2,226 research outputs found
Low-beta cortico-pallidal coherence decreases during movement and correlates with overall reaction time
Beta band oscillations (13-30 Hz) are a hallmark of cortical and subcortical structures that are part of the motor system. In addition to local population activity, oscillations also provide a means for synchronization of activity between regions. Here we examined the role of beta band coherence between the internal globus pallidus (GPi) and (motor) cortex during a simple reaction time task performed by nine patients with idiopathic dystonia. We recorded local field potentials from deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes implanted in bilateral GPi in combination with simultaneous whole-head magneto-encephalography (MEG). Patients responded to visually presented go or stop-signal cues by pressing a button with left or right hand. Although coherence between signals from DBS electrodes and MEG sensors was observed throughout the entire beta band, a significant movement-related decrease prevailed in lower beta frequencies (∼13-21 Hz). In addition, patients' absolute coherence values in this frequency range significantly correlated with their median reaction time during the task (p = 0.003, r = 0.89). These findings corroborate the recent idea of two functionally distinct frequency ranges within the beta band, as well as the anti-kinetic character of beta oscillations
Non-invasive detection of animal nerve impulses with an atomic magnetometer operating near quantum limited sensitivity
Magnetic fields generated by human and animal organs, such as the heart,
brain and nervous system carry information useful for biological and medical
purposes. These magnetic fields are most commonly detected using
cryogenically-cooled superconducting magnetometers. Here we present the frst
detection of action potentials from an animal nerve using an optical atomic
magnetometer. Using an optimal design we are able to achieve the sensitivity
dominated by the quantum shot noise of light and quantum projection noise of
atomic spins. Such sensitivity allows us to measure the nerve impulse with a
miniature room-temperature sensor which is a critical advantage for biomedical
applications. Positioning the sensor at a distance of a few millimeters from
the nerve, corresponding to the distance between the skin and nerves in
biological studies, we detect the magnetic field generated by an action
potential of a frog sciatic nerve. From the magnetic field measurements we
determine the activity of the nerve and the temporal shape of the nerve
impulse. This work opens new ways towards implementing optical magnetometers as
practical devices for medical diagnostics.Comment: Main text with figures, and methods and supplementary informatio
Sensitivity of nucleon-nucleus scattering to the off-shell behavior of on-shell equivalent NN potentials
The sensitivity of nucleon-nucleus elastic scattering to the off-shell
behavior of realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions is investigated when
on-shell equivalent nucleon-nucleon potentials are used. The study is based on
applications of the full-folding optical model potential for an explicit
treatment of the off-shell behavior of the nucleon-nucleon effective
interaction. Applications were made at beam energies between 40 and 500 MeV for
proton scattering from 40Ca and 208Pb. We use the momentum-dependent Paris
potential and its local on-shell equivalent as obtained with the
Gelfand-Levitan and Marchenko inversion formalism for the two nucleon
Schroedinger equation. Full-folding calculations for nucleon-nucleus scattering
show small fluctuations in the corresponding observables. This implies that
off-shell features of the NN interaction cannot be unambiguously identified
with these processes. Inversion potentials were also constructed directly from
NN phase-shift data (SM94) in the 0-1.3 GeV energy range. Their use in
proton-nucleus scattering above 200 MeV provide a superior description of the
observables relative to those obtained from current realistic NN potentials.
Limitations and scope of our findings are presented and discussed.Comment: 17 pages tightened REVTeX, 8 .ps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Stevin numbers and reality
We explore the potential of Simon Stevin's numbers, obscured by shifting
foundational biases and by 19th century developments in the arithmetisation of
analysis.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1104.0375, arXiv:1108.2885, arXiv:1108.420
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in TLR9 Are Highly Associated with Susceptibility to Bacterial Meningitis in Children
Background. Bacterial meningitis (BM) is a severe infection mainly caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis (NM). However, genetically determined susceptibility to develop severe infections by these microorganisms is variable between individuals. Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) recognizes bacterial DNA leading to intracellular inflammatory signaling. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the TLR9 gene are associated with susceptibility to several diseases, no such association with meningitis has been described. Methods. We studied the role of TLR9 SNPs in host defense against BM. Two TLR9 SNPs and 4 TLR9 haplotypes were determined in 472 survivors of BM and compared to 392 healthy controls. Results. Carriage of the TLR912848-A mutant was significantly decreased in meningococcal meningitis (MM) patients compared with controls (p: .0098, odds ratio [OR]: .6, 95% confidence interval [CI]: .4-.9). TLR9 haplotype I was associated with an increased susceptibility to MM (p: .0237, OR 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0-1.5). In silico analysis shows a very strong immunoinhibitory potential for DNA of NM upon recognition by TLR9 (CpG index of -106.8). Conclusions. We report an association of TLR9 SNPs with susceptibility to BM, specifically MM indicating a protective effect for the TLR912848-A allele. We hypothesize that the TLR912848-A mutant results in an upregulation of TLR9 induced immune response compensating the strong inhibitory potential of NM CpG DNA. BACKGROUN
Nucleon-Nucleon Optical Model for Energies to 3 GeV
Several nucleon-nucleon potentials, Paris, Nijmegen, Argonne, and those
derived by quantum inversion, which describe the NN interaction for T-lab below
300$ MeV are extended in their range of application as NN optical models.
Extensions are made in r-space using complex separable potentials definable
with a wide range of form factor options including those of boundary condition
models. We use the latest phase shift analyses SP00 (FA00, WI00) of Arndt et
al. from 300 MeV to 3 GeV to determine these extensions. The imaginary parts of
the optical model interactions account for loss of flux into direct or resonant
production processes. The optical potential approach is of particular value as
it permits one to visualize fusion, and subsequent fission, of nucleons when
T-lab above 2 GeV. We do so by calculating the scattering wave functions to
specify the energy and radial dependences of flux losses and of probability
distributions. Furthermore, half-off the energy shell t-matrices are presented
as they are readily deduced with this approach. Such t-matrices are required
for studies of few- and many-body nuclear reactions.Comment: Latex, 40 postscript pages including 17 figure
Wall roughness induces asymptotic ultimate turbulence
Turbulence is omnipresent in Nature and technology, governing the transport
of heat, mass, and momentum on multiple scales. For real-world applications of
wall-bounded turbulence, the underlying surfaces are virtually always rough;
yet characterizing and understanding the effects of wall roughness for
turbulence remains a challenge, especially for rotating and thermally driven
turbulence. By combining extensive experiments and numerical simulations, here,
taking as example the paradigmatic Taylor-Couette system (the closed flow
between two independently rotating coaxial cylinders), we show how wall
roughness greatly enhances the overall transport properties and the
corresponding scaling exponents. If only one of the walls is rough, we reveal
that the bulk velocity is slaved to the rough side, due to the much stronger
coupling to that wall by the detaching flow structures. If both walls are
rough, the viscosity dependence is thoroughly eliminated in the boundary layers
and we thus achieve asymptotic ultimate turbulence, i.e. the upper limit of
transport, whose existence had been predicted by Robert Kraichnan in 1962
(Phys. Fluids {\bf 5}, 1374 (1962)) and in which the scalings laws can be
extrapolated to arbitrarily large Reynolds numbers
Ten Misconceptions from the History of Analysis and Their Debunking
The widespread idea that infinitesimals were "eliminated" by the "great
triumvirate" of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass is refuted by an
uninterrupted chain of work on infinitesimal-enriched number systems. The
elimination claim is an oversimplification created by triumvirate followers,
who tend to view the history of analysis as a pre-ordained march toward the
radiant future of Weierstrassian epsilontics. In the present text, we document
distortions of the history of analysis stemming from the triumvirate ideology
of ontological minimalism, which identified the continuum with a single number
system. Such anachronistic distortions characterize the received interpretation
of Stevin, Leibniz, d'Alembert, Cauchy, and others.Comment: 46 pages, 4 figures; Foundations of Science (2012). arXiv admin note:
text overlap with arXiv:1108.2885 and arXiv:1110.545
IceCube - the next generation neutrino telescope at the South Pole
IceCube is a large neutrino telescope of the next generation to be
constructed in the Antarctic Ice Sheet near the South Pole. We present the
conceptual design and the sensitivity of the IceCube detector to predicted
fluxes of neutrinos, both atmospheric and extra-terrestrial. A complete
simulation of the detector design has been used to study the detector's
capability to search for neutrinos from sources such as active galaxies, and
gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 8 pages, to be published with the proceedings of the XXth
International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, Munich 200
Detection of Gamma-Ray Emission from the Starburst Galaxies M82 and NGC 253 with the Large Area Telescope on Fermi
We report the detection of high-energy gamma-ray emission from two starburst
galaxies using data obtained with the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Steady point-like emission above 200 MeV has been
detected at significance levels of 6.8 sigma and 4.8 sigma respectively, from
sources positionally coincident with locations of the starburst galaxies M82
and NGC 253. The total fluxes of the sources are consistent with gamma-ray
emission originating from the interaction of cosmic rays with local
interstellar gas and radiation fields and constitute evidence for a link
between massive star formation and gamma-ray emission in star-forming galaxies.Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letter
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