102 research outputs found
The stellar mass distribution in early-type disk galaxies: surface photometry and bulge-disk decompositions
We present deep B- and R-band surface photometry for a sample of 21 galaxies
with morphological types between S0 and Sab. We present radial profiles of
surface brightness, colour, ellipticity, position angle and deviations of
axisymmetry for all galaxies, as well as isophotal and effective radii and
total magnitudes. We have decomposed the images into contributions from a
spheroidal bulge and a flat disk, using an interactive, 2D decomposition
technique.
We study in detail the relations between various bulge and disk parameters.
In particular, we find that the bulges of our galaxies have surface brightness
profiles ranging from exponential to De Vaucouleurs, with the average value of
the Sersic shape parameter n being 2.5. In agreement with previous studies, we
find that the shape of the bulge intensity distribution depends on luminosity,
with the more luminous bulges having more centrally peaked light profiles. By
comparing the ellipticity of the isophotes in the bulges to those in the outer,
disk dominated regions, we are able to derive the intrinsic axis ratio q_b of
the bulges. The average axis ratio is 0.55, with an rms spread of 0.12. None of
the bulges in our sample is spherical, whereas in some cases, the bulges can be
as flat as q_b = 0.3 - 0.4. The bulge flattening seems to be weakly coupled to
luminosity, more luminous bulges being on average slightly more flattened than
their lower-luminosity counterparts. Our finding that most bulges are
significantly flattened and have an intensity profile shallower than R^{1/4}
suggests that `pseudobulges', formed from disk material by secular processes,
do not only occur in late-type spiral galaxies, but are a common feature in
early-type disk galaxies as well. (abridged)Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. A
pdf-version with full resolution figures and the full atlas can be found at
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ppzen/surfphot.accepted.pd
Statistical characterization of vaccinated cases and deaths due to COVID-19: methodology and case study in South America
Many studies have been performed in different regions of the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this work, we perform a statistical study related to the number of vaccinated cases and the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in ten South American countries. Our objective is to group countries according to the aforementioned variables. Once the groups of countries are built, they are characterized based on common properties of countries in the same group and differences between countries that are in different groups. Countries are grouped using principal component analysis and K-means analysis. These methods are combined in a single procedure that we propose for the classification of the countries. Regarding both variables, the countries were classified into three groups. Political decisions, availability of resources, bargaining power with suppliers and health infrastructure among others are some of the factors that can affect both the vaccination process and the timely care of infected people to avoid death. In general, the countries acted in a timely manner in relation to the vaccination of their citizens with the exception of two countries. Regarding the number of deaths, all countries reached peaks at some point in the study period
The detection of stellar velocity dispersion drops in the central regions of five isolated Seyfert spirals
We analyze the kinematics of the central regions of five isolated Seyfert
spiral galaxies from the DEGAS sample (four with new data presented in this
paper, IC184, UGC3223, NGC2639, NGC6814, and NGC6951 from our previous data),
by using long slit spectroscopy in the CaII triplet range (at ~ 8600 A)
obtained with a 4m-class telescope. A drop of the velocity dispersions in the
innermost 1-3 arcsec is observed in four of them, and hinted in the remaining
galaxy (NGC6814). The available HST images for our sample together with another
nine galaxies with reported velocity dispersion drops, are also used to
investigate the presence of morphological inner structures at the scales of the
kinematical drops. Evidence for disk-like shapes is found in 12 out of the 14
cases. The only exceptions are NGC6814 and NGC6951. Existing N-body simulations
including stars, gas and star formation predict that such a drop is most
probably due to a young stellar population born from dynamically cold gas
accreted in a circumnuclear disk formed during an episode of central gas
accretion driven by a bar. The equivalent widths of the Calcium triplet lines
for our 5 galaxies have been measured. Even if the profiles could be formally
consistent with constant EW(CaT) values, they seem to indicate the presence of
a local maximum in the regions corresponding spatially to the drops; if
confirmed, this would imply the presence of a different stellar population,
whose properties could help constraining the models.Comment: A&A accepted for publicatio
AINUR: Atlas of Images of NUclear Rings
We present the most complete atlas of nuclear rings to date. We include 113
rings found in 107 galaxies, six of which are elliptical galaxies, five are
highly inclined disc galaxies, 18 are unbarred disc galaxies, and 78 are barred
disc galaxies. Star-forming nuclear rings occur in 20% of disc galaxies with
types between T=-3 and T=7. We aim to explore possible relationships between
the size and morphology of the rings and various galactic parameters. We
produce colour index and structure maps, as well as Halpha and Paalpha
continuum-subtracted images from HST archival data. We derive ellipticity
profiles from H-band 2MASS images in order to detect bars and find their metric
parameters. We measure the non-axisymmetric torque parameter, Qg, and search
for correlations between bar, ring metric parameters, and Qg.
Our atlas of nuclear rings includes star-forming and dust rings. Nuclear
rings span a range from a few tens of parsecs to a few kiloparsecs in radius.
Star-forming nuclear rings can be found in a wide range of morphological types,
from S0 to Sd, with a peak in the distribution between Sab and Sb, and without
strong preference for barred galaxies. Dust nuclear rings are found in
elliptical and S0 galaxies. For barred galaxies, the maximum radius that a
nuclear ring can reach is a quarter of the bar radius. We found a nearly random
distribution of PA offsets between nuclear rings and bars. There is some
evidence that nuclear ring ellipticity is limited by bar ellipticity. We
confirm that the maximum relative size of a star-forming nuclear ring is
inversely proportional to the non-axisymmetric torque parameter, Qg, and that
the origin of nuclear rings, even the ones in non-barred hosts, are closely
linked to the existence of dynamical resonances.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. A full resolution version of the
manuscript with high resolution figures can be found at
http://www.iac.es/folleto/research/preprints
Creatine and creatinine quantified using nuclear magnetic resonance:A method validation study and clinical associations between circulating creatine and fatigue in kidney transplant recipients
Background: A potential contributor to fatigue in kidney transplant recipients (KTR) may be impaired creatine homeostasis. We developed and validated a high-throughput NMR assay allowing for simultaneous measurement of circulating creatine and creatinine, and determined plasma creatine and estimated intramuscular creatine concentrations in KTRs, delineated their determinants and explored their associations with self-reported fatigue.Methods: An NMR assay was developed and validated for measurement of circulating creatinine and creatine concentrations. Plasma creatine and creatinine concentrations were measured in 618 KTR. Fatigue was assessed using the checklist individual strength. Associations of creatine parameters with fatigue was assessed using linear mixed effect models.Results: The NMR-based assay had good sensitivity, precision and demonstrated linearity across a large range of values. Among KTR, the mean age was 56 ± 13 years, 62% were men and eGFR was 54 ± 18 ml/min/1.73 m2. Plasma creatine concentration was 27 [19â39] ”mol/L. Estimated intramuscular creatine concentration was 27 ± 7 mmol/kg. Higher plasma creatine concentration and higher estimated intramuscular creatine concentration were independently associated with a lower total fatigue score and less motivation problems.Conclusion: An NMR method for measurement of circulating creatine and creatinine which offers the potential for accurate and efficient quantification was developed. The found associations suggest that improving creatine status may play a beneficial role in mitigating fatigue.</p
CALIFA, the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey III. Second public data release
CALIFA is the first legacy survey being performed at Calar Alto. The CALIFA collaboration would like to thank the IAA-CSIC and MPIA-MPG as major partners of the observatory, and CAHA itself, for the unique access to telescope time and support in manpower and infrastructures. The CALIFA collaboration thanks also the CAHA staff for the dedication to this project. R.G.B., R.G.D., and E.P. are supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion under grant AYA2010-15081. S.Z. is supported by the EU Marie Curie Integration Grant "SteMaGE" Nr. PCIG12-GA-2012-326466 (Call Identifier: FP7-PEOPLE-2012 CIG). J.F.B. acknowledges support from grants AYA2010-21322-C03-02 and AIB-2010-DE-00227 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), as well as from the FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission, via the Initial Training Network DAGAL under REA grant agreement number 289313. Support for L.G. is provided by the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism's Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC12009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, M.A.S.L.G. also acknowledges support by CONICYT through FONDECYT grant 3140566. A.G. acknowledges support from the FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n. 267251 (AstroFIt). J.M.G. acknowledges support from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the Fellowship SFRH/BPD/66958/2009 from FCT (Portugal) and research grant PTDC/FIS-AST/3214/2012. RAM was funded by the Spanish programme of International Campus of Excellence Moncloa (CEI). J.M.A. acknowledges support from the European Research Council Starting Grant (SEDmorph; P.I. V. Wild). I.M., J.M. and A.d.O. acknowledge the support by the projects AYA2010-15196 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion and TIC 114 and PO08-TIC-3531 from Junta de Andalucia. AMI acknowledges support from Agence Nationale de la Recherche through the STILISM project (ANR-12-BS05-0016-02). M.M. acknowledges financial support from AYA2010-21887-C04-02 from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. P.P. is supported by an FCT Investigador 2013 Contract, funded by FCT/MCTES (Portugal) and POPH/FSE (EC). P.P. acknowledges support by FCT under project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029170 (Reference FCT PTDC/FIS-AST/3214/2012), funded by FCT-MEC (PIDDAC) and FEDER (COMPETE). T.R.L. thanks the support of the Spanish Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte by means of the FPU fellowship. PSB acknowledges support from the Ramon y Cajal program, grant ATA2010-21322-C03-02 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO). C.J.W. acknowledges support through the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant 303912. V.W. acknowledges support from the European Research Council Starting Grant (SEDMorph P.I. V. Wild) and European Career Re-integration Grant (Phiz-Ev P.I.V. Wild). Y.A. acknowledges financial support from the Ramon y Cajal programme (RyC-2011-09461) and project AYA2013-47742-C4-3-P, both managed by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, as well as the "Study of Emission-Line Galaxies with Integral-Field Spectroscopy" (SELGIFS) programme, funded by the EU (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES-612701) within the Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions scheme. We thank the referee David Wilman for very useful comments that improved the presentation of the paper.This paper describes the Second Public Data Release (DR2) of the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. The data for 200 objects
are made public, including the 100 galaxies of the First Public Data Release (DR1). Data were obtained with the integral-field spectrograph
PMAS/PPak mounted on the 3.5 m telescope at the Calar Alto observatory. Two different spectral setups are available for each galaxy, (i) a lowresolution V500 setup covering the wavelength range 3745â7500 Ă
with a spectral resolution of 6.0 Ă
(FWHM); and (ii) a medium-resolution
V1200 setup covering the wavelength range 3650â4840 Ă
with a spectral resolution of 2.3 Ă
(FWHM). The sample covers a redshift range between
0.005 and 0.03, with a wide range of properties in the colorâmagnitude diagram, stellar mass, ionization conditions, and morphological types. All
the cubes in the data release were reduced with the latest pipeline, which includes improved spectrophotometric calibration, spatial registration,
and spatial resolution. The spectrophotometric calibration is better than 6% and the median spatial resolution is 200 : 4. In total, the second data
release contains over 1.5 million spectra.Instituto de Salud Carlos III
Spanish Government
AYA2010-15081
AYA2010-15196European Union (EU)
PCIG12-GA-2012-326466Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)
AYA2010-21322-C03-02
AIB-2010-DE-00227FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission, via the Initial Training Network DAGAL under REA
289313Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism's Millennium Science Initiative
IC12009Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT)
CONICYT FONDECYT
3140566Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) from FCT (Portugal)
SFRH/BPD/66958/2009Spanish programme of International Campus of Excellence Moncloa (CEI)European Research Council (ERC)Junta de Andalucia
TIC 114
PO08-TIC-3531French National Research Agency (ANR)
ANR-12-BS05-0016-02Spanish Government
AYA2010-21887-C04-02FCT Investigador Contract - FCT/MCTES (Portugal)European Commission Joint Research Centre
European Social Fund (ESF)FCT - FCT-MEC (PIDDAC)
FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029170
FCT PTDC/FIS-AST/3214/2012European Union (EU)Spanish Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte by FPURamon y Cajal program from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)
ATA2010-21322-C03-02European Union (EU)
303912European Career Re-integration GrantSpanish Government
RyC-2011-09461
AYA2013-47742-C4-3-PEuropean Union (EU)
FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES-612701PTDC/FIS-AST/3214/2012Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
ST/K000985/
Poxvirus MVA Expressing SARS-CoV-2 S Protein Induces Robust Immunity and Protects Rhesus Macaques From SARS-CoV-2
Novel safe, immunogenic, and effective vaccines are needed to control the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2. Here, we describe the safety, robust immunogenicity, and potent efficacy elicited in rhesus macaques by a modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) vector expressing a full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein (MVA-S). MVA-S vaccination was well tolerated and induced S and receptor-binding domain (RBD)-binding IgG antibodies and neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and several variants of concern. S-specific IFNÎł, but not IL-4, -producing cells were also elicited. After SARS-CoV-2 challenge, vaccinated animals showed a significant strong reduction of virus loads in bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) and decreased levels in throat and nasal mucosa. Remarkably, MVA-S also protected macaques from fever and infection-induced cytokine storm. Computed tomography and histological examination of the lungs showed reduced lung pathology in MVA-S-vaccinated animals. These findings favor the use of MVA-S as a potential vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 in clinical trials.This research was supported by Fondo COVID-19 grant COV20/00151 (Spanish Health Ministry, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)), Fondo Supera COVID-19 grant (Crue Universidades-Banco Santander), and Spanish Research Council (CSIC) grant 202120E079 (to JG-A); CSIC grant 2020E84, la Caixa Banking Foundation grant CF01-00008, Ferrovial, and MAPFRE donations (to ME); a Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN)/Spanish Research Agency (AEI)/10.13039/501100011033 grant (PID2020-114481RB-I00; to JG-A and ME); and internal funding from the BPRC. This research work was also funded by the European Commission-NextGenerationEU, through CSICâs Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global) (to JG-A and ME). RD received grants from the European Commission Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (Project VIRUSCAN FETPROACT-2016: 731868 and Project EPIC-CROWN-2: 101046084), and FundaciĂłn Caixa-Health Research HR18-00469 (Project StopEbola).Peer reviewe
Galaxy bulges and their massive black holes: a review
With references to both key and oft-forgotten pioneering works, this article
starts by presenting a review into how we came to believe in the existence of
massive black holes at the centres of galaxies. It then presents the historical
development of the near-linear (black hole)-(host spheroid) mass relation,
before explaining why this has recently been dramatically revised. Past
disagreement over the slope of the (black hole)-(velocity dispersion) relation
is also explained, and the discovery of sub-structure within the (black
hole)-(velocity dispersion) diagram is discussed. As the search for the
fundamental connection between massive black holes and their host galaxies
continues, the competing array of additional black hole mass scaling relations
for samples of predominantly inactive galaxies are presented.Comment: Invited (15 Feb. 2014) review article (submitted 16 Nov. 2014). 590
references, 9 figures, 25 pages in emulateApJ format. To appear in "Galactic
Bulges", E. Laurikainen, R.F. Peletier, and D.A. Gadotti (eds.), Springer
Publishin
Large-scale analyses of common and rare variants identify 12 new loci associated with atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation affects more than 33 million people worldwide and increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and death. Fourteen genetic loci have been associated with atrial fibrillation in European and Asian ancestry groups. To further define the genetic basis of atrial fibrillation, we performed large-scale, trans-ancestry meta-analyses of common and rare variant association studies. The genome-wide association studies (GWAS) included 17,931 individuals with atrial fibrillation and 115,142 referents; the exome-wide association studies (ExWAS) and rare variant association studies (RVAS) involved 22,346 cases and 132,086 referents. We identified 12 new genetic loci that exceeded genome-wide significance, implicating genes involved in cardiac electrical and structural remodeling. Our results nearly double the number of known genetic loci for atrial fibrillation, provide insights into the molecular basis of atrial fibrillation, and may facilitate the identification of new potential targets for drug discovery
Multi-ethnic genome-wide association study for atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (AF) affects more than 33 million individuals worldwide and has a complex heritability. We conducted the largest meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for AF to date, consisting of more than half a million individuals, including 65,446 with AF. In total, we identified 97 loci significantly associated with AF, including 67 that were novel in a combined-ancestry analysis, and 3 that were novel in a European-specific analysis. We sought to identify AF-associated genes at the GWAS loci by performing RNA-sequencing and expression quantitative trait locus analyses in 101 left atrial samples, the most relevant tissue for AF. We also performed transcriptome-wide analyses that identified 57 AF-associated genes, 42 of which overlap with GWAS loci. The identified loci implicate genes enriched within cardiac developmental, electrophysiological, contractile and structural pathways. These results extend our understanding of the biological pathways underlying AF and may facilitate the development of therapeutics for AF
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