We present a community data set of daily forcing and hydrologic response data for 671 small- to medium-sized basins across the contiguous United States (median basin size of 336 km2) that spans a ...very wide range of hydroclimatic conditions. Area-averaged forcing data for the period 1980-2010 was generated for three basin spatial configurations - basin mean, hydrologic response units (HRUs) and elevation bands - by mapping daily, gridded meteorological data sets to the subbasin (Daymet) and basin polygons (Daymet, Maurer and NLDAS). Daily streamflow data was compiled from the United States Geological Survey National Water Information System. The focus of this paper is to (1) present the data set for community use and (2) provide a model performance benchmark using the coupled Snow-17 snow model and the Sacramento Soil Moisture Accounting Model, calibrated using the shuffled complex evolution global optimization routine. After optimization minimizing daily root mean squared error, 90% of the basins have Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency scores greater than or equal to 0.55 for the calibration period and 34% greater than or equal to 0.8. This benchmark provides a reference level of hydrologic model performance for a commonly used model and calibration system, and highlights some regional variations in model performance. For example, basins with a more pronounced seasonal cycle generally have a negative low flow bias, while basins with a smaller seasonal cycle have a positive low flow bias. Finally, we find that data points with extreme error (defined as individual days with a high fraction of total error) are more common in arid basins with limited snow and, for a given aridity, fewer extreme error days are present as the basin snow water equivalent increases.
Background The gold standard for diagnosing food allergy is the double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge. Diagnostic food-specific IgE levels might assist in diagnosing food allergies and ...circumventing the need for food challenges. Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the utility of food-specific IgE measurements for identifying symptomatic peanut, tree nut, and seed allergies and to augment what is known about the relationships among these foods. Methods Patients referred for suspected peanut or tree nut allergies answered a questionnaire about their perceived food allergies. Allergen-specific diagnoses were based on questionnaire, medical history, and, when relevant, skin prick tests and serum specific IgE levels. Sera from the patients were analyzed for specific IgE antibodies to peanuts, tree nuts, and seeds by using ImmunoCAP Specific IgE (Phadia, Inc, Uppsala, Sweden). Results Three hundred twenty-four patients (61% male; median age, 6.1 years; range, 0.2-40.2 years) were evaluated. The patients were highly atopic (57% with atopic dermatitis and 58% with asthma). The majority of patients with peanut allergy were sensitized to tree nuts (86%), and 34% had documented clinical allergy. The relationship between diagnosis and allergen-specific IgE levels were estimated by using logistic regression. Diagnostic decision points are suggested for peanut and walnut. Probability curves were drawn for peanut, sesame, and several tree nuts. High correlations were found between cashew and pistachio and between pecan and walnut. Conclusions Quantification of food-specific IgE is a valuable tool that will aid in the diagnosis of symptomatic food allergy and might decrease the need for double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenges.
Abstract
We study with a 3D particle-in-cell simulation discontinuities between an electron–positron pair plasma and magnetized electrons and protons. A pair plasma is injected at one simulation ...boundary with a speed 0.6
c
along its normal. It expands into an electron-proton plasma and a magnetic field that points orthogonally to the injection direction. Diamagnetic currents expel the magnetic field from within the pair plasma and pile it up in front of it. It pushes electrons, which induces an electric field pulse ahead of the magnetic one. This initial electromagnetic pulse (EMP) confines the pair plasma magnetically and accelerates protons electrically. The fast flow of the injected pair plasma across the protons behind the initial EMP triggers the filamentation instability. Some electrons and positrons cross the injection boundary and build up a second EMP. Electron-cyclotron drift instabilities perturb the plasma ahead of both EMPs seeding a Rayleigh–Taylor (RT)-type instability. Despite equally strong perturbations ahead of both EMPs, the second EMP is much more stable than the initial one. We attribute the rapid collapse of the initial EMP to the filamentation instability, which perturbed the plasma behind it. The RT-type instability transforms the planar EMPs into transition layers, in which magnetic flux ropes and electrostatic forces due to uneven numbers of electrons and positrons slow down and compress the pair plasma and accelerate protons. In our simulation, the expansion speed of the pair cloud decreased by about an order of magnitude and its density increased by the same factor. Its small thickness implies that it is capable of separating a relativistic pair outflow from an electron-proton plasma, which is essential for collimating relativistic jets of pair plasma in collisionless astrophysical plasma.
The cerebral cortex of humans and macaques has specialized regions for processing faces and other visual stimulus categories. It is unknown whether a similar functional organization exists in New ...World monkeys, such as the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a species of growing interest as a primate model in neuroscience. To address this question, we measured selective neural responses in the brain of four awake marmosets trained to fix their gaze upon images of faces, bodies, objects, and control patterns. In two of the subjects, we measured high gamma-range field potentials from electrocorticography arrays implanted over a large portion of the occipital and inferotemporal cortex. In the other two subjects, we measured BOLD fMRI responses across the entire brain. Both techniques revealed robust, regionally specific patterns of category-selective neural responses. We report that at least six face-selective patches mark the occipitotemporal pathway of the marmoset, with the most anterior patches showing the strongest preference for faces over other stimuli. The similar appearance of these patches to previous findings in macaques and humans, including their apparent arrangement in two parallel pathways, suggests that core elements of the face processing network were present in the common anthropoid primate ancestor living ∼35 million years ago. The findings also identify the marmoset as a viable animal model system for studying specialized neural mechanisms related to high-level social visual perception in humans.
The metal manganese is a potent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent that is essential in cell biology. Manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) is providing unique ...information in an ever-growing number of applications aimed at understanding the anatomy, the integration, and the function of neural circuits both in normal brain physiology as well as in translational models of brain disease. A major drawback to the use of manganese as a contrast agent, however, is its cellular toxicity. Therefore, paramount to the successful application of MEMRI is the ability to deliver Mn2+ to the site of interest using as low a dose as possible while preserving detectability by MRI. In the present work, the different approaches to MEMRI in translational neuroimaging are reviewed and challenges for future identified from a practical standpoint.
T1-weighted divided by T2-weighted (T1w/T2w) myelin maps were initially developed for neuroanatomical analyses such as identifying cortical areas, but they are increasingly used in statistical ...comparisons across individuals and groups with other variables of interest. Existing T1w/T2w myelin maps contain radiofrequency transmit field (B1+) biases, which may be correlated with these variables of interest, leading to potentially spurious results. Here we propose two empirical methods for correcting these transmit field biases using either explicit measures of the transmit field or alternatively a ‘pseudo-transmit’ approach that is highly correlated with the transmit field at 3T. We find that the resulting corrected T1w/T2w myelin maps are both better neuroanatomical measures (e.g., for use in cross-species comparisons), and more appropriate for statistical comparisons of relative T1w/T2w differences across individuals and groups (e.g., sex, age, or body-mass-index) within a consistently acquired study at 3T. We recommend that investigators who use the T1w/T2w approach for mapping cortical myelin use these B1+ transmit field corrected myelin maps going forward.
Binocular rivalry (BR) is a dynamic visual illusion that provides insight into the cortical mechanisms of visual awareness, stimulus selection, and object identification. When dissimilar binocular ...images cannot be fused, perception switches every few seconds between the left and right eye images. The speed at which individuals switch between alternatives is a stable, partially heritable trait. In order to isolate the monocular and binocular processes that determine the speed of rivalry, we presented stimuli tagged with a different flicker frequency in each eye and applied stimulus-phase locked MEG source imaging. We hypothesized that the strength of the evoked fundamental or intermodulation frequencies would vary when comparing Fast and Slow Switchers. Ten subjects reported perceptual alternations, with mean dominance durations between 1.2-4.0 sec. During BR, event-related monocular input in V1, and broadly in higher-tier ventral temporal cortex, waxed and waned with the periods of left or right eye dominance/suppression. In addition, we show that Slow Switchers produce greater evoked intermodulation frequency responses in a cortical network composed of V1, lateral occipital, posterior STS, retrosplenial & superior parietal cortices. Importantly, these dominance durations were not predictable from the brain responses to either of the fundamental tagging frequencies in isolation, nor from any responses to a pattern rivalry control condition, or a non-rivalrous control. The novel cortical network isolated, which overlaps with the default-mode network, may contain neurons that compute the level of endogenous monocular difference, and monitor accumulation of this conflict over extended periods of time. These findings are the first to relate the speed of rivalry across observers to the 'efficient coding' theory of computing binocular differences that may apply to binocular vision generally.
Intranasal insulin (IN) administration is a promising way to deliver the peptide to the central nervous system (CNS), bypassing the blood-brain-barrier and gastrointestinal absorption inhibition. IN ...receptors are localized in the olfactory mucosa and the brain, mainly in the olfactory bulb, hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala, cerebral cortex, and cerebellum. The pleiotropic mechanism of insulin action is characterized by its anti-inflammatory properties, antithrombotic, vasodilatory, and antiapoptotic effects. It prevents energy failure and has regenerative properties, affects neuro-regeneration and counteracts insulin resistance. Hence, insulin has been suggested for various pathological states including neurocognitive disorders, obesity, and as a therapeutic option for smell loss. A sharply increased prevalence of olfactory dysfunction was observed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic also emphasized the lack of therapeutic options for smell loss. Intranasal insulin administration has therefore been suggested to serve as potential treatment, influencing the regenerative capacities of the olfactory mucosa. This narrative review summarizes current knowledge on possible effects of intranasal insulin on the sense of smell.
While the majority of the highest quality wine-producing regions in Western and Central Europe have benefitted from an increase in quality ratings due to climate change, traditional Franconian wine ...is in danger of losing its unique characteristics and its traditional spatial distribution. A long-term (1949 to 2010) study was made of reference vineyard observations in Lower Franconia, Germany. This wine region in the federal state of Bavaria is one of the most northerly in the world. The current climate requires the use of adapted grape varieties and has an impact on the unique quality of traditional Franconian wine. In this research, phenological events and intervals, and composition (acid and sugar content at harvest) of white grape cultivars (Müller-Thurgau, Riesling and Silvaner) were analysed for trends over time and relationships with potential climate drivers using multiple regression. Overall, the phenology of grapevines in Lower Franconia has tended towards earlier occurrence with a shortening of phenological intervals. The relative amounts of sugar in the grapes at harvest have tended to increase. Furthermore, the findings confirm a consistent relationship between onset dates of phenological phases and corresponding climate data. The grapevines were most influenced by mean maximum temperatures preceding the event, whereas precipitation and sunshine appeared less important. The observed warmer season results in greater ripening potential in grapes; as a consequence, the sugar content increases, while the acid component decreases, resulting in an altered wine typicity and quality. Thus, the balanced ratio of sugar and acid content shifts in favour of the sugar component, which may result in a loss of the traditional character of Franconian wine.
Abstract
Serotonergic psychedelics possess considerable therapeutic potential. Although 5-HT
2A
receptor activation mediates psychedelic effects, prototypical psychedelics activate both 5-HT
2A
...-Gq/11 and β-arrestin2 transducers, making their respective roles unclear. To elucidate this, we develop a series of 5-HT
2A
-selective ligands with varying Gq efficacies, including β-arrestin-biased ligands. We show that 5-HT
2A
-Gq but not 5-HT
2A
-β-arrestin2 recruitment efficacy predicts psychedelic potential, assessed using head-twitch response (HTR) magnitude in male mice. We further show that disrupting Gq-PLC signaling attenuates the HTR and a threshold level of Gq activation is required to induce psychedelic-like effects, consistent with the fact that certain 5-HT
2A
partial agonists (e.g., lisuride) are non-psychedelic. Understanding the role of 5-HT
2A
Gq-efficacy in psychedelic-like psychopharmacology permits rational development of non-psychedelic 5-HT
2A
agonists. We also demonstrate that β-arrestin-biased 5-HT
2A
receptor agonists block psychedelic effects and induce receptor downregulation and tachyphylaxis. Overall, 5-HT
2A
receptor Gq-signaling can be fine-tuned to generate ligands distinct from classical psychedelics.
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