bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Chronic granulomatous disease with an initial presentation of arthritis and oral ulcers
Authors: Alsalamah Mohammad , Hanna Mariam , Upton Julia
Published: September 2015

Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inherited defect of leukocyte phagocytic function leading to recurrent infections. Autoimmune manifestations are reported in up to 6% of patients with CGD. We report a case of CGD presenting with arthritis as the first manifestation of disease. A 12-year-old Pakistani male of consanguineous parents presented with migratory arthritis and painless oral ulcerations of 6 months duration that were minimally responsive to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory treatment. Initial assessment demonstrated elevated inflammatory markers (ESR 62), weakly positive ANA (titer 1:40), negative anti-DsDNA, and negative RF. He presented to the emergency department with fevers and arthritis. Repeat work-up suggested early Macrophage Activation Syndrome: normocytic anemia (Hgb 95 g/L), thrombocytopenia (Plt 141 × 109/L), elevated LDH 1603, ferritin 1230 mcg/L, ESR 127, CRP 9.3, hypertiglycerdemia (3.2 mmoL/L) and mild transaminitis (ALT 63, AST 87), normal bone marrow (no hemophagocytosis), but mildly elevated Soluble CD 136 (1086 ng/mL) and Soluble IL-2 receptor (CD25) (1698 U/mL). He was treated with oral prednisone with symptom resolution. The arthritis relapsed after 1 month and the patient developed fever, productive cough, and pleuritic chest pain. Chest imaging revealed multiple nodular opacities and enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. Aspergillus fumigatus complex was isolated from induced sputum prompting screening for primary immunodeficiency. Neutrophil oxidative burst function, as assessed by a dihydrorhodamine flow cytometry based assay, was low at 1.26 and 1.48 (normal range 32–300). Genetic analysis showed a previously described mutation in the NCF1 gene confirming the diagnosis of autosomal-recessive CGD. CGD can present with an exclusively rheumatologic presentation including arthritis and oral ulceration.

Statement of Novelty: This case demonstrates that CGD can present with rheumatological symptoms prior to any infectious features.
Countering Terrorist Financing via Non-Profit Organisations: Assessing why few States Comply with the International Recommendations
Authors: Shillito Matthew Robert
Published: September 2015

This paper utilises the existing framework for analysing international “soft law” measures to examine why 83% of Financial Action Task Force members are either non-compliant or partially compliant with Special Recommendation VIII (SR.VIII) on the prevention of terrorist financing through non-profits. The paper also considers whether SR.VIII is unique amongst other FATF Recommendations in terms of its low levels of compliance.
The influence of ionizing radiation on the properties of starch-PVA films
Authors: Abramowska Anna , Cieśla Krystyna A. , Buczkowski Marek J. , Nowicki Andrzej , Głuszewski Wojciech
Published: September 2015

The cornstarch: poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films characterized by the alternating ratio of starch:PVA (100:0, 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, 20:80, and 0:100) and containing 30% of glycerol were prepared by solution casting. The films were irradiated with an absorbed dose of 25 kGy with gamma rays in a vacuum and with fast electrons in the air. The films characterized by a high content of starch appeared stiff, while the films characterized by a high content of PVA were highly flexible. The tensile strength and flexibility, as well as swelling and hydrophilicity, increased with the increase in the PVA content in the films. However, the tensile strength and wetting angle values achieved a minimum at an intermediate composition. It was found that irradiation enables to reduce hydrophilicity of the films accompanied by a decrease in their flexibility. No general conclusion concerning the effect of irradiation on tensile strength and swelling behavior can be derived. An increase in the homogeneity of the films and an increase in the compatibility of their components was found by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Strong interactions of the starch and the PVA components were discovered by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Degradation was found to be the prevailing process occurring in the films under the influence of irradiation. The possible accompanying crosslinking is discussed in terms of the gel content in the samples. Creation of various oxidation products in the films characterized by the modified composition was observed under the influence of irradiation carried out in the air. Basing on the obtained results it can be supposed that the selected starch-PVA compositions might appear useful as packagings of the products predicted for radiation decontamination.
The use of DRS and GC to study the effects of ionizing radiation on paper artifacts
Authors: Głuszewski Wojciech , Boruc Bartłomiej , Kubera Hieronim , Abbasowa Dinara
Published: September 2015

Radiation preservation of objects of historical significance is an interesting proposition for museums, archives, libraries and private collectors. In this paper, we have limited ourselves to studying the effects of ionizing radiation on the paper. The radiation resistance of various grades of paper was examined in INCT. Irradiations were done by electron beam (10 MeV, 10 kW) and by gamma radiation (7 kG/h), for the purpose of comparison. Yields of hydrogen and absorption of oxygen were determined by gas chromatography (GC). For this purpose, the first time in an original way was used diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS). Described as the dose, dose rate, and lignin were found to affect degradation processes of cellulose. Examined the protective effect of lignin in the process of radiation degradation of paper. Proposed research methodology can be successfully applied to study other materials relevant to the conservation of works of art.
E-beam irradiation for the control of Phytophthora nicotianae var. nicotianae in stonewool cubes
Authors: Ptaszek Magdalena , Orlikowski Leszek B. , Migdał Wojciech , Gryczka Urszula
Published: September 2015

Effectiveness of electron beam irradiation was evaluated against Phytophthora nicotianae var. nicotianae, the causal agent of stem base and root rot of tomato. In laboratory trials, irradiation of 7-day-old Phytophthora cultures growing on potato-dextrose-agar (PDA) medium with 1 kGy resulted in the disintegration of the pathogen’s hyphae. Increasing the irradiation dose to 3 kGy caused decay of the hyphae. Irradiation of infested stonewool with 5 kGy caused decrease of the pathogen population about 5 times. Application of 20 kGy completely eliminated the pathogen from stonewool. Irradiation of substratum resulted in significant increase of tomato seedlings healthiness, especially when the dose 20 kGy was applied.
Industrial diagnostics system using gamma radiation
Authors: Jakowiuk Adrian , Modzelewski Łukasz , Pieńkos Jan , Kowalska Ewa
Published: September 2015

During the operation of large industrial installations, a very important task is to maintain the proper technical state. In the event of an emergency, it is vital to locate the place of occurrence as soon as possible. In solving this type of problem, it often helps to apply the methods of measurement associated with ionizing radiation. One of these methods is the gamma scanning. The purpose of this type of measurement is the detection and localization of disturbance of technological processes which may result in incorrect decomposition the fl owing medium and workpiece (sediments, congestion) as well as damage to the internal constructions. A particularly: (i) preventive diagnosis - early detection of installation failure; (ii) rationalization of repairs and renovations - to determine the need to take or not to take remedial action; (iii) quick and precise installation inspections - to gain knowledge of the technical condition and technological installations; (iv) indication of worn parts and posing a threat - diagnostics of the technical condition installation; (v) forecasting the useful lifetime of equipment.
Assesment of advanced step models for steady state Monte Carlo burnup calculations in application to prismatic HTGR
Authors: Kępisty Grzegorz , Cetnar Jerzy
Published: September 2015

In this paper, we compare the methodology of different time-step models in the context of Monte Carlo burnup calculations for nuclear reactors. We discuss the differences between staircase step model, slope model, bridge scheme and stochastic implicit Euler method proposed in literature. We focus on the spatial stability of depletion procedure and put additional emphasis on the problem of normalization of neutron source strength. Considered methodology has been implemented in our continuous energy Monte Carlo burnup code (MCB5). The burnup simulations have been performed using the simplified high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) system with and without modeling of control rod withdrawal. Useful conclusions have been formulated on the basis of results.
Comparative analysis between measured and calculated concentrations of major actinides using destructive assay data from Ohi-2 PWR
Authors: Oettingen Mikołaj , Cetnar Jerzy
Published: September 2015

In the paper, we assess the accuracy of the Monte Carlo continuous energy burnup code (MCB) in predicting final concentrations of major actinides in the spent nuclear fuel from commercial PWR. The Ohi-2 PWR irradiation experiment was chosen for the numerical reconstruction due to the availability of the final concentrations for eleven major actinides including five uranium isotopes (U-232, U-234, U-235, U-236, U-238) and six plutonium isotopes (Pu-236, Pu-238, Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241, Pu-242). The main results were presented as a calculated-to-experimental ratio (C/E) for measured and calculated final actinide concentrations. The good agreement in the range of ±5% was obtained for 78% C/E factors (43 out of 55). The MCB modeling shows significant improvement compared with the results of previous studies conducted on the Ohi-2 experiment, which proves the reliability and accuracy of the developed methodology.
Studies of scintillator response to 60 MeV protons in a proton beam imaging system
Authors: Rydygier Marzena , Mierzwińska Gabriela , Czaderna Anna , Swakoń Jan , Waligórski Michael P. R.
Published: September 2015

A Proton Beam Imaging System (ProBImS) is under development at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN). The ProBImS will be used to optimize beam delivery at IFJ PAN proton therapy facilities, delivering two-dimensional distributions of beam profiles. The system consists of a scintillator, optical tract and a sensitive CCD camera which digitally records the light emitted from the proton-irradiated scintillator. The optical system, imaging data transfer and control software have already been developed. Here, we report preliminary results of an evaluation of the DuPont Hi-speed thick back screen EJ 000128 scintillator to determine its applicability in our imaging system. In order to optimize the light conversion with respect to the dose locally deposited by the proton beam in the scintillation detector, we have studied the response of the DuPont scintillator in terms of linearity of dose response, uniformity of light emission and decay rate of background light after deposition of a high dose in the scintillator. We found a linear dependence of scintillator light output vs. beam intensity by showing the intensity of the recorded images to be proportional to the dose deposited in the scintillator volume.
Application of X-ray fluorescence method for elemental analysis of PM2.5 fraction
Authors: Samek Lucyna , Furman Leszek , Kawik Tomasz , Welnogorska Kinga
Published: September 2015

The scientific interest in air pollution comes from its influence on human health, the condition of cultural heritage and climate. The PM2.5 fraction (particles of a diameter of 2.5 mm or below), indirectly, has a significant impact on health which is associated with respiratory tract and blood vessel related diseases. However, not only the size, but also the content of the particles has a significant meaning. To determine the particulate matter contents, elemental analysis can be performed using numerous techniques, the most important of which is X-ray fluorescence. In this study, samples of PM2.5 fraction collected in Krakow, Poland were analyzed. The X-ray fluorescence method was used to perform elemental analysis. The gravimetric method was applied to determine the concentration of the PM2.5 fraction. Low detection limits of individual elements and precision of the X-ray fluorescence method were determined. The concentrations of the following elements: Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, Rb, Sr and Pb in the PM2.5 fraction samples collected in Krakow were evaluated. The homogeneity of the samples was also estimated. The concentrations of PM2.5 fraction collected in the summer of 2013 were in the range of 6-23 ng/m3. The concentrations of PM2.5 fraction collected in the winter of 2013 were in the range of 26-171 ng/m3. The precision of the method was found to be below 1% for elements with high concentration in the sample and 6-8 % for trace elements.
Measurement of anthropogenic radionuclides in post-Fukushima Pacific seawater samples
Authors: Lutter Guillaume , Tzika Faidra , Hult Mikael , Aoyama Michio , Hamajima Yasunori , Marissens Gerd , Stroh Heiko
Published: September 2015

Following the accident at the Daiichi Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011, a vast number of Pacific seawater samples from many locations far from Fukushima have been collected by Japanese investigators. Due to dilution, the activities of radionuclides from North Pacific seawater samples are very low, which calls for extraordinary measures when being measured. This study focuses on the metrological aspects of the gamma-ray spectrometry measurements performed on such samples in two underground laboratories; at HADES (by JRC-IRMM in Belgium), and at Ogoya (by Kanazawa University in Japan). Due to many samples and long measurement times, all available HPGe detectors needed to be employed. In addition to single coaxial detectors, this involved multidetector systems and well detectors. Optimization of detection limits for different radionuclides and detectors was performed using Monte Carlo simulations.
Trade And Environment: A Historical Perspective
Authors: Burnete Sorin , Pilasluck Choomta
Published: September 2015

The relation between international trade and environmental and social issues has deep historical roots, having been manifest ever since the first industrial revolution. Ironically, the expansion of industrial activities marked, besides the exit from economic backwardness, the commencement of an inexorable war of men against nature. Concomitantly industrialization laid the groundwork for an explosive increase in international trade, which made the latter responsible for increasing environment degradation and social rights infringement. The removal of trade barriers in the first decades after the Second World War as well as the subsequent regulation induced by globalization rendered the bad effects of man’s activity upon nature even more conspicuous. Yet somewhat paradoxically, for all the harm inflicted upon the environment so far, international trade now seems to be an efficient vehicle by which dirty production still prevailing in many countries of the world could be curtailed. The paper is intended to explore, from historical perspective, how environmental issues have come to be entangled with international trade and how serious the problem is.
Bank Finance For Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises In Sri Lanka: Issues And Policy Reforms
Authors: Gamage Pandula
Published: September 2015

Access to bank finance is necessary to create an economic environment that enables Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow and prosper. The SMEs in Sri Lanka, however, face significant constraints to access bank finance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the access to bank finance and related issues in the SME sector of Sri Lanka. The paper is exploratory in nature and reviews the bank financing situation for SMEs in Sri Lanka, as well as provides an overview of constraints faced by the banks (supply-side) and SMEs (demand-side). The paper also highlights some good practices in SME lending from international experience and outlines some recommendations to help overcome the constraints faced by the banks and SMEs. The recommendations discussed in this paper may be of importance to policymakers, not only in Sri Lanka, but in many other developing countries in a similar stage of economic growth.
EMNCS– Lessons On The Way To An Innovation-based Development. Setting The Backgrounds
Authors: Ogrean Claudia
Published: September 2015

The main focus of (the two parts of) this article is on the emerging countries and their development paths. Particularly, it emphasizes on the role and contribution of innovation (of all kinds, in all its forms) for multinational companies from emerging economies (EMNC); the entire research endeavor is placed under the auspices of the knowledge-based society - the one that makes knowledge the ultimate source of power, enabling entities to use and potentially multiply it at the same time at global scale. Analyzing the situation of some emerging economies (starting from their best ranked multinationals), the article draws some empirical and theoretical conclusions on the ways knowledge and innovation could become determinants of progress beyond national boundaries.
Do CSR Practices Of Banks In Mauritius Lead To Satisfaction And Loyalty?
Authors: Ramlugun Vidisha Gunesh , Raboute Wendy Geraldine
Published: September 2015

This study aims to determine how CSR activities of banks in Mauritius impact on customers’ satisfaction and loyalty towards banks. A stakeholder approach to CSR and Carroll’s (1991) four part definition was adopted, which included economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic corporate social responsibilities. A three- section questionnaire was used for data collection. 384 questionnaires were distributed, out of which 352 were returned. The results indicate that philanthropic CSR, economic CSR and ethical CSR, in their order of descending importance, are significant predictors of customer satisfaction and loyalty. The study shows that legal responsibilities however did not influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. The study concludes that philanthropic, economic and ethical CSR could be areas to further investigate with a view to benefit from competitive advantage in the banking sector. The study purports to contribute to existing literature by providing evidence that Carroll’s model may not be applicable in non-western context, more particularly so, in small economies. The study also advocates future research avenues.
The Existence Of Revenue Gap In South Africa
Authors: Thamae Retselisitsoe , Ntoi Neo
Published: September 2015

The paper provides an empirical analysis of the macroeconomic factors that enhance revenue gap in South Africa using the multivariate cointegration techniques for the period 1965 to 2012. The results from the cointegration analysis indicate that the revenue gap in South Africa is negatively associated with the level of imports while positively related to external debt and underground economy. The former finding is consistent with the notion that imports are subjected to more taxation than domestic activities because of certain features of international trade that tend to make tax evasion difficult. On the other hand, the positive relationship between external debt and tax gap shows that the South African government relies upon external debt to finance its budget deficit resulting from missing revenues. Furthermore, the observed negative effect of the post-apartheid dummy confirms that the tax policy reforms that South Africa introduced following the liberation in 1994 have led to a reduction in missing revenues. The results from the Granger causality test also show that there is a unidirectional causality running from imports and underground economy to revenue gap, while revenue gap on the other hand is found to Granger-cause national income and external debt in South Africa.
Influence And Leadership
Authors: Văcar Anca
Published: September 2015

Because leadership is known as the process of influencing others and not only that but determining them to act in order to achieve goals, the article above emphasizes the importance of communication in this process. By understanding the essence of leadership, managers will be effective communicators and so more effectively leading their organizations through projects.
On some operations on graph continuous and graph quasi-continuous functions
Authors: Mikucka Aneta
Published: September 2015

The notion of graph continuity and graph quasi-continuity was studied by Z. Grande,

K. Sakálová, Przemski and A. Mikucka. In this paper, we investigate some operations on graph continuous and graph quasi-continuous function.
Density topology involving microscopic sets and category
Authors: Wagner-Bojakowska Elżbieta , Wilczyński Władysław , Wojdowski Wojciech
Published: September 2015

Analogously to the method used for c-density point, we introduce the notion of cμ-density point for arbitrary set A having the Baire property, replacing the convergence in measure with the convergence with respect to the σ-ideal of microscopic sets. Then, we consider the density type topology Tcμ generated by cμ-density operator and study basic properties of Tcμ in comparison with the classical density, I-density and c-density topologies
A vibrating thermoelastic plate in a contact with an obstacle
Authors: Bock Igor , Jarušek Jiří
Published: September 2015

We deal with a dynamic contact problem for a thermoelastic plate vibrating against a rigid obstacle. Dynamics is described by a hyperbolic variational inequality for deflections. The plate is subjected to a perpendicular force and to a heat source. The parabolic equation for the thermal strain resultant contains the time derivative of the deflection. We formulate a weak solution of the system and verify its existence using the penalization method.
Weakly perturbed boundary-value problems for systems of integro-differential equations with impulsive action
Authors: Bondar Ivanna
Published: September 2015

The weakly perturbed BVP's for impulsive integro-differential systems are considered. Under the assumption that the generating problem (for ε = 0) does not have solutions on the space W12[a,b] for some inhomogeneity and using the Vishik-Lyusternik method, we establish conditions for the existence of solutions of these problems on the space D2([a,b]{τi}I) in the form of a Laurent series in powers of small parameter ε with finitely many terms with negative powers of ε, and we suggest an algorithm of construction of these solutions.
On stability sets for numerical discretizations of neutral delay differential equations
Authors: Čermák Jan , Dražková Jana
Published: September 2015

The paper discusses the -method discretization of the neutral delay differential equation

y'(t) = ay (t) + by (t - τ) + cy' (t - τ), t > 0,

where a, b, c are real constant coefficients and is a positive real lag. Using recent developments on stability of appropriate delay difference equations we give a complete description of stability sets for this discretization. Some of their properties and related comparisons with the stability set for the underlying neutral differential equation are discussed as well.
On the estimates of eigenvalues of the boundary value problem with large parameter
Authors: Filinovskiy Alexey V.
Published: September 2015

We consider the eigenvalue problem Δu + λu = 0 in Ω with Robin condition + αu = 0 on ∂Ω , where Ω ⊂ Rn , n ≥ 2 is a bounded domain and α is a real parameter. We obtain the estimates to the difference between λDk - λk(α) eigenvalue of the Laplace operator in with Dirichlet condition and the corresponding Robin eigenvalue for large positive values of for all k = 1,2,… We also show sharpness of these estimates in the power of α.
On a three term linear difference equation with complex coefficients
Authors: Jánský Jiří
Published: September 2015

The paper discusses some known asymptotic stability conditions for the difference equation

xn = αxn-1 + βxn-k, n = 0, 1, 2...

with complex numbers As the main result, we show that the system of necessary and sufficient stability conditions, derived in a previous work, can be significantly simplified.
A comparison theorem for oscillation of fourth-order difference equations
Authors: Krejčová Jana
Published: September 2015

In this article, a class of the fourth-order difference equations is considered and a comparison result on the oscillatory behaviour of solutions is stated.
Convergence of solutions of higher order neutral difference equations with quasi-differences
Authors: Migda Małgorzata , Schmeidel Ewa
Published: September 2015

A higher order nonlinear neutral difference equation with quasi-differences is studied. Sufficient conditions are established under which for every real constant there exists a solution of considered equation convergent to this constant.
On preservation of an exponentially stable invariant torus
Authors: Perestyuk Mykola , Feketa Petro
Published: September 2015

New conditions of the preservation of an exponentially stable invariant toroidal manifold of linear extension of one-dimensional dynamical system on torus under small perturbations in ω-limit set are established. This approach is applied to the investigation of the qualitative behaviour of solutions of linear extensions of dynamical systems with simple structure of limit sets.
Further results on the investigation of solutions of integral boundary value problems
Authors: Rontó Miklós , Varha Yana , Marynets Kateryna
Published: September 2015

We give a new approach for the investigation of existence and construction of an approximate solutions of nonlinear non-autonomous systems of ordinary differential equations under nonlinear integral boundary conditions depending on the derivative. The constructivity of a suggested technique is shown on the example of non-linear integral boundary value problem with two solutions.
Eigenvalue problem for the weighted p-Laplacian
Authors: Szlachtowska Ewa , Mielczarek Dominik
Published: September 2015

In this paper we are concerned with the nonlinear eigenvalue problem for the weighted p-Laplacian. The main result of the work is the existence of the eigenpair for the Dirichlet problem provided that the weights are bounded. Furthermore, under this assumption the eigenvector belongs to the Sobolev space W1,p0 (Ω).
Fast Learning with Weak Synaptic Plasticity
Authors: Yger Pierre , Stimberg Marcel , Brette Romain
Published: September 2015

New sensory stimuli can be learned with a single or a few presentations. Similarly, the responses of cortical neurons to a stimulus have been shown to increase reliably after just a few repetitions. Long-term memory is thought to be mediated by synaptic plasticity, butin vitroexperiments in cortical cells typically show very small changes in synaptic strength after a pair of presynaptic and postsynaptic spikes. Thus, it is traditionally thought that fast learning requires stronger synaptic changes, possibly because of neuromodulation. Here we show theoretically that weak synaptic plasticity can, in fact, support fast learning, because of the large number of synapsesNonto a cortical neuron. In the fluctuation-driven regime characteristic of cortical neuronsin vivo, the size of membrane potential fluctuations grows only asN, whereas a single output spike leads to potentiation of a number of synapses proportional toN.Therefore, the relative effect of a single spike on synaptic potentiation grows asN. This leverage effect requires precise spike timing. Thus, the large number of synapses onto cortical neurons allows fast learning with very small synaptic changes.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTLong-term memory is thought to rely on the strengthening of coactive synapses. This physiological mechanism is generally considered to be very gradual, and yet new sensory stimuli can be learned with just a few presentations. Here we show theoretically that this apparent paradox can be solved when there is a tight balance between excitatory and inhibitory input. In this case, small synaptic modifications applied to the many synapses onto a given neuron disrupt that balance and produce a large effect even for modifications induced by a single stimulus. This effect makes fast learning possible with small synaptic changes and reconciles physiological and behavioral observations.
Neuronal Store-Operated Calcium Entry and Mushroom Spine Loss in Amyloid Precursor Protein Knock-In Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Zhang Hua , Wu Lili , Pchitskaya Ekaterina , Zakharova Olga , Saito Takashi , Saido Takaomi , Bezprozvanny Ilya
Published: September 2015

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common reason for elderly dementia in the world. We proposed that memory loss in AD is related to destabilization of mushroom postsynaptic spines involved in long-term memory storage. We demonstrated previously that stromal interaction molecule 2 (STIM2)-regulated neuronal store-operated calcium entry (nSOC) in postsynaptic spines play a key role in stability of mushroom spines by maintaining activity of synaptic Ca2+/calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII). Furthermore, we demonstrated previously that the STIM2–nSOC–CaMKII pathway is downregulated in presenilin 1 M146V knock-in (PS1–M146V KI) mouse model of AD, leading to loss of hippocampal mushroom spines in this model. In the present study, we demonstrate that hippocampal mushroom postsynaptic spines are also lost in amyloid precursor protein knock-in (APPKI) mouse model of AD. We demonstrated that loss of mushroom spines occurs as a result of accumulation of extracellular β-amyloid 42 in APPKI culture media. Our results indicate that extracellular Aβ42acts by overactivating mGluR5 receptor in APPKI neurons, leading to elevated Ca2+levels in endoplasmic reticulum, compensatory downregulation of STIM2 expression, impaired synaptic nSOC, and reduced CaMKII activity. Pharmacological inhibition of mGluR5 or overexpression of STIM2 rescued synaptic nSOC and prevented mushroom spine loss in APPKI hippocampal neurons. Our results indicate that downregulation of synaptic STIM2–nSOC–CaMKII pathway causes loss of mushroom synaptic spines in both presenilin and APPKI mouse models of AD. We propose that modulators/activators of this pathway may have a potential therapeutic value for treatment of memory loss in AD.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTA direct connection between amyloid-induced synaptic mushroom spine loss and neuronal store-operated calcium entry pathway is shown. These results provide strong support for the calcium hypothesis of neurodegeneration and further validate the synaptic store-operated calcium entry pathway as a potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.
The Synaptic and Morphological Basis of Orientation Selectivity in a Polyaxonal Amacrine Cell of the Rabbit Retina
Authors: Murphy-Baum Benjamin L. , Taylor W. Rowland
Published: September 2015

Much of the computational power of the retina derives from the activity of amacrine cells, a large and diverse group of GABAergic and glycinergic inhibitory interneurons. Here, we identify an ON-type orientation-selective, wide-field, polyaxonal amacrine cell (PAC) in the rabbit retina and demonstrate how its orientation selectivity arises from the structure of the dendritic arbor and the pattern of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. Excitation from ON bipolar cells and inhibition arising from the OFF pathway converge to generate a quasi-linear integration of visual signals in the receptive field center. This serves to suppress responses to high spatial frequencies, thereby improving sensitivity to larger objects and enhancing orientation selectivity. Inhibition also regulates the magnitude and time course of excitatory inputs to this PAC through serial inhibitory connections onto the presynaptic terminals of ON bipolar cells. This presynaptic inhibition is driven by graded potentials within local microcircuits, similar in extent to the size of single bipolar cell receptive fields. Additional presynaptic inhibition is generated by spiking amacrine cells on a larger spatial scale covering several hundred microns. The orientation selectivity of this PAC may be a substrate for the inhibition that mediates orientation selectivity in some types of ganglion cells.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe retina comprises numerous excitatory and inhibitory circuits that encode specific features in the visual scene, such as orientation, contrast, or motion. Here, we identify a wide-field inhibitory neuron that responds to visual stimuli of a particular orientation, a feature selectivity that is primarily due to the elongated shape of the dendritic arbor. Integration of convergent excitatory and inhibitory inputs from the ON and OFF visual pathways suppress responses to small objects and fine textures, thus enhancing selectivity for larger objects. Feedback inhibition regulates the strength and speed of excitation on both local and wide-field spatial scales. This study demonstrates how different synaptic inputs are regulated to tune a neuron to respond to specific features in the visual scene.
Intracortical and Thalamocortical Connections of the Hand and Face Representations in Somatosensory Area 3b of Macaque Monkeys and Effects of Chronic Spinal Cord Injuries
Authors: Chand Prem , Jain Neeraj
Published: September 2015

Brains of adult monkeys with chronic lesions of dorsal columns of spinal cord at cervical levels undergo large-scale reorganization. Reorganization results in expansion of intact chin inputs, which reactivate neurons in the deafferented hand representation in the primary somatosensory cortex (area 3b), ventroposterior nucleus of the thalamus and cuneate nucleus of the brainstem. A likely contributing mechanism for this large-scale plasticity is sprouting of axons across the hand–face border. Here we determined whether such sprouting takes place in area 3b. We first determined the extent of intrinsic corticocortical connectivity between the hand and the face representations in normal area 3b. Small amounts of neuroanatomical tracers were injected in these representations close to the electrophysiologically determined hand–face border. Locations of the labeled neurons were mapped with respect to the detailed electrophysiological somatotopic maps and histologically determined hand–face border revealed in sections of the flattened cortex stained for myelin. Results show that intracortical projections across the hand–face border are few. In monkeys with chronic unilateral lesions of the dorsal columns and expanded chin representation, connections across the hand–face border were not different compared with normal monkeys. Thalamocortical connections from the hand and face representations in the ventroposterior nucleus to area 3b also remained unaltered after injury. The results show that sprouting of intrinsic connections in area 3b or the thalamocortical inputs does not contribute to large-scale cortical plasticity.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTLong-term injuries to dorsal spinal cord in adult primates result in large-scale somatotopic reorganization due to which chin inputs expand into the deafferented hand region. Reorganization takes place in multiple cortical areas, and thalamic and medullary nuclei. To what extent this brain reorganization due to dorsal column injuries is related to axonal sprouting is not known. Here we show that reorganization of primary somatosensory area 3b is not accompanied with either an increase in intrinsic cortical connections between the hand and face representations, or any change in thalamocortical inputs to these areas. Axonal sprouting that causes reorganization likely takes place at subthalamic levels.
Bidirectional Modulation of Recognition Memory
Authors: Ho Jonathan W. , Poeta Devon L. , Jacobson Tara K. , Zolnik Timothy A. , Neske Garrett T. , Connors Barry W. , Burwell Rebecca D.
Published: September 2015

Perirhinal cortex (PER) has a well established role in the familiarity-based recognition of individual items and objects. For example, animals and humans with perirhinal damage are unable to distinguish familiar from novel objects in recognition memory tasks. In the normal brain, perirhinal neurons respond to novelty and familiarity by increasing or decreasing firing rates. Recent work also implicates oscillatory activity in the low-beta and low-gamma frequency bands in sensory detection, perception, and recognition. Using optogenetic methods in a spontaneous object exploration (SOR) task, we altered recognition memory performance in rats. In the SOR task, normal rats preferentially explore novel images over familiar ones. We modulated exploratory behavior in this task by optically stimulating channelrhodopsin-expressing perirhinal neurons at various frequencies while rats looked at novel or familiar 2D images. Stimulation at 30–40 Hz during looking caused rats to treat a familiar image as if it were novel by increasing time looking at the image. Stimulation at 30–40 Hz was not effective in increasing exploration of novel images. Stimulation at 10–15 Hz caused animals to treat a novel image as familiar by decreasing time looking at the image, but did not affect looking times for images that were already familiar. We conclude that optical stimulation of PER at different frequencies can alter visual recognition memory bidirectionally.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTRecognition of novelty and familiarity are important for learning, memory, and decision making. Perirhinal cortex (PER) has a well established role in the familiarity-based recognition of individual items and objects, but how novelty and familiarity are encoded and transmitted in the brain is not known. Perirhinal neurons respond to novelty and familiarity by changing firing rates, but recent work suggests that brain oscillations may also be important for recognition. In this study, we showed that stimulation of the PER could increase or decrease exploration of novel and familiar images depending on the frequency of stimulation. Our findings suggest that optical stimulation of PER at specific frequencies can predictably alter recognition memory.
Modeling of Age-Dependent Epileptogenesis by Differential Homeostatic Synaptic Scaling
Authors: González Oscar C. , Krishnan Giri P. , Chauvette Sylvain , Timofeev Igor , Sejnowski Terrence , Bazhenov Maxim
Published: September 2015

Homeostatic synaptic plasticity (HSP) has been implicated in the development of hyperexcitability and epileptic seizures following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Ourin vivoexperimental studies in cats revealed that the severity of TBI-mediated epileptogenesis depends on the age of the animal. To characterize mechanisms of these differences, we studied the properties of the TBI-induced epileptogenesis in a biophysically realistic cortical network model with dynamic ion concentrations. After deafferentation, which was induced by dissection of the afferent inputs, there was a reduction of the network activity and upregulation of excitatory connections leading to spontaneous spike-and-wave type seizures. When axonal sprouting was implemented, the seizure threshold increased in the model of young but not the older animals, which had slower or unidirectional homeostatic processes. Our study suggests that age-related changes in the HSP mechanisms are sufficient to explain the difference in the likelihood of seizure onset in young versus older animals.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of intractable epilepsy. Likelihood of developing epilepsy and seizures following severe brain trauma has been shown to increase with age. Specific mechanisms of TBI-related epileptogenesis and how these mechanisms are affected by age remain to be understood. We test a hypothesis that the failure of homeostatic synaptic regulation, a slow negative feedback mechanism that maintains neural activity within a physiological range through activity-dependent modulation of synaptic strength, in older animals may augment TBI-induced epileptogenesis. Our results provide new insight into understanding this debilitating disorder and may lead to novel avenues for the development of effective treatments of TBI-induced epilepsy.
Simple Learned Weighted Sums of Inferior Temporal Neuronal Firing Rates Accurately Predict Human Core Object Recognition Performance
Authors: Majaj Najib J. , Hong Ha , Solomon Ethan A. , DiCarlo James J.
Published: September 2015

To go beyond qualitative models of the biological substrate of object recognition, we ask: can a single ventral stream neuronal linking hypothesis quantitatively account for core object recognition performance over a broad range of tasks? We measured human performance in 64 object recognition tests using thousands of challenging images that explore shape similarity and identity preserving object variation. We then used multielectrode arrays to measure neuronal population responses to those same images in visual areas V4 and inferior temporal (IT) cortex of monkeys and simulated V1 population responses. We tested leading candidate linking hypotheses and control hypotheses, each postulating how ventral stream neuronal responses underlie object recognition behavior. Specifically, for each hypothesis, we computed the predicted performance on the 64 tests and compared it with the measured pattern of human performance. All tested hypotheses based on low- and mid-level visually evoked activity (pixels, V1, and V4) were very poor predictors of the human behavioral pattern. However, simple learned weighted sums of distributed average IT firing rates exactly predicted the behavioral pattern. More elaborate linking hypotheses relying on IT trial-by-trial correlational structure, finer IT temporal codes, or ones that strictly respect the known spatial substructures of IT (“face patches”) did not improve predictive power. Although these results do not reject those more elaborate hypotheses, they suggest a simple, sufficient quantitative model: each object recognition task is learned from the spatially distributed mean firing rates (100 ms) of ∼60,000 IT neurons and is executed as a simple weighted sum of those firing rates.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTWe sought to go beyond qualitative models of visual object recognition and determine whether a single neuronal linking hypothesis can quantitatively account for core object recognition behavior. To achieve this, we designed a database of images for evaluating object recognition performance. We used multielectrode arrays to characterize hundreds of neurons in the visual ventral stream of nonhuman primates and measured the object recognition performance of >100 human observers. Remarkably, we found that simple learned weighted sums of firing rates of neurons in monkey inferior temporal (IT) cortex accurately predicted human performance. Although previous work led us to expect that IT would outperform V4, we were surprised by the quantitative precision with which simple IT-based linking hypotheses accounted for human behavior.
Impact of gene polymorphisms of gonadotropins and their receptors on human reproductive success
Authors: Casarini Livio , Santi Daniele , Marino Marco
Published: September 2015

Gonadotropins and their receptors' genes carry several single-nucleotide polymorphisms resulting in endocrine genotypes modulating reproductive parameters, diseases, and lifespan leading to important implications for reproductive success and potential relevance during human evolution. Here we illustrate common genotypes of the gonadotropins and gonadotropin receptors' genes and their clinical implications in phenotypes relevant for reproduction such as ovarian cycle length, age of menopause, testosterone levels, polycystic ovary syndrome, and cancer. We then discuss their possible role in human reproduction and adaptation to the environment. Gonadotropins and their receptors' variants are differently distributed among human populations. Some hints suggest that they may be the result of natural selection that occurred in ancient times, increasing the individual chance of successful mating, pregnancy, and effective post-natal parental cares. The gender-related differences in the regulation of the reproductive endocrine systems imply that many of these genotypes may lead to sex-dependent effects, increasing the chance of mating and reproductive success in one sex at the expenses of the other sex. Also, we suggest that sexual conflicts within the FSH and LH–choriogonadotropin receptor genes contributed to maintain genotypes linked to subfertility among humans. Because the distribution of polymorphic markers results in a defined geographical pattern due to human migrations rather than natural selection, these polymorphisms may have had only a weak impact on reproductive success. On the contrary, such genotypes could acquire relevant consequences in the modern, developed societies in which parenthood attempts often occur at a later age, during a short, suboptimal reproductive window, making clinical fertility treatments necessary.
WORLD MUSIC, INDIGENOUS MUSIC AND MUSIC TELEVISION IN AUSTRALIA
Authors: Mitchell Tony
Published: September 2015

This article surveys the air time and attention given to Black and non-Anglo musicians in the Australian music television market, finding that mainstream, Anglo performers continue to prevail and examining some of the possible reasons for this, including the suggestion that politically and socially conservative view points resist the often radical lyrics and performance styles of rap and non-mainstream genres.
MUSIC VIDEO, MARKETING AND MISADVENTURE
Authors: Battersby Melissa , Valtwies Meret
Published: September 2015

The polarisation of views on the 'functional' as opposed to 'cultural' nature of music video has tended to block attempts to analyse the form between these polarities. This study attempts to redress this by analysing the manner in which music video production has been used to promote the product and product image of the Australian band the Hummingbirds. This production history serves to illustrate the manner in which the production of promotional video material is often far less 'slick' and calculated than may be assumed. As the following study demonstrates, the enterprise is often speculative, haphazard, contentious or misguided.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CANCER
Authors: Kushlinskii N. E. , Nemtsova M. V.
Published: September 2015

The review presents the main and additional features that distinguish tumor cells from normal tissue cells. They include sustained proliferative signaling, evasion from growth suppressors, resisting cell death, enabling replicative immortality, angiogenesis induction, and invasion and metastasis activation. Basis for the formation of these features is provided by tumor genome instability. Tumors are complex tissues that consist of different cell types interacting with each other as well as with normal cells. An important characteristic of tumor cells is the ability to interact with the tumor microenvironment and the formation of tumor stroma.