101 research outputs found
Very compact millimeter sizes for composite star-forming/AGN submillimeter galaxies
We report the study of far-IR sizes of submillimeter galaxies (SMGs) in
relation to their dust-obscured star formation rate (SFR) and active galactic
nuclei (AGN) presence, determined using mid-IR photometry. We determined the
millimeter-wave (m) sizes of 69 ALMA-identified
SMGs, selected with confidence on ALMA images (--7.4 mJy). We found that all the SMGs are located above an
avoidance region in the millimeter size-flux plane, as expected by the
Eddington limit for star formation. In order to understand what drives the
different millimeter-wave sizes in SMGs, we investigated the relation between
millimeter-wave size and AGN fraction for 25 of our SMGs at --3. We found
that the SMGs for which the mid-IR emission is dominated by star formation or
AGN have extended millimeter-sizes, with respective median and 1.5 kpc. Instead, the SMGs for which
the mid-IR emission corresponds to star-forming/AGN composites have more
compact millimeter-wave sizes, with median
kpc. The relation between millimeter-wave size and AGN fraction suggests that
this size may be related to the evolutionary stage of the SMG. The very compact
sizes for composite star-forming/AGN systems could be explained by supermassive
black holes growing rapidly during the SMG coalescing, star-formation phase.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ Lette
TMC1 and TMC2 Are Components of the Mechanotransduction Channel in Hair Cells of the Mammalian Inner Ear
SummarySensory transduction in auditory and vestibular hair cells requires expression of transmembrane channel-like (Tmc) 1 and 2 genes, but the function of these genes is unknown. To investigate the hypothesis that TMC1 and TMC2 proteins are components of the mechanosensitive ion channels that convert mechanical information into electrical signals, we recorded whole-cell and single-channel currents from mouse hair cells that expressed Tmc1, Tmc2, or mutant Tmc1. Cells that expressed Tmc2 had high calcium permeability and large single-channel currents, while cells with mutant Tmc1 had reduced calcium permeability and reduced single-channel currents. Cells that expressed Tmc1 and Tmc2 had a broad range of single-channel currents, suggesting multiple heteromeric assemblies of TMC subunits. The data demonstrate TMC1 and TMC2 are components of hair cell transduction channels and contribute to permeation properties. Gradients in TMC channel composition may also contribute to variation in sensory transduction along the tonotopic axis of the mammalian cochlea
SXDF-ALMA 2 Arcmin^2 Deep Survey: Resolving and Characterizing the Infrared Extragalactic Background Light Down to 0.5 mJy
We present a multi-wavelength analysis of five submillimeter sources (S_1.1mm
= 0.54-2.02 mJy) that were detected during our 1.1-mm-deep continuum survey in
the SXDF-UDS-CANDELS field (2 arcmin^2, 1sigma = 0.055 mJy beam^-1) using the
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The two brightest sources
correspond to a known single-dish (AzTEC) selected bright submillimeter galaxy
(SMG), whereas the remaining three are faint SMGs newly uncovered by ALMA. If
we exclude the two brightest sources, the contribution of the ALMA-detected
faint SMGs to the infrared extragalactic background light is estimated to be ~
4.1^{+5.4}_{-3.0} Jy deg^{-2}, which corresponds to ~ 16^{+22}_{-12}% of the
infrared extragalactic background light. This suggests that their contribution
to the infrared extragalactic background light is as large as that of bright
SMGs. We identified multi-wavelength counterparts of the five ALMA sources. One
of the sources (SXDF-ALMA3) is extremely faint in the optical to near-infrared
region despite its infrared luminosity (L_IR ~ 1e12 L_sun or SFR ~ 100 M_sun
yr^{-1}). By fitting the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) at the
optical-to-near-infrared wavelengths of the remaining four ALMA sources, we
obtained the photometric redshifts (z_photo) and stellar masses (M_*): z_photo
~ 1.3-2.5, M_* ~ (3.5-9.5)e10 M_sun. We also derived their star formation rates
(SFRs) and specific SFRs (sSFRs) as ~ 30-200 M_sun yr^{-1} and ~ 0.8-2
Gyr^{-1}, respectively. These values imply that they are main-sequence
star-forming galaxies.Comment: PASJ accepted, 15 pages, 6 figures, 2 table
Compact starbursts in z~3-6 submillimeter galaxies revealed by ALMA
We report the source size distribution, as measured by ALMA millimetric
continuum imaging, of a sample of 13 AzTEC-selected submillimeter galaxies
(SMGs) at z_photo ~ 3-6. Their infrared luminosities and star-formation rates
(SFR) are L_IR ~ 2-6 x 10^12 L_sun and ~ 200-600 M_sun yr-1, respectively. The
size of z ~ 3-6 SMGs ranges from 0".10 to 0".38 with a median of
0".20+0".03-0".05 (FWHM), corresponding to a median circularized effective
radius (Rc,e) of 0.67+0.13-0.14 kpc, comparable to the typical size of the
stellar component measured in compact quiescent galaxies at z ~ 2 (cQGs) --- R
~ 1 kpc. The median surface SFR density of our z ~ 3-6 SMGs is 100+42-26 M_sun
yr-1 kpc-2, comparable to that seen in local merger-driven (U)LIRGsrather than
in extended disk galaxies at low and high redshifts. The discovery of compact
starbursts in z >~ 3 SMGs strongly supports a massive galaxy formation scenario
wherein z ~ 3-6 SMGs evolve into the compact stellar components of z ~ 2 cQGs.
These cQGs are then thought to evolve into the most massive ellipticals in the
local Universe, mostly via dry mergers. Our results thus suggest that z >~ 3
SMGs are the likely progenitors of massive local ellipticals, via cQGs, meaning
that we can now trace the evolutionary path of the most massive galaxies over a
period encompassing ~ 90% of the age of the Universe.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted to the Astrophysical Journal part
Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) for the Subaru Telescope: Overview, recent progress, and future perspectives
PFS (Prime Focus Spectrograph), a next generation facility instrument on the
8.2-meter Subaru Telescope, is a very wide-field, massively multiplexed,
optical and near-infrared spectrograph. Exploiting the Subaru prime focus, 2394
reconfigurable fibers will be distributed over the 1.3 deg field of view. The
spectrograph has been designed with 3 arms of blue, red, and near-infrared
cameras to simultaneously observe spectra from 380nm to 1260nm in one exposure
at a resolution of ~1.6-2.7A. An international collaboration is developing this
instrument under the initiative of Kavli IPMU. The project is now going into
the construction phase aiming at undertaking system integration in 2017-2018
and subsequently carrying out engineering operations in 2018-2019. This article
gives an overview of the instrument, current project status and future paths
forward.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures. Proceeding of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and
Instrumentation 201
Effects of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 3 Genotype on Phonetic Mismatch Negativity
BACKGROUND: The genetic and molecular basis of glutamatergic dysfunction is one key to understand schizophrenia, with the identification of an intermediate phenotype being an essential step. Mismatch negativity (MMN) or its magnetic counterpart, magnetic mismatch field (MMF) is an index of preattentive change detection processes in the auditory cortex and is generated through glutamatergic neurotransmission. We have previously shown that MMN/MMF in response to phoneme change is markedly reduced in schizophrenia. Variations in metabotropic glutamate receptor (GRM3) may be associated with schizophrenia, and has been shown to affect cortical function. Here we investigated the effect of GRM3 genotypes on phonetic MMF in healthy men. METHODS: MMF in response to phoneme change was recorded using magnetoencephalography in 41 right-handed healthy Japanese men. Based on previous genetic association studies in schizophrenia, 4 candidate SNPs (rs6465084, rs2299225, rs1468412, rs274622) were genotyped. RESULTS: GRM3 rs274622 genotype variations significantly predicted MMF strengths (p = 0.009), with C carriers exhibiting significantly larger MMF strengths in both hemispheres compared to the TT subjects. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that variations in GRM3 genotype modulate the auditory cortical response to phoneme change in humans. MMN/MMF, particularly those in response to speech sounds, may be a promising and sensitive intermediate phenotype for clarifying glutamatergic dysfunction in schizophrenia
Normative modeling of brain morphometry in Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis
Importance: The lack of robust neuroanatomical markers of psychosis risk has been traditionally attributed to heterogeneity. A complementary hypothesis is that variation in neuroanatomical measures in the majority of individuals at psychosis risk may be nested within the range observed in healthy individuals.
Objective: To quantify deviations from the normative range of neuroanatomical variation in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) and evaluate their overlap with healthy variation and their association with positive symptoms, cognition, and conversion to a psychotic disorder.
Design setting and participants: Clinical, IQ and FreeSurfer-derived regional measures of cortical thickness (CT), cortical surface area (SA), and subcortical volume (SV) from 1,340 CHR-P individuals [47.09% female; mean age: 20.75 (4.74) years] and 1,237 healthy individuals [44.70% female; mean age: 22.32 (4.95) years] from 29 international sites participating in the ENIGMA Clinical High Risk for Psychosis Working Group.
Main outcomes and measures: For each regional morphometric measure, z-scores were computed that index the degree of deviation from the normative means of that measure in a healthy reference population (N=37,407). Average deviation scores (ADS) for CT, SA, SV, and globally across all measures (G) were generated by averaging the respective regional z-scores. Regression analyses were used to quantify the association of deviation scores with clinical severity and cognition and two-proportion z-tests to identify case-control differences in the proportion of individuals with infranormal (z1.96) scores.
Results: CHR-P and healthy individuals overlapped in the distributions of the observed values, regional z-scores, and all ADS vales. The proportion of CHR-P individuals with infranormal or supranormal values in any metric was low (<12%) and similar to that of healthy individuals. CHR-P individuals who converted to psychosis compared to those who did not convert had a higher percentage of infranormal values in temporal regions (5-7% vs 0.9-1.4%). In the CHR-P group, only the ADS SA showed significant but weak associations (|β|<0.09; P FDR <0.05) with positive symptoms and IQ.
Conclusions and relevance: The study findings challenge the usefulness of macroscale neuromorphometric measures as diagnostic biomarkers of psychosis risk and suggest that such measures do not provide an adequate explanation for psychosis risk.
Key points: Question: Is the risk of psychosis associated with brain morphometric changes that deviate significantly from healthy variation?Findings: In this study of 1340 individuals high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) and 1237 healthy participants, individual-level variation in macroscale neuromorphometric measures of the CHR-P group was largely nested within healthy variation and was not associated with the severity of positive psychotic symptoms or conversion to a psychotic disorder.Meaning: The findings suggest the macroscale neuromorphometric measures have limited utility as diagnostic biomarkers of psychosis risk
Neuroanatomical heterogeneity and homogeneity in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis
Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis (CHR-P) demonstrate heterogeneity in clinical profiles and outcome features. However, the extent of neuroanatomical heterogeneity in the CHR-P state is largely undetermined. We aimed to quantify the neuroanatomical heterogeneity in structural magnetic resonance imaging measures of cortical surface area (SA), cortical thickness (CT), subcortical volume (SV), and intracranial volume (ICV) in CHR-P individuals compared with healthy controls (HC), and in relation to subsequent transition to a first episode of psychosis. The ENIGMA CHR-P consortium applied a harmonised analysis to neuroimaging data across 29 international sites, including 1579 CHR-P individuals and 1243 HC, offering the largest pooled CHR-P neuroimaging dataset to date. Regional heterogeneity was indexed with the Variability Ratio (VR) and Coefficient of Variation (CV) ratio applied at the group level. Personalised estimates of heterogeneity of SA, CT and SV brain profiles were indexed with the novel Person-Based Similarity Index (PBSI), with two complementary applications. First, to assess the extent of within-diagnosis similarity or divergence of neuroanatomical profiles between individuals. Second, using a normative modelling approach, to assess the ‘normativeness’ of neuroanatomical profiles in individuals at CHR-P. CHR-P individuals demonstrated no greater regional heterogeneity after applying FDR corrections. However, PBSI scores indicated significantly greater neuroanatomical divergence in global SA, CT and SV profiles in CHR-P individuals compared with HC. Normative PBSI analysis identified 11 CHR-P individuals (0.70%) with marked deviation (>1.5 SD) in SA, 118 (7.47%) in CT and 161 (10.20%) in SV. Psychosis transition was not significantly associated with any measure of heterogeneity. Overall, our examination of neuroanatomical heterogeneity within the CHR-P state indicated greater divergence in neuroanatomical profiles at an individual level, irrespective of psychosis conversion. Further large-scale investigations are required of those who demonstrate marked deviation
Cell Type–Specific Transcriptome Analysis Reveals a Major Role for Zeb1 and miR-200b in Mouse Inner Ear Morphogenesis
Cellular heterogeneity hinders the extraction of functionally significant results and inference of regulatory networks from wide-scale expression profiles of complex mammalian organs. The mammalian inner ear consists of the auditory and vestibular systems that are each composed of hair cells, supporting cells, neurons, mesenchymal cells, other epithelial cells, and blood vessels. We developed a novel protocol to sort auditory and vestibular tissues of newborn mouse inner ears into their major cellular components. Transcriptome profiling of the sorted cells identified cell type–specific expression clusters. Computational analysis detected transcription factors and microRNAs that play key roles in determining cell identity in the inner ear. Specifically, our analysis revealed the role of the Zeb1/miR-200b pathway in establishing epithelial and mesenchymal identity in the inner ear. Furthermore, we detected a misregulation of the ZEB1 pathway in the inner ear of Twirler mice, which manifest, among other phenotypes, malformations of the auditory and vestibular labyrinth. The association of misregulation of the ZEB1/miR-200b pathway with auditory and vestibular defects in the Twirler mutant mice uncovers a novel mechanism underlying deafness and balance disorders. Our approach can be employed to decipher additional complex regulatory networks underlying other hearing and balance mouse mutants
Criterion and Construct Validity of the CogState Schizophrenia Battery in Japanese Patients with Schizophrenia
BACKGROUND: The CogState Schizophrenia Battery (CSB), a computerized cognitive battery, covers all the same cognitive domains as the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) Consensus Cognitive Battery but is briefer to conduct. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the criterion and construct validity of the Japanese language version of the CSB (CSB-J) in Japanese patients with schizophrenia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Forty Japanese patients with schizophrenia and 40 Japanese healthy controls with matching age, gender, and premorbid intelligence quotient were enrolled. The CSB-J and the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia, Japanese-language version (BACS-J) were performed once. The structure of the CSB-J was also evaluated by a factor analysis. Similar to the BACS-J, the CSB-J was sensitive to cognitive impairment in Japanese patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between the CSB-J composite score and the BACS-J composite score. A factor analysis showed a three-factor model consisting of memory, speed, and social cognition factors. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study suggests that the CSB-J is a useful and rapid automatically administered computerized battery for assessing broad cognitive domains in Japanese patients with schizophrenia
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