Inhibition of neuronal peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ attenuates motor function improvement after spinal cord injury in rats.

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) causes secondary damage in injured and adjacent regions due to temporal deprivation of oxygen and energy supply. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is known to regulate cell survival mechanisms such as hypoxia, oxidative stress, inflammation and energy homeostasis in various tissues. Thus, PPARγ has the potential to show neuroprotective properties. However, the role of endogenous spinal PPARγ in SCI is not well established. In this study, under isoflurane inhalation, a 10-g rod was freely dropped onto the exposed spinal cord after T10 laminectomy using a New York University impactor in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Cellular localization of spinal PPARγ, locomotor function and mRNA levels of various genes including NFκB-targeted pro-inflammatory mediators after intrathecal administration of PPARγ antagonists, agonists or vehicles in SCI rats were then analysed. In both sham and SCI rats, spinal PPARγ was presented in neurons but not in microglia or astrocytes. Inhibition of PPARγ induced IκB activation and increased mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory mediators. It also suppressed recovery of locomotor function with myelin-related gene expression in SCI rats. However, a PPARγ agonist showed no beneficial effects on the locomotor performances of SCI rats, although it further increased the protein expression of PPARγ. In conclusion, endogenous PPARγ has a role in anti-inflammation after SCI. Inhibition of PPARγ might have a negative influence on motor function recovery through accelerated neuroinflammation. Nonetheless, exogenous PPARγ activation does not appear to effectively help with functional improvement after SCI.

Decomposed Entropy and Estimation of Output Power in Deformed Microcavity Lasers.

Park et al. showed that the Shannon entropy of the probability distribution of a single random variable for far-field profiles (FFPs) in deformed microcavity lasers can efficiently measure the directionality of deformed microcavity lasers. In this study, we instead consider two random variables of FFPs with joint probability distributions and introduce the decomposed (Shannon) entropy for the peak intensities of directional emissions. This provides a new foundation such that the decomposed entropy can estimate the degree of the output power at given FFPs without any further information.

Observation of a half-illuminated mode in an open Penrose cavity.

The illumination problem in mathematics questions the existence of a bounded region in which light rays from a point light source do not illuminate the whole region. Since Penrose disproved the illumination problem with elliptical reflective boundaries, the interest has mostly remained in ray optics mainly because there can be no completely dark region for light waves due to diffraction. Here, in a two-dimensional Penrose cavity with elliptical boundaries, we report experimental observation of a symmetry-broken mode in the long-wavelength regime with the half of the cavity region with reflection symmetry almost unilluminated in the steady state. The half-illuminated mode (HIM) was observed in an acoustic cavity by using the schlieren method. The HIM originated from the coherent superposition of near-degenerate modes, among which two scarred modes with opposite parities played a major role. The illuminated part of the HIM could be even flipped by choosing different coefficients in the coherent superposition of the participating modes. The HIM of the Penrose cavity provides new perspective to the illumination problem in an open system.

Simultaneous determination of the shape and refractive index of a deformed microjet cavity from its resonances.

Measuring the boundary shape of a deformed liquid microjet is of great importance for using it as an optical resonator for various applications. However, there have been technical challenges due to transparency and uncertainty in the refractive index of the liquid. In this study, we have developed a spectroscopic technique that enables simultaneous determination of the boundary shape and the refractive index of a liquid deformed microjet. A detailed procedure of the technique based on imposition of one-to-one correspondence between experimentally observed resonances and numerically calculated ones are presented along with the measurement results including the refractive index of ethanol between a wavelength of 550 nm and 670 nm.

Practical lineshape of a laser operating near an exceptional point.

We present a practical laser linewidth broadening phenomenon in the viewpoint of high sensitivity of an exceptional point (EP). A stochastic simulation model is implemented to describe the fluctuations in the cavity resonance frequencies. The linewidth originated from external noises are maximized at the EP. The linewidth enhancement factor behaves similarly to the Petermann factor although the Petermann effect is not considered. In the long coherence time limit, the power spectral density of the laser exhibits a splitting in the vicinity of the EP although the cavity eigenfrequencies coalesce at the EP.

Relative Entropy as a Measure of Difference between Hermitian and Non-Hermitian Systems.

We employ the relative entropy as a measure to quantify the difference of eigenmodes between Hermitian and non-Hermitian systems in elliptic optical microcavities. We have found that the average value of the relative entropy in the range of the collective Lamb shift is large, while that in the range of self-energy is small. Furthermore, the weak and strong interactions in the non-Hermitian system exhibit rather different behaviors in terms of the relative entropy, and thus it displays an obvious exchange of eigenmodes in the elliptic microcavity.

Schlieren-style stroboscopic nonscan imaging of the field-amplitudes of acoustic whispering gallery modes.

We report a schlieren-style stroboscopic phase-contrast field-amplitude imaging of two-dimensional acoustic whispering gallery modes in a circular shell cavity immersed in liquid. A schlieren signal is combined with a presplit reference beam to enable nonscan field-amplitude imaging. Excitation mechanisms of standing and traveling eigenmodes, respectively, are analyzed with acoustic ray simulations presented in a Poincaré surface of sections. The time evolutions for both standing and traveling eigenmodes are reconstructed using the stroboscopic capability.

Maximal Shannon entropy in the vicinity of an exceptional point in an open microcavity.

The Shannon entropy as a measure of information contents is investigated around an exceptional point (EP) in an open elliptical microcavity as a non-Hermitian system. The Shannon entropy is maximized near the EP in the parameter space for two interacting modes, but the exact maximum position is slightly off the EP toward the weak interaction region while the slopes of the Shannon entropies diverge at the EP. The Shannon entropies also show discontinuity across a specific line in the parameter space, directly related to the exchange of the Shannon entropy as well as the mode patterns with that line as a boundary. This feature results in a nontrivial topological structure of the Shannon entropy surfaces.

Alterations in protein expression patterns of spinal peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors after spinal cord injury.

Objectives: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) control wound healing processes in damaged tissues. PPAR agonists have neuroprotective effects in spinal cord injury (SCI); however, isotype-specific roles of PPARs are not well understood. Therefore, we evaluated protein expression changes for three isotypes of PPARs at different time points and locations relative to the epicenter after SCI in rats. Methods: A 10-g rod was dropped on the spinal cord which located at the T10 vertebra of rats from a height of 6.25, 12.5, or 50 mm using New York University impactor. We collected the spinal cord at 6, 12, 24, and 72 h and 1, 3, and 5 weeks after SCI. The protein expression of PPARs was analyzed using western blot. Results: The protein expression of PPAR-α declined gradually up to 5 weeks at the epicenter. PPAR-ß/δ expression increased from 3 days to 5 weeks at the caudal region, but decreased at the epicenter in the severe injury group. PPAR-γ expression increased significantly at all regions in all three injury groups up to 5 weeks after SCI and increased to a greater extent in the severe injury group. In addition, PPAR-ß/δ controlled protein expression of PPAR-α positively, and -γ negatively. Conclusions: The present results suggest that different PPAR isotypes have varied protein expression patterns at the epicenter and in adjacent regions after SCI. Our results suggest that PPARs may have overlapping but distinct roles. These findings will be useful for further studies investigating PPARs in neurological disorders including SCI.

Shannon entropy and avoided crossings in closed and open quantum billiards.

The relation between Shannon entropy and avoided crossings is investigated in dielectric microcavities. The Shannon entropy of the probability density for eigenfunctions in an open elliptic billiard as well as a closed quadrupole billiard increases as the center of the avoided crossing is approached. These results are opposite to those of atomic physics for electrons. It is found that the collective Lamb shift of the open quantum system and the symmetry breaking in the closed chaotic quantum system have equivalent effects on the Shannon entropy.

Analysis of broad emission direction in a spiral-shaped microcavity laser.

Broad emission direction with two lobes is analyzed in a spiral-shaped microcavity laser. By pumping the boundary of the InGaAsP semiconductor laser with dc current injection, whispering-gallery-type modes emitting through a notch are obtained. By classifying the lasing modes into mode groups based on the equidistant mode spacing, it is shown that each mode group has its own emission direction with a narrow divergence angle and that a superposition of emission direction of dominant mode groups reproduces a far-field pattern of total intensity with two lobes, which is contrary to theoretical results.