Electrophysiological and Morphological Properties of Embryonic Neocortical Grafts Developing in Different Regions of the Host Rat Brain

Parallel morphological and electrophysiological studies of embryonic neocortical tissue (primordia of anterior parietal–presumptive sensorimotor–cortex) grafted into different regions of the host adult brain (sensori-motor cortex, caudate-putamen, septum or thalamus) were carried out to investigate to what extent the properties of transplanted embryonic neocortex–an advanced organizational form of neuronal tissue–are affected by homotopic or heterotopic surroundings

TGFβ signaling is associated with changes in inflammatory gene expression and perineuronal net degradation around inhibitory neurons following various neurological insults.

Brain damage due to stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI), both leading causes of serious long-term disability, often leads to the development of epilepsy. Patients who develop post-injury epilepsy tend to have poor functional outcomes. Emerging evidence highlights a potential role for blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in the development of post-injury epilepsy. However, common mechanisms underlying the pathological hyperexcitability are largely unknown. Here, we show that comparative transcriptome analyses predict remodeling of extracellular matrix (ECM) as a common response to different types of injuries. ECM-related transcriptional changes were induced by the serum protein albumin via TGFβ signaling in primary astrocytes. In accordance with transcriptional responses, we found persistent degradation of protective ECM structures called perineuronal nets (PNNs) around fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons, in a rat model of TBI as well as in brains of human epileptic patients. Exposure of a naïve brain to albumin was sufficient to induce the transcriptional and translational upregulation of molecules related to ECM remodeling and the persistent breakdown of PNNs around fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons, which was contingent on TGFβ signaling activation. Our findings provide insights on how albumin extravasation that occurs upon BBB dysfunction in various brain injuries can predispose neural circuitry to the development of chronic inhibition deficits

Модернизация авиационного стрелкового прицела путем комплексирования информационных каналов

Стаття присвячена підвищенню ефективності вітчизняного авіаційного парку внаслідок модернізації авіаційного стрілецького прицілу. Одним з головних напрямків модернізації є комплексування інформаційних каналів в прицілі. Існуючі варіанти комплексування не дають очікуваного підвищення ефективності із-за великих похибок або значних габаритів блоків прицілу. Метою даної роботи є аналіз можливих варіантів комплексування інформації в прицілі для його модернізації з огляду на можливість їх реалізації. Була запропонована схема комбінованої візирної головки з рідкокристалічним індикатором для комплексування інформації в прицілі. Попередні розрахунки підтверджують можливість практичної реалізації запропонованого рішення. Надалі передбачається допрацьовувати схему комплексування у напрямі оцінки її конструктивного втілення.The article is devoted the increase of efficiency of domestic aviation park due to modernization of aviation sight. Information fusion is one of main sight modernization directions. The existent variants of information fusion in sight do not give the expected increasing of efficiency on account of large errors or considerable sizes of sight units. The purpose of this work is an analysis of possible variants of information fusion in a sight for it's modernization, taking into account possibility of their realization. The chart of the combined liquid-crystal viewfinder was offered for information fusion. Previous calculations confirm possibility of practical realization of the decision. In future it is foreseen to finish off the fusion chart to estimate its structural embodiment.Статья посвящена повышению эффективности отечественного авиационного парка за счет модернизации авиационного стрелкового прицела. Одним из главных направлений модернизации является комплексирование информационных каналов в прицеле. Существующие варианты комплексирования не дают ожидаемого повышения эффективности из-за больших погрешностей или значительных габаритов блоков прицела. Целью данной работы является анализ возможных вариантов комплексирования информации в прицеле для его модернизации, учитывая возможность их реализации. Была предложена схема комбинированной визирной головки с жидкокристаллическим индикатором для комплексирования информации в прицеле. Предыдущие расчеты подтверждают возможность практической реализации предложенного решения. В дальнейшем предусматривается дорабатывать схему комплексирования в направлении оценки ее конструктивного воплощения

TGFβ signaling is associated with changes in inflammatory gene expression and perineuronal net degradation around inhibitory neurons following various neurological insults

Brain damage due to stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI), both leading causes of serious long-term disability, often leads to the development of epilepsy. Patients who develop post-injury epilepsy tend to have poor functional outcomes. Emerging evidence highlights a potential role for blood- brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction in the development of post-injury epilepsy. However, common mechanisms underlying the pathological hyperexcitability are largely unknown. Here, we show that comparative transcriptome analyses predict remodeling of extracellular matrix (ECM) as a common response to different types of injuries. ECM-related transcriptional changes were induced by the serum protein albumin via TGFβ signaling in primary astrocytes. In accordance with transcriptional responses, we found persistent degradation of protective ECM structures called perineuronal nets (PNNs) around fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons, in a rat model of TBI as well as in brains of human epileptic patients. Exposure of a naïve brain to albumin was sufficient to induce the transcriptional and translational upregulation of molecules related to ECM remodeling and the persistent breakdown of PNNs around fast-spiking inhibitory interneurons, which was contingent on TGFβ signaling activation. Our findings provide insights on how albumin extravasation that occurs upon BBB dysfunction in various brain injuries can predispose neural circuitry to the development of chronic inhibition deficits

miRSwitch: detecting microRNA arm shift and switch events

Arm selection, the preferential expression of a 3′ or 5′ mature microRNA (miRNA), is a highly dynamic and tissue-specific process. Time-dependent expression shifts or switches between the arms are also relevant for human diseases. We present miRSwitch, a web server to facilitate the analysis and interpretation of arm selection events. Our species-independent tool evaluates pre-processed small non-coding RNA sequencing (sncRNA-seq) data, i.e. expression matrices or output files from miRNA quantification tools (miRDeep2, miRMaster, sRNAbench). miRSwitch highlights potential changes in the distribution of mature miRNAs from the same precursor. Group comparisons from one or several user-provided annotations (e.g. disease states) are possible. Results can be dynamically adjusted by choosing from a continuous range of highly specific to very sensitive parameters. Users can compare potential arm shifts in the provided data to a human reference map of pre-computed arm shift frequencies. We created this map from 46 tissues and 30 521 samples. As case studies we present novel arm shift information in a Alzheimer’s disease biomarker data set and from a comparison of tissues in Homo sapiens and Mus musculus. In summary, miRSwitch offers a broad range of customized arm switch analyses along with comprehensive visualizations, and is freely available at: https://www.ccb.uni-saarland.de/mirswitch/

Medium Effects in Cooling of Neutron Stars and 3P23P_2 Neutron Gap

We study the dependence of the cooling of isolated neutron stars on the magnitude of the $3P_2$ neutron gap. It is demonstrated that our ``nuclear medium cooling'' scenario is in favor of a suppressed value of the $3P_2$ neutron gap.Comment: 18 p., 12 figs., extended version of astro-ph/0501678, accepted in A&

Baryon superfluidity and neutrino emissivity of neutron stars

For neutron stars with hyperon-mixed core, neutrino emissivity is studied under the equation of state, obtained by introducing repulsive three-body force universal for all baryons so as to assure the maximum mass compatible with the observation. By paying attention to the density-dependence of critical temperatures of baryon superfluids, which reflect the nature of baryon-baryon interaction and control neutron star cooling, we show what neutrino emission processes are efficient in the regions with and without hyperon mixing and remark its implications related to neutron star cooling.Comment: 5pages, 4 figure

Contribution of the massive photon decay channel to neutrino cooling of neutron stars

We consider massive photon decay reactions via intermediate states of electron-electron-holes and proton-proton-holes into neutrino-antineutrino pairs in the course of neutron star cooling. These reactions may become operative in hot neutron stars in the region of proton pairing where the photon due to the Higgs-Meissner effect acquires an effective mass $m_{\gamma}$ that is small compared to the corresponding plasma frequency. The contribution of these reactions to neutrino emissivity is calculated; it varies with the temperature and the photon mass as $T^{3/2}m_{\gamma}^{7/2} e^{-m_{\gamma}/T}$ for $T < m_{\gamma}$. Estimates show that these processes appear as extra efficient cooling channels of neutron stars at temperatures $T \simeq (10^9-10^{10})$ K.Comment: accepted to publication in Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. (JETP

Equation of State for Hot and Dense Matter: σ\sigma-ω\omega-ρ\rho Model with Scaled Hadron Masses and Couplings

The proposed earlier relativistic mean-field model with hadron masses and coupling constants depending on the $\sigma$-meson field is generalized to finite temperatures. Within this approach we simulate the in-medium behavior of the hadron masses motivated by the Brown-Rho scaling. The high-lying baryon resonances and boson excitations as well as excitations of the $\sigma$, $\omega$ and $\rho$ fields interacting via mean fields are incorporated into this scheme. Thermodynamic properties of hot and dense hadronic matter are elaborated with the constructed equation of state. Even at zero baryon density, effective masses of $\sigma$-$\omega$-$\rho$-$N$ excitations abruptly drop down for T\gsim 170 MeV and reach zero at a critical temperature $T=T_{c\sigma}\sim 210$ MeV. Below $T_{c\sigma}$ (at $T\sim 190$ MeV) the specific heat gets a peak like at crossover. We demonstrate that our EoS can be matched with that computed on the lattice for high temperatures provided the baryon resonance couplings with nucleon are partially suppressed. In this case the quark liquid would masquerade as the hadron one. The model is applied to description of heavy ion collisions in a broad collision energy range. It might be especially helpful for studying phase diagram in the region near possible phase transitions.Comment: 53 pages, 16 figures; minor changes made, references adde