1,671 research outputs found
Multi-scale mapping along the auditory hierarchy using high-resolution functional UltraSound in the awake ferret
A major challenge in neuroscience is to longitudinally monitor whole brain activity across multiple spatial scales in the same animal. Functional UltraSound (fUS) is an emerging technology that offers images of cerebral blood volume over large brain portions. Here we show for the first time its capability to resolve the functional organization of sensory systems at multiple scales in awake animals, both within small structures by precisely mapping and differentiating sensory responses, and between structures by elucidating the connectivity scheme of top-down projections. We demonstrate that fUS provides stable (over days), yet rapid, highly-resolved 3D tonotopic maps in the auditory pathway of awake ferrets, thus revealing its unprecedented functional resolution (100/300µm). This was performed in four different brain regions, including very small (1–2 mm3 size), deeply situated subcortical (8 mm deep) and previously undescribed structures in the ferret. Furthermore, we used fUS to map long-distance projections from frontal cortex, a key source of sensory response modulation, to auditory cortex
Energy dependence of angular momentum capture states in charge exchange collisions between slow highly charged argon ions and argon neutrals
Workload accomplished in phase III cardiac rehabilitation
Exercise training is an important component of clinical exercise programs. Although there are recognized guidelines for the amount of exercise to be accomplished (≥70,000 steps per week or ≥150 min per week at moderate intensity), there is virtually no documentation of how much exercise is actually accomplished in contemporary exercise programs. Having guidelines without evidence of whether they are being met is of limited value. We analyzed both the weekly step count and the session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) of patients (n = 26) enrolled in a community clinical exercise (e.g., Phase III) program over a 3-week reference period. Step counts averaged 39,818 ± 18,612 per week, with 18% of the steps accomplished in the program and 82% of steps accomplished outside the program. Using the sRPE method, inside the program, the patients averaged 162.4 ± 93.1 min per week, at a sRPE of 12.5 ± 1.9 and a frequency of 1.8 ± 0.7 times per week, for a calculated exercise load of 2042.5 ± 1244.9 AU. Outside the program, the patients averaged 144.9 ± 126.4 min, at a sRPE of 11.8 ± 5.8 and a frequency of 2.4 ± 1.5 times per week, for a calculated exercise load of 1723.9 ± 1526.2 AU. The total exercise load using sRPE was 266.4 ± 170.8 min per week, at a sRPE of 12.6 ± 3.8, and frequency of 4.2 ± 1.1 times per week, for a calculated exercise load of 3359.8 ± 2145.9 AU. There was a non-linear relationship between steps per week and the sRPE derived training load, apparently attributable to the amount of non-walking exercise accomplished in the program. The results suggest that patients in a community clinical exercise program are achieving American College of Sports Medicine guidelines, based on the sRPE method, but are accomplishing less steps than recommended by guidelines
Exchange Instabilities in Semiconductor Double Quantum Well Systems
We consider various exchange-driven electronic instabilities in semiconductor
double-layer systems in the absence of any external magnetic field. We
establish that there is no exchange-driven bilayer to monolayer charge transfer
instability in the double-layer systems. We show that, within the unrestricted
Hartree-Fock approximation, the low density stable phase (even in the absence
of any interlayer tunneling) is a quantum ``pseudospin rotated'' spontaneous
interlayer phase coherent spin-polarized symmetric state rather than the
classical Ising-like charge-transfer phase. The U(1) symmetry of the double
quantum well system is broken spontaneously at this low density quantum phase
transition, and the layer density develops quantum fluctuations even in the
absence of any interlayer tunneling. The phase diagram for the double quantum
well system is calculated in the carrier density--layer separation space, and
the possibility of experimentally observing various quantum phases is
discussed. The situation in the presence of an external electric field is
investigated in some detail using the
spin-polarized-local-density-approximation-based self-consistent technique and
good agreement with existing experimental results is obtained.Comment: 24 pages, figures included. Also available at
http://www-cmg.physics.umd.edu/~lzheng/preprint/ct.uu/ . Revised final
version to appear in PR
PSS52 Safety in National Care - Real World Data from the German Psoriasis-Registry “Psobest”
Theory of the c-Axis Penetration Depth in the Cuprates
Recent measurements of the London penetration depth tensor in the cuprates
find a weak temperature dependence along the c-direction which is seemingly
inconsistent with evidence for d-wave pairing deduced from in-plane
measurements. We demonstrate in this paper that these disparate results are not
in contradiction, but can be explained within a theory based on incoherent
quasiparticle hopping between the CuO2 layers. By relating the calculated
temperature dependence of the penetration depth \lambda_c(T) to the c-axis
resistivity, we show how the measured ratio \lambda_c^2(0) / \lambda_c^2(T) can
provide insight into the behavior of c-axis transport below Tc and the related
issue of ``confinement.''Comment: 4 pages, REVTEX with psfig, 3 PostScript figures included in
compressed for
The Notch pathway controls fibrotic and regenerative repair in the adult heart.
AIMS: In the adult heart, Notch signalling regulates the response to injury. Notch inhibition leads to increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and exacerbates the development of cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. The role of Notch in the mesenchymal stromal cell fraction, which contains cardiac fibroblasts and cardiac precursor cells, is, however, largely unknown. In the present study, we evaluate, therefore, whether forced activation of the Notch pathway in mesenchymal stromal cells regulates pathological cardiac remodelling.
METHODS AND RESULTS: We generated transgenic mice overexpressing the Notch ligand Jagged1 on the surface of cardiomyocytes to activate Notch signalling in adjacent myocyte and non-myocyte cells. In neonatal transgenic mice, activated Notch sustained cardiac precursor and myocyte proliferation after birth, and led to increased numbers of cardiac myocytes in adult mice. In the adult heart under pressure overload, Notch inhibited the development of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and transforming growth factor-β/connective tissue growth factor-mediated cardiac fibrosis. Most importantly, Notch activation in the stressed adult heart reduced the proliferation of myofibroblasts and stimulated the expansion of stem cell antigen-1-positive cells, and in particular of Nkx2.5-positive cardiac precursor cells.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that Notch is pivotal in the healing process of the injured heart. Specifically, Notch regulates key cellular mechanisms in the mesenchymal stromal cell population, and thereby controls the balance between fibrotic and regenerative repair in the adult heart. Altogether, these findings indicate that Notch represents a unique therapeutic target for inducing regeneration in the adult heart via mobilization of cardiac precursor cells
The Effect of Surfaces on the Tunneling Density of States of an Anisotropically Paired Superconductor
We present calculations of the tunneling density of states in an
anisotropically paired superconductor for two different sample geometries: a
semi-infinite system with a single specular wall, and a slab of finite
thickness and infinite lateral extent. In both cases we are interested in the
effects of surface pair breaking on the tunneling spectrum. We take the stable
bulk phase to be of symmetry. Our calculations are performed
within two different band structure environments: an isotropic cylindrical
Fermi surface with a bulk order parameter of the form ,
and a nontrivial tight-binding Fermi surface with the order parameter structure
coming from an anti-ferromagnetic spin-fluctuation model. In each case we find
additional structures in the energy spectrum coming from the surface layer.
These structures are sensitive to the orientation of the surface with respect
to the crystal lattice, and have their origins in the detailed form of the
momentum and spatial dependence of the order parameter. By means of tunneling
spectroscopy, one can obtain information on both the anisotropy of the energy
gap, |\Delta(\p)|, as well as on the phase of the order parameter,
\Delta(\p) = |\Delta(\p)|e^{i\varphi(\p)}.Comment: 14 pages of revtex text with 11 compressed and encoded figures. To
appear in J. Low Temp. Phys., December, 199
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