Re-highlighting the action of PPARγ in treating metabolic diseases [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is a member of the nuclear receptor family and plays an important role in adipocyte differentiation, glucose homeostasis, and insulin sensitivity. Thiazolidinediones (TZDs), synthetic ligands of PPARγ, have been used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus for two decades. TZDs were expected to be amazing drugs not only for type 2 diabetes but also for metabolic syndrome and atherosclerotic vascular disease because they can reduce both insulin resistance and inflammation in experimental studies. However, serious unwanted effects pushed TZDs back to an optional second-tier drug for type 2 diabetes. Nevertheless, PPARγ is still one of the most important targets for the treatment of insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, and novel strategies to modulate PPARγ activity to enhance its beneficial effects and reduce unwanted adverse effects are anticipated. Recent studies showed that post-translational modification (PTM) of PPARγ regulates PPARγ activity or stability and may be a novel way to optimize PPARγ activity with reduced adverse effects. In this review, we will focus on recent advances in PTM of PPARγ and the mechanisms regulating PPARγ function as well as in the development of PPARγ modulators or agonists

Rapid Detection Strategies for the Global Threat of Zika Virus: Current State, New Hypotheses, and Limitations

The current scenario regarding the widespread Zika virus (ZIKV) has resulted in numerous diagnostic studies, specifically in South America and in locations where there is frequent entry of travelers returning from ZIKV-affected areas, including pregnant women with or without clinical symptoms of ZIKV infection. The World Health Organization, WHO, announced that millions of cases of ZIKV are likely to occur in the United States of America in the near future. This situation has created an alarming public health emergency of international concern requiring the detection of this life-threatening viral candidate due to increased cases of newborn microcephaly associated with ZIKV infection. Hence, this review reports possible methods and strategies for the fast and reliable detection of ZIKV with particular emphasis on current updates, knowledge and new hypotheses that might be helpful for medical professionals in poor and developing countries that urgently need to address this problem. In particular, we emphasize liposome-based biosensors. Although these biosensors are currently among the less popular tools for human disease detection, they have become useful tools for the screening and detection of pathogenic bacteria, fungi and viruses because of their versatile advantageous features compared to other sensing devices. This review summarizes the currently available methods employed for the rapid detection of ZIKV and suggests an innovative approach involving the application of a liposome-based hypothesis for the development of new strategies for ZIKV detection and their use as effective biomedicinal tools

On complete convergence for arrays of rowwise independent random elements

A complete convergence theorem for arrays of rowwise independent random variables was proved by Sung, Volodin, and Hu. In this paper, we extend this theorem to the Banach space without any geometric assumptions on the underlying Banach space. Our theorem also improves some known results from the literature.Korea Research Foundation Gran

The properties of early-type galaxies in the Ursa Major cluster

Using SDSS-DR7 and NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database spectroscopic data, we identify 166 galaxies as members of the Ursa Major cluster with Mr < -13.5 mag. We morphological classify all galaxies by means of carefully inspecting g-, r-, i-band colour and monochromatic images. We show that the Ursa Major cluster is dominated by late-type galaxies, but also contains a significant number of early- type galaxies, particularly in the dwarf regime. We present further evidence for the existence of several subgroups in the cluster, consistent with previous findings. The early-type fraction is found to correlate with the mass of the subgroup. We also investigate environmental effects by comparing the properties of the Ursa Major early-type dwarf galaxies to those of the Virgo cluster. In contrast to the Virgo, the red sequence of the Ursa Major cluster is only sparsely populated in the optical and ultraviolet colour-magnitude relations. It also shows a statistically significant gap between -18 < Mr < -17 mag, i.e. the Ursa Major cluster lacks early-type dwarf galaxies at the bright end of their luminosity function. We discover that the majority of early-type dwarf galaxies in the Ursa Major cluster have blue cores with hints of recent or ongoing star formation. We suggest that gravitational tidal interactions can trigger central blue star forming regions in early-type dwarfs. After that, star formation would only fade completely when the galaxies experience ram pressure stripping or harassment, both of which are nearly absent in the Ursa Major cluster.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Large-scale filamentary structures around the Virgo cluster revisited

We revisit the filamentary structures of galaxies around the Virgo cluster, exploiting a larger dataset based on the HyperLeda database than previous studies. In particular, this includes a large number of low-luminosity galaxies, resulting in better sampled individual structures. We confirm seven known structures in the distance range 4~$h^{-1}$~Mpc~$<$ SGY~$<$ 16~$h^{-1}$ Mpc, now identified as filaments, where SGY is the axis of the supergalactic coordinate system roughly along the line of sight. The Hubble diagram of the filament galaxies suggests they are infalling toward the main-body of the Virgo cluster. We propose that the collinear distribution of giant elliptical galaxies along the fundamental axis of the Virgo cluster is smoothly connected to two of these filaments (Leo~II~A and B). Behind the Virgo cluster (16~$h^{-1}$~Mpc~$<$ SGY~$<$ 27~$h^{-1}$~Mpc), we also identify a new filament elongated toward the NGC 5353/4 group ("NGC 5353/4 filament") and confirm a sheet that includes galaxies from the W and M clouds of the Virgo cluster ("W-M sheet"). In the Hubble diagram, the NGC 5353/4 filament galaxies show infall toward the NGC 5353/4 group, whereas the W-M sheet galaxies do not show hints of gravitational influence from the Virgo cluster. The filamentary structures identified can now be used to better understand the generic role of filaments in the build-up of galaxy clusters at z~$\approx$~0.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Synchrotron study of the garnet-type oxide Li6CaSm2Ta2O12

Hexalithium calcium disamarium(III) ditantalum(V) dodeca­oxide, Li6CaSm2Ta2O12, crystallizes in a cubic garnet-type structure. In the crystal structure, disordered Li atoms occupy two crystallographic sites. One Li has a tetra­hedral coordination environment in the oxide lattice, whereas the other Li atom occupies a significantly distorted octa­hedral site, with site occupancies for the two Li atoms of 0.26 (7) and 0.44 (2), respectively. Ca and Sm atoms are statistically distributed over the same crystallographic position with a occupancy of 2/3 for Sm and of 1/3 for Ca, and are eightfold coordinated by O atoms. The TaO6 octa­hedron is joined to six others via corner-sharing LiO4 tetra­hedra. One Li and the O atoms lie on general positions, while the other atoms are situated on special positions. The Sm/Ca position has 222, Ta has , and the tetra­hedrally coordinated Li atom has site symmetry

The Extended Virgo Cluster Catalog

We present a new catalog of galaxies in the wider region of the Virgo cluster, based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7. The Extended Virgo Cluster Catalog (EVCC) covers an area of 725 deg^2 or 60.1 Mpc^2. It is 5.2 times larger than the footprint of the classical Virgo Cluster Catalog (VCC) and reaches out to 3.5 times the virial radius of the Virgo cluster. We selected 1324 spectroscopically targeted galaxies with radial velocities less than 3000 kms^-1. In addition, 265 galaxies that have been missed in the SDSS spectroscopic survey but have available redshifts in the NASA Extragalactic Database are also included. Our selection process secured a total of 1589 galaxies of which 676 galaxies are not included in the VCC. The certain and possible cluster members are defined by means of redshift comparison with a cluster infall model. We employed two independent and complementary galaxy classification schemes: the traditional morphological classification based on the visual inspection of optical images and a characterization of galaxies from their spectroscopic features. SDSS u, g, r, i, and z passband photometry of all EVCC galaxies was performed using Source Extractor. We compare the EVCC galaxies with the VCC in terms of morphology, spatial distribution, and luminosity function. The EVCC defines a comprehensive galaxy sample covering a wider range in galaxy density that is significantly different from the inner region of the Virgo cluster. It will be the foundation for forthcoming galaxy evolution studies in the extended Virgo cluster region, complementing ongoing and planned Virgo cluster surveys at various wavelengths.Comment: 69 pages, 29 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in the ApJ