795 research outputs found
Nutritional Interventions as Potential Strategy to Minimize Exercise-Induced Muscle Injuries in Sports
Muscle injury has been related to resistance exercise and prolonged endurance exercise
paradigms both leading to significant local mechanical constraints followed by focal disorders
such as sarcolemmal damage and leakage of intracellular proteins, oedema, myofibrillar
disorganization and microtrauma-triggered inflammation. These unfavorable events lead to
variable soreness, swelling, loss in muscle strength and function with reduced range of motion.
To date strategies finalized to minimize exercise-induced muscle injury are scarce and often
not adequately supported by research studies.
Based on the notion that dietary supplementations may exert a variety of beneficial effects on
the skeletal muscle, in the last 20 years there has been a great deal of interest in nutritional
strategies aiming to attenuate signs and symptoms of exercise induced muscle injuries.
Anyhow a large number of variables influences the muscular outcome of nutritional supplements,
strongly depending on nutrient type, genotype, age, and regulation of nutrient sensing
pathways.
Overall there is a paucity of studies on the topic, partly related to the high number of supplements
to be considered and their combined use. In general nutrients as vitamins (as vitamin
C), N-acetyl-cysteine, L-carnitine, creatine, and branched chain amino acids (BCAA) may exert
a potential beneficial role but the underlying cellular mechanism, the optimal dosage and the
duration of the pretreatment/treatment period are currently unknown.
This chapter addresses the current knowledge on the potential use of nutritional supplements
in preventing and/or minimizing muscle injuries due to resistance or endurance exercise
training
Planets Formed in Habitable Zones of M Dwarf Stars Probably are Deficient in Volatiles
Dynamical considerations, presented herein via analytic scalings and
numerical experiments, imply that Earth-mass planets accreting in regions that
become habitable zones of M dwarf stars form within several million years.
Temperatures in these regions during planetary accretion are higher than those
encountered by the material that formed the Earth. Collision velocities during
and after the prime accretionary epoch are larger than for Earth. These factors
suggest that planets orbiting low mass main sequence stars are likely to be
either too distant (and thus too cold) for carbon/water based life on their
surfaces or have abundances of the required volatiles that are substantially
less than on Earth.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres
The early evolution of Globular Clusters: the case of NGC 2808
Enhancement and spread of helium among globular cluster stars have been
recently suggested as a way to explain the horizontal branch blue tails, in
those clusters which show a primordial spread in the abundances of CNO and
other elements involved in advanced CNO burning (D'Antona et al. 2002). In this
paper we examine the implications of the hypothesis that, in many globular
clusters, stars were born in two separate events: an initial burst (first
generation), which gives origin to probably all high and intermediate mass
stars and to a fraction of the cluster stars observed today, and a second,
prolonged star formation phase (second generation) in which stars form directly
from the ejecta of the intermediate mass stars of the first generation. In
particular, we consider in detail the morphology of the horizontal branch in
NGC 2808 and argue that it unveils the early cluster evolution, from the birth
of the first star generation to the end of the second phase of star formation.
This framework provides a feasible interpretation for the still unexplained
dichotomy of NGC 2808 horizontal branch, attributing the lack of stars in the
RR Lyr region to the gap in the helium content between the red clump, whose
stars are considered to belong to the first stellar generation and have
primordial helium, and the blue side of the horizontal branch, whose minimum
helium content reflects the helium abundance in the smallest mass
(~4Msun)contributing to the second stellar generation. This scenario provides
constraints on the required Initial Mass Function, in a way that a great deal
of remnant neutron stars and stellar mass black holes might have been produced.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, in press on The Astrophysical Journa
High Resolution Near-Infrared Spectra of Protostars
We present new high resolution (R = 21,000) near-infrared (2 microns)
spectroscopic observations of a sample of Class I and flat-spectrum
protostellar objects in the rho Ophiuchi dark cloud. None of the five Class I
spectra show CO v = 0 -- 2 absorption features, consistent with high K-band
continuum veilings, 4 <= r_k <= 20 and fast stellar rotation, assuming that the
underlying protostellar photospheres are of late spectral type, as is suggested
by the low luminosities of most of these objects. Two of the flat-spectrum
protostellar objects also show no absorption features and are likely to be
highly veiled. The remaining two flat-spectrum sources show weak, broad
absorptions which are consistent with an origin in quickly rotating (v sin i ~
50 km / s) late-type stellar photospheres which are also strongly veiled, r_k =
3 - 4. These observations provide further evidence that: 1)-Class I sources are
highly veiled at near-infrared wavelengths, confirming previous findings of
lower resolution spectroscopic studies; and 2)- flat-spectrum protostars rotate
more rapidly than classical T Tauri stars (Class II sources), supporting
findings from a recent high resolution spectroscopic study of other
flat-spectrum sources in this cloud. In addition our observations are
consistent with the high rotation rates derived for two of the Class I
protostellar objects in our sample from observations of variable hard X-ray
emission obtained with the ASCA satellite. These observations suggest that
certain Class I sources can rotate even more rapidly than flat-spectrum
protostars, near breakup velocity.Comment: 16 pages including 2 tables and 2 figures (AASTeX 5.x) to be
published in The Astronomical Journal July 200
Modeling the Near-Infrared Luminosity Functions of Young Stellar Clusters
We present the results of numerical experiments designed to evaluate the
usefulness of near-infrared luminosity functions for constraining the Initial
Mass Function (IMF) of young stellar populations. From this numerical modeling,
we find that the luminosity function of a young stellar population is
considerably more sensitive to variations in the underlying initial mass
function than to either variations in the star forming history or assumed
pre-main-sequence (PMS) mass-to-luminosity relation. To illustrate the
potential effectiveness of using the KLF of a young cluster to constrain its
IMF, we model the observed K band luminosity function of the nearby Trapezium
cluster. Our derived mass function for the Trapezium spans two orders of
magnitude in stellar mass (5 Msun to 0.02 Msun), has a peak near the hydrogen
burning limit, and has an IMF for Brown Dwarfs which steadily decreases with
decreasing mass.Comment: To appear in ApJ (1 April 2000). 37 pages including 11 figures, AAS:
ver 5.
Lithium abundances in red giants of M4: evidence for asymptotic giant branch star pollution in globular clusters?
The determination of Li and proton-capture element abundances in globular
cluster (GC) giants allows us to constrain several key questions on the
multiple population scenarios in GCs, from formation and early evolution, to
pollution and dilution mechanisms. In this Letter, we present our results on Li
abundances for a large sample of giants in the intermediate-metallicity GC NGC
6121 (M4), for which Na and O have been already determined by Marino et al. The
stars analyzed are both below and above the red giant branch bump luminosity.
We found that the first and second generation stars share the same Li content,
suggesting that a Li production must have occurred. This is a strong
observational evidence providing support for the scenario in which asymptotic
giant branch stars are GC polluters.Comment: updated version after proo
Is mass loss along the red giant branch of globular clusters sharply peaked? The case of M3
There is a growing evidence that several globular clusters must contain
multiple stellar generations, differing in helium content. This hypothesis has
helped to interpret peculiar unexplained features in their horizontal branches.
In this framework we model the peaked distribution of the RR Lyr periods in M3,
that has defied explanation until now. At the same time, we try to reproduce
the colour distribution of M3 horizontal branch stars. We find that only a very
small dispersion in mass loss along the red giant branch reproduces with good
accuracy the observational data. The enhanced and variable helium content among
cluster stars is at the origin of the extension in colour of the horizontal
branch, while the sharply peaked mass loss is necessary to reproduce the
sharply peaked period distribution of RR Lyr variables. The dispersion in mass
loss has to be <~ 0.003 Msun, to be compared with the usually assumed values of
~0.02 Msun. This requirement represents a substantial change in the
interpretation of the physical mechanisms regulating the evolution of globular
cluster stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Impact of rotation and disc lifetime on pre-main sequence lithium depletion of solar-type stars
Aims: We study the influence of rotation and disc lifetime on lithium
depletion of pre-main sequence (PMS) solar-type stars. Methods: The impact of
rotational mixing and of the hydrostatic effects of rotation on lithium
abundances are investigated by computing non-rotating and rotating PMS models
that include a comprehensive treatment of shellular rotation. The influence of
the disc lifetime is then studied by comparing the lithium content of PMS
rotating models experiencing different durations of the disc-locking phase
between 3 and 9 Myr. Results: The surface lithium abundance at the end of the
PMS is decreased when rotational effects are included. During the beginning of
the lithium depletion phase, only hydrostatic effects of rotation are at work.
This results in a decrease in the lithium depletion rate for rotating models
compared to non-rotating ones. When the convective envelope recedes from the
stellar centre, rotational mixing begins to play an important role due to
differential rotation near the bottom of the convective envelope. This mixing
results in a decrease in the surface lithium abundance with a limited
contribution from hydrostatic effects of rotation, which favours lithium
depletion during the second part of the PMS evolution. The impact of rotation
on PMS lithium depletion is also found to be sensitive to the duration of the
disc-locking phase. When the disc lifetime increases, the PMS lithium abundance
of a solar-type star decreases owing to the higher efficiency of rotational
mixing in the radiative zone. A relationship between the surface rotation and
lithium abundance at the end of the PMS is then obtained: slow rotators on the
zero-age main sequence are predicted to be more lithium-depleted than fast
rotators due to the increase in the disc lifetime.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures, A&
Lithium Depletion Boundary in a Pre-Main Sequence Binary System
A lithium depletion boundary is detected in HIP 112312 (GJ 871.1 A and B), a
\~12 Myr old pre-main sequence binary system. A strong (EW 300 mA) Li 6708 A
absorption feature is seen at the secondary (~M4.5) while no Li 6708 A feature
is detected from the primary (~M4). The physical companionship of the two stars
is confirmed from common proper motions. Current theoretical pre-main sequence
evolutionary models cannot simultaneously match the observed colors,
brightnesses, and Li depletion patterns of this binary system. At the age upper
limit of 20 Myr, contemporary theoretical evolutionary models predict too slow
Li depletion. If true Li depletion is a faster process than predicted by
theoretical models, ages of open clusters (Pleiades, alpha Persei, and IC 2391)
estimated from the Li depletion boundary method are all overestimated. Because
of the importance of the open cluster age scale, development of self-consistent
theoretical models to match the HIP 112312 data is desirable.Comment: Accepted in ApJL. 5 pages total (3 tables, 3 figures
Spectroscopic Detection of a Stellar-like Photosphere in an Accreting Protostar
We present the first spectrum of a highly veiled, strongly accreting
protostar which shows photospheric absorption features and demonstrates the
stellar nature of its central core. We find the spectrum of the luminous (L_bol
= 10 L_sun) protostellar source, YLW 15, to be stellar-like with numerous
atomic and molecular absorption features, indicative of a K5 IV/V spectral type
and a continuum veiling r_k = 3.0. Its derived stellar luminosity (3 L_sun) and
stellar radius (3.1 R_sun) are consistent with those of a 0.5 M_sun
pre-main-sequence star. However, 70% of its bolometric luminosity is due to
mass accretion, whose rate we estimate to be 1.6 E-6 M_sun / yr onto the
protostellar core. We determine that excess infrared emission produced by the
circumstellar accretion disk, the inner infalling envelope, and accretion
shocks at the surface of the stellar core of YLW 15 all contribute signifi-
cantly to its near-IR continuum veiling. Its projected rotation velocity v sin
i = 50 km / s is comparable to those of flat-spectrum protostars but
considerably higher than those of classical T Tauri stars in the rho Oph cloud.
The protostar may be magnetically coupled to its circumstellar disk at a radius
of 2 R_*. It is also plausible that this protostar can shed over half its
angular momentum and evolve into a more slowly rotating classical T Tauri star
by remaining coupled to its circumstellar disk (at increasing radius) as its
accretion rate drops by an order of magnitude during the rapid transition
between the Class I and Class II phases of evolution. The spectrum of WL 6 does
not show any photospheric absorption features, and we estimate that its
continuum veiling is r_k >= 4.6. Together with its low bolometric luminosity (2
L_sun), this dictates that its central core is very low mass, ~0.1 M_sun.Comment: 14 pages including 9 figures (3 figures of 3 panels each, all as
separate files). AASTeX LaTex macros version 5.0. To be published in The
Astronomical Journal (tentatively Oct 2002
- …