Sensorimotor rhythms (SMRs) are oscillatory brain activities in the α- and β-bands across the sensorimotor regions of the brain. Each frequency band has its own specific function. The α-band oscillations are closely related to intrinsic cortical networks, whereas oscillations in the β-band are relevant for the information transfer between the cortex and periphery, as well as for visual and prop...

BACKGROUND: Antibodies to a cytosolic soluble liver antigen (SLA) are specifically detected in patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). The target of anti-SLA has been identified as a ~50 kDa UGA serine tRNA-associated protein complex (tRNP(Ser)Sec), through the screening of cDNA libraries. A recent report questioned the identity of tRNP(Ser)Sec as the real SLA antigen. The latter study identi...

Recent studies have demonstrated that prestimulus alpha-band activity substantially influences perception of near-threshold stimuli. Here, we studied the influence of prestimulus alpha power fluctuations on temporal perceptual discrimination of suprathreshold tactile stimuli and subjects' confidence regarding their perceptual decisions. We investigated how prestimulus alpha-band power influence...

In a study with 10 young, healthy subjects, alpha activities were studied in three different arousal states: eyes closed in relaxed wakefulness (EC), drowsiness (DR), and REM sleep. The alpha band was divided into three subdivisions (slow, middle, and fast) which were analyzed separately for each state. The results showed a different spectral composition of alpha band according to the physiolog...

Cultured cardiac myocytes were stained with antibodies to sarcomeric alpha-actinin, troponin-I, alpha-actin, myosin heavy chain (MHC), titin, myomesin, C-protein, and vinculin. Attention was focused on the distribution of these proteins with respect to nonstriated myofibrils (NSMFs) and striated myofibrils (SMFs). In NSMFs, alpha-actinin is found as longitudinally aligned, irregular approximate...

Assembly of B-band lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa follows a Wzy-dependent pathway, requiring the O-antigen polymerase Wzy and other proteins. The peptide sequences of the wzy(alpha) product from strains of serotypes O2, O5, and O16 are identical, but the O units in O5 are alpha-glycosidically linked, while those in O2 and O16 are beta-linked. We hypothesized that a derivativ...

Many studies have demonstrated the relationship between the alpha activity and the central visual ability, in which the visual ability is usually assessed through static stimuli. Besides static circumstance, however in the real environment there are often dynamic changes and the peripheral visual ability in a dynamic environment (i.e., dynamic peripheral visual ability) is important for all peo...

Alpha-frequency band (8-14 Hz) oscillations are among the most salient phenomena in human electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and yet their functional roles have remained unclear. Much of research on alpha oscillations in human EEG has focused on peri-stimulus amplitude dynamics, which phenomenologically support an idea of alpha oscillations being negatively correlated with local cortical e...