575 research outputs found
Positive interplay between FFAR4/GPR120, DPP-IV inhibition and GLP-1 in beta cell proliferation and glucose homeostasis in obese high fat fed mice
G-protein coupled receptor-120 (GPR120; FFAR4) is a free fatty acid receptor, widely researched for its glucoregulatory and insulin release activities. This study aimed to investigate the metabolic advantage of FFAR4/GPR120activation using combination therapy. C57BL/6 mice, fed a High Fat Diet (HFD) for 120 days to induce obesity-diabetes, were subsequently treated with a single daily oral dose of FFAR4/GPR120 agonist Compound A (CpdA) (0.1μmol/kg) alone or in combination with sitagliptin (50mg/kg) for 21 days. After 21-days, glucose homeostasis, islet morphology, plasma hormones and lipids, tissue genes (qPCR) and protein expression (immunocytochemistry) were assessed. Oral administration of CpdA improved glucose tolerance (34%
Mapping for Conceptual Clarity: Exploring Implementation of Integrated Community-Based Primary Health Care from a Whole Systems Perspective.
Published source must be acknowledged with citationIntroduction: Studying implementation of integrated models of community-based primary health care requires a "whole systems" multidisciplinary approach to capture micro, meso and macro factors. However, there is, as yet, no clear operationalization of a "whole systems" approach to guide multidisciplinary research programs. Theoretical frameworks and approaches from diverse academic traditions specify different aspects of the health system in more depth. Enabling analysis across the system, when data and ideas are captured using different taxonomies, requires that we map terms and constructs across the models. Theory and methods: This paper uses concept mapping techniques to compare and contrast the theoretical frameworks and approaches used in the iCOACH project including: Ham's Ten Characteristics of the High-Performing Chronic Care System (capturing patient/carer and provider perspectives), the Organizational Context and Capabilities for Integrating Care framework (capturing the organizational perspective), and the Health Policy Monitor framework (capturing the policy system perspective). The aim of the paper is to link concepts across different theoretical framework to guide the iCOACH study. Results: A concept map was developed that identifies 8 overarching concepts across the heuristic models. A preliminary analysis of one of these overarching concepts, care coordination, demonstrates how different perspectives will assign different meanings, values, and drivers of seemingly similar ideas. For patients and carers care coordination is about having a responsive team of health care providers. Building relationships in teams that exist within and across different organizations is essential for providers to achieve care coordination, where managers and policy makers see care coordination as being more about creating linkages and addressing systems gaps. Discussion and conclusion: This work represents a first step towards development of a fully formed conceptual framework that includes key domains, concepts, and mechanisms of implementing integrated community-based primary health care.Published onlin
Homologous Helical Jets: Observations by IRIS, SDO and Hinode and Magnetic Modeling with Data-Driven Simulations
We report on observations of recurrent jets by instruments onboard the
Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
and Hinode spacecrafts. Over a 4-hour period on July 21st 2013, recurrent
coronal jets were observed to emanate from NOAA Active Region 11793. FUV
spectra probing plasma at transition region temperatures show evidence of
oppositely directed flows with components reaching Doppler velocities of +/-
100 km/s. Raster Doppler maps using a Si IV transition region line show all
four jets to have helical motion of the same sense. Simultaneous observations
of the region by SDO and Hinode show that the jets emanate from a source region
comprising a pore embedded in the interior of a supergranule. The parasitic
pore has opposite polarity flux compared to the surrounding network field. This
leads to a spine-fan magnetic topology in the coronal field that is amenable to
jet formation. Time-dependent data-driven simulations are used to investigate
the underlying drivers for the jets. These numerical experiments show that the
emergence of current-carrying magnetic field in the vicinity of the pore
supplies the magnetic twist needed for recurrent helical jet formation.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Ap
An Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph first view on Solar Spicules
Solar spicules have eluded modelers and observers for decades. Since the
discovery of the more energetic type II, spicules have become a heated topic
but their contribution to the energy balance of the low solar atmosphere
remains unknown. Here we give a first glimpse of what quiet Sun spicules look
like when observed with NASA's recently launched Interface Region Imaging
Spectrograph (IRIS). Using IRIS spectra and filtergrams that sample the
chromosphere and transition region we compare the properties and evolution of
spicules as observed in a coordinated campaign with Hinode and the Atmospheric
Imaging Assembly. Our IRIS observations allow us to follow the thermal
evolution of type II spicules and finally confirm that the fading of Ca II H
spicules appears to be caused by rapid heating to higher temperatures. The IRIS
spicules do not fade but continue evolving, reaching higher and falling back
down after 500-800 s. Ca II H type II spicules are thus the initial stages of
violent and hotter events that mostly remain invisible in Ca II H filtergrams.
These events have very different properties from type I spicules, which show
lower velocities and no fading from chromospheric passbands. The IRIS spectra
of spicules show the same signature as their proposed disk counterparts,
reinforcing earlier work. Spectroheliograms from spectral rasters also confirm
that quiet Sun spicules originate in bushes from the magnetic network. Our
results suggest that type II spicules are indeed the site of vigorous heating
(to at least transition region temperatures) along extensive parts of the
upward moving spicular plasma.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. For
associated movies, see http://folk.uio.no/tiago/iris_spic
Detection of supersonic downflows and associated heating events in the transition region above sunspots
IRIS data allow us to study the solar transition region (TR) with an
unprecedented spatial resolution of 0.33 arcsec. On 2013 August 30, we observed
bursts of high Doppler shifts suggesting strong supersonic downflows of up to
200 km/s and weaker, slightly slower upflows in the spectral lines Mg II h and
k, C II 1336 \AA, Si IV 1394 \AA, and 1403 \AA, that are correlated with
brightenings in the slitjaw images (SJIs). The bursty behavior lasts throughout
the 2 hr observation, with average burst durations of about 20 s. The locations
of these short-lived events appear to be the umbral and penumbral footpoints of
EUV loops. Fast apparent downflows are observed along these loops in the SJIs
and in AIA, suggesting that the loops are thermally unstable. We interpret the
observations as cool material falling from coronal heights, and especially
coronal rain produced along the thermally unstable loops, which leads to an
increase of intensity at the loop footpoints, probably indicating an increase
of density and temperature in the TR. The rain speeds are on the higher end of
previously reported speeds for this phenomenon, and possibly higher than the
free-fall velocity along the loops. On other observing days, similar bright
dots are sometimes aligned into ribbons, resembling small flare ribbons. These
observations provide a first insight into small-scale heating events in
sunspots in the TR.Comment: accepted by ApJ
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