24 research outputs found
Extracellular matrix remodelling in response to venous hypertension: proteomics of human varicose veins.
AIMS: Extracellular matrix remodelling has been implicated in a number of vascular conditions, including venous hypertension and varicose veins. However, to date, no systematic analysis of matrix remodelling in human veins has been performed. METHODS AND RESULTS: To understand the consequences of venous hypertension, normal and varicose veins were evaluated using proteomics approaches targeting the extracellular matrix. Varicose saphenous veins removed during phlebectomy and normal saphenous veins obtained during coronary artery bypass surgery were collected for proteomics analysis. Extracellular matrix proteins were enriched from venous tissues. The proteomics analysis revealed the presence of >150 extracellular matrix proteins, of which 48 had not been previously detected in venous tissue. Extracellular matrix remodelling in varicose veins was characterized by a loss of aggrecan and several small leucine-rich proteoglycans and a compensatory increase in collagen I and laminins. Gene expression analysis of the same tissues suggested that the remodelling process associated with venous hypertension predominantly occurs at the protein rather than the transcript level. The loss of aggrecan in varicose veins was paralleled by a reduced expression of aggrecanases. Chymase and tryptase Ī²1 were among the up-regulated proteases. The effect of these serine proteases on the venous extracellular matrix was further explored by incubating normal saphenous veins with recombinant enzymes. Proteomics analysis revealed extensive extracellular matrix degradation after digestion with tryptase Ī²1. In comparison, chymase was less potent and degraded predominantly basement membrane-associated proteins. CONCLUSION: The present proteomics study provides unprecedented insights into the expression and degradation of structural and regulatory components of the vascular extracellular matrix in varicosis
HI Selected Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey I: Optical Data
We present the optical data for 195 HI-selected galaxies that fall within
both the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Parkes Equatorial Survey (ES).
The photometric quantities have been independently recomputed for our sample
using a new photometric pipeline optimized for large galaxies, thus correcting
for SDSS's limited reliability for automatic photometry of angularly large or
low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. We outline the magnitude of the
uncertainty in the SDSS catalog-level photometry and derive a quantitative
method for correcting the over-sky subtraction in the SDSS photometric
pipeline. The main thrust of this paper is to present the ES/SDSS sample and
discuss the methods behind the improved photometry, which will be used in
future scientific analysis. We present the overall optical properties of the
sample and briefly compare to a volume-limited, optically-selected sample.
Compared to the optically-selected SDSS sample (in the similar volume),
HI-selected galaxies are bluer and more luminous (fewer dwarf ellipticals and
more star formation). However, compared to typical SDSS galaxy studies, which
have their own selection effects, our sample is bluer, fainter and less
massive.Comment: 14 pages, 8 Figures, accepted for publication in AJ. Complete tables
will be available in the AJ electronic version and on the Vizier sit
HI Selected Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II: The Colors of Gas-Rich Galaxies
We utilize color information for an HI-selected sample of 195 galaxies to
explore the star formation histories and physical conditions that produce the
observed colors. We show that the HI selection creates a significant offset
towards bluer colors that can be explained by enhanced recent bursts of star
formation. There is also no obvious color bimodality, because the HI selection
restricts the sample to bluer, actively star forming systems, diminishing the
importance of the red sequence. Rising star formation rates are still required
to explain the colors of galaxies bluer than g-r < 0.3. We also demonstrate
that the colors of the bluest galaxies in our sample are dominated by emission
lines and that stellar population synthesis models alone (without emission
lines) are not adequate for reproducing many of the galaxy colors. These
emission lines produce large changes in the r-i colors but leave the g-r color
largely unchanged. In addition, we find an increase in the dispersion of galaxy
colors at low masses that may be the result of a change in the star formation
process in low-mass galaxies.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, published in AJ (138, 796); replaced Figure 16
with higher resolution versio
Galaxy Clustering in Early SDSS Redshift Data
We present the first measurements of clustering in the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS) galaxy redshift survey. Our sample consists of 29,300 galaxies
with redshifts 5,700 km/s < cz < 39,000 km/s, distributed in several long but
narrow (2.5-5 degree) segments, covering 690 square degrees. For the full,
flux-limited sample, the redshift-space correlation length is approximately 8
Mpc/h. The two-dimensional correlation function \xi(r_p,\pi) shows clear
signatures of both the small-scale, ``fingers-of-God'' distortion caused by
velocity dispersions in collapsed objects and the large-scale compression
caused by coherent flows, though the latter cannot be measured with high
precision in the present sample. The inferred real-space correlation function
is well described by a power law, \xi(r)=(r/6.1+/-0.2 Mpc/h)^{-1.75+/-0.03},
for 0.1 Mpc/h < r < 16 Mpc/h. The galaxy pairwise velocity dispersion is
\sigma_{12} ~ 600+/-100 km/s for projected separations 0.15 Mpc/h < r_p < 5
Mpc/h. When we divide the sample by color, the red galaxies exhibit a stronger
and steeper real-space correlation function and a higher pairwise velocity
dispersion than do the blue galaxies. The relative behavior of subsamples
defined by high/low profile concentration or high/low surface brightness is
qualitatively similar to that of the red/blue subsamples. Our most striking
result is a clear measurement of scale-independent luminosity bias at r < 10
Mpc/h: subsamples with absolute magnitude ranges centered on M_*-1.5, M_*, and
M_*+1.5 have real-space correlation functions that are parallel power laws of
slope ~ -1.8 with correlation lengths of approximately 7.4 Mpc/h, 6.3 Mpc/h,
and 4.7 Mpc/h, respectively.Comment: 51 pages, 18 figures. Replaced to match accepted ApJ versio
The Milky Way Tomography with SDSS: III. Stellar Kinematics
We study Milky Way kinematics using a sample of 18.8 million main-sequence
stars with r<20 and proper-motion measurements derived from SDSS and POSS
astrometry, including ~170,000 stars with radial-velocity measurements from the
SDSS spectroscopic survey. Distances to stars are determined using a
photometric parallax relation, covering a distance range from ~100 pc to 10 kpc
over a quarter of the sky at high Galactic latitudes (|b|>20 degrees). We find
that in the region defined by 1 kpc <Z< 5 kpc and 3 kpc <R< 13 kpc, the
rotational velocity for disk stars smoothly decreases, and all three components
of the velocity dispersion increase, with distance from the Galactic plane. In
contrast, the velocity ellipsoid for halo stars is aligned with a spherical
coordinate system and appears to be spatially invariant within the probed
volume. The velocity distribution of nearby ( kpc) K/M stars is complex,
and cannot be described by a standard Schwarzschild ellipsoid. For stars in a
distance-limited subsample of stars (<100 pc), we detect a multimodal velocity
distribution consistent with that seen by HIPPARCOS. This strong
non-Gaussianity significantly affects the measurements of the velocity
ellipsoid tilt and vertex deviation when using the Schwarzschild approximation.
We develop and test a simple descriptive model for the overall kinematic
behavior that captures these features over most of the probed volume, and can
be used to search for substructure in kinematic and metallicity space. We use
this model to predict further improvements in kinematic mapping of the Galaxy
expected from Gaia and LSST.Comment: 90 pages, 26 figures, submitted to Ap
The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This paper describes the Fifth Data Release (DR5) of the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS). DR5 includes all survey quality data taken through June 2005 and
represents the completion of the SDSS-I project (whose successor, SDSS-II will
continue through mid-2008). It includes five-band photometric data for 217
million objects selected over 8000 square degrees, and 1,048,960 spectra of
galaxies, quasars, and stars selected from 5713 square degrees of that imaging
data. These numbers represent a roughly 20% increment over those of the Fourth
Data Release; all the data from previous data releases are included in the
present release. In addition to "standard" SDSS observations, DR5 includes
repeat scans of the southern equatorial stripe, imaging scans across M31 and
the core of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, and the first spectroscopic data
from SEGUE, a survey to explore the kinematics and chemical evolution of the
Galaxy. The catalog database incorporates several new features, including
photometric redshifts of galaxies, tables of matched objects in overlap regions
of the imaging survey, and tools that allow precise computations of survey
geometry for statistical investigations.Comment: ApJ Supp, in press, October 2007. This paper describes DR5. The SDSS
Sixth Data Release (DR6) is now public, available from http://www.sdss.or
Milky Way Tomography IV: Dissecting Dust
We use SDSS photometry of 73 million stars to simultaneously obtain best-fit
main-sequence stellar energy distribution (SED) and amount of dust extinction
along the line of sight towards each star. Using a subsample of 23 million
stars with 2MASS photometry, whose addition enables more robust results, we
show that SDSS photometry alone is sufficient to break degeneracies between
intrinsic stellar color and dust amount when the shape of extinction curve is
fixed. When using both SDSS and 2MASS photometry, the ratio of the total to
selective absorption, , can be determined with an uncertainty of about 0.1
for most stars in high-extinction regions. These fits enable detailed studies
of the dust properties and its spatial distribution, and of the stellar spatial
distribution at low Galactic latitudes. Our results are in good agreement with
the extinction normalization given by the Schlegel et al. (1998, SFD) dust maps
at high northern Galactic latitudes, but indicate that the SFD extinction map
appears to be consistently overestimated by about 20% in the southern sky, in
agreement with Schlafly et al. (2010). The constraints on the shape of the dust
extinction curve across the SDSS and 2MASS bandpasses support the models by
Fitzpatrick (1999) and Cardelli et al. (1989). For the latter, we find an
(random) (systematic) over most of the high-latitude
sky. At low Galactic latitudes (|b|<5), we demonstrate that the SFD map cannot
be reliably used to correct for extinction as most stars are embedded in dust,
rather than behind it. We introduce a method for efficient selection of
candidate red giant stars in the disk, dubbed "dusty parallax relation", which
utilizes a correlation between distance and the extinction along the line of
sight. We make these best-fit parameters, as well as all the input SDSS and
2MASS data, publicly available in a user-friendly format.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 55 pages, 37 figure
The Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This paper describes the Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS). This release, containing data taken up through June 2003, includes
imaging data in five bands over 5282 deg^2, photometric and astrometric
catalogs of the 141 million objects detected in these imaging data, and spectra
of 528,640 objects selected over 4188 deg^2. The pipelines analyzing both
images and spectroscopy are unchanged from those used in our Second Data
Release.Comment: 14 pages, including 2 postscript figures. Submitted to AJ. Data
available at http://www.sdss.org/dr
The First Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has validated and made publicly available its
First Data Release. This consists of 2099 square degrees of five-band (u, g, r,
i, z) imaging data, 186,240 spectra of galaxies, quasars, stars and calibrating
blank sky patches selected over 1360 square degrees of this area, and tables of
measured parameters from these data. The imaging data go to a depth of r ~ 22.6
and are photometrically and astrometrically calibrated to 2% rms and 100
milli-arcsec rms per coordinate, respectively. The spectra cover the range
3800--9200 A, with a resolution of 1800--2100. Further characteristics of the
data are described, as are the data products themselves.Comment: Submitted to The Astronomical Journal. 16 pages. For associated
documentation, see http://www.sdss.org/dr