1,588 research outputs found
A 4% Geometric Distance to the Galaxy NGC4258 from Orbital Motions in a Nuclear Gas Disk
The water maser in the mildly active nucleus in the nearby galaxy NGC4258
traces a thin, nearly edge-on, subparsec-scale Keplerian disk. Using the
technique of very long baseline interferometry, we have detected the proper
motions of these masers as they sweep in front of the central black hole at an
orbital velocity of about 1100 km/s. The average maser proper motion of 31.5
microarcseconds per year is used in conjunction with the observed acceleration
of the masers to derive a purely geometric distance to the galaxy of 7.2 +- 0.3
Mpc. This is the most precise extragalactic distance measured to date, and,
being independent of all other distance indicators, is likely to play an
important role in calibrating the extragalactic distance scale.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Natur
Perilipin regulates the thermogenic actions of norepinephrine in brown adipose tissue
In response to cold, norepinephrine (NE)-induced triacylglycerol hydrolysis (lipolysis) in adipocytes of brown adipose tissue (BAT) provides fatty acid substrates to mitochondria for heat generation (adaptive thermogenesis). NE-induced lipolysis is mediated by protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent phosphorylation of perilipin, a lipid droplet-associated protein that is the major regulator of lipolysis. We investigated the role of perilipin PKA phosphorylation in BAT NE-stimulated thermogenesis using a novel mouse model in which a mutant form of perilipin, lacking all six PKA phosphorylation sites, is expressed in adipocytes of perilipin knockout (Peri KO) mice. Here, we show that despite a normal mitochondrial respiratory capacity, NE-induced lipolysis is abrogated in the interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) of these mice. This lipolytic constraint is accompanied by a dramatic blunting (∼70%) of the in vivo thermal response to NE. Thus, in the presence of perilipin, PKA-mediated perilipin phosphorylation is essential for NE-dependent lipolysis and full adaptive thermogenesis in BAT. In IBAT of Peri KO mice, increased basal lipolysis attributable to the absence of perilipin is sufficient to support a rapid NE-stimulated temperature increase (∼3.0°C) comparable to that in wild-type mice. This observation suggests that one or more NE-dependent mechanism downstream of perilipin phosphorylation is required to initiate and/or sustain the IBAT thermal response
Water vapour at high redshift: Arecibo monitoring of the megamaser in MG J0414+0534
The study of water masers at cosmological distances would allow us to
investigate the parsec-scale environment around powerful radio sources, to
probe the physical conditions of the molecular gas in the inner parsecs of
quasars, and to estimate their nuclear engine masses in the early universe. To
derive this information, the nature of the maser source, jet or disk-maser,
needs to be assessed through a detailed investigation of the observational
characteristics of the line emission. We monitored the maser line in the lensed
quasar MGJ0414+0534 at z = 2.64 with the 300-m Arecibo telescope for ~15 months
to detect possible additional maser components and to measure a potential
velocity drift of the lines. In addition, we follow the maser and continuum
emissions to reveal significant variations in their flux density and to
determine correlation or time-lag, if any, between them. The main maser line
profile is complex and can be resolved into a number of broad features with
line widths of 30-160 km/s. A new maser component was tentatively detected in
October 2008 that is redshifted by 470 km/s w.r.t the systemic velocity of the
quasar. The line width of the main maser feature increased by a factor of two
between the Effelsberg and EVLA observations reported by Impellizzeri et al.
(2008) and the first epoch of the Arecibo monitoring campaign. After correcting
for the lens magnification, we find that the total H2O isotropic luminosity of
the maser in MGJ0414+0534 is now ~30,000 Lsun, making this source the most
luminous ever discovered.[Abridged]Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Isoform-specific potentiation of stem and progenitor cell engraftment by AML1/RUNX1
Background: AML1/RUNX1 is the most frequently mutated gene in leukaemia and is central to the normal biology of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. However, the role of different AML1 isoforms within these primitive compartments is unclear. Here we investigate whether altering relative expression of AML1 isoforms impacts the balance between cell self-renewal and differentiation in vitro and in vivo. Methods and Findings: The human AML1a isoform encodes a truncated molecule with DNA-binding but no transactivation capacity. We used a retrovirus-based approach to transduce AML1a into primitive haematopoietic cells isolated from the mouse. We observed that enforced AML1a expression increased the competitive engraftment potential of murine long-term reconstituting stem cells with the proportion of AML1a-expressing cells increasing over time in both primary and secondary recipients. Furthermore, AML1a expression dramatically increased primitive and committed progenitor activity in engrafted animals as assessed by long-term culture, cobblestone formation, and colony assays. In contrast, expression of the full-length isoform AML1b abrogated engraftment potential. In vitro, AML1b promoted differentiation while AML1a promoted proliferation of progenitors capable of short-term lymphomyeloid engraftment. Consistent with these findings, the relative abundance of AML1a was highest in the primitive stem/progenitor compartment of human cord blood, and forced expression of AML1a in these cells enhanced maintenance of primitive potential both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that the "a" isoform of AML1 has the capacity to potentiate stem and progenitor cell engraftment, both of which are required for successful clinical transplantation. This activity is consistent with its expression pattern in both normal and leukaemic cells. Manipulating the balance of AML1 isoform expression may offer novel therapeutic strategies, exploitable in the contexts of leukaemia and also in cord blood transplantation in adults, in whom stem and progenitor cell numbers are often limiting. © 2007 Tsuzuki et al
Self-gravitating warped discs around supermassive black holes
We consider warped equilibrium configurations for stellar and gaseous disks
in the Keplerian force-field of a supermassive black hole, assuming that the
self-gravity of the disk provides the only acting torques. Modeling the disk as
a collection of concentric circular rings, and computing the torques in the
non-linear regime, we show that stable, strongly warped precessing equilibria
are possible. These solutions exist for a wide range of disk-to-black hole mass
ratios , can span large warp angles of up to ,
have inner and outer boundaries, and extend over a radial range of a factor of
typically two to four. These equilibrium configurations obey a scaling relation
such that in good approximation \phidot/\Omega\propto M_d/M_{bh} where
\phidot is the (retrograde) precession frequency and is a
characteristic orbital frequency in the disk. Stability was determined using
linear perturbation theory and, in a few cases, confirmed by numerical
integration of the equations of motion. Most of the precessing equilibria are
found to be stable, but some are unstable. The main result of this study is
that highly warped disks near black holes can persist for long times without
any persistent forcing other than by their self-gravity. The possible relevance
of this to galactic nuclei is briefly discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 21 figures, published in MNRA
The spin polarization of CrO2 revisited
Here, we use Andreev reflection spectroscopy to study the spin polarization of high quality CrO2 films. We study the spin polarization as a function of growth temperature, resulting in grain size and electrical resistivity. In these films low temperature growth appears to be a necessary but not sufficient condition to guarantee the observation of high spin polarization, and this is only observed in conjunction with suppressed superconducting gap values and anomalously low interface properties. We suggest that this combination of observations is a manifestation of the long range spin triplet proximity effect. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics
Photo-production of neutral kaons on 12C in the threshold region
Kaon photo-production process on C has been studied by measuring
neutral kaons in a photon energy range of 0.81.1 GeV. Neutral kaons were
identified by the invariant mass constructed from two charged pions emitted in
the decay channel. The differential cross sections
as well as the integrated ones in the threshold photon energy region were
obtained. The obtained momentum spectra were compared with a Spectator model
calculation using elementary amplitudes of kaon photo-production given by
recent isobar models. Present result provides, for the first time, the
information on reaction which is expected to play an
important role to construct models for strangeness production by the
electromagnetic interaction. Experimental results show that cross section of
is of the same order to that of and suggest that slightly backward angular distribution
is favored in the process.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure
Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy of O and N Hypernuclei via the O reaction
he bound-state level structures of the O and
N hypernuclei were studied by -ray spectroscopy using
a germanium detector array (Hyperball) via the O ()
reaction. A level scheme for O was determined from the
observation of three -ray transitions from the doublet of states
(,) at MeV to the ground-state doublet (,). The
N hypernuclei were produced via proton emission from unbound
states in O . Three -rays were observed and the
lifetime of the state in N was measured by the
Doppler shift attenuation method. By comparing the experimental results with
shell-model calculations, the spin-dependence of the interaction is
discussed. In particular, the measured O ground-state doublet
spacing of 26.4 1.6 0.5 keV determines a small but nonzero strength
of the tensor interaction.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figure
Superconducting gap structure and pinning in disordered MgB2 films
We have performed a comparative study of two thin films of magnesium diboride
(MgB2) grown by different techniques. The critical current density at different
temperatures and magnetic fields was evaluated from magnetisation curves, the
structure of superconducting order parameter was obtained from point-contact
spectroscopy, and the scattering rates were evaluated by fitting the
temperature dependent normal-state resistivity to the two-band model. The films
have similar critical temperatures close to 39 K, but the upper critical fields
were different by a factor of 2 (5.2T and 2.5 T at 20 K). We have found that
the film with higher Hc2 also had stronger scattering in the sigma band and
smaller value of the superconducting gap in this band. As the scattering in
sigma band is primarily due to the defects in boron plane, our results are
consistent with the assumption that disordering the boron planes leads to
enhanced Hc2 and better pinning properties in magnetic field.Comment: Paper presented at EUCAS'0
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