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Characterizing Sleep Spindles in Sheep.
Sleep spindles are distinctive transient patterns of brain activity that typically occur during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in humans and other mammals. Thought to be important for the consolidation of learning, they may also be useful for indicating the progression of aging and neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to characterize sleep spindles in sheep (Ovis aries). We recorded electroencephalographs wirelessly from six sheep over a continuous period containing 2 nights and a day. We detected and characterized spindles using an automated algorithm. We found that sheep sleep spindles fell within the classical range seen in humans (10-16 Hz), but we did not see a further separation into fast and slow bands. Spindles were detected predominantly during NREM sleep. Spindle characteristics (frequency, duration, density, topography) varied between individuals, but were similar within individuals between nights. Spindles that occurred during NREM sleep in daytime were indistinguishable from those found during NREM sleep at night. Surprisingly, we also detected numerous spindle-like events during unequivocal periods of wake during the day. These events were mainly local (detected at single sites), and their characteristics differed from spindles detected during sleep. These "wake spindles" are likely to be events that are commonly categorized as "spontaneous alpha activity" during wake. We speculate that wake and sleep spindles are generated via different mechanisms, and that wake spindles play a role in cognitive processes that occur during the daytime
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Abnormally abrupt transitions from sleep-to-wake in Huntington's disease sheep (Ovis aries) are revealed by automated analysis of sleep/wake transition dynamics.
Sleep disturbance is a common and disruptive symptom of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease (HD). In HD patients, sleep fragmentation appears at an early stage of disease, although features of the earliest sleep abnormalities in presymptomatic HD are not fully established. Here we used novel automated analysis of quantitative electroencephalography to study transitions between wake and non-rapid eye movement sleep in a sheep model of presymptomatic HD. We found that while the number of transitions between sleep and wake were similar in normal and HD sheep, the dynamics of transitions from sleep-to-wake differed markedly between genotypes. Rather than the gradual changes in EEG power that occurs during transitioning from sleep-to-wake in normal sheep, transition into wake was abrupt in HD sheep. Furthermore, transitions to wake in normal sheep were preceded by a significant reduction in slow wave power, whereas in HD sheep this prior reduction in slow wave power was far less pronounced. This suggests an impaired ability to prepare for waking in HD sheep. The abruptness of awakenings may also have potential to disrupt sleep-dependent processes if they are interrupted in an untimely and disjointed manner. We propose that not only could these abnormal dynamics of sleep transitions be useful as an early biomarker of HD, but also that our novel methodology would be useful for studying transition dynamics in other sleep disorders
Ground state solution of Bose-Einstein condensate by directly minimizing the energy functional
In this paper, we propose a new numerical method to compute the ground state
solution of trapped interacting Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) at zero or
very low temperature by directly minimizing the energy functional via finite
element approximation. As preparatory steps we begin with the 3d
Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE), scale it to get a three-parameter model and
show how to reduce it to 2d and 1d GPEs. The ground state solution is
formulated by minimizing the energy functional under a constraint, which is
discretized by the finite element method. The finite element approximation for
1d, 2d with radial symmetry and 3d with spherical symmetry and cylindrical
symmetry are presented in detail and approximate ground state solutions, which
are used as initial guess in our practical numerical computation of the
minimization problem, of the GPE in two extreme regimes: very weak interactions
and strong repulsive interactions are provided. Numerical results in 1d, 2d
with radial symmetry and 3d with spherical symmetry and cylindrical symmetry
for atoms ranging up to millions in the condensation are reported to
demonstrate the novel numerical method. Furthermore, comparisons between the
ground state solutions and their Thomas-Fermi approximations are also reported.
Extension of the numerical method to compute the excited states of GPE is also
presented.Comment: 33 pages, 22 figure
Highly Scalable, Closed-Loop Synthesis of Drug-Loaded, Layer-by-Layer Nanoparticles
Layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly is a versatile technique from which multicomponent and stimuli-responsive nanoscale drug-carriers can be constructed. Despite the benefits of LbL assembly, the conventional synthetic approach for fabricating LbL nanoparticles requires numerous purification steps that limit scale, yield, efficiency, and potential for clinical translation. In this report, a generalizable method for increasing throughput with LbL assembly is described by using highly scalable, closed-loop diafiltration to manage intermediate purification steps. This method facilitates highly controlled fabrication of diverse nanoscale LbL formulations smaller than 150 nm composed from solid-polymer, mesoporous silica, and liposomal vesicles. The technique allows for the deposition of a broad range of polyelectrolytes that included native polysaccharides, linear polypeptides, and synthetic polymers. The cytotoxicity, shelf life, and long-term storage of LbL nanoparticles produced using this approach are explored. It is found that LbL coated systems can be reliably and rapidly produced: specifically, LbL-modified liposomes could be lyophilized, stored at room temperature, and reconstituted without compromising drug encapsulation or particle stability, thereby facilitating large scale applications. Overall, this report describes an accessible approach that significantly improves the throughput of nanoscale LbL drug-carriers that show low toxicity and are amenable to clinically relevant storage conditions.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant 1F32EB017614–02)Swiss National Science Foundation (Postdoctoral Fellowship
Metallicities, dust and molecular content of a QSO-Damped Lyman-{\alpha} system reaching log N (H i) = 22: An analog to GRB-DLAs
We present the elemental abundance and H2 content measurements of a Damped
Lyman-{\alpha} (DLA) system with an extremely large H i column density, log N(H
i) (cm-2) = 22.0+/-0.10, at zabs = 3.287 towards the QSO SDSS J 081634+144612.
We measure column densities of H2, C i, C i^*, Zn ii, Fe ii, Cr ii, Ni ii and
Si ii from a high signal-to-noise and high spectral resolution VLT-UVES
spectrum. The overall metallicity of the system is [Zn/H] = -1.10 +/- 0.10
relative to solar. Two molecular hydrogen absorption components are seen at z =
3.28667 and 3.28742 (a velocity separation of \approx 52 km s-1) in rotational
levels up to J = 3. We derive a total H2 column density of log N(H2) (cm-2) =
18.66 and a mean molecular fraction of f = 2N(H2)/[2N(H2) + N(H i)] =
10-3.04+/-0.37, typical of known H2-bearing DLA systems. From the observed
abundance ratios we conclude that dust is present in the Interstellar Medium
(ISM) of this galaxy, with a enhanced abundance in the H2-bearing clouds.
However, the total amount of dust along the line of sight is not large and does
not produce any significant reddening of the background QSO. The physical
conditions in the H2-bearing clouds are constrained directly from the column
densities of H2 in different rotational levels, C i and C i^* . The kinetic
temperature is found to be T = 75 K and the particle density lies in the range
nH = 50-80 cm-3 . The neutral hydrogen column density of this DLA is similar to
the mean H i column density of DLAs observed at the redshift of {\gamma}-ray
bursts (GRBs). We explore the relationship between GRB-DLAs and high column
density end of QSO-DLAs finding that the properties (metallicity and depletion)
of DLAs with log N(H i) > 21.5 in the two populations do not appear to be
significantly different
A Cross-Correlation Analysis of Mg II Absorption Line Systems and Luminous Red Galaxies from the SDSS DR5
We analyze the cross-correlation of 2,705 unambiguously intervening Mg II
(2796,2803A) quasar absorption line systems with 1,495,604 luminous red
galaxies (LRGs) from the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
within the redshift range 0.36<=z<=0.8. We confirm with high precision a
previously reported weak anti-correlation of equivalent width and dark matter
halo mass, measuring the average masses to be log M_h(M_[solar]h^-1)=11.29
[+0.36,-0.62] and log M_h(M_[solar]h^-1)=12.70 [+0.53,-1.16] for systems with
W[2796A]>=1.4A and 0.8A<=W[2796A]<1.4A, respectively. Additionally, we
investigate the significance of a number of potential sources of bias inherent
in absorber-LRG cross-correlation measurements, including absorber velocity
distributions and the weak lensing of background quasars, which we determine is
capable of producing a 20-30% bias in angular cross-correlation measurements on
scales less than 2'. We measure the Mg II - LRG cross-correlation for 719
absorption systems with v<60,000 km s^-1 in the quasar rest frame and find that
these associated absorbers typically reside in dark matter haloes that are
~10-100 times more massive than those hosting unambiguously intervening Mg II
absorbers. Furthermore, we find evidence for evolution of the redshift number
density, dN/dz, with 2-sigma significance for the strongest (W>2.0A) absorbers
in the DR5 sample. This width-dependent dN/dz evolution does not significantly
affect the recovered equivalent width-halo mass anti-correlation and adds to
existing evidence that the strongest Mg II absorption systems are correlated
with an evolving population of field galaxies at z<0.8, while the non-evolving
dN/dz of the weakest absorbers more closely resembles that of the LRG
population.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures; Published in Astrophysical Journa
The most metal-poor damped Ly alpha system at z<3: constraints on early nucleosynthesis
To constrain the conditions for very early nucleosynthesis in the Universe we
compare the chemical enrichment pattern of an extremely metal-poor damped Lyman
alpha (DLA) absorber with predictions from recent explosive nucleosynthesis
model calculations. For this, we have analyzed chemical abundances in the DLA
system at z_abs=2.6183 toward the quasar Q0913+072 (z_em=2.785) using public
UVES/VLT high spectral resolution data. The total neutral hydrogen column
density in this absorber is logN(HI)=20.36. Accurate column densities are
derived for CII, NI, OI, AlII, SiII, and FeII. Upper limits are given for FeIII
and NiII. With [C/H]=-2.83, [N/H]=-3.84, and [O/H]=-2.47, this system
represents one of the most metal-poor DLA systems investigated so far. It
offers the unique opportunity to measure accurate CNO abundances in a
protogalactic structure at high redshift. Given the very low overall abundance
level and the observed abundance pattern, the data suggest that the chemical
evolution of this DLA system is dominated by one or at most a few stellar
generations. With reference to numerical model calculations, the chemical
abundances in the DLA system are consistent with an enrichment from a single
starburst of a zero-metallicity population of massive stars (10-50 M_sun)
exploding as core-collapse Supernovae (SNe), i.e., the classical Type II
Supernovae (SNeII), and possibly as hyper-energetic (E>10^51erg) core-collapse
Supernovae, so-called Hypernovae (HNe), as well. In contrast, models using
non-zero metallicity progenitors or other explosion mechanisms, such as
pair-instability Supernovae (PISNe) or Type Ia Supernovae (SNeIa), do not match
the observed abundance pattern.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
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