Regulation of bistability in the std fimbrial operon of Salmonella enterica by DNA adenine methylation and transcription factors HdfR, StdE and StdF

Bistable expression of the Salmonella enterica std operon is controlled by an AND logic gate involving three transcriptional activators: the LysR-type factor HdfR and the StdE and StdF regulators encoded by the std operon itself. StdE activates transcription of the hdfR gene, and StdF activates std transcription together with HdfR. Binding of HdfR upstream of the std promoter is hindered by methylation of GATC sites located within the upstream activating sequence (UAS). Epigenetic control by Dam methylation thus antagonizes formation of the StdE-StdF-HdfR loop and tilts the std switch toward the StdOFF state. In turn, HdfR binding hinders methylation of the UAS, permitting activation of the StdE-StdF-HdfR loop and concomitant formation of StdON cells. Bistability is thus the outcome of competition between DNA adenine methylation and the StdE-StdF-HdfR activator loop.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades [BIO2016–75235-P

History of the Diagnosis of a Sexually Transmitted Disease is Linked to Normal Variation in Personality Traits

Introduction. Stable individual differences in personality traits have well-documented associations with various aspects of health. One of the health outcomes that directly depends on people's behavioral choices, and may therefore be linked to personality traits, is having a sexually transmitted disease (STD).Aim. The study examines the associations between a comprehensive set of basic personality traits and past STD history in a demographically diverse sample.Methods. Participants were 2,110 Estonians (1,175 women) between the ages of 19 and 89 (mean age 45.8 years, SD = 17.0). The five-factor model personality traits (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) and their specific facets were rated by participants themselves and knowledgeable informants. Sex, age, and educational level were controlled for.Main Outcome Measure. History of STD diagnosis based on medical records and/or self-report.Results. History of STD diagnosis was associated with higher Neuroticism and lower Agreeableness in both self- and informant-ratings. Among the specific personality facets, the strongest correlates of STD were high hostility and impulsiveness and low deliberation.Conclusions. Individual differences in several personality traits are associated with a history of STD diagnosis. Assuming that certain personality traits may predispose people to behaviors that entail a higher risk for STD, these findings can be used for the early identification of people at greater STD risk and for developing personality-tailored intervention programs. Mottus R, Realo A, Allik J, Esko T, and Metspalu A. History of the diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease is linked to normal variation in personality traits. J Sex Med 2012;9:2861-2867.</p

Dynamical Synapses Enhance Neural Information Processing: Gracefulness, Accuracy and Mobility

Experimental data have revealed that neuronal connection efficacy exhibits two forms of short-term plasticity, namely, short-term depression (STD) and short-term facilitation (STF). They have time constants residing between fast neural signaling and rapid learning, and may serve as substrates for neural systems manipulating temporal information on relevant time scales. The present study investigates the impact of STD and STF on the dynamics of continuous attractor neural networks (CANNs) and their potential roles in neural information processing. We find that STD endows the network with slow-decaying plateau behaviors-the network that is initially being stimulated to an active state decays to a silent state very slowly on the time scale of STD rather than on the time scale of neural signaling. This provides a mechanism for neural systems to hold sensory memory easily and shut off persistent activities gracefully. With STF, we find that the network can hold a memory trace of external inputs in the facilitated neuronal interactions, which provides a way to stabilize the network response to noisy inputs, leading to improved accuracy in population decoding. Furthermore, we find that STD increases the mobility of the network states. The increased mobility enhances the tracking performance of the network in response to time-varying stimuli, leading to anticipative neural responses. In general, we find that STD and STP tend to have opposite effects on network dynamics and complementary computational advantages, suggesting that the brain may employ a strategy of weighting them differentially depending on the computational purpose.Comment: 40 pages, 17 figure

Small Explorer Data System MIL-STD-1773 fiber optic bus

The MIL-STD-1773 Fiber Optic Data Bus as implemented in the GSFC Small Explorer Data System (SEDS) for the Small Explorer Program is described. It provides an overview of the SEDS MIL-STD-1773 bus components system design considerations, reliability figures, acceptance and qualification testing requirements, radiation requirements and tests, error handling considerations, and component heritage. The first mission using the bus will be launched in June of 1992

A multivariate integral representation on GL2×GSp4\mathrm{GL}_2 \times \mathrm{GSp}_4 inspired by the pullback formula

We give a two variable Rankin-Selberg integral inspired by consideration of Garrett's pullback formula. For a globally generic cusp form on $\mathrm{GL}_2\times \mathrm{GSp}_4$, the integral represents the product of the $\mathrm{Std}\times \mathrm{Spin}$ and $\mathbf{1} \times \mathrm{Std}$ $L$-functions. We prove a result concerning an Archimedean principal series representation in order to verify a case of Jiang's first-term identity relating certain non-Siegel Eisenstein series on symplectic groups. Using it, we obtain a new proof of a known result concerning possible poles of these $L$-functions.Comment: Final version. To appear in Trans. Amer. Math. So