5,043 research outputs found
Beyond Dreams: Do Sleep-Related Movements Contribute to Brain Development?
Conventional wisdom has long held that the twitches of sleeping infants and adults are by-products of a dreaming brain. With the discovery of active (or REM) sleep in the 1950s and the recognition soon thereafter that active sleep is characterized by inhibition of motor outflow, researchers elaborated on conventional wisdom and concluded that sleep-related twitches are epiphenomena that result from incomplete blockade of dream-related cortical activity. This view persists despite the fact that twitching is unaffected in infants and adults when the cortex is disconnected from the brainstem. In 1966, Roffwarg and colleagues introduced the ontogenetic hypothesis, which addressed the preponderance of active sleep in early infancy. This hypothesis posited that the brainstem mechanisms that produce active sleep provide direct ascending stimulation to the forebrain and descending stimulation to the musculature, thereby promoting brain and neuromuscular development. However, this hypothesis and the subsequent work that tested it did not directly address the developmental significance of twitching or sensory feedback as a contributor to activity-dependent development. Here I review recent findings that have inspired an elaboration of the ontogenetic hypothesis. Specifically, in addition to direct brainstem activation of cortex during active sleep, sensory feedback arising from limb twitches produces discrete and substantial activation of somatosensory cortex and, beyond that, of hippocampus. Delineating how twitching during active sleep contributes to the establishment, refinement, and maintenance of neural circuits may aid our understanding of the early developmental events that make sensorimotor integration possible. In addition, twitches may prove to be sensitive and powerful tools for assessing somatosensory function in humans across the lifespan as well as functional recovery in individuals with injuries or conditions that affect sensorimotor function
Covert Contingencies in the Right to the Assistance of Counsel
On the basis of a sociological survey showing that a very large percentage of guilty pleas are induced by defense counsel, Professor Blumberg concludes that criminal justice is not structured on the adversary model which the Supreme Court\u27s right to counsel decisions presuppose. He submits that the primary loyalty of defense counsel is to the criminal court system, the informal organization of court officials on which they depend for their professional existence. He suggests further that the additional attorneys which will be required to implement the right to counsel decisions will simply serve to make the system more efficient in utilizing covert evasions of due process and in producing an even greater number of guilty pleas
Resonant Two-Magnon Raman Scattering and Photoexcited States in Two-Dimensional Mott Insulators
We investigate the resonant two-magnon Raman scattering in two-dimensional
(2D) Mott insulators by using a half-filled 2D Hubbard model in the strong
coupling limit. By performing numerical diagonalization calculations for small
clusters, we find that the Raman intensity is enhanced when the incoming photon
energy is not near the optical absorption edge but well above it, being
consistent with experimental data. The absence of resonance near the gap edge
is associated with the presence of background spins, while photoexcited states
for resonance are found to be characterized by the charge degree of freedom.
The resonance mechanism is different from those proposed previously.Comment: REVTeX4, 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Sleep Physiology: Setting the Right Tone
SummaryHumans prone to cataplexy experience sudden losses of postural muscle tone without a corresponding loss of conscious awareness. The brain mechanisms underlying this debilitating decoupling are now better understood, thanks to a new study using cataplectic mice
Anharmonicity and self-energy effects of the E2g phonon in MgB2
We present a Raman scattering study of the E2g phonon anharmonicity and of
superconductivity induced self-energy effects in MgB2 single crystals. We show
that anharmonic two phonon decay is mainly responsible for the unusually large
linewidth of the E2g mode. We observe ~ 2.5 % hardening of the E2g phonon
frequency upon cooling into the superconducting state and estimate the
electron-phonon coupling strength associated with this renormalization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted to PR
Inhomogeneous CuO_{6} Tilt Distribution and Charge/Spin Correlations in La_{2-x-y}Nd_{y}Sr_{x}CuO$_{4} around commensurate hole concentration
Phononic and magnetic Raman scattering are studied in
LaNdSrCuO with three doping concentrations: x ~
1/8, y = 0; x ~ 1/8, y = 0.4; and x = 0.01, y = 0. We observe strong disorder
in the tilt pattern of the CuO_{6} octahedra in both the orthorhombic and
tetragonal phases which persist down to 10 K and are coupled to bond disorder
in the cation layers around 1/8 doping independent of Nd concentration. The
weak magnitude of existing charge/spin modulations in the Nd doped structure
does not allow us to detect the specific Raman signatures on lattice dynamics
or two-magnon scattering around 2200 cm-1.Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev.
Sliding Density-Wave in Sr_{14}Cu_{24}O_{41} Ladder Compounds
We used transport and Raman scattering measurements to identify the
insulating state of self-doped spin 1/2 two-leg ladders of Sr_{14}Cu_{24}O_{41}
as a weakly pinned, sliding density wave with non-linear conductivity and a
giant dielectric response that persists to remarkably high temperatures
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