X-ray observations of the galaxy cluster PKS 0745-191: To the virial radius, and beyond

We measure X-ray emission from the outskirts of the cluster of galaxies PKS 0745-191 with Suzaku, determining radial profiles of density, temperature, entropy, gas fraction, and mass. These measurements extend beyond the virial radius for the first time, providing new information about cluster assembly and the diffuse intracluster medium out to ~1.5 r_200, (r_200 ~ 1.7 Mpc ~ 15'). The temperature is found to decrease by roughly 70 per cent from 0.3-1 r_200. We also see a flattening of the entropy profile near the virial radius and consider the implications this has for the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium when deriving mass estimates. We place these observations in the context of simulations and analytical models to develop a better understanding of non-gravitational physics in the outskirts of the cluster.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted to MNRAS; expanded discussion of analysis and uncertainties, results qualitatively unchange

Differences in long- and short-term memory performance and brain matter integrity in seniors with different physical activity experience

Due to increasing changes in demographics, maintaining cognitive functioning later in life has become both economic and social concerns, and thus finding a cost-effective solution is one of the priorities in research. Factors like physical and intellectual activities have been associated with better cognitive performance in later life. While several studies have considered the impact of short-term physical activity interventions on cognitive functioning, retrospective research focusing on life-time physical activity experience has been sparse. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between memory performance and whole brain matter integrity in seniors with different regular life-long physical activity experience. Fifty-three Latvian seniors aged 65-85 (M = 72.25, SD = 5.03, 83% female) with no self-reported chronic disease participated in the study. Measures of memory, physical activity and whole brain matter integrity were obtained and analysed. The obtained results indicated no significant relationship between physical activity experience and short and long-term memory and whole brain matter integrity; however, brain matter integrity was significantly correlated with demographic factors like age and education. These results might be related to inadequate physical activity measures, as well as unequal physical activity experience in participants. In the future, more detailed assessment of physical activity experience should be considered

Long-term high-effort endurance exercise in older adults: diminishing returns for cognitive and brain aging

While there is evidence that age-related changes in cognitive performance and brain structure can be offset by increased exercise, little is known about the impact on these of long-term high-effort endurance exercise. In a cross-sectional design with 12-month follow-up, we recruited older adults engaging in high-effort endurance exercise over at least twenty years, and compared their cognitive performance and brain structure with a non-sedentary control group similar in age, sex, education, IQ, and lifestyle factors. Our findings showed no differences on measures of speed of processing, executive function, incidental memory, episodic memory, working memory, or visual search for older adults participating in long-term high-effort endurance exercise, when compared without confounds to non-sedentary peers. On tasks that engaged significant attentional control, subtle differences emerged. On indices of brain structure, long-term exercisers displayed higher white matter axial diffusivity than their age-matched peers, but this did not correlate with indices of cognitive performance

Carey Young’s 'Palais de Justice'

The symposium for this issue comprises six responses to the video artwork Palais de Justice (2017) by artist Carey Young. The video presents a study of the life of Brussels’ vast, late-nineteenth-century court building. In Palais de Justice, Young presents ‘a legal system seemingly centered on, and perhaps controlled by women’. The respondents are Jeanne Gaakeer, Ruth Herz, Joan Kee, Linda Mulcahy, Jeremy Pilcher and Gary Watt. Jeanne Gaakeer and Ruth Herz have the distinction of being, not only internationally respected scholars, but also experienced judges. Jeanne Gaakeer is a judge practicing in the Netherlands and Ruth Herz was formerly a judge in Germany. The six responses are followed by the artist’s own reflections on her artwork and her response to the commentators’ responses. Joan Kee writes that ‘Young highlights access as a key entry point for thinking about the law. Who can avail themselves of the law? Who may enter (or exit) the courts? Who is excluded and by whose authority? The surreptitious looking and peering that define the experience of watching the film suggests how these questions deny ready answers’

Functional genomics of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) midguts and fat bodies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mountain pine beetle (<it>Dendroctonus ponderosae</it>) is a significant coniferous forest pest in western North America. It relies on aggregation pheromones to colonize hosts. Its three major pheromone components, <it>trans</it>-verbenol, <it>exo</it>-brevicomin, and frontalin, are thought to arise via different metabolic pathways, but the enzymes involved have not been identified or characterized. We produced ESTs from male and female midguts and associated fat bodies and used custom oligonucleotide microarrays to study gene expression patterns and thereby made preliminary identification of pheromone-biosynthetic genes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Clones from two un-normalized cDNA libraries were directionally sequenced from the 5' end to yield 11,775 ESTs following sequence cleansing. The average read length was 550 nt. The ESTs clustered into 1,201 contigs and 2,833 singlets (4,034 tentative unique genes). The ESTs are broadly distributed among GO functional groups, suggesting they reflect a broad spectrum of the transcriptome. Among the most represented genes are representatives of sugar-digesting enzymes and members of an apparently Scolytid-specific gene family of unknown function. Custom NimbleGen 4-plex arrays representing the 4,034 tentative unique genes were queried with RNA from eleven different biological states representing larvae, pupae, and midguts and associated fat bodies of unfed or fed adults. Quantitative (Real-Time) RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) experiments confirmed that the microarray data accurately reflect expression levels in the different samples. Candidate genes encoding enzymes involved in terminal steps of biosynthetic pathways for <it>exo</it>-brevicomin and frontalin were tentatively identified.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These EST and microarray data are the first publicly-available functional genomics resources for this devastating forestry pest.</p

X-ray enabled MOCASSIN: a 3D code for photoionized media

We present a new version of the fully 3D photoionization and dust radiative transfer code, MOCASSIN, that uses a Monte Carlo approach for the transfer of radiation. The X-ray enabled MOCASSIN allows a fully geometry independent description of low-density gaseous environments strongly photoionized by a radiation field extending from radio to gamma rays. The code has been thoroughly benchmarked against other established codes routinely used in the literature, using simple plane parallel models designed to test performance under standard conditions. We show the results of our benchmarking exercise and discuss applicability and limitations of the new code, which should be of guidance for future astrophysical studies with MOCASSIN.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJS 9 pages, 5 figure

Myocilin polymorphisms and high myopia in subjects of European origin

Purpose: Three previous studies have tested for an association between high myopia and polymorphisms in the open angle glaucoma gene, myocilin (MYOC), all in subjects of Chinese ethnicity. In two of the studies, a significant association was found while in the third, there was no association. We sought to investigate the association between high myopia and polymorphisms in MYOC in subjects of European ethnicity. Methods: Subjects were recruited from two sites, Cardiff University in the UK and Duke University in the United States. The Cardiff University cohort was comprised of 164 families with high myopia (604 subjects) plus 112 unrelated, highly myopic cases and 114 emmetropic controls. The Duke University cohort was comprised of 87 families with high myopia (362 subjects) plus 59 unrelated, highly myopic cases. Subject DNA was genotyped with a panel of MYOC single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) including those found previously associated with high myopia. The Cardiff cohort was also genotyped for two flanking microsatellite markers analyzed in prior studies. Association between high myopia and MYOC polymorphisms was assessed using the Unphased program. Results: Since there was no evidence of heterogeneity in genotype frequencies between families and singleton samples or between cohorts, both subject groups (families and unrelated subjects) from both recruitment sites were analyzed jointly for those SNPs genotyped in common. Two variants showed significant association before correction for multiple testing. These two variants were rs16864720 (p=0.043) and NGA17 (p=0.026). However, there was no significant association after Bonferroni correction. The estimated relative risk (RR) conferred by each of the MYOC variants was low (RR<1.5). Conclusions: Our results suggest that MYOC polymorphisms have a very low, or possibly negligible, influence on high myopia susceptibility in subjects of European ethnicity

Effects of tyrosine kinase inhibitors on protein kinase-independent systems

AbstractTyrosine kinase inhibitors have been widely used to probe the role of tyrosine phosphorylation in cellular signalling. These inhibitors exhibit an apparent specificity for tyrosine kinases over the serine/threonine kinases but little is known about their effects on other enzymes or biological systems. We demonstrate that genistein, erbstatin and α-cyanoeinnamamides (tyrphostins) have inhibitory effects on fatty acid synthesis, lactate transport, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and aldehyde dehydrogenase. We propose, therefore, that results obtained using tyrosine kinase inhibitors should be interpreted with caution, particularly if used at concentrations sufficient to inhibit these non-protein kinase-dependent events

Submillimeter Array Observation of the Proto-Planetary Nebula CRL 618 in the CO J=6-5 Line

We report on the results of a Submillimeter Array interferometric observation of the proto-planetary nebula CRL 618 in the 12CO J=6-5 line. With the new capability of SMA enabling us to use two receivers at a time, we also observed simultaneously in the 12CO J=2-1 and 13CO J=2-1 lines. The 12CO J=6-5 and 13CO J=2-1 lines were first interferometrically observed toward CRL 618. The flux of the high velocity component of the 12CO J=6-5 line is almost fully recovered, while roughly 80% of the flux of the low velocity component is resolved out. The low recovery rate suggests that the emission region of the low velocity component of the 12CO J=6-5 line is largely extended. Continuum emission is detected both at 230 and 690 GHz. The flux of the 690 GHz continuum emission seems to be partially resolved out, suggesting dust emission partly contaminates the 690 GHz continuum flux. The cavity structure, which has been confirmed in a previous observation in the 12CO J=2-1 line, is not clearly detected in the 12CO J=6-5 line, and only the south wall of the cavity is detected. This result suggests that the physical condition of the molecular envelope of CRL 618 is not exactly axial symmetric.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in AJ. Full resolution version available at http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~junichi/paper

Beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl-butyrate blunts negative age-related changes in body composition, functionality and myofiber dimensions in rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>To determine the effects of 16 wk. of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) administration on age-related changes in functionality and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) determined myofiber dimensions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twelve young (44 wk.), 6 middle-aged (60 wk.), 10 old (86 wk.), and 5 very old (102 wk.) male Fisher-344 rat's body composition and grip strength were assessed at baseline. Following, 6 young, 6 middle-aged, 5 old and 5 very old rats were sacrificed for baseline myofiber dimensions and gene transcript factor expression in the soleus (SOL) and gastrocnemius (GAS). The remaining 6 young and 5 old rats were given HMB for 16 wk. and then sacrificed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fat mass increased in the middle-aged control condition (+49%) but not the middle-aged HMB condition. In addition, fat mass declined (-56%) in the old HMB condition but not the old control condition. Normalized strength declined and maintained respectively in the control and HMB conditions from 44 to 60 wk. and increased (+23%) (p < 0.05) from 86 to 102 wk. in only the HMB condition. Declines occurred in myofiber size in all muscles from 44 to 102 wk. in the control condition(-10 to -15%), but not HMB condition. Atrogin-1 mRNA expression in the SOL and GAS muscles was greater in the 102-wk control condition than all other conditions: SOL (+45%) and GAS (+100%). This elevation was blunted by HMB in the 102 wk. old SOL. There was a condition effect in the SOL for myogenin, which significantly increased (+40%) only in the 102-wk. HMB group relative to the 44-wk. group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HMB may blunt age-related losses of strength and myofiber dimensions, possibly through attenuating the rise in protein breakdown.</p