During myofibril formation, Z-bodies, small complexes of alpha-actinin and associated proteins, grow in size, fuse and align to produce Z-bands. To determine if there were changes in protein dynamics during the assembly process, Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching was used to measure the exchange of Z-body and Z-band proteins with cytoplasmic pools in cultures of quail myotubes. Myotubes...

While over a dozen I-Z-I proteins are expressed in postmitotic myoblasts and myotubes it is unclear how, when, or where these first assemble into transitory I-Z-I bodies (thin filament/Z-band precursors) and, a short time later, into definitive I-Z-I bands. By double-staining the growth tips of transfected myotubes expressing (a) MYC-tagged s-alpha-actinins (MYC/s-alpha-actinins) or (b) green f...

Oscillatory activity in neural populations and temporal synchronization within these populations are important mechanisms contributing to perception and cognition. In schizophrenia, perception and cognition are impaired. Aberrant gating of irrelevant sensory information, which has been related to altered oscillatory neural activity, presumably contributes to these impairments. However, the link...

Attenuation of power in the alpha band (8–13 Hz) of Electroencephalograhy (EEG) is identified as a hallmark symptom of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). There is general agreement in existing literature that the thalamocortical circuitry play a key role in generation of alpha rhythms. Our research is to gain a better understanding of the cause of alpha rhythm slowing in the thalamocortical circuitry, w...

Rhythmic neural activity within the alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (15-25 Hz) frequency bands is modulated during actual and imagined movements. Changes in these rhythms provide a mechanism to select relevant neuronal populations, although the relative contributions of these rhythms remain unclear. Here we use MEG to investigate changes in oscillatory power while healthy human participants imagined g...

Functional neurosurgical techniques provide a unique opportunity to explore patterns of interaction between the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Previous work using simultaneous magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and local field potential (LFP) recordings from the region of the subthalamic nucleus (STNr) has characterised resting patterns of connectivity i...

INTRODUCTION Neuroglycopenia in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) results in reduced cognition, unconsciousness, seizures, and possible death. Characteristic changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG) can be detected even in the initial stages. This may constitute a basis for a hypoglycemia alarm device. The aim of the present study was to explore the characteristics of the EEG differentiating nor...

Twelve monoclonal antibodies have been raised against proteins in preparations of Z-disks isolated from Drosophila melanogaster flight muscle. The monoclonal antibodies that recognized Z-band components were identified by immunofluorescence microscopy of flight muscle myofibrils. These antibodies have identified three Z-disk antigens on immunoblots of myofibrillar proteins. Monoclonal antibodie...

Background: Muscle fatigue has been known to influence brain activity, but very little is known about how cortical centers respond to muscle fatigue.Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of muscle contraction and fatigue induced by two different percents of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) on Electroencephalography (EEG) signals.Material and Methods: In t...