Transits and secondary eclipses of HD 189733 with Spitzer

We present limits on transit timing variations and secondary eclipse depth variations at 8 microns with the Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC camera. Due to the weak limb darkening in the infrared and uninterrupted observing, Spitzer provides the highest accuracy transit times for this bright system, in principle providing sensitivity to secondary planets of Mars mass in resonant orbits. Finally, the transit data provides tighter constraints on the wavelength- dependent atmospheric absorption by the planet.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, submitted to proceedings of IAU Symposium No. 253 "Transiting Planets

Anatomy and activity patterns in a multifunctional motor neuron and its surrounding circuits

Dorsal Excitor motor neuron DE-3 in the medicinal leech plays three very different dynamical roles in three different behaviors. Without rewiring its anatomical connectivity, how can a motor neuron dynamically switch roles to play appropriate roles in various behaviors? We previously used voltage-sensitive dye imaging to record from DE-3 and most other neurons in the leech segmental ganglion during (fictive) swimming, crawling, and local-bend escape (Tomina and Wagenaar, 2017). Here, we repeated that experiment, then re-imaged the same ganglion using serial blockface electron microscopy and traced all of DE-3’s processes. Further, we traced back the processes of all of DE-3’s presynaptic partners to their respective somata. This allowed us to analyze the relationship between circuit anatomy and the activity patterns it sustains. We found that input synapses important for all of the behaviors were widely distributed over DE-3’s branches, yet that functional clusters were different during (fictive) swimming vs. crawling

Verifying, Challenging, and Discovering New Synapses Among Fully EM-Reconstructed Neurons in the Leech Ganglion

Neural circuits underpin the production of animal behavior, largely based upon the precise pattern of synaptic connectivity among the neurons involved. For large numbers of neurons, determining such “connectomes” by direct physiological means is difficult, as physiological accessibility is ultimately required to verify and characterize the function of synapses. We collected a volume of images spanning an entire ganglion of the juvenile leech nervous system via serial blockface electron microscopy (SBEM). We validated this approach by reconstructing a well-characterized circuit of motor neurons involved in the swimming behavior of the leech by locating the synapses among them. We confirm that there are multiple synaptic contacts between connected pairs of neurons in the leech, and that these synapses are widely distributed across the region of neuropil in which the neurons’ arbors overlap. We verified the anatomical existence of connections that had been described physiologically among longitudinal muscle motor neurons. We also found that some physiological connections were not present anatomically. We then drew upon the SBEM dataset to design additional physiological experiments. We reconstructed an uncharacterized neuron and one of its presynaptic partners identified from the SBEM dataset. We subsequently interrogated this cell pair via intracellular electrophysiology in an adult ganglion and found that the anatomically-discovered synapse was also functional physiologically. Our findings demonstrate the value of combining a connectomics approach with electrophysiology in the leech nervous system

Disentangling astroglial physiology with a realistic cell model in silico

Electrically non-excitable astroglia take up neurotransmitters, buffer extracellular K+ and generate Ca2+ signals that release molecular regulators of neural circuitry. The underlying machinery remains enigmatic, mainly because the sponge-like astrocyte morphology has been difficult to access experimentally or explore theoretically. Here, we systematically incorporate multi-scale, tri-dimensional astroglial architecture into a realistic multi-compartmental cell model, which we constrain by empirical tests and integrate into the NEURON computational biophysical environment. This approach is implemented as a flexible astrocyte-model builder ASTRO. As a proof-of-concept, we explore an in silico astrocyte to evaluate basic cell physiology features inaccessible experimentally. Our simulations suggest that currents generated by glutamate transporters or K+ channels have negligible distant effects on membrane voltage and that individual astrocytes can successfully handle extracellular K+ hotspots. We show how intracellular Ca2+ buffers affect Ca2+ waves and why the classical Ca2+ sparks-and-puffs mechanism is theoretically compatible with common readouts of astroglial Ca2+ imaging

Employing an open-source tool to assess astrocyte tridimensional structure

Astrocytes display important features that allow them to maintain a close dialog with neurons, ultimately impacting brain function. The complex morphological structure of astrocytes is crucial to the role of astrocytes in brain networks. Therefore, assessing morphologic features of astrocytes will help provide insights into their physiological relevance in healthy and pathological conditions. Currently available tools that allow the tridimensional reconstruction of astrocytes present a number of disadvantages, including the need for advanced computational skills and powerful hardware, and are either time-consuming or costly. In this study, we optimized and validated the FIJI-ImageJ, Simple Neurite Tracer (SNT) plugin, an open-source software that aids in the reconstruction of GFAP-stained structure of astrocytes. We describe (1) the loading of confocal microscopy Z-stacks, (2) the selection criteria, (3) the reconstruction process, and (4) the post-reconstruction analysis of morphological features (process length, number, thickness, and arbor complexity). SNT allows the quantification of astrocyte morphometric parameters in a simple, efficient, and semi-automated manner. While SNT is simple to learn, and does not require advanced computational skills, it provides reproducible results, in different brain regions or pathophysiological states.The authors acknowledge funding from national funds through the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology—project (PTDC/SAU-NSC/118194/2010) to G.T., V.M.S., S.G.G. and J.F.O., and fellowships (SFRH/BD/89714/2012 to V.M.S., SFRH/BPD/97281/2013 to J.F.O., SFRH/BD/101298/2014 to S.G.G., PD/BD/114120/2015 to S.P.N, and PD/BD/127822/2016 to G.T.); Marie Curie Fellowship FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF 273936 and BIAL Foundation Grants and 207/14 to J.F.O.; QREN and FEDER funds through Operational program for competitiveness factors—COMPETE, “ON.2 SR&TD Integrated Program—NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000021”; National and European funds through FCT, and FEDER through COMPETE (PEst-C/SAU/LA0026/2011 and FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022724; PEst-C/SAU/LA0026/2013 and FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037298, respectively)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

T Cells' Immunological Synapses Induce Polarization of Brain Astrocytes In Vivo and In Vitro: A Novel Astrocyte Response Mechanism to Cellular Injury

Astrocytes usually respond to trauma, stroke, or neurodegeneration by undergoing cellular hypertrophy, yet, their response to a specific immune attack by T cells is poorly understood. Effector T cells establish specific contacts with target cells, known as immunological synapses, during clearance of virally infected cells from the brain. Immunological synapses mediate intercellular communication between T cells and target cells, both in vitro and in vivo. How target virally infected astrocytes respond to the formation of immunological synapses established by effector T cells is unknown.Herein we demonstrate that, as a consequence of T cell attack, infected astrocytes undergo dramatic morphological changes. From normally multipolar cells, they become unipolar, extending a major protrusion towards the immunological synapse formed by the effector T cells, and withdrawing most of their finer processes. Thus, target astrocytes become polarized towards the contacting T cells. The MTOC, the organizer of cell polarity, is localized to the base of the protrusion, and Golgi stacks are distributed throughout the protrusion, reaching distally towards the immunological synapse. Thus, rather than causing astrocyte hypertrophy, antiviral T cells cause a major structural reorganization of target virally infected astrocytes.Astrocyte polarization, as opposed to hypertrophy, in response to T cell attack may be due to T cells providing a very focused attack, and thus, astrocytes responding in a polarized manner. A similar polarization of Golgi stacks towards contacting T cells was also detected using an in vitro allogeneic model. Thus, different T cells are able to induce polarization of target astrocytes. Polarization of target astrocytes in response to immunological synapses may play an important role in regulating the outcome of the response of astrocytes to attacking effector T cells, whether during antiviral (e.g. infected during HIV, HTLV-1, HSV-1 or LCMV infection), anti-transplant, autoimmune, or anti-tumor immune responses in vivo and in vitro

Crowdfunding in the Cultural Industries

publishedVersio

The Milky Way Tomography with SDSS: II. Stellar Metallicity

Using effective temperature and metallicity derived from SDSS spectra for ~60,000 F and G type main sequence stars (0.2<g-r<0.6), we develop polynomial models for estimating these parameters from the SDSS u-g and g-r colors. We apply this method to SDSS photometric data for about 2 million F/G stars and measure the unbiased metallicity distribution for a complete volume-limited sample of stars at distances between 500 pc and 8 kpc. The metallicity distribution can be exquisitely modeled using two components with a spatially varying number ratio, that correspond to disk and halo. The two components also possess the kinematics expected for disk and halo stars. The metallicity of the halo component is spatially invariant, while the median disk metallicity smoothly decreases with distance from the Galactic plane from -0.6 at 500 pc to -0.8 beyond several kpc. The absence of a correlation between metallicity and kinematics for disk stars is in a conflict with the traditional decomposition in terms of thin and thick disks. We detect coherent substructures in the kinematics--metallicity space, such as the Monoceros stream, which rotates faster than the LSR, and has a median metallicity of [Fe/H]=-0.96, with an rms scatter of only ~0.15 dex. We extrapolate our results to the performance expected from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and estimate that the LSST will obtain metallicity measurements accurate to 0.2 dex or better, with proper motion measurements accurate to ~0.2 mas/yr, for about 200 million F/G dwarf stars within a distance limit of ~100 kpc (g<23.5). [abridged]Comment: 40 pages, 21 figures, emulateApJ style, accepted to ApJ, high resolution figures are available from http://www.astro.washington.edu/ivezic/sdss/mw/astroph0804.385