1,472 research outputs found
Chaos synchronization in gap-junction-coupled neurons
Depending on temperature the modified Hodgkin-Huxley (MHH) equations exhibit
a variety of dynamical behavior including intrinsic chaotic firing. We analyze
synchronization in a large ensemble of MHH neurons that are interconnected with
gap junctions. By evaluating tangential Lyapunov exponents we clarify whether
synchronous state of neurons is chaotic or periodic. Then, we evaluate
transversal Lyapunov exponents to elucidate if this synchronous state is stable
against infinitesimal perturbations. Our analysis elucidates that with weak gap
junctions, stability of synchronization of MHH neurons shows rather complicated
change with temperature. We, however, find that with strong gap junctions,
synchronous state is stable over the wide range of temperature irrespective of
whether synchronous state is chaotic or periodic. It turns out that strong gap
junctions realize the robust synchronization mechanism, which well explains
synchronization in interneurons in the real nervous system.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Molecular mechanisms underlying nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of actinin-4.
In addition to its well-known role as a crosslinker of actin filaments at focal-adhesion sites, actinin-4 is known to be localized to the nucleus. In this study, we reveal the molecular mechanism underlying nuclear localization of actinin-4 and its novel interactions with transcriptional regulators. We found that actinin-4 is imported into the nucleus through the nuclear pore complex in an importin-independent manner and is exported by the chromosome region maintenance-1 (CRM1)-dependent pathway. Nuclear actinin-4 levels were significantly increased in the late G2 phase of the cell cycle and were decreased in the G1 phase, suggesting that active release from the actin cytoskeleton was responsible for increased nuclear actinin-4 in late G2. Nuclear actinin-4 was found to interact with the INO80 chromatin-remodeling complex. It also directs the expression of a subset of cell-cycle-related genes and interacts with the upstream-binding factor (UBF)-dependent rRNA transcriptional machinery in the M phase. These findings provide molecular mechanisms for both nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of proteins that do not contain a nuclear-localization signal and cell-cycle-dependent gene regulation that reflects morphological changes in the cytoskeleton
The magnetic phase of the perovskite CaCrO studied with SR
We investigated the magnetic phase of the perovskite CaCrO by using the
muon spin relaxation technique accompanied by susceptibility measurements. A
thermal hysteresis loop is identified with a width of about 1 K at the
transition temperature. Within the time scale of the muon lifetime, a static
antiferromagnetic order is revealed with distinct multiple internal fields
which are experienced in the muon interstitial sites below the phase-transition
temperature, . Above , lattice deformations are indicated by
transverse-field muon-spin rotation and relaxation suggesting a magneto-elastic
mechanism.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in PR
Ambegaokar-Baratoff relations of Josephson critical current in heterojunctions with multi-gap superconductors
An extension of the Ambegaokar-Baratoff relation to a
superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) Josephson junction with multiple
tunneling channels is derived. Appling the resultant relation to a SIS
Josephson junction formed by an iron-based (five-band) and a single-band
Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) type superconductors, a theoretical bound of
the Josephson critical current () multiplied by the resistance of
the junction () is given. We reveal that such a bound is useful for
identifying the pairing symmetry of iron-pnictide superconductors. One finds
that if a measured value of is smaller than the bound then
the symmetry is -wave, and otherwise -wave without any sign changes.
In addition, we stress that temperature dependence of is
sensitive to the difference of the gap functions from the BCS type gap formula
in the above heterojunction.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Precautionary Measures for Credit Risk Management in Jump Models
Sustaining efficiency and stability by properly controlling the equity to
asset ratio is one of the most important and difficult challenges in bank
management. Due to unexpected and abrupt decline of asset values, a bank must
closely monitor its net worth as well as market conditions, and one of its
important concerns is when to raise more capital so as not to violate capital
adequacy requirements. In this paper, we model the tradeoff between avoiding
costs of delay and premature capital raising, and solve the corresponding
optimal stopping problem. In order to model defaults in a bank's loan/credit
business portfolios, we represent its net worth by Levy processes, and solve
explicitly for the double exponential jump diffusion process and for a general
spectrally negative Levy process.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figure
Nuclear Localization of the Protein from the Open Reading Frame x1 of the Borna Disease Virus Was through Interactions with the Viral Nucleoprotein
AbstractPrevious studies have predicted the presence of a small open reading frame (ORFx1) located between ORF-1 and ORF-2 of the Borna disease viral (BDV) genome. The ORFx1 is expressed as a p10 protein that is localized in the nucleus and cytoplasm of BDV-infected cells. In this study, we cloned the nucleotide sequence of ORFx1 into expression vectors and showed that it is expressed as p10. An anti-p10 serum gave nuclear and cytoplasmic staining of cells persistently infected with BDV. Immunoprecipitation of p10 from BDV-infected cells coprecipitated the p40 nucleoprotein N and the 24-kDa viral phosphoprotein P. Transient transfection of noninfected cells showed that p10 and p40 can be coprecipitated and revealed that p10 localized in the cytoplasm was imported into the nucleus in the presence of the BDV p40 N.In vitroprotein–protein interaction studies on solid phase showed the direct interaction of the p10 with the BDV N protein. The subcellular distribution of p10 and its interaction with p40 suggest that this protein may play a role in the nuclear replication and/or transcription of BDV
Ferromagnetism in a Hubbard model for an atomic quantum wire: a realization of flat-band magnetism from even-membered rings
We have examined a Hubbard model on a chain of squares, which was proposed by
Yajima et al as a model of an atomic quantum wire As/Si(100), to show that the
flat-band ferromagnetism according to a kind of Mielke-Tasaki mechanism should
be realized for an appropriate band filling in such a non-frustrated lattice.
Reflecting the fact that the flat band is not a bottom one, the ferromagnetism
vanishes, rather than intensified, as the Hubbard U is increased. The exact
diagonalization method is used to show that the critical value of U is in a
realistic range. We also discussed the robustness of the magnetism against the
degradation of the flatness of the band.Comment: misleading terms and expressions are corrected, 4 pages, RevTex, 5
figures in Postscript, to be published in Phys. Rev. B (rapid communication
Peripheral, but not central, CB1 antagonism provides food intake-independent metabolic benefits in diet-induced obese rats.
OBJECTIVE
Blockade of the CB1 receptor is one of the promising strategies for the treatment of obesity. Although antagonists suppress food intake and reduce body weight, the role of central versus peripheral CB1 activation on weight loss and related metabolic parameters remains to be elucidated. We therefore specifically assessed and compared the respective potential relevance of central nervous system (CNS) versus peripheral CB1 receptors in the regulation of energy homeostasis and lipid and glucose metabolism in diet-induced obese (DIO) rats.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Both lean and DIO rats were used for our experiments. The expression of key enzymes involved in lipid metabolism was measured by real-time PCR, and euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamps were used for insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism studies.
RESULTS
Specific CNS-CB1 blockade decreased body weight and food intake but, independent of those effects, had no beneficial influence on peripheral lipid and glucose metabolism. Peripheral treatment with CB1 antagonist (Rimonabant) also reduced food intake and body weight but, in addition, independently triggered lipid mobilization pathways in white adipose tissue and cellular glucose uptake. Insulin sensitivity and skeletal muscle glucose uptake were enhanced, while hepatic glucose production was decreased during peripheral infusion of the CB1 antagonist. However, these effects depended on the antagonist-elicited reduction of food intake.
CONCLUSIONS
Several relevant metabolic processes appear to independently benefit from peripheral blockade of CB1, while CNS-CB1 blockade alone predominantly affects food intake and body weight
Magnetostriction studies up to megagauss fields using fiber Bragg grating technique
We here report magnetostriction measurements under pulsed megagauss fields
using a high-speed 100 MHz strain monitoring system devised using fiber Bragg
grating (FBG) technique with optical filter method. The optical filter method
is a detection scheme of the strain of FBG, where the changing Bragg wavelength
of the FBG reflection is converted to the intensity of reflected light to
enable the 100 MHz measurement. In order to show the usefulness and reliability
of the method, we report the measurements for solid oxygen, spin-controlled
crystal, and volborthite, a deformed Kagom\'{e} quantum spin lattice, using
static magnetic fields up to 7 T and non-destructive millisecond pulse magnets
up to 50 T. Then, we show the application of the method for the
magnetostriction measurements of CaVO, a two-dimensional
antiferromagnet with spin-halves, and LaCoO, an anomalous spin-crossover
oxide, in the megagauss fields.Comment: 9pages, 6 figures, Conference proceedings for MegaGauss16 at Kashiwa,
Japan in Sept. 201
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