Recovery from object substitution masking induced by transient suppression of visual motion processing: A repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

Object substitution masking is a form of visual backward masking in which a briefly presented target is rendered invisible by a lingering mask that is too sparse to produce lower image-level interference. Recent studies suggested the importance of an updating process in a higher object-level representation, which should rely on the processing of visual motion, in this masking. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was used to investigate whether functional suppression of motion processing would selectively reduce substitution masking. rTMS-induced transient functional disruption of cortical area V5/MT+, which is important for motion analysis, or V1, which is reciprocally connected with V5/MT+, produced recovery from masking, whereas sham stimulation did not. Furthermore, masking remained undiminished following rTMS over the region 2 cm posterior to V5/MT+, ruling out nonspecific effects of real stimulation and confirming regional specificity of the rTMS effect. The results suggest that object continuity via the normal function of the visual motion processing system might in part contribute to this masking. The relation of these findings to the reentrant processing view of object substitution masking and other visual phenomena is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alternative schemes for the inertial fusion energy

The advanced target designs are requiring a lower laser energy for ignition and promising higher energy gains. Two approaches are under development within the European inertial fusion energy project HiPER: the fast ignition scheme with energetic electrons and the shock ignition scheme. The fundamental physical issues and major experimental works related to the alternative ignition schemes as well as the reactor designs are discussed.     

Development of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors for a Detection of Phonons

We present a status of the development of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) for a detection of athermal phonons in a substrate. The energy deposited in the substrate is converted to athermal phonons. Athermal phonons arriving at the surface can break Cooper pairs in the MKIDs which are formed as a thin superconducting metal layer in the substrate surface. By counting the number of Cooper pairs broken and measuring the phonon arrival times, we can measure the amount of deposited energy and its position. MKIDs are suitable for the frequency-domain multiplexing readout, which enables us to readout hundreds of pixels simultaneously and, hence, to detect athermal phonons with a large detection efficiency. We fabricated MKIDs with a combination of aluminum and niobium on a silicon substrate, and then irradiated it with \(\alpha \) particles from an \(^{241}\) Am source. We detected phonons and made a rough estimation of the phonon propagation velocity of 1.1–1.3 km/s. We found that a thin insulator layer can block the phonon propagation from the substrate to the thin metal layer.     

Site-directed mutational analysis for the membrane binding of DnaA protein. Identification of amino acids involved in the functional interaction between DnaA protein and acidic phospholipids

DnaA protein, the initiator of chromosomal DNA replication in Escherichia coli, interacts with acidic phospholipids, such as cardiolipin, and its activity seems to be regulated by membrane binding in cells. In this study we introduced site-directed mutations at the positions of hydrophobic or basic amino acids which are conserved among various bacteria species and which are located in the putative membrane-binding region of DnaA protein (from Asp357 to Val374). All mutant DnaA proteins showed much the same ATP and ADP binding activity as that of the wild-type protein. The release of ATP bound to the mutant DnaA protein, in which three hydrophobic amino acids were mutated to hydrophilic ones, was stimulated by cardiolipin, as in the case of the wild-type protein. On the other hand, the release of ATP bound to another mutant DnaA protein, in which three basic amino acids were mutated to acidic ones, was not stimulated by cardiolipin. These results suggest not only that the region is a membrane-binding domain of DnaA protein but also that these basic amino acids are important for the binding and the ionic interaction between the basic amino acids and acidic residues of cardiolipin and is involved in the interaction between DnaA protein and cardiolipin.     

Acquired laryngomalacia as a cause of airway obstruction immediately after unilateral mouth floor surgery

We report a case of acquired laryngomalacia in which airway obstruction due to prolapse of the epiglottis during inspiration was observed immediately after a unilateral mouth floor resection. Suggested causes are resection of unilateral elevator muscles of the hyoid bone, epiglottic oedema and transient loss of pharyngeal motor control due to surgical intervention and high-dose radiation.     

Design and optimization of large conversion gain active microwave frequency triplers

In this work, novel design and optimization techniques for frequency triplers are presented. Accurate CAD techniques are utilized to develop bias, input power, input network, and output network configurations for optimum third harmonic response. As a result, a microwave frequency tripler is developed which exhibits an unprecedented level of conversion gain.     

Activation of phospholipase A2 by the nociceptin receptor expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells

To gain insight into the molecular mechanism for nociceptin function, functional coupling of the nociceptin receptor expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells with phospholipase A2 (PLA2) was examined. In the presence of A23187, a calcium ionophore, activation of the nociceptin receptor induced time- and dose-dependent release of arachidonate, which was abolished by pretreatment of the cells with pertussis toxin (PTX). Immunoblot analysis using anti-Ca2+-dependent cytosolic PLA2 (cPLA2) monoclonal antibody demonstrates that activation of the nociceptin receptor induces a time- and dose-dependent electrophoretic mobility shift of cPLA2, suggesting that phosphorylation of cPLA2 is induced by the nociceptin receptor. Pretreatment of the cells with PD98059, a specific mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase 1 inhibitor, or staurosporine, a potent inhibitor of serine/threonine protein kinases and tyrosine protein kinases, partially inhibited the nociceptin-induced cPLA2 phosphorylation and arachidonate release. These results indicate that the nociceptin receptor expressed in CHO cells couples with cPLA2 through the action of PTX-sensitive G proteins and suggest that cPLA2 is activated by phosphorylation induced by the nociceptin receptor via mechanisms partially dependent on p44 and p42 mitogen-activated protein kinases.     

Mode structure and amplification of radiation in the photon storagering

Eigenmodes and their growth rate in the photon storage ring (PhSR) are studied theoretically. In PhSR the synchrotron radiation emitted tangentially from the electron storage rings is reflected by a cylindrical mirror which surrounds the electron orbit. The radiation, thus confined in the cylindrical cavity, is represented by eigenmodes of very high mode numbers. It is found that the coherent radiation may build up, when the phase velocity of the eigenmode along the electron orbit is close to the electron velocity. The growth rate of this laser is evaluated for the compact electron storage ring AURORA