It was recently shown that the persistent Na(+) current (I(NaP)) is generated in the proximal axon in response to somatic depolarization in neocortical pyramidal neurons, although the involvement of I(NaP) in spike initiation is still unclear. Here we show a potential role of I(NaP) in spike initiation of primary sensory neurons in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (MTN) that display a backp...

It is widely recognized that propagation of electrophysiological signals between the soma and dendrites of neurons differs depending on direction, i.e. it is asymmetric. How this asymmetry influences the activation of voltage-gated dendritic channels, and consequent neuronal behavior, remains unclear. Based on the analysis of asymmetry in several types of motoneurons, we extended our previous m...

It has recently been shown that the persistent Na current (INaP) is generated in the proximal axon in response to somatic depolarization in neocortical pyramidal neurons, while the involvement of INaP in spike-initiation is still unclear. Here we show a potential role of INaP in spike-initiation of primary sensory neurons in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (MTN) that display a backpropagat...

Nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide gases together with dust are known as the major pollutants arising during the blasting operations using the ammonium nitrate-fuel oil (ANFO) explosive at the Sungun surface mine, located in the northwest of Iran. The pollutants were monitored during some blasting operations at the mine. It was concluded that the gases and dust clouds initially went up to the ...

Abstract The self-organizing migrating algorithm (SOMA) is a population-based meta-heuristic that belongs to swarm intelligence. In the last 20 years, we can observe two main streams in publications. First, novel approaches contributing improvement of its performance. Second, solving various optimization problems. Despite different and applications, there exists no work summarizing them. Theref...

The cellular basis of long-term memory (LTM) storage is not completely known. We have developed a preparation where we are able to specify that a single identified neuron, Right Pedal Dorsal 1 (RPeD1), is a site of LTM formation of associative learning in the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. We demonstrated this by ablating the soma of the neuron but leaving behind its functional primary neurite,...

Doing large-scale genomics experiments can be expensive, and so experimenters want to get the most information out of each experiment. To this end the Maximally Informative Next Experiment (MINE) criterion for experimental design was developed. Here we explore this idea in a simplified context, the linear model. Four variations of the MINE method for the linear model were created: MINE-like, MI...

Modern biology research requires simple techniques for efficient and restriction site-independent modification of genetic material. Classical cloning and mutagenesis strategies are limited by their dependency on restriction sites and the use of complementary primer pairs. Here, we describe the Single Oligonucleotide Mutagenesis and Cloning Approach (SOMA) that is independent of restriction site...

the present study represents a first insight into the draa lasfar min (marrakech - morocco) to assess the degree of polymetallic pollution caused by anthropogenic activities (like mine extraction) and consequently the possible diffusion of heavy metals and to predict the risk of their mobility in the surroundings of the mine area. the edaphologic parameters ph and electrical conductivity (ec) w...

Sponsored by Defense Threat Reduction Agency Contract DSWA01-98-C-0176 The Mine The cooperating mine was the Morenci Mine operated by Phelps-Dodge in SE Arizona. The scale of the operation is illustrated below. The mine produces over 25% of all US copper. Three to five blasts are detonated daily. During July and August, 31% of the events in the USGS Mine Event List were from this mine. Regional...