Cholinergic neurons of the medial forebrain are considered important contributors to brain plasticity and neuromodulation. A reduction of cholinergic innervation can lead to pathophysiological ...changes of neurotransmission and is observed in Alzheimer's disease. Here we report on six patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) treated with bilateral low-frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM). During a four-week double-blind sham-controlled phase and a subsequent 11-month follow-up open label period, clinical outcome was assessed by neuropsychological examination using the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale as the primary outcome measure. Electroencephalography and (18)F-fluoro-desoxyglucose positron emission tomography were, besides others, secondary endpoints. On the basis of stable or improved primary outcome parameters twelve months after surgery, four of the six patients were considered responders. No severe or non-transitional side effects related to the stimulation were observed. Taking into account all limitations of a pilot study, we conclude that DBS of the NBM is both technically feasible and well tolerated.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Seeing oceans, continents, quasi-static weather, and other surface features on exoplanets may allow for detecting and characterizing life outside the solar system. The Proxima b exoplanet resides ...within the stellar habitable zone, possibly allowing for liquid water on its surface, as on Earth. However, even the largest planned telescopes will not be able to resolve its surface features directly. Here we demonstrate an inversion technique to indirectly image exoplanet surfaces using observed unresolved reflected light variations over the course of the exoplanet's orbital and axial rotation: ExoPlanet Surface Imaging (EPSI). We show that the reflected light curve contains enough information to detect both longitudinal and latitudinal structures and to map exoplanet surface features. We demonstrate this using examples of solar system planets and moons, as well as simulated planets with Earth-like life and artificial structures. We also describe how it is possible to infer the planet and orbit geometry from light curves. Then, we show how albedo maps of Proxima b can be successfully reconstructed for tidally locked, resonance, and unlocked axial and orbital rotation. Such albedo maps obtained in different wavelength passbands can provide "photographic" views of distant exoplanets. We estimate the signal-to-noise ratio necessary for successful inversions and analyze telescope and detector requirements necessary for the first surface image reconstructions of Proxima b and other nearby exoplanets using EPSI. This is a significant challenge, but the success of such measurements depends heavily on large-aperture diffraction-limited telescope performance-a feat that may be achieved on the ground before it is in space.
The University of California Santa Cruz Genome Browser Database (GBD) contains sequence and annotation data for the genomes of about a dozen vertebrate species and several major model organisms. ...Genome annotations typically include assembly data, sequence composition, genes and gene predictions, mRNA and expressed sequence tag evidence, comparative genomics, regulation, expression and variation data. The database is optimized to support fast interactive performance with web tools that provide powerful visualization and querying capabilities for mining the data. The Genome Browser displays a wide variety of annotations at all scales from single nucleotide level up to a full chromosome. The Table Browser provides direct access to the database tables and sequence data, enabling complex queries on genome-wide datasets. The Proteome Browser graphically displays protein properties. The Gene Sorter allows filtering and comparison of genes by several metrics including expression data and several gene properties. BLAT and In Silico PCR search for sequences in entire genomes in seconds. These tools are highly integrated and provide many hyperlinks to other databases and websites. The GBD, browsing tools, downloadable data files and links to documentation and other information can be found at http://genome.ucsc.edu/.
Central place foraging by colonial breeders can lead to depleted prey resources around breeding areas. Segregation of foraging areas both within and between large colonies may act as a mechanism to ...reduce competition for prey resulting in increased foraging success. We reassessed horizontal (spatial) foraging habitat segregation for northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus (L., 1758)) within and between colonies on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska (St. Paul and St. George islands), after the population declined by approximately 40%. Additionally, we examined vertical habitat segregation, where foraging ranges overlapped, and describe the influence of different foraging habitats on northern fur seal dive behavior. Spatial habitat segregation in northern fur seal foraging areas occurred between islands but was variable within islands, which is similar to the pattern previously described. There was no evidence for vertical habitat segregation when fur seals from different rookeries on St. George Island used the same foraging area. Additionally, fur seals from St. Paul Island rookeries that foraged in similar habitats showed fewer differences in dive behavior, indicating that foraging habitat plays a significant role in shaping dive behavior. The use of multiple foraging strategies within the Pribilof Island fur seal population could indicate that a complex management and conservation strategy may be necessary to stop the continuing decline of this population.
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We report the first direct detection of a strong, 5 kG magnetic field on the surface of an active brown dwarf. LSR J1835+3259 is an M8.5 dwarf exhibiting transient radio and optical emission bursts ...modulated by fast rotation. We have detected the surface magnetic field as circularly polarized signatures in the 819 nm sodium lines when an active emission region faced the Earth. Modeling Stokes profiles of these lines reveals the effective temperature of 2800 K and log gravity acceleration of 4.5. These parameters place LSR J1835+3259 on evolutionary tracks as a young brown dwarf with the mass of and age of 22 4 Myr. Its magnetic field is at least 5.1 kG and covers at least 11% of the visible hemisphere. The active region topology recovered using line profile inversions comprises hot plasma loops with a vertical stratification of optical and radio emission sources. These loops rotate with the dwarf in and out of view causing periodic emission bursts. The magnetic field is detected at the base of the loops. This is the first time that we can quantitatively associate brown dwarf non-thermal bursts with a strong, 5 kG surface magnetic field and solve the puzzle of their driving mechanism. This is also the coolest known dwarf with such a strong surface magnetic field. The young age of LSR J1835+3259 implies that it may still maintain a disk, which may facilitate bursts via magnetospheric accretion, like in higher-mass T Tau-type stars. Our results pave a path toward magnetic studies of brown dwarfs and hot Jupiters.
In the early 1940s, P. A. Smith showed that if a finite $p$-group $G$ acts on a finite dimensional complex $X$ that is mod $p$ acyclic, then its space of fixed points, $X^G$, will also be mod $p$ ...acyclic. In their recent study of the Balmer spectrum of equivariant stable homotopy theory, Balmer and Sanders were led to study a question that can be shown to be equivalent to the following: if a $G$-space $X$ is a equivariant homotopy retract of the $p$-localization of a based finite $G$-C.W. complex, given $H<G$ and $n$, what is the smallest $r$ such that if $X^H$ is acyclic in the $(n+r)$th Morava $K$-theory, then $X^G$ must be acyclic in the $n$th Morava $K$-theory? Barthel et.~al. then answered this when $G$ is abelian, by finding general lower and upper bounds for these ``blue shift'' numbers which agree in the abelian case. In our paper, we first prove that these potential chromatic versions of Smith's theorem are equivalent to chromatic versions of a 1952 theorem of E. E. Floyd, which replaces acyclicity by bounds on dimensions of mod $p$ homology, and thus applies to all finite dimensional $G$-spaces. This unlocks new techniques and applications in chromatic fixed point theory. Applied to the problem of understanding blue shift numbers, we are able to use classic constructions and representation theory to search for lower bounds. We give a simple new proof of the known lower bound theorem, and then get the first results about nonabelian 2-groups that do not follow from previously known results. In particular, we are able to determine all blue shift numbers for extraspecial 2-groups. Applied in ways analogous to Smith's original applications, we prove new fixed point theorems for $K(n)_*$-homology disks and spheres. Finally, our methods offer a new way of using equivariant results to show the collapsing of certain Atiyah-Hirzebruch spectral sequences in certain cases. Our criterion appears to apply to the calculation of all 2-primary Morava $K$-theories of all real Grassmanians.
The precise shape of the Sun has not been convincingly determined, despite half a century of modern photoelectric observations. The expected deviation of the solar-limb shape from a perfect circle is ...very small, but such asphericity is sensitive to the Sun's otherwise invisible interior conditions, as well as the solar atmosphere. We use evidence from a long-running experiment based in space to show that, when analyzed with sufficiently high spatial resolution, the Sun's oblate shape is distinctly constant and almost completely unaffected by the solar-cycle variability seen on its surface. The solar oblateness is significantly lower than theoretical expectations by an amount that could be explained by a slower differential rotation in the outer few percent of the Sun.
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10.
Coronal Magnetic Field Measurements Lin, H; Kuhn, J. R; Coulter, R
The Astrophysical journal,
10/2004, Volume:
613, Issue:
2
Journal Article
PDF
