Neuronal activity gives clues to working memory
...d, the persistence was impaired -- suggesting that excitation is essential to the sustained firing that working memory requires. "The real surprise came when we turned off many of the inhibitory pathways," Dr. Aksay says. In that case, persistent firing remained, but was often present at inappropriate times....Protein enables discovery of quantum effect in photosynthesis
...osynthetic energy transfer process as one in which excitation energy hops from light-capturing pigment molecules to reaction center molecules step-by-step down the molecular energy ladder. "The classical hopping description of the energy transfer process is both inadequate and inaccurate," said Fleming. "It gi...New imaging approach promises insights into multiple sclerosis
...l beams. The third imaging technique, two-photon excitation fluorescence, provides higher contrast and brighte...vidual particles that make up light. In two-photon excitation fluorescence, two photons are used to illuminate a target. The researchers have used the imaging m...Quantum secrets of photosynthesis revealed
...osynthetic energy transfer process as one in which excitation energy hops from light-capturing pigment molecules...t enables them to follow the flow of light-induced excitation energy through molecular complexes with femtosecond temporal resolution. The technique involves sequ...Research on microfluidics widens the possibilities for electronic devices
...deo camera or detector) or combinations of optical excitation of fluorescent dyes. Professor Andrew Steckl and doctoral student Duk Young Kim with the LiquiFET set-up. Enter the liquid-state-field-effect transistors (LiquiFETs). Steckl and his doctoral student Duk Young Kim have designed and fabricated an ......igator of the study. Thus, by using a multi-photon excitation technique, the scissors can be manipulated in the body for medicinal applications such as gene delivery. The scissors-like molecular machine uses a photo-responsive chemical group that extends or folds when light of different wavelengths falls upon...DNA gets new twist: Carnegie Mellon scientists develop unique 'DNA nanotags'
... by one wavelength of light and then transfer that excitation energy to "light-emitting" dyes on the nanotags surface. The light-emitting dyes can fluoresce at a different color from the light-harvesting dye. For example, one type of DNA nanotag can act as an antenna that efficiently harvests blue light and tra...News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...rains in vivo . The authors also tested glutamate excitation of cultured neurons. In each case, S603 was much m...rom a region of pure position invariance, bands of excitation and inhibition that are not centered on the finger pad, or a combination of these mechanisms. 4....Invitrogen features new scientific online resources at ASCB Meeting
...nts. It provides a ratiometric read-out at visual excitation wavelengths in the presence of calcium and interferes minimally with cell physiology. Conveniently pre-packaged in the biosafe and nontoxic BacMam insect virus delivery format, Premo cameleon is designed for live-cell application to a broad range of ...Researchers add to understanding of how brain cells communicate
...d NR1/2D. Although NR1/2A receptors require strong excitation to let calcium ions flow across the membrane, NR1/2D receptors respond even to weak inputs. In this paper, Johnson and Qian further elucidate how NR1/2D receptors do this. Johnson was most surprised to find that the magnesium ion, which strongly bl...Brain's cannabinoid system 'mellows' seizures
...ing the process--was already known to modulate the excitation of neuronal transmission, noted the researchers. However, it had not been established that such modulation might affect neurons in the hippocampus responsible for the "excitotoxicity" that underlies the uncontrolled activity of seizures. Thus, Lutz...What do Racquel Welch and quantum physics have in common?
...rding to quantum field theory every particle is an excitation (a wave) of an underlying field (for example the electromagnetic field) in the void and it is only the energy of the wave itself that we can detect. "A useful analogy is to consider our observable universe as a mass of waves on top of an ocean, w...Striking the right balance between excitation and inhibition
...le of Notch as an arbitrator of the choice between excitation and inhibition, Goulding says: "The degree of Notch expression on one neuron tells the sibling cell that it cannot be the same thing. If it is up-regulated in one cell, Notch will be down-regulated in its sibling. "There are thousands of different ki...Researchers now able to look deep into heart to view triggers of a heart's beat
...e Stokes shifts, the wavelength difference between excitation and fluorescence, which make them particularly adv...versity. "One of the dyes in particular exhibited excitation at wavelengths far into the red region of the spectrum, wavelengths significantly longer than the ot...Molecular mechanism may explain how fevers spark seizures
...the cell membrane could leave a neuron open to the excitation and repetitive firing that characterizes seizures. The investigators are currently studying where the receptors go when the temperature is raised -- are they taken inside the cell more quickly, are they degraded, is their forward insertion into the c...Experimental drug reverses key cognitive deficits, pathology in Alzheimer's
... such cellular responses as the wave of electrical excitation of a nerve impulse. As an animal model of AD, the researchers used a "triple knockout" mouse in which three key genes involved in normal brain protein processing pathways had been knocked out, creating both amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangle...Plants reveal a secret and bring researchers nearer a cleaner future
...fluorescence from the sample that is emitted after excitation with X-rays. They flashed the sample with a laser and registered the change using X-ray fluorescence every 10 microseconds to find out how different oxidation states developed. When carefully analysing the reaction kinetics, they observed a time del...Team led by Carnegie Mellon University scientist finds first evidence of a living memory trace
... a matrix of the extent (or amplitude) of neuronal excitation and inhibition within glomeruli. He retrieved a spatial pattern of synchronized, correlated activity the memory trace from what appeared to be random fluctuations of neural activity. "The trace is like a fingerprint that disappears over time. It's ...Mouse model of Rett Syndrome displays reduced cortical activity
...ase activity. In healthy brains, a balance between excitation and inhibition is essential for nearly all functions, including representation of sensory information, cognitive processes such as decision making, sleep and motor control. The electrical signals that neurons generate can be measured using microelect......bed in the 1950s when it was recognized to control excitation of nerves, the reason for leak had not previously been understood. The first human clone of this channel, K2P1, generated a good deal of excitement, Goldstein said, but no one could learn much about it because it always seemed to be mute. "This disc...