Exercise training and detraining process affects plasma adiponectin level in healthy and spontaneously hypertensive rats

BACKGROUND: Adiponectin levels with long-term swimming exercise have been never investigated in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). OBJECTIVE: This study was aimed to investigate the effects of exercise and detraining process on the adiponectin plasma levels of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and healthy Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The rats in the exercise groups were swimming for 10 weeks, 5 days/week, one hour in a day. The detraining rats were left to be sedentary in their cages for 5 weeks after 10 weeks of exercise period. RESULTS: The plasma adiponectin levels decreased in E and SHRE groups compared to the SC and the SHR groups, respectively. In addition, blood pressure was decreased in the exercise groups vs their controls. The adiponectin level was not found to be significantly different in ED and SHRED groups compared to their controls. The blood pressure did not differ between SDC and ED groups, although in the SHRED group it was found to be lower than in SHRSD group rats. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that exercise reduced plasma levels of adiponectin in healthy and spontaneously hypertensive rats. However, this difference disappeared at the end of the training processes. Our results suggest, that changes in plasma adiponectin levels are not responsible for changes in blood pressure

Design of master and slave modules on battery management system for electric vehicles

Nowadays, electric vehicle usage and the use of LiFePO4 batteries in electric vehicles gradually increase. However, there are important features to be considered to use these batteries safely and efficiently. Incorrect use of these batteries can lead to burning, explosion or shortening of the life of batteries. In this paper, a Battery Management System (BMS) for lithium based batteries is designed that operates more efficiently and communicates with UART between master and slave modules and can communicate via CAN protocol with external devices. Micro controller based control and protection equipment is designed that help to measure and monitor the voltage, temperature and current values of the batteries. They protect the battery cells from the conditions such as over charge, over discharge, high current, high temperature. BMS balances battery cell voltages during charging process with passive cell voltage balancing. In addition to the main controller module in the BMS, slave controller modules have been added to provide high resolution voltage and temperature tracking. A modular BMS has been devised which can be used in groups of batteries of different voltage values thanks to electrically isolated slave control modules

SDSS J163030.58+423305.8: A 40 minute Orbital Period Detached White Dwarf Binary

We report the discovery of a new detached, double white dwarf system with an orbital period of 39.8 min. We targeted SDSS J163030.58+423305.8 (hereafter J1630) as part of our radial velocity program to search for companions around low-mass white dwarfs using the 6.5m MMT. We detect peak-to-peak radial velocity variations of 576 km/s. The mass function and optical photometry rule out main-sequence companions. In addition, no milli-second pulsar companions are detected in radio observations. Thus the invisible companion is most likely another white dwarf. Unlike the other 39 min binary SDSS J010657.39-100003.3, follow-up high speed photometric observations of J1630 obtained at the McDonald 2.1m telescope do not show significant ellipsoidal variations, indicating a higher primary mass and smaller radius. The absence of eclipses constrain the inclination angle to <82deg. J1630 contains a pair of white dwarfs, 0.3 Msun primary + >0.3 Msun invisible secondary, at a separation of >0.32 Rsun. The two white dwarfs will merge in less than 31 Myr. Depending on the core composition of the companion, the merger will form either a single core-He burning subdwarf star or a rapidly rotating massive white dwarf. The gravitational wave strain from J1630 is detectable by instruments like the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) within the first year of operation.Comment: MNRAS Letters, in pres

A Detailed Model Atmosphere Analysis of Cool White Dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present optical spectroscopy and near-infrared photometry of 126 cool white dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our sample includes high proper motion targets selected using the SDSS and USNO-B astrometry and a dozen previously known ultracool white dwarf candidates. Our optical spectroscopic observations demonstrate that a clean selection of large samples of cool white dwarfs in the SDSS (and the SkyMapper, Pan-STARRS, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope datasets) is possible using a reduced proper motion diagram and a tangential velocity cut-off (depending on the proper motion accuracy) of 30 km/s. Our near-infrared observations reveal eight new stars with significant absorption. We use the optical and near-infrared photometry to perform a detailed model atmosphere analysis. More than 80% of the stars in our sample are consistent with either pure hydrogen or pure helium atmospheres. However, the eight stars with significant infrared absorption and the majority of the previously known ultracool white dwarf candidates are best explained with mixed hydrogen and helium atmosphere models. The age distribution of our sample is consistent with a Galactic disk age of 8 Gyr. A few ultracool white dwarfs may be as old as 12-13 Gyr, but our models have problems matching the spectral energy distributions of these objects. There are only two halo white dwarf candidates in our sample. However, trigonometric parallax observations are required for accurate mass and age determinations and to confirm their membership in the halo.Comment: ApJ Supplements, in pres

First Results from Pan-STARRS1: Faint, High Proper Motion White Dwarfs in the Medium-Deep Fields

The Pan-STARRS1 survey has obtained multi-epoch imaging in five bands (Pan-STARRS1 gps, rps, ips, zps, and yps) on twelve "Medium Deep Fields", each of which spans a 3.3 degree circle. For the period between Apr 2009 and Apr 2011 these fields were observed 50-200 times. Using a reduced proper motion diagram, we have extracted a list of 47 white dwarf (WD) candidates whose Pan-STARRS1 astrometry indicates a non-zero proper motion at the 6-sigma level, with a typical 1-sigma proper motion uncertainty of 10 mas/yr. We also used astrometry from SDSS (when available) and USNO-B to assess our proper motion fits. None of the WD candidates exhibits evidence of statistically significant parallaxes, with a typical 1-sigma uncertainty of 8 mas. Twelve of these candidates are known WDs, including the high proper motion (1.7"/yr) WD LHS 291. We confirm three more objects as WDs through optical spectroscopy. Based on the Pan-STARRS1 colors, ten of the stars are likely to be cool WDs with 4170 K Teff 5000 K and cooling ages <9 Gyr. We classify these objects as likely thick disk WDs based on their kinematics. Our current sample represents only a small fraction of the Pan-STARRS1 data. With continued coverage from the Medium Deep Field Survey and the 3pi survey, Pan-STARRS1 should find many more high proper motion WDs that are part of the old thick disk and halo.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Ap

The Shortest Period Detached Binary White Dwarf System

We identify SDSS J010657.39-100003.3 (hereafter J0106-1000) as the shortest period detached binary white dwarf (WD) system currently known. We targeted J0106-1000 as part of our radial velocity program to search for companions around known extremely low-mass (ELM, ~ 0.2 Msol) WDs using the 6.5m MMT. We detect peak-to-peak radial velocity variations of 740 km/s with an orbital period of 39.1 min. The mass function and optical photometry rule out a main-sequence star companion. Follow-up high-speed photometric observations obtained at the McDonald 2.1m telescope reveal ellipsoidal variations from the distorted primary but no eclipses. This is the first example of a tidally distorted WD. Modeling the lightcurve, we constrain the inclination angle of the system to be 67 +- 13 deg. J0106-1000 contains a pair of WDs (0.17 Msol primary + 0.43 Msol invisible secondary) at a separation of 0.32 Rsol. The two WDs will merge in 37 Myr and most likely form a core He-burning single subdwarf star. J0106-1000 is the shortest timescale merger system currently known. The gravitational wave strain from J0106-1000 is at the detection limit of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). However, accurate ephemeris and orbital period measurements may enable LISA to detect J0106-1000 above the Galactic background noise.Comment: MNRAS Letters, in pres

Pulsed Beam Tests at the SANAEM RFQ Beamline

A proton beamline consisting of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source, two solenoid magnets, two steerer magnets and a radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) is developed at the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority's (TAEA) Saraykoy Nuclear Research and Training Center (SNRTC-SANAEM) in Ankara. In Q4 of 2016, the RFQ was installed in the beamline. The high power tests of the RF power supply and the RF transmission line were done successfully. The high power RF conditioning of the RFQ was performed recently. The 13.56 MHz ICP source was tested in two different conditions, CW and pulsed. The characterization of the proton beam was done with ACCTs, Faraday cups and a pepper-pot emittance meter. Beam transverse emittance was measured in between the two solenoids of the LEBT. The measured beam is then reconstructed at the entrance of the RFQ by using computer simulations to determine the optimum solenoid currents for acceptance matching of the beam. This paper will introduce the pulsed beam test results at the SANAEM RFQ beamline. In addition, the high power RF conditioning of the RFQ will be discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the International Particle Accelerator Conference 2017 (IPAC'17), May 14-19, 2017, TUPAB015, p. 134

Congenital Lymphoedema, Bronchiectasis And Seizure: Case Report

A l0-year-old girl with facial anomalies, mental retardation, peripheral lymphoedema, convulsions, cerebral cortical dysgenetic changes, bronchiectasis and chronic sinusitis is presented. She had features of both yellow nail syndrome and Hennekam syndrome. We think that our case might be a new congenital lymphoedema syndrome or an intermediate form between these syndromes. East African Medical Journal Vol. 85 (3) 2008: pp. 145-14