249 research outputs found
Method of Using CCR3 Binding Agents to Detect Choroidal Neovascularization
The results presented herein demonstrate the specific expression of CCR3 in CNV endothelial cells in humans with AMD, and despite the expression of its ligands, eotaxin-1, -2, and -3, neither eosinophils nor mast cells are present in human CNV. The genetic or pharmacological targeting of CCR3 or eotaxins as disclosed herein inhibited injury-induced CNV in mice. CNV suppression by CCR3 blockade was due to direct inhibition of endothelial cell proliferation, and was uncoupled from inflammation as it occurred in mice lacking eosinophils or mast cells and was independent of macrophage and neutrophil recruitment. CCR3 blockade was more effective at reducing CNV than vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) neutralization, which is currently in clinical use, and, unlike VEGF-A blockade, not toxic to the mouse retina. In vivo imaging with CCR3-targeting quantum dots located spontaneous CNV invisible to standard fluorescein angiography in mice before retinal invasion. CCR3 targeting is useful in reducing vision loss due to AMD through early detection and therapeutic angioinhibition
Imaging Data on Characterization of Retinal Autofluorescent Lesions in a Mouse Model of Juvenile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (CLN3 Disease)
Juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL, aka. juvenile Batten disease or CLN3 disease), a lethal pediatric neurodegenerative disease without cure, often presents with vision impairment and characteristic ophthalmoscopic features including focal areas of hyper-autofluorescence. In the associated research article “Loss of CLN3, the gene mutated in juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, leads to metabolic impairment and autophagy induction in retinal pigment epithelium” (Zhong et al., 2020) [1], we reported ophthalmoscopic observations of focal autofluorescent lesions or puncta in the Cln3Δex7/8 mouse retina at as young as 8 month old. In this data article, we performed differential interference contrast and confocal imaging analyses in all retinal layers to localize and characterize these autofluorescent lesions, including their spectral characteristics and morphology. We further studied colocalization of these autofluorescent lesions with the JNCL marker mitochondrial ATP synthase F0 sub-complex subunit C and various established retinal cell type markers
Intrinsic and Rashba Spin-orbit Interactions in Graphene Sheets
Starting from a microscopic tight-binding model and using second order
perturbation theory, we derive explicit expressions for the intrinsic and
Rashba spin-orbit interaction induced gaps in the Dirac-like low-energy band
structure of an isolated graphene sheet. The Rashba interaction parameter is
first order in the atomic carbon spin-orbit coupling strength and first
order in the external electric field perpendicular to the graphene plane,
whereas the intrinsic spin-orbit interaction which survives at E=0 is second
order in . The spin-orbit terms in the low-energy effective Hamiltonian
have the form proposed recently by Kane and Mele. \textit{Ab initio} electronic
structure calculations were performed as a partial check on the validity of the
tight-binding model.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; typos corrected, references update
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog IV. Fifth Data Release
We present the fourth edition of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar
Catalog. The catalog contains 77,429 objects; this is an increase of over
30,000 entries since the previous edition. The catalog consists of the objects
in the SDSS Fifth Data Release that have luminosities larger than M_i = -22.0
(in a cosmology with H_0 = 70 km/s/Mpc, Omega_M = 0.3, and Omega_Lambda = 0.7)
have at least one emission line with FWHM larger than 1000 km/s, or have
interesting/complex absorption features, are fainter than i=15.0, and have
highly reliable redshifts. The area covered by the catalog is 5740 sq. deg. The
quasar redshifts range from 0.08 to 5.41, with a median value of 1.48; the
catalog includes 891 quasars at redshifts greater than four, of which 36 are at
redshifts greater than five. Approximately half of the catalog quasars have i <
19; nearly all have i < 21. For each object the catalog presents positions
accurate to better than 0.2 arcsec. rms per coordinate, five-band (ugriz)
CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03 mag, and information on the
morphology and selection method. The catalog also contains basic radio,
near-infrared, and X-ray emission properties of the quasars, when available,
from other large-area surveys. The calibrated digital spectra cover the
wavelength region 3800--9200A at a spectral resolution of ~2000. The spectra
can be retrieved from the public database using the information provided in the
catalog. The average SDSS colors of quasars as a function of redshift, derived
from the catalog entries, are presented in tabular form. Approximately 96% of
the objects in the catalog were discovered by the SDSS.Comment: 37 pages, Accepted for publication in A
An Initial Survey of White Dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
An initial assessment is made of white dwarf and hot subdwarf stars observed
in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In a small area of sky (190 square degrees),
observed much like the full survey will be, 269 white dwarfs and 56 hot
subdwarfs are identified spectroscopically where only 44 white dwarfs and 5 hot
subdwarfs were known previously. Most are ordinary DA (hydrogen atmosphere) and
DB (helium) types. In addition, in the full survey to date, a number of WDs
have been found with uncommon spectral types. Among these are blue DQ stars
displaying lines of atomic carbon; red DQ stars showing molecular bands of C_2
with a wide variety of strengths; DZ stars where Ca and occasionally Mg, Na,
and/or Fe lines are detected; and magnetic WDs with a wide range of magnetic
field strengths in DA, DB, DQ, and (probably) DZ spectral types. Photometry
alone allows identification of stars hotter than 12000 K, and the density of
these stars for 15<g<20 is found to be ~2.2 deg^{-2} at Galactic latitudes
29-62 deg. Spectra are obtained for roughly half of these hot stars. The
spectra show that, for 15<g<17, 40% of hot stars are WDs and the fraction of
WDs rises to ~90% at g=20. The remainder are hot sdB and sdO stars.Comment: Accepted for AJ; 43 pages, including 12 figures and 5 table
The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This paper describes the Fifth Data Release (DR5) of the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS). DR5 includes all survey quality data taken through June 2005 and
represents the completion of the SDSS-I project (whose successor, SDSS-II will
continue through mid-2008). It includes five-band photometric data for 217
million objects selected over 8000 square degrees, and 1,048,960 spectra of
galaxies, quasars, and stars selected from 5713 square degrees of that imaging
data. These numbers represent a roughly 20% increment over those of the Fourth
Data Release; all the data from previous data releases are included in the
present release. In addition to "standard" SDSS observations, DR5 includes
repeat scans of the southern equatorial stripe, imaging scans across M31 and
the core of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, and the first spectroscopic data
from SEGUE, a survey to explore the kinematics and chemical evolution of the
Galaxy. The catalog database incorporates several new features, including
photometric redshifts of galaxies, tables of matched objects in overlap regions
of the imaging survey, and tools that allow precise computations of survey
geometry for statistical investigations.Comment: ApJ Supp, in press, October 2007. This paper describes DR5. The SDSS
Sixth Data Release (DR6) is now public, available from http://www.sdss.or
The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This paper describes the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS), marking the completion of the original goals of the SDSS and the end of
the phase known as SDSS-II. It includes 11663 deg^2 of imaging data, with most
of the roughly 2000 deg^2 increment over the previous data release lying in
regions of low Galactic latitude. The catalog contains five-band photometry for
357 million distinct objects. The survey also includes repeat photometry over
250 deg^2 along the Celestial Equator in the Southern Galactic Cap. A
coaddition of these data goes roughly two magnitudes fainter than the main
survey. The spectroscopy is now complete over a contiguous area of 7500 deg^2
in the Northern Galactic Cap, closing the gap that was present in previous data
releases. There are over 1.6 million spectra in total, including 930,000
galaxies, 120,000 quasars, and 460,000 stars. The data release includes
improved stellar photometry at low Galactic latitude. The astrometry has all
been recalibrated with the second version of the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog
(UCAC-2), reducing the rms statistical errors at the bright end to 45
milli-arcseconds per coordinate. A systematic error in bright galaxy photometr
is less severe than previously reported for the majority of galaxies. Finally,
we describe a series of improvements to the spectroscopic reductions, including
better flat-fielding and improved wavelength calibration at the blue end,
better processing of objects with extremely strong narrow emission lines, and
an improved determination of stellar metallicities. (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 10 embedded figures. Accepted to ApJS after minor
correction
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) is designed to measure the
scale of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the clustering of matter over a
larger volume than the combined efforts of all previous spectroscopic surveys
of large scale structure. BOSS uses 1.5 million luminous galaxies as faint as
i=19.9 over 10,000 square degrees to measure BAO to redshifts z<0.7.
Observations of neutral hydrogen in the Lyman alpha forest in more than 150,000
quasar spectra (g<22) will constrain BAO over the redshift range 2.15<z<3.5.
Early results from BOSS include the first detection of the large-scale
three-dimensional clustering of the Lyman alpha forest and a strong detection
from the Data Release 9 data set of the BAO in the clustering of massive
galaxies at an effective redshift z = 0.57. We project that BOSS will yield
measurements of the angular diameter distance D_A to an accuracy of 1.0% at
redshifts z=0.3 and z=0.57 and measurements of H(z) to 1.8% and 1.7% at the
same redshifts. Forecasts for Lyman alpha forest constraints predict a
measurement of an overall dilation factor that scales the highly degenerate
D_A(z) and H^{-1}(z) parameters to an accuracy of 1.9% at z~2.5 when the survey
is complete. Here, we provide an overview of the selection of spectroscopic
targets, planning of observations, and analysis of data and data quality of
BOSS.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures, accepted by A
Measures of low food variety and poor dietary quality in a cross-sectional study of London school children.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The use of simple screening tools to measure nutritional adequacy in a public health context in developed countries are currently lacking. We explore the relationship between food variety and nutrient intake of London school children using a simple tool with potential use for screening for inadequate diets. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 2010. The survey included 2579 children aged 7-10 years in 52 primary schools in East London in the United Kingdom. The analysis included 2392 children (93% of the original sample). Food variety was assessed as the total number of listed foods recorded over 24 h using the validated Child and Diet Assessment Tool (CADET) comprising 115 listed foods divided into 16 food categories. Dietary quality was determined by the proportion of children meeting recommended intakes of individual micronutrients, namely, calcium, iron, zinc, folate, vitamin A and vitamin C. RESULTS: The mean number of CADET-listed foods consumed daily by children was 17.1 (95% CI: 16.8, 17.5). Children who consumed fewer than 11 foods on the collection day had particularly low nutrient intakes. Children consuming three different vegetables and two different fruits on average consumed 19-20 listed foods. It was estimated between 4 and 20% of children did not meet the recommended levels for individual micronutrients during the period of data collection. CONCLUSIONS: A simple method using food counts to assess daily food variety may help public health nutritionists identify groups of children at risk of inadequate diets
The 2.5 m Telescope of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We describe the design, construction, and performance of the Sloan Digital
Sky Survey Telescope located at Apache Point Observatory. The telescope is a
modified two-corrector Ritchey-Chretien design which has a 2.5-m, f/2.25
primary, a 1.08-m secondary, a Gascoigne astigmatism corrector, and one of a
pair of interchangeable highly aspheric correctors near the focal focal plane,
one for imaging and the other for spectroscopy. The final focal ratio is f/5.
The telescope is instrumented by a wide-area, multiband CCD camera and a pair
of fiber-fed double spectrographs. Novel features of the telescope include: (1)
A 3 degree diameter (0.65 m) focal plane that has excellent image quality and
small geometrical distortions over a wide wavelength range (3000 to 10,600
Angstroms) in the imaging mode, and good image quality combined with very small
lateral and longitudinal color errors in the spectroscopic mode. The unusual
requirement of very low distortion is set by the demands of
time-delay-and-integrate (TDI) imaging; (2) Very high precision motion to
support open loop TDI observations; and (3) A unique wind baffle/enclosure
construction to maximize image quality and minimize construction costs. The
telescope had first light in May 1998 and began regular survey operations in
2000.Comment: 87 pages, 27 figures. AJ (in press, April 2006
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