Vertical Binocular Disparity is Encoded Implicitly within a Model Neuronal Population Tuned to Horizontal Disparity and Orientation

Primary visual cortex is often viewed as a “cyclopean retina”, performing the initial encoding of binocular disparities between left and right images. Because the eyes are set apart horizontally in the head, binocular disparities are predominantly horizontal. Yet, especially in the visual periphery, a range of non-zero vertical disparities do occur and can influence perception. It has therefore been assumed that primary visual cortex must contain neurons tuned to a range of vertical disparities. Here, I show that this is not necessarily the case. Many disparity-selective neurons are most sensitive to changes in disparity orthogonal to their preferred orientation. That is, the disparity tuning surfaces, mapping their response to different two-dimensional (2D) disparities, are elongated along the cell's preferred orientation. Because of this, even if a neuron's optimal 2D disparity has zero vertical component, the neuron will still respond best to a non-zero vertical disparity when probed with a sub-optimal horizontal disparity. This property can be used to decode 2D disparity, even allowing for realistic levels of neuronal noise. Even if all V1 neurons at a particular retinotopic location are tuned to the expected vertical disparity there (for example, zero at the fovea), the brain could still decode the magnitude and sign of departures from that expected value. This provides an intriguing counter-example to the common wisdom that, in order for a neuronal population to encode a quantity, its members must be tuned to a range of values of that quantity. It demonstrates that populations of disparity-selective neurons encode much richer information than previously appreciated. It suggests a possible strategy for the brain to extract rarely-occurring stimulus values, while concentrating neuronal resources on the most commonly-occurring situations

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

The 2014 ALMA Long Baseline Campaign: An Overview

A major goal of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is to make accurate images with resolutions of tens of milliarcseconds, which at submillimeter (submm) wavelengths requires baselines up to ~15 km. To develop and test this capability, a Long Baseline Campaign (LBC) was carried out from September to late November 2014, culminating in end-to-end observations, calibrations, and imaging of selected Science Verification (SV) targets. This paper presents an overview of the campaign and its main results, including an investigation of the short-term coherence properties and systematic phase errors over the long baselines at the ALMA site, a summary of the SV targets and observations, and recommendations for science observing strategies at long baselines. Deep ALMA images of the quasar 3C138 at 97 and 241 GHz are also compared to VLA 43 GHz results, demonstrating an agreement at a level of a few percent. As a result of the extensive program of LBC testing, the highly successful SV imaging at long baselines achieved angular resolutions as fine as 19 mas at ~350 GHz. Observing with ALMA on baselines of up to 15 km is now possible, and opens up new parameter space for submm astronomy

The gap between policy and practice: a systematic review of patient-centred care interventions in chronic heart failure

Patient-centred care (PCC) is recommended in policy documents for chronic heart failure (CHF) service provision, yet it lacks an agreed definition. A systematic review was conducted to identify PCC interventions in CHF and to describe the PCC domains and outcomes. Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ASSIA, the Cochrane database, clinicaltrials.gov, key journals and citations were searched for original studies on patients with CHF staged II–IV using the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification. Included interventions actively supported patients to play informed, active roles in decision-making about their goals of care. Search terms included ‘patient-centred care’, ‘quality of life’ and ‘shared decision making’. Of 13,944 screened citations, 15 articles regarding 10 studies were included involving 2540 CHF patients. Three studies were randomised controlled trials, and seven were non-randomised studies. PCC interventions focused on collaborative goal setting between patients and healthcare professionals regarding immediate clinical choices and future care. Core domains included healthcare professional-patient collaboration, identification of patient preferences, patient-identified goals and patient motivation. While the strength of evidence is poor, PCC has been shown to reduce symptom burden, improve health-related quality of life, reduce readmission rates and enhance patient engagement for patients with CHF. There is a small but growing body of evidence, which demonstrates the benefits of a PCC approach to care for CHF patients. Research is needed to identify the key components of effective PCC interventions before being able to deliver on policy recommendations. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10741-015-9508-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Pharmacokinetics of ceftiofur crystalline-free acid following subcutaneous administration of a single dose to sheep

ObjectiveTo determine the pharmacokinetics of ceftiofur crystalline-free acid (CCFA) following SC administration of a single dose to sheep.Animals9 healthy adult female Suffolk-crossbred sheep.ProceduresEach sheep was administered 6.6 mg of CCFA/kg, SC, in the cervical region once. Serial blood samples were collected at predetermined intervals for 14 days. Serum concentration of ceftiofur free-acid equivalents (CFAE) was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Pharmacokinetic parameters were determined by compartmental and noncompartmental methods.ResultsPharmacokinetics for CCFA following SC administration in sheep was best described with a 1-compartment model. Mean ± SD area under the concentration-time curve from time 0 to infinity, peak serum concentration, and time to peak serum concentration were 206.6 ± 24.8 μ•h/mL, 2.4 ± 0.5 μg/mL, and 23.1 ± 10.1 h, respectively. Serum CFAE concentrations ≥ 1 μg/mL (the target serum CFAE concentration for treatment of disease caused by Mannheimia haemolytica and Pasteurella multocida) were maintained for 2.6 to 4.9 days. No significant adverse reactions to CCFA administration were observed.Conclusions and clinical relevanceResults indicated that adequate therapeutic serum concentrations of CFAE for treatment of disease caused by M haemolytica and P multocida were achieved in sheep following SC administration of a single dose (6.6 mg/kg) of CCFA. Thus, CCFA might be useful for the treatment of common respiratory tract pathogens in sheep