230 research outputs found
Connexin-Mediated Signaling in Nonsensory Cells Is Crucial for the Development of Sensory Inner Hair Cells in the Mouse Cochlea
Mutations in the genes encoding for gap junction proteins connexin 26 (Cx26) and connexin 30 (Cx30) have been linked to syndromic and nonsyndromic hearing loss in mice and humans. The release of ATP from connexin hemichannels in cochlear nonsensory cells has been proposed to be the main trigger for action potential activity in immature sensory inner hair cells (IHCs), which is crucial for the refinement of the developing auditory circuitry. Using connexin knock-out mice, we show that IHCs fire spontaneous action potentials even in the absence of ATP-dependent intercellular Ca(2+) signaling in the nonsensory cells. However, this signaling from nonsensory cells was able to increase the intrinsic IHC firing frequency. We also found that connexin expression is key to IHC functional maturation. In Cx26 conditional knock-out mice (Cx26(Sox10-Cre)), the maturation of IHCs, which normally occurs at approximately postnatal day 12, was partially prevented. Although Cx30 has been shown not to be required for hearing in young adult mice, IHCs from Cx30 knock-out mice exhibited a comprehensive brake in their development, such that their basolateral membrane currents and synaptic machinery retain a prehearing phenotype. We propose that IHC functional differentiation into mature sensory receptors is initiated in the prehearing cochlea provided that the expression of either connexin reaches a threshold level. As such, connexins regulate one of the most crucial functional refinements in the mammalian cochlea, the disruption of which contributes to the deafness phenotype observed in mice and DFNB1 patients. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The correct development and function of the mammalian cochlea relies not only on the sensory hair cells, but also on the surrounding nonsensory cells. Although the nonsensory cells have been largely implicated in the general homeostasis in the mature cochlea, their involvement in the initial functional differentiation of the sensory inner hair cells is less clear. Using mutant mouse models for the most common form of congenital deafness in humans, which are knock-outs for the gap-junction channels connexin 26 and connexin 30 genes, we show that defects in nonsensory cells prevented the functional maturation of inner hair cells. In connexin knock-outs, inner hair cells remained stuck at a prehearing stage of development and, as such, are unable to process sound information
Cohomology Groups of Deformations of Line Bundles on Complex Tori
The cohomology groups of line bundles over complex tori (or abelian
varieties) are classically studied invariants of these spaces. In this article,
we compute the cohomology groups of line bundles over various holomorphic,
non-commutative deformations of complex tori. Our analysis interpolates between
two extreme cases. The first case is a calculation of the space of
(cohomological) theta functions for line bundles over constant, commutative
deformations. The second case is a calculation of the cohomologies of
non-commutative deformations of degree-zero line bundles.Comment: 24 pages, exposition improved, typos fixe
Cladoceran birth and death rates estimates
I. Birth and death rates of natural cladoceran populations cannot be measured directly. Estimates of these population parameters must be calculated using methods that make assumptions about the form of population growth. These methods generally assume that the population has a stable age distribution.
2. To assess the effect of variable age distributions, we tested six egg ratio methods for estimating birth and death rates with data from thirty-seven laboratory populations of Daphnia pulicaria. The populations were grown under constant conditions, but the initial age distributions and egg ratios of the populations varied. Actual death rates were virtually zero, so the difference between the estimated and actual death rates measured the error in both birth and death rate estimates.
3. The results demonstrate that unstable population structures may produce large errors in the birth and death rates estimated by any of these methods. Among the methods tested, Taylor and Slatkin's formula and Paloheimo's formula were most reliable for the experimental data.
4. Further analyses of three of the methods were made using computer simulations of growth of age-structured populations with initially unstable age distributions. These analyses show that the time interval between sampling strongly influences the reliability of birth and death rate estimates. At a sampling interval of 2.5 days (equal to the duration of the egg stage), Paloheimo's formula was most accurate. At longer intervals (7.5–10 days), Taylor and Slatkin's formula which includes information on population structure was most accurate
Split structures in general relativity and the Kaluza-Klein theories
We construct a general approach to decomposition of the tangent bundle of
pseudo-Riemannian manifolds into direct sums of subbundles, and the associated
decomposition of geometric objects. An invariant structure {\cal H}^r defined
as a set of r projection operators is used to induce decomposition of the
geometric objects into those of the corresponding subbundles. We define the
main geometric objects characterizing decomposition. Invariant non-holonomic
generalizations of the Gauss-Codazzi-Ricci's relations have been obtained. All
the known types of decomposition (used in the theory of frames of reference, in
the Hamiltonian formulation for gravity, in the Cauchy problem, in the theory
of stationary spaces, and so on) follow from the present work as special cases
when fixing a basis and dimensions of subbundles, and parameterization of a
basis of decomposition. Various methods of decomposition have been applied here
for the Unified Multidimensional Kaluza-Klein Theory and for relativistic
configurations of a perfect fluid. Discussing an invariant form of the
equations of motion we have found the invariant equilibrium conditions and
their 3+1 decomposed form. The formulation of the conservation law for the curl
has been obtained in the invariant form.Comment: 30 pages, RevTeX, aps.sty, some additions and corrections, new
references adde
Magnetic Gaps related to Spin Glass Order in Fermionic Systems
We provide evidence for spin glass related magnetic gaps in the fermionic
density of states below the freezing temperature. Model calculations are
presented and proposed to be relevant for explaining resistivity measurements
which observe a crossover from variable-range- to activated behavior. The
magnetic field dependence of a hardgap and the low temperature decay of the
density of states are given. In models with fermion transport a new
metal-insulator transition is predicted to occur due to the spin-glass gap,
anteceding the spin glass to quantum paramagnet transition at smaller spin
density. Important fluctuation effects due to finite range frustrated
interactions are estimated and discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 1 Postscript figure, revised version accepted for
publication in Physical Review Letter
Computing Yukawa Couplings from Magnetized Extra Dimensions
We compute Yukawa couplings involving chiral matter fields in toroidal
compactifications of higher dimensional super-Yang-Mills theory with magnetic
fluxes. Specifically we focus on toroidal compactifications of D=10
super-Yang-Mills theory, which may be obtained as the low-energy limit of Type
I, Type II or Heterotic strings. Chirality is obtained by turning on constant
magnetic fluxes in each of the 2-tori. Our results are general and may as well
be applied to lower D=6,8 dimensional field theories. We solve Dirac and
Laplace equations to find out the explicit form of wavefunctions in extra
dimensions. The Yukawa couplings are computed as overlap integrals of two Weyl
fermions and one complex scalar over the compact dimensions. In the case of
Type IIB (or Type I) string theories, the models are T-dual to (orientifolded)
Type IIA with D6-branes intersecting at angles. These theories may have
phenomenological relevance since particular models with SM group and three
quark-lepton generations have been recently constructed. We find that the
Yukawa couplings so obtained are described by Riemann theta-functions, which
depend on the complex structure and Wilson line backgrounds. Different patterns
of Yukawa textures are possible depending on the values of these backgrounds.
We discuss the matching of these results with the analogous computation in
models with intersecting D6-branes. Whereas in the latter case a string
computation is required, in our case only field theory is needed.Comment: 73 pages, 9 figures. Using JHEP3.cls. Typos and other minor
corrections fixed. References adde
Effect of Nuclear Quadrupole Interaction on the Relaxation in Amorphous Solids
Recently it has been experimentally demonstrated that certain glasses display
an unexpected magnetic field dependence of the dielectric constant. In
particular, the echo technique experiments have shown that the echo amplitude
depends on the magnetic field. The analysis of these experiments results in the
conclusion that the effect seems to be related to the nuclear degrees of
freedom of tunneling systems. The interactions of a nuclear quadrupole
electrical moment with the crystal field and of a nuclear magnetic moment with
magnetic field transform the two-level tunneling systems inherent in amorphous
dielectrics into many-level tunneling systems. The fact that these features
show up at temperatures , where the properties of amorphous materials
are governed by the long-range interaction between tunneling systems,
suggests that this interaction is responsible for the magnetic field dependent
relaxation. We have developed a theory of many-body relaxation in an ensemble
of interacting many-level tunneling systems and show that the relaxation rate
is controlled by the magnetic field. The results obtained correlate with the
available experimental data. Our approach strongly supports the idea that the
nuclear quadrupole interaction is just the key for understanding the unusual
behavior of glasses in a magnetic field.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure
A local 2-approximation algorithm for the vertex cover problem
We present a distributed 2-approximation algorithm for the minimum vertex cover problem. The algorithm is deterministic, and it runs in (Δ + 1)2 synchronous communication rounds, where Δ is the maximum degree of the graph. For Δ = 3, we give a 2-approximation algorithm also for the weighted version of the problem.Peer reviewe
Some Cubic Couplings in Type IIB Supergravity on and Three-point Functions in SYM_4 at Large N
All cubic couplings in type IIB supergravity on that
involve two scalar fields that are mixtures of the five form field
strength on and the trace of the graviton on are derived by using
the covariant equations of motion and the quadratic action for type IIB
supergravity on . All corresponding three-point functions in
SYM are calculated in the supergravity approximation. It is pointed out
that the scalars correspond not to the chiral primary operators in the
SYM but rather to a proper extension of the operators.Comment: Latex, 24p, misprints are correcte
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