Have we been down this road before?

Have We Been Hebbing Down the Wrong Path?

In this issue of Neuron, Stepanyants, Hof, and Chklovskii derive a simple mathematical formula to calculate, from measurable anatomical parameters, the capacity for neuronal wiring plasticity involving local synaptic rearrangements. Their work provides a deeper understanding of the potential contribution of structural plasticity to learning and memory.

I-36: Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis - Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is now considered routine in IVF laboratories with micromanipulation capability and access to genetic diagnostic services. The past two decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of PGD, the number of cycles performed, and the indications for which PGD has been used. This increase has been mirrored by a slow, but steady, increase in the range o...

Colony Collapse Disorder : Have We Seen This Before ?

We Have Always Been . . . Cyborgs

philosophy of mathematics suited well the ‘‘general emphasisin later nineteenth-century mathematics on revisiting foundationalquestions’’ (p. 61). Pure geometry as it emerged from Frege, Paschand Hilbert, provided a diagram-free, purely sentential notion ofproof, which has lasted unto our own day.In the second, and greater, part of the book, Greaves traces outthe interre...

A readily available assay for anti-immunoglobulin A: is this what we have been waiting for?

A lthough anaphylactic transfusion reactions due to underlying immunoglobulin A deficiency (IgAD) are rare, it is not uncommon for transfusion medicine physicians to encounter patients with transfusion reactions with respiratory distress or hypotension, where the specter of anaphylaxis is raised. In such cases, IgAD with associated anti-IgA as the underlying cause must be excluded. Another comm...