2,111 research outputs found
The competitive NMDA antagonist CPP protects substantia nigra neurons from MPTP-induced degeneration in primates
Degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons is the primary histopathological feature of Parkinson's disease. The neurotoxin MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) induces a neurological syndrome in man and non-human primates very similar to idiopathic Parkinson's disease by selectively destroying dopaminergic nigrostriatal neurons. This gives rise to the hypothesis that Parkinson's disease may be caused by endogenous or environmental toxins. Endogenous excitatory amino acids (EAAs) such as L-glutamate could be involved in neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson's disease. We report in this study that the competitive NMDA antagonist CPP (3-((+/-)-2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-propyl-1-phosphonic acid) protects nigral tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive neurons from degeneration induced by systemic treatment with MPTP in common marmosets. This indicates that EAAs are involved in the pathophysiological cascade of MPTP-induced neuronal cell death and that EAA antagonists may offer a neuroprotective therapy for Parkinson's disease
Construction of the granitoid crust of an island arc part I: geochronological and geochemical constraints from the plutonic Kohistan (NW Pakistan)
We present major and trace element analyses and U-Pb zircon intrusion ages from I-type granitoids sampled along a crustal transect in the vicinity of the Chilas gabbronorite of the Kohistan paleo-arc. The aim is to investigate the roles of fractional crystallization of mantle-derived melts and partial melting of lower crustal amphibolites to produce the magmatic upper crust of an island arc. The analyzed samples span a wide calc-alkaline compositional range (diorite-tonalite-granodiorite-granite) and have typical subduction-related trace element signatures. Their intrusion ages (75.1±4.5-42.1±4.4Ma) are younger than the Chilas Complex (~85Ma). The new results indicate, in conjunction with literature data, that granitoid formation in the Kohistan arc was a continuous rather than punctuated process. Field observations and the presence of inherited zircons indicate the importance of assimilation processes. Field relations, petrographic observations and major and trace element compositions of the granitoid indicate the importance of amphibole fractionation for their origin. It is concluded that granitoids in the Kohistan arc are derivative products of mantle derived melts that evolved through amphibole-dominated fractionation and intra crustal assimilatio
Feedlot Performance and Carcass Traits of Cull Cows Fed for Slaughter
This trial was designed to evaluate how various factors impact the value added process of feeding cull cows. Specific management criteria evaluated included initial body condition, days on feed, implants, and cow age. Feedlot performance and carcass trait changes due to these factors were compared. Prolonging the feeding period from 50 to 77 or 105 days tended (P=.10) to increase average daily gain and dry matter intake (P\u3c.01) and had no (P\u3e.15) effect on feed/gain. This response is similar to short term adaptation and feeding of young cattle. Added days on feed increased (P\u3c.001) dressing percentage, ribeye area, and ribfat thickness while decreasing (P\u3c.001) lean age. Days on feed did not improve fat color. Older cows gained slower (P\u3c.001) and were lighter muscled than young cows. Longer feeding periods progressively increased the number of high quality carcasses produced
Asymptotic Conformal Yano--Killing Tensors for Schwarzschild Metric
The asymptotic conformal Yano--Killing tensor proposed in J. Jezierski, On
the relation between metric and spin-2 formulation of linearized Einstein
theory [GRG, in print (1994)] is analyzed for Schwarzschild metric and tensor
equations defining this object are given. The result shows that the
Schwarzschild metric (and other metrics which are asymptotically
``Schwarzschildean'' up to O(1/r^2) at spatial infinity) is among the metrics
fullfilling stronger asymptotic conditions and supertranslations ambiguities
disappear. It is also clear from the result that 14 asymptotic gravitational
charges are well defined on the ``Schwarzschildean'' background.Comment: 8 pages, latex, no figure
The North Ecliptic Pole Supercluster
We have used the ROSAT All-Sky Survey to detect a known supercluster at
z=0.087 in the North Ecliptic Pole region. The X-ray data greatly improve our
understanding of this supercluster's characteristics, approximately doubling
our knowledge of the structure's spatial extent and tripling the cluster/group
membership compared to the optical discovery data. The supercluster is a rich
structure consisting of at least 21 galaxy clusters and groups, 12 AGN, 61 IRAS
galaxies, and various other objects. A majority of these components were
discovered with the X-ray data, but the supercluster is also robustly detected
in optical, IR, and UV wavebands. Extending 129 x 102 x 67 (1/h50 Mpc)^3, the
North Ecliptic Pole Supercluster has a flattened shape oriented nearly edge-on
to our line-of-sight. Owing to the softness of the ROSAT X-ray passband and the
deep exposure over a large solid angle, we have detected for the first time a
significant population of X-ray emitting galaxy groups in a supercluster. These
results demonstrate the effectiveness of X-ray observations with contiguous
coverage for studying structure in the Universe.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; 5 pages with 2
embedded figures; uses emulateapj.sty; For associated animations, see
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~mullis/nep3d.html; A high-resolution color
postscript version of the full paper is available at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~mullis/papers/nepsc.ps.g
The Chandra Deep Field North Survey. IX. Extended X-ray Sources
The ~1 Ms Chandra Deep Field North observation is used to study the extended
X-ray sources in the region surrounding the Hubble Deep Field North (HDF-N),
yielding the most sensitive probe of extended X-ray emission at cosmological
distances to date. A total of six such sources are detected, the majority of
which align with small numbers of optically bright galaxies. Their angular
sizes, band ratios, and X-ray luminosities -- assuming they lie at the same
distances as the galaxies coincident with the X-ray emission -- are generally
consistent with the properties found for nearby groups of galaxies. One source
is notably different and is likely to be a poor-to-moderate X-ray cluster at
high redshift (i.e., z > 0.7). We are also able to place strong constraints on
the optically detected cluster of galaxies ClG 1236+6215 at z=0.85 and the
wide-angle-tail radio galaxy VLA J123725.7+621128 at z~1-2. With rest-frame
0.5--2.0 keV X-ray luminosities of <(3-15)e42 ergs s^{-1}, the environments of
both sources are either likely to have a significant deficit of hot
intra-cluster gas compared to local clusters of galaxies, or they are X-ray
groups. We find the surface density of extended X-ray sources in this
observation to be 167 (+97,-67) deg^{-2} at a limiting soft-band flux of
approximately 3e-16 ergs s^{-1} cm^{-2}. No evolution in the X-ray luminosity
function of clusters is needed to explain this value. (Abridged)Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures (8 color), LaTeX emulateapj5.sty, accepted for
publication by the Astronomical Journal. Manuscript with full resolution
embedded images available at
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/hdf/hdf-chandra.htm
The Evolution of Environmental Quenching Timescales to
Using a sample of 4 galaxy clusters at and 10 galaxy
clusters at , we measure the environmental quenching
timescale, , corresponding to the time required after a galaxy is accreted
by a cluster for it to fully cease star formation. Cluster members are selected
by a photometric-redshift criterion, and categorized as star-forming,
quiescent, or intermediate according to their dust-corrected rest-frame colors
and magnitudes. We employ a "delayed-then-rapid" quenching model that relates a
simulated cluster mass accretion rate to the observed numbers of each type of
galaxy in the cluster to constrain . For galaxies of mass , we find a quenching timescale of 1.24 Gyr
in the cluster sample, and 1.50 Gyr at . Using values
drawn from the literature, we compare the redshift evolution of to
timescales predicted for different physical quenching mechanisms. We find
to depend on host halo mass such that quenching occurs over faster timescales
in clusters relative to groups, suggesting that properties of the host halo are
responsible for quenching high-mass galaxies. Between and , we
find that evolves faster than the molecular gas depletion timescale and
slower than an SFR-outflow timescale, but is consistent with the evolution of
the dynamical time. This suggests that environmental quenching in these
galaxies is driven by the motion of satellites relative to the cluster
environment, although due to uncertainties in the atomic gas budget at high
redshift, we cannot rule out quenching due to simple gas depletion
The Cool ISM in S0 Galaxies. I. A Survey of Molecular Gas
Lenticular galaxies remain remarkably mysterious as a class. Observations to
date have not led to any broad consensus about their origins, properties and
evolution, though they are often thought to have formed in one big burst of
star formation early in the history of the Universe, and to have evolved
relatively passively since then. In that picture, current theory predicts that
stellar evolution returns substantial quantities of gas to the interstellar
medium; most is ejected from the galaxy, but significant amounts of cool gas
might be retained. Past searches for that material, though, have provided
unclear results. We present results from a survey of molecular gas in a
volume-limited sample of field S0 galaxies, selected from the Nearby Galaxies
Catalog. CO emission is detected from 78 percent of the sample galaxies. We
find that the molecular gas is almost always located inside the central few
kiloparses of a lenticular galaxy, meaning that in general it is more centrally
concentrated than in spirals. We combine our data with HI observations from the
literature to determine the total masses of cool and cold gas. Curiously, we
find that, across a wide range of luminosity, the most gas rich galaxies have
about 10 percent of the total amount of gas ever returned by their stars. That
result is difficult to understand within the context of either monolithic or
hierarchical models of evolution of the interstellar medium.Comment: 26 pages of text, 15 pages of tables, 10 figures. Accepted for
publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Uniqueness of the Trautman--Bondi mass
It is shown that the only functionals, within a natural class, which are
monotonic in time for all solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations admitting
a smooth ``piece'' of conformal null infinity Scri, are those depending on the
metric only through a specific combination of the Bondi `mass aspect' and other
next--to--leading order terms in the metric. Under the extra condition of
passive BMS invariance, the unique such functional (up to a multiplicative
factor) is the Trautman--Bondi energy. It is also shown that this energy
remains well-defined for a wide class of `polyhomogeneous' metrics.Comment: latex, 33 page
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