206 research outputs found
Advances in Engineering and Application of Optogenetic Indicators for Neuroscience
No full textOur ability to investigate the brain is limited by available technologies that can record biological processes in vivo with suitable spatiotemporal resolution. Advances in optogenetics now enable optical recording and perturbation of central physiological processes within the intact brains of model organisms. By monitoring key signaling molecules noninvasively, we can better appreciate how information is processed and integrated within intact circuits. In this review, we describe recent efforts engineering genetically-encoded fluorescence indicators to monitor neuronal activity. We summarize recent advances of sensors for calcium, potassium, voltage, and select neurotransmitters, focusing on their molecular design, properties, and current limitations. We also highlight impressive applications of these sensors in neuroscience research. We adopt the view that advances in sensor engineering will yield enduring insights on systems neuroscience. Neuroscientists are eager to adopt suitable tools for imaging neural activity in vivo, making this a golden age for engineering optogenetic indicators. Keywords: optogenetic tools; neuroscience; calcium sensor; voltage sensor; neurotransmitter
Investigation into the molecular and physiologic relationship between peptide tyrosine tyrosine and N-acetylglutamate synthase
No full textNeither genome size nor gene number is indicative of organism complexity. Complex regulation of genes within a genome likely contributes to organism complexity. Coordinate regulation of genes through shared cis regulatory elements is one such mechanism. Peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY) and N-acetylglutamate synthase (NAGS) are divergently transcribed and thus share a 5’ flanking region, raising the possibility these genes are coordinately regulated through common cis regulatory elements. These genes are separated by less than 1000 base pairs and may be regulated by a bidirectional promoter. The purpose of this project is to investigate the molecular and physiologic relationship between PYY and NAGS. To locate the promoter region, the transcriptional start sites (TSSs) for these genes were identified in multiple tissues. Results of these experiments demonstrate the major TSSs for PYY and NAGS are separated by greater than 1000 base pairs indicating they are not under control of a bidirectional promoter by the strict definition. However, they may share cis regulatory elements in the intergenic region. Expression of PYY and NAGS was determined in a panel of human tissues, revealing distinct expression patterns for these genes. Importantly, PYY and NAGS are similarly expressed in the ileum, indicating that if the genes are coordinately regulated it is in a tissue-specific manner. To better understand the physiologic connection between these two genes, plasma PYY levels were measured in patients with diminished capacity for nitrogen processing. Plasma PYY levels were increased in these patients and therefore may contribute to some of the clinical symptoms in this group. Finally, results from in vivo studies in mouse point toward possible coordinate expression of PYY and NAGS in response to different feeding conditions. Taken together the data are consistent with the coordinate regulation of PYY and NAGS, and lead to a model in which these genes are coordinately regulated as a means to prevent overconsumption of dietary protein. This mechanism may explain, in part, why protein is more satiating than other macronutrients and may also help elucidate the mechanisms of nitrogen balance
Investigation into the molecular and physiologic relationship between peptide tyrosine tyrosine and N-acetylglutamate synthase
No full textInsights into Alzheimer’s disease from single-cell genomic approaches
No full textAlzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related disease pathologically defined by the deposition of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain parenchyma. Single-cell profiling has shown that Alzheimer's dementia involves the complex interplay of virtually every major brain cell type. Here, we highlight cell-type-specific molecular perturbations in AD. We discuss how genomic information from single cells expands existing paradigms of AD pathogenesis and highlight new opportunities for therapeutic interventions
Subterranean Drainage Routes of Lost River, Orange County, Indiana
No full textThe upper Lost River watershed consists of a drainage net of sinking streams that are tributary to the main stream through subterranean channels and intermittent surface floodwater routes. The subterranean routes developed during early to middle Pleistoeene time and beneath a topographic surface of Tertiary age. Material eroded from the Mitchell Plain during middle to late Pleistocene time alluviated the subterranean systems. Floodwater from the sinking streams overflows through higher relic surface and subterranean channels. Fluorescein ,vas \u27HSed to trace the subterranean routes within the 163 square mile topographic drainage basin to their outlets. Subsurface water from a portion of the basin that lies on the l/litchell Plain, about 139 square miles, was traced along the trend of the westward dipping bedrock and descends 100 to 150 feet to resurge at the rise of Lost River and the Orangeville Rise. Drainage in a 14.5 square mile area in the Crawford Upland along the South Fork of Stamper Creek is diverted downdip southwestward beneath the topographic divide into Lick Creek which lies about 80 feet below the sinks. Drainage from Dry Branch, a 9.4 square mile karst valley in the Crawford Upland, follows the strike and descends 90 feet to the Orangeville Rise
La familia en Tlaxcalancingo. Un problema de desorganización social.. Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Num. 47 Tomo XVIII (1965) Sexta Época (1939-1966)
No full textCarrasco, P. El Barrio y la Regulación del Matrimonio en un Pueblo del Valle de México en el Siglo XVI. Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos. México, 1961.Llewellyn, K. N. Education and the Family, Certain Unsolved Problems. The Family: Its Function and Destiny. Ruth Nanda Anshen (Ed.). New York, 1948.Linton, R. Cultura y Personalidad. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México, 1945.Malinowski, B. A Scientific Theory of Culture and Other Essays. Chapel Hill (N. C.), 1944.Monzón, A. La Desorganización Social Contemporánea. Universidad Central de Venezuela. Caracas, 1962.Murdock, J. P. Social Structure. The Macmillan Co. New York, 1949.Nolasco, M. Proyecto de Relaciones Inter-étnicas en el Valle Poblano Tlaxcalteca. Encuesta Etnográfica Regional. Departamento de Investigaciones Antropológicas del INAH. Ms. México, 1965.Nutini, H. Polygyny in a Tlaxcalan Community. Ethnology, Vol. IV, No. 2, 1965.Rumney y Maier. Sociología. México, 1946.Parsons, T. The Social Structure of the Family. The Family: lts Function and Destiny. Ruth Nanda Anshen (Ed.). New York, 1948.Sorokin, P. Sociedad, Cultura y Personalidad. Madrid, 1960
Changes in post-marital residence precede changes In descent systems in Austronesian societies
No full textDescent systems express how a society organises kinship relationships. Inheritance of
resources as well as rights and obligations can be traced patrilineally, matrilineally, a
combination of both, or in a cognatic/bilateral fashion. Post-marital residence rules describing
the kin group with whom a couple lives after marriage are often, but not always, correlated
with the descent system. Murdock (1949) hypothesised that changes in the residence system
would cause changes in descent, not the other way around. Here we present a Bayesian
phylogenetic analysis of 67 Austronesian societies from the Pacific. These comparative
methods take into account uncertainty about the phylogeny as well as uncertainty about the
evolution of the cultural traits. Ancestral state reconstruction shows that unilineal residence
and non-unilineal descent are the ancestral states for this group of societies. Descent changes
lag behind residence changes over a 1000-year time period. Environmental or cultural change
(both frequent in Austronesian prehistory) may be facultatively adjusted to via the residence
system in the short term, and thus this trait may change more often
Advances in Engineering and Application of Optogenetic Indicators for Neuroscience
No full textOur ability to investigate the brain is limited by available technologies that can record biological processes in vivo with suitable spatiotemporal resolution. Advances in optogenetics now enable optical recording and perturbation of central physiological processes within the intact brains of model organisms. By monitoring key signaling molecules noninvasively, we can better appreciate how information is processed and integrated within intact circuits. In this review, we describe recent efforts engineering genetically-encoded fluorescence indicators to monitor neuronal activity. We summarize recent advances of sensors for calcium, potassium, voltage, and select neurotransmitters, focusing on their molecular design, properties, and current limitations. We also highlight impressive applications of these sensors in neuroscience research. We adopt the view that advances in sensor engineering will yield enduring insights on systems neuroscience. Neuroscientists are eager to adopt suitable tools for imaging neural activity in vivo, making this a golden age for engineering optogenetic indicators
When do special interests run rampant ? disentangling the role in banking crises of elections, incomplete information, and checks and balances
No full textThe author investigates the political determinants of government decisions that benefit special interest groups - especially government decisions to deal with banking crises. He finds that the better informed the voters, the more proximate elections, and the larger the number of political veto players ( conditional on the costs to voters of relevant policy decision), the smaller the government's fiscal transfer are to the financial sector and the less likely the government is to exercise forbearance in dealing with insolvent financial institutions. The results suggest that policies thatmight be appropriate for mitigating banking crises in the United States might be less effective in settings where voters are less informed, where elections are less competitive, and where there are fewer veto players, because in these settings checks and balances are missing. These policies include: a) Disseminating information about the costs of inefficient government decisions. b) Improving the structure of legislative regulatory oversight. c) Intervening early in insolvent banks. The author concludes that the more veto players there are, the less likely policies are to favor special interest groups (contrary to previous views). Moreover, the closer the elections, the less likely policies are to favor special interest groups.
Extremely red stellar objects revealed by IPHAS
No full textWe present photometric analysis and follow-up spectroscopy for a population of extremely red stellar objects extracted from the point-source catalogue of the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) Photometric H alpha Survey (IPHAS) of the northern Galactic plane. The vast majority of these objects have no previous identification. Analysis of optical, near- and mid-infrared photometry reveals that they are mostly highly reddened asymptotic giant branch stars, with significant levels of circumstellar material. We show that the distribution of these objects traces galactic extinction, their highly reddened colours being a product of both interstellar and circumstellar reddening. This is the first time that such a large sample of evolved low-mass stars has been detected in the visual and allows optical counterparts to be associated with sources from recent infrared surveys.
Follow-up spectroscopy on some of the most interesting objects in the sample has found significant numbers of S-type stars which can be clearly separated from oxygen-rich objects in the IPHAS colour-colour diagram. We show that this is due to the positions of different molecular bands relative to the narrow-band H alpha filter used for IPHAS observations. The IPHAS (r' - H alpha) colour offers a valuable diagnostic for identifying S-type stars. A selection method for identifying S-type stars in the Galactic plane is briefly discussed and we estimate that over a thousand new objects of this type may be discovered, potentially doubling the number of known objects in this short but important evolutionary phase
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