34 research outputs found
Treatment of T Lymphocytes with 8-Methoxypsoralen Plus Ultraviolet A Induces Transient but Biologically Active Th1-Skewing Cytokine Production
8-Methoxypsoralen plus ultraviolet A light is suggested to shift T lymphocytes from Th2 to Th1 cells. To clarify this issue, we examined the effects of 8-methoxypsoralen/ultraviolet A on the expression/production of cytokines in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal subjects and a Sézary syndrome patient. 8-Methoxypsoralen/ultraviolet A augmented the expression of mRNAs for interferon-γ and interleukin-2 and reduced those for interleukin-4 and interleukin-10. It seems that this enhancement of Th1 cytokines is caused by increment of cytokine production by Th1 cells but not by conversion of Th2 cells to produce Th1 cytokines. The number of interferon-γ-secreting lymphocytes was markedly increased in 8-methoxypsoralen/ultraviolet A-treated peripheral blood mononuclear cells 20 h after treatment, whereas that of Th2 cytokine-producing cells was decreased. Accordingly, the amount of interferon-γ was elevated in culture supernatants from 8-methoxypsoralen-phototreated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, whereas interleukin-4 was significantly reduced. This enhanced production of interferon-γ, however, was found only until 3 d after 8-methoxypsoralen phototreatment and was declined by 5 d after treatment. Finally, 8-methoxypsoralen/ultraviolet A treatment of T cells regulated their ability to induce keratinocyte CD54 expression. Our results show that 8-methoxypsoralen/ultraviolet A has a transient but biologically active Th1-skewing action in human T cells, suggesting that 8-methoxypsoralen/ultraviolet A exerts a beneficial therapeutic effect on Th2-mediated or Th2-malignant diseases
Large Population of ALMA Galaxies at z>6 with Very High [OIII]88um to [CII]158um Flux Ratios: Evidence of Extremely High Ionization Parameter or PDR Deficit?
We present our new ALMA observations targeting [OIII]88um, [CII]158um,
[NII]122um, and dust continuum emission for three Lyman break galaxies at
z=6.0293-6.2037 identified in the Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam survey. We clearly
detect [OIII] and [CII] lines from all of the galaxies at 4.3-11.8sigma levels,
and identify multi-band dust continuum emission in two of the three galaxies,
allowing us to estimate infrared luminosities and dust temperatures
simultaneously. In conjunction with previous ALMA observations for six galaxies
at z>6, we confirm that all the nine z=6-9 galaxies have high [OIII]/[CII]
ratios of L[OIII]/L[CII]~3-20, ~10 times higher than z~0 galaxies. We also find
a positive correlation between the [OIII]/[CII] ratio and the Lya equivalent
width (EW) at the ~90% confidence level. We carefully investigate physical
origins of the high [OIII]/[CII] ratios at z=6-9 using Cloudy, and find that
high density of the interstellar medium, low C/O abundance ratio, and the
cosmic microwave background attenuation are responsible to only a part of the
z=6-9 galaxies. Instead, the observed high [OIII]/[CII] ratios are explained by
10-100 times higher ionization parameters or low photodissociation region (PDR)
covering fractions of 0-10%, both of which are consistent with our [NII]
observations. The latter scenario can be reproduced with a density bounded
nebula with PDR deficit, which would enhance the Lya, Lyman continuum, and C+
ionizing photons escape from galaxies, consistent with the [OIII]/[CII]-Lya EW
correlation we find.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
Coincidence analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries using TAMA300 and LISM data
Japanese laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors, TAMA300 and
LISM, performed a coincident observation during 2001. We perform a coincidence
analysis to search for inspiraling compact binaries. The length of data used
for the coincidence analysis is 275 hours when both TAMA300 and LISM detectors
are operated simultaneously. TAMA300 and LISM data are analyzed by matched
filtering, and candidates for gravitational wave events are obtained. If there
is a true gravitational wave signal, it should appear in both data of detectors
with consistent waveforms characterized by masses of stars, amplitude of the
signal, the coalescence time and so on. We introduce a set of coincidence
conditions of the parameters, and search for coincident events. This procedure
reduces the number of fake events considerably, by a factor
compared with the number of fake events in single detector analysis. We find
that the number of events after imposing the coincidence conditions is
consistent with the number of accidental coincidences produced purely by noise.
We thus find no evidence of gravitational wave signals. We obtain an upper
limit of 0.046 /hours (CL ) to the Galactic event rate within 1kpc from
the Earth. The method used in this paper can be applied straightforwardly to
the case of coincidence observations with more than two detectors with
arbitrary arm directions.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, Replaced with the version to be published in
Physical Review
Results of the search for inspiraling compact star binaries from TAMA300's observation in 2000-2004
We analyze the data of TAMA300 detector to search for gravitational waves
from inspiraling compact star binaries with masses of the component stars in
the range 1-3Msolar. In this analysis, 2705 hours of data, taken during the
years 2000-2004, are used for the event search. We combine the results of
different observation runs, and obtained a single upper limit on the rate of
the coalescence of compact binaries in our Galaxy of 20 per year at a 90%
confidence level. In this upper limit, the effect of various systematic errors
such like the uncertainty of the background estimation and the calibration of
the detector's sensitivity are included.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses revtex4.sty The author list was
correcte
The Japanese space gravitational wave antenna; DECIGO
DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (DECIGO) is the future
Japanese space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to open a new window of
observation for gravitational wave astronomy especially between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz, revealing
various mysteries of the universe such as dark energy, formation mechanism of supermassive
black holes, and inflation of the universe. The pre-conceptual design of DECIGO consists of
three drag-free spacecraft, whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry–
Perot Michelson interferometer. We plan to launch two missions, DECIGO pathfinder and pre-
DECIGO first and finally DECIGO in 2024
DECIGO pathfinder
DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is a milestone satellite mission for DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) which is a future space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to provide us fruitful insights into the universe, in particular about dark energy, a formation mechanism of supermassive black holes, and the inflation of the universe. Since DECIGO will be an extremely large mission which will formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000m separation, it is significant to gain the technical feasibility of DECIGO before its planned launch in 2024. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions: DPF and pre-DECIGO. The conceptual design and current status of the first milestone mission, DPF, are reviewed in this article
Observation results by the TAMA300 detector on gravitational wave bursts from stellar-core collapses
We present data-analysis schemes and results of observations with the TAMA300
gravitational-wave detector, targeting burst signals from stellar-core collapse
events. In analyses for burst gravitational waves, the detection and
fake-reduction schemes are different from well-investigated ones for a
chirp-wave analysis, because precise waveform templates are not available. We
used an excess-power filter for the extraction of gravitational-wave
candidates, and developed two methods for the reduction of fake events caused
by non-stationary noises of the detector. These analysis schemes were applied
to real data from the TAMA300 interferometric gravitational wave detector. As a
result, fake events were reduced by a factor of about 1000 in the best cases.
The resultant event candidates were interpreted from an astronomical viewpoint.
We set an upper limit of 2.2x10^3 events/sec on the burst gravitational-wave
event rate in our Galaxy with a confidence level of 90%. This work sets a
milestone and prospects on the search for burst gravitational waves, by
establishing an analysis scheme for the observation data from an
interferometric gravitational wave detector
The status of DECIGO
DECIGO (DECi-hertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) is the planned Japanese space gravitational wave antenna, aiming to detect gravitational waves from astrophysically and cosmologically significant sources mainly between 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz and thus to open a new window for gravitational wave astronomy and for the universe. DECIGO will consists of three drag-free spacecraft arranged in an equilateral triangle with 1000 km arm lengths whose relative displacements are measured by a differential Fabry-Perot interferometer, and four units of triangular Fabry-Perot interferometers are arranged on heliocentric orbit around the sun. DECIGO is vary ambitious mission, we plan to launch DECIGO in era of 2030s after precursor satellite mission, B-DECIGO. B-DECIGO is essentially smaller version of DECIGO: B-DECIGO consists of three spacecraft arranged in an triangle with 100 km arm lengths orbiting 2000 km above the surface of the earth. It is hoped that the launch date will be late 2020s for the present
SPECTROSCOPIC STUDIES OF ATOMS IN LIQUID HELIUM-4 AND HELIUM-3
Author Institution: Department of Physics, Toyama University; Department of Molecular Structure, Institute for Molecular ScienceIn the past decade, spectroscopic studies on foreign atoms and ions in liquid helium have greatly been developed. This is mainly because of the interest in static and dynamical behaviors of the foreign particles, but those studies can also give us useful information on the physical property of quantum liquid. We have observed emission and absorption spectra of the transitions of alkali earth atoms ( and 6 for Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba, respectively) in liquid and . We have found that the spectral widths and peak shifts are much smaller for liquid than for liquid . Our calculation based on a vibrating bubble model has shown that bubbles formed around impurity particles are larger (softer cavities) in liquid than those in liquid , reflecting the isotope effect and quantum statistics of each liquid. This fact can explain the smaller spectral widths and peak shifts for liquid