60 research outputs found
Plasma Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Capacity (NEAC) in Relation to Dietary NEAC, Nutrient Antioxidants and Inflammation-Related Biomarkers
The results presented in this article constitute part of the C.J. Carrión-García’s Doctoral Thesis
performed in the Nutrition and Food Science Doctorate Program of the University of Granada.(1) Background: Little is known about the interlinkages between dietary and plasma
non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (D-NEAC and P-NEAC, respectively) and the body’s antioxidant
and inflammation response. Our aim was to explore these associations in 210 participants from two
Spanish European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) centers. (2) Methods:
D-NEAC was estimated using published NEAC values in food. P-NEAC and total polyphenols
(TP) were quantified by FRAP (ferric-reducing antioxidant power), TRAP (total radical-trapping
antioxidant parameter), TEAC-ABTS (trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity-Azino Bis Thiazoline
Sulfonic), ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) and Folin–Ciocalteu assays. Nutrient antioxidants
(carotenes, α-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, retinol, uric acid, Q9 and Q10 coenzymes) and inflammation
markers (IL-6, IL-8, CRP, TNF-α, PAI-I, resistin and adiponectin) were also analyzed. Spearman correlation
and linear regression analyses were performed in association analyses. Analyses were stratified by
covariates and groups were defined using cluster analysis. (3) Results: P-FRAP was correlated with
D-NEAC, and significantly associated with P-NEAC in multivariate adjusted models. P-FRAP levels
were also significantly associated with plasma antioxidants (log2 scale: TP β = 0.26; ascorbic acid
β = 0.03; retinol β = 0.08; α-tocopherol β = 0.05; carotenes β = 0.02; Q10 β = 0.06; uric acid β = 0.25),
though not with inflammation-related biomarkers. Different profiles of individuals with varying levels
of P-NEAC and biomarkers were found. (4) Conclusions: P-NEAC levels were to some extent associated
with D-NEAC and plasma antioxidants, yet not associated with inflammation response.This research was co-funded by the Health Research Found (FIS), Acción Estratégica en Salud (AES),
of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, grant number PI12/00002, and the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF)
APOGEE chemical abundances of globular cluster giants in the inner Galaxy
We report chemical abundances obtained by Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III/Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment for giant stars in five globular clusters located within 2.2 kpc of the Galactic Centre. We detect the presence of multiple stellar populations in four of those clusters (NGC 6553, NGC 6528, Terzan 5 and Palomar 6) and find strong evidence for their presence in NGC 6522. All clusters with a large enough sample present a significant spread in the abundances of N, C, Na and Al, with the usual correlations and anticorrelations between various abundances seen in other globular clusters. Our results provide important quantitative constraints on theoretical models for self-enrichment of globular clusters, by testing their predictions for the dependence of yields of elements such as Na, N, C and Al on metallicity. They also confirm that, under the assumption that field N-rich stars originate from globular cluster destruction, they can be used as tracers of their parental systems in the high-metallicity regime
Reconstructing Neutrino Properties from Collider Experiments in a Higgs Triplet Neutrino Mass Model
We extend the minimal supersymmetric standard model with bilinear R-parity
violation to include a pair of Higgs triplet superfields. The neutral
components of the Higgs triplets develop small vacuum expectation values (VEVs)
quadratic in the bilinear R-parity breaking parameters. In this scheme the
atmospheric neutrino mass scale arises from bilinear R-parity breaking while
for reasonable values of parameters the solar neutrino mass scale is generated
from the small Higgs triplet VEVs. We calculate neutrino masses and mixing
angles in this model and show how the model can be tested at future colliders.
The branching ratios of the doubly charged triplet decays are related to the
solar neutrino angle via a simple formula.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures; one formula corrected, two author's names
corrected; some explanatory comments adde
Role of Soil, Crop Debris, and a Plant Pathogen in Salmonella enterica Contamination of Tomato Plants
Background: In the U.S., tomatoes have become the most implicated vehicle for produce-associated Salmonellosis with 12 outbreaks since 1998. Although unconfirmed, trace backs suggest pre-harvest contamination with Salmonella enterica. Routes of tomato crop contamination by S. enterica in the absence of direct artificial inoculation have not been investigated. Methodology/Principal Findings: This work examined the role of contaminated soil, the potential for crop debris to act as inoculum from one crop to the next, and any interaction between the seedbourne plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria and S. enterica on tomato plants. Our results show S. enterica can survive for up to six weeks in fallow soil with the ability to contaminate tomato plants. We found S. enterica can contaminate a subsequent crop via crop debris; however a fallow period between crop incorporation and subsequent seeding can affect contamination patterns. Throughout these studies, populations of S. enterica declined over time and there was no bacterial growth in either the phyllosphere or rhizoplane. The presence of X. campestris pv. vesicatoria on co-colonized tomato plants had no effect on the incidence of S. enterica tomato phyllosphere contamination. However, growth of S. enterica in the tomato phyllosphere occurred on co-colonized plants in the absence of plant disease. Conclusions/Significance: S. enterica contaminated soil can lead to contamination of the tomato phyllosphere. A six week lag period between soil contamination and tomato seeding did not deter subsequent crop contamination. In the absence o
Atypical Mg-poor Milky Way Field Stars with Globular Cluster Second-generation-like Chemical Patterns
We report the peculiar chemical abundance patterns of 11 atypical Milky Way (MW) field red giant stars observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). These atypical giants exhibit strong Al and N enhancements accompanied by C and Mg depletions, strikingly similar to those observed in the so-called second-generation (SG) stars of globular clusters (GCs). Remarkably, we find low Mg abundances ([Mg/Fe] < 0.0) together with strong Al and N overabundances in the majority (5/7) of the metal-rich ([Fe/H] gsim −1.0) sample stars, which is at odds with actual observations of SG stars in Galactic GCs of similar metallicities. This chemical pattern is unique and unprecedented among MW stars, posing urgent questions about its origin. These atypical stars could be former SG stars of dissolved GCs formed with intrinsically lower abundances of Mg and enriched Al (subsequently self-polluted by massive AGB stars) or the result of exotic binary systems. We speculate that the stars Mg-deficiency as well as the orbital properties suggest that they could have an extragalactic origin. This discovery should guide future dedicated spectroscopic searches of atypical stellar chemical patterns in our Galaxy, a fundamental step forward to understanding the Galactic formation and evolution
The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in
operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from
this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release
Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first
two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14
is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all
data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14
is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the
Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2),
including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine
learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes
from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous
release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of
the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the
important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both
targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS
website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to
data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is
planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be
followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14
happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov
2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections
only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected
Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe
We describe the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV), a project encompassing three major spectroscopic programs. The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) is observing hundreds of thousands of Milky Way stars at high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratios in the near-infrared. The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey is obtaining spatially resolved spectroscopy for thousands of nearby galaxies (median ). The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas distributions between and 3.5 to constrain cosmology using baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, and the shape of the power spectrum. Within eBOSS, we are conducting two major subprograms: the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS), investigating X-ray AGNs and galaxies in X-ray clusters, and the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), obtaining spectra of variable sources. All programs use the 2.5 m Sloan Foundation Telescope at the Apache Point Observatory; observations there began in Summer 2014. APOGEE-2 also operates a second near-infrared spectrograph at the 2.5 m du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, with observations beginning in early 2017. Observations at both facilities are scheduled to continue through 2020. In keeping with previous SDSS policy, SDSS-IV provides regularly scheduled public data releases; the first one, Data Release 13, was made available in 2016 July
The 13th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-IV Survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) began observations in July 2014. It pursues three core programs: APOGEE-2,MaNGA, and eBOSS. In addition, eBOSS contains two major subprograms: TDSS and SPIDERS. This paper describes the first data release from SDSS-IV, Data Release 13 (DR13), which contains new data, reanalysis of existing data sets and, like all SDSS data releases, is inclusive of previously released data. DR13 makes publicly available 1390 spatially resolved integral field unit observations of nearby galaxies from MaNGA,the first data released from this survey. It includes new observations from eBOSS, completing SEQUELS. In addition to targeting galaxies and quasars, SEQUELS also targeted variability-selected objects from TDSS and X-ray selected objects from SPIDERS. DR13 includes new reductions ofthe SDSS-III BOSS data, improving the spectrophotometric calibration and redshift classification. DR13 releases new reductions of the APOGEE-1data from SDSS-III, with abundances of elements not previously included and improved stellar parameters for dwarf stars and cooler stars. For the SDSS imaging data, DR13 provides new, more robust and precise photometric calibrations. Several value-added catalogs are being released in tandem with DR13, in particular target catalogs relevant for eBOSS, TDSS, and SPIDERS, and an updated red-clump catalog for APOGEE.This paper describes the location and format of the data now publicly available, as well as providing references to the important technical papers that describe the targeting, observing, and data reduction. The SDSS website, http://www.sdss.org, provides links to the data, tutorials and examples of data access, and extensive documentation of the reduction and analysis procedures. DR13 is the first of a scheduled set that will contain new data and analyses from the planned ~6-year operations of SDSS-IV.PostprintPeer reviewe
Collider aspects of flavour physics at high Q
This review presents flavour related issues in the production and decays of
heavy states at LHC, both from the experimental side and from the theoretical
side. We review top quark physics and discuss flavour aspects of several
extensions of the Standard Model, such as supersymmetry, little Higgs model or
models with extra dimensions. This includes discovery aspects as well as
measurement of several properties of these heavy states. We also present public
available computational tools related to this topic.Comment: Report of Working Group 1 of the CERN Workshop ``Flavour in the era
of the LHC'', Geneva, Switzerland, November 2005 -- March 200
Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe
We describe the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV), a project encompassing three major spectroscopic programs. The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) is observing hundreds of thousands of Milky Way stars at high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratios in the near-infrared. The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey is obtaining spatially resolved spectroscopy for thousands of nearby galaxies (median ). The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas distributions between and 3.5 to constrain cosmology using baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, and the shape of the power spectrum. Within eBOSS, we are conducting two major subprograms: the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS), investigating X-ray AGNs and galaxies in X-ray clusters, and the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), obtaining spectra of variable sources. All programs use the 2.5 m Sloan Foundation Telescope at the Apache Point Observatory; observations there began in Summer 2014. APOGEE-2 also operates a second near-infrared spectrograph at the 2.5 m du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, with observations beginning in early 2017. Observations at both facilities are scheduled to continue through 2020. In keeping with previous SDSS policy, SDSS-IV provides regularly scheduled public data releases; the first one, Data Release 13, was made available in 2016 July
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