Acetylcholine-synthesizing T cells relay neural signals in a vagus nerve circuit

Neural circuits regulate cytokine production to prevent potentially damaging inflammation. A prototypical vagus nerve circuit, the inflammatory reflex, inhibits tumor necrosis factor-α production in spleen by a mechanism requiring acetylcholine signaling through the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expressed on cytokine-producing macrophages. Nerve fibers in spleen lack the enzymatic machinery necessary for acetylcholine production; therefore, how does this neural circuit terminate in cholinergic signaling? We identified an acetylcholine-producing, memory phenotype T cell population in mice that is integral to the inflammatory reflex. These acetylcholine-producing T cells are required for inhibition of cytokine production by vagus nerve stimulation. Thus, action potentials originating in the vagus nerve regulate T cells, which in turn produce the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, required to control innate immune responses.     

Operant control of neural events in humans

Human subjects were trained by traditional methods of instrumental conditioning to change the amplitude of a late component of the auditory evoked potential with and without oscilloscopic feedback of their performance.     

Cognitive memory: cellular and network machineries and their top-down control

A brain-wide distributed network orchestrates cognitive memorizing and remembering of explicit memory (i.e., memory of facts and events). The network was initially identified in humans and is being systematically investigated in molecular/genetic, single-unit, lesion, and imaging studies in animals. The types of memory identified in humans are extended into animals as episodic-like (event) memory or semantic-like (fact) memory. The unique configurational association between environmental stimuli and behavioral context, which is likely the basis of episodic-like memory, depends on neural circuits in the medial temporal lobe, whereas memory traces representing repeated associations, which is likely the basis of semantic-like memory, are consolidated in the domain-specific regions in the temporal cortex. These regions are reactivated during remembering and contribute to the contents of a memory. Two types of retrieval signal reach the cortical representations. One runs from the frontal cortex for active (or effortful) retrieval (top-down signal), and the other spreads backward from the medial temporal lobe for automatic retrieval. By sending the top-down signal to the temporal cortex, frontal regions manipulate and organize to-be-remembered information, devise strategies for retrieval, and also monitor the outcome, with dissociated frontal regions making functionally separate contributions. The challenge is to understand the hierarchical interactions between these multiple cortical areas, not only with a correlational analysis but also with an interventional study demonstrating the causal necessity and the direction of the causality.     

Flexible control of mutual inhibition: a neural model of two-interval discrimination

Networks adapt to environmental demands by switching between distinct dynamical behaviors. The activity of frontal-lobe neurons during two-interval discrimination tasks is an example of these adaptable dynamics. Subjects first perceive a stimulus, then hold it in working memory, and finally make a decision by comparing it with a second stimulus. We present a simple mutual-inhibition network model that captures all three task phases within a single framework. The model integrates both working memory and decision making because its dynamical properties are easily controlled without changing its connectivity. Mutual inhibition between nonlinear units is a useful design motif for networks that must display multiple behaviors.     

Low-noise, interference-resistant amplifier suitable for biological signals

Minor changes in conventional low-noise amplifier circuits decrease circuit noise and attenuate the unwanted effects of varying impedances and potentials which exist between commonly employed electrodes and the tissues of biological subjects. The resulting reduction of intrinsic amplifier noise and reduced susceptibility to external interference is helpful in the study of low-frequency signals of microvolt level.     

A search for ultra-narrowband signals of extraterrestrial origin

Nearly 200 nearby stars similar to the sun were observed at the 21-centimeter neutral hydrogen wavelength (in the heliocentric frame) with a bandwidth of 1 kilohertz and a resolution of 0.015 hertz, using the Arecibo 305-meter antenna. At this resolution the effects of terrestrial interference are so slight that the detection limit of 4 x 10(-27) watt per square meter was set by receiver noise alone. No evidence of artificial signals was found.     

基于神经网络的智能控制技术在农业领域的研究与应用

为进一步了解基于神经网络的智能控制技术在农业领域的研究与应用情况,对神经网络智能控制技术的发展概况、基本原理和主要特点进行了简要介绍,综述了神经网络智能控制技术在农业上的研究与应用情况,展现了在农业领域广阔的应用前景。     

Mesodermal control of neural cell identity: floor plate induction by the notochord

The floor plate is a specialized group of midline neuroepithelial cells that appears to regulate cell differentiation and axonal growth in the developing vertebrate nervous system. A floor plate-specific chemoattractant was used as a marker to examine the role of the notochord in avian floor plate development. Expression of this chemoattractant in lateral cells of the neural plate and neural tube was induced by an ectopic notochord, and midline neural tube cells did not express the chemoattractant after removal of the notochord early in development. These results provide evidence that a local signal from the notochord induces the functional properties of the floor plate.     

基于RBF人工神经网络的下游常水位自适应渠道输水控制研究

针对传统渠道输水PID控制方法响应速度慢、超调量大、参数不能在线自调整的不足,根据RBF神经网络和渠道输水特点,提出了将传统渠道下游常水位输水PID控制和RBF人工神经网络结合的输水控制方法,使输水控制具有自学习、自适应、容错性和鲁棒性。推导了RBF网络整定PID输水控制调节器的算法。仿真结果表明,基于RBF网络的PID输水控制方法,能够通过不断学习自动调整控制参数,使输水控制过程超调量小、响应速度快,具有不需要特意选择或计算控制参数的特点。因此,基于RBF神经网络的参数非线性PID控制更适合进行渠道输水这样高度非线性系统的实时控制过程。     

A neural basis for general intelligence

Universal positive correlations between different cognitive tests motivate the concept of "general intelligence" or Spearman's g. Here the neural basis for g is investigated by means of positron emission tomography. Spatial, verbal, and perceptuo-motor tasks with high-g involvement are compared with matched low-g control tasks. In contrast to the common view that g reflects a broad sample of major cognitive functions, high-g tasks do not show diffuse recruitment of multiple brain regions. Instead they are associated with selective recruitment of lateral frontal cortex in one or both hemispheres. Despite very different task content in the three high-g-low-g contrasts, lateral frontal recruitment is markedly similar in each case. Many previous experiments have shown these same frontal regions to be recruited by a broad range of different cognitive demands. The results suggest that "general intelligence" derives from a specific frontal system important in the control of diverse forms of behavior.     

Regulation of cerebral cortical size by control of cell cycle exit in neural precursors

Transgenic mice expressing a stabilized beta-catenin in neural precursors develop enlarged brains with increased cerebral cortical surface area and folds resembling sulci and gyri of higher mammals. Brains from transgenic animals have enlarged lateral ventricles lined with neuroepithelial precursor cells, reflecting an expansion of the precursor population. Compared with wild-type precursors, a greater proportion of transgenic precursors reenter the cell cycle after mitosis. These results show that beta-catenin can function in the decision of precursors to proliferate or differentiate during mammalian neuronal development and suggest that beta-catenin can regulate cerebral cortical size by controlling the generation of neural precursor cells.     

Design and fabrication of an intelligent control system for determination of watering time for turfgrass plant using computer vision system and artificial neural network

Precision Agriculture - The majority of the volume in a plant cell is water. Therefore, the growth and metabolism of plants are highly dependent on the changes in plant water content. To optimize...     

Direct control of germline stem cell division and cyst growth by neural insulin in Drosophila

Stem cells reside in specialized niches that provide signals required for their maintenance and division. Tissue-extrinsic signals can also modify stem cell activity, although this is poorly understood. Here, we report that neural-derived Drosophila insulin-like peptides (DILPs) directly regulate germline stem cell division rate, demonstrating that signals mediating the ovarian response to nutritional input can modify stem cell activity in a niche-independent manner. We also reveal a crucial direct role of DILPs in controlling germline cyst growth and vitellogenesis.