Short oestrous cycles in sheep during anoestrus involve defects in progesterone biosynthesis and luteal neovascularisation

Anoestrous ewes can be induced to ovulate by the socio-sexual, 'ram effect'. However, in some ewes the induced ovulation is followed by an abnormally short luteal phase causing a so called, "short cycle". The defect responsible for this luteal dysfunction has not been identified. In this experiment we investigated ovarian and uterine factors implicated in male-induced short cycles in anoestrus ewes using a combined endocrine and molecular strategy. Prior to ovulation, we were able to detect a moderate loss of thecal expression of steroid acute regulatory protein (STAR) in ewes that had not received progesterone priming (which prevents short cycles). At and following ovulation we were able to identify significant loss of expression of genes coding key proteins involved in the biosynthesis of progesterone (STAR, CYP11A1, HSD3B) as well as genes coding proteins critical for vascular development during early luteal development (VEGFA, VEGFR2) suggesting dysfunction in at least two pathways critical for normal luteal function. Furthermore, these changes were associated with a significant reduction of progesterone production and luteal weight. Additionally, we cast doubt on the proposed uterine-mediated effect of prostaglandin F2α as a cause of short cycles by demonstrating both the dysregulation of luteal expression of the PGF receptor, which mediates the luteal effects of PGF2α, and by finding no significant changes in the circulating concentrations of PGFM, the principal metabolite of PGF2α in ewes with short cycles. This study is the first of its kind to examine concurrently, the endocrine and molecular events in the follicular and early luteal stages of the short cycle

Biomineralisation in the Palaeozoic oceans: evidence for simultaneous crystallisation of high and low magnesium calcite by phacopine trilobites

The chemical composition and microstructure of the calcite cuticles of eleven species of phacopine trilobites have been investigated by electron beam imaging, diffraction, and microanalysis, and results reveal that the lenses of their schizochroal eyes differed significantly in chemical composition from the rest of the cuticle in vivo. Apart from the eye lenses, most cuticles are inferred to have escaped extensive recrystallisation because their constituent crystals are sub-micrometre in size and have a preferred orientation that is consistent between species. Their current compositions of ~1.4 to 2.4 mol% MgCO3 are likely to be close to original values, although as they commonly luminesce and contain detectable manganese and iron, some diagenetic alteration has taken place. The associated lenses have a microstructure that is suitable for focusing light, yet are optically turbid owing to the presence within calcite of micropores and crystals of microdolomite, apatite, celestite and pyrite. The microdolomite indicates that lenses recrystallised from an original high-Mg calcite composition and this is supported by the presence of nanometre-scale modulated microstructures in both the calcite and dolomite. These lenses currently contain ~1 to 6 mol% MgCO3, and by comparison with the proportion of magnesium lost from echinoderm stereom in the same thin sections, may have contained ~7.5 mol% MgCO3 in vivo. In some samples, more extensive diagenetic alteration is evidenced by recrystallisation of the cuticle including lenses to coarse equant calcite or enrichment of the cuticle, but not necessarily the lenses, in magnesium accompanying replacement by a Mg–Fe phyllosilicate. The phacopine trilobites had to modify partition coefficients for magnesium considerably in order to grow lenses with contrasting compositions to the rest of their cuticles, and such a strong vital effect on biomineralisation suggests that incorporation of magnesium was essential for functioning of their calcite optical s

Simulating spin models on GPU

Over the last couple of years it has been realized that the vast computational power of graphics processing units (GPUs) could be harvested for purposes other than the video game industry. This power, which at least nominally exceeds that of current CPUs by large factors, results from the relative simplicity of the GPU architectures as compared to CPUs, combined with a large number of parallel processing units on a single chip. To benefit from this setup for general computing purposes, the problems at hand need to be prepared in a way to profit from the inherent parallelism and hierarchical structure of memory accesses. In this contribution I discuss the performance potential for simulating spin models, such as the Ising model, on GPU as compared to conventional simulations on CPU.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, elsarticl

Triggered Star Formation in a Massive Galaxy at z=3.8: 4C41.17

Spectropolarimetric observations obtained with the W. M. Keck Telescope of the z=3.8 radio galaxy 4C41.17 show that the UV continuum emission from this galaxy, which is aligned with the radio axis, is unpolarized (P[2sigma] < 2.4%). This implies that scattered AGN light, which is generally the dominant contributor to the rest-frame UV emission in z~1 radio galaxies, is unlikely to be a major component of the UV flux from 4C41.17. The spectrum shows absorption lines that are similar to those detected in the spectra of the recently discovered population of star forming galaxies at z~2-3. A galaxian outflow may contribute partially to the low ionization absorption lines; however, the high velocity wings of the high ionization lines are unlikely to be dominated by a galaxian wind since the implied outflow mass is very large. The detection of stellar absorption lines, the shape of the SiIV profile, the unpolarized continuum, the inability of any AGN-related processes to account for the UV flux, and the similarity of the UV continuum spectra of 4C41.17 and the nearby starburst region NGC 1741B1 suggest that the UV light in 4C41.17 is dominated by young stars. If so, the implied star-formation rate is roughly 140-1100Msun/yr. We discuss the possibility that star formation in 4C41.17 was triggered by the radio source. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that 4C41.17 is undergoing its major epoch of star formation at z~4, and that by z~1 it will have evolved to have spectral and morphological properties similar to those observed in known z~1 powerful radio galaxies.Comment: 28 pages (Latex text + figures); Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (Dec 1, 1997 issue

A comparison of aircraft-based surface-layer observations over Denmark Strait and the Irminger sea with meteorological analyses and QuikSCAT winds

A compilation of aircraft observations of the atmospheric surface layer is compared with several meteorological analyses and QuikSCAT wind products. The observations are taken during the Greenland Flow Distortion Experiment, in February and March 2007, during cold-air outbreak conditions and moderate to high wind speeds. About 150 data points spread over six days are used, with each data point derived from a 2-min run (equivalent to a 12 km spatial average). The observations were taken 30–50 m above the sea surface and are adjusted to standard heights. Surface-layer temperature, humidity and wind, as well as sea-surface temperature (SST) and surface turbulent fluxes are compared against co-located data from the ECMWF operational analyses, NCEP Global Reanalyses, NCEP North American Regional Reanalyses (NARR), Met Office North Atlantic European (NAE) operational analyses, two MM5 hindcasts, and two QuikSCAT products. In general, the limited-area models are better at capturing the mesoscale high wind speed features and their associated structure; often the models underestimate the highest wind speeds and gradients. The most significant discrepancies are: a poor simulation of relative humidity by the NCEP global and MM5 models, a cold bias in 2 m air temperature near the sea-ice edge in the NAE model, and an overestimation of wind speed above 20 m s-1 in the QuikSCAT wind products. In addition, the NCEP global, NARR and MM5 models all have significant discrepancies associated with the parametrisation of surface turbulent heat fluxes. A high-resolution prescription of the SST field is crucial in this region, although these were not generally used at this time