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PubMed2006

Nonconcave entropies from generalized canonical ensembles.

It is well known that the entropy of the microcanonical ensemble cannot be calculated as the Legendre transform of the canonical free energy when the entropy is nonconcave. To circumvent this problem, a generalization of the canonical ensemble that allows for the calculation of nonconcave entropies was recently proposed. Here, we study the mean-field Curie-Weiss-Potts spin model and show, by direct calculations, that the nonconcave entropy of this model can be obtained by using a specific instance of the generalized canonical ensemble known as the Gaussian ensemble.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

Entangling many atomic ensembles through laser manipulation.

We propose an experimentally feasible scheme to generate the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-type of maximal entanglement between many atomic ensembles based on laser manipulation and single-photon detection. The scheme, with inherent fault tolerance to the dominant noise and efficient scaling of the efficiency with the number of ensembles, allows one to maximally entangle many atomic ensembles within the reach of current technology. Such a maximum entanglement of many ensembles has wide applications in the demonstration of quantum nonlocality, high-precision spectroscopy, and quantum information processing.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Teleportation of an atomic ensemble quantum state.

We propose a protocol to achieve high fidelity quantum state teleportation of a macroscopic atomic ensemble using a pair of quantum-correlated atomic ensembles. We show how to prepare this pair of ensembles using quasiperfect quantum state transfer processes between light and atoms. Our protocol relies on optical joint measurements of the atomic ensemble states and magnetic feedback reconstruction.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Hybrid quantum processors: molecular ensembles as quantum memory for solid state circuits.

We investigate a hybrid quantum circuit where ensembles of cold polar molecules serve as long-lived quantum memories and optical interfaces for solid state quantum processors. The quantum memory realized by collective spin states (ensemble qubit) is coupled to a high-Q stripline cavity via microwave Raman processes. We show that, for convenient trap-surface distances of a few microm, strong coupling between the cavity and ensemble qubit can be achieved. We discuss basic quantum information protocols, including a swap from the cavity photon bus to the molecular quantum memory, and a deterministic two qubit gate. Finally, we investigate coherence properties of molecular ensemble quantum bits.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Effects of sucrose on conformational equilibria and fluctuations within the native-state ensemble of proteins.

Osmolytes increase the thermodynamic conformational stability of proteins, shifting the equilibrium between native and denatured states to favor the native state. However, their effects on conformational equilibria within native-state ensembles of proteins remain controversial. We investigated the effects of sucrose, a model osmolyte, on conformational equilibria and fluctuations within the native-state ensembles of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A and S and horse heart cytochrome c. In the presence of sucrose, the far- and near-UV circular dichroism spectra of all three native proteins were slightly altered and indicated that the sugar shifted the native-state ensemble toward species with more ordered, compact conformations, without detectable changes in secondary structural contents. Thermodynamic stability of the proteins, as measured by guanidine HCl-induced unfolding, increased in proportion to sucrose concentration. Native-state hydrogen exchange (HX) studies monitored by infrared spectroscopy showed that addition of 1 M sucrose reduced average HX rate constants at all degrees of exchange of the proteins, for which comparison could be made in the presence and absence of sucrose. Sucrose also increased the exchange-resistant core regions of the proteins. A coupling factor analysis relating the free energy of HX to the free energy of unfolding showed that sucrose had greater effects on large-scale than on small-scale fluctuations. These results indicate that the presence of sucrose shifts the conformational equilibria toward the most compact protein species within native-state ensembles, which can be explained by preferential exclusion of sucrose from the protein surface.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Charge-charge interactions influence the denatured state ensemble and contribute to protein stability.

Several recent studies have shown that it is possible to increase protein stability by improving electrostatic interactions among charged groups on the surface of the folded protein. However, the stability increases are considerably smaller than predicted by a simple Coulomb's law calculation, and in some cases, a charge reversal on the surface leads to a decrease in stability when an increase was predicted. These results suggest that favorable charge-charge interactions are important in determining the denatured state ensemble, and that the free energy of the denatured state may be decreased more than that of the native state by reversing the charge of a side chain. We suggest that when the hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions that stabilize the folded state are disrupted, the unfolded polypeptide chain rearranges to compact conformations with favorable long-range electrostatic interactions. These charge-charge interactions in the denatured state will reduce the net contribution of electrostatic interactions to protein stability and will help determine the denatured state ensemble. To support this idea, we show that the denatured state ensemble of ribonuclease Sa is considerably more compact at pH 7 where favorable charge-charge interactions are possible than at pH 3, where unfavorable electrostatic repulsion among the positive charges causes an expansion of the denatured state ensemble. Further support is provided by studies of the ionic strength dependence of the stability of charge-reversal mutants of ribonuclease Sa. These results may have important implications for the mechanism of protein folding.

Enzyme Stability↗

PubMed1990

An evaluation of the ensemble averaged impedance cardiogram.

The ensemble averaged impedance cardiogram was evaluated during rest and during vocal mental arithmetic stress in samples of female (n = 17) and male (n = 40) undergraduates. Measures of myocardial performance determined from ensemble averaged signals were compared to those determined by simple beat-to-beat averaging over 60-s and 20-s sampling intervals. In addition, the influence of cardiac interval variability on dZ/dt amplitude measures was assessed. As expected, measures derived by the two averaging techniques corresponded closely, with correlations ranging from r = 0.882 to r = 1.000 for the 60-s sampling intervals, and from r = 0.726 to r = 1.000 for the 20-s sampling intervals. Inverse relationships of comparable magnitude were found between cardiac interval variability and dZ/dt amplitude measures determined by both averaging techniques, suggesting that these relationships did not result simply from artifacts introduced by the ensemble averaging technique. The results support the validity of ensemble averaging as a method for deriving impedance cardiographic measures of myocardial performance.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Turning off cortical ensembles stops striatal Up states and elicits phase perturbations in cortical and striatal slow oscillations in rat in vivo.

In vivo, cortical neurons and striatal medium spiny neurons (MSN) display robust subthreshold depolarizations (Up states) during which they are enabled to fire action potentials. In the cortex, Up states are believed to occur simultaneously in a neuronal ensemble and to be sustained by local network interactions. It is known that MSN are impelled into the Up state by extra-striatal (primarily cortical) inputs, but the mechanisms that sustain and determine the end of striatal Up states are still debated. Furthermore, it has not been established if brisk perturbations of ongoing cortical oscillations alter rhythmic transitions between Up and Down states in striatal neurons. Here we report that MSN Up states terminate abruptly when persistent activity in cortical ensembles providing afferents to a given striatal region is turned off by local electrical stimulation or ends spontaneously. In addition, we found that phase perturbations in MSN membrane potential slow oscillations induced by cortical stimulation replicate the stimulus-induced dynamics of spiking activity in cortical ensembles. Overall, these results suggest that striatal Up states are single-cell subthreshold representations of episodes of persistent spiking in cortical ensembles. A precise spatial and temporal alignment between episodes of cortical persistent activity and striatal Up states would allow MSN to detect specific cortical inputs embedded within a more general cortical signal.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2001

The role of atomic ensembles in the reactivity of bimetallic electrocatalysts.

Bimetallic electrodes are used in a number of electrochemical processes, but the role of particular arrangements of surface metal atoms (ensembles) has not been studied directly. We have evaluated the electrochemical/catalytic properties of defined atomic ensembles in atomically flat PdAu(111) electrodes with variable surface stoichiometry that were prepared by controlled electrodeposition on Au(111). These properties are derived from infrared spectroscopic and voltammetric data obtained for electrode surfaces for which the concentration and distribution of the respective metal atoms are determined in situ by atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy with chemical contrast. Palladium monomers are identified as the smallest ensemble ("critical ensemble") for carbon monoxide adsorption and oxidation, whereas hydrogen adsorption requires at least palladium dimers.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Characterization of fibrillatory rhythms by ensemble vector directional analysis.

Recent studies have demonstrated that fibrillatory rhythms are not random phenomena but have definable patterns. However, standard mapping techniques may have limitations in their ability to identify the organization of fibrillation. The purpose of this study was to develop and apply a method, "ensemble vector mapping," for characterizing the spatiotemporal organization of fibrillation. Ventricular fibrillation was induced by burst pacing in normal mongrel dogs. In a separate protocol, atrial fibrillation was induced by epicardial aconitine application. Epicardial electrograms were recorded from a 112-electrode plaque array using a computerized mapping system. Vectors were created by summing orthogonal bipolar electrograms. The magnitude of the vectors was transformed using a logarithmic function, integrated over time, and normalized for local electrogram amplitude to produce an "ensemble vector" index whose magnitude is high when beat-to-beat activation direction is consistent and low when activation direction is variable. The mean index was 137 +/- 36 mV/s during ventricular pacing at a cycle length of 300 ms but only 39 +/- 23 mV/s during ventricular fibrillation (P < 0.001). The ensemble vector index was also lower during atrial fibrillation (60 +/- 54 mV/s) than during atrial pacing (115 +/- 27 mV/s, P < 0.01 vs. atrial fibrillation) but not as low as during ventricular fibrillation (P < 0.05, atrial vs. ventricular fibrillation). The index was also capable of distinguishing atrial tachycardia from atrial fibrillation. Ensemble vector mapping produces an objective assessment of the consistency of myocardial activation during fibrillation. The consistency of activation direction differs in different models of fibrillation and is higher during atrial than ventricular fibrillation. This technique has the potential to rapidly characterize repetitive activation patterns in fibrillatory rhythms and may help distinguish among different characteristics of fibrillatory rhythms.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Decoding continuous and discrete motor behaviors using motor and premotor cortical ensembles.

Decoding motor behavior from neuronal signals has important implications for the development of a brain-machine interface (BMI) but also provides insights into the nature of different movement representations within cortical ensembles. Motor control can be hierarchically characterized as the selection and planning of discrete movement classes and/or postures followed by the execution of continuous limb trajectories. Based on simultaneous recordings in primary motor (MI) and dorsal premotor (PMd) cortices in behaving monkeys, we demonstrate that an MI ensemble can reconstruct hand or joint trajectory more accurately than an equally sized PMd ensemble. In contrast, PMd can more precisely predict the future occurrence of one of several discrete targets to be reached. This double dissociation suggests that a general-purpose BMI could take advantage of multiple cortical areas to control a wider variety of motor actions. These results also support the hierarchical view that MI ensembles are involved in lower-level movement execution, whereas PMd populations represent the early intention to move to visually presented targets.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Higher-order statistics of input ensembles and the response of simple model neurons.

Pairwise correlations among spike trains recorded in vivo have been frequently reported. It has been argued that correlated activity could play an important role in the brain, because it efficiently modulates the response of a postsynaptic neuron. We show here that a neuron's output firing rate critically depends on the higher-order statistics of the input ensemble. We constructed two statistical models of populations of spiking neurons that fired with the same rates and had identical pairwise correlations, but differed with regard to the higher-order interactions within the population. The first ensemble was characterized by clusters of spikes synchronized over the whole population. In the second ensemble, the size of spike clusters was, on average, proportional to the pairwise correlation. For both input models, we assessed the role of the size of the population, the firing rate, and the pairwise correlation on the output rate of two simple model neurons: a continuous firing-rate model and a conductance-based leaky integrate-and-fire neuron. An approximation to the mean output rate of the firing-rate neuron could be derived analytically with the help of shot noise theory. Interestingly, the essential features of the mean response of the two neuron models were similar. For both neuron models, the three input parameters played radically different roles with respect to the postsynaptic firing rate, depending on the interaction structure of the input. For instance, in the case of an ensemble with small and distributed spike clusters, the output firing rate was efficiently controlled by the size of the input population. In addition to the interaction structure, the ratio of inhibition to excitation was found to strongly modulate the effect of correlation on the postsynaptic firing rate.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2005

Analyzing functional connectivity using a network likelihood model of ensemble neural spiking activity.

Analyzing the dependencies between spike trains is an important step in understanding how neurons work in concert to represent biological signals. Usually this is done for pairs of neurons at a time using correlation-based techniques. Chornoboy, Schramm, and Karr (1988) proposed maximum likelihood methods for the simultaneous analysis of multiple pair-wise interactions among an ensemble of neurons. One of these methods is an iterative, continuous-time estimation algorithm for a network likelihood model formulated in terms of multiplicative conditional intensity functions. We devised a discrete-time version of this algorithm that includes a new, efficient computational strategy, a principled method to compute starting values, and a principled stopping criterion. In an analysis of simulated neural spike trains from ensembles of interacting neurons, the algorithm recovered the correct connectivity matrices and interaction parameters. In the analysis of spike trains from an ensemble of rat hippocampal place cells, the algorithm identified a connectivity matrix and interaction parameters consistent with the pattern of conjoined firing predicted by the overlap of the neurons' spatial receptive fields. These results suggest that the network likelihood model can be an efficient tool for the analysis of ensemble spiking activity.

Action Potentials↗

PubMedDate not supplied

retinoic acid, bromodeoxyuridine, and the Delta 205 mutant polyoma virus middle T antigen regulate expression levels of a common ensemble of proteins associated with early stages of inducing HL-60 leukemic cell differentiation.

Retinoic acid (RA), bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), and the Delta 205 mutant polyoma middle T antigen affect the expression of a common ensemble of proteins in HL-60 human myeloblastic leukemia cells. Each of these agents is known to be able to prime HL-60 cells and accelerate subsequently induced myeloid or monocytic differentiation and G0 cell cycle arrest, suggesting that they have equal or identical cellular targets relevant to the early stages of inducing cell differentiation and G0 arrest. As a test of this possibility, a survey of protein expression changes induced by RA, BrdU, or Delta 205 transfection was performed. Retinoic acid induced numerous changes within h. Bromodeoxyuridine caused larger numbers of changes, whereas Delta 205 caused a more limited number. Among the hundreds of affected proteins detected, there were comparable numbers of up- or downregulated proteins. A small number changed between undetectable and detectable expression. The affected proteins were not restricted to a single functional class and included transcription factors, receptors, signaling molecules, cytoskeletal molecules, and effectors of various cellular processes such as deoxyribonucleic acid replication, transcription, and translation. The intersect of the sets of proteins affected by RA, BrdU, and Delta 205 was identified to determine if these agents regulated a common subset of proteins. This ensemble contained the commonly upregulated proteins AF6, ABP-280, ENC-1, ESE 1, MAP2B, NTF2, casein kinase, IRF1, SRPK2, Rb2, RhoGDI, P47phox, CD45, PKR, and SIIIp15. The commonly downregulated proteins were SHC, katanin, flotillin-2/ESA, EB 1, p43/EMAPIIprecursor, Jab1, FNK. The composition of the ensemble suggested three apparent themes for cellular processes that were affected early. The themes reflected the ultimate fate of the treated precursor cells as a mature myeloid cell, namely a cell whose hallmarks are (1) motility to migrate to a target and phagocytize it, (2) inducible oxidative metabolism to reduce the target with superoxide from a respiratory burst, and (3) biosynthetic slow down consistent with conversion from cell proliferation to quiescence. Interestingly, RA appears to induce aspects of an interferon-like response of potential significance as part of a biosynthetic slow down leading to cell cycle arrest. In conclusion, three biologically disparate ways to prime cells to differentiate were used to filter out a small ensemble of commonly regulated proteins that group as either microtubule associated, oxidative metabolism machinery, or effectors of cellular responses to interferon.

Antigens, Polyomavirus Transforming↗

PubMed2004

Spatial and temporal organization of ensemble representations for different odor classes in the moth antennal lobe.

In the insect antennal lobe, odor discrimination depends on the ability of the brain to read neural activity patterns across arrays of uniquely identifiable olfactory glomeruli. Less is understood about the complex temporal dynamics and interglomerular interactions that underlie these spatial patterns. Using neural-ensemble recording, we show that the evoked firing patterns within and between groups of glomeruli are odor dependent and organized in both space and time. Simultaneous recordings from up to 15 units per ensemble were obtained from four zones of glomerular neuropil in response to four classes of odorants: pheromones, monoterpenoids, aromatics, and aliphatics. Each odor class evoked a different pattern of excitation and inhibition across recording zones. The excitatory response field for each class was spatially defined, but inhibitory activity was spread across the antennal lobe, reflecting a center-surround organization. Some chemically related odorants were not easily distinguished by their spatial patterns, but each odorant evoked transient synchronous firing across a uniquely different subset of ensemble units. Examination of 535 cell pairs revealed a strong relationship between their recording positions, temporal correlations, and similarity of odor response profiles. These findings provide the first definitive support for a nested architecture in the insect olfactory system that uses both spatial and temporal coordination of firing to encode chemosensory signals. The spatial extent of the representation is defined by a stereotyped focus of glomerular activity for each odorant class, whereas the transient temporal correlations embedded within the ensemble provide a second coding dimension that can facilitate discrimination between chemically similar volatiles.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed1996

Is endurance performance of handgrip exercise influenced by the two different clothing ensembles?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of wearing two different clothing ensembles on endurance performance of handgrip exercise in eight female subjects in the climatic chamber (25 +/- 1 degrees C, 50 +/- 10% RH). The experimental clothing ensembles were HALF and LONG. The clothing ensemble HALF consisted of half-sleeved shirts, knee-length trousers and sandals; LONG of long-sleeved shirts, long-trousers, socks and walking shoes. The subjects carried out the preliminary exercise for 1 hr as scheduled which was composed of slow running on the horizontal treadmill for 25 min, rest for 10 min and running again for 25 min the same as the first running. After the preliminary exercise, the subject exercised with a hand ergometer lifting a weight of 15% of maximal voluntary contraction at the rate of 35 contractions per min until volitional exhaustion. Rectal temperature, skin temperatures, heart rate, body weight loss, clothing microclimate, number of contractions were measured during the experiment and compared between two clothing ensembles. An important result was that the endurance performance of handgrip exercise was significantly greater in HALF than in LONG, for which the lower maintenance of core temperature and mean skin temperature in HALF during the 1 hr preliminary exercise might be responsible. Our present and former results indicate a significant participation of clothing for the endurance performance of handgrip exercise.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Encoding of tactile stimulus location by somatosensory thalamocortical ensembles.

The exquisite modular anatomy of the rat somatosensory system makes it an excellent model to test the potential coding strategies used to discriminate the location of a tactile stimulus. Here, we investigated how ensembles of simultaneously recorded single neurons in layer V of primary somatosensory (SI) cortex and in the ventral posterior medial (VPM) nucleus of the thalamus of the anesthetized rat may encode the location of a single whisker stimulus on a single trial basis. An artificial neural network based on a learning vector quantization algorithm, was used to identify putative coding mechanisms. Our data suggest that these neural ensembles may rely on a distributed coding scheme to represent the location of single whisker stimuli. Within this scheme, the temporal modulation of neural ensemble firing rate, as well as the temporal interactions between neurons, contributed significantly to the representation of stimulus location. The relative contribution of these temporal codes increased with the number of whiskers that the ensembles must discriminate among. Our results also indicated that the SI cortex and the VPM nucleus may function as a single entity to encode stimulus location. Overall, our data suggest that the representation of somatosensory features in the rat trigeminal system may arise from the interactions of neurons within and between the SI cortex and VPM nucleus. Furthermore, multiple coding strategies may be used simultaneously to represent the location of tactile stimuli.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2004

Ensemble recordings of human subcortical neurons as a source of motor control signals for a brain-machine interface.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with severe neurological injury, such as quadriplegics, might benefit greatly from a brain-machine interface that uses neuronal activity from motor centers to control a neuroprosthetic device. Here, we report an implementation of this strategy in the human intraoperative setting to assess the feasibility of using neurons in subcortical motor areas to drive a human brain-machine interface. METHODS: Acute ensemble recordings from subthalamic nucleus and thalamic motor areas (ventralis oralis posterior [VOP]/ventralis intermediate nucleus [VIM]) were obtained in 11 awake patients during deep brain stimulator surgery by use of a 32-microwire array. During extracellular neuronal recordings, patients simultaneously performed a visual feedback hand-gripping force task. Offline analysis was then used to explore the relationship between neuronal modulation and gripping force. RESULTS: Individual neurons (n = 28 VOP/VIM, n = 119 subthalamic nucleus) demonstrated a variety of modulation responses both before and after onset of changes in gripping force of the contralateral hand. Overall, 61% of subthalamic nucleus neurons and 81% of VOP/VIM neurons modulated with gripping force. Remarkably, ensembles of 3 to 55 simultaneously recorded neurons were sufficiently information-rich to predict gripping force during 30-second test periods with considerable accuracy (up to R = 0.82, R(2) = 0.68) after short training periods. Longer training periods and larger neuronal ensembles were associated with improved predictive accuracy. CONCLUSION: This initial feasibility study bridges the gap between the nonhuman primate laboratory and the human intraoperative setting to suggest that neuronal ensembles from human subcortical motor regions may be able to provide informative control signals to a future brain-machine interface.

Electrodes, Implanted↗