10,204 research outputs found
Müller Glial Cells Participate in Retinal Waves via Glutamate Transporters and AMPA Receptors
Retinal waves, the spontaneous patterned neural activities propagating among developing retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), instruct the activity-dependent refinement of visuotopic maps. Although it is known that the wave is initiated successively by amacrine cells and bipolar cells, the behavior and function of glia in retinal waves remain unclear. Using multiple in vivo methods in larval zebrafish, we found that Müller glial cells (MGCs) display wave-like spontaneous activities, which start at MGC processes within the inner plexiform layer, vertically spread to their somata and endfeet, and horizontally propagate into neighboring MGCs. MGC waves depend on glutamatergic signaling derived from bipolar cells. Moreover, MGCs express both glia-specific glutamate transporters and the AMPA subtype of glutamate receptors. The AMPA receptors mediate MGC calcium activities during retinal waves, whereas the glutamate transporters modulate the occurrence of retinal waves. Thus, MGCs can sense and regulate retinal waves via AMPA receptors and glutamate transporters, respectively
Integrated photonic qubit quantum computing on a superconducting chip
We study a quantum computing system using microwave photons in transmission
line resonators on a superconducting chip as qubits. We show that all control
necessary for quantum computing can be implemented by coupling to Josephson
devices on the same chip, and take advantage of their strong inherent
nonlinearities to realize qubit interactions. We analyze the gate error rate to
demonstrate that our scheme is realistic even for Josephson devices with
limited decoherence times. A conceptually innovative solution based on existing
technologies, our scheme provides an integrated and scalable approach to the
next key milestone for photonic qubit quantum computing.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Magnetosome Gene Duplication as an Important Driver in the Evolution of Magnetotaxis in the Alphaproteobacteria
The evolution of microbial magnetoreception (or magnetotaxis) is of great interest in the fields of microbiology, evolutionary biology, biophysics, geomicrobiology, and geochemistry. Current genomic data from magnetotactic bacteria (MTB), the only prokaryotes known to be capable of sensing the Earth’s geomagnetic field, suggests an ancient origin of magnetotaxis in the domain Bacteria. Vertical inheritance, followed by multiple independent magnetosome gene cluster loss, is considered to be one of the major forces that drove the evolution of magnetotaxis at or above the class or phylum level, although the evolutionary trajectories at lower taxonomic ranks (e.g., within the class level) remain largely unstudied. Here we report the isolation, cultivation, and sequencing of a novel magnetotactic spirillum belonging to the genus Terasakiella (Terasakiella sp. strain SH-1) within the class Alphaproteobacteria. The complete genome sequence of Terasakiella sp. strain SH-1 revealed an unexpected duplication event of magnetosome genes within the mamAB operon, a group of genes essential for magnetosome biomineralization and magnetotaxis. Intriguingly, further comparative genomic analysis suggests that the duplication of mamAB genes is a common feature in the genomes of alphaproteobacterial MTB. Taken together, with the additional finding that gene duplication appears to have also occurred in some magnetotactic members of the Deltaproteobacteria, our results indicate that gene duplication plays an important role in the evolution of magnetotaxis in the Alphaproteobacteria and perhaps the domain Bacteria
The Physiological Basis of Geographic Variation in Rates of Embryonic Development within a Widespread Lizard Species
The duration of embryonic development (e.g., egg incubation period) is a critical life‐history variable because it affects both the amount of time that an embryo is exposed to conditions within the nest and the seasonal timing of hatching. Variation in incubation periods among oviparous reptiles might result from variation in either the amount of embryogenesis completed before laying or the subsequent developmental rates of embryos. Selection on incubation duration could change either of those traits. We examined embryonic development of fence lizards (Sceloporus undulatus) from three populations (Indiana, Mississippi, and Florida) that occur at different latitudes and therefore experience different temperatures and season lengths. These data reveal countergradient variation: at identical temperatures in the laboratory, incubation periods were shorter for lizards from cooler areas. This variation was not related to stage at oviposition; eggs of all populations were laid at similar developmental stages. Instead, embryonic development proceeded more rapidly in cooler‐climate populations, compensating for the delayed development caused by lower incubation temperatures in the field. The accelerated development appears to occur via an increase in heart mass (and, thus, stroke volume) in one population and an increase in heart rate in the other. Hence, superficially similar adaptations of embryonic developmental rate to local conditions may be generated by dissimilar proximate mechanisms
Diagnosis-based and external cause-based criteria to identify adverse drug reactions in hospital ICD-coded data: application to an Australia population-based study
Objectives: External cause International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes are commonly used to ascertain adverse drug reactions (ADRs) related to hospitalisation. We quantified ascertainment of ADR-related hospitalisation using external cause codes and additional ICD-based hospital diagnosis codes.
Methods: We reviewed the scientific literature to identify different ICD-based criteria for ADR-related hospitalisations, developed algorithms to capture ADRs based on candidate hospital ICD-10 diagnoses and external cause codes (Y40–Y59), and incorporated previously published causality ratings estimating the probability that a specific diagnosis was ADR related. We applied the algorithms to the NSW Admitted Patient Data Collection records of 45 and Up Study participants (2011–2013).
Results: Of 493 442 hospitalisations among 267 153 study participants during 2011–2013, 18.8% (n = 92 953) had hospital diagnosis codes that were potentially ADR related; 1.1% (n = 5305) had high/very high–probability ADR-related diagnosis codes (causality ratings: A1 and A2); and 2.0% (n = 10 039) had ADR-related external cause codes. Overall, 2.2% (n = 11 082) of cases were classified as including an ADR-based hospitalisation on either external cause codes or high/very high–probability ADR-related diagnosis codes. Hence, adding high/very high–probability ADR-related hospitalisation codes to standard external cause codes alone (Y40–Y59) increased the number of hospitalisations classified as having an ADR-related diagnosis by 10.4%. Only 6.7% of cases with high-probability ADR-related mental symptoms were captured by external cause codes.
Conclusion: Selective use of high-probability ADR-related hospital diagnosis codes in addition to external cause codes yielded a modest increase in hospitalised ADR incidence, which is of potential clinical significance. Clinically validated combinations of diagnosis codes could potentially further enhance capture
Final State Interactions in
It is believed that the production rate of is almost
solely determined by final state interactions (FSI) and hence provides an ideal
place to test FSI models. Here we examine model calculations of the
contributions from s-channel resonance and t-channel exchange to
the FSI effects in . The contribution from s-channel
is sma The results from
two methods are roughly consistent with each other and can reproduce the large
rate of reasonably well$Comment: Latex, 16 pages, with 2 figure
Interaction of Individual Skyrmions in Nanostructured Cubic Chiral Magnet
We report the direct evidence of field-dependent character of the interaction
between individual magnetic skyrmions as well as between skyrmions and edges in
B20-type FeGe nanostripes observed by means of high resolution Lorentz
transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that above certain critical
values of external magnetic field the character of such long-range skyrmion
interactions change from attraction to repulsion. Experimentally measured
equilibrium inter-skyrmion and skrymion-edge distances as function of applied
magnetic field shows quantitative agreement with the results of micromagnetic
simulations. Important role of demagnetizing fields and internal symmetry of
three-dimensional magnetic skyrmions are discussed in details.Comment: accepted in PR
Possible canonical distributions for finite systems with nonadditive energy
It is shown that a small system in thermodynamic equilibrium with a finite
thermostat can have a q-exponential probability distribution which closely
depends on the energy nonextensivity and the particle number of the thermostat.
The distribution function will reduce to the exponential one at the
thermodynamic limit. However, the nonextensivity of the system should not be
neglected.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
High-capacity quantum secure direct communication based on quantum hyperdense coding with hyperentanglement
We present a quantum hyperdense coding protocol with hyperentanglement in
polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom of photons first and then give
the details for a quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) protocol based on
this quantum hyperdense coding protocol. This QSDC protocol has the advantage
of having a higher capacity than the quantum communication protocols with a
qubit system. Compared with the QSDC protocol based on superdense coding with
-dimensional systems, this QSDC protocol is more feasible as the preparation
of a high-dimension quantum system is more difficult than that of a two-level
quantum system at present.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figur
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