531 research outputs found
Non-linear propagation of kink waves to the solar chromosphere
Small-scale magnetic field concentrations (magnetic elements) in the quiet
Sun are believed to contribute to the energy budget of the upper layers of the
Sun's atmosphere, as they are observed to support a large number of MHD modes.
In recent years, kink waves in magnetic elements were observed at different
heights in the solar atmosphere, from the photosphere to the corona. However,
the propagation of these waves has not been fully evaluated. Our aim is to
investigate the propagation of kink waves in small magnetic elements in the
solar atmosphere. We analysed spectropolarimetric data of high-quality and long
duration of a photospheric quiet Sun region observed near the disk center with
the spectropolarimeter CRISP at the Swedish Solar Telescope (SST), and
complemented by simultaneous and co-spatial broad-band chromospheric
observations of the same region. Our findings reveal a clear upward propagation
of kink waves with frequency above mHz. Moreover, the signature of a
non-linear propagation process is also observed. By comparing photospheric to
chromospheric power spectra, no signature of an energy dissipation is found at
least at the atmospheric heights at which the data analysed originate. This
implies that most of the energy carried by the kink waves (within the frequency
range under study mHz) flows to upper layers in the Sun's atmosphere.Comment: A&A accepte
High-frequency Oscillations in Small Magnetic Elements Observed with Sunrise/SuFI
We characterize waves in small magnetic elements and investigate their
propagation in the lower solar atmosphere from observations at high spatial and
temporal resolution. We use the wavelet transform to analyze oscillations of
both horizontal displacement and intensity in magnetic bright points found in
the 300 nm and the Ca II H 396.8 nm passbands of the filter imager on board the
Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory. Phase differences between the
oscillations at the two atmospheric layers corresponding to the two passbands
reveal upward propagating waves at high frequencies (up to 30 mHz). Weak
signatures of standing as well as downward propagating waves are also obtained.
Both compressible and incompressible (kink) waves are found in the small-scale
magnetic features. The two types of waves have different, though overlapping,
period distributions. Two independent estimates give a height difference of
approximately 450+-100 km between the two atmospheric layers sampled by the
employed spectral bands. This value, together with the determined short travel
times of the transverse and longitudinal waves provide us with phase speeds of
29+-2 km/s and 31+-2 km/s, respectively. We speculate that these phase speeds
may not reflect the true propagation speeds of the waves. Thus, effects such as
the refraction of fast longitudinal waves may contribute to an overestimate of
the phase speed.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Migration of Ca II H bright points in the internetwork
The migration of magnetic bright point-like features (MBP) in the lower solar
atmosphere reflects the dispersal of magnetic flux as well as the horizontal
flows of the atmospheric layer they are embedded in. We analyse trajectories of
the proper motion of intrinsically magnetic, isolated internetwork Ca II H MBPs
(mean lifetime 461 +- 9 s) to obtain their diffusivity behaviour. We use
seeing-free high spatial and temporal resolution image sequences of quiet-Sun,
disc-centre observations obtained in the Ca II H 3968 {\AA} passband of the
Sunrise Filter Imager (SuFI) onboard the Sunrise balloon-borne solar
observatory. Small MBPs in the internetwork are automatically tracked. The
trajectory of each MBP is then calculated and described by a diffusion index
({\gamma}) and a diffusion coefficient (D). We further explore the distribution
of the diffusion indices with the help of a Monte Carlo simulation. We find
{\gamma} = 1.69 +- 0.08 and D = 257 +- 32 km^2/s averaged over all MBPs.
Trajectories of most MBPs are classified as super-diffusive, i.e., {\gamma} >
1, with the determined {\gamma} being to our knowledge the largest obtained so
far. A direct correlation between D and time-scale ({\tau}) determined from
trajectories of all MBPs is also obtained. We discuss a simple scenario to
explain the diffusivity of the observed, relatively short-lived MBPs while they
migrate within a small area in a supergranule (i.e., an internetwork area). We
show that the scatter in the {\gamma} values obtained for individual MBPs is
due to their limited lifetimes. The super-diffusive MBPs can be well-described
as random walkers (due to granular evolution and intergranular turbu- lence)
superposed on a large systematic (background) velocity, caused by granular,
mesogranular and supergranular flows.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 3 table
Inclinations of small quiet-Sun magnetic features based on a new geometric approach
High levels of horizontal magnetic flux have been reported in the quiet-Sun
internetwork, often based on Stokes profile inversions. Here we introduce a new
method for deducing the inclination of magnetic elements and use it to test
magnetic field inclinations from inversions. We determine accurate positions of
a set of small, bright magnetic elements in high spatial resolution images
sampling different photospheric heights obtained by the Sunrise balloon-borne
solar observatory. Together with estimates of the formation heights of the
employed spectral bands, these provide us with the inclinations of the magnetic
features. We also compute the magnetic inclination angle of the same magnetic
features from the inversion of simultaneously recorded Stokes parameters. Our
new, geometric method returns nearly vertical fields (average inclination of
around 14 deg with a relatively narrow distribution having a standard deviation
of 6 deg). In strong contrast to this, the traditionally used inversions give
almost horizontal fields (average inclination of 75+-8 deg) for the same small
magnetic features, whose linearly polarised Stokes profiles are adversely
affected by noise. The almost vertical field of bright magnetic features from
our geometric method is clearly incompatible with the nearly horizontal
magnetic fields obtained from the inversions. This indicates that the amount of
magnetic flux in horizontal fields deduced from inversions is overestimated in
the presence of weak Stokes signals, in particular if Stokes Q and U are close
to or under the noise level. By combining the proposed method with inversions
we are not just improving the inclination, but also the field strength. This
technique allows us to analyse features that are not reliably treated by
inversions, thus greatly extending our capability to study the complete
magnetic field of the quiet Sun.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 table; Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Establishment and characterization of two human breast carcinoma cell lines by spontaneous immortalization: Discordance between Estrogen, Progesterone and HER2/neu receptors of breast carcinoma tissues with derived cell lines
Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women throughout the world. Therefore, established cell lines are widely used as in vitro experimental models in cancer research.Methods: Two continuous human breast cell lines, designated MBC1 and MBC2, were successfully established and characterized from invasive ductal breast carcinoma tissues of Malaysian patients. MBC1 and MBC2 have been characterized in terms of morphology analysis, population doubling time, clonogenic formation, wound healing assay, invasion assay, cell cycle, DNA profiling, fluorescence immunocytochemistry, Western blotting and karyotyping.Results: MBC1 and MBC2 exhibited adherent monolayer epithelial morphology at a passage number of 150. Receptor status of MBC1 and MBC2 show (ER+, PR+, HER2+) and (ER+, PR-, HER2+), respectively. These results are in discordance with histopathological studies of the tumoral tissues, which were triple negative and (ER-, PR-, HER2+) for MBC1 and MBC2, respectively. Both cell lines were capable of growing in soft agar culture, which suggests their metastatic potential. The MBC1 and MBC2 metaphase spreads showed an abnormal karyotype, including hyperdiploidy and complex rearrangements with modes of 52-58 chromosomes per cell.Conclusions: Loss or gain in secondary properties, deregulation and specific genetic changes possibly conferred receptor changes during the culturing of tumoral cells. Thus, we hypothesize that, among heterogenous tumoral cells, only a small minority of ER+/PR+/HER2+ and ER+/PR-/HER2+ cells with lower energy metabolism might survive and adjust easily to in vitro conditions. These cell lines will pave the way for new perspectives in genetic and biological investigations, drug resistance and chemotherapy studies, and would serve as prototype models in Malaysian breast carcinogenesis investigations. © 2012 Kamalidehghan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
Development of 3D PCL microsphere/TiO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e nanotube composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering
In this research, the three dimensional porous scaffolds made of a polycaprolactone (PCL) microsphere/TiO2 nanotube (TNT) composite was fabricated and evaluated for potential bone substitute applications. We used a microsphere sintering method to produce three dimensional PCL microsphere/TNT composite scaffolds. The mechanical properties of composite scaffolds were regulated by varying parameters, such as sintering time, microsphere diameter range size and PCL/TNT ratio. The obtained results ascertained that the PCL/TNT (0.5 wt%) scaffold sintered at 60 °C for 90 min had the most optimal mechanical properties and an appropriate pore structure for bone tissue engineering applications. The average pore size and total porosity percentage increased after increasing the microsphere diameter range for PCL and PCL/TNT (0.5 wt%) scaffolds. The degradation rate was relatively high in PCL/TNT (0.5 wt%) composites compared to pure PCL when the samples were placed in the simulated body fluid (SBF) for 6 weeks. Also, the compressive strength and modulus of PCL and PCL/TNT (0.5 wt%) composite scaffolds decreased during the 6 weeks of storage in SBF. MTT (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide) assay and alkaline phosphates (ALP) activity results demonstrated that a generally increasing trend in cell viability was observed for PCL/TNT (0.5 wt%) scaffold sintered at 60 °C for 90 min compared to the control group. Eventually, the quantitative RT-PCR data provided the evidence that the PCL scaffold containing TiO2 nanotube constitutes a good substrate for cell differentiation leading to ECM mineralization
Height dependence of the penumbral fine-scale structure in the inner solar atmosphere
We studied the physical parameters of the penumbra in a large and
fully-developed sunspot, one of the largest over the last two solar cycles, by
using full-Stokes measurements taken at the photospheric Fe I 617.3 nm and
chromospheric Ca II 854.2 nm lines with the Interferometric Bidimensional
Spectrometer. Inverting measurements with the NICOLE code, we obtained the
three-dimensional structure of the magnetic field in the penumbra from the
bottom of the photosphere up to the middle chromosphere. We analyzed the
azimuthal and vertical gradient of the magnetic field strength and inclination.
Our results provide new insights on the properties of the penumbral magnetic
fields in the chromosphere at atmospheric heights unexplored in previous
studies. We found signatures of the small-scale spine and intra-spine structure
of both the magnetic field strength and inclination at all investigated
atmospheric heights. In particular, we report typical peak-to-peak variations
of the field strength and inclination of G and , respectively, in the photosphere, and of G and
in the chromosphere. Besides, we estimated the vertical
gradient of the magnetic field strength in the studied penumbra: we find a
value of G km between the photosphere and the middle
chromosphere. Interestingly, the photospheric magnetic field gradient changes
sign from negative in the inner to positive in the outer penumbra.Comment: 14 page, 9 figures, accepted for Ap
A central line care maintenance bundle for the prevention of central line–associated bloodstream infection in non–intensive care unit settings
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a central line care maintenance bundle to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) in non-ICU settings. DESIGN: Before-after trial with 12 month follow-up period. SETTING: 1250-bed teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with central lines on eight general medicine wards. Four wards received the intervention and four served as controls. INTERVENTION: A multifaceted catheter care maintenance bundle consisting of educational programs for nurses, update of hospital policies, visual aids, a competency assessment, process monitoring, regular progress reports, and consolidation of supplies necessary for catheter maintenance. RESULTS: Data were collected for 25,542 catheter-days including 43 CLABSI (rate = 1.68 per 1,000 CL-days) and 4,012 catheter dressing observations. Following the intervention, a 2.5% monthly decrease in the CLABSI incidence density was observed on intervention floors, but this was not statistically significant (95% confidence interval (CI); −5.3 – 0.4). On control floors, there was a smaller, but marginally significant decrease in CLABSI incidence during the study (change in monthly rate = −1.1%; 95% CI, −2.1 - −0.1). Implementation of the bundle was associated with improvement in catheter dressing compliance on intervention wards (78.8% compliance pre-intervention vs. 87.9% during intervention/follow-up; p<0.001) but improvement was also observed on control wards (84.9% compliance pre-intervention vs. 90.9% during intervention/follow-up; P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: A multi-faceted program to improve catheter care was associated with improvement in catheter dressing care, but no change in CLABSI rates. Additional study is needed to determine strategies to prevent CLABSI in non-ICU patients
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