832 research outputs found
The Peculiar Balmer Line Profiles of OQ 208
We present spectrophotometric observations of the Broad Line Radio Galaxy OQ
208 (Mrk 668, 1404+286) obtained between 1985 and 1991. We show that the Balmer
line fluxes and profile shapes undergo remarkable changes. The ratio of
intensities between the broad and narrow components of Hbeta increased
monotonically from 15 in 1985 to 40 in 1991. The peak of the broad components
of Hbeta and Halpha were known to be strongly displaced to the red. We have
discovered a correlation between the amplitude of the broad peak displacement
and the luminosity of Hbeta, in the sense that the displacement is larger when
the line luminosity is higher. We suggest that the observations are not
compatible with either a binary Broad Line Region model or one involving
ballistic acceleration of the line emitting gas. Radiative acceleration of a
system of outflowing clouds readily explains the correlation between line shift
and luminosity as well as the peculiar line profiles. Furthermore, it seems
that most or all of the Balmer emission originates from the inward face of the
clouds. Theoretical line profiles suggest that the observed Hbeta profile is
best fit assuming the contribution of an ensemble which might be spherical or
confined in a thick disk in addition to a component emitted in a thin shell
contained in a cone of half opening angle 12 degrees seen along its axis.Comment: 28 pages + tables and figures available upon request, Latex, No
preprint numbe
Optical study of the vibrational and dielectric properties of BiMnO3
BiMnO3 (BMO), ferromagnetic (FM) below Tc = 100 K, was believed to be also
ferroelectric (FE) due to a non-centro-symmetric C2 structure, until
diffraction data indicated that its space group is the centro-symmetric C2/c.
Here we present infrared phonon spectra of BMO, taken on a mosaic of single
crystals, which are consistent with C2/c at any T > 10 K, as well as
room-temperature Raman data which strongly support this conclusion. We also
find that the infrared intensity of several phonons increases steadily for
decreasing T, causing the relative permittivity of BMO to vary from 18.5 at 300
K to 45 at 10 K. At variance with FE materials of displacive type, no
appreciable softening has been found in the infrared phonons. Both their
frequencies and intensities, moreover, appear insensitive to the FM transition
at Tc
Optical phase coherent timing of the Crab nebula pulsar with Iqueye at the ESO New Technology Telescope
The Crab nebula pulsar was observed in 2009 January and December with a novel
very fast optical photon counter, Iqueye, mounted at the ESO 3.5 m New
Technology Telescope. Thanks to the exquisite quality of the Iqueye data, we
computed accurate phase coherent timing solutions for the two observing runs
and over the entire year 2009. Our statistical uncertainty on the determination
of the phase of the main pulse and the rotational period of the pulsar for
short (a few days) time intervals are s and ~0.5 ps,
respectively. Comparison with the Jodrell Bank radio ephemerides shows that the
optical pulse leads the radio one by ~240 s in January and ~160 s in
December, in agreement with a number of other measurements performed after
1996. A third-order polynomial fit adequately describes the spin-down for the
2009 January plus December optical observations. The phase noise is consistent
with being Gaussian distributed with a dispersion of s in most observations, in agreement with theoretical expectations for
photon noise-induced phase variability.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Societ
Small and large polarons in nickelates, manganites, and cuprates
By comparing the optical conductivities of La_{1.67}Sr_{0.33}NiO_{4} (LSNO),
Sr_{1.5}La_{0.5}MnO_4 (SLMO), Nd_2CuO_{4-y} (NCO), and
Nd_{1.96}Ce_{0.04}CuO_{4} (NCCO), we have identified a peculiar behavior of
polarons in this cuprate family. While in LSNO and SLMO small polarons localize
into ordered structures below a transition temperature, in those cuprates the
polarons appear to be large, and at low T their binding energy decreases. This
reflects into an increase of the polaron radius, which may trigger coherent
transport.Comment: File latex, 15 p. incl. 4 Figs. epsf, to appear on the Journal of
Superconductivity - Proc. "Stripes 1996" - Roma Dec 199
Carnitine palmitoyltransferase I in human carcinomas: a novel role in histone deacetylation?
Carnitine palmitoyl transferase I (CPT1) catalyzes the transport of long-chain fatty acids into mitochondria for beta-oxidation. A link between CPT1 and apoptosis has been suggested on the basis of several experimental data. Nevertheless, results are contradictory about the effective role of CPT1 in cell survival control and cancer development. Conversely, Fatty acid synthase (FAS) enzyme, required for the synthesis of fatty acids, is found over-expressed in tumors and inhibition of FAS triggers apoptosis in human cancer cells. We have studied the tumor-specific modulation of CPT1 and FAS in human colorectal cancer (n = 11) and breast carcinomas (n = 24). CPT1 was significantly decreased in the cytoplasm of tumoral samples (p < or = 0.04), whereas FAS was increased (p < or = 0.04). A striking CPT1 nuclear localization was evident in the tumors (p < or = 0.04). In the nuclear environment the protein would modulate the levels of acetyl/acyl-CoA implicated in the regulation of gene transcription. At this purpose, we performed in vitro experiments using epithelial neoplastic (MCF-7, Caco-2, HepG2 cells) and non neoplastic cell lines (MCF-12F) confirming a nuclear localization of CPT1 protein exclusively in neoplastic cells. Moreover histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity showed significantly higher levels in nuclear extracts from neoplastic than from control cells. HDAC1 and CPT1 proteins coimmunoprecipitated in nuclear extracts from MCF-7 cells. The treatment with HDAC inhibitors such as trichostatin A and butyrate significantly decreased nuclear expression of CPT1 and its bond to HDAC1. We also identified the existence of CPT1A mRNA transcript variant 2 in MCF-7, beside to the classic isoform 1. The peculiar localization of CPT1 in the nuclei of human carcinomas and the disclosed functional link between nuclear CPT1 and HDAC1 propose a new role of CPT1 in the histonic acetylation level of tumors
Aqueye optical observations of the Crab Nebula pulsar
We observed the Crab pulsar in October 2008 at the Copernico Telescope in
Asiago - Cima Ekar with the optical photon counter Aqueye (the Asiago Quantum
Eye) which has the best temporal resolution and accuracy ever achieved in the
optical domain (hundreds of picoseconds). Our goal was to perform a detailed
analysis of the optical period and phase drift of the main peak of the Crab
pulsar and compare it with the Jodrell Bank ephemerides. We determined the
position of the main peak using the steepest zero of the cross-correlation
function between the pulsar signal and an accurate optical template. The pulsar
rotational period and period derivative have been measured with great accuracy
using observations covering only a 2 day time interval. The error on the period
is 1.7 ps, limited only by the statistical uncertainty. Both the rotational
frequency and its first derivative are in agreement with those from the Jodrell
Bank radio ephemerides archive. We also found evidence of the optical peak
leading the radio one by ~230 microseconds. The distribution of phase-residuals
of the whole dataset is slightly wider than that of a synthetic signal
generated as a sequence of pulses distributed in time with the probability
proportional to the pulse shape, such as the average count rate and background
level are those of the Crab pulsar observed with Aqueye. The counting
statistics and quality of the data allowed us to determine the pulsar period
and period derivative with great accuracy in 2 days only. The time of arrival
of the optical peak of the Crab pulsar leads the radio one in agreement with
what recently reported in the literature. The distribution of the phase
residuals can be approximated with a Gaussian and is consistent with being
completely caused by photon noise (for the best data sets).Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Physical Functional Assessment in Older Adults
The evaluation of the physical domain represents a critical part of the assessment of the older person, both in the clinical as well as the research setting. To measure physical function, clinicians and researchers have traditionally relied on instruments focusing on the capacity of the individual to accomplish specific functional tasks (e.g., the Activities of Daily Living [ADL] or the Instrumental ADL scales). However, a growing number of physical performance and muscle strength tests has been developed in parallel over the past three decades. These measures are specifically designed to: 1) provide objective results (not surprisingly, they are frequently timed tests) taken in standardized conditions, whereas the traditional physical function scales are generally self- or proxy-reported measures; 2) be more sensitive to changes; 3) capture the real biology of the function through the assessment of standardized tasks mirroring specific functional subdomains; and 4) mirror the quality of specific mechanisms underlying more complex and multidomain functions. Among the most commonly used instruments, the usual gait speed test, the Short Physical Performance Battery, the handgrip strength, the Timed Up-and-Go test, the 6-minute walk test, and the 400-meter walk test are widely adopted by clinicians and researchers. The clinical and research importance of all these instruments has been demonstrated by their predictive capacity for negative health-related outcomes (i.e., hospitalization, falls, institutionalization, disability, mortality). Moreover, they have shown to be associated with subclinical and clinical conditions that are also not directly related to the physical domain (e.g., inflammation, oxidative stress, overall mortality). For this reason, they have been repeatedly indicated as markers of wellbeing linked to the burden of multiple chronic conditions rather than mere parameters of mobility or strength. In this work protocols of the main tests for the objective assessment of physical function in older adults are presented
Sarcopenia and SARC-F: “Perfect is the Enemy of Good”
In this issue of The Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA), Voelker and colleagues present the results of a
systematic review and meta-analysis measuring the reliability and concurrent validity of the SARC-F.1 The study reports data gathered from 29 articles and more than 20,000 participants. Overall, the SARC-F shows relatively good inter-rater and test-retest reliability. However, the authors conclude that despite its high specificity, the low to moderate sensitivity of the SARC-F makes it nonoptimal for the screening of sarcopenia. Moreover, Voelker and colleagues tend to discourage the use of the SARC-F, suggesting the direct application of the diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia without prior screening
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