2,229 research outputs found
Cutaneous sensory mechanisms in the spinal cord
SECTION I: THE PREVIOUS LITERATURE. The literature
relevant to the subject of the thesis is reviewed. The
review is limited to reports on cutaneous receptors,
their afferent nerve fibres and those spinal cord mechanisms which are of general importance for sensory mechanisms. For the most part, the literature reviewed is
of experiments on cats, the species used most for neuronhysiological experiments. The importance of adequate
stimulation of identified receptors is stressed.SECTION II: CUTANEOUS AFFERENT FIBRE COLLATERALS IN THE
DORSAL COLUMNS. Microelectrode recordings were made from
cutaneous afferent fibre collaterals, in the lumbar dorsal
column, which were antidromically excited from C 2. The
types of cutaneous afferent unit having axon collaterals
which ascend the dorsal columns to the dorsal column nuclei
were identified. All dorsal column collaterals had slower
conduction velocities than corresponding peripheral axons
and the degree of slowing was determined by the class of
unit. The differential slowing was confirmed by recording
compound action potentials from various parts of dorsal
column - peripheral nerve pathways.SECTION III: THE SPINOCERVICAL TRACT: TYPES OF UNIT AND
THEIR STIMULUS—RESPONSE PROPERTIES. Microelectrode
recordings were made from axons of the spinocervical
tract, In anaesthetized, unanaesthetized decerebrate
and unanaesthetized spinal cats. The properties of the
units depended on the type of preparation used. Differences
between decerebrate and spinal cats were assumed to be due
to a descending neuronal system active in the decerebrate
animal. The Btimulus-response relationship to hair movement was described by a Power function, for those units
sensitive to hair movement. All spinocervical tract units
responded to high skin temperatures (above about 40°C)
with an increased frequency of discharge. Several types
of primary cutaneous afferent unit which excite the spinocervical tract were identified.SECTION IV: MODALITY CODING IN THE SPINOCERVICAL TRACT,
Examination of individual spinocervical tract cell discharges
evoked by different forms of natural stimulation revealed
differences characteristic for the stimulus type. It was
concluded that the modality of a stimulus, as well as its
intensity, can be coded in the discharge of a single spinocervical tract cell.SECTION V: CONTROL OF THE 8PIN0CERVICAL TRACT IN DECEREBRATE
'REPARATIONS. By means of a reversible cold block of the
spinal cord, individual spinocervical tract units were
examined in the decerebrate and in the spinal state, and
the actions of the descending neuronal system were studied.
The equivalence of unit types in the two preparations was
established. The descending system acts to inhibit certain of the excitatory inputs to individual
spinocervical tract cells, while at the same time it
prevents many inhibitory actions on the cells,SECTION VI: GENERAL DISCUSSI0N. The properties of the
two ascending pathways studied are compared. Some problems
raised by the present work, and the possible functions of
the spinocervical system, are discussed
Filaggrin-stratified transcriptomic analysis of pediatric skin identifies mechanistic pathways in patients with atopic dermatitis
BackgroundAtopic dermatitis (AD; eczema) is characterized by a widespread abnormality in cutaneous barrier function and propensity to inflammation. Filaggrin is a multifunctional protein and plays a key role in skin barrier formation. Loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding filaggrin (FLG) are a highly significant risk factor for atopic disease, but the molecular mechanisms leading to dermatitis remain unclear.ObjectiveWe sought to interrogate tissue-specific variations in the expressed genome in the skin of children with AD and to investigate underlying pathomechanisms in atopic skin.MethodsWe applied single-molecule direct RNA sequencing to analyze the whole transcriptome using minimal tissue samples. Uninvolved skin biopsy specimens from 26 pediatric patients with AD were compared with site-matched samples from 10 nonatopic teenage control subjects. Cases and control subjects were screened for FLG genotype to stratify the data set.ResultsTwo thousand four hundred thirty differentially expressed genes (false discovery rate, P < .05) were identified, of which 211 were significantly upregulated and 490 downregulated by greater than 2-fold. Gene ontology terms for “extracellular space” and “defense response” were enriched, whereas “lipid metabolic processes” were downregulated. The subset of FLG wild-type cases showed dysregulation of genes involved with lipid metabolism, whereas filaggrin haploinsufficiency affected global gene expression and was characterized by a type 1 interferon–mediated stress response.ConclusionThese analyses demonstrate the importance of extracellular space and lipid metabolism in atopic skin pathology independent of FLG genotype, whereas an aberrant defense response is seen in subjects with FLG mutations. Genotype stratification of the large data set has facilitated functional interpretation and might guide future therapy development
A Transiting Hot Jupiter Orbiting a Metal-Rich Star
We announce the discovery of Kepler-6b, a transiting hot Jupiter orbiting a
star with unusually high metallicity, [Fe/H] = +0.34 +/- 0.04. The planet's
mass is about 2/3 that of Jupiter, Mp = 0.67 Mj, and the radius is thirty
percent larger than that of Jupiter, Rp = 1.32 Rj, resulting in a density of
0.35 g/cc, a fairly typical value for such a planet. The orbital period is P =
3.235 days. The host star is both more massive than the Sun, Mstar = 1.21 Msun,
and larger than the Sun, Rstar = 1.39 Rsun.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letter
Characteristics of Kepler Planetary Candidates Based on the First Data Set: The Majority are Found to be Neptune-Size and Smaller
In the spring of 2009, the Kepler Mission commenced high-precision photometry
on nearly 156,000 stars to determine the frequency and characteristics of small
exoplanets, conduct a guest observer program, and obtain asteroseismic data on
a wide variety of stars. On 15 June 2010 the Kepler Mission released data from
the first quarter of observations. At the time of this publication, 706 stars
from this first data set have exoplanet candidates with sizes from as small as
that of the Earth to larger than that of Jupiter. Here we give the identity and
characteristics of 306 released stars with planetary candidates. Data for the
remaining 400 stars with planetary candidates will be released in February
2011. Over half the candidates on the released list have radii less than half
that of Jupiter. The released stars include five possible multi-planet systems.
One of these has two Neptune-size (2.3 and 2.5 Earth-radius) candidates with
near-resonant periods.Comment: Paper to accompany Kepler's June 15, 2010 data release; submitted to
Astrophysical Journal Figures 1,2,& 3 revised. Improved labeling on all
figures. Slight changes to planet frequencies in result
Selective Expression of Flt3 within the Mouse Hematopoietic Stem Cell Compartment
The fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (Flt3) is a cell surface receptor that is expressed by various hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) and Flt3-activating mutations are commonly present in acute myeloid and lymphoid leukemias. These findings underscore the importance of Flt3 to steady-state and malignant hematopoiesis. In this study, the expression of Flt3 protein and Flt3 mRNA by single cells within the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) and HPC bone marrow compartments of C57/BL6 mice was investigated using flow cytometry and the quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Flt3 was heterogeneously expressed by almost all of the populations studied, including long-term reconstituting HSC and short-term reconstituting HSC. The erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) and macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (M-CSFR) were also found to be heterogeneously expressed within the multipotent cell compartments. Co-expression of the mRNAs encoding Flt3 and EpoR rarely occurred within these compartments. Expression of both Flt3 and M-CSFR protein at the surface of single cells was more commonly observed. These results emphasize the heterogeneous nature of HSC and HPC and the new sub-populations identified are important to understanding the origin and heterogeneity of the acute myeloid leukemias
Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet
We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass
stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across
both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise
constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is
comparable to Saturn in mass and size, and is on a nearly circular 229-day
orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20% and 69% as
massive as the sun, and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all
three bodies are confined to within 0.5 degree of a single plane, suggesting
that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.Comment: Science, in press; for supplemental material see
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2011/09/14/333.6049.1602.DC1/1210923.Doyle.SOM.pd
Planetary Candidates Observed by Kepler, III: Analysis of the First 16 Months of Data
New transiting planet candidates are identified in sixteen months (May 2009 -
September 2010) of data from the Kepler spacecraft. Nearly five thousand
periodic transit-like signals are vetted against astrophysical and instrumental
false positives yielding 1,091 viable new planet candidates, bringing the total
count up to over 2,300. Improved vetting metrics are employed, contributing to
higher catalog reliability. Most notable is the noise-weighted robust averaging
of multi-quarter photo-center offsets derived from difference image analysis
which identifies likely background eclipsing binaries. Twenty-two months of
photometry are used for the purpose of characterizing each of the new
candidates. Ephemerides (transit epoch, T_0, and orbital period, P) are
tabulated as well as the products of light curve modeling: reduced radius
(Rp/R*), reduced semi-major axis (d/R*), and impact parameter (b). The largest
fractional increases are seen for the smallest planet candidates (197% for
candidates smaller than 2Re compared to 52% for candidates larger than 2Re) and
those at longer orbital periods (123% for candidates outside of 50-day orbits
versus 85% for candidates inside of 50-day orbits). The gains are larger than
expected from increasing the observing window from thirteen months (Quarter 1--
Quarter 5) to sixteen months (Quarter 1 -- Quarter 6). This demonstrates the
benefit of continued development of pipeline analysis software. The fraction of
all host stars with multiple candidates has grown from 17% to 20%, and the
paucity of short-period giant planets in multiple systems is still evident. The
progression toward smaller planets at longer orbital periods with each new
catalog release suggests that Earth-size planets in the Habitable Zone are
forthcoming if, indeed, such planets are abundant.Comment: Submitted to ApJS. Machine-readable tables are available at
http://kepler.nasa.gov, http://archive.stsci.edu/kepler/results.html, and the
NASA Exoplanet Archiv
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