74 research outputs found
Calcium, Synaptic Plasticity and Intrinsic Homeostasis in Purkinje Neuron Models
We recently reproduced the complex electrical activity of a Purkinje cell (PC) with very different combinations of ionic channel maximum conductances, suggesting that a large parameter space is available to homeostatic mechanisms. It has been hypothesized that cytoplasmic calcium concentrations control the homeostatic activity sensors. This raises many questions for PCs since in these neurons calcium plays an important role in the induction of synaptic plasticity. To address this question, we generated 148 new PC models. In these models the somatic membrane voltages are stable, but the somatic calcium dynamics are very variable, in agreement with experimental results. Conversely, the calcium signal in spiny dendrites shows only small variability. We demonstrate that this localized control of calcium conductances preserves the induction of long-term depression for all models. We conclude that calcium is unlikely to be the sole activity-sensor in this cell but that there is a strong relationship between activity homeostasis and synaptic plasticity
Complex Parameter Landscape for a Complex Neuron Model
The electrical activity of a neuron is strongly dependent on the ionic channels present in its membrane. Modifying the maximal conductances from these channels can have a dramatic impact on neuron behavior. But the effect of such modifications can also be cancelled out by compensatory mechanisms among different channels. We used an evolution strategy with a fitness function based on phase-plane analysis to obtain 20 very different computational models of the cerebellar Purkinje cell. All these models produced very similar outputs to current injections, including tiny details of the complex firing pattern. These models were not completely isolated in the parameter space, but neither did they belong to a large continuum of good models that would exist if weak compensations between channels were sufficient. The parameter landscape of good models can best be described as a set of loosely connected hyperplanes. Our method is efficient in finding good models in this complex landscape. Unraveling the landscape is an important step towards the understanding of functional homeostasis of neurons
Double-tag events study with the L3 detector at sqrt(s)=189 GeV
A preliminary study of double tag events using the L3 detector at center of
mass energy sqrt{s}=189 GeV has been performed. The cross-section of gamma*
gamma* collisions is measured at average =14.5 GeV2. The results are in
agreement with predictions based on perturbative QCD, while the Quark Parton
Model alone is insufficient to describe the data. The measurements lie below
the LO and above the NLO BFKL calculations.Comment: 6 pages, invited talk to be published in the Proceedings of the
Photon'99 conferenc
LERU Roadmap for Research Data
Achard P, Ayris P, Fdida S, et al. LERU Roadmap for Research Data. LERU Advice Paper. Vol 14. Leuven, Belgium: League of European Research Universities; 2013
Search for Branons at LEP
We search, in the context of extra-dimension scenarios, for the possible
existence of brane fluctuations, called branons. Events with a single photon or
a single Z-boson and missing energy and momentum collected with the L3 detector
in e^+ e^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies sqrt{s}=189-209$ GeV are
analysed. No excess over the Standard Model expectations is found and a lower
limit at 95% confidence level of 103 GeV is derived for the mass of branons,
for a scenario with small brane tensions. Alternatively, under the assumption
of a light branon, brane tensions below 180 GeV are excluded
Search for Heavy Isosinglet Neutrino in e+e- Annihilation at LEP
We report on a search for the first generation heavy neutrino that is an
isosinglet under the standard SU(2)_L gauge group. The data collected with the
L3 detector at center-of-mass energies between 130 GeV and 208 GeV are used.The
decay channel N_e --> eW is investigated and no evidence is found for a heavy
neutrino, N_e, in a mass range between 80 GeV and 205 GeV. Upper limits on the
mixing parameter between the heavy and light neutrino are derived
Search for Charginos with a Small Mass Difference with the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle at \sqrt{s} = 189 GeV
A search for charginos nearly mass-degenerate with the lightest
supersymmetric particle is performed using the 176 pb^-1 of data collected at
189 GeV in 1998 with the L3 detector. Mass differences between the chargino and
the lightest supersymmetric particle below 4 GeV are considered. The presence
of a high transverse momentum photon is required to single out the signal from
the photon-photon interaction background. No evidence for charginos is found
and upper limits on the cross section for chargino pair production are set. For
the first time, in the case of heavy scalar leptons, chargino mass limits are
obtained for any \tilde{\chi}^{+-}_1 - \tilde{\chi}^0_1 mass difference
- …