48 research outputs found
Functional properties of equine adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells cultured with equine platelet lysate
Successful translation of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-based therapies into clinical reality relies on adequate cell production procedures. These should be available not only for human MSC, but also for MSC from animal species relevant to preclinical research and veterinary medicine. The cell culture medium supplementation is one of the critical aspects in MSC production. Therefore, we previously established a scalable protocol for the production of buffy-coat based equine platelet lysate (ePL). This ePL proved to be a suitable alternative to fetal bovine serum (FBS) for equine adipose-derived (AD-) MSC culture so far, as it supported AD-MSC proliferation and basic characteristics. The aim of the current study was to further analyze the functional properties of equine AD-MSC cultured with the same ePL, focusing on cell fitness, genetic stability and pro-angiogenic potency. All experiments were performed with AD-MSC from n = 5 horses, which were cultured either in medium supplemented with 10% FBS, 10% ePL or 2.5% ePL. AD-MSC cultured with 2.5% ePL, which previously showed decreased proliferation potential, displayed higher apoptosis but lower senescence levels as compared to 10% ePL medium (p < 0.05). Non-clonal chromosomal aberrations occurred in 8% of equine AD-MSC cultivated with FBS and only in 4.8% of equine AD-MSC cultivated with 10% ePL. Clonal aberrations in the AD-MSC were neither observed in FBS nor in 10% ePL medium. Analysis of AD-MSC and endothelial cells in an indirect co-culture revealed that the ePL supported the pro-angiogenic effects of AD-MSC. In the 10% ePL group, more vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) was released and highest VEGF-A concentrations were reached in the presence of ePL and co-cultured cells (p < 0.05). Correspondingly, AD-MSC expressed the VEGF receptor-2 at higher levels in the presence of ePL (p < 0.05). Finally, AD-MSC and 10% ePL together promoted the growth of endothelial cells and induced the formation of vessel-like structures in two of the samples. These data further substantiate that buffy-coat-based ePL is a valuable supplement for equine AD-MSC culture media. The ePL does not only support stable equine AD-MSC characteristics as demonstrated before, but it also enhances their functional properties
Phospholipid Profiles for Phenotypic Characterization of Adipose-Derived Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells
Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have emerged as therapeutic tools for a
wide range of pathological conditions. Yet, the still existing deficits regarding MSC
phenotype characterization and the resulting heterogeneity of MSC used in different
preclinical and clinical studies hamper the translational success. In search for novel
MSC characterization approaches to complement the traditional trilineage
differentiation and immunophenotyping assays reliably across species and culture
conditions, this study explored the applicability of lipid phenotyping for MSC
characterization and discrimination. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells
(PBMC), human fibroblasts, and human and equine adipose-derived MSC were used
to compare different mesodermal cell types and MSC from different species. For MSC,
cells cultured in different conditions, including medium supplementation with either fetal
bovine serum or platelet lysate as well as culture on collagen-coated dishes, were
additionally investigated. After cell harvest, lipids were extracted by chloroform/
methanol according to Bligh and Dyer. The lipid profiles were analysed by an
untargeted approach using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LCMS)
with a reversed phase column and an ion trap mass spectrometer. In all samples,
phospholipids and sphingomyelins were found, while other lipids were not detected with
the current approach. The phospholipids included different species of phosphatidylcholine
(PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphatidylserine (PS)
in all cell types, whereas phosphatidylglycerol (PG) species were only present in MSC.
MSC from both species showed a higher phospholipid species diversity than PBMC and
fibroblasts. Few differences were found between MSC from different culture conditions,
except that human MSC cultured with platelet lysate exhibited a unique phenotype in that
they exclusively featured PE O-40:4, PG 38:6 and PG 40:6. In search for specific and
inclusive candidate MSC lipid markers, we identified PE O-36:3 and PG 40:7 as potentially
suitable markers across culture conditions, at which PE O-36:3 might even be used across
species. On that basis, phospholipid phenotyping is a highly promising approach for MSC
characterization, which might condone some heterogeneity within the MSC while still
achieving a clear discrimination even from fibroblasts. Particularly the presence or absence
of PG might emerge as a decisive criterion for future MSC characterization
Statistical analysis of dust storms in the United Arab Emirates
© 2019 Elsevier B.V. Desert dust storms perturb economic activities and are dangerous for human health. Since such phenomena are frequent across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this paper presents the results of the analysis of a data set of eight years (2010–2017) obtained from Hourly Global Surface data (DS3505) datasets from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Climate Data, at eight international airports in the UAE. The observations were classified based on the dust storm intensity in Severe dust storm, Dust storm, Blowing dust and None, and studied per month, season, year and location. The existence of similarities of the events from each site has been tested. It was shown that Blowing dust and None series are not stationary and a have monotonic trend (opposite to each other). Change points are emphasized for the same series, mainly in 2013. Five clusters were built for the monthly series, showing once again the dissimilarities of the dust storm events at the eight international airports
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
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
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
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
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 z ~ 0.03). The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas distributions between z ~ 0.6 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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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 ratio 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 redshift of z = 0.03). The extended Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas
distributions between redshifts z = 0.6 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
AGN and galaxies in X-ray clusters, and the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey
(TDSS), obtaining spectra of variable sources. All programs use the 2.5-meter
Sloan Foundation Telescope at Apache Point Observatory; observations there
began in Summer 2014. APOGEE-2 also operates a second near-infrared
spectrograph at the 2.5-meter 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 July 2016