated as a weak field quadrupole term. We provide a description of relativistic critical curves and caustics and discuss the inversion of the lens mapping. Relativistic caustics are shifted and acquire a finite diamond shape. Sources inside the caustics produce four sequences of relativistic images. On the other hand, retro-lensing caustics are only shifted while remaining point-like to the lowest order.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure

The Influence of Good Corporate Governance and Audit Quality Against the Disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility

This study aimed to get empirical evidence about the influence of good corporate governance consists of the proportion of institution ownership, board size, the proportion of independent commisioners, audit committee size and audit quality on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility with leverage as control variables.Population of this research are manufacturing companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2014 the annual report contains disclosure of corporate social responsibility activities of companies which some 59 companies using purposive sampling technique. Methods of data analysis using descriptive statistical analysis and multiple linear regression.These results indicate that good corporate governance and audit quality has a significant effect simultaneously on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility of the company. However, partial test results showed that the proportion of institutional ownership, board size, the size of the audit committee and audit quality is not affected by the disclosure of corporate social responsibility. While the proportion of independent commisioners have a negative significant effect on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility

Darwin Meets Einstein: LISA Data Analysis Using Genetic Algorithms

This work presents the first application of the method of Genetic Algorithms (GAs) to data analysis for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). In the low frequency regime of the LISA band there are expected to be tens of thousands galactic binary systems that will be emitting gravitational waves detectable by LISA. The challenge of parameter extraction of such a large number of sources in the LISA data stream requires a search method that can efficiently explore the large parameter spaces involved. As signals of many of these sources will overlap, a global search method is desired. GAs represent such a global search method for parameter extraction of multiple overlapping sources in the LISA data stream. We find that GAs are able to correctly extract source parameters for overlapping sources. Several optimizations of a basic GA are presented with results derived from applications of the GA searches to simulated LISA data.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figure

Chirality in Quantum Computation with Spin Cluster Qubits

We study corrections to the Heisenberg interaction between several lateral, single-electron quantum dots. We show, using exact diagonalization, that three-body chiral terms couple triangular configurations to external sources of flux rather strongly. The chiral corrections impact single qubit encodings utilizing loops of three or more Heisenberg coupled quantum dots.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

A New Class of Solutions to the Strong CP Problem with a Small Two-Loop theta

We present a new class of models which produce zero theta (QCD} angle at the tree and one-loop level due to hermiticity of sub-blocks in the extended quark mass matrices. The structure can be maintained typically by non-abelian generation symmetry. Two examples are given for this class of solutions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Perturbative SO(10) Grand Unification

We consider a phenomenologically viable SO(10) grand unification model of the unification scale $M_G$ around $10^{16}$ GeV which reproduces the MSSM at low energy and allows perturbative calculations up to the Planck scale $M_P$ or the string scale $M_{st}$. Both requirements strongly restrict a choice of Higgs representations in a model. We propose a simple SO(10) model with a set of Higgs representations $\{2 \times {\bf 10} + {\bf \bar{16}} + {\bf 16} + {\bf 45} \}$ and show its phenomenological viability. This model can indeed reproduce the low-energy experimental data relating the charged fermion masses and mixings. Neutrino oscillation data can be consistently incorporated in the model, leading to the right-handed neutrino mass scale $M_R \simeq M_G^2/M_P$. Furthermore, there exists a parameter region which results the proton life time consistent with the experimental results.Comment: 14 pages, no figure, section5 was slightly modifie

Laue diffraction lenses for astrophysics: Theoretical concepts

Beyond the present technologies, Laue diffraction lenses are very promising tools in the field of gamma-ray astrophysics. The theoretical concepts of this kind of instruments are based on the Laue diffraction in crystals, discovered almost 100 years ago. Though they are commonly used in crystallography, their application to γ-ray focusing in astrophysics requires some specific developments, e.g. in terms of energy and imaging responses. The present article describes the physics of X-ray diffraction in crystals. In the context of the Darwin model of mosaic crystals, some peculiar aspects, relevant to the astrophysical observation, are discussed. The evaluation and optimization of diffraction efficiency are discussed, especially with rigards to the crystal's mosaicity and thickness, its spatial extent and deviations to the “ideally imperfect” Darwin model