4,436 research outputs found
Prospects for Detection of Exoplanet Magnetic Fields Through Bow-Shock Observations During Transits
An asymmetry between the ingress and egress times was observed in the near-UV
light curve of the transit planet WASP-12b. Such asymmetry led us to suggest
that the early ingress in the UV light curve of WASP-12b, compared to the
optical observations, is caused by a shock around the planet, and that shocks
should be a common feature in transiting systems. Here, we classify all the
transiting systems known to date according to their potential for producing
shocks that could cause observable light curve asymmetries. We found that 36/92
of known transiting systems would lie above a reasonable detection threshold
and that the most promising candidates to present shocks are: WASP-19b,
WASP-4b, WASP-18b, CoRoT-7b, HAT-P-7b, CoRoT-1b, TrES-3, and WASP-5b. For
prograde planets orbiting outside the co-rotation radius of fast rotating
stars, the shock position, instead of being ahead of the planetary motion as in
WASP-12b, trails the planet. In this case, we predict that the light curve of
the planet should present a late-egress asymmetry. We show that CoRoT-11b is a
potential candidate to host such a behind shock and show a late egress. If
observed, these asymmetries can provide constraints on planetary magnetic
fields. For instance, for a planet that has a magnetic field intensity similar
to Jupiter's field (~ 14 G) orbiting a star whose magnetic field is between 1
and 100G, the stand-off distance between the shock and the planet, which we
take to be the size of the planet's magnetosphere, ranges from 1 to 40
planetary radii.Comment: 7 pages (including the complete version of Table 1), 2 Tables, 3
Figures. Accepted by MNRAS Letter
Combinatorics of linear iterated function systems with overlaps
Let be points in , and let
be a one-parameter family of similitudes of : where
is our parameter. Then, as is well known, there exists a
unique self-similar attractor satisfying
. Each has
at least one address , i.e.,
.
We show that for sufficiently close to 1, each has different
addresses. If is not too close to 1, then we can still have an
overlap, but there exist 's which have a unique address. However, we
prove that almost every has addresses,
provided contains no holes and at least one proper overlap. We
apply these results to the case of expansions with deleted digits.
Furthermore, we give sharp sufficient conditions for the Open Set Condition
to fail and for the attractor to have no holes.
These results are generalisations of the corresponding one-dimensional
results, however most proofs are different.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nonlinearit
Interleukin-1β increases the risk of gastric cancer through induction of aberrant DNA methylation in a mouse model
published_or_final_versio
Designing spin-1 lattice models using polar molecules
We describe how to design a large class of always on spin-1 interactions
between polar molecules trapped in an optical lattice. The spin degrees of
freedom correspond to the hyperfine levels of a ro-vibrational ground state
molecule. Interactions are induced using a microwave field to mix ground states
in one hyperfine manifold with the spin entangled dipole-dipole coupled excited
states. Using multiple fields anistropic models in one, two, or three
dimensions, can be built with tunable spatial range. An illustrative example in
one dimension is the generalized Haldane model, which at a specific parameter
has a gapped valence bond solid ground state. The interaction strengths are
large compared to decoherence rates and should allow for probing the rich phase
structure of strongly correlated systems, including dimerized and gapped
phases.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure
Interpreting ambiguous ‘trace’ results in Schistosoma mansoni CCA Tests: Estimating sensitivity and specificity of ambiguous results with no gold standard
Background The development of new diagnostics is an important tool in the fight against disease. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) is used to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of tests in the absence of a gold standard. The main field diagnostic for Schistosoma mansoni infection, Kato-Katz (KK), is not very sensitive at low infection intensities. A point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) test has been shown to be more sensitive than KK. However, CCA can return an ambiguous ‘trace’ result between ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, and much debate has focused on interpretation of traces results. Methodology/Principle findings We show how LCA can be extended to include ambiguous trace results and analyse S. mansoni studies from both Côte d’Ivoire (CdI) and Uganda. We compare the diagnostic performance of KK and CCA and the observed results by each test to the estimated infection prevalence in the population. Prevalence by KK was higher in CdI (13.4%) than in Uganda (6.1%), but prevalence by CCA was similar between countries, both when trace was assumed to be negative (CCAtn: 11.7% in CdI and 9.7% in Uganda) and positive (CCAtp: 20.1% in CdI and 22.5% in Uganda). The estimated sensitivity of CCA was more consistent between countries than the estimated sensitivity of KK, and estimated infection prevalence did not significantly differ between CdI (20.5%) and Uganda (19.1%). The prevalence by CCA with trace as positive did not differ significantly from estimates of infection prevalence in either country, whereas both KK and CCA with trace as negative significantly underestimated infection prevalence in both countries. Conclusions Incorporation of ambiguous results into an LCA enables the effect of different treatment thresholds to be directly assessed and is applicable in many fields. Our results showed that CCA with trace as positive most accurately estimated infection prevalence
Transit Variability in Bow Shock-Hosting Planets
We investigate the formation of bow shocks around exoplanets as a result of
the interaction of the planet with the coronal material of the host star,
focusing on physical causes that can lead to temporal variations in the shock
characteristics. We recently suggested that WASP-12b may host a bow shock
around its magnetosphere, similarly to the one observed around the Earth. For
WASP12b, the shock is detected in the near-UV transit light curve.
Observational follow-up suggests that the near-UV light curve presents temporal
variations, which may indicate that the stand-off distance between the shock
and the planet is varying. This implies that the size of the planet's
magnetosphere is adjusting itself in response to variations in the surrounding
ambient medium. We investigate possible causes of shock variations for the
known eccentric (e>0.3) transiting planets. We show that, because the distance
from the star changes along the orbit of an eccentric planet, the shock
characteristics are modulated by orbital phase. We predict time offsets between
the beginnings of the near-UV and optical light curves that are, in general,
less than the transit duration. Variations in shock characteristics caused in
eccentric systems can only be probed if the shock is observed at different
orbital phases, which is, in general, not the case for transit observations.
However, non-thermal radio emission produced by the interaction of the star and
planet should be modulated by orbital phase. We also quantify the response of
the shock to variations in the coronal material itself due to, e.g., a
non-axisymmetric stellar corona, planetary obliquity, intrinsic variations of
the stellar magnetic field. Such variations do not depend on the system
eccentricity. We conclude that, for systems where a shock is detectable through
transit light curve observations, shock variations should be a common
occurrence. (Abridged)Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, 1 table. MNRAS accepte
Caveolin-1 protects B6129 mice against Helicobacter pylori gastritis.
Caveolin-1 (Cav1) is a scaffold protein and pathogen receptor in the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract. Chronic infection of gastric epithelial cells by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a major risk factor for human gastric cancer (GC) where Cav1 is frequently down-regulated. However, the function of Cav1 in H. pylori infection and pathogenesis of GC remained unknown. We show here that Cav1-deficient mice, infected for 11 months with the CagA-delivery deficient H. pylori strain SS1, developed more severe gastritis and tissue damage, including loss of parietal cells and foveolar hyperplasia, and displayed lower colonisation of the gastric mucosa than wild-type B6129 littermates. Cav1-null mice showed enhanced infiltration of macrophages and B-cells and secretion of chemokines (RANTES) but had reduced levels of CD25+ regulatory T-cells. Cav1-deficient human GC cells (AGS), infected with the CagA-delivery proficient H. pylori strain G27, were more sensitive to CagA-related cytoskeletal stress morphologies ("humming bird") compared to AGS cells stably transfected with Cav1 (AGS/Cav1). Infection of AGS/Cav1 cells triggered the recruitment of p120 RhoGTPase-activating protein/deleted in liver cancer-1 (p120RhoGAP/DLC1) to Cav1 and counteracted CagA-induced cytoskeletal rearrangements. In human GC cell lines (MKN45, N87) and mouse stomach tissue, H. pylori down-regulated endogenous expression of Cav1 independently of CagA. Mechanistically, H. pylori activated sterol-responsive element-binding protein-1 (SREBP1) to repress transcription of the human Cav1 gene from sterol-responsive elements (SREs) in the proximal Cav1 promoter. These data suggested a protective role of Cav1 against H. pylori-induced inflammation and tissue damage. We propose that H. pylori exploits down-regulation of Cav1 to subvert the host's immune response and to promote signalling of its virulence factors in host cells
Searching for Exoplanets Using a Microresonator Astrocomb
Detection of weak radial velocity shifts of host stars induced by orbiting
planets is an important technique for discovering and characterizing planets
beyond our solar system. Optical frequency combs enable calibration of stellar
radial velocity shifts at levels required for detection of Earth analogs. A new
chip-based device, the Kerr soliton microcomb, has properties ideal for
ubiquitous application outside the lab and even in future space-borne
instruments. Moreover, microcomb spectra are ideally suited for astronomical
spectrograph calibration and eliminate filtering steps required by conventional
mode-locked-laser frequency combs. Here, for the calibration of astronomical
spectrographs, we demonstrate an atomic/molecular line-referenced,
near-infrared soliton microcomb. Efforts to search for the known exoplanet HD
187123b were conducted at the Keck-II telescope as a first in-the-field
demonstration of microcombs
Rare coding SNP in DZIP1 gene associated with late-onset sporadic Parkinson's disease
We present the first application of the hypothesis-rich mathematical theory
to genome-wide association data. The Hamza et al. late-onset sporadic
Parkinson's disease genome-wide association study dataset was analyzed. We
found a rare, coding, non-synonymous SNP variant in the gene DZIP1 that confers
increased susceptibility to Parkinson's disease. The association of DZIP1 with
Parkinson's disease is consistent with a Parkinson's disease stem-cell ageing
theory.Comment: 14 page
Traffic-Related Air Pollution and DNA Damage: A Longitudinal Study in Taiwanese Traffic Conductors
BACKGROUND: There is accumulating epidemiologic evidence that exposure to traffic-related air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM) and polyaromatic hydro carbons (PAHs), plays a role in etiology and prognosis of a large scale of illnesses, although the role of specific causal agents and underlying mechanisms for different health outcomes remains unknown. OBJECTIVE: Our general objective was to assess the relations between personal exposure to traffic exhausts, in particular ambient PM(2.5) and PAHs, and the occurrence of DNA strand breaks by applying personal monitoring of PM and biomarkers of exposure (urinary 1-hydroxypyrene-glucuronide, 1-OHPG) and effect (urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, 8-OHdG and DNA strand breaks). METHODS: We recruited 91 traffic conductors and 53 indoor office workers between May 2009 and June 2011 in Taipei City, Taiwan. We used PM(2.5) personal samplers to collect breathing-zone particulate PAHs samples. Spot urine and blood samples after work shift of 2 consecutive days were analyzed for 1-OHPG, 8-OHdG and DNA strand breaks, respectively. Statistical methods included linear regression and mixed models. RESULTS: Urinary 8-OHdG levels and the occurrence of DNA strand breaks in traffic conductors significantly exceeded those in indoor office workers in mixed models. Particulate PAHs levels showed a positive association with urinary 1-OHPG in the regression model (β = 0.056, p = 0.01). Urinary 1-OHPG levels were significantly associated with urinary 8-OHdG levels in the mixed model (β = 0.101, p = 0.023). Our results provide evidence that exposure to fine particulates causes DNA damage. Further, particulate PAHs could be biologically active constituents of PM(2.5) with reference to the induction of oxidative DNA damages
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