Contrast sensitivity for a Gabor signal is affected by collinear high-contrast Gabor flankers. The flankers reduce (inhibitory effect) or increase (facilitatory effect) sensitivity, at short (2λ) and ...intermediate (6λ) target-to-flanker separation respectively. We investigated whether these inhibitory/facilitatory sensitivity effects are modulated by transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) applied to the occipital and frontal cortex of human observers during task performance. Signal detection theory was used to measure sensitivity (d') and the Criterion (C) in a contrast detection task, performed with sham or tRNS applied over the occipital or the frontal cortex. After occipital stimulation results show a tRNS-dependent increased sensitivity for the single Gabor signal of low but not high contrast. Moreover, results suggest a dissociation of the tRNS effect when the Gabor signal is presented with the flankers, consisting in a general increased sensitivity at 2λ where the flankers had an inhibitory effect (reduction of inhibition) and a decreased sensitivity at 6λ where the flankers had a facilitatory effect on the Gabor signal (reduction of facilitation). After a frontal stimulation, no specific effect of the tRNS was found. We account for these complex interactions between tRNS and flankers by assuming that tRNS not only enhances feedforward input from the Gabor signal to the cortex, but also enhances the excitatory or inhibitory lateral intracortical input from the flankers. The boosted lateral input depends on the excitation-inhibition (E/I) ratio, namely when the lateral input is weak, it is boosted by tRNS with consequent modification of the contrast-dependent E/I ratio.
A sophisticated trigger system, capable of real-time track reconstruction, is used in the ATLAS experiment to select interesting events in the proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at ...CERN. A set of b-jet triggers was activated in ATLAS for the entire 2011 data-taking campaign and successfully selected events enriched in jets arising from heavy-flavour quarks. Such triggers were demonstrated to be crucial for the selection of events with no lepton signature and a large jet multiplicity. An overview of the track reconstruction and online b-jet selection with performance estimates from data is presented in these proceedings.
Abstract High levels of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) are associated with an increased risk of dementia in the elderly and can increase neuroinflammation in mice. Dementia is more frequent in females, and ...IL-6 is regulated by estrogen, suggesting that elevated IL-6 levels may contribute to neuroinflammation and dementia particularly in women. Therefore we hypothesized that IL-6 deficient (−/− ) female mice would have lower aging-related neuroinflammation than wild type (WT). We quantified neuroinflammatory markers which are affected by aging, and regulated by both estrogen and IL-6; glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), myelin basic protein (MBP), interferon gamma (IFNγ), lipid peroxidation (MDA), and synaptic density (SNAP25) and in IL-6−/− and WT C57Bl/6 mice. To determine age effects we used mid-age (18 months) and old-age (24 months) mice, and to determine region specific effects we used the hippocampus which is impaired in dementia and the cerebellum which is unimpaired in dementia. Unexpectedly, there were no effects of IL-6 deficiency on GFAP, MDA or SNAP25 levels in females, but IL-6 deficiency was associated with lower cerebellar MBP ( p < 0.05) levels. Interestingly, the old-aged IL-6−/− males had higher GFAP and MDA levels ( p < 0.05) in both the hippocampus and cerebellum, in addition to a greater body weight than WT. We suggest that IL-6 is important for promoting myelin synthesis in aged females, and that drugs which inhibit the synthesis of IL-6 in males may inadvertently affect fatty acid metabolism and augment aging-related neuroinflammation.
The ATLAS detector will operate in a highly challenging environment that requires a sophisticated trigger strategy. The online b -jet selection is an important part of the trigger which greatly ...improves its flexibility and extends the ATLAS physics programme. More specifically, b -jet acceptance is increased and background reduced by lowering jet transverse energy thresholds at the first trigger level and then applying b -tagging at subsequent levels. Several physics channels, especially those with topologies containing more than one b -jet, benefit from requesting this kind of trigger firing. We present an overview of the b -jet trigger algorithms and menu at the experiment start-up.
Trace exposures to the toxic metals mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) may threaten human reproductive health. The aim of this study is to generate biologically-plausible hypotheses concerning ...associations between Hg, Cd, and Pb and
in vitro fertilization (IVF) endpoints. For 15 female IVF patients, a multivariable log-binomial model suggests a 75% reduction in the probability for a retrieved oocyte to be in metaphase-II arrest for each μg/dL increase in blood Pb concentration (relative risk (RR)
=
0.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.03–2.50,
P
=
0.240). For 15 male IVF partners, each μg/L increase in urine Cd concentration is associated with an 81% decrease in the probability for oocyte fertilization (RR
=
0.19, 95% CI 0.03–1.35,
P
=
0.097). Because of the magnitude of the effects, these results warrant a comprehensive study with sufficient statistical power to further evaluate these hypotheses.
The challenging environment in which the ATLAS detector is going to operate implies a sophisticated trigger strategy. The online b-jet selection is thus an important ingredient which greatly improves ...the trigger flexibility and extend the ATLAS physics programme. In particular, b-jets acceptance is increased and the backgroung reduced by lowering jet transverse energy thresholds at the first trigger level and then applying online b-tagging. Different physics channels, especially topologies containing more than one b-jet where higher rejection factors are achieved, benefit from requesting this kind of trigger to be fired. We present an overview of the status-of-the-art of the b-jet trigger menu at the experiment start-up.
This report presents the activities of the `New Physics' working group for the `Physics at TeV Colliders' workshop (Les Houches, France, 10--28 June, 2019). These activities include studies of direct ...searches for new physics, approaches to exploit published data to constrain new physics, as well as the development of tools to further facilitate these investigations. Benefits of machine learning for both the search for new physics and the interpretation of these searches are also presented.
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