3,067 research outputs found
Macroeconometric equivalence, microeconomic dissonance, and the design of monetary policy
Many recent studies in macroeconomics have focused on the estimation of DSGE models using a system of loglinear approximations to the models' nonlinear equilibrium conditions. The term macroeconometric equivalence encapsulates the idea that estimates using aggregate data based on first-order approximations to the equilibrium conditions of a DSGE model will not be able to distinguish between alternative underlying preferences and technologies. The concept of microeconomic dissonance refers to the fact that the underlying microeconomic differences become important when optimal monetary policy is analyzed in a nonlinear setting. The relevance of these concepts is established by analysis of optimal steady-state inflation and optimal policy in the stochastic economy using a small-scale New Keynesian model. Microeconomic and financial datasets are promising tools with which to overcome the equivalence problem.Monetary policy ; Macroeconomics ; Microeconomics
Hippocampal Sclerosis of Aging, a Common Alzheimer's Disease 'Mimic': Risk Genotypes are Associated with Brain Atrophy Outside the Temporal Lobe
Hippocampal sclerosis of aging (HS-Aging) is a common brain disease in older adults with a clinical course that is similar to Alzheimer's disease. Four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have previously shown association with HS-Aging. The present study investigated structural brain changes associated with these SNPs using surface-based analysis. Participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative cohort (ADNI; n = 1,239), with both MRI scans and genotype data, were used to assess the association between brain atrophy and previously identified HS-Aging risk SNPs in the following genes: GRN, TMEM106B, ABCC9, and KCNMB2 (minor allele frequency for each is >30%). A fifth SNP (near the ABCC9 gene) was evaluated in post-hoc analysis. The GRN risk SNP (rs5848_T) was associated with a pattern of atrophy in the dorsomedial frontal lobes bilaterally, remarkable since GRN is a risk factor for frontotemporal dementia. The ABCC9 risk SNP (rs704180_A) was associated with multifocal atrophy whereas a SNP (rs7488080_A) nearby (∼50 kb upstream) ABCC9 was associated with atrophy in the right entorhinal cortex. Neither TMEM106B (rs1990622_T), KCNMB2 (rs9637454_A), nor any of the non-risk alleles were associated with brain atrophy. When all four previously identified HS-Aging risk SNPs were summed into a polygenic risk score, there was a pattern of associated multifocal brain atrophy in a predominately frontal pattern. We conclude that common SNPs previously linked to HS-Aging pathology were associated with a distinct pattern of anterior cortical atrophy. Genetic variation associated with HS-Aging pathology may represent a non-Alzheimer's disease contribution to atrophy outside of the hippocampus in older adults
Representing Diversity In The Dish: Using Patient-Derived In Vitro Models To Recreate The Heterogeneity Of Neurological Disease
Neurological diseases, including dementias such as Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) and degenerative motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are responsible for an increasing fraction of worldwide fatalities. Researching these heterogeneous diseases requires models that endogenously express the full array of genetic and epigenetic factors which may influence disease development in both familial and sporadic patients. Here, we discuss the two primary methods of developing patient-derived neurons and glia to model neurodegenerative disease: reprogramming somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are differentiated into neurons or glial cells, or directly converting (DC) somatic cells into neurons (iNeurons) or glial cells. Distinct differentiation techniques for both models result in a variety of neuronal and glial cell types, which have been successful in displaying unique hallmarks of a variety of neurological diseases. Yield, length of differentiation, ease of genetic manipulation, expression of cell-specific markers, and recapitulation of disease pathogenesis are presented as determining factors in how these methods may be used separately or together to ascertain mechanisms of disease and identify therapeutics for distinct patient populations or for specific individuals in personalized medicine projects
The California Planet Survey IV: A Planet Orbiting the Giant Star HD 145934 and Updates to Seven Systems with Long-Period Planets
We present an update to seven stars with long-period planets or planetary
candidates using new and archival radial velocities from Keck-HIRES and
literature velocities from other telescopes. Our updated analysis better
constrains orbital parameters for these planets, four of which are known
multi-planet systems. HD 24040 b and HD 183263 c are super-Jupiters with
circular orbits and periods longer than 8 yr. We present a previously unseen
linear trend in the residuals of HD 66428 indicative on an additional planetary
companion. We confirm that GJ 849 is a multi-planet system and find a good
orbital solution for the c component: it is a planet in a 15 yr
orbit (the longest known for a planet orbiting an M dwarf). We update the HD
74156 double-planet system. We also announce the detection of HD 145934 b, a planet in a 7.5 yr orbit around a giant star. Two of our stars, HD
187123 and HD 217107, at present host the only known examples of systems
comprising a hot Jupiter and a planet with a well constrained period yr,
and with no evidence of giant planets in between. Our enlargement and
improvement of long-period planet parameters will aid future analysis of
origins, diversity, and evolution of planetary systems.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
The 55 Cancri Planetary System: Fully Self-Consistent N-body Constraints and a Dynamical Analysis
We present an updated study of the planets known to orbit 55 Cancri A using
1,418 high-precision radial velocity observations from four observatories
(Lick, Keck, Hobby-Eberly Telescope, Harlan J. Smith Telescope) and transit
time/durations for the inner-most planet, 55 Cancri "e" (Winn et al. 2011). We
provide the first posterior sample for the masses and orbital parameters based
on self-consistent n-body orbital solutions for the 55 Cancri planets, all of
which are dynamically stable (for at least years). We apply a GPU
version of Radial velocity Using N-body Differential evolution Markov Chain
Monte Carlo (RUN DMC; B. Nelson et al. 2014) to perform a Bayesian analysis of
the radial velocity and transit observations. Each of the planets in this
remarkable system has unique characteristics. Our investigation of high-cadence
radial velocities and priors based on space-based photometry yields an updated
mass estimate for planet "e" ( M), which affects its
density ( g cm) and inferred bulk composition.
Dynamical stability dictates that the orbital plane of planet "e" must be
aligned to within of the orbital plane of the outer planets (which we
assume to be coplanar). The mutual interactions between the planets "b" and "c"
may develop an apsidal lock about . We find 36-45% of all our model
systems librate about the anti-aligned configuration with an amplitude of
. Other cases showed short-term perturbations in the
libration of , circulation, and nodding, but we find the
planets are not in a 3:1 mean-motion resonance. A revised orbital period and
eccentricity for planet "d" pushes it further toward the closest known Jupiter
analog in the exoplanet population.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, accepted to MNRAS. Figure 2 (left) is
updated from published version. Posterior samples available at
http://www.personal.psu.edu/ben125/Downloads.htm
The effect of catecholaminergic depletion within the prelimbic and infralimbic medial prefrontal cortex on recognition memory for recency, location, and objects
There is good evidence that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is involved in different aspects of recognition memory. However, the mPFC is a heterogeneous structure, and the contribution of the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) cortices to recognition memory has not been investigated. Similarly, the role of different neuromodulators within the mPFC in these processes is poorly understood. To this end, we tested animals with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions of the PL and IL mPFC on three tests of object recognition memory that required judgments about recency, object location, and object identity. In the recency task, lesions to both PL and IL severely impaired animals' ability to differentiate between old (earlier presented) and recently presented familiar objects. Relative to sham and PL animals, the IL lesion also disrupted performance on the object location task. However, both lesions left novel object recognition intact. These data confirm previous reports that the mPFC is not required for discriminations based on the relative familiarity of individual objects. However, these results demonstrate that catecholamines within the PL cortex are crucial for relative recency judgments and suggest a possible role for neural processing within the IL in the integration of information about object locatio
Myosin II Activity Facilitates Microtubule Bundling in the Neuronal Growth Cone Neck
SummaryThe cell biological processes underlying axon growth and guidance are still not well understood. An outstanding question is how a new segment of the axon shaft is formed in the wake of neuronal growth cone advance. For this to occur, the highly dynamic, splayed-out microtubule (MT) arrays characteristic of the growth cone must be consolidated (bundled together) to form the core of the axon shaft. MT-associated proteins stabilize bundled MTs, but how individual MTs are brought together for initial bundling is unknown. Here, we show that laterally moving actin arcs, which are myosin II-driven contractile structures, interact with growing MTs and transport them from the sides of the growth cone into the central domain. Upon Myosin II inhibition, the movement of actin filaments and MTs immediately stopped and MTs unbundled. Thus, Myosin II-dependent compressive force is necessary for normal MT bundling in the growth cone neck
The Littlest Higgs
We present an economical theory of natural electroweak symmetry breaking,
generalizing an approach based on deconstruction. This theory is the smallest
extension of the Standard Model to date that stabilizes the electroweak scale
with a naturally light Higgs and weakly coupled new physics at TeV energies.
The Higgs is one of a set of pseudo Goldstone bosons in an
nonlinear sigma model. The symmetry breaking scale is around a TeV, with
the cutoff \Lambda \lsim 4\pi f \sim 10 TeV. A single electroweak doublet,
the ``little Higgs'', is automatically much lighter than the other pseudo
Goldstone bosons. The quartic self-coupling for the little Higgs is generated
by the gauge and Yukawa interactions with a natural size ,
while the top Yukawa coupling generates a negative mass squared triggering
electroweak symmetry breaking. Beneath the TeV scale the effective theory is
simply the minimal Standard Model. The new particle content at TeV energies
consists of one set of spin one bosons with the same quantum numbers as the
electroweak gauge bosons, an electroweak singlet quark with charge 2/3, and an
electroweak triplet scalar. One loop quadratically divergent corrections to the
Higgs mass are cancelled by interactions with these additional particles.Comment: 15 pages. References added. Corrected typos in the discussion of the
top Yukawa couplin
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