18,235 research outputs found
Dietary protein intake and renal function
Recent trends in weight loss diets have led to a substantial increase in protein intake by individuals. As a result, the safety of habitually consuming dietary protein in excess of recommended intakes has been questioned. In particular, there is concern that high protein intake may promote renal damage by chronically increasing glomerular pressure and hyperfiltration. There is, however, a serious question as to whether there is significant evidence to support this relationship in healthy individuals. In fact, some studies suggest that hyperfiltration, the purported mechanism for renal damage, is a normal adaptative mechanism that occurs in response to several physiological conditions. This paper reviews the available evidence that increased dietary protein intake is a health concern in terms of the potential to initiate or promote renal disease. While protein restriction may be appropriate for treatment of existing kidney disease, we find no significant evidence for a detrimental effect of high protein intakes on kidney function in healthy persons after centuries of a high protein Western diet
Mid-infrared imaging- and spectro-polarimetric subarcsecond observations of NGC 1068
We present sub-arcsecond 7.513 m imaging- and spectro-polarimetric
observations of NGC 1068 using CanariCam on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio
CANARIAS. At all wavelengths, we find:
(1) A 90 60 pc extended polarized feature in the northern ionization
cone, with a uniform 44 polarization angle. Its polarization
arises from dust and gas emission in the ionization cone, heated by the active
nucleus and jet, and further extinguished by aligned dust grains in the host
galaxy. The polarization spectrum of the jet-molecular cloud interaction at
24 pc from the core is highly polarized, and does not show a silicate
feature, suggesting that the dust grains are different from those in the
interstellar medium.
(2) A southern polarized feature at 9.6 pc from the core. Its
polarization arises from a dust emission component extinguished by a large
concentration of dust in the galaxy disc. We cannot distinguish between dust
emission from magnetically aligned dust grains directly heated by the jet close
to the core, and aligned dust grains in the dusty obscuring material
surrounding the central engine. Silicate-like grains reproduce the polarized
dust emission in this feature, suggesting different dust compositions in both
ionization cones.
(3) An upper limit of polarization degree of 0.3 per cent in the core. Based
on our polarization model, the expected polarization of the obscuring dusty
material is 0.1 per cent in the 813 m wavelength range. This
low polarization may be arising from the passage of radiation through aligned
dust grains in the shielded edges of the clumps.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication at MNRA
Putting People at the Center: The Role of Lived Experience in Dismantling Collateral Consequences Caused by Incarceration
These are the slides for the webinar "Putting People at the Center: The Role of Lived Experience in Dismantling Collateral Consequences Caused by Incarceration" held August 1, 2017. The goal of this webinar was to acknowledge that policy and systems change is most authentic and impactful when it surfaces and is driven from lived experience. It also explored the ways in which organizations partner with and learn from people most impacted in their decision making and processes driving policy change in criminal justice reforms related to employment, housing, and other collateral consequences of incarceration.The group of panelists included Marlon Chamberlain with FORCE Organizer at the Community Renewal Society, Glenn E. Martin from JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), Michelle Natividad Rodriguezfrom the National Employment Law Project (NELP), and Quintin Williams with Heartland Alliance
Coupling of D2R Short but not D2R Long receptor isoform to the Rho/ROCK signaling pathway renders striatal neurons vulnerable to mutant huntingtin.
Huntington's disease, an inherited neurodegenerative disorder, results from abnormal polyglutamine extension in the N-terminal region of the huntingtin protein. This mutation causes preferential degeneration of striatal projection neurons. We previously demonstrated, in vitro, that dopaminergic D2 receptor stimulation acted in synergy with expanded huntingtin to increase aggregates formation and striatal death through activation of the Rho/ROCK signaling pathway. In vivo, in a lentiviral-mediated model of expanded huntingtin expression in the rat striatum, we found that the D2 antagonist haloperidol protects striatal neurons against expanded huntingtin-mediated toxicity. Two variant transcripts are generated by alternative splicing of the of D2 receptor gene, the D2R-Long and the D2R-Short, which are thought to play different functional roles. We show herein that overexpression of D2R-Short, but not D2R-Long in cell lines is associated with activation of the RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway. In striatal neurons in culture, the selective D2 agonist Quinpirole triggers phosphorylation of cofilin, a downstream effector of ROCK, which is abrogated by siRNAs that knockdown both D2R-Long and D2R-Short, but not by siRNAs targeting D2R-Long alone. Aggregate formation and neuronal death induced by expanded huntingtin, were potentiated by Quinpirole. This D2 agonist-mediated effect was selectively inhibited by the siRNA targeting both D2R-Long and D2R-Short but not D2R-Long alone. Our data provide evidence for a specific coupling of D2R-Short to the RhoA/ROCK/cofilin pathway, and its involvement in striatal vulnerability to expanded huntingtin. A new route for targeting Rho-ROCK signaling in Huntington's disease is unraveled with our findings
Active galactic nuclei synapses: X-ray versus optical classifications using artificial neural networks
(Abridged) Many classes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) have been defined
entirely throughout optical wavelengths while the X-ray spectra have been very
useful to investigate their inner regions. However, optical and X-ray results
show many discrepancies that have not been fully understood yet. The aim of
this paper is to study the "synapses" between the X-ray and optical
classifications.
For the first time, the new EFLUXER task allowed us to analyse broad band
X-ray spectra of emission line nuclei (ELN) without any prior spectral fitting
using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Our sample comprises 162 XMM-Newton/pn
spectra of 90 local ELN in the Palomar sample. It includes starbursts (SB),
transition objects (T2), LINERs (L1.8 and L2), and Seyferts (S1, S1.8, and S2).
The ANNs are 90% efficient at classifying the trained classes S1, S1.8, and
SB. The S1 and S1.8 classes show a wide range of S1- and S1.8-like components.
We suggest that this is related to a large degree of obscuration at X-rays. The
S1, S1.8, S2, L1.8, L2/T2/SB-AGN (SB with indications of AGN), and SB classes
have similar average X-ray spectra within each class, but these average spectra
can be distinguished from class to class. The S2 (L1.8) class is linked to the
S1.8 (S1) class with larger SB-like component than the S1.8 (S1) class. The L2,
T2, and SB-AGN classes conform a class in the X-rays similar to the S2 class
albeit with larger fractions of SB-like component. This SB-like component is
the contribution of the star-formation in the host galaxy, which is large when
the AGN is weak. An AGN-like component seems to be present in the vast majority
of the ELN, attending to the non-negligible fraction of S1-like or S1.8-like
component. This trained ANN could be used to infer optical properties from
X-ray spectra in surveys like eRosita.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Appendix B only
in the full version of the paper here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3484086/AGNSynapsis_OGM_online.pd
Near-Infrared Polarimetric Adaptive Optics Observations of NGC 1068: A torus created by a hydromagnetic outflow wind
We present J' and K' imaging linear polarimetric adaptive optics observations
of NGC 1068 using MMT-Pol on the 6.5-m MMT. These observations allow us to
study the torus from a magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) framework. In a 0.5" (30 pc)
aperture at K', we find that polarisation arising from the passage of radiation
from the inner edge of the torus through magnetically aligned dust grains in
the clumps is the dominant polarisation mechanism, with an intrinsic
polarisation of 7.0%2.2%. This result yields a torus magnetic field
strength in the range of 482 mG through paramagnetic alignment, and
139 mG through the Chandrasekhar-Fermi method. The measured
position angle (P.A.) of polarisation at K is found to be similar to the
P.A. of the obscuring dusty component at few parsec scales using infrared
interferometric techniques. We show that the constant component of the magnetic
field is responsible for the alignment of the dust grains, and aligned with the
torus axis onto the plane of the sky. Adopting this magnetic field
configuration and the physical conditions of the clumps in the MHD outflow wind
model, we estimate a mass outflow rate 0.17 M yr at 0.4
pc from the central engine for those clumps showing near-infrared dichroism.
The models used were able to create the torus in a timescale of 10
yr with a rotational velocity of 1228 km s at 0.4 pc. We conclude
that the evolution, morphology and kinematics of the torus in NGC 1068 can be
explained within a MHD framework.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, Accepted by MNRA
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