Widely used in neuroscience the averaging of event related potentials is based on the assumption that small responses to the investigated events are present in every trial but can be hidden under the ...random noise. This situation often takes place, especially in experiments performed at hierarchically lower levels of sensory systems. However, in the studies of higher order complex neuronal networks evoked responses might appear only under particular conditions and be absent otherwise. We encountered this problem studying a propagation of interoceptive information to the cortical areas in the sleep-wake cycle. Cortical responses to various visceral events were present during some periods of sleep, then disappeared for a while and restored again after a period of absence. Further investigation of the viscero-cortical communication required a method that would allow labeling the trials contributing to the averaged event related responses-"efficient trials," and separating them from the trials without any response. Here we describe a heuristic approach to solving this problem in the context of viscero-cortical interactions occurring during sleep. However, we think that the proposed technique can be applicable to any situation where neuronal processing of the same events is expected to be variable due to internal or external factors modulating neuronal activity. The method was first implemented as a script for Spike 2 program version 6.16 (CED). However, at present a functionally equivalent version of this algorithm is also available as Matlab code at https://github.com/george-fedorov/erp-correlations.
The paper deals with the peculiarities connected with energy efficiency and power conservation measures in power supply systems of industrial enterprises. The purposes and objectives of the research ...conventionally divided into several areas: electric networks, electric drive, control and monitoring of energy consumption. The current state of energy and resource efficiency at industrial enterprises is described. The scientific literature of Russian and foreign authors working in this field is analyzed. The objects of research which are a mine and a processing plant for the extraction and processing of diamondiferous raw material are identified. The methods of mathematical modeling and instrumental monitoring are applied to analyze energy efficiency and power conservation. The region power supply system, automated (frequency-controlled) electric drive of processing units of mining enterprises, automated systems for monitoring and management of enterprises' production processes are considered in the paper in details. The methods with a significant contribution to power conservation and energy efficiency of mining enterprises developed by the authors are presented. The conclusions on the prospects of future research in the field of energy efficiency and power conservation at mining enterprises are made.
The zinc-finger protein tristetraprolin (TTP) binds to AU-rich elements present in the 3′ untranslated regions of transcripts that mainly encode proteins of the inflammatory response. TTP-bound mRNAs ...are targeted for destruction via recruitment of the eight-subunit deadenylase complex “carbon catabolite repressor protein 4 (CCR4)-negative on TATA-less (NOT),” which catalyzes the removal of mRNA poly-(A) tails, the first obligatory step in mRNA decay. Here we show that a novel interaction between TTP and the CCR4-NOT subunit, CNOT9, is required for recruitment of the deadenylase complex. In addition to CNOT1, CNOT9 is now included in the identified CCR4-NOT subunits shown to interact with TTP. We find that both the N- and C-terminal domains of TTP are involved in an interaction with CNOT9. Through a combination of SPOT peptide array, site-directed mutagenesis, and bio-layer interferometry, we identified several conserved tryptophan residues in TTP that serve as major sites of interaction with two tryptophan-binding pockets of CNOT9, previously found to interact with another modulator GW182. We further demonstrate that these interactions are also required for recruitment of the CCR4-NOT complex and TTP-directed decay of an mRNA containing an AU-rich element in its 3′-untranslated region. Together the results reveal new molecular details for the TTP-CNOT interaction that shape an emerging mechanism whereby TTP targets inflammatory mRNAs for deadenylation and decay.
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•TTP targets inflammatory mRNA for degradation by interacting with CCR4-CNOT complex.•We identified one subunit of the complex, CNOT9, as a novel interactor of TTP.•TTP binds using conserved Trp residues to CNOT9 regions common to other modulators.•Trp-mediated interactions with CNOT9 are essential to TTP-mediated decay.
Abstract
The article is devoted to the principles of designing a research centre for urban landscaping. It gives the definition of the objects of this typology and justifies the need for the ...implementation of such complexes in modern highly urbanised cities, based on environmental and social prerequisites. The article also considers the principles of the placement of such a centre, determines the composition of the main functional zones and outlines the main strategies of its activity. As a result, models of functional blocks are proposed – the principles of space-planning formation inherent in a complex of such a profile.
Background Previously we have shown that, during sleep, electrical and magnetic stimulation of areas of the stomach and small intestine evoked neuronal and EEG responses in various cortical areas. ...In this study we wanted to correlate natural myoelectrical activity of the duodenum with cortical neuronal activity, and to investigate whether there is a causal link between them during periods of slow‐wave sleep.
Methods We have recorded the myoelectrical activity from the wall of the duodenum and activity of single neurons from three cortical visual areas in naturally sleeping cats and investigated causal interrelationship between these structures during slow‐wave sleep.
Key Results About 30% of the cortical neurons studied changed their firing rate dependent on the phases of the peristaltic cycle and demonstrated selectivity to particular pattern of duodenal myoelectrical activity during slow‐wave sleep. This interrelationship was never seen when awake.
Conclusions & Inferences This observation supports the hypothesis that, during sleep, the cerebral cortex switches from processing of exteroceptive and proprioceptive information to processing of interoceptive information.
The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) embedded in the solar wind interacts with the Martian crustal magnetic field and atmosphere. The IMF orientation is one of the important parameters to control ...the acceleration and precipitation of planetary heavy ions (PHIs). We statistically investigate the effects of the IMF orientation on PHI precipitations toward the ionosphere based on observations by Mars Express (MEX). We identified 59 PHI precipitation events between July 2007 and September 2009. To estimate the IMF orientation without magnetometer that MEX does not carry, we used the velocity distribution of exospheric‐origin pickup protons. We estimated the IMF orientation without its polarity for 10 events. The results show that the precipitations of PHIs tend to be observed around pole regions in the MSE (Mars‐centered, solar electrical) coordinates determined from the solar wind electric field (Esw), in which the pole axis directs to the parallel or antiparallel to Esw due to the ambiguity in the IMF polarity determination. The observed precipitating PHIs are accelerated only up to a few keV. This feature may reflect the short distance from the picked‐up region. For one of these 10 events, we estimated the IMF polarity by comparing the velocity distribution of exospheric‐origin pickup protons observed by MEX with those obtained from statistical trajectory tracing simulations under two cases of possible IMF polarity conditions. The estimated polarity indicates that the PHI precipitation in this event is observed in the downward electric field hemisphere in MSE, where Esw points to Mars in the pole region.
Key Points
We estimate the IMF orientation from ring ions obtained by MEX/IMA.
Precipitating ions are observed around the pole regions in the MSE coordinates.
Observed precipitation asymmetry supports previous numerical simulations.
At the end of 1980s, regions of the polypeptide chain of bacterial flagella subunits (flagellins) responsible for different properties of these protein polymers were identified by structural studies. ...It was found that the N-and C-terminal regions are responsible for the polymerization properties of subunits, and the central region is responsible for antigenic properties of the flagellum. Soon after that, it was proposed to use variability of the central flagellin domain for directed modification to impart new properties to the flagellum surface. Such studies of flagella and other polymeric structures of bacterial origin thrived. However bacterial polymers have some shortcomings, mainly their instability to dissociating effects. This shortcoming is absent in archaeal flagella. A limiting factor was the lack of the three-dimensional structure of archaeal flagellins. A method was developed that allowed modifying flagella of the halophilic archaeon
Halobacterium salinarum
in a peptide that connects positively charged ions. Later, corresponding procedures were used that allowed preparing the anode material for a lithiumion battery whose characteristics 4-5-fold exceeded those of batteries commonly used in industrial production. We describe other advantages of archaeal flagella over bacterial analogs when used in nanotechnology.
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