190 research outputs found
Focal mechanisms in the southern Aegean from temporary seismic networks – implications for the regional stress field and ongoing deformation processes
The lateral variation of the stress field in the southern Aegean
plate and the subducting Hellenic slab is determined from recordings
of seismicity obtained with the CYCNET and EGELADOS networks in the
years from 2002 to 2007. First motions from 7000 well-located
microearthquakes were analysed to produce 540 well-constrained focal
mechanisms. They were complemented by another 140 derived by
waveform matching of records from larger events. Most of these
earthquakes fall into 16 distinct spatial clusters distributed over
the southern Aegean region. For each cluster, a stress inversion
could be carried out yielding consistent estimates of the stress
field and its spatial variation. At crustal levels, the stress field
is generally dominated by a steeply dipping compressional principal
stress direction except in places where coupling of the subducting
slab and overlying plate come into play. Tensional principal
stresses are generally subhorizontal. Just behind the forearc, the
crust is under arc-parallel tension whereas in the volcanic areas
around Kos, Columbo and Astypalea tensional and intermediate
stresses are nearly degenerate. Further west and north, in the
Santorini–Amorgos graben and in the area of the islands of Mykonos,
Andros and Tinos, tensional stresses are significant and point
around the NW–SE direction. Very similar stress fields are observed
in western Turkey with the tensional axis rotated to
NNE–SSW. Intermediate-depth earthquakes below 100 km in the
Nisyros region indicate that the Hellenic slab experiences
slab-parallel tension at these depths. The direction of tension is
close to east–west and thus deviates from the local NW-oriented slab
dip presumably owing to the segmentation of the slab. Beneath the
Cretan sea, at shallower levels, the slab is under NW–SE
compression.
Tensional principal stresses in the crust exhibit very good alignment with
extensional strain rate principal axes derived from GPS velocities
except in volcanic areas, where both appear to be unrelated,
and in the forearc where compressional principal stresses are
very well aligned with compressional principal strain rates. This finding
indicates that, except for volcanic areas, microseismic activity in
the southern Aegean is not controlled by small-scale local stresses
but rather reflects the regional stress field.
The lateral and depth variations of the stress field
reflect the various agents that influence tectonics in the Aegean:
subduction of the Hellenic slab, incipient collision with
continental African lithosphere, roll back of the slab in the
southeast, segmentation of the slab, arc volcanism and extension of
the Aegean crust
Receiver function images of the Hellenic subduction zone and comparison to microseismicity
New combined P receiver functions and seismicity data obtained from the
EGELADOS network employing 65 seismological stations within the Aegean
constrained new information on the geometry of the Hellenic subduction zone.
The dense network and large data set enabled us to estimate the Moho depth of
the continental Aegean plate across the whole area. Presence of a negative
contrast at the Moho boundary indicating the serpentinized mantle wedge above
the subducting African plate was seen along the entire forearc. Furthermore,
low seismicity was observed within the serpentinized mantle wedge. We found a
relatively thick continental crust (30–43 km) with a maximum thickness of
about 48 km beneath the Peloponnese Peninsula, whereas a thinner crust of
about 27–30 km was observed beneath western Turkey. The crust of the
overriding plate is thinning beneath the southern and central Aegean and
reaches 23–27 km. Unusual low Vp / Vs ratios were estimated beneath the
central Aegean, which most likely represent indications on the pronounced
felsic character of the extended continental Aegean crust. Moreover, P
receiver functions imaged the subducted African Moho as a strong converted
phase down to a depth of about 100 km. However, the converted Moho phase
appears to be weak for the deeper parts of the African plate suggesting nearly
complete phase transitions of crustal material into denser phases. We show the
subducting African crust along eight profiles covering the whole southern and
central Aegean. Seismicity of the western Hellenic subduction zone was taken
from the relocated EHB-ISC catalogue, whereas for the eastern Hellenic
subduction zone, we used the catalogues of manually picked hypocentre
locations of temporary networks within the Aegean. Accurate hypocentre
locations reveal a significant change in the dip angle of the Wadati–Benioff
zone (WBZ) from west (~ 25°) to the eastern part (~ 35°) of the Hellenic
subduction zone. Furthermore, a zone of high deformation can be characterized
by a vertical offset of about 40 km of the WBZ beneath the eastern Cretan Sea.
This deformation zone may separate a shallower N-ward dipping slab in the west
from a steeper NW-ward dipping slab in the east. In contrast to hypocentre
locations, we found very weak evidence for the presence of the slab at larger
depths in the P receiver functions, which may result from the strong
appearance of the Moho multiples as well as eclogitization of the oceanic
crust. The presence of the top of a strong low-velocity zone at about 60 km
depth in the central Aegean may be related to the asthenosphere below the
Aegean continental lithosphere and above the subducting slab. Thus, the Aegean
mantle lithosphere seems to be 30–40 km thick, which means that its thickness
increased again since the removal of the mantle lithosphere about 15 to 35 Ma
ago
Chronic viral infection promotes sustained Th1-derived immunoregulatory IL-10 via BLIMP-1
During the course of many chronic viral infections, the antiviral T cell response becomes attenuated through a process that is regulated in part by the host. While elevated expression of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10 is involved in the suppression of viral-specific T cell responses, the relevant cellular sources of IL-10, as well as the pathways responsible for IL-10 induction, remain unclear. In this study, we traced IL-10 production over the course of chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection in an IL-10 reporter mouse line. Using this model, we demonstrated that virus-specific T cells with reduced inflammatory function, particularly Th1 cells, display elevated and sustained IL-10 expression during chronic LCMV infection. Furthermore, ablation of IL-10 from the T cell compartment partially restored T cell function and reduced viral loads in LCMV-infected animals. We found that viral persistence is needed for sustained IL-10 production by Th1 cells and that the transcription factor BLIMP-1 is required for IL-10 expression by Th1 cells. Restimulation of Th1 cells from LCMV-infected mice promoted BLIMP-1 and subsequent IL-10 expression, suggesting that constant antigen exposure likely induces the BLIMP-1/IL-10 pathway during chronic viral infection. Together, these data indicate that effector T cells self-limit their responsiveness during persistent viral infection via an IL-10-dependent negative feedback loop.This work was supported by an Australian NHMRC Overseas Biomedical Postdoctoral Fellowship (to I.A. Parish); a Yale School of Medicine Brown-Coxe Postdoctoral Fellowship (to I.A. Parish); the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (SKA2010, to P.A. Lang); a CIHR grant (to P.S. Ohashi); and by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and NIH grant RO1AI074699 (to S.M. Kaech). P.S. Ohashi holds a Canada Research Chair in Autoimmunity and Tumor immunity
Pumilio-2 Function in the Mouse Nervous System
Coordinated mRNA translation at the synapse is increasingly recognized as a critical mechanism for neuronal regulation. Pumilio, a translational regulator, is known to be involved in neuronal homeostasis and memory formation in Drosophila. Most recently, the mammalian Pumilio homolog Pumilio-2 (Pum2) has been found to play a role in the mammalian nervous system, in particular in regulating morphology, arborization and excitability of neuronal dendrites, in vitro. However, the role of Pum2 in vivo remains unclear. Here, we report our investigation of the functional and molecular consequences of Pum2 disruption in vivo using an array of neurophysiology, behavioral and gene expression profiling techniques. We used Pum2-deficient mice to monitor in vivo brain activity using EEG and to study behavior traits, including memory, locomotor activity and nesting capacities. Because of the suspected role of Pum2 in neuronal excitability, we also examined the susceptibility to seizure induction. Finally, we used a quantitative gene expression profiling assay to identify key molecular partners of Pum2. We found that Pum2-deficient mice have abnormal behavioral strategies in spatial and object memory test. Additionally, Pum2 deficiency is associated with increased locomotor activity and decreased body weight. We also observed environmentally-induced impairment in nesting behavior. Most importantly, Pum2-deficient mice showed spontaneous EEG abnormalities and had lower seizure thresholds using a convulsing dosage of pentylenetetrazole. Finally, some genes, including neuronal ion channels, were differentially expressed in the hippocampus of Pum2-deficient mice. These findings demonstrate that Pum2 serves key functions in the adult mammalian central nervous system encompassing neuronal excitability and behavioral response to environmental challenges
Systemic Inflammation Predicts Alzheimer Pathology in Community Samples without Dementia
Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress (OS) are implicated in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, it is unclear at what stage of the disease process inflammation first becomes manifest. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between specific plasma markers of inflammation and OS, tau, and Amyloid-β 38, 40, and 42 levels in cognitively unimpaired middle-age and older individuals. Associations between inflammatory states identified through principal component analysis and AD biomarkers were investigated in middle-age (52–56 years, n = 335, 52% female) and older-age (72–76 years, n = 351, 46% female) participants without dementia. In middle-age, a component reflecting variation in OS was most strongly associated with tau and to a lesser extent amyloid-β levels. In older-age, a similar component to that observed in middle-age was only associated with tau, while another component reflecting heightened inflammation independent of OS, was associated with all AD biomarkers. In middle and older-age, inflammation and OS states are associated with plasma AD biomarkers
Torsion pairs and rigid objects in tubes
We classify the torsion pairs in a tube category and show that they are in
bijection with maximal rigid objects in the extension of the tube category
containing the Pruefer and adic modules. We show that the annulus geometric
model for the tube category can be extended to the larger category and
interpret torsion pairs, maximal rigid objects and the bijection between them
geometrically. We also give a similar geometric description in the case of the
linear orientation of a Dynkin quiver of type A.Comment: 25 pages, 13 figures. Paper shortened. Minor errors correcte
Enhanced TCR-induced Apoptosis in Interferon Regulatory Factor 4–deficient CD4+ Th Cells
Transcription factors of the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family contribute to the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Here, we show that CD4+ T helper (Th) cells lacking IRF4 (IRF4−/−) are highly sensitive to apoptosis. After infection of IRF4−/− mice with the protozoan parasite Leishmania major, the lesion-draining lymph nodes developed the prototypic lymphadenopathy of wild-type mice after 4 wk, but demonstrated almost total loss of cellularity and enhanced apoptosis after 7 wk. In vitro, activation of IRF4−/− CD4+ Th cells led to greatly increased apoptosis compared with wild-type cells. Coculture of IRF4−/− and IRF4+/+ CD4+ cells did not increase survival of IRF4−/− CD4+ cells, indicating that the enhanced rate of IRF4−/− Th cell apoptosis was neither transferable nor due to lack of a cytokine. Enhanced CD4+ cell apoptosis was also observed after anti-CD95 mAb treatment, despite normal CD95 expression. Removal of endogenous cytokines, notably interleukin (IL)-4, led to increased and equally high levels of IRF4−/− and IRF4+/+ cell apoptosis, whereas the protective activity of exogenous IL-4 was reduced in IRF4−/− CD4+ cells despite normal expression of the IL-4 receptor. Therefore, IRF4 is central in protecting CD4+ cells against proapoptotic stimuli
Cycle-finite module categories
We describe the structure of module categories of finite dimensional algebras
over an algebraically closed field for which the cycles of nonzero
nonisomorphisms between indecomposable finite dimensional modules are finite
(do not belong to the infinite Jacobson radical of the module category).
Moreover, geometric and homological properties of these module categories are
exhibited
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