Revealing the pulsational properties of the V777 Herculis star KUV 05134+2605 by its long-term monitoring

Context. KUV 05134+2605 is one of the 21 pulsating DB white dwarfs (V777 Her or DBV variables) known so far. The detailed investigation of the short-period and low-amplitude pulsations of these relatively faint targets requires considerable observational efforts from the ground, long-term single-site or multi-site observations. The observed amplitudes of excited modes undergo short-term variations in many cases, which makes determining pulsation modes difficult. Aims. We aim to determine the pulsation frequencies of KUV 05134+2605, find regularities between the frequency and period components, and perform an asteroseismic investigation for the first time. Methods. We re-analysed the published data and collected new measurements. We compared the frequency content of the different datasets from the different epochs and performed various tests to check the reliability of the frequency determinations. The mean period spacings were investigated with linear fits to the observed periods, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and inverse variance significance tests, and with a Fourier analysis of different period sets, including a Monte Carlo test that simulated the effect of alias ambiguities. We employed fully evolutionary DB white dwarf models for the asteroseismic investigations. Results. We identified 22 frequencies between 1280 and 2530 μHz. These form 12 groups, which suggests at least 12 possible frequencies for the asteroseismic investigations. Thanks to the extended observations, KUV 05134+2605 joined the group of rich white dwarf pulsators. We identified one triplet and at least one doublet with a ≈ 9 μHz frequency separation, from which we derived a stellar rotation period of 0.6 d. We determined the mean period spacings of ≈ 31 s and 18 s for the modes we propose as dipole and quadrupole. We found an excellent agreement between the stellar mass derived from the ℓ = 1 period spacing and the period-to-period fits, all providing M∗ = 0.84 − 0.85 M⊙ solutions. Our study suggests that KUV 05134+2605 is the most massive amongst the known V777 Her stars.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Revealing the pulsational properties of the V777 Herculis star KUV 05134+2605 by its long-term monitoring

Context. KUV 05134+2605 is one of the 21 pulsating DB white dwarfs (V777 Her or DBV variables) known so far. The detailed investigation of the short-period and low-amplitude pulsations of these relatively faint targets requires considerable observational efforts from the ground, long-term single-site or multi-site observations. The observed amplitudes of excited modes undergo short-term variations in many cases, which makes determining pulsation modes difficult. Aims. We aim to determine the pulsation frequencies of KUV 05134+2605, find regularities between the frequency and period components, and perform an asteroseismic investigation for the first time. Methods. We re-analysed the published data and collected new measurements. We compared the frequency content of the different datasets from the different epochs and performed various tests to check the reliability of the frequency determinations. The mean period spacings were investigated with linear fits to the observed periods, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and inverse variance significance tests, and with a Fourier analysis of different period sets, including a Monte Carlo test that simulated the effect of alias ambiguities. We employed fully evolutionary DB white dwarf models for the asteroseismic investigations. Results. We identified 22 frequencies between 1280 and 2530 μHz. These form 12 groups, which suggests at least 12 possible frequencies for the asteroseismic investigations. Thanks to the extended observations, KUV 05134+2605 joined the group of rich white dwarf pulsators. We identified one triplet and at least one doublet with a ≈ 9 μHz frequency separation, from which we derived a stellar rotation period of 0.6 d. We determined the mean period spacings of ≈ 31 s and 18 s for the modes we propose as dipole and quadrupole. We found an excellent agreement between the stellar mass derived from the ℓ = 1 period spacing and the period-to-period fits, all providing M∗ = 0.84 − 0.85 M⊙ solutions. Our study suggests that KUV 05134+2605 is the most massive amongst the known V777 Her stars.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Preliminary results from the STEPHI2009 campaign on the open cluster NGC 1817

We present preliminary observational results of the multi-site STEPHI campaign on the cluster NGC 1817. The three observatories involved are San Pedro Martir (Mexico), Xing Long (China) and the Observatorio del Teide (Spain) - giving an ideal combination to maximise the duty cycle. The cluster has 12 known delta Scuti stars and at least two detached eclipsing binary systems. This combination of characteristics is ideal for extracting information about global parameters of the targets, which will in turn impose strict constraints on the stellar models. From an initial comparison with stellar models using the known fundamental parameters, and just the observed pulsation frequencies and measured effective temperatures, it appears that a lower value of initial helium mass fraction will most likely explain the observations of these stars.Comment: 4 pages, proceedings from HELAS IV meeting 2010, Lanzarot

On positron annihilation in concentrated random alloys and superconducting cuprates

We discuss an application of a generalisation of the Lock-Crisp-West theorem to concentrated random alloys. Using a theory developed for binary random alloys we explore a possibility of positron localisation in the new high temperature superconductors. 7 refs., 1 fig

Revealing the pulsational properties of the V777 Herculis star KUV 05134+2605 by its long-term monitoring

Context. KUV 05134+2605 is one of the 21 pulsating DB white dwarfs (V777 Her or DBV variables) known so far. The detailed investigation of the short-period and low-amplitude pulsations of these relatively faint targets requires considerable observational efforts from the ground, long-term single-site or multi-site observations. The observed amplitudes of excited modes undergo short-term variations in many cases, which makes determining pulsation modes difficult. Aims. We aim to determine the pulsation frequencies of KUV 05134+2605, find regularities between the frequency and period components, and perform an asteroseismic investigation for the first time. Methods. We re-analysed the published data and collected new measurements. We compared the frequency content of the different datasets from the different epochs and performed various tests to check the reliability of the frequency determinations. The mean period spacings were investigated with linear fits to the observed periods, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and inverse variance significance tests, and with a Fourier analysis of different period sets, including a Monte Carlo test that simulated the effect of alias ambiguities. We employed fully evolutionary DB white dwarf models for the asteroseismic investigations. Results. We identified 22 frequencies between 1280 and 2530 μHz. These form 12 groups, which suggests at least 12 possible frequencies for the asteroseismic investigations. Thanks to the extended observations, KUV 05134+2605 joined the group of rich white dwarf pulsators. We identified one triplet and at least one doublet with a ≈ 9 μHz frequency separation, from which we derived a stellar rotation period of 0.6 d. We determined the mean period spacings of ≈ 31 s and 18 s for the modes we propose as dipole and quadrupole. We found an excellent agreement between the stellar mass derived from the ℓ = 1 period spacing and the period-to-period fits, all providing M∗ = 0.84 − 0.85 M⊙ solutions. Our study suggests that KUV 05134+2605 is the most massive amongst the known V777 Her stars.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Cell Dispersal Influences Tumor Heterogeneity and Introduces a Bias in NGS Data Interpretation

Short and long distance cell dispersal can have a marked effect on tumor structure, high cellular motility could lead to faster cell mixing and lower observable intratumor heterogeneity. Here we evaluated a model for cell mixing that investigates how short-range dispersal and cell turnover will account for mutational proportions. We show that cancer cells can penetrate neighboring and distinct areas in a matter of days. In next generation sequencing runs, higher proportions of a given cell line generated frequencies with higher precision, while mixtures with lower amounts of each cell line had lower precision manifesting in higher standard deviations. When multiple cell lines were co-cultured, cellular movement altered observed mutation frequency by up to 18.5%. We propose that some of the shared mutations detected at low allele frequencies represent highly motile clones that appear in multiple regions of a tumor owing to dispersion throughout the tumor. In brief, cell movement will lead to a significant technical (sampling) bias when using next generation sequencing to determine clonal composition. A possible solution to this drawback would be to radically decrease detection thresholds and increase coverage in NGS analyses. © 2017 The Author(s)

Knockdown of interferon-induced transmembrane protein 1 (IFITM1) inhibits proliferation, migration, and invasion of glioma cells

Interferon-induced transmembrane protein 1 (IFITM1) has recently been identified as a new molecular marker in human colorectal cancer. However, its role in glioma carcinogenesis is not known. In this study, we demonstrated that suppression of IFITM1 expression significantly inhibited proliferation of glioma cells in a time-dependent manner. The growth inhibitory effect was mediated by cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, IFITM1 knockdown significantly inhibited migration and invasion of glioma cells, which could be attributed to decreased expression and enzymatic activity of matrix metalloproteinase 9. Taken together, these results suggest that IFITM1 is a potential therapeutic target for gliomas

Distinct genes related to drug response identified in ER positive and ER negative breast cancer cell lines

Breast cancer patients have different responses to chemotherapeutic treatments. Genes associated with drug response can provide insight to understand the mechanisms of drug resistance, identify promising therapeutic opportunities, and facilitate personalized treatment. Estrogen receptor (ER) positive and ER negative breast cancer have distinct clinical behavior and molecular properties. However, to date, few studies have rigorously assessed drug response genes in them. In this study, our goal was to systematically identify genes associated with multidrug response in ER positive and ER negative breast cancer cell lines. We tested 27 human breast cell lines for response to seven chemotherapeutic agents (cyclophosphamide, docetaxel, doxorubicin, epirubicin, fluorouracil, gemcitabine, and paclitaxel). We integrated publicly available gene expression profiles of these cell lines with their in vitro drug response patterns, then applied meta-analysis to identify genes related to multidrug response in ER positive and ER negative cells separately. One hundred eighty-eight genes were identified as related to multidrug response in ER positive and 32 genes in ER negative breast cell lines. Of these, only three genes (DBI, TOP2A, and PMVK) were common to both cell types. TOP2A was positively associated with drug response, and DBI was negatively associated with drug response. Interestingly, PMVK was positively associated with drug response in ER positive cells and negatively in ER negative cells. Functional analysis showed that while cell cycle affects drug response in both ER positive and negative cells, most biological processes that are involved in drug response are distinct. A number of signaling pathways that are uniquely enriched in ER positive cells have complex cross talk with ER signaling, while in ER negative cells, enriched pathways are related to metabolic functions. Taken together, our analysis indicates that distinct mechanisms are involved in multidrug response in ER positive and ER negative breast cells. © 2012 Shen et al

REGγ is associated with multiple oncogenic pathways in human cancers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent studies suggest a role of the proteasome activator, REGγ, in cancer progression. Since there are limited numbers of known REGγ targets, it is not known which cancers and pathways are associated with REGγ.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>REGγ protein expressions in four different cancers were investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. Following NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database search, microarray platform validation, differential expressions of REGγ in corresponding cancers were statistically analyzed. Genes highly correlated with REGγ were defined based on Pearson's correlation coefficient. Functional links were estimated by Ingenuity Core analysis. Finally, validation was performed by RT-PCR analysis in established cancer cell lines and IHC in human colon cancer tissues</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we demonstrate overexpression of REGγ in four different cancer types by micro-tissue array analysis. Using meta-analysis of publicly available microarray databases and biological studies, we verified elevated REGγ gene expression in the four types of cancers and identified genes significantly correlated with REGγ expression, including genes in p53, Myc pathways, and multiple other cancer-related pathways. The predicted correlations were largely consistent with quantitative RT-PCR analysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides us novel insights in REGγ gene expression profiles and its link to multiple cancer-related pathways in cancers. Our results indicate potentially important pathogenic roles of REGγ in multiple cancer types and implicate REGγ as a putative cancer marker.</p