Constraints on the synchronization of entorhinal cortex stellate cells.

Synchronized oscillations of large numbers of central neurons are believed to be important for a wide variety of cognitive functions, including long-term memory recall and spatial navigation. It is therefore plausible that evolution has optimized the biophysical properties of central neurons in some way for synchronized oscillations to occur. Here, we use computational models to investigate the relationships between the presumably genetically determined parameters of stellate cells in layer II of the entorhinal cortex and the ability of coupled populations of these cells to synchronize their intrinsic oscillations: in particular, we calculate the time it takes circuits of two or three cells with initially randomly distributed phases to synchronize their oscillations to within one action potential width, and the metabolic energy they consume in doing so.

The case against differential diagnosis: Daubert, medical causation testimony, and the scientific method.

For the past decade, federal judges have been obligated to serve as gatekeepers and keep scientifically unreliable and irrelevant expert testimony out of the courtroom. The exacting evidentiary standards set forth in the landmark Daubert decision have had a significant impact on numerous areas of legal dispute. Toxic tort litigation, in particular, has been transformed by the standards.