189 research outputs found
Acid-sensing ion channel 1a drives AMPA receptor plasticity following ischemia and acidosis in hippocampal CA1 neurons
The CA1 region of the hippocampus is particularly vulnerable to ischemic damage. While NMDA receptors play a major role in excitotoxicity, it is thought to be exacerbated in this region by two forms of post-ischemic AMPA receptor (AMPAR) plasticity - namely, anoxic long-term potentiation (a-LTP), and a delayed increase in the prevalence of Ca2+ -permeable GluA2-lacking AMPARs (CP-AMPARs). The acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) which is expressed in CA1 pyramidal neurons, is also known to contribute to post-ischemic neuronal death and to physiologically induced LTP. This raises the question - does ASIC1a activation drive the post-ischemic forms of AMPAR plasticity in CA1 pyramidal neurons? We have tested this by examining organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSCs) exposed to oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD), and dissociated cultures of hippocampal pyramidal neurons (HPN) exposed to low pH (acidosis). We find that both a-LTP and the delayed increase in the prevalence of CP-AMPARs are dependent on ASIC1a activation during ischemia. Indeed, acidosis alone is sufficient to induce the increase in CP-AMPARs. We also find that inhibition of ASIC1a channels circumvents any potential neuroprotective benefit arising from block of CP-AMPARs. By demonstrating that ASIC1a activation contributes to post-ischemic AMPAR plasticity, our results identify a functional interaction between acidotoxicity and excitotoxicity in hippocampal CA1 cells, and provide insight into the role of ASIC1a and CP-AMPARs as potential drug targets for neuroprotection. We thus propose that ASIC1a activation can drive certain forms of CP-AMPAR plasticity, and that inhibiting ASIC1a affords neuroprotection
Intervención educativa en salud bucal en niños y maestros
Fundamento: Las pocas posibilidades de acceso a una adecuada atención estomatológica en determinadas comunidades, unidas a la ausencia de programas preventivos, se asocian al deterioro del estado de salud de la población venezolana, en particular de la infantil. Objetivo: evaluar la efectividad de un programa educativo sobre salud bucal para desarrollar cambios de actitud y hábitos bucales saludables. Métodos: se realizó un estudio de intervención en 80 niños y diez maestros, de una escuela de Río Chico, Estado Miranda, Venezuela, en el periodo enero-septiembre de 2010. Se realizó un diagnóstico enfocado al índice de higiene bucal de los niños, y a las necesidades de aprendizaje de estos y sus maestros. Se elaboró un programa que incluyó como medios de enseñanza juegos didácticos y un software educativo. La información se obtuvo por medio de encuestas y grupos focales. Resultados: se obtuvieron diferencias significativas entre el estado inicial y final de los conocimientos y también con respecto al índice de higiene bucal. Quedó evidenciada la aprobación del programa por parte de los niños, quienes consideraron su importancia con respecto a la salud bucal. Conclusión: la intervención, mediante el programa educativo, logró cambios satisfactorios en los modos de actuar y pensar de los niños, en términos de salud bucal, resultados que avalan su validez
The ALHAMBRA Project: A large area multi medium-band optical and NIR photometric survey
(ABRIDGED) We describe the first results of the ALHAMBRA survey which
provides cosmic tomography of the evolution of the contents of the Universe
over most of Cosmic history. Our approach employs 20 contiguous, equal-width,
medium-band filters covering from 3500 to 9700 A, plus the JHKs bands, to
observe an area of 4 sqdeg on the sky. The optical photometric system has been
designed to maximize the number of objects with accurate classification by SED
and redshift, and to be sensitive to relatively faint emission lines. The
observations are being carried out with the Calar Alto 3.5m telescope using the
cameras LAICA and O-2000. The first data confirm that we are reaching the
expected magnitude limits of AB<~25 mag in the optical filters from the blue to
8300 A, and from AB=24.7 to 23.4 for the redder ones. The limit in the NIR is
(Vega) K_s~20, H~21, J~22. We expect to obtain accurate redshift values, Delta
z/(1+z) <~ 0.03 for about 5x10^5 galaxies with I<~25 (60% complete), and
z_med=0.74. This accuracy, together with the homogeneity of the selection
function, will allow for the study of the redshift evolution of the large scale
structure, the galaxy population and its evolution with redshift, the
identification of clusters of galaxies, and many other studies, without the
need for any further follow-up. It will also provide targets for detailed
studies with 10m-class telescopes. Given its area, spectral coverage and its
depth, apart from those main goals, the ALHAMBRA-Survey will also produce
valuable data for galactic studies.Comment: Accepted to the Astronomical Journal. 43 pages, 18 figures. The
images have been reduced in resolution to adapt to standard file sizes.
Readers can find the full-resolution version of the paper at the ALHAMBRA web
site (http://www.iaa.es/alhambra) under the "Publications" lin
The ALHAMBRA survey: evolution of galaxy spectral segregation
We study the clustering of galaxies as a function of spectral type and
redshift in the range using data from the Advanced Large
Homogeneous Area Medium Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) survey. The data
cover 2.381 deg in 7 fields, after applying a detailed angular selection
mask, with accurate photometric redshifts [] down to
. From this catalog we draw five fixed number density,
redshift-limited bins. We estimate the clustering evolution for two different
spectral populations selected using the ALHAMBRA-based photometric templates:
quiescent and star-forming galaxies. For each sample, we measure the real-space
clustering using the projected correlation function. Our calculations are
performed over the range Mpc, allowing us to find a
steeper trend for Mpc, which is especially clear for
star-forming galaxies. Our analysis also shows a clear early differentiation in
the clustering properties of both populations: star-forming galaxies show
weaker clustering with evolution in the correlation length over the analysed
redshift range, while quiescent galaxies show stronger clustering already at
high redshifts, and no appreciable evolution. We also perform the bias
calculation where similar segregation is found, but now it is among the
quiescent galaxies where a growing evolution with redshift is clearer. These
findings clearly corroborate the well known colour-density relation, confirming
that quiescent galaxies are mainly located in dark matter halos that are more
massive than those typically populated by star-forming galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Ap
The ALHAMBRA photometric system
This paper presents the characterization of the optical range of the ALHAMBRA
photometric system, a 20 contiguous, equal-width, medium-band CCD system with
wavelength coverage from 3500A to 9700A. The photometric description of the
system is done by presenting the full response curve as a product of the
filters, CCD and atmospheric transmission curves, and using some first and
second order moments of this response function. We also introduce the set of
standard stars that defines the system, formed by 31 classic spectrophotometric
standard stars which have been used in the calibration of other known
photometric systems, and 288 stars, flux calibrated homogeneously, from the
Next Generation Spectral Library (NGSL). Based on the NGSL, we determine the
transformation equations between Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) ugriz
photometry and the ALHAMBRA photometric system, in order to establish some
relations between both systems. Finally we develop and discuss a strategy to
calculate the photometric zero points of the different pointings in the
ALHAMBRA project.Comment: Astronomical Journal on the 14th of January 201
Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to . II. Stellar content of quiescent galaxies within the dust-corrected stellar masscolour and the colourcolour diagrams
Our aim is to determine the distribution of stellar population parameters
(extinction, age, metallicity, and star formation rate) of quiescent galaxies
within the rest-frame stellar masscolour and colourcolour diagrams
corrected for extinction up to . These novel diagrams reduce the
contamination in samples of quiescent galaxies owing to dust-reddened galaxies,
and they provide useful constraints on stellar population parameters. We set
constraints on the stellar population parameters of quiescent galaxies
combining the ALHAMBRA multi-filter photo-spectra with our SED-fitting code
MUFFIT, making use of composite stellar population models. The extinction
obtained by MUFFIT allowed us to remove dusty star-forming (DSF) galaxies from
the sample of red galaxies. The distributions of stellar population
parameters across these rest-frame diagrams are revealed after the dust
correction and are fitted by the LOESS method to reduce uncertainty effects.
Quiescent galaxy samples defined via classical diagrams are typically
contaminated by a % fraction of DSF galaxies. A significant part of the
galaxies in the green valley are actually obscured star-forming galaxies
(%). Consequently, the transition of galaxies from the blue cloud to
the red sequence, and hence the related mechanisms for quenching, seems to be
much more efficient and faster than previously reported. The rest-frame stellar
masscolour and colourcolour diagrams are useful for constraining
the age, metallicity, extinction, and star formation rate of quiescent galaxies
by only their redshift, rest-frame colours, and/or stellar mass. Dust
correction plays an important role in understanding how quiescent galaxies are
distributed in these diagrams and is key to performing a pure selection of
quiescent galaxies via intrinsic colours.Comment: (37 pages, 29 figures, accepted for publication in A&A
The ALHAMBRA survey: Accurate merger fractions by PDF analysis of photometric close pairs
Our goal is to develop and test a novel methodology to compute accurate close
pair fractions with photometric redshifts. We improve the current methodologies
to estimate the merger fraction f_m from photometric redshifts by (i) using the
full probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the sources in redshift
space, (ii) including the variation in the luminosity of the sources with z in
both the selection of the samples and in the luminosity ratio constrain, and
(iii) splitting individual PDFs into red and blue spectral templates to deal
robustly with colour selections. We test the performance of our new methodology
with the PDFs provided by the ALHAMBRA photometric survey. The merger fractions
and rates from the ALHAMBRA survey are in excellent agreement with those from
spectroscopic work, both for the general population and for red and blue
galaxies. With the merger rate of bright (M_B <= -20 - 1.1z) galaxies evolving
as (1+z)^n, the power-law index n is larger for blue galaxies (n = 2.7 +- 0.5)
than for red galaxies (n = 1.3 +- 0.4), confirming previous results.
Integrating the merger rate over cosmic time, we find that the average number
of mergers per galaxy since z = 1 is N_m = 0.57 +- 0.05 for red galaxies and
N_m = 0.26 +- 0.02 for blue galaxies. Our new methodology exploits
statistically all the available information provided by photometric redshift
codes and provides accurate measurements of the merger fraction by close pairs
only using photometric redshifts. Current and future photometric surveys will
benefit of this new methodology.Comment: Submitted to A&A, 15 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables. Comments are
welcome. Close pair systems available at
https://cloud.iaa.csic.es/alhambra/catalogues/ClosePairs
The ALHAMBRA Survey: Bayesian Photometric Redshifts with 23 bands for 3 squared degrees
The ALHAMBRA (Advance Large Homogeneous Area Medium Band Redshift
Astronomical) survey has observed 8 different regions of the sky, including
sections of the COSMOS, DEEP2, ELAIS, GOODS-N, SDSS and Groth fields using a
new photometric system with 20 contiguous ~ filters covering the
optical range, combining them with deep imaging. The observations,
carried out with the Calar Alto 3.5m telescope using the wide field (0.25 sq.
deg FOV) optical camera LAICA and the NIR instrument Omega-2000, correspond to
~700hrs on-target science images. The photometric system was designed to
maximize the effective depth of the survey in terms of accurate spectral-type
and photo-zs estimation along with the capability of identification of
relatively faint emission lines. Here we present multicolor photometry and
photo-zs for ~438k galaxies, detected in synthetic F814W images, complete down
to I~24.5 AB, taking into account realistic noise estimates, and correcting by
PSF and aperture effects with the ColorPro software. The photometric ZP have
been calibrated using stellar transformation equations and refined internally,
using a new technique based on the highly robust photometric redshifts measured
for emission line galaxies. We calculate photometric redshifts with the BPZ2
code, which includes new empirically calibrated templates and priors. Our
photo-zs have a precision of for I<22.5 and 1.4% for
22.5<I<24.5. Precisions of less than 0.5% are reached for the brighter
spectroscopic sample, showing the potential of medium-band photometric surveys.
The global shows a mean redshift =0.56 for I=0.86 for
I<24.5 AB. The data presented here covers an effective area of 2.79 sq. deg,
split into 14 strips of 58.5'x15.5' and represents ~32 hrs of on-target.Comment: The catalog data and a full resolution version of this paper is
available at https://cloud.iaa.csic.es/alhambra
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