The introduction of affordable, consumer-oriented 3-D printers is a milestone in the current "maker movement," which has been heralded as the next industrial revolution. Combined with free and open ...sharing of detailed design blueprints and accessible development tools, rapid prototypes of complex products can now be assembled in one's own garage--a game-changer reminiscent of the early days of personal computing. At the same time, 3-D printing has also allowed the scientific and engineering community to build the "little things" that help a lab get up and running much faster and easier than ever before.
The introduction of affordable, consumer-oriented 3-D printers is a milestone in the current "maker movement," which has been heralded as the next industrial revolution. Combined with free and open ...sharing of detailed design blueprints and accessible development tools, rapid prototypes of complex products can now be assembled in one's own garage--a game-changer reminiscent of the early days of personal computing. At the same time, 3-D printing has also allowed the scientific and engineering community to build the "little things" that help a lab get up and running much faster and easier than ever before.
A small (<1cm 3 ), light-weight (<1g including batteries), low power (10 mW, lasts 25 hrs), long range (22 ft.), 3-channel wireless neural recording system is designed, fabricated and characterized ...through in-vitro and in-vivo experiments. The transmitter comprises of an ASIC fabricated in 2-Poly, 2-Metal 1.5 ¿m AMIS process which can transmit data out wirelessly using on-chip VCO or low power commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) transmitters. The microsystem is employed in collecting neural signals from two different animal models: axons in cockroach leg and forelimb area of the motor cortex of a mature Long Evans rat.
When Cockroach Legs Dance Eveleth, Rose
Scientific American,
06/2012, Letnik:
306, Številka:
6
Magazine Article
Gage talks about teaching neuroscience to high school students. When he was a graduate student in neuroscience at the University of Michigan, they would record the brains of animals and try to figure ...out what the brains were doing. At the same time, they were going into classrooms and teaching neuroscience to kids.
This report uses the goal programming concept to estimate livestock roughage consumption by type of roughage and State. The concept involves multiple conflicting objectives or goals which are ...evaluated subject to goal and nongoal constraints. The goal programming algorithm develops a solution to a multiple objective problem by minimizing the nonattainment of all goals subject to the restrictions imposed by nongoal constraints. Data for the State of Wisconsin are used to illustrate how the model is set up and run. Input data requirements for applying the model to each of the 48 contiguous States are described, followed by the running of the model for each State.
Although venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant complication for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) receiving immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs), no validated clinical model predicts VTE in this ...population. This study aimed to derive and validate a new risk assessment model (RAM) for IMiD-associated VTE.
Patients with newly diagnosed MM receiving IMiDs were selected from the SEER-Medicare database (n=2,397) to derive a RAM and then data from the Veterans Health Administration database (n=1,251) were used to externally validate the model. A multivariable cause-specific Cox regression model was used for model development.
The final RAM, named the "SAVED" score, included 5 clinical variables: prior surgery, Asian race, VTE history, age ≥80 years, and dexamethasone dose. The model stratified approximately 30% of patients in both the derivation and the validation cohorts as high-risk. Hazard ratios (HRs) were 1.85 (P<.01) and 1.98 (P<.01) for high- versus low-risk groups in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. In contrast, the method of stratification recommended in the current NCCN Guidelines for Cancer-Associated Venous Thromboembolic Disease had HRs of 1.21 (P=.17) and 1.41 (P=.07) for the corresponding risk groups in the 2 datasets.
The SAVED score outperformed the current NCCN Guidelines in risk-stratification of patients with MM receiving IMiD therapy. This clinical model can help inform providers and patients of VTE risk before IMiD initiation and provides a simplified clinical backbone for further prognostic biomarker development in this population.
Remarkable productivity has been achieved in crop species through artificial selection and adaptation to modern agronomic practices. Whether intensive selection has changed the ability of improved ...cultivars to maintain high productivity across variable environments is unknown. Understanding the genetic control of phenotypic plasticity and genotype by environment (G × E) interaction will enhance crop performance predictions across diverse environments. Here we use data generated from the Genomes to Fields (G2F) Maize G × E project to assess the effect of selection on G × E variation and characterize polymorphisms associated with plasticity. Genomic regions putatively selected during modern temperate maize breeding explain less variability for yield G × E than unselected regions, indicating that improvement by breeding may have reduced G × E of modern temperate cultivars. Trends in genomic position of variants associated with stability reveal fewer genic associations and enrichment of variants 0-5000 base pairs upstream of genes, hypothetically due to control of plasticity by short-range regulatory elements.
Climate warming is considered to be among the most serious of anthropogenic stresses to the environment, because it not only has direct effects on biodiversity, but it also exacerbates the harmful ...effects of other human‐mediated threats. The associated consequences are potentially severe, particularly in terms of threats to species preservation, as well as in the preservation of an array of ecosystem services provided by biodiversity. Among the most affected groups of animals are insects—central components of many ecosystems—for which climate change has pervasive effects from individuals to communities. In this contribution to the scientists' warning series, we summarize the effect of the gradual global surface temperature increase on insects, in terms of physiology, behavior, phenology, distribution, and species interactions, as well as the effect of increased frequency and duration of extreme events such as hot and cold spells, fires, droughts, and floods on these parameters. We warn that, if no action is taken to better understand and reduce the action of climate change on insects, we will drastically reduce our ability to build a sustainable future based on healthy, functional ecosystems. We discuss perspectives on relevant ways to conserve insects in the face of climate change, and we offer several key recommendations on management approaches that can be adopted, on policies that should be pursued, and on the involvement of the general public in the protection effort.
Next-generation information technologies will process unprecedented amounts of loosely structured data that overwhelm existing computing systems. N3XT improves the energy efficiency of abundant-data ...applications 1,000-fold by using new logic and memory technologies, 3D integration with fine-grained connectivity, and new architectures for computation immersed in memory.
The receptor tyrosine kinase Tyro3 is abundantly expressed in neurons of the neocortex, hippocampus, and striatum, but its role in these cells is unknown. We found that neuronal expression of this ...receptor was markedly up-regulated in the postnatal mouse neocortex immediately prior to the final development of glutamatergic synapses. In the absence of Tyro3, cortical and hippocampal synapses never completed end-stage differentiation and remained electrophysiologically and ultrastructurally immature.
cortical neurons also exhibited diminished plasma membrane expression of the GluA2 subunits of AMPA-type glutamate receptors, which are essential to mature synaptic function. Correspondingly, GluA2 membrane insertion in wild-type neurons was stimulated by Gas6, a Tyro3 ligand widely expressed in the postnatal brain. Behaviorally,
mice displayed learning enhancements in spatial recognition and fear-conditioning assays. Together, these results demonstrate that Tyro3 promotes the functional maturation of glutamatergic synapses by driving plasma membrane translocation of GluA2 AMPA receptor subunits.
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