909 research outputs found
Lifelongα-tocopherol supplementation increases the median life span of C57BL/6 mice in the cold but has only minor effects on oxidative damage
The effects of dietary antioxidant supplementation on oxidative stress and life span are confused. We maintained C57BL/6 mice at 7 ± 2°C and supplemented their diet with α-tocopherol from 4 months of age. Supplementation significantly increased (p = 0.042) median life span by 15% (785 days, n = 44) relative to unsupplemented controls (682 days, n = 43) and also increased maximum life span (oldest 10%, p = 0.028). No sex or sex by treatment interaction effects were observed on life span, with treatment having no effect on resting or daily metabolic rate. Lymphocyte and hepatocyte oxidative DNA damage and hepatic lipid peroxidation were unaffected by supplementation, but hepatic oxidative DNA damage increased with age. Using a cDNA macroarray, genes associated with xenobiotic metabolism were significantly upregulated in the livers of female mice at 6 months of age (2 months supplementation). At 22 months of age (18 months supplementation) this response had largely abated, but various genes linked to the p21 signaling pathway were upregulated at this time. We suggest that α-tocopherol may initially be metabolized as a xenobiotic, potentially explaining why previous studies observe a life span extension generally when lifelong supplementation is initiated early in life. The absence of any significant effect on oxidative damage suggests that the life span extension observed was not mediated via any antioxidant properties of α-tocopherol. We propose that the life span extension observed following α-tocopherol supplementation may be mediated via upregulation of cytochrome p450 genes after 2 months of supplementation and/or upregulation of p21 signaling genes after 18 months of supplementation. However, these signaling pathways now require further investigation to establish their exact role in life span extension following α-tocopherol supplementation
A high-fat diet induces rapid changes in the mouse hypothalamic proteome
Funding LMW, FMC, CG, ACM and C-DM were funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS). FHM was supported by an EASTBIO DTP BBSRC studentship. DS was supported by a SULSA studentship. CR was supported by the HOTSTART Scholarship Programme from the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen. Availability of data and materials All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its Supplementary information files].Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Search for Early Gamma-ray Production in Supernovae Located in a Dense Circumstellar Medium with the Fermi LAT
Supernovae (SNe) exploding in a dense circumstellar medium (CSM) are
hypothesized to accelerate cosmic rays in collisionless shocks and emit GeV
gamma rays and TeV neutrinos on a time scale of several months. We perform the
first systematic search for gamma-ray emission in Fermi LAT data in the energy
range from 100 MeV to 300 GeV from the ensemble of 147 SNe Type IIn exploding
in dense CSM. We search for a gamma-ray excess at each SNe location in a one
year time window. In order to enhance a possible weak signal, we simultaneously
study the closest and optically brightest sources of our sample in a
joint-likelihood analysis in three different time windows (1 year, 6 months and
3 months). For the most promising source of the sample, SN 2010jl (PTF10aaxf),
we repeat the analysis with an extended time window lasting 4.5 years. We do
not find a significant excess in gamma rays for any individual source nor for
the combined sources and provide model-independent flux upper limits for both
cases. In addition, we derive limits on the gamma-ray luminosity and the ratio
of gamma-ray-to-optical luminosity ratio as a function of the index of the
proton injection spectrum assuming a generic gamma-ray production model.
Furthermore, we present detailed flux predictions based on multi-wavelength
observations and the corresponding flux upper limit at 95% confidence level
(CL) for the source SN 2010jl (PTF10aaxf).Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Corresponding author: A. Franckowiak
([email protected]), updated author list and acknowledgement
The inflammatory microenvironment in colorectal neoplasia
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Fermi Discovery of Gamma-Ray Emission from NGC 1275
We report the discovery of high-energy (E>100 MeV) gamma-ray emission from
NGC 1275, a giant elliptical galaxy lying at the center of the Perseus cluster
of galaxies, based on observations made with the Large Area Telescope (LAT) of
the Fermi Gamma ray Space Telescope. The positional center of the gamma-ray
source is only ~3' away from the NGC 1275 nucleus, well within the 95% LAT
error circle of ~5'.The spatial distribution of gamma-ray photons is consistent
with a point source. The average flux and power-law photon index measured with
the LAT from 2008 August 4 to 2008 December 5 are F_gamma = (2.10+-0.23)x
10^{-7} ph (>100 MeV) cm^{-2} s^{-1} and Gamma = 2.17+-0.05, respectively. The
measurements are statistically consistent with constant flux during the
four-month LAT observing period.Previous EGRET observations gave an upper limit
of F_gamma 100 MeV) cm^{-2} s^{-1} to the gamma-ray flux
from NGC 1275. This indicates that the source is variable on timescales of
years to decades, and therefore restricts the fraction of emission that can be
produced in extended regions of the galaxy cluster. Contemporaneous and
historical radio observations are also reported. The broadband spectrum of NGC
1275 is modeled with a simple one-zone synchrotron/synchrotron self-Compton
model and a model with a decelerating jet flow.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Deep Broadband Observations of the Distant Gamma-ray Blazar PKS 1424+240
We present deep VERITAS observations of the blazar PKS 1424+240, along with
contemporaneous Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope and Swift UV
Optical Telescope data between 2009 February 19 and 2013 June 8. This blazar
resides at a redshift of , displaying a significantly attenuated
gamma-ray flux above 100 GeV due to photon absorption via pair-production with
the extragalactic background light. We present more than 100 hours of VERITAS
observations from three years, a multiwavelength light curve and the
contemporaneous spectral energy distributions. The source shows a higher flux
of (2.1) ph ms above 120 GeV in 2009 and
2011 as compared to the flux measured in 2013, corresponding to
(1.02) ph ms above 120 GeV. The measured
differential very high energy (VHE; GeV) spectral indices are
3.80.3, 4.30.6 and 4.50.2 in 2009, 2011 and 2013,
respectively. No significant spectral change across the observation epochs is
detected. We find no evidence for variability at gamma-ray opacities of greater
than , where it is postulated that any variability would be small and
occur on longer than year timescales if hadronic cosmic-ray interactions with
extragalactic photon fields provide a secondary VHE photon flux. The data
cannot rule out such variability due to low statistics.Comment: ApJL accepted March 17, 201
Measurement of the quasi-elastic axial vector mass in neutrino-oxygen interactions
The weak nucleon axial-vector form factor for quasi-elastic interactions is
determined using neutrino interaction data from the K2K Scintillating Fiber
detector in the neutrino beam at KEK. More than 12,000 events are analyzed, of
which half are charged-current quasi-elastic interactions nu-mu n to mu- p
occurring primarily in oxygen nuclei. We use a relativistic Fermi gas model for
oxygen and assume the form factor is approximately a dipole with one parameter,
the axial vector mass M_A, and fit to the shape of the distribution of the
square of the momentum transfer from the nucleon to the nucleus. Our best fit
result for M_A = 1.20 \pm 0.12 GeV. Furthermore, this analysis includes updated
vector form factors from recent electron scattering experiments and a
discussion of the effects of the nucleon momentum on the shape of the fitted
distributions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table
Study of e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 process using initial state radiation with BABAR
The process e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma has been studied at a center-of-mass
energy near the Y(4S) resonance using a 89.3 fb-1 data sample collected with
the BaBar detector at the PEP-II collider. From the measured 3pi mass spectrum
we have obtained the products of branching fractions for the omega and phi
mesons, B(omega --> e+e-)B(omega --> 3pi)=(6.70 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27)10-5 and
B(phi --> e+e-)B(phi --> 3pi)=(4.30 +/- 0.08 +/- 0.21)10-5, and evaluated the
e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 cross section for the e+e- center-of-mass energy range
1.05 to 3.00 GeV. About 900 e+e- --> J/psi gamma --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma events
have been selected and the branching fraction B(J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0)=(2.18
+/- 0.19)% has been measured.Comment: 21 pages, 37 postscript figues, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Measurement of Branching Fraction and Dalitz Distribution for B0->D(*)+/- K0 pi-/+ Decays
We present measurements of the branching fractions for the three-body decays
B0 -> D(*)-/+ K0 pi^+/-B0 -> D(*)-/+ K*+/- using
a sample of approximately 88 million BBbar pairs collected by the BABAR
detector at the PEP-II asymmetric energy storage ring.
We measure:
B(B0->D-/+ K0 pi+/-)=(4.9 +/- 0.7(stat) +/- 0.5 (syst)) 10^{-4}
B(B0->D*-/+ K0 pi+/-)=(3.0 +/- 0.7(stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) 10^{-4}
B(B0->D-/+ K*+/-)=(4.6 +/- 0.6(stat) +/- 0.5 (syst)) 10^{-4}
B(B0->D*-/+ K*+/-)=(3.2 +/- 0.6(stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) 10^{-4}
From these measurements we determine the fractions of resonant events to be :
f(B0-> D-/+ K*+/-) = 0.63 +/- 0.08(stat) +/- 0.04(syst) f(B0-> D*-/+ K*+/-) =
0.72 +/- 0.14(stat) +/- 0.05(syst)Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of the B+ --> p pbar K+ Branching Fraction and Study of the Decay Dynamics
With a sample of 232x10^6 Upsilon(4S) --> BBbar events collected with the
BaBar detector, we study the decay B+ --> p pbar K+ excluding charmonium decays
to ppbar. We measure a branching fraction Br(B+ --> p pbar
K+)=(6.7+/-0.5+/-0.4)x10^{-6}. An enhancement at low ppbar mass is observed and
the Dalitz plot asymmetry suggests dominance of the penguin amplitude in this B
decay. We search for a pentaquark candidate Theta*++ decaying into pK+ in the
mass range 1.43 to 2.00 GeV/c2 and set limits on Br(B+ -->
Theta*++pbar)xBr(Theta*++ --> pK+) at the 10^{-7} level.Comment: 8 pages, 7 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid
Communications
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