Neuropeptide S (NPS) is a regulatory peptide with potent pharmacological effects. In rodents, NPS is expressed in a few pontine cell clusters. Its receptor (NPSR1) is, however, widely distributed in the brain. The anxiolytic and arousal-promoting effects of NPS make the NPS-NPSR1 system an interesting potential drug target in mood-related disorders. However, so far possible disease-related mech...

Background: The presence of nitric oxide (NO) in the cuneiform nucleus (CnF) has been previously shown. In this study, NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (an inhibitor of NO synthase), L-arginine (L-Arg) (a precursor of NO), and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) (a donor of NO) were microinjected into the CnF and cardiovascular responses were investigated. Methods: Seventy male rats were divide...

As assyriologists have to handle tremendous amounts of important documents of ancient history written in cuneiform script, like the epic of Gilgamesh, we are developing an efficent system to support their daily tasks. Previous projects demonstrated the application of holography and early close-range 3D scanners for this task. Based on experiences from our previous projects in archaeology, we ar...

consider the first written language, were made in moist, clay tablets. People started making these tablets before 3400 BC and continued for more than 3,000 years. More than 100,000 tablets still exist today, in various states of disintegration. They range in size from two to dozens of centimeters. Typically, they hold administrative data, document historic events and commercial transactions, an...

BACKGROUND Studies have yet to determine the optimal height at which the posterior tibial tendon (PTT) can be re-routed and the tendon length discrepancy at different height levels in terms of PTT transfer via the circumtibial route. This cadaveric study was conducted to determine the optimal height of PTT subcutaneous transfer and to compare tendon length discrepancies at different heights. ...

The need to analyze massive scientific data sets on the one hand and the availability of distributed compute resources with an increasing number of CPU cores on the other hand have promoted the development of a variety of languages and systems for parallel, distributed data analysis. Among them are data-parallel query languages such as Pig Latin or Spark as well as scientific workflow languages...

Cuneiform tablets tell the life and culture of Sumerian people in a sort of black and white tale because of the binary engraving technique. A leading question arises: did Mesopotamian people apply some kind of colour to decorate their tablets or to put emphasis on selected words? Some administrative and literary Sumerian cuneiform tablets of mid-third Millennium B.C. from the site of Kish (cent...