4,291 research outputs found
Asteroseismology of KIC 8263801:Is it a member of NGC 6866 and a red clump star?
We present an asteroseismic analysis of the Kepler light curve of KIC
8263801, a red-giant star in the open cluster NGC 6866 that has previously been
reported to be a helium-burning red-clump star. We extracted the frequencies of
the radial and quadrupole modes from its frequency power spectrum and
determined its properties using a grid of evolutionary models constructed with
MESA. The oscillation frequencies were calculated using the GYRE code and the
surface term was corrected using the Ball & Gizon(2014) prescription. We find
that the star has a mass of , age Gyr and radius . By analyzing the internal
structure of the best-fitting model, we infer the evolutionary status of the
star KIC 8263801 as being on the ascending part of the red giant branch, and
not on the red clump. This result is verified using a purely asteroseismic
diagnostic, the diagram which can distinguish red
giant branch stars from red clump stars. Finally, by comparing its age with NGC
6866 ( Gyr) we conclude that KIC 8263801 is not a member of
this open cluster
Identifying plant cell wall remnants in detritus of a subtropical wetland with fluorescence labeling
Sediment accretion in wetlands represents a significant carbon burial pathway. While litter studies can quantify the loss rates of plant leaf material, those studies do not provide insight into the specific cell wall polymers being retained or lost within the detrital matrix. The Everglades ecosystem has been dramatically altered due to anthropogenic eutrophication and hydrologic modifications. The results are changes in macrophyte species composition and sediment accretion- and loss- rates. To improve ecological conditions, active management strategies are re-establishing open water slough environments. A question remains about the persistence of new- and old- plant cell wall material in sediments because of active management. In this pilot project we utilized immuno-fluorescence labeling with lectins applied to plant leaf material and detrital flocculent collected from created open and control plots in the Everglades to observe the presence, absence, and overlap of specific cell wall polymers between macrophytes and detrital flocculent in increasingly recalcitrant materials that would most likely contribute to peat accumulation. The persistence and loss of specific polymers between treatment and control plots provided insight into the differing levels of recalcitrance amongst plant cell walls and their relative potential as a carbon sink. This study provides a novel method for testing for the presence and persistence of specific cell wall polymers in detritus to gain a better understanding of plant material persistence in wetland ecosystems
Low-level environmental lead exposure in childhood and adult intellectual function: a follow-up study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early life lead exposure might be a risk factor for neurocognitive impairment in adulthood.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>We sought to assess the relationship between early life environmental lead exposure and intellectual function in adulthood. We also attempted to identify which time period blood-lead concentrations are most predictive of adult outcome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We recruited adults in the Boston area who had participated as newborns and young children in a prospective cohort study that examined the relationship between lead exposure and childhood intellectual function. IQ was measured using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI). The association between lead concentrations and IQ scores was examined using linear regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Forty-three adults participated in neuropsychological testing. Childhood blood-lead concentration (mean of the blood-lead concentrations at ages 4 and 10 years) had the strongest relationship with Full-Scale IQ (Ī² = -1.89 Ā± 0.70, p = 0.01). Full-scale IQ was also significantly related to blood-lead concentration at age 6 months (Ī² = -1.66 Ā± 0.75, p = 0.03), 4 years (Ī² = -0.90 Ā± 0.41, p = 0.03) and 10 years (Ī² = -1.95 Ā± 0.80, p = 0.02). Adjusting for maternal IQ altered the significance of the regression coefficient.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study suggests that lead exposure in childhood predicts intellectual functioning in young adulthood. Our results also suggest that school-age lead exposure may represent a period of increased susceptibility. Given the small sample size, however, the potentially confounding effects of maternal IQ cannot be excluded and should be evaluated in a larger study.</p
Observational predictions for Thorne-\.Zytkow objects
Thorne-ytkow objects (TO) are potential end products of the merger
of a neutron star with a non-degenerate star. In this work, we have computed
the first grid of evolutionary models of TOs with the MESA stellar
evolution code. With these models, we predict several observational properties
of TOs, including their surface temperatures and luminosities, pulsation
periods, and nucleosynthetic products. We expand the range of possible TO
solutions to cover and
. Due to the much
higher densities our TOs reach compared to previous models, if TOs
form we expect them to be stable over a larger mass range than previously
predicted, without exhibiting a gap in their mass distribution. Using the GYRE
stellar pulsation code we show that TOs should have fundamental pulsation
periods of 1000--2000 days, and period ratios of 0.2--0.3. Models
computed with a large 399 isotope fully-coupled nuclear network show a
nucleosynthetic signal that is different to previously predicted. We propose a
new nucleosynthetic signal to determine a star's status as a TO: the
isotopologues and , which will
have a shift in their spectral features as compared to stable
titanium-containing molecules. We find that in the local Universe (~SMC
metallicities and above) TOs show little heavy metal enrichment,
potentially explaining the difficulty in finding TOs to-date.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, 3 Tables, Sumbitedd to MNRAS, Zenodo data
available https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.453442
Low-level environmental lead exposure in childhood and adult intellectual function: a follow-up study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early life lead exposure might be a risk factor for neurocognitive impairment in adulthood.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>We sought to assess the relationship between early life environmental lead exposure and intellectual function in adulthood. We also attempted to identify which time period blood-lead concentrations are most predictive of adult outcome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We recruited adults in the Boston area who had participated as newborns and young children in a prospective cohort study that examined the relationship between lead exposure and childhood intellectual function. IQ was measured using the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI). The association between lead concentrations and IQ scores was examined using linear regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Forty-three adults participated in neuropsychological testing. Childhood blood-lead concentration (mean of the blood-lead concentrations at ages 4 and 10 years) had the strongest relationship with Full-Scale IQ (Ī² = -1.89 Ā± 0.70, p = 0.01). Full-scale IQ was also significantly related to blood-lead concentration at age 6 months (Ī² = -1.66 Ā± 0.75, p = 0.03), 4 years (Ī² = -0.90 Ā± 0.41, p = 0.03) and 10 years (Ī² = -1.95 Ā± 0.80, p = 0.02). Adjusting for maternal IQ altered the significance of the regression coefficient.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study suggests that lead exposure in childhood predicts intellectual functioning in young adulthood. Our results also suggest that school-age lead exposure may represent a period of increased susceptibility. Given the small sample size, however, the potentially confounding effects of maternal IQ cannot be excluded and should be evaluated in a larger study.</p
Anesthesia and cognitive performance in children: No evidence for a causal relationship
* Both authors contributed evenly to the manuscript Recent findings of an association between anesthesia administration in the first three years of life and later learning disabilities have created concerns that anesthesia has neurotoxic effects on synaptogenesis, causing later learning problems. An alternative hypothesis is that those children who are likely to undergo surgery early in life have significant medical problems that are associated with a vulnerability to learning disabilities. These two hypotheses were evaluated in a monozygotic concordantādiscordant twin design. Data on anesthesia administration and learning abilities and disabilities were available for 1,143 monozygotic twin pairs (56 % female) from the Netherlands Twin Registry. Parents of the twins reported on anesthesia use before age 3 and again between ages 3 and 12 years. Near age 12, educational achievement and cognitive problems were assessed with standardized tests and teacher ratings. Results showed that twins who were exposed to anesthesia before age 3 had significantly lower educational achievement scores and significantly more cognitive problems than twins not exposed to anesthesia. However, there was one important exception: the unexposed co-twin from discordant pairs did not differ from their exposed cotwin. Thus, there is no evidence for a causal relationship between anesthesia administration and later learning-related outcomes in this sample. Rather, there is evidence for early anesthesia being a marker of an individualās vulnerability for later learning problems, regardless of their exposure to anesthesia
Glutathione Peroxidase 4 is associated with Neuromelanin in Substantia Nigra and Dystrophic Axons in Putamen of Parkinson's brain
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized pathologically by the loss of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons that project from the substantia nigra in the midbrain to the putamen and caudate nuclei, leading to the clinical features of bradykinesia, rigidity, and rest tremor. Oxidative stress from oxidized dopamine and related compounds may contribute to the degeneration characteristic of this disease.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To investigate a possible role of the phospholipid hydroperoxidase glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) in protection from oxidative stress, we investigated GPX4 expression in postmortem human brain tissue from individuals with and without Parkinson's disease. In both control and Parkinson's samples, GPX4 was found in dopaminergic nigral neurons colocalized with neuromelanin. Overall GPX4 was significantly reduced in substantia nigra in Parkinson's vs. control subjects, but was increased relative to the cell density of surviving nigral cells. In putamen, GPX4 was concentrated within dystrophic dopaminergic axons in Parkinson's subjects, although overall levels of GPX4 were not significantly different compared to control putamen.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study demonstrates an up-regulation of GPX4 in neurons of substantia nigra and association of this protein with dystrophic axons in striatum of Parkinson's brain, indicating a possible neuroprotective role. Additionally, our findings suggest this enzyme may contribute to the production of neuromelanin.</p
What can rotational splittings of low-luminosity subgiants actually tell us about the rotation profile?
Context. Inversions of the rotation profile using rotationally induced
splittings of low-luminosity subgiant stars suggest that angular momentum
transport mechanisms must be 1-2 orders of magnitude more efficient than theory
predicts. The lack of precise high resolution of measurements of the rotation
profile limits our understanding of the physical mechanism inducing excess
angular momentum transport. Rotational inversions of low-luminosity subgiant
stars are limited by current observations. Aims. We study the feasibility of
making precise constraints to the rotation profile between the core and surface
and the possibility of differentiating between rotation profile shapes using
the observed rotational splittings of low-luminosity subgiant KIC 12508433.
Methods. We use qualitative assumptions of extreme angular momentum transport
mechanisms to prescribe the shape of the five synthetic profiles with the same
core and surface rotation rates. We calculate the expected rotational
splittings given these five profiles and analyse the differences between them.
Markov chain Monte Carlo integration of the synthetic profiles using their
associated splittings highlights the limited differentiability between rotation
profiles that can currently be made. Results. Despite significant changes to
the shape of the rotation profile, the rotational splittings deviate on a scale
much smaller than the precision of splittings in current observations. We also
find degeneracy between the surface rotation rate and position of strong
differential rotation gradient of the inverted profiles. Conclusions.
Constraining the physical mechanism contributing to more efficient angular
momentum transport during the low-luminosity subgiant phase through the shape
of the profile is impossible with current observations of = 1 and 2
rotationally split modes.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl
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