Hydrodynamical Simulations of the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1097

NGC 1097 is a nearby barred spiral galaxy believed to be interacting with the elliptical galaxy NGC 1097A located to its northwest. It hosts a Seyfert 1 nucleus surrounded by a circumnuclear starburst ring. Two straight dust lanes connected to the ring extend almost continuously out to the bar. The other ends of the dust lanes attach to two main spiral arms. To provide a physical understanding of its structural and kinematical properties, two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations have been carried out. Numerical calculations reveal that many features of the gas morphology and kinematics can be reproduced provided that the gas flow is governed by a gravitational potential associated with a slowly rotating strong bar. By including the self-gravity of the gas disk in our calculation, we have found the starburst ring to be gravitationally unstable which is consistent with the observation in \citet{hsieh11}. Our simulations show that the gas inflow rate is 0.17 M_\sun yr$^{-1}$ into the region within the starburst ring even after its formation, leading to the coexistence of both a nuclear ring and a circumnuclear disk.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in the Ap

Hydrodynamical Simulations of the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6782

NGC 6782 is an early-type barred spiral galaxy exhibiting a rich and complex morphology with multiple ring patterns. To provide a physical understanding of its structure and kinematical properties, two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations have been carried out. Numerical calculations reveal that the striking features in NGC 6782 can be reproduced provided that the gas flow is governed by the gravitational potential associated with a slowly rotating strong bar. In particular, the response of the gaseous disk to the bar potential leads to the excitation of spiral density waves at the inner Lindblad resonance giving rise to the appearance of a nearly circular nuclear ring with a pair of dust lanes. For a sufficiently strong bar potential, the inner 4:1 spiral density waves are also excited. The interaction of the higher harmonic waves with the waves excited at the inner Lindblad resonance and confined by the outer Lindblad resonance results in the observed diamond-shaped (or pointy oval) inner ring structure. The overall gas morphology and kinematical features are both well reproduced by the model provided that the pattern speed of the bar is $\sim 25$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figure

Differential expression of GABAA receptor subunits δ and α6 mediates tonic inhibition in parvalbumin and somatostatin interneurons in the mouse hippocampus

Inhibitory γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic interneurons mediate inhibition in neuronal circuitry and support normal brain function. Consequently, dysregulation of inhibition is implicated in various brain disorders. Parvalbumin (PV) and somatostatin (SST) interneurons, the two major types of GABAergic inhibitory interneurons in the hippocampus, exhibit distinct morpho-physiological properties and coordinate information processing and memory formation. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the specialized properties of PV and SST interneurons remain unclear. This study aimed to compare the transcriptomic differences between these two classes of interneurons in the hippocampus using the ribosome tagging approach. The results revealed distinct expressions of genes such as voltage-gated ion channels and GABAA receptor subunits between PV and SST interneurons. Gabrd and Gabra6 were identified as contributors to the contrasting tonic GABAergic inhibition observed in PV and SST interneurons. Moreover, some of the differentially expressed genes were associated with schizophrenia and epilepsy. In conclusion, our results provide molecular insights into the distinct roles of PV and SST interneurons in health and disease

Solanum lyratum

We investigated the molecular mechanisms of cell cycle arrest and apoptotic death induced by Solanum lyratum extracts (SLE) or diosgenin in WEHI-3 murine leukemia cells in vitro and antitumor activity in vivo. Diosgenin is one of the components of SLE. Our study showed that SLE and diosgenin decreased the viable WEHI-3 cells and induced G0/G1 phase arrest and apoptosis in concentration- or time-dependent manners. Both reagents increased the levels of ROS production and decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). SLE- and diosgenin-triggered apoptosis is mediated through modulating the extrinsic and intrinsic signaling pathways. Intriguingly, the p53 inhibitor (pifithrin-α), anti-Fas ligand (FasL) mAb, and specific inhibitors of caspase-8 (z-IETD-fmk), caspase-9 (z-LEHD-fmk), and caspase-3 (z-DEVD-fmk) blocked SLE- and diosgenin-reduced cell viability of WEHI-3 cells. The in vivo study demonstrated that SLE has marked antitumor efficacy against tumors in the WEHI-3 cell allograft model. In conclusion, SLE- and diosgenin-induced G0/G1 phase arrest and triggered extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways via p53 activation in WEHI-3 cells. SLE also exhibited antitumor activity in vivo. Our findings showed that SLE may be potentially efficacious in the treatment of leukemia in the future

Smoking, Green Tea Consumption, Genetic Polymorphisms in the Insulin-Like Growth Factors and Lung Cancer Risk

Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are mediators of growth hormones; they have an influence on cell proliferation and differentiation. In addition, IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 could suppress the mitogenic action of IGFs. Interestingly, tea polyphenols could substantially reduce IGF1 and increase IGFBP3. In this study, we evaluated the effects of smoking, green tea consumption, as well as IGF1, IGF2, and IGFBP3 polymorphisms, on lung cancer risk. Questionnaires were administered to obtain the subjects' characteristics, including smoking habits and green tea consumption from 170 primary lung cancer cases and 340 healthy controls. Genotypes for IGF1, IGF2, and IGFBP3 were identified by polymerase chain reaction. Lung cancer cases had a higher proportion of smoking, green tea consumption of less than one cup per day, exposure to cooking fumes, and family history of lung cancer than controls. After adjusting the confounding effect, an elevated risk was observed in smokers who never drank green tea, as compared to smokers who drank green tea more than one cup per day (odds ratio (OR) = 13.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.96–58.51). Interaction between smoking and green tea consumption on lung cancer risk was also observed. Among green tea drinkers who drank more than one cup per day, IGF1 (CA)19/(CA)19 and (CA)19/X genotypes carriers had a significantly reduced risk of lung cancer (OR = 0.06, 95% CI = 0.01–0.44) compared with IGF1 X/X carriers. Smoking-induced pulmonary carcinogenesis could be modulated by green tea consumption and their growth factor environment

Sublethal Doses of Anthrax Lethal Toxin on the Suppression of Macrophage Phagocytosis

BACKGROUND: Lethal toxin (LT), the major virulence factor produced by Bacillus anthracis, has been shown to suppress the immune system, which is beneficial to the establishment of B. anthracis infections. It has been suggested that the suppression of MEK/MAPK signaling pathways of leukocytes contributes to LT-mediated immunosuppressive effects. However, the involvement of MAPK independent pathways has not been clearly elucidated; nor has the crucial role played by LT in the early stages of infection. Determining whether LT exerts any pathological effects before being enriched to an MEK inhibitory level is an important next step in the furtherance of this field. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a cell culture model, we determined that low doses of LT inhibited phagocytosis of macrophages, without influencing MAPK pathways. Consistent low doses of LT significantly suppressed bacterial clearance and enhanced the mortality of mice with bacteremia, without suppressing the MEK1 of splenic and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These results suggest that LT suppresses the phagocytes in a dose range lower than that required to suppress MEK1 in the early stages of infection

Women with endometriosis have higher comorbidities: Analysis of domestic data in Taiwan

AbstractEndometriosis, defined by the presence of viable extrauterine endometrial glands and stroma, can grow or bleed cyclically, and possesses characteristics including a destructive, invasive, and metastatic nature. Since endometriosis may result in pelvic inflammation, adhesion, chronic pain, and infertility, and can progress to biologically malignant tumors, it is a long-term major health issue in women of reproductive age. In this review, we analyze the Taiwan domestic research addressing associations between endometriosis and other diseases. Concerning malignant tumors, we identified four studies on the links between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, one on breast cancer, two on endometrial cancer, one on colorectal cancer, and one on other malignancies, as well as one on associations between endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome, one on links with migraine headache, three on links with pelvic inflammatory diseases, four on links with infertility, four on links with obesity, four on links with chronic liver disease, four on links with rheumatoid arthritis, four on links with chronic renal disease, five on links with diabetes mellitus, and five on links with cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.). The data available to date support that women with endometriosis might be at risk of some chronic illnesses and certain malignancies, although we consider the evidence for some comorbidities to be of low quality, for example, the association between colon cancer and adenomyosis/endometriosis. We still believe that the risk of comorbidity might be higher in women with endometriosis than that we supposed before. More research is needed to determine whether women with endometriosis are really at risk of these comorbidities

Hydrodynamical Simulations of Barred Spiral Galaxies: GC 6782, NGC1097, and NGC1300

許多鄰近的棒旋星系都被觀測到具有一組長直的塵埃帶及有許多新星在其上產生的環狀結構。為了瞭解這些形態上的特徵及其相關的運動學性質，我們利用二維的流體動力學的模擬來研究NGC 6782、NGC 1097 及NGC 1300 三個棒旋星系。計算結果顯示棒旋星系的這些特徵可以藉由在一個做軸對稱旋轉的氣體盤上加入一個旋轉的棒狀位能而產生。然而很強的棒狀位能可能導致不穩定而引發混亂的次結構。這是數值模擬的一大挑戰。我們的計算是採用我們自己發展的“大火”程式。它的特點是在笛卡兒座標下使用高階的戈杜諾夫(Godunov)方法以及精確的黎曼(Riemann)解去計算未分離的通量。從我們的數值模擬結果當中所得到的此三個棒旋星系的整體形態以及運動學上的特徵都跟這三個星系最近的觀測結果很吻合。Many nearby spiral galaxies with a major bar are observed as featured with a set of straight dust lanes and one/multiple star formation ring/rings. To provide a physical understanding of these structure and associated kinematical properties, two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations have been carried out for the cases of NGC 6782, NGC 1097, and NGC 1300. The calculations reveal that such striking features of straight dust lanes and one/multiple star formation ring/rings can be reproduced in the spiral galaxies with strong bars, provided that we impose a strong rotating bar onto the axial-symmetrical balanced gaseous disk systems. Since strong bar potentials may lead to instabilities and, as a result, the chaotic sub-structures, they present challenging problems to the numerical simulations. Our simulations are performed with our own Antares code, which employs Cartesian coordinates and the high-order Godunov scheme with unsplit flux calculated from the exact Riemann solver. The overall gas morphology and kinematical features reproduced in our simulations are all in excellent agreement with the recent observations of these three galaxies.1 Introduction 1 Hydrodynamical Simulations of NGC 6782 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Optical Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Optical Fabry-Perot Interferometry . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Numerical Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.1 Computational Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3 Modeling Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.3.1 Requirements for a Successful Model . . . . . . . . . . 20.3.2 Parameter Estimations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.3.3 Parameter Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.4 Numerical Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.4.1 Comparisons with the Observations . . . . . . . . . . . 23.4.2 HII Regions in the Pointy Inner Ring . . . . . . . . . . 32.4.3 Self-gravitation of the Gas Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Hydrodynamical Simulations of NGC 1097 37.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37.2 Numerical Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444.3 Modeling Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.3.1 Requirements for a Successful Model . . . . . . . . . . 44.3.2 Parameter Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47.4 Comparisons between Numerical Results and Observations . . 48 Hydrodynamical Simulations of NGC 1300 57.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.2 Numerical Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61.3 Modeling Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.3.1 Requirements for a Successful Model . . . . . . . . . . 65.3.2 Parameter Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65.4 Numerical Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.4.1 Comparisons with the Observations . . . . . . . . . . . 66.4.2 Comparisions with other Dynamical Models for NGC300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Discussion 77.1 Parameters Affecting the Gas Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77.1.1 The Pattern Speed of the Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77.1.2 The Strength of the Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.2 Shock Strength of the Gas Lanes vs Mass Inw Rate . . . . . 82 Summary 91.1 NGC 6782 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.2 NGC 1097 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.3 NGC 1300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93.4 The Pattern Speed of the Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93.5 The Strength of the Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94.6 Shock Strength of the Gas Lanes vs Mass Inw Rate . . . . . 94.7 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

The Effectiveness of Mental Health Literacy Curriculum among Undergraduate Public Health Students

Mental health literacy (MHL) plays an important role in public health. Improving MHL can promote mental health at the individual and public levels. To date, no published studies have assessed the effectiveness of MHL curriculum interventions among undergraduate public health students. The participants in this study were undergraduate public health students (n = 48) who were enrolled in an 18-week MHL curriculum for 100 min per week. MHL was assessed using the Mental Health Literacy Scale for Healthcare Students. A paired sample t-test was performed to examine the immediate and delayed effects of the MHL curriculum. The total MHL score significantly improved, and a moderate effect size was found directly after the intervention and six weeks later. There were significant differences in the recognition of mental illness (p < 0.01), help-seeking efficacy (p < 0.05), and help-seeking attitude (p < 0.05) in the five components of MHL between pre- and post-test. Furthermore, significant improvements were obtained for the maintenance of positive mental health (p < 0.05) and reduction of mental illness stigma (p < 0.001) between the pre-test and follow-up. Our findings provide evidence for the development and implementation of an MHL curriculum for public health education