Firefighter - Lebanon Fire District

LEBANON FIRE DISTRICT 1050 WEST OAK STREET LEBANON, OREGON 97355 Updated: April 27, 2016 Job Classification: Firefighter Lebanon Fire District is currently hiring for Firefighter. All testing through National Testing Network (NTN) must be completed May 20th, 2016 at 5:00 pm PDT. Salary Information: $4739 - $5960 monthly plus incentives (Effective July 1, 2016) Benefit Information: Health, dental and ...

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Neurophysiological analytics for all! Free open-source software tools for documenting, analyzing, visualizing, and sharing using electronic notebooks

Neurophysiology requires an extensive workflow of information analysis routines, which often includes incompatible proprietary software, introducing limitations based on financial costs, transfer of data between platforms, and the ability to share. An ecosystem of free open-source software exists to fill these gaps, including 1000's of analysis and plotting packages written in Python and R, which can be implemented in a sharable and reproducible format, such as the Jupyter electronic notebook. This tool chain can largely replace current routines by importing data, producing analyses, and generating publication quality graphics. An electronic notebook, like Jupyter, allows these analyses, along with documentation of procedures, to display locally or remotely in an internet browser, which can be saved as an HTML, PDF, or other file format for sharing with team members and the scientific community. The current report illustrates these methods using data from electrophysiological recordings of the musk shrew vagus - a model system to investigate gut-brain communication, for example, cancer chemotherapy-induced emesis. We show methods for spike sorting (including statistical validation), spike train analysis, and analysis of compound action potentials in notebooks. Raw data and code are available from notebooks in Data Supplements or from an executable online version, which replicates all analyses without installing software - an implementation of reproducible research. This demonstrates the promise of combining disparate analyses into one platform, along with the ease of sharing this work. In an age of diverse, high-throughput computational workflows, this methodology can increase efficiency, transparency, and the collaborative potential of neurophysiological research.

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Assessment of the expression and role of the {alpha}1 nAChR subunit in efferent cholinergic function during the development of the mammalian cochlea

Hair cell (HC) activity in the mammalian cochlea is modulated by cholinergic efferent inputs from the brainstem. These inhibitory inputs are mediated by calcium-permeable nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) containing α9 and α10 subunits and by subsequent activation of calcium-dependent potassium channels. Intriguingly, mRNAs of α1 and nAChRs, subunits of the 'muscle-type' nAChR have also been found in developing HCs (Cai et al. 2015; Scheffer et al. 2007; Sinkkonen et al. 2011) prompting proposals that another type of nAChR is present and may be critical during early synaptic development. Mouse genetics, histochemistry, pharmacology and whole-cell recording approaches were combined to test the role of α1 nAChR subunit in HC efferent synapse formation and cholinergic function. The onset of α1 mRNA expression in mouse HCs was found to coincide with the onset of the ACh response and efferent synaptic function. However, in mouse inner hair cells (IHCs) no response to the muscle-type nAChR agonists (±)-anatoxin A, (±)-epibatidine, (-)-nicotine or DMPP was detected, arguing against the presence of an independent functional α1-containing muscle-type nAChR in IHCs. In α1 deficient mice, no obvious change of IHC efferent innervation was detected at E18, contrary to the hyperinnervation observed at the neuromuscular junction. Additionally, ACh response and efferent synaptic activity were detectable in α1 deficient IHCs, suggesting that α1 is not necessary for assembly and membrane targeting of nAChRs, or for efferent synapse formation in IHCs.

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Saccadic adaptation to a systematically varying disturbance

Saccadic adaptation maintains the correct mapping between eye movements and their targets, yet the dynamics of saccadic gain changes in the presence of systematically varying disturbances has not been extensively studied. Here, we assessed changes in the gain of saccade amplitudes induced by continuous and periodic post-saccadic visual feedback. Observers made saccades following a sequence of target steps either along the horizontal meridian (Two-way adaptation) or with unconstrained saccade directions (Global adaptation). An intra-saccadic step-following a sinusoidal variation as a function of the trial number (with three different frequencies tested in separate blocks)-consistently displaced the target along its vector. The oculomotor system responded to the resulting feedback error by modifying saccade amplitudes in a periodic fashion with similar frequency of variation but lagging the disturbance by a few trials. This periodic response was superimposed on a drift towards stronger hypometria with similar asymptotes and decay rates across stimulus conditions. The magnitude of the periodic response decreased with increasing frequency and was smaller and more delayed for Global than Two-way adaptation. These results suggest that-in addition to the well-characterized return-to-the-baseline response observed in protocols using constant visual feedback-the oculomotor system attempts to minimize the feedback error by integrating its variation across trials. This process resembles a convolution with an internal response function, whose structure would be determined by coefficients of the learning model. Our protocol reveals this fast learning process in single short experimental sessions, qualifying it for the study of sensorimotor learning in health and disease.

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Maintaining balance against force perturbations: impaired mechanisms unresponsive to levodopa in Parkinson's disease.

There is evidence that postural instability associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) is not adequately improved by levodopa, implying involvement of non-dopaminergic pathways. However, the mechanisms contributing to postural instability have yet to be fully identified and tested for their levodopa responsiveness. Here we investigate balance processes that resist external forces to the body when standing. These include in-place responses, and the transition to protective stepping. Forward and backward shoulder pulls were delivered using two force-feedback-controlled motors and were randomised for direction, magnitude and onset. Sixteen PD patients were tested OFF and ON levodopa and 16 healthy controls were tested twice. Response behaviour was quantified from 3-D ground reaction forces and kinematic measurements of body segments and total body centre of mass (CoM) motion. In-place responses resisting the pull were significantly smaller in PD as reflected in reduced horizontal antero-posterior ground-reaction force and increased CoM displacement. Ankle, knee and hip moments contributing to this resistance were smaller in PD, with the knee extensor moment to backward pulls being the most affected. The threshold force needed to evoke a step was also smaller for PD in the forward direction. Protective steps evoked by supra-threshold pulls showed deficits in PD in the backward direction, with steps being shorter and more steps being required to arrest the body. Levodopa administration had no significant effect on either in-place or protective-stepping deficits. We conclude that processes employed to maintain balance in the face of external forces show impairment in PD consistent with disruption to non-dopaminergic systems.

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Accommodation to hyperpolarization of human axons assessed in the frequency domain

Human axons in vivo were subjected to subthreshold currents with a threshold-"ZAP" profile (Impedance [Z] Amplitude Profile) to allow the use of frequency domain techniques to determine the propensity for resonant behavior, and to clarify the relative contributions of different ion channels to their low-frequency responsiveness. Twenty-four studies were performed on the motor and sensory axons in 6 subjects. The response to oscillatory currents was tested between 'DC' and 16 Hz. A resonant peak at ~2 to 2.5 Hz was found in the response of hyperpolarized axons, but there was only a small broad response in axons at resting membrane potential (RMP). A mathematical model of axonal excitability developed using DC pulses provided a good fit to the frequency response for human axons, and indicated that the hyperpolarization-activated current I_h, and the slow potassium current I_Ks are principally responsible for the resonance. However the results indicate that if axons are hyperpolarized more than -60% of resting threshold, the only conductances that are appreciably active are I_h and the leak conductance - i.e., that the activity of these conductances can be studied in vivo virtually in isolation at hyperpolarized membrane potentials. Given that the leak conductance dampens resonance it is suggested that the -60% hyperpolarization used here is optimal for I_h. As expected differences between the frequency responses of motor and sensory axons were present and best explained by reduced G_Ks, up-modulation of I_h and increased persistent Na⁺ current, I_NaP (due to depolarization of RMP) in sensory axons.

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Computational modeling indicates that surface pressure can be reliably conveyed to tactile receptors even amidst changes in skin mechanics

Distinct patterns in neuronal firing are observed between classes of cutaneous afferents. Such differences may be attributed to end organ morphology, distinct ion-channel complements, and skin microstructure, among other factors. Even for just the slowly adapting type I afferent, the skin's mechanics for a particular specimen might impact the afferent's firing properties, especially given the thickness and elasticity of skin can change dramatically over just days. Here, we show computationally that the skin can reliably convey indentation magnitude, rate and spatial geometry to the locations of tactile receptors even amidst changes in skin's structure. Using finite element analysis and neural dynamics models, we considered the skin properties of six mice that span a representative cohort. Modeling the propagation of the surface stimulus to the interior of the skin demonstrated that there can be large variance in stresses and strains near the locations of tactile receptors, which can lead to large variance in static firing rate. However, variance is significantly reduced when the stimulus tip is controlled by surface pressure and compressive stress is measured near the end organs. This particular transformation affords the least variability in predicted firing rates compared to others derived from displacement, force, strain energy density or compressive strain. Amidst changing skin mechanics, stimulus control by surface pressure may be more naturalistic and optimal and underlie how animals actively explore the tactile environment.

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