365 research outputs found
Mathematical theory of the Goddard trajectory determination system
Basic mathematical formulations depict coordinate and time systems, perturbation models, orbital estimation techniques, observation models, and numerical integration methods
A compendium of the moon's motion and geometry, 1966 through 1985
Tabular and graphical data geometry and dynamics of earth-moon-sun system for 1966-1985 time perio
Musculoskeletal Geometry, Muscle Architecture and Functional Specialisations of the Mouse Hindlimb
Mice are one of the most commonly used laboratory animals, with an extensive array of disease models in existence, including for many neuromuscular diseases. The hindlimb is of particular interest due to several close muscle analogues/homologues to humans and other species. A detailed anatomical study describing the adult morphology is lacking, however. This study describes in detail the musculoskeletal geometry and skeletal muscle architecture of the mouse hindlimb and pelvis, determining the extent to which the muscles are adapted for their function, as inferred from their architecture. Using I2KI enhanced microCT scanning and digital segmentation, it was possible to identify 39 distinct muscles of the hindlimb and pelvis belonging to nine functional groups. The architecture of each of these muscles was determined through microdissections, revealing strong architectural specialisations between the functional groups. The hip extensors and hip adductors showed significantly stronger adaptations towards high contraction velocities and joint control relative to the distal functional groups, which exhibited larger physiological cross sectional areas and longer tendons, adaptations for high force output and elastic energy savings. These results suggest that a proximo-distal gradient in muscle architecture exists in the mouse hindlimb. Such a gradient has been purported to function in aiding locomotor stability and efficiency. The data presented here will be especially valuable to any research with a focus on the architecture or gross anatomy of the mouse hindlimb and pelvis musculature, but also of use to anyone interested in the functional significance of muscle design in relation to quadrupedal locomotion
"The Social Network" and Muscular Dystrophies: The Lesson Learnt about the Niche Environment as a Target for Therapeutic Strategies
The muscle stem cells niche is essential in neuromuscular disorders. Muscle injury and myofiber death are the main triggers of muscle regeneration via satellite cell activation. However, in degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy, regeneration still keep elusive. In these pathologies, stem cell loss occurs over time, and missing signals limiting damaged tissue from activating the regenerative process can be envisaged. It is unclear what comes first: the lack of regeneration due to satellite cell defects, their pool exhaustion for degeneration/regeneration cycles, or the inhibitory mechanisms caused by muscle damage and fibrosis mediators. Herein, Duchenne muscular dystrophy has been taken as a paradigm, as several drugs have been tested at the preclinical and clinical levels, targeting secondary events in the complex pathogenesis derived from lack of dystrophin. We focused on the crucial roles that pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic cytokines play in triggering muscle necrosis after damage and stimulating satellite cell activation and self-renewal, along with growth and mechanical factors. These processes contribute to regeneration and niche maintenance. We review the main effects of drugs on regeneration biomarkers to assess whether targeting pathogenic events can help to protect niche homeostasis and enhance regeneration efficiency other than protecting newly formed fibers from further damage
A comparative study of the Harris-Priester, Jacchia-Roberts, and MSIS atmospheric density models in the context of satellite orbit determination
The comparisons are summarized. The quantities compared include Bayesian weighted least squares differential correction statistics and orbit solution consistency and accuracy
SAURON's Challenge for the Major Merger Scenario of Elliptical Galaxy Formation
The intrinsic anisotropy delta and flattening epsilon of simulated merger
remnants is compared with elliptical galaxies that have been observed by the
SAURON collaboration, and that were analysed using axisymmetric Schwarzschild
models. Collisionless binary mergers of stellar disks and disk mergers with an
additional isothermal gas component, neglecting star formation cannot reproduce
the observed trend delta = 0.55 epsilon (SAURON relationship). An excellent fit
of the SAURON relationship for flattened ellipticals with epsilon >= 0.25 is
however found for merger simulations of disks with gas fractions >= 20%,
including star formation and stellar energy feedback. Massive black hole
feedback does not strongly affect this result. Subsequent dry merging of merger
remnants however does not generate the slowly-rotating SAURON ellipticals which
are characterized by low ellipticities epsilon < 0.25 and low anisotropies.
This indicates that at least some ellipticals on the red galaxy sequence did
not form by binary mergers of disks or early-type galaxies. We show that
stellar spheroids resulting from multiple, hierarchical mergers of
star-bursting subunits in a cosmological context are in excellent agreement
with the low ellipticities and anisotropies of the slowly rotating SAURON
ellipticals and their observed trend of delta with epsilon. The numerical
simulations indicate that the SAURON relation might be a result of strong
violent relaxation and phase mixing of multiple, kinematically cold stellar
subunits with the angular momentum of the system determining its location on
the relation.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Ap
Testing a simple recipe for estimating galaxy masses from minimal observational data
The accuracy and robustness of a simple method to estimate the total mass
profile of a galaxy is tested using a sample of 65 cosmological
zoom-simulations of individual galaxies. The method only requires information
on the optical surface brightness and the projected velocity dispersion
profiles and therefore can be applied even in case of poor observational data.
In the simulated sample massive galaxies ( \kms) at
redshift have almost isothermal rotation curves for broad range of radii
(RMS for the circular speed deviations from a constant value over
). For such galaxies the method recovers the
unbiased value of the circular speed. The sample averaged deviation from the
true circular speed is less than with the scatter of
(RMS) up to . Circular speed estimates of massive
non-rotating simulated galaxies at higher redshifts ( and ) are also
almost unbiased and with the same scatter. For the least massive galaxies in
the sample ( \kms) at the RMS deviation is
and the mean deviation is biased low by about . We also derive the
circular velocity profile from the hydrostatic equilibrium (HE) equation for
hot gas in the simulated galaxies. The accuracy of this estimate is about RMS
for massive objects () and the HE
estimate is biased low by , which can be traced to the presence of
gas motions. This implies that the simple mass estimate can be used to
determine the mass of observed massive elliptical galaxies to an accuracy of
and can be very useful for galaxy surveys.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 1 tabl
Functional rescue of dystrophin deficiency in mice caused by frameshift mutations using Campylobacter jejuni Cas9
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal, X-linked muscle wasting disease caused by mutations in the DMD gene. In 51% of DMD cases, a reading frame is disrupted because of deletion of several exons. Here, we show that CjCas9 derived from Campylobacter jejuni can be
used as a gene editing tool to correct an out-of-frame Dmd exon in Dmd knockout mice. Herein, we used Cas9 derived from S. pyogenes to generate Dmd knockout (KO) mice with a frameshift mutation in Dmd gene. Then, we expressed CjCas9, its single-guide RNA, and the eGFP gene
in the tibialis anterior muscle of the Dmd KO mice using an all-in-one adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector. CjCas9 cleaved the target site in the Dmd gene efficiently in vivo and induced small insertions or deletions at the target site. This treatment resulted in conversion of the
disrupted Dmd reading frame from out-of-frame to in-frame, leading to the expression of dystrophin in the sarcolemma. Importantly, muscle strength was enhanced in the CjCas9-treated muscles, without off-target mutations, indicating high efficiency and specificity of CjCas9. This work suggests that in vivo DMD frame correction, mediated by CjCas9 has great potential for the treatment of DMD and other neuromuscular diseases
The Nuclear Orbital Distribution in Galaxies as Fossil Record of Black Hole Formation from Integral-Field Spectroscopy
In the past decade, most effort in the study of supermassive black holes
(BHs) has been devoted to measuring their masses. This lead to the finding of
the tight M_BH-sigma relation, which indicates the existence of strong links
between the formation of the BH and of their host spheroids. Many scenarios
have been proposed to explain this relation, and all agree on the key role of
BHs' growth and feedback in shaping their host galaxies. However the currently
available observational constraints, essentially BH masses and galaxy
photometry, are not sufficient to conclusively select among the alternatives. A
crucial piece of information of the black hole formation is recorded in the
orbital distribution of the stars, which can only be extracted from
high-resolution integral-field (IF) stellar kinematics. The introduction of IF
spectrographs with adaptive optics on large telescopes opens a new era in the
study of BHs by finally allowing this key element to be uncovered. This
information will be complementary to what will be provided by the LISA
gravitational wave satellite, which can directly detect coalescing BHs. Here an
example is presented for the recovery of the orbital distribution in the center
of the giant elliptical galaxy M87, which has a well resolved BH sphere of
influence, using SAURON IF kinematics.Comment: Invited talk, 8 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX. Accepted paper version for
Classical and Quantum Gravity. Proceedings of the 5th International LISA
Symposiu
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