Modeling rhythmic patterns in the hippocampus

We investigate different dynamical regimes of neuronal network in the CA3 area of the hippocampus. The proposed neuronal circuit includes two fast- and two slowly-spiking cells which are interconnected by means of dynamical synapses. On the individual level, each neuron is modeled by FitzHugh-Nagumo equations. Three basic rhythmic patterns are observed: gamma-rhythm in which the fast neurons are uniformly spiking, theta-rhythm in which the individual spikes are separated by quiet epochs, and theta/gamma rhythm with repeated patches of spikes. We analyze the influence of asymmetry of synaptic strengths on the synchronization in the network and demonstrate that strong asymmetry reduces the variety of available dynamical states. The model network exhibits multistability; this results in occurrence of hysteresis in dependence on the conductances of individual connections. We show that switching between different rhythmic patterns in the network depends on the degree of synchronization between the slow cells.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Electrophoretic Deposition of WS2 Flakes on Nanoholes Arrays—Role of Used Suspension Medium

Here we optimized the electrophoretic deposition process for the fabrication of WS2 plasmonic nanohole integrated structures. We showed how the conditions used for site-selective deposition influenced the properties of the deposited flakes. In particular, we investigated the effect of different suspension buffers used during the deposition both in the efficiency of the process and in the stability of WS2 flakes, which were deposited on an ordered arrays of plasmonic nanostructures. We observed that a proper buffer can significantly facilitate the deposition process, keeping the material stable with respect to oxidation and contamination. Moreover, the integrated plasmonic structures that can be prepared with this process can be applied to enhanced spectroscopies and for the preparation of 2D nanopores

The production of dense lead-ion beams for the CERN LHC

To reach the design luminosity for lead-ions in the LHC, the present Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR) has to be converted into a Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR). Since the present ECR lead-ion source does not provide sufficient intensity, the main goal of LEIR is to act as a low-energy (4.2MeV/u) accumulator where the ion beam is stacked and cooled (with the help of an electron-cooler) to reach the required intensity and emittances. An experimental program has been carried out at LEAR in recent years in order to test the cooling and stacking process with the present electron-cooler. A variety of results have been reported at previous conferences. This paper will focus on the electron cooling aspects resulting from the afore mentioned experiments. Taking into account the experienc

Electron cooling of PB54+^{54+} ions in the low energy ion ring (LEIR)

For the preparation of dense bunches of lead ions for the LHC, electron cooling will be essential for accumula tion in a storage ring at 4.2 MeV/u. Tests have been carried out on the LEAR ring (renamed LEIR for Low Energy Ion Ring) in order to determine the optimum parameters for a future state-of-the-art electron cooling device which would be able to cool linac pulses of lead ions in less than 100 ms. The experiments focused on the generation of a stable high intensity electron beam that is needed to free space in both longitudinal and transverse phase space for incoming pulses. Investigations on the ion beam lifetime in the presence of the electron beam and on the dependency of the cooling times on the optical settings of the storage ring will also be discussed. This paper concentrates on the cooling aspects with the multiturn injection, vacuum, and high intensity aspects discussed in a companion paper at this conference

Magnetoplasmonic design rules for active magneto-optics

Light polarization rotators and non-reciprocal optical isolators are essential building blocks in photonics technology. These macroscopic passive devices are commonly based on magneto-optical Faraday and Kerr polarization rotation. Magnetoplasmonics - the combination of magnetism and plasmonics - is a promising route to bring these devices to the nanoscale. We introduce design rules for highly tunable active magnetoplasmonic elements in which we can tailor the amplitude and sign of the Kerr response over a broad spectral range

Genome-wide association mapping for grain shape and color traits in Ethiopian durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum)

Grain shape and color strongly influence yield and quality of durum wheat. Identifying QTL for these traits is essential for transferring favorable alleles based on selection strategies and breeding objectives. In the present study, 192 Ethiopian durum wheat accessions comprising 167 landraces and 25 cultivars were genotyped with a high-density Illumina iSelect 90K single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) wheat array to conduct a genome-wide association analysis for grain width (GW), grain length (GL), CIE (Commission Internationale l'Eclairage) L* (brightness), CIE a* (redness), and CIE b* (yellowness) traits. The accessions were planted at Sinana Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia in the 2015/2016 cropping season in a complete randomized block design with three replications. Twenty homogeneous and healthy seeds per replicate were used for trait measurement. Digital image analysis of seeds with GrainScan software package was used to generate the phenotypic data. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences between accessions for all traits. A total of 46 quantitative trait loci (QTL) were identified for all traits across all chromosomes. One novel major candidate QTL (−lg P ≥ 4) with pleiotropic effects for grain CIE L* (brightness) and CIE a* (redness) was identified on the long arm of chromosome 2A. Eighteen nominal QTL (−lg P ≥ 3) and 26 suggestive QTL (−lg P ≥ 2.5) were identified. Pleiotropic QTL influencing both grain shape and color were identified

Matrix Models of Noncommutative (2d+1) Lattice Gauge Theories

We investigate the problem of mapping, through the Morita equivalence, odd dimensional noncommutative lattice gauge theories onto suitable matrix models. We specialize our analysis to noncommutative three dimensional QED (NCQED) and scalar QED (NCSQED), for which we explicitly build the corresponding Matrix Model.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, no Figure

Immunohistochemical mismatch repair proteins expression as a tool to predict the melanoma immunotherapy response

In difference to other solid malignancies, the identification of biomarkers for the prediction of malignant melanoma (MM) response to immunotherapy is limited. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of MMR proteins in a cohort of MM metastatic patients receiving anti PD-1 treatments. The therapeutic response of patients was also retrospectively assessed. The cohort of the current study included 14 patients with advanced MM that had received anti PD-1 from January 2014 to December 2016 (12 males, 2 females; average age, 71 years; age range, 47-88 years). IHC analysis of MLH1, PMS2, MSH2 and MSH6 proteins was performed on paraffin-embedded primary tumor samples from each patient and on the 23 available metastasis specimens obtained from the Division of Pathology (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia). The results revealed that 7% of the primary melanoma tissue obtained from the patient cohort exhibited the loss of expression of at least one MMR protein. Three samples from one patient, including one primary melanoma and two metastases, exhibited no MSH6 expression and had the most successful response to anti PD-1 treatment, with a progression-free survival and overall survival of 956 and 2,546 days, respectively. In conclusion, the assessment of MMR protein expression represents a potential predictive marker that may have critical importance for patients with primary and metastatic MM, primarily as criterion for the adoption of immunotherapy treatments