The Soliton and the Action Potential – Primary Elements Underlying Sentience

At present the neurological basis of sentience is poorly understood and this problem is exacerbated by only a partial knowledge of how one of the primary elements of sentience, the action potential, actually works. This has consequences for our understanding of how communication within the brain and in artificial brain neural networks (BNNs). Reverse engineering models of brain activity assume processing works like a conventional binary computer and neglects speed of cognition, latencies, error in nerve conduction and the true dynamic structure of neural networks in the brain. Any model of nerve conduction that claims inspiration from nature must include these prerequisite parameters, but current western computer modeling of artificial BNNs assumes that the action potential is binary and binary mathematics has been assumed by force of popular acceptance to mediate computation in the brain. Here we present evidence that the action potential is a temporal compound ternary structure, described as the computational action potential (CAP). The CAP contains the refractory period, an analog third phase capable of phase-ternary computation via colliding action potentials. This would best fit a realistic BNN and provides a plausible mechanism to explain transmission, in preference to Cable Theory. The action potential pulse (APPulse), is made up of the action potential combined with a coupled synchronized soliton pressure pulse in the cell membrane. We describe a model of an ion channel in a membrane where a soliton deforms the channel sufficiently to destroy the electrostatic insulation thereby instigating a mechanical contraction across the membrane by electrostatic forces. Such a contraction has the effect of redistributing the force lengthways thereby increasing the volume of the ion channel in the membrane. Na ions, once attracted to the interior, balance the forces and the channel reforms to its original shape. A refractory period then occurs until the Na ions diffuse from the adjacent interior space. Finally, a computational model of the action potential (the CAP) is proposed with single action potentials significantly including the refractory period as a computational element capable of computation between colliding action potentials

A Comparative Study of Cell Specific Effects of Systemic and Volatile Anesthetics on Identified Motor Neurons and Interneurons of Lymnaea stagnalis (L.), Both in the Isolated Brain and in Single Cell Culture

1. A comparative descriptive analysis of systemic (sodium pentobarbital, sodium thiopentone, ketamine) and volatile (halothane, isoflurane, enflurane) general anesthetics revealed important differences in the neuronal responses of identified motor neurons and interneurons in the isolated central nervous system (CNS) and cultured identified neurons in single cell culture of Lymnaea stagnalis (L.).2. At high enough concentrations all anesthetics eventually caused cessation of spontaneous or evoked action potentials, but volatile anesthetics were much faster acting. Halothane at low concentrations caused excitation, thought to be equivalent to the early excitatory phase of anesthesia. Strong synaptic inputs were not always abolished by pentobarbital.3. There were cell specific concentration-dependent responses to halothane and pentobarbital in terms of membrane potential, action potential characteristics, the after hyperpolarization and patterned activity. Individual neurons generated specific responses to the applied anesthetics.4. The inhalation anesthetics, enflurane, and isoflurane, showed little concentration dependence of effect, in contrast to results obtained with halothane. Enflurane was faster acting than halothane and isoflurane was particularly different, producing quiescence in all cells types studied at all concentrations studied.5. Halothane, enflurane, the barbiturate general anesthetics, pentobarbital, and sodium thiopentone and the dissociative anesthetic ketamine, produced two distinctly different effects which could be correlated with cell type and their location in the isolated brain: either a decline in spontaneous and evoked activity prior to quiescence in interneurons or paroxysmal depolarizing shifts (PDS) in motor neurons, again prior to quiescence, which were reversed when the anesthetic was eliminated from the bath. In the strongly electrically coupled motor neurons, VD1 and RPD2, both types of response were observed, depending on the anesthetic used. Thus, with the exception isoflurane, all the motor neurons subjected to the anesthetic agents studied here were capable of generating PDS in situ, but the interneurons did not do so.6. The effects of halothane on isolated cultured neurons indicates that PDS can be generated by single identified neurons in the absence of synaptic inputs. Further, many instances of PDS in neurons that do not generate it in situ have been found in cultured neurons. The nature of PDS is discussed

Sense and Insensibility – An Appraisal of the Effects of Clinical Anesthetics on Gastropod and Cephalopod Molluscs as a Step to Improved Welfare of Cephalopods

Recent progress in animal welfare legislation stresses the need to treat cephalopod molluscs, such as Octopus vulgaris, humanely, to have regard for their wellbeing and to reduce their pain and suffering resulting from experimental procedures. Thus, appropriate measures for their sedation and analgesia are being introduced. Clinical anesthetics are renowned for their ability to produce unconsciousness in vertebrate species, but their exact mechanisms of action still elude investigators. In vertebrates it can prove difficult to specify the differences of response of particular neuron types given the multiplicity of neurons in the CNS. However, gastropod molluscs such as Aplysia, Lymnaea, or Helix, with their large uniquely identifiable nerve cells, make studies on the cellular, subcellular, network and behavioral actions of anesthetics much more feasible, particularly as identified cells may also be studied in culture, isolated from the rest of the nervous system. To date, the sorts of study outlined above have never been performed on cephalopods in the same way as on gastropods. However, criteria previously applied to gastropods and vertebrates have proved successful in developing a method for humanely anesthetizing Octopus with clinical doses of isoflurane, i.e., changes in respiratory rate, color pattern and withdrawal responses. However, in the long term, further refinements will be needed, including recordings from the CNS of intact animals in the presence of a variety of different anesthetic agents and their adjuvants. Clues as to their likely responsiveness to other appropriate anesthetic agents and muscle relaxants can be gained from background studies on gastropods such as Lymnaea, given their evolutionary history

Does the Brain Function as a Quantum Phase Computer Using Phase Ternary Computation?

Here we provide evidence that the fundamental basis of nervous communication is derived from a pressure pulse/soliton capable of computation with sufficient temporal precision to overcome any processing errors. Signalling and computing within the nervous system are complex and different phenomena. Action potentials are plastic and this makes the action potential peak an inappropriate fixed point for neural computation, but the action potential threshold is suitable for this purpose. Furthermore, neural models timed by spiking neurons operate below the rate necessary to overcome processing error. Using retinal processing as our example, we demonstrate that the contemporary theory of nerve conduction based on cable theory is inappropriate to account for the short computational time necessary for the full functioning of the retina and by implication the rest of the brain. Moreover, cable theory cannot be instrumental in the propagation of the action potential because at the activation-threshold there is insufficient charge at the activation site for successive ion channels to be electrostatically opened. Deconstruction of the brain neural network suggests that it is a member of a group of Quantum phase computers of which the Turing machine is the simplest: the brain is another based upon phase ternary computation. However, attempts to use Turing based mechanisms cannot resolve the coding of the retina or the computation of intelligence, as the technology of Turing based computers is fundamentally different. We demonstrate that that coding in the brain neural network is quantum based, where the quanta have a temporal variable and a phase-base variable enabling phase ternary computation as previously demonstrated in the retina.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. Key Words: Plasticity; Action potential; Timing; Error redaction; Synchronization; Quantum phase computation; Phase ternary computation; Retinal mode

The Consumption, Production and Regulation of Alcohol in the UK: The Relevance of the Ambivalence of the Carnivalesque

Alcohol consumption in 21st-century Britain is of significant interest to government, media and academics. Some have referred to a ‘new culture of intoxication’ or ‘calculated hedonism’, fostered by the drinks industry, and enabled by a neoliberal policymaking context. This article argues that the ‘carnivalesque’ is a better concept through which to understand alcohol’s place in British society today. The concept of the carnivalesque conveys an earthy yet extraordinary culture of drinking, as well as ritual elements with a lack of comfort and security that characterise the night-time economy for many people. This night-time carnival, as well as being something experienced by participants, is also a spectacle, with gendered and classed dynamics. It is suggested that this concept is helpful in making sense of common understandings of alcohol that run through the spheres not only of alcohol consumption but also production and regulation

Understanding English alcohol policy as a neoliberal condemnation of the carnivalesque

Much academic work has argued that alcohol policy in England over the past 25 years can be characterised as neoliberal, particularly in regard to the night-time economy and attempts to address “binge” drinking. Understanding neoliberalism as a particular “mentality of government” that circumscribes the range of policy options considered appropriate and practical for a government to take, this article notes how the particular application of policy can vary by local context. This article argues that the approach of successive governments in relation to alcohol should be seen as based on a fear and condemnation of the carnivalesque, understood as a time when everyday norms and conventions are set aside, and the world is – for a limited period only – turned inside out. This analysis is contrasted with previous interpretations that have characterised government as condemning intoxication and particular forms of pleasure taken in drinking. Although these concepts are useful in such analysis, this article suggests that government concerns are broader and relate to wider cultures surrounding drunkenness. Moreover, there is an ambivalence to policy in relation to alcohol that is better conveyed by the concept of the carnivalesque than imagining simply a condemnation of pleasure or intoxication