4,182 research outputs found
NFAT5 genes are part of the osmotic regulatory system in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
Acknowledgements This study was supported by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC, BB/H008063/1), UK to DGH and SAM. Funding also came from Research Council Norway for project number 241016 for DGH and EJ. This work was carried out as part of a PhD thesis funded by the Marine Alliance of Science and Technology Scotland (MASTS).Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Absolute dimensions of solar-type eclipsing binaries. EF Aquarii: a G0 test for stellar evolution models
Recent studies have shown that stellar chromospheric activity, and its effect
on convective energy transport in the envelope, is most likely the cause of
significant radius and temperature discrepancies between theoretical evolution
models and observations. We aim to determine absolute dimensions and abundances
for the solar-type detached eclipsing binary EF Aqr, and to perform a detailed
comparison with results from recent stellar evolutionary models. uvby-beta
standard photometry was obtained with the Stromgren Automatic Telescope. The
broadening function formalism was applied on spectra observed with HERMES at
the Mercator telescope in La Palma, to obtain radial velocity curves. Masses
and radii with a precision of 0.6% and 1.0% respectively have been established
for both components of EF Aqr. The active 0.956 M_sol secondary shows star
spots and strong Ca II H and K emission lines. The 1.224 M_sol primary shows
signs of activity as well, but at a lower level. An [Fe/H] abundance of
0.00+-0.10 is derived with similar abundances for Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Co,
and Ni. Solar calibrated evolutionary models such as Yonsei-Yale,
Victoria-Regina and BaSTI isochrones and evolutionary tracks are unable to
reproduce EF Aqr, especially for the secondary, which is 9% larger and 400 K
cooler than predicted. Models adopting significantly lower mixing length
parameters l/H_p remove these discrepancies, as seen in other solar type
binaries. For the observed metallicity, Granada models with a mixing length of
l/H_p=1.30 (primary) and 1.05 (secondary) reproduce both components at a common
age of 1.5+-0.6 Gyr. Observations of EF Aqr suggests that magnetic activity,
and its effect on envelope convection, is likely to be the cause of
discrepancies in both radius and temperature, which can be removed by adjusting
the mixing length parameter of the models downwards.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication by A&
One-sided Cauchy-Stieltjes Kernel Families
This paper continues the study of a kernel family which uses the
Cauchy-Stieltjes kernel in place of the celebrated exponential kernel of the
exponential families theory. We extend the theory to cover generating measures
with support that is unbounded on one side. We illustrate the need for such an
extension by showing that cubic pseudo-variance functions correspond to
free-infinitely divisible laws without the first moment. We also determine the
domain of means, advancing the understanding of Cauchy-Stieltjes kernel
families also for compactly supported generating measures
Analytical calculation of the excess current in the OTBK theory
We present an analytical derivation of the excess current in Josephson
junctions within the Octavio-Tinkham-Blonder-Klapwijk theory for both symmetric
and asymmetric barrier strengths. We confirm the result found numerically by
Flensberg et al. for equal barriers [Phys. Rev. B 38, 8707 (1988)], including
the prediction of negative excess current for low transparencies, and we
generalize it for differing barriers. Our analytical formulae provide for
convenient fitting of experimental data, also in the less studied, but
practically relevant case of the barrier asymmetry.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Superconductor Science and
Technolog
Optimizing individual benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation including a multifaceted dietary intervention – A single-arm feasibility study
IntroductionFew studies have examined the effectiveness of nutrition interventions in municipal COPD rehabilitation programs. The objectives of this study were to examine the feasibility of implementation in practice (primary) and the feasibility of study methods and potential effectiveness (secondary) of a multidisciplinary dietary intervention offered to patients who start municipal rehabilitations program.MethodsThis study was a single arm intervention study with a pre-post design. Participant were recruited from five different municipal rehabilitation centers and received three individualized dietary counselling's. The primary outcome was retention, compliance to the intervention and complement of data collection. Secondary outcomes included changes in dietary intake, body composition and physical function. Analysis of the primary and secondary outcomes was primarily based on descriptive statistics.ResultsIn total, 111 (77%) of 145 eligible patients from five different municipalities consented to participate. Of them 99 (89%) completed. Before the intervention 67 (63%) of the participants had 75% or more of their requirement of energy covered, and 48 (45%) had 75% or more of their protein requirements covered. At the end of the intervention, 76 (77%) of the participants had 75% or more coverage of energy requirements and 80 (83%) had 75% or more coverage of their protein requirements. In general, the level of completeness was high.ConclusionWe found recruitment to be feasible, a high rate of retention, a high compliance to the intervention and high completeness of the data collection
Linking ice and gas in the Serpens low-mass star-forming region
The interaction between dust, ice, and gas during the formation of stars
produces complex organic molecules. While observations indicate that several
species are formed on ice-covered dust grains and are released into the gas
phase, the exact chemical interplay between solid and gas phases and their
relative importance remain unclear. Our goal is to study the interplay in
regions of low-mass star formation through ice- and gas-mapping and by directly
measuring gas-to-ice ratios. This provides constraints on the routes that lead
to the chemical complexity that is observed in both phases. We present
observations of gas-phase methanol (CHOH) and carbon monoxide at 1.3 mm
towards ten low-mass young protostars in the Serpens SVS4 cluster from the
SubMillimeter Array and the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment telescope. We used
archival data from the Very Large Telescope to derive abundances of ice HO,
CO, and CHOH towards the same region. Finally, we constructed gas-ice maps
of SVS4 and directly measured CO and CHOH gas-to-ice ratios. The CHOH
gas-to-ice ratio agrees with values that were previously reported for embedded
Class 0/I low-mass protostars. The CO gas-maps trace an extended gaseous
component that is not sensitive to the effect of freeze-out. We find that there
is no straightforward correlation between CO and CHOH gas with their ice
counterparts in the cluster. This is likely related to the complex morphology
of SVS4: the Class 0 protostar SMM4 and its envelope lie in the vicinity, and
the outflow associated with SMM4 intersects the cluster. This study serves as a
pathfinder for future observations with ALMA and the James Webb Space Telescope
that will provide high-sensitivity gas-ice maps of molecules more complex than
methanol. Such comparative maps will be essential to constrain the chemical
routes that regulate the chemical complexity in star-forming regions.Comment: 25 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication by A&
Identification of potential autoantigens in anti-CCP-positive and anti-CCP-negative rheumatoid arthritis using citrulline-specific protein arrays
Abstract The presence or absence of autoantibodies against citrullinated proteins (ACPAs) distinguishes two main groups of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with different etiologies, prognoses, disease severities, and, presumably, disease pathogenesis. The heterogeneous responses of RA patients to various biologics, even among ACPA-positive patients, emphasize the need for further stratification of the patients. We used high-density protein array technology for fingerprinting of ACPA reactivity. Identification of the proteome recognized by ACPAs may be a step to stratify RA patients according to immune reactivity. Pooled plasma samples from 10 anti-CCP-negative and 15 anti-CCP-positive RA patients were assessed for ACPA content using a modified protein microarray containing 1631 different natively folded proteins citrullinated in situ by protein arginine deiminases (PADs) 2 and PAD4. IgG antibodies from anti-CCP-positive RA plasma showed high-intensity binding to 87 proteins citrullinated by PAD2 and 99 proteins citrullinated by PAD4 without binding significantly to the corresponding native proteins. Curiously, the binding of IgG antibodies in anti-CCP-negative plasma was also enhanced by PAD2- and PAD4-mediated citrullination of 29 and 26 proteins, respectively. For only four proteins, significantly more ACPA binding occurred after citrullination with PAD2 compared to citrullination with PAD4, while the opposite was true for one protein. We demonstrate that PAD2 and PAD4 are equally efficient in generating citrullinated autoantigens recognized by ACPAs. Patterns of proteins recognized by ACPAs may serve as a future diagnostic tool for further subtyping of RA patients
On boson algebras as Hopf algebras
Certain types of generalized undeformed and deformed boson algebras which
admit a Hopf algebra structure are introduced, together with their Fock-type
representations and their corresponding -matrices. It is also shown that a
class of generalized Heisenberg algebras including those algebras including
those underlying physical models such as that of Calogero-Sutherland, is
isomorphic with one of the types of boson algebra proposed, and can be
formulated as a Hopf algebra.Comment: LaTex, 18 page
Can agricultural cultivation methods influence the healthfulness of crops for foods
The aim of the current study was to investigate if there are any health effects of long-term consumption of organically grown crops using a rat model. Crops were retrieved over two years from along-term field trial at three different locations in Denmark, using three different cultivation systems(OA, organic based on livestock manure; OB, organic based on green manure; and C, conventional with mineral fertilizers and pesticides)with two field replicates. The cultivation system had an impact on the nutritional quality, affecting γ-tocopherol, some amino acids, and fatty acid composition. Additionally, the nutritional quality was affected by harvest year and location. However, harvest year and location rather than cultivation system affected the measured health biomarkers. In conclusion, the differences in dietary treatments composed of ingredients from different cultivation systems did not lead to significant differences in the measured health biomarkers, except for a significant difference in plasma IgGl evels
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