256 research outputs found
Mechanisms of exercise-induced improvements in the contractile apparatus of the mammalian myocardium
One of the main outcomes of aerobic endurance exercise training is the improved maximal oxygen uptake, and this is pivotal to the improved work capacity that follows the exercise training. Improved maximal oxygen uptake in turn is at least partly achieved because exercise training increases the ability of the myocardium to produce a greater cardiac output. In healthy subjects, this has been demonstrated repeatedly over many decades. It has recently emerged that this scenario may also be true under conditions of an initial myocardial dysfunction. For instance, myocardial improvements may still be observed after exercise training in post-myocardial infarction heart failure. In both health and disease, it is the changes that occur in the individual cardiomyocytes with respect to their ability to contract that by and large drive the exercise training-induced adaptation to the heart. Here, we review the evidence and the mechanisms by which exercise training induces beneficial changes in the mammalian myocardium, as obtained by means of experimental and clinical studies, and argue that these changes ultimately alter the function of the whole heart and contribute to the changes in whole-body function
IPN localizations of Konus short gamma-ray bursts
Between the launch of the \textit{GGS Wind} spacecraft in 1994 November and
the end of 2010, the Konus-\textit{Wind} experiment detected 296 short-duration
gamma-ray bursts (including 23 bursts which can be classified as short bursts
with extended emission). During this period, the IPN consisted of up to eleven
spacecraft, and using triangulation, the localizations of 271 bursts were
obtained. We present the most comprehensive IPN localization data on these
events. The short burst detection rate, 18 per year, exceeds that of many
individual experiments.Comment: Published versio
GRB 080407: An Ultra-long Burst Discovered by the IPN
We present observations of the extremely long GRB 080704 obtained with the instruments of the Interplanetary Network (IPN). The observations reveal two distinct emission episodes, separated by a approx.1500 s long period of quiescence. The total burst duration is about 2100 s. We compare the temporal and spectral characteristics of this burst with those obtained for other ultra-long GRBs and discuss these characteristics in the context of different models
The Cycad Genotoxin MAM Modulates Brain Cellular Pathways Involved in Neurodegenerative Disease and Cancer in a DNA Damage-Linked Manner
Methylazoxymethanol (MAM), the genotoxic metabolite of the cycad azoxyglucoside cycasin, induces genetic alterations in bacteria, yeast, plants, insects and mammalian cells, but adult nerve cells are thought to be unaffected. We show that the brains of adult C57BL6 wild-type mice treated with a single systemic dose of MAM acetate display DNA damage (O6-methyldeoxyguanosine lesions, O6-mG) that remains constant up to 7 days post-treatment. By contrast, MAM-treated mice lacking a functional gene encoding the DNA repair enzyme O6-mG DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) showed elevated O6-mG DNA damage starting at 48 hours post-treatment. The DNA damage was linked to changes in the expression of genes in cell-signaling pathways associated with cancer, human neurodegenerative disease, and neurodevelopmental disorders. These data are consistent with the established developmental neurotoxic and carcinogenic properties of MAM in rodents. They also support the hypothesis that early-life exposure to MAM-glucoside (cycasin) has an etiological association with a declining, prototypical neurodegenerative disease seen in Guam, Japan, and New Guinea populations that formerly used the neurotoxic cycad plant for food or medicine, or both. These findings suggest environmental genotoxins, specifically MAM, target common pathways involved in neurodegeneration and cancer, the outcome depending on whether the cell can divide (cancer) or not (neurodegeneration). Exposure to MAM-related environmental genotoxins may have relevance to the etiology of related tauopathies, notably, Alzheimer's disease
Inverse Compton X-ray Emission from Supernovae with Compact Progenitors: Application to SN2011fe
We present a generalized analytic formalism for the inverse Compton X-ray
emission from hydrogen-poor supernovae and apply this framework to SN2011fe
using Swift-XRT, UVOT and Chandra observations. We characterize the optical
properties of SN2011fe in the Swift bands and find them to be broadly
consistent with a "normal" SN Ia, however, no X-ray source is detected by
either XRT or Chandra. We constrain the progenitor system mass loss rate to be
lower than 2x10^-9 M_sun/yr (3sigma c.l.) for wind velocity v_w=100 km/s. Our
result rules out symbiotic binary progenitors for SN2011fe and argues against
Roche-lobe overflowing subgiants and main sequence secondary stars if >1% of
the transferred mass is lost at the Lagrangian points. Regardless of the
density profile, the X-ray non-detections are suggestive of a clean environment
(particle density < 150 cm-3) for (2x10^15<R<5x10^16) cm around the progenitor
site. This is either consistent with the bulk of material being confined within
the binary system or with a significant delay between mass loss and supernova
explosion. We furthermore combine X-ray and radio limits from Chomiuk et al.
2012 to constrain the post shock energy density in magnetic fields. Finally, we
searched for the shock breakout pulse using gamma-ray observations from the
Interplanetary Network and find no compelling evidence for a
supernova-associated burst. Based on the compact radius of the progenitor star
we estimate that the shock break out pulse was likely not detectable by current
satellites.Comment: Submitted to Ap
Projected sensitivities of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment to new physics via low-energy electron recoils
LUX-ZEPLIN is a dark matter detector expected to obtain world-leading sensitivity to weakly-interacting massive particles interacting via nuclear recoils with a
∼
7
-tonne xenon target mass. This paper presents sensitivity projections to several low-energy signals of the complementary electron recoil signal type: 1) an effective neutrino magnetic moment, and 2) an effective neutrino millicharge, both for
p
p
-chain solar neutrinos, 3) an axion flux generated by the Sun, 4) axionlike particles forming the Galactic dark matter, 5) hidden photons, 6) mirror dark matter, and 7) leptophilic dark matter. World-leading sensitivities are expected in each case, a result of the large 5.6 t 1000 d exposure and low expected rate of electron-recoil backgrounds in the
<
100
keV
energy regime. A consistent signal generation, background model and profile-likelihood analysis framework is used throughout
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