In the version of this article initially published, a sentence in the fifth paragraph of the Results read, "Immunohistochemistry revealed that VGLUT2 MPA neurons rarely expressed CaMKIIα, which is a putative marker for subcortical glutamatergic neurons." It should have read, "Immunohistochemistry revealed that CaMKIIα MPA neurons rarely expressed VGLUT2, which is a putative marker for subcortical glutamatergic neurons." The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs animals forage, they must obtain useful targets by orchestrating appropriate actions that range from searching to chasing, biting and carrying. Here, we reveal that neurons positive for the α subunit of Ca/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKIIα) in the medial preoptic area (MPA) that send projections to the ventral periaqueductal gray (vPAG) mediate these target-directed actions in mice. During photostimulation of the MPA-vPAG circuit, mice vigorously engaged with 3D objects and chased moving objects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite recent advances in molecular simulation technologies, analysis of high-molecular-weight structures is still challenging. Here, we propose an automated model reduction procedure aiming to enable modular analysis of these structures. It employs a component mode synthesis for the reduction of finite element protein models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, several studies have been carried out on the direct control of behavior in insects and other lower animals in order to apply these behaviors to the performance of specialized tasks in an attempt to find more efficient means of carrying out these tasks than artificial intelligence agents. While most of the current methods cause involuntary behavior in animals by electronically stimulating the corresponding brain area or muscle, we show that, in turtles, it is also possible to control certain types of behavior, such as movement trajectory, by evoking an appropriate voluntary instinctive behavior. We have found that causing a particular behavior, such as obstacle avoidance, by providing a specific visual stimulus results in effective control of the turtle's movement.
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