Opposite, bidirectional shifts in excitation and inhibition in specific types of dorsal horn interneurons are associated with spasticity and pain post-SCI

Spasticity, a common complication after spinal cord injury (SCI), is frequently accompanied by chronic pain. The physiological origin of this pain (critical to its treatment) remains unknown, although spastic motor dysfunction has been related to the hyperexcitability of motoneurons and to changes in spinal sensory processing. Here we show that the pain mechanism involves changes in sensory circuits of the dorsal horn (DH) where nociceptive inputs integrate for pain processing. Spasticity is associated with the DH hyperexcitability resulting from an increase in excitation and disinhibition occurring in two respective types of sensory interneurons. In the tonic-firing inhibitory lamina II interneurons, glutamatergic drive was reduced while glycinergic inhibition was potentiated. In contrast, excitatory drive was boosted to the adapting-firing excitatory lamina II interneurons while GABAergic and glycinergic inhibition were reduced. Thus, increased activity of excitatory DH interneurons coupled with the reduced excitability of inhibitory DH interneurons post-SCI could provide a neurophysiological mechanism of central sensitization and chronic pain associated with spasticity

The role of developing management decisions process and structuring investment projects analysis in ensuring the sustainability of various types of companies

During the restart of the investment cycle in the new economic reality, the Government of the Russian Federation has adopted and is preparing to implement a number of measures designed to simplify the implementation of investment projects and thereby create prerequisites for maintaining interest in investing in the real sector of the economy. Thanks to the current model of financial support for investment projects in Russia, a diverse and necessary toolkit is available to the investor when choosing ways to make investments in order to make management decisions on the implementation of projects aimed at ensuring the sustainability of companies of various types. Naturally, within the framework of preparing management decisions for the implementation of investment projects, the question arises of rationally determining the parameters of financial support for an investment project, taking into account all aspects of its implementation, from the choice of sources of financing to the procedure for returning capital raised, as well as structuring projects when assessing their compliance with ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) criteria. The purpose of this work is to study the importance of structuring an investment project in ensuring the sustainability of companies, to study all aspects of project implementation as part of the management decision-making process, which directly affects the possibility of its implementation. The methodological and theoretical basis of the article is general scientific and particular scientific approaches devoted to the issues of structuring projects in the framework of preparing investment decisions. In addition, CyberLeninka, eLibrary.Ru, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were used as academic databases. To ensure the accuracy of the literature review process, all publications were independently reviewed by the authors. An analysis of the procedure for preparing and making investment decisions, structuring projects was made. The authors’ logic of interpreting the goal of structuring in making managerial decisions on project financing is proposed

Situational model of financial support for construction in the framework of project implementation in the Russian Federation

The increasing volume of construction financing, dictated by the national development goals of the Russian Federation, determines the increased role of rational choice of methods, mechanisms and tools of financial support for construction in order to make managerial decisions on the implementation of projects aimed at achieving the targets within the declared national development benchmarks of the Russian Federation. The aim of the study is to summarise and simplify the current methods, mechanisms and tools of financial support for construction within the framework of project implementation. A review of the current model of financial support for construction in the Russian Federation has been carried out. The main aspects of how to finance construction have been considered. A brief description of the main conditions of the envisaged mechanisms and instruments of financial support for construction has been provided. The analysis confirms the positive trend of the current construction financing model in the project implementation, creating conditions to stimulate the economy by reallocating funds to the real sector and providing a variety of tools in choosing construction financing methods to make rational management decisions on project implementation. The results of this study can be used by public authorities involved in the allocation and use of funds, financial institutions and other stakeholders to prepare management decisions on construction financing in project implementation

Experimental studies of thorium ions implantation from pulse laser plasma into thin silicon oxide layers

We report the results of experimental studies related to implantation of thorium ions into thin silicon dioxide by pulsed plasma fluxes expansion. Thorium ions were generated by laser ablation from a metal target, and the ionic component of the laser plasma was accelerated in an electric field created by the potential difference (5, 10 and 15 kV) between the ablated target and SiO2/Si(001) sample. Laser ablation system installed inside the vacuum chamber of the electron spectrometer was equipped with YAG:Nd3+ laser having the pulse energy of 100 mJ and time duration of 15 ns in the Q-switched regime. Depth profile of thorium atoms implanted into the 10 nm thick subsurface areas together with their chemical state as well as the band gap of the modified silicon oxide at different conditions of implantation processes were studied by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Reflected Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (REELS) methods. Analysis of chemical composition showed that the modified silicon oxide film contains complex thorium silicates. Depending on local concentration of thorium atoms, the experimentally established band gaps were located in the range of 6.0 - 9.0 eV. Theoretical studies of optical properties of the SiO2 and ThO2 crystalline systems have been performed by ab initio calculations within hybrid functional. Optical properties of the SiO2/ThO2 composite were interpreted on the basis of Bruggeman effective medium approximation. A quantitative assessment of the yield of isomeric nuclei in "hot" laser plasma at the early stages of expansion has been performed. The estimates made with experimental results demonstrated that the laser implantation of thorium ions into the SiO2 matrix can be useful for further research of low-lying isomeric transitions in 229Th isotope with energy of 7.8(0.5) eV

Determination of two-photon exchange amplitudes from elastic electron-proton scattering data

Using the available cross section and polarization data for elastic electron-proton scattering, we provide an extraction of the two-photon exchange amplitudes at a common value of four-momentum transfer, around Q^2 = 2.5 GeV^2. This analysis also predicts the e^+ p / e^- p elastic scattering cross section ratio, which will be measured by forthcoming experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, updated error analysi

Model validation for a noninvasive arterial stenosis detection problem

Copyright @ 2013 American Institute of Mathematical SciencesA current thrust in medical research is the development of a non-invasive method for detection, localization, and characterization of an arterial stenosis (a blockage or partial blockage in an artery). A method has been proposed to detect shear waves in the chest cavity which have been generated by disturbances in the blood flow resulting from a stenosis. In order to develop this methodology further, we use both one-dimensional pressure and shear wave experimental data from novel acoustic phantoms to validate corresponding viscoelastic mathematical models, which were developed in a concept paper [8] and refined herein. We estimate model parameters which give a good fit (in a sense to be precisely defined) to the experimental data, and use asymptotic error theory to provide confidence intervals for parameter estimates. Finally, since a robust error model is necessary for accurate parameter estimates and confidence analysis, we include a comparison of absolute and relative models for measurement error.The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Deopartment of Education and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Melting Point and Lattice Parameter Shifts in Supported Metal Nanoclusters

The dependencies of the melting point and the lattice parameter of supported metal nanoclusters as functions of clusters height are theoretically investigated in the framework of the uniform approach. The vacancy mechanism describing the melting point and the lattice parameter shifts in nanoclusters with decrease of their size is proposed. It is shown that under the high vacuum conditions (p<10^-7 torr) the essential role in clusters melting point and lattice parameter shifts is played by the van der Waals forces of cluster-substrate interation. The proposed model satisfactorily accounts for the experimental data.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl