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[A comparison of statistical methods for quantal analysis in computer and physiological experiments].

Amplitude distributions of postsynaptic potentials were simulated in computer experiments on the basis of binomial statistics. Influences of the sample size (N) and noise standard deviation (Sn) on the determination of the quantal content (m) and quantal size (v) were studied. Four methods of the quantal parameter estimation were modified and used: histogram, variance, failure and combined method. Three last methods gave satisfactory estimations (within +/- 10%) at N = 500-1000 and Sn less than 2v. The histogram method was adequate at Sn less than or equal to v. Similar results were obtained at N = 50-200, when the experiment was repeated about ten times. Applicability of similar methods was confirmed by the analysis of an intracellular record of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (N = 1333) from the sensorimotor cortex of rabbit.

Action Potentials↗

Three-dimensional computerized tomography: a quantum leap in diagnostic imaging?

Ever since the discovery of radium by Madame Curie, men and women of vision and science have labored to improve radiation technology. Over a period of approximately 85 years, we have gone from this initial discovery to three-dimensional computerized transmission tomography; one of the latest techniques in modern day x-ray imaging. Its uses are vast and unparalleled in many facets of medicine and surgery, outlining pathology as never before seen, and possibly, never before completely understood. Three-dimensional computerized tomography is rapidly gaining popularity in cross-sectional imaging of the foot and ankle. It has proven invaluable in elucidating osseous and soft tissue pathology. Abnormalities of the musculoskeletal system that exhibit complex anatomy are often difficult to interpret using standard radiographic techniques. Overall, three-dimensional computerized tomography has established itself as a means by which clinicians may appreciate the three-dimensional disposition of anatomy and disease.

Ankle↗

Estimating the time course of evoked quantal release at the frog neuromuscular junction using end-plate current latencies.

The use of end-plate current (e.p.c.) latency measurements to estimate the time course of the stochastic probabilistic process governing evoked release was investigated in the sciatic nerve-sartorius muscle preparation of the frog, Rana pipiens. We also examined the possibility that the release of a quantum depresses or enhances the subsequent release of additional quanta. Muscle end-plates were voltage clamped at 3-4 degrees C. Quantal release was restricted to a short, or localized, region of the nerve terminal using Ca2+-free, EGTA Ringer solution and a Ca2+-filled micropipette. The number of e.p.c.s containing 0, 1, 2, etc. quanta were totalled and compared to numbers predicted using Poisson's theorem. The differences between the actual and predicted numbers of events were not significant at the nineteen junctions studied (P less than 0.05). The latency of the first quantum observed in several hundred e.p.c.s was measured and used to calculate an estimate, alpha 1(t), of the time-dependent, probabilistic process, alpha (t), governing all evoked quantal release (Barrett & Stevens, 1972b). In three experiments, all quantal latencies were measured to obtain the actual alpha (t). The alpha 1(t) function gave an excellent approximation of alpha (t) (P greater than 0.2), in real and simulated latency data. The latency of the second quantum in the e.p.c.s was measured and used to provide another estimate, alpha 2(t), of alpha (t). The alpha 2(t) function was lower (depressed) during the first few milliseconds of the evoked release period, relative to alpha 1(t). The difference was significant (P greater than 0.01) in all experiments. Our measurement procedures were tested using computer-generated 'e.p.c.s' containing randomly occurring 'quanta'. These tests showed that the early depression was due to inadequate detection of the second quantum in the e.p.c.s. The effect of Sr2+ on evoked release was examined using double-barrelled pipettes containing 1 M-SrCl2 and CaCl2 solutions. The major result was that the durations of alpha 1(t) and alpha 2(t) were equally lengthened in Sr2+, relative to Ca2+.

Animals↗

Multiple quantum inversion in scalar coupled systems with amplitude modulated temporally overlapped pulses.

In this paper we propose the extension of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, a popular technique in optics for population inversion in three-level systems, to the NMR regime. The technique employs two amplitude modulated pulses-the first connecting the final and intermediate states followed by a second partially overlapped in time with it and connecting the ground and intermediate states. We present computer simulations demonstrating the applicability of the technique in NMR although we are no longer dealing with "pure" states, unlike in optics. Double quantum population inversion in two- and three-spin scalar coupled systems provides experimental support to our proposal.

Journal Article↗

Mechanisms of post-traumatic seizures: a quantum pharmacological analysis of the molecular properties of an epileptogenic focus following iron-induced membrane peroxidation.

Late post-traumatic epilepsy following severe head trauma has been well documented. While there is increasing evidence suggesting that iron-induced lipid peroxidation of neural membranes may accompany cerebral haemorrhage, the pathogenic processes of post-traumatic epileptogenesis remain unknown. Furthermore, the effective prophylactic use of standard anticonvulsant drugs is unsubstantiated. The rational design of therapeutic agents specific for the prevention and treatment of post-traumatic epilepsy hinges on understanding the molecular membrane events at the epileptogenic focus. This study employs the techniques of theoretical quantum pharmacology to provide a structural analysis of neural phospholipid membranes, investigating changes in membrane integrity at the epileptogenic focus as the molecular basis for seizure activity. Molecular mechanics calculations and molecular dynamics simulations were used to model the biochemical events of the epileptogenic focus. We predict that applications of quantum pharmacological techniques to model biochemical events may provide an understanding of proconvulsive pathogenic mechanisms in post-traumatic epilepsy.

Aspartic Acid↗

Transition probabilities of a string oscillator subject to impulsive collisions with a heavy mass point.

Impulsive linear collisions between a string oscillator (a one-dimensional particle in a box) and a mass point are studied quantum mechanically. In the limit of a very heavy mass point (which corresponds classically to many collisions during a single encounter) the transition probabilities are determined exactly. The result permits a discussion of the mixed quantum-classical regime where the collider becomes almost classical while the oscillator remains quantum mechanical. While the average transition probabilities P(m-->n) are well reproduced by the Ehrenfest mean-field approximation, the prediction for the superimposed high-frequency resonance structure is qualitatively wrong for a genuine quantum oscillator. Only if the oscillator is also almost classical and if (m-n)2 square root(mu) << m, where mu is the mass ratio collider/oscillator, this structure is correctly predicted by the Ehrenfest approximation.

Chemistry, Physical↗

Computational support for the suggested contribution of C-H...O=C interactions to the stability of nucleic acid base pairs.

Ab inito quantum chemical calculations are performed to quantify the stabilizing role of long C-H...O=C contacts in nucleic acid base pairing, which was suggested by Leonard, McAuley-Hecht, Brown & Hunter [(1995). Acta Cryst. D51, 136-139]. For the Watson-Crick adenine-uracil pair, a contribution of about 6% to the total bond energy is obtained. This weakly bonding effect is primarily a result of electrostatic attraction between the total positive charge of adenine C(2)-H and the negative end of the dipole uracil O(2)=C.

Journal Article↗

Enzymatic catalysis of urea decomposition: elimination or hydrolysis?

We present a high-level quantum chemical study of possible reaction mechanisms associated with the catalytic decomposition of urea by a bioinorganic mimetic of the dinickel active site of urease. We chose the phthalazine-dinickel complexes of Lippard and co-workers, because these mimetics have been shown to hydrolytically degrade urea. High-level quantum chemical methodologies were utilized to identify stable intermediates and transition-state structures along several possible reaction pathways. The computed results were then used to further analyze what may occur in the active site of urease. Valuable information on the latter has been extracted from experimental data, computational approaches, and unpublished molecular dynamics simulations. On the basis of these comparative studies, we propose that both the elimination and hydrolytic pathways may compete for urea decomposition in the active site of urease.

Ammonia↗

Computational evidence for a variable first shell coordination of the cadmium(II) ion in aqueous solution.

In this paper, we present a state-of-the-art 100 ns molecular dynamics simulation of a cadmium(II) aqueous solution that highlights a very flexible ion first coordination shell which transits between hexa- and heptahydrated complexes. From this investigation, a dynamical picture of the water exchange process emerges that takes place through an associative mechanism for the solvent substitution reaction. Our procedure starts from the generation of an effective two-body potential from quantum mechanical ab initio calculations in which the many-body ion-water terms are accounted for by the polarizable continuum method (PCM). This approach is computationally very efficient and has allowed us to carry out extremely long molecular dynamics simulations, indispensable to reproduce the dynamic properties of the cadmium(II) aqueous solution. Quantum mechanical ab initio calculations of the hexa- and heptahydrated complexes extracted from MD configurations have revealed stable minima for both clusters with the water molecules arranged in T(h)() and C(2) symmetries in the hexa- and heptahydrated complexes, respectively, with a slight energetic preference for the heptahydrated one. Finally, a comparison of the calculated hexa- and heptahydrated cluster IR and Raman spectra with the experimental data in the literature, has demonstrated that the IR spectroscopy is not able to distinguish between the two species, whereas the Raman spectrum of the Cd(2+)-(H(2)O)(7) cluster provides a better agreement with the experimental data.

Journal Article↗

Ab initio quantum chemistry: methodology and applications.

This Perspective provides an overview of state-of-the-art ab initio quantum chemical methodology and applications. The methods that are discussed include coupled cluster theory, localized second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory, multireference perturbation approaches, and density functional theory. The accuracy of each approach for key chemical properties is summarized, and the computational performance is analyzed, emphasizing significant advances in algorithms and implementation over the past decade. Incorporation of a condensed-phase environment by means of mixed quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics or self-consistent reaction field techniques, is presented. A wide range of illustrative applications, focusing on materials science and biology, are discussed briefly.

Biophysics↗

Fractal and chaotic dynamics in nervous systems.

The chaotic aspects of brain structure and dynamics have been discussed. The relation of chaos to fractal processes in the brain from the neurosystems level down to the molecule has been explored. It is found that chaos appears to play an integral, though not necessarily exclusive role in function at all levels of organization from the neurosystems to the molecular and quantum levels. An interesting consequence involving the possible interface between chaotic dynamics and quantum physics has been discussed because of its potential significance is resolving several of the most intractable conceptual problems to do with computability, the brain and the mind (Blakemore and Greenfield, 1987; Hooper and Teresi, 1987; Rose, 1973; Searle, 1979; Penrose, 1986, 1989).

Action Potentials↗

Quantum chemical studies on tautomerism of barbituric acid in gas phase and in solution.

Ab inito and density functional theory (DFT) methods were used to study the tautomers of barbituric acid in the gas phase and in a polar medium. In the gas phase, the tautomers were optimized at the HF/6-31G*, MP2/6-31G* and B3LYP/6-31G*, B3PW91/6-31G* levels of theory. The self-consistent reaction field theory (SCRF) at the HF/6-31G* level of theory has been used to optimize the tautomers in a polar medium. The relative stability of the tautomers was compared in the gaseous and polar mediums. The ability of maximum hardness principle to predict the stable tautomer has been studied. The 13C-NMR chemical shift for carbon atoms in the tautomers was calculated and the results are discussed.

Barbiturates↗

The water-exchange mechanism of the [UO(2)(OH(2))(5)](2+) ion revisited: the importance of a proper treatment of electron correlation.

The water-exchange mechanism of [UO(2)(OH(2))(5)](2+) has been reinvestigated by using ab initio molecular orbital (MO) methods. The geometries and the vibrational frequencies were computed with CAS-SCF(12/11)-SCRF and CAS-SCF(12/11)-PCM methods, which take into account static electron correlation (using the complete active space self-consistent field (CAS-SCF) technique, based on an active space of 12 electrons in 11 orbitals) and hydration (using the self-consistent reaction field (SCRF) and polarizable continuum model (PCM) techniques). The total energies were computed with multiconfiguration quasi-degenerate second-order perturbation theory, the MCQDPT2(12/11)-PCM method, which treats static and dynamic electron correlation as well as hydration. The adequacies of other currently used quantum chemical methods, MP2, CCSD(T), B3 LYP, and BLYP, are discussed. For the associative and dissociative pathways, thermodynamic activation parameters (DeltaH( not equal), DeltaS( not equal), and DeltaG( not equal)) were computed. For the associative mechanism, the calculated DeltaH( not equal) and DeltaG( not equal) values agree with experiment, whereas for the dissociative mechanism, they are higher by approximately 20 kJ mol(-1). The dissociative mechanism is preferred for substitution reactions of uranyl(VI) complexes with ligands that are stronger electron donors than water. The question of whether a concerted (I(a) or I(d)) or a stepwise (A or D) mechanism operates is discussed on the basis of the computed lifetime of the respective intermediate, and the duration of the vibration with which the intermediate is transformed into the product.

Journal Article↗

Dendritic encoding: an alternative to temporal synaptic coding of conscious experience.

In this commentary, arguments are made for a dendritic code being preferable to a temporal synaptic code as a model of conscious experience. A temporal firing pattern is a product of an ongoing neural computation; hence, it is based on a neural algorithm and an algorithm may not provide the most suitable model for conscious experience. Reiteration of a temporal firing code as suggested in a preceding article (Helekar, 1999) does not necessarily improve the situation. The alternative model presented here is that certain synaptic activity patterns, possibly those possessing universal features as suggested by Helekar, can become encoded in the dendritic structure. Following dendritic encoding, quantum phenomena in those specific dendrite sets could illuminate the static image of that encoded synaptic activity. It is the activation of the static image that would be equivalent to conscious experience; thus, conscious awareness would not be directly affiliated with synaptic activity. This dendrite encoding model may go farther than other models to explain the gestalt nature of consciousness, insofar as quantum entanglement could produce an interconnectedness between specific sets of dendrites-an interconnectedness that need not be based on neural computation or neural connections.

Consciousness↗

Profiles of evoked release along the length of frog motor nerve terminals.

In order to determine the relative probability of evoked transmitter release from different parts of frog motor nerve terminals, a technique has been developed in which single quantum end-plate potentials (e.p.p.s) are recorded by two intracellular electrodes, located at opposite ends of identified junctions. The log of the ratio of the amplitudes recorded simultaneously at the two electrodes is a linear function of the distance of the site of origin of the event from each of the two electrodes. Using online computer data acquisition and analysis, and current pulses at known locations for spatial calibration, it is possible to localize the site of single quantum e.p.p.s to within +/- 10-20 micron. Using the frog cutaneous pectoris neuromuscular preparation and a low calcium, high magnesium Ringer solution to ensure mostly single quantum events and failures, several thousand responses were recorded from each junction, allowing construction of a profile of the numbers of single quantum events arising from each portion of the junction. By comparison of junctional morphology and release profiles, it is possible to construct a probability of release per unit length profile for the entire junction. This technique has several advantages over localization of release events by measurements of extracellular synaptic currents. It was found that, for most junctions, the central 60-90% of the terminal exhibited relatively uniform probability of release, with highest levels typically near the point where the axon first contacted the muscle fibre, or in regions with many short terminal branches. However, no instances have been found in which a small region of terminal (10% or less) showed extraordinarily high release levels (30-50% of the total release from the junction). Characteristically, but not invariably, there is reduced release near the ends of terminal branches, especially the longer branches, where release per unit length could be as little as 5-10% of that in proximal portions. Some junctions had large regions of terminal that released very little transmitter. These also showed multiple myelineated axonal inputs, and may have been polyneuronally innervated junctions in which one of the inputs was much weaker than the other.

Animals↗

Rendering of quantum topological atoms and bonds.

In this article, we describe and apply an algorithm that visualizes atoms and bonds in molecules and van der Waals complexes, based on the topology of the electron density. The theory of quantum chemical topology defines both atoms and bonds via a single consistent procedure, and enables the association of an atomic shape with an atomic property (charge, dipole moment, volume, ...). Special attention is paid to the bridging of gaps arising in interatomic surfaces, in the presence of ring critical points or high ellipticity. This algorithm, in conjunction with the graphical user interface of the computer program MORPHY enables robust and efficient rendering of complicated interatomic surfaces, as found in larger systems.

Adamantane↗

Investigations of low-amplitude radio frequency pulses at and away from rotary resonance conditions for I = 5/2 nuclei.

Additional experimental evidence of rotary resonance effects for multiple-quantum coherence conversion in a spin-5/2 system is presented. Two-dimensional plots of the relative efficiency of MQ excitation and conversion are given as a function of radio frequency (rf) amplitude and pulse width. Data are presented for the excitation of five-quantum coherence (5QC), as well as for 5QC to three-quantum coherence (3QC) conversion, 5QC to IQC (the central transition coherence) conversion, and 3QC to IQC conversion. A two-fold increase in the signal-to-noise ratio is achieved by substituting low amplitude rf pulses in place of hard rf pulses for 5QC excitation and 5QC to 3QC conversion in a mixed multiple-quantum magic angle spinning (MAS) (MMQMAS) experiment. The anisotropic line shape for the low-amplitude rf pulse version of the MMQMAS experiment was observed to be distorted from the MAS line shape. The cause and implications of the distortion are discussed.

Anisotropy↗

Theory of electrostatic interactions in macromolecules.

In the past year, substantial progress has been made in the modeling of electrostatic interactions in biomolecules. This review highlights advances in the following areas: first, the efficient computation of long-range electrostatic interactions in detailed molecular simulations; second, the application of the Poisson-Boltzmann electrostatic model in conformational analysis; third, the application of the Poisson-Boltzmann model in quantum chemistry calculations; fourth, the development of atomic parameters; and finally, the modeling of ionization equilibria in proteins.

Computer Simulation↗