https://www.ingber.com/smni14_eeg_ca_JTB_reviews.txt Reviews and Press Releases Contents @@Reviews @@Press Releases The main reference is: L. Ingber, M. Pappalepore, and R.R. Stesiak, "Electroencephalographic field influence on calcium momentum waves," Journal of Theoretical Biology 343, 138-153 (2014). [ URL https://www.ingber.com/smni14_eeg_ca.pdf and http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2013.11.002 ] @@Reviews All reviewer recommendations were addressed in the subsequent paper. Oct 24, 2013 Ms. No.: JTB-D-13-00645 Title: Electroencephalographic field influence on calcium momentum waves Corresponding Author: Prof. Lester Ingber All Authors: Lester Ingber, PhD; Marco Pappalepore; Ronald R Stesiak Dear Prof. Ingber, Below please find reviewer comments for the above-mentioned article. ... Reviewers' comments: Reviewer #1: This paper presents remarkable work on an important region of intersection of biological and physical processes, extending previously publicated classical calculations to the quantum theoretical domain and showing that results are compatible. The SMNI Lagrangian is possibly the most comprehensive approach to electromagnetic interactions in the brain. The paper also presents original and highly relevant approaches to neuro-astroglial interactions and the mechanisms underpinning ionic coherence in the brain in the millisecond range. I have some minor remarks: a) The field vector A could also include membrane graded potentials besides axonal firings. Graded potentials are also phase-locked, as publications on neuronal synchrony have shown. This calculation would reinforce the claim that neuronal local fields have the strenght to impact the momentum of astroglial calcium ions in their surroundings; b) The distinction of "bottom up" and "top down" is not absolute. As neurons and astrocytes influence each other, depending on the goals of the analysis, we can also consider the action of astrocytes on neurons as a "top down" signal; c) maybe the authors could include references to a recent revival of the "ephaptic" hypothesis by C Koch and colleagues (there are other papers besides reference n. 81); and d) if convenient, please give more information about the experiment with alcoholic subjects. In sum, I believe the paper is an excellent contribution to a multiscale, interdisciplinary view of brain function and should be published by JTB. I hope this work to become a classic to be used in textbooks in the near future. Reviewer #2: The paper presents a theoretical physical approach to biological phenomena in the brain, so its scope is appropriate to the JTB. More specifically, the paper is part of a research program that uses a very sophisticated computational model for describing the electromagnetic fields within the brain, called "statistical mechanics of neocortical interactions" (SMNI), which in this paper includes explicit consideration of the vector potential A (associated to the EM fields). In this paper, the authors calculate the top-down effect of the EM fields generated in the brain (by columnar EEG firings) upon the calcium waves in glial cells, showing that the effect is significant, being 100 times stronger than the momentum of the calcium ions. After presenting these results, the authors review their theory, speculating on possible quantum mechanical effects on the calcium waves. They then present a summary of their current projects, especially their study on the genetic predispositions to alcoholism, in order to test the usefulness of including the vector potential A in their calculations. They conclude that the "A model" rates better that their "non-A model". The paper is not easy to read, with its intricate presentation of theoretical physics and data analysis. But the subject matter is difficult, and as far as one can tell, the approach is a good candidate for uncovering at least some small part of the complex physical mechanisms underlying the emergence of consciousness in the brain. The paper is well written and well argued, and I was unable to find errors, besides some minor typos, such as "100's to 100's" on p. 10. I would also omit the word "strong", when mentioning the "strong possibility of magnetic influences" on p. 3, since in the following phrase the authors state that the mechanism is only a "proposed" one. The main author also includes 22 citations of his other works, which seems a bit exaggerated, and should be cut to half that number. @@Press Releases Feb 18, 2014 Institute of Physics (IOP) Announcement Members of the Computational Physics Group interested in code parallelisation and optimisation are invited to consider the following invitation from Prof Lester Ingber to participate in using XSEDE.org parallel computer resources: "I have a computer grant to use NSF.gov XSEDE.org parallel computers. Some work has been done on the main projects proposes. However, there are several subprojects that are available for people to work on. Perhaps of interest to the Computational Physics Group are two projects: parallelizing existing code and optimisation (ASA, PATHINT, PATHFREE codes). These codes have been used in previous publications. The work is on a volunteer bases and the grant covers the computer resources. If you are interested please visit the following page for further information https://www.ingber.com/lir_computational_physics_group.html " Jesus Rogel Honorary Secretary, Computational Physics Group XSEDE Releases April 1, 2014 The Mechanism of Short-term Memory Calculating the Top-down Activities of the Brain By Scott Gibson https://www.xsede.org/mechanism-of-short-term-memory April 14, 2014 Health & Medicine Science & Engineering The Mechanism of Short-term Memory SDSCs Trestles supercomputer used to calculate the top-down activities of the brain By Jan Zverina http://www.sdsc.edu/News%20Items/PR041414_short_term_memory.html http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/the_mechanism_of_short_term_memory http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/2792 $Id: smni14_eeg_ca_JTB_reviews.txt,v 1.5 2014/04/15 13:43:25 ingber Exp ingber $