2,326 research outputs found
From Starburst to Quiescence: Testing AGN feedback in Rapidly Quenching Post-Starburst Galaxies
Post-starbursts are galaxies in transition from the blue cloud to the red
sequence. Although they are rare today, integrated over time they may be an
important pathway to the red sequence. This work uses SDSS, GALEX, and WISE
observations to identify the evolutionary sequence from starbursts to fully
quenched post-starbursts in the narrow mass range , and identifies "transiting" post-starbursts which are intermediate
between these two populations. In this mass range, of galaxies are
starbursts, are quenched post-starbursts, and are the
transiting types in between. The transiting post-starbursts have stellar
properties that are predicted for fast-quenching starbursts and morphological
characteristics that are already typical of early-type galaxies. The AGN
fraction, as estimated from optical line ratios, of these post-starbursts is
about 3 times higher () than that of normal star-forming
galaxies of the same mass, but there is a significant delay between the
starburst phase and the peak of nuclear optical AGN activity (median age
difference of Myr), in agreement with previous studies.
The time delay is inferred by comparing the broad-band near NUV-to-optical
photometry with stellar population synthesis models. We also find that
starbursts and post-starbursts are significantly more dust-obscured than normal
star-forming galaxies in the same mass range. About of the starbursts
and of the transiting post-starbursts can be classified as the
"Dust-Obscured Galaxies" (DOGs), while only of normal galaxies are
DOGs.The time delay between the starburst phase and AGN activity suggests that
AGN do not play a primary role in the original quenching of starbursts but may
be responsible for quenching later low-level star formation during the
post-starburst phase.Comment: 30 pages, 18 figures,accepted to Ap
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Group A Streptococcal S Protein Utilizes Red Blood Cells as Immune Camouflage and Is a Critical Determinant for Immune Evasion.
Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human-specific pathogen that evades the host immune response through the elaboration of multiple virulence factors. Although many of these factors have been studied, numerous proteins encoded by the GAS genome are of unknown function. Herein, we characterize a biomimetic red blood cell (RBC)-captured protein of unknown function-annotated subsequently as S protein-in GAS pathophysiology. S protein maintains the hydrophobic properties of GAS, and its absence reduces survival in human blood. S protein facilitates GAS coating with lysed RBCs to promote molecular mimicry, which increases virulence in vitro and in vivo. Proteomic profiling reveals that the removal of S protein from GAS alters cellular and extracellular protein landscapes and is accompanied by a decrease in the abundance of several key GAS virulence determinants. In vivo, the absence of S protein results in a striking attenuation of virulence and promotes a robust immune response and immunological memory
SkyMapper Southern Survey: First Data Release (DR1)
We present the first data release (DR1) of the SkyMapper Southern Survey, a
hemispheric survey carried out with the SkyMapper Telescope at Siding Spring
Observatory in Australia. Here, we present the survey strategy, data
processing, catalogue construction and database schema. The DR1 dataset
includes over 66,000 images from the Shallow Survey component, covering an area
of 17,200 deg in all six SkyMapper passbands , while the full area
covered by any passband exceeds 20,000 deg. The catalogues contain over 285
million unique astrophysical objects, complete to roughly 18 mag in all bands.
We compare our point-source photometry with PanSTARRS1 DR1 and note an
RMS scatter of 2%. The internal reproducibility of SkyMapper photometry is on
the order of 1%. Astrometric precision is better than 0.2 arcsec based on
comparison with Gaia DR1. We describe the end-user database, through which data
are presented to the world community, and provide some illustrative science
queries.Comment: 31 pages, 19 figures, 10 tables, PASA, accepte
Inhibition of αvβ5 Integrin Attenuates Vascular Permeability and Protects against Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury
Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a leading cause of AKI. This common clinical complication lacks effective therapies and can lead to the development of CKD. The αvβ5 integrin may have an important role in acute injury, including septic shock and acute lung injury. To examine its function in AKI, we utilized a specific function-blocking antibody to inhibit αvβ5 in a rat model of renal IRI. Pretreatment with this anti-αvβ5 antibody significantly reduced serum creatinine levels, diminished renal damage detected by histopathologic evaluation, and decreased levels of injury biomarkers. Notably, therapeutic treatment with the αvβ5 antibody 8 hours after IRI also provided protection from injury. Global gene expression profiling of post-ischemic kidneys showed that αvβ5 inhibition affected established injury markers and induced pathway alterations previously shown to be protective. Intravital imaging of post-ischemic kidneys revealed reduced vascular leak with αvβ5 antibody treatment. Immunostaining for αvβ5 in the kidney detected evident expression in perivascular cells, with negligible expression in the endothelium. Studies in a three-dimensional microfluidics system identified a pericyte-dependent role for αvβ5 in modulating vascular leak. Additional studies showed αvβ5 functions in the adhesion and migration of kidney pericytes in vitro Initial studies monitoring renal blood flow after IRI did not find significant effects with αvβ5 inhibition; however, future studies should explore the contribution of vasomotor effects. These studies identify a role for αvβ5 in modulating injury-induced renal vascular leak, possibly through effects on pericyte adhesion and migration, and reveal αvβ5 inhibition as a promising therapeutic strategy for AKI
Inflationary Initial Conditions Consistent with Causality
The initial condition problem of inflation is examined from the perspective
of both spacetime embedding and scalar field dynamics. The spacetime embedding
problem is solved for arbitrary initial spatial curvature Omega, which
generalizes previous works that primarily treat the flat case Omega=1. Scalar
field dynamics that is consistent with the embedding constraints are examined,
with the additional treatment of damping effects. The effects of
inhomogeneities on the embedding problem also are considered. A category of
initial conditions are identified that are not acausal and can develop into an
inflationary regime.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes, matches version to appear in
Physical Review
The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: The Voronoi-Delaunay Method Catalog of Galaxy Groups
We present a public catalog of galaxy groups constructed from the spectroscopic sample of galaxies in the fourth data release from the Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe 2 (DEEP2) Galaxy Redshift Survey, including the Extended Groth Strip (EGS). The catalog contains 1165 groups with two or more members in the EGS over the redshift range 0 0.6 in the rest of DEEP2. Twenty-five percent of EGS galaxies and fourteen percent of high-z DEEP2 galaxies are assigned to galaxy groups. The groups were detected using the Voronoi-Delaunay method (VDM) after it has been optimized on mock DEEP2 catalogs following similar methods to those employed in Gerke et al. In the optimization effort, we have taken particular care to ensure that the mock catalogs resemble the data as closely as possible, and we have fine-tuned our methods separately on mocks constructed for the EGS and the rest of DEEP2. We have also probed the effect of the assumed cosmology on our inferred group-finding efficiency by performing our optimization on three different mock catalogs with different background cosmologies, finding large differences in the group-finding success we can achieve for these different mocks. Using the mock catalog whose background cosmology is most consistent with current data, we estimate that the DEEP2 group catalog is 72% complete and 61% pure (74% and 67% for the EGS) and that the group finder correctly classifies 70% of galaxies that truly belong to groups, with an additional 46% of interloper galaxies contaminating the catalog (66% and 43% for the EGS). We also confirm that the VDM catalog reconstructs the abundance of galaxy groups with velocity dispersions above ~300 km s^(–1) to an accuracy better than the sample variance, and this successful reconstruction is not strongly dependent on cosmology. This makes the DEEP2 group catalog a promising probe of the growth of cosmic structure that can potentially be used for cosmological tests
Intensity of Th and Pa scavenging partitioned by particle chemistry in the North Atlantic Ocean
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Chemistry 170 (2015): 49-60, doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2015.01.006.The natural radionuclides 231Pa and 230Th are incorporated into the marine sediment record by
scavenging, or adsorption to various particle types, via chemical reactions that are not fully
understood. Because these isotopes have potential value in tracing several oceanographic
processes, we investigate the nature of scavenging using trans-Atlantic measurements of
dissolved (<0.45 μm) and particulate (0.8-51 μm) 231Pa and 230Th, together with major particle
composition. We find widespread impact of intense scavenging by authigenic Fe/Mn
(hydr)oxides, in the form of hydrothermal particles emanating from the Mid-Atlantic ridge and
particles resuspended from reducing conditions near the seafloor off the coast of West Africa.
Biogenic opal was not found to be a significant scavenging phase for either element in this
sample set, essentially because of its low abundance and small dynamic range at the studied
sites. Distribution coefficients in shallow (< 200 m) depths are anomalously low which suggests
either the unexpected result of a low scavenging intensity for organic matter or that, in water
masses containing abundant organic-rich particles, a greater percentage of radionuclides exist in
the colloidal or complexed phase. In addition to particle concentration, the oceanic distribution
of particle types likely plays a significant role in the ultimate distribution of sedimentary 230Th
and 231Pa.Cruise management for GA03 was funded by the U. S. National Science Foundation to W.
Jenkins (OCE-0926423), E. Boyle (OCE-0926204), and G. Cutter (OCE-0926092). Radionuclide
studies were supported by NSF (OCE-0927064 to LDEO, OCE-0926860 to WHOI, OCE-
0927757 to URI, and OCE-0927754 to UMN). Additional support came from the European
Research Council (278705) to LFR and the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship to SMV.
Particle studies were supported by NSF OCE-0963026 to PJL
A single F153Sβ3 mutation causes constitutive integrin αIIbβ3 activation in a variant form of Glanzmann thrombasthenia
This report identifies a novel variant form of the inherited bleeding disorder Glanzmann thrombasthenia, exhibiting only mild bleeding in a physically active individual. The platelets cannot aggregate ex vivo with physiologic agonists of activation, although microfluidic analysis with whole blood displays moderate ex vivo platelet adhesion and aggregation consistent with mild bleeding. Immunocytometry shows reduced expression of αIIbβ3 on quiescent platelets that spontaneously bind/store fibrinogen, and activation-dependent antibodies (ligand-induced binding site-319.4 and PAC-1) report β3 extension suggesting an intrinsic activation phenotype. Genetic analysis reveals a single F153Sβ3 substitution within the βI-domain from a heterozygous T556C nucleotide substitution of ITGB3 exon 4 in conjunction with a previously reported IVS5(+1)G\u3eA splice site mutation with undetectable platelet messenger RNA accounting for hemizygous expression of S153β3. F153 is completely conserved among β3 of several species and all human β-integrin subunits suggesting that it may play a vital role in integrin structure/function. Mutagenesis of αIIb-F153Sβ3 also displays reduced levels of a constitutively activated αIIb-S153β3 on HEK293T cells. The overall structural analysis suggests that a bulky aromatic, nonpolar amino acid (F,W)153β3 is critical for maintaining the resting conformation of α2- and α1-helices of the βI-domain because small amino acid substitutions (S,A) facilitate an unhindered inward movement of the α2- and α1-helices of the βI-domain toward the constitutively active αIIbβ3 conformation, while a bulky aromatic, polar amino acid (Y) hinders such movements and restrains αIIbβ3 activation. The data collectively demonstrate that disruption of F153β3 can significantly alter normal integrin/platelet function, although reduced expression of αIIb-S153β3 may be compensated by a hyperactive conformation that promotes viable hemostasis
Prevalence of transcription promoters within archaeal operons and coding sequences
Despite the knowledge of complex prokaryotic-transcription mechanisms, generalized rules, such as the simplified organization of genes into operons with well-defined promoters and terminators, have had a significant role in systems analysis of regulatory logic in both bacteria and archaea. Here, we have investigated the prevalence of alternate regulatory mechanisms through genome-wide characterization of transcript structures of ∼64% of all genes, including putative non-coding RNAs in Halobacterium salinarum NRC-1. Our integrative analysis of transcriptome dynamics and protein–DNA interaction data sets showed widespread environment-dependent modulation of operon architectures, transcription initiation and termination inside coding sequences, and extensive overlap in 3′ ends of transcripts for many convergently transcribed genes. A significant fraction of these alternate transcriptional events correlate to binding locations of 11 transcription factors and regulators (TFs) inside operons and annotated genes—events usually considered spurious or non-functional. Using experimental validation, we illustrate the prevalence of overlapping genomic signals in archaeal transcription, casting doubt on the general perception of rigid boundaries between coding sequences and regulatory elements
Astrometry and geodesy with radio interferometry: experiments, models, results
Summarizes current status of radio interferometry at radio frequencies
between Earth-based receivers, for astrometric and geodetic applications.
Emphasizes theoretical models of VLBI observables that are required to extract
results at the present accuracy levels of 1 cm and 1 nanoradian. Highlights the
achievements of VLBI during the past two decades in reference frames, Earth
orientation, atmospheric effects on microwave propagation, and relativity.Comment: 83 pages, 19 Postscript figures. To be published in Rev. Mod. Phys.,
Vol. 70, Oct. 199
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