1,289 research outputs found
Retinal glycoprotein enrichment by concanavalin a enabled identification of novel membrane autoantigen synaptotagmin-1 in equine recurrent uveitis.
Complete knowledge of autoantigen spectra is crucial for understanding pathomechanisms of autoimmune diseases like equine recurrent uveitis (ERU), a spontaneous model for human autoimmune uveitis. While several ERU autoantigens were identified previously, no membrane protein was found so far. As there is a great overlap between glycoproteins and membrane proteins, the aim of this study was to test whether pre-enrichment of retinal glycoproteins by ConA affinity is an effective tool to detect autoantigen candidates among membrane proteins. In 1D Western blots, the glycoprotein preparation allowed detection of IgG reactions to low abundant proteins in sera of ERU patients. Synaptotagmin-1, a Ca2+-sensing protein in synaptic vesicles, was identified as autoantigen candidate from the pre-enriched glycoprotein fraction by mass spectrometry and was validated as a highly prevalent autoantigen by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Analysis of Syt1 expression in retinas of ERU cases showed a downregulation in the majority of ERU affected retinas to 24%. Results pointed to a dysregulation of retinal neurotransmitter release in ERU. Identification of synaptotagmin-1, the first cell membrane associated autoantigen in this spontaneous autoimmune disease, demonstrated that examination of tissue fractions can lead to the discovery of previously undetected novel autoantigens. Further experiments will address its role in ERU pathology
Neutral Hydrogen Mapping of Virgo Cluster Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies
A new installment of neutral hydrogen mappings of Blue Compact Dwarf
galaxies, as defined by optical morphology, in and near the Virgo cluster is
presented. The primary motivation was to search for outlying clouds of HI as
potential interactive triggers of the enhanced star formation, and therefore
the mapped galaxies were selected for large HI} mass, large optical diameter,
and large velocity profile width. Approximately half the sample proved to have
one or more small, low column density star-free companion clouds, either
detached or appearing as an appendage in our maps, at resolution of order 4
kpc. Comparison is made to a sample of similarly mapped field BCD galaxies
drawn from the literature; however, the Virgo cluster sample of mapped BCDs is
still too small for conclusive comparisons to be made.
We found, on the one hand, little or no evidence for ram pressure stripping
nor, on the other, for extremely extended low column density HI envelopes. The
HI rotation curves in most cases rise approximately linearly, and slowly, as
far out as we can trace the gas.Comment: To appear in AJ, Dec. 200
Confirmation of an exoplanet using the transit color signature: Kepler-418b, a blended giant planet in a multiplanet system
We announce confirmation of Kepler-418b, one of two proposed planets in this
system. This is the first confirmation of an exoplanet based primarily on the
transit color signature technique. We used the Kepler public data archive
combined with multicolor photometry from the Gran Telescopio de Canarias and
radial velocity follow-up using FIES at the Nordic Optical Telescope for
confirmation. We report a confident detection of a transit color signature that
can only be explained by a compact occulting body, entirely ruling out a
contaminating eclipsing binary, a hierarchical triple, or a grazing eclipsing
binary. Those findings are corroborated by our radial velocity measurements,
which put an upper limit of ~1 Mjup on the mass of Kepler-418b. We also report
that the host star is significantly blended, confirming the ~10% light
contamination suspected from the crowding metric in the Kepler light curve
measured by the Kepler team. We report detection of an unresolved light source
that contributes an additional ~40% to the target star, which would not have
been detected without multicolor photometric analysis. The resulting
planet-star radius ratio is 0.110 +/- 0.0025, more than 25% more than the 0.087
measured by Kepler, leading to a radius of 1.20 +/- 0.16 Rjup instead of the
0.94 Rjup measured by the Kepler team. This is the first confirmation of an
exoplanet candidate based primarily on the transit color signature,
demonstrating that this technique is viable from ground for giant planets. It
is particularly useful for planets with long periods such as Kepler-418b, which
tend to have long transit durations. Additionally, multicolor photometric
analysis of transits can reveal unknown stellar neighbors and binary companions
that do not affect the classification of the transiting object but can have a
very significant effect on the perceived planetary radius.Comment: accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic
Detection of transit timing variations in excess of one hour in the Kepler multi-planet candidate system KOI 806 with the GTC
We report the detection of transit timing variations (TTVs) well in excess of
one hour in the Kepler multi-planet candidate system KOI 806. This system
exhibits transits consistent with three separate planets -- a Super-Earth, a
Jupiter, and a Saturn -- lying very nearly in a 1:2:5 resonance, respectively.
We used the Kepler public data archive and observations with the Gran
Telescopio de Canarias to compile the necessary photometry. For the largest
candidate planet (KOI 806.02) in this system, we detected a large transit
timing variation of -103.56.9 minutes against previously published
ephemeris. We did not obtain a strong detection of a transit color signature
consistent with a planet-sized object; however, we did not detect a color
difference in transit depth, either. The large TTV is consistent with
theoretical predictions that exoplanets in resonance can produce large transit
timing variations, particularly if the orbits are eccentric. The presence of
large TTVs among the bodies in this systems indicates that KOI806 is very
likely to be a planetary system. This is supported by the lack of a strong
color dependence in the transit depth, which would suggest a blended eclipsing
binary.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted into A&A Letter
LATE EFFECTS OF HEMATOPETIC STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION Impact of chronic GVHD on late complications after hematopoietic cell transplantation
Current results with transplantation of marrow or blood derived hemopoietic stem cells (HCT) in patients with aplastic anemia and patients who do not develop chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) show life expectancies similar to agematched controls. However, patients with advanced malignant diseases and patients who develop chronic GVHD after transplant are at risk of late disease recurrence and delayed, potentially fatal complications Infections Late infections due to bacterial, viral and fungal organisms occur most commonly in patients with chronic GVHD. Early post-transplant prophylaxis may result in an increased incidence of late infections (see e.g., acyclovir/ganciclovir and late CMV infections). It is standard practice to give prophylaxis for infections caused by Pneumocystis carinii, varicella zoster and encapsulated bacteria (and, more recently, fungal organisms) during the first year post-transplant, or longer, for patients with chronic GVHD. Airway and pulmonary disease The bronchial tree may be involved by GVHD The pathogenesis of air flow obstruction (AFO) after HCT is not fully understood Progressive bronchiolitis obliterans has been reported to occur in 10% of all patients with chronic GVHD [6] from 3 months to 2 years after HCT. Clinical and pathological findings are similar to those seen after lung or heart-lung transplants A recent analysis of results in 6523 patients transplanted at FHCRC revealed 51 cases of bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP), all but two after allogeneic transplants. BOOP was diagnosed at 5 Á/2,819 (median 108) days after HCT. The disease was significantly associated with acute and chronic GVHD. The disease progressed in 22% of patients and resolved or was stable in the remaining patient
High-resolution infrared spectroscopy as a tool to detect false positives of transit search programs
Transit search programs such as CoRoT and Kepler now have the capability of
detecting planets as small as the Earth. The detection of these planets however
requires the removal of all false positives. Although many false positives can
be identified by a detailed analysis of the LCs, the detections of others
require additional observations. An important source of false positives are
faint eclipsing binaries within the PSF of the target stars. We develop a new
method that allows us to detect faint eclipsing binaries with a separation
smaller than one arcsec from target stars. We thereby focus on binaries that
mimic the transits of terrestrial planets. These binaries can be either at the
same distance as the target star (triple stars), or at either larger, or
smaller distances. A close inspection of the problem indicates that in all
relevant cases the binaries are brighter in the infrared than in the optical
regime. We show how high resolution IR spectroscopy can be used to remove these
false positives. For the triple star case, we find that the brightness
difference between a primary and an eclipsing secondary is about 9-10 mag in
the visual but only about 4.5-5.9 magnitudes in the K-band. We demonstrate how
the triple star hypothesis can be excluded by taking a high-resolution IR
spectrum. Simulations of these systems show that the companions can be detected
with a false-alarm probability of 2%, if the spectrum has a S/N-ratio > 100. We
show that high-resolution IR spectra also allows to detect most of the false
positives caused by foreground or background binaries. If high resolution IR
spectroscopy is combined with photometric methods, virtually all false
positives can be detected without RV measurements. It is thus possible to
confirm transiting terrestrial planets with a modest investment of observing
time.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
Photometric Variability in the Ultracool Dwarf BRI 0021-0214: Possible Evidence for Dust Clouds
We report CCD photometric monitoring of the nonemission ultracool dwarf BRI
0021-0214 (M9.5) obtained during 10 nights in 1995 November and 4 nights in
1996 August, with CCD cameras at 1 m class telescopes on the observatories of
the Canary Islands. We present differential photometry of BRI 0021-0214, and we
report significant variability in the I-band light curve obtained in 1995. A
periodogram analysis finds a strong peak at a period of 0.84 day. This
modulation appears to be transient because it is present in the 1995 data but
not in the 1996 data. We also find a possible period of 0.20 day, which appears
to be present in both the 1995 and 1996 datasets. However, we do not find any
periodicity close to the rotation period expected from the spectroscopic
rotational broadening (< 0.14 day). BRI 0021-0214 is a very inactive object,
with extremely low levels of Halpha and X-ray emission. Thus, it is unlikely
that magnetically induced cool spots can account for the photometric
variability. The photometric variability of BRI 0021-0214 could be explained by
the presence of an active meteorology that leads to inhomogeneous clouds on the
surface. The lack of photometric modulation at the expected rotational period
suggests that the pattern of surface features may be more complicated than
previously anticipated.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 26 pages, 13 figures include
Exomoon simulations
We introduce and describe our newly developed code that simulates light
curves and radial velocity curves for arbitrary transiting exoplanets with a
satellite. The most important feature of the program is the calculation of
radial velocity curves and the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect in such systems. We
discuss the possibilities for detecting the exomoons taking the abilities of
Extremely Large Telescopes into account. We show that satellites may be
detected also by their RM effect in the future, probably using less accurate
measurements than promised by the current instrumental developments. Thus, RM
effect will be an important observational tool in the exploration of exomoons.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures with 9 figure panels, accepted by EM&
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