228 research outputs found
Requirement for sphingosine kinase 1 in mediating phase 1 of the hypotensive response to anandamide in the anaesthetised mouse
In the isolated rat carotid artery, the endocannabinoid anandamide induces endothelium-dependent relaxation via activation of the enzyme sphingosine kinase (SK). This generates sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) which can be released from the cell and activates S1P receptors on the endothelium. In anaesthetised mice, anandamide has a well-characterised triphasic effect on blood pressure but the contribution of SK and S1P receptors in mediating changes in blood pressure has never been studied. Therefore, we assessed this in the current study.
The peak hypotensive response to 1 and 10 mg/kg anandamide was measured in control C57BL/6 mice and in mice pretreated with selective inhibitors of SK1 (BML-258, also known as SK1-I) or SK2 ((R)-FTY720 methylether (ROMe), a dual SK1/2 inhibitor (SKi) or an S1P1 receptor antagonist (W146). Vasodilator responses to S1P were also studied in isolated mouse aortic rings.
The hypotensive response to anandamide was significantly attenuated by BML-258 but not by ROMe. Antagonising S1P1 receptors with W146 completely blocked the fall in systolic but not diastolic blood pressure in response to anandamide. S1P induced vasodilation in denuded aortic rings was blocked by W146 but caused no vasodilation in endothelium-intact rings.
This study provides evidence that the SK1/S1P regulatory-axis is necessary for the rapid hypotension induced by anandamide. Generation of S1P in response to anandamide likely activates S1P1 to reduce total peripheral resistance and lower mean arterial pressure. These findings have important implications in our understanding of the hypotensive and cardiovascular actions of cannabinoids
Effectiveness of bridge V.A.C. dressings in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers
Objectives: This is a prospective study of the clinical efficacy of the V.A.C. Granufoam Bridge Dressing for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. Materials and methods: Five consecutive patients with diabetic foot ulcers were treated with V.A.C. Granufoam Bridge Dressings and studied over a period of 22–48 days. The indications for treatment included diabetic patients with open ray amputation wounds and wounds post-drainage for abscess with exposed deep structures. Clinical outcome was measured in terms of reduction in wound dimensions, presence of wound granulation, microbial clearance, and development of wound complications. Results: Our results showed that with V.A.C. therapy, wound healing occurred in all patients. The number of dressings required ranged from 8 to 10. The baseline average wound size was 23.1 cm2. Wound areas shrunk by 18.4–41.7%. All subjects achieved 100% wound bed granulation with an average length of treatment of 33 days. Microbial clearance was achieved in all cases. All wounds healed by secondary intention in one case and four cases required split-thickness skin grafting. Conclusion: The V.A.C. Granufoam Bridge Dressing is effective in the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. It promotes reduction of wound area, wound bed granulation, and microbial clearance. By allowing placement of the suction pad outside the foot, it allowed patients to wear protective shoes and to walk non-weight bearing with crutches during V.A.C. therapy
Mode identification of Pulsating White Dwarfs using the HST
We have obtained time-resolved ultraviolet spectroscopy for the pulsating DAV
stars G226-29 and G185-32, and for the pulsating DBV star PG1351+489 with the
Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph, to compare the ultraviolet to
the optical pulsation amplitude and determine the pulsation indices. We find
that for essentially all observed pulsation modes, the amplitude rises to the
ultraviolet as the theoretical models predict for l=1 non-radial g-modes. We do
not find any pulsation mode visible only in the ultraviolet, nor any modes
whose phase flips by 180 degrees; in the ultraviolet, as would be expected if
high l pulsations were excited. We find one periodicity in the light curve of
G185-32, at 141 s, which does not fit theoretical models for the change of
amplitude with wavelength of g-mode pulsations.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, Aug 200
Two New Tidally Distorted White Dwarfs
We identify two new tidally distorted white dwarfs (WDs), SDSS
J174140.49+652638.7 and J211921.96-001825.8 (hereafter J1741 and J2119). Both
stars are extremely low mass (ELM, < 0.2 Msun) WDs in short-period, detached
binary systems. High-speed photometric observations obtained at the McDonald
Observatory reveal ellipsoidal variations and Doppler beaming in both systems;
J1741, with a minimum companion mass of 1.1 Msun, has one of the strongest
Doppler beaming signals ever observed in a binary system (0.59 \pm 0.06%
amplitude). We use the observed ellipsoidal variations to constrain the radius
of each WD. For J1741, the star's radius must exceed 0.074 Rsun. For J2119, the
radius exceeds 0.10 Rsun. These indirect radius measurements are comparable to
the radius measurements for the bloated WD companions to A-stars found by the
Kepler spacecraft, and they constitute some of the largest radii inferred for
any WD. Surprisingly, J1741 also appears to show a 0.23 \pm 0.06% reflection
effect, and we discuss possible sources for this excess heating. Both J1741 and
J2119 are strong gravitational wave sources, and the time-of-minimum of the
ellipsoidal variations can be used to detect the orbital period decay. This may
be possible on a timescale of a decade or less.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Time-resolved optical spectroscopy of the pulsating DA white dwarf HS 0507+0434B: New constraints on mode identification and pulsation properties
We present a detailed analysis of time-resolved optical spectra of the ZZ
Ceti white dwarf, HS 0507+0434B. Using the wavelength dependence of observed
mode amplitudes, we deduce the spherical degree, l, of the modes, most of which
have l=1. The presence of a large number of combination frequencies (linear
sums or differences of the real modes) enabled us not only to test theoretical
predictions but also to indirectly infer spherical and azimuthal degrees of
real modes that had no observed splittings. In addition to the above, we
measure line-of-sight velocities from our spectra. We find only marginal
evidence for periodic modulation associated with the pulsation modes: at the
frequency of the strongest mode in the lightcurve, we measure an amplitude of
2.6+/-1.0 km/s, which has a probability of 2% of being due to chance; for the
other modes, we find lower values. Our velocity amplitudes and upper limits are
smaller by a factor of two compared to the amplitudes found in ZZ Psc. We find
that this is consistent with expectations based on the position of HS
0507+0434B in the instability strip. Combining all the available information
from data such as ours is a first step towards constraining atmospheric
properties in a convectionally unstable environment from an observational
perspective.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figs.; accepted for publication in A&
New results on GP Com
We present high resolution optical and UV spectra of the 46 min orbital
period, helium binary, GP Com. Our data contains simultaneous photometric
correction which confirms the flaring behaviour observed in previous optical
and UV data. In this system all lines show a triple peaked structure where the
outer two peaks are associated with the accretion disc around the compact
object. The main aim of this paper is to constrain the origin of the central
peak, also called ``central spike''. We find that the central spike contributes
to the flare spectra indicating that its origin is probably the compact object.
We also detect that the central spike moves with orbital phase following an
S-wave pattern. The radial velocity semiamplitude of the S-wave is ~10 km/s
indicating that its origin is near the centre of mass of the system, which in
this case lies very close to the white dwarf. Our resolution is higher than
that of previous data which allows us to resolve structure in the central peak
of the line. The central spike in three of the HeI lines shows another peak
blueshifted with respect to the main peak. We propose that one of the peaks is
a neutral helium forbidden transition excited in a high electron density
region. This forbidden transition is associated with the permitted one (the
stronger peak in two of the lines). The presence of a high electron density
region again favours the white dwarf as their origin.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
The unusual pulsation spectrum of the cool ZZ Ceti star HS 0507+0434B
We present the analysis of one week of single-site high-speed CCD photometric
observations of the cool ZZ Ceti star HS 0507+0434B. Ten independent
frequencies are detected in the star's light variations: one singlet and three
nearly-equally spaced triplets. We argue that these triplets are due to
rotationally split modes of spherical degree l=1. This is the first detection
of consistent multiplet structure in the amplitude spectrum of a cool ZZ Ceti
star and it allows us to determine the star's rotation period: 1.70 +/- 0.11 d.
We report exactly equal frequency, not period, spacings between the detected
mode groups. In addition, certain pairs of modes from the four principal groups
have frequency ratios which are very close to 3:4 or 4:5; while these ratios
are nearly exact (within one part in 10^4), they still lie outside the computed
error bars. We speculate that these relationships between different frequencies
could be caused by resonances. One of the three triplets may not be constant in
amplitude and/or frequency.
We compare our frequency solution for the combination frequencies (of which
we detected 38) to Wu's (1998, 2001) model thereof. We obtain consistent
results when trying to infer the star's convective thermal time and the
inclination angle of its rotational axis. Theoretical combination-frequency
amplitude spectra also resemble those of the observations well, and direct
theoretical predictions of the observed second-order light-curve distortions
were also reasonably successful assuming the three triplets are due to l=1
modes. Attempts to reproduce the observed combination frequencies adopting all
possible l=2 identifications for the triplets did not provide similarly
consistent results, supporting their identification with l=1.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 12 pages, 8 figure
Asteroseismological constraints on the pulsating planetary nebula nucleus (PG1159-type) RX J2117.1+3412
We present asteroseismological inferences on RX J2117.1+3412, the hottest
known pulsating PG1159 star. Our results are based on full PG1159 evolutionary
models recently presented by Miller Bertolami & Althaus (2006). We performed
extensive computations of adiabatic g-mode pulsation periods on PG1159
evolutionary models with stellar masses ranging from 0.530 to 0.741 Mo. PG1159
stellar models are extracted from the complete evolution of progenitor stars
started from the ZAMS, through the thermally pulsing AGB and born-again phases
to the domain of the PG 1159 stars. We constrained the stellar mass of RX
J2117.1+3412 by comparing the observed period spacing with the asymptotic
period spacing and with the average of the computed period spacings. We also
employed the individual observed periods to find a representative seismological
model. We derive a stellar mass of 0.56-0.57 Mo from the period spacing data
alone. In addition, we found a best-fit model representative for RX
J2117.1+3412 with an effective temperature of 163,400 K, a stellar mass of
0.565 Mo, and a surface gravity log g= 6.61. The derived stellar luminosity and
radius are log(L/Lo)= 3.36 and log(R/Ro)= -1.23, respectively, and the He-rich
envelope thickness is Menv= 0.02 Mo. We derive a seismic distance of 452 pc and
a linear size of the planetary nebula of 1.72 pc. These inferences seem to
solve the discrepancy between the RX J2117.1+3412 evolutionary timescale and
the size of the nebula. All of the seismological tools we use concur to the
conclusion that RX J2117.1+3412 must have a stellar mass of 0.565 Mo much in
agreement with recent asteroseismology studies and in clear conflict with the
predictions of spectroscopy plus evolutionary tracks.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy
and Astrophysics. Erratum available as a separate fil
Probing the internal rotation of pre-white dwarf stars with asteroseismology: the case of PG 122+200
We put asteroseismological constraints on the internal rotation profile of
the GW Vir (PG1159-type) star PG 0122+200. To this end we employ a
state-of-the-art asteroseismological model for this star and we assess the
expected frequency splittings induced by rotation adopting a forward approach
in which we compare the theoretical frequency separations with the observed
ones assuming different types of plausible internal rotation profiles. We also
employ two asteroseismological inversion methods for the inversion of the
rotation profile of PG 0122+200. We find evidence for differential rotation in
this star. We demonstrate that the frequency splittings of the rotational
multiplets exhibited by PG 0122+200 are compatible with a rotation profile in
which the central regions are spinning about 2.4 times faster than the stellar
surface.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. To be published in MNRA
A new look at the pulsating DB white dwarf GD 358:Line-of-sight velocity measurements and constraints on model atmospheres
We report on our findings of the bright, pulsating, helium atmosphere white
dwarf GD 358, based on time-resolved optical spectrophotometry. We identify 5
real pulsation modes and at least 6 combination modes at frequencies consistent
with those found in previous observations. The measured Doppler shifts from our
spectra show variations with amplitudes of up to 5.5 km/s at the frequencies
inferred from the flux variations. We conclude that these are variations in the
line-of-sight velocities associated with the pulsational motion. We use the
observed flux and velocity amplitudes and phases to test theoretical
predictions within the convective driving framework, and compare these with
similar observations of the hydrogen atmosphere white dwarf pulsators (DAVs).
The wavelength dependence of the fractional pulsation amplitudes (chromatic
amplitudes) allows us to conclude that all five real modes share the same
spherical degree, most likely, l=1. This is consistent with previous
identifications based solely on photometry. We find that a high signal-to-noise
mean spectrum on its own is not enough to determine the atmospheric parameters
and that there are small but significant discrepancies between the observations
and model atmospheres. The source of these remains to be identified. While we
infer T_eff=24kK and log g~8.0 from the mean spectrum, the chromatic
amplitudes, which are a measure of the derivative of the flux with respect to
the temperature, unambiguously favour a higher effective temperature, 27kK,
which is more in line with independent determinations from ultra-violet
spectra.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures; accepted for publication in A&
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