The aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of new network architectures, like UMTS or NGN, over Intelligent Network evolution. First, it identifies the main drivers that can modify service platform paradigm, both from technical and market perspective. Moreover, those drivers cause the existence of alternative ways of designing and deploying value added services, like Open Service Archite...

A central goal of neuroscience is to explain how neural networks generate organized and repetitive motor patterns, such as active whisking used by rodents to navigate the environment. Whisking consists of fast rhythmic ellipsoid vibrissae movements through the air and over objects at between 4 and 15 Hz, which are characterized by vibrissa protractions (Berg and Kleinfeld 2003; Carvell and Simo...

Koizumi, Amane, Shu-Ichi Watanabe, and Akimichi Kaneko. Persistent Na current and Ca current boost graded depolarization of rat retinal amacrine cells in culture. J Neurophysiol 86: 1006–1016, 2001. Retinal amacrine cells are depolarized by the excitatory synaptic input from bipolar cells. When a graded depolarization exceeds the threshold level, trains of action potentials are generated. There...

29 30 The temporal lobe is well known for its oscillatory activity associated with exploration, 31 navigation and learning. Intrinsic membrane potential oscillations (MPOs) and resonance 32 of stellate cells (SCs) in layer II of the entorhinal cortex are thought to contribute to 33 network oscillations and thereby to the encoding of spatial information. Generation of 34 both MPOs and resonance ...

The preovulatory secretory surge of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is crucial for fertility and is regulated by a switch of estradiol feedback action from negative to positive. GnRH neurons likely receive estradiol feedback signals via ERα-expressing afferents. Kisspeptin neurons in anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV) are thought to be critical for estradiol-positive feedback in...

It has recently been shown that the persistent Na current (INaP) is generated in the proximal axon in response to somatic depolarization in neocortical pyramidal neurons, while the involvement of INaP in spike-initiation is still unclear. Here we show a potential role of INaP in spike-initiation of primary sensory neurons in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (MTN) that display a backpropagat...

Two fundamental questions that can be asked about oscillatory activity are: how does it originate and what is its purpose? As will be shown, there are several ways such activity can be generated. It is not always clear what oscillatory function is even when the output leads directly to behavior. We have examined the dynamical properties of two small oscillatory systems, the lobster pyloric and ...

Despite intense research it remains unresolved whether pacemakers are essential for eupnea and/or gasping. Recordings of neural activity in vivo and in vitro and attempts to eliminate pacemaker activity through pharmacological lesions have led to controversial interpretations. Yet it must be emphasized that major progress has been achieved over the past decade. Medullary network located within ...

Diabetes is an independent risk factor for sudden cardiac death and ventricular arrhythmia complications of acute coronary syndrome. Prolongation of the QT interval on the electrocardiogram is also a risk factor for arrhythmias and sudden death, and the increased prevalence of QT prolongation is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular death in diabetic patients. The pathophysiological mec...

Neurochemically induced membrane voltage oscillations and firing episodes in spinal excitatory interneurons expressing the HB9 protein (Hb9 INs) are synchronous with locomotor-like rhythmic motor outputs, suggesting that they contribute to the excitatory drive of motoneurons during locomotion. Similar to central pattern generator neurons in other systems, Hb9 INs are interconnected via electric...