629 research outputs found
Modulation of hippocampal acetylcholine release - a potent central action of interleukin-2
The potential of the T-cell growth factor interleukin-2 (IL-2) to modulate the release of ACh from rat hippocampus was studied in vitro, as a means to investigate the possible functional significance of this cytokine in the CNS. Hippocampal slices were superfused with Krebs' buffer medium, and endogenous ACh released into the superfusate was measured using a radioenzymatic assay. Recombinant human IL-2 present during a stimulation with 25 mM KCl altered, in a concentration-dependent manner, the evoked transmitter release. At a concentration of 15 U/ml (< or = 1 nM), IL-2 inhibited ACh release by more than 50% of the control level (evoked ACh release from the untreated contralateral hemispheres). Inhibition was observed within 20 min of tissue exposure to IL-2 and lasted for up to 1 hr. The inhibitory effect of IL-2 was reversible since transient tissue exposure to IL-2 did not affect subsequent evoked ACh release. IL-2 at this concentration also significantly decreased evoked ACh in frontal cortical slices, but was ineffective in the parietal cortex and striatum, revealing that IL-2 selectively modulates the release of ACh from certain, but not all, cholinergic nerve terminals in the CNS. At very low concentrations (1.5 mU/ml, < or = 0.1 pM), IL-2 transiently increased hippocampal evoked ACh release, resulting in a biphasic dose-response profile with no significant effect observed at 0.015 mU/ml (< or = 1 fM). Other cytokines (IL-1 alpha, IL-3, IL-5, IL-6, interferon alpha), tested in hippocampal slice incubations, failed to modulate ACh release
Abell 43: Longest period Planetary Nebula Nucleus variable
Based on 24h high speed photometry of the hybrid PG 1159 star Abell 43, we
have detected 6 sighificant pulsations with periods between 2380 s and 6075 s.
A short (4h) run on the almost spectroscopic twin NGC 7094 central star
resulted in detection of 3 low amplitude pulsations with periods between 2000 s
and 5000 s. The results are close to predictions for g-mode pulsations driven
by the kappa-mechanism induced by the partial ionization of carbon and oxygen.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Automated extraction of oscillation parameters for Kepler observations of solar-type stars
The recent launch of the Kepler space telescope brings the opportunity to
study oscillations systematically in large numbers of solar-like stars. In the
framework of the asteroFLAG project, we have developed an automated pipeline to
estimate global oscillation parameters, such as the frequency of maximum power
(nu_max) and the large frequency spacing (Delta_nu), for a large number of time
series. We present an effective method based on the autocorrelation function to
find excess power and use a scaling relation to estimate granulation timescales
as initial conditions for background modelling. We derive reliable
uncertainties for nu_max and Delta_nu through extensive simulations. We have
tested the pipeline on about 2000 simulated Kepler stars with magnitudes of
V~7-12 and were able to correctly determine nu_max and Delta_nu for about half
of the sample. For about 20%, the returned large frequency spacing is accurate
enough to determine stellar radii to a 1% precision. We conclude that the
methods presented here are a promising approach to process the large amount of
data expected from Kepler.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Communications in
Asteroseismolog
Spin Gap in a Doped Kondo Chain
We show that the Kondo chain away from half-filling has a spin gap upon the
introduction of an additional direct Heisenberg coupling between localized
spins. This is understood in the weak-Kondo-coupling limit of the
Heisenberg-Kondo lattice model by bosonization and in the strong-coupling limit
by a mapping to a modified t-J model. Only for certain ranges of filling and
Heisenberg coupling does the spin gap phase extend from weak to strong
coupling.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX including 4 eps figures; minor corrections and
clarification
First investigation of a novel 2D position-sensitive semiconductor detector concept
This paper presents a first study of the performance of a novel 2D
position-sensitive microstrip detector, where the resistive charge division
method was implemented by replacing the metallic electrodes with resistive
electrodes made of polycrystalline silicon. A characterization of two
proof-of-concept prototypes with different values of the electrode resistivity
was carried out using a pulsed Near Infra-Red laser. The experimental data were
compared with the electrical simulation of the sensor equivalent circuit
coupled to simple electronics readout circuits. The good agreement between
experimental and simulation results establishes the soundness of resistive
charge division method in silicon microstrip sensors and validates the
developed simulation as a tool for the optimization of future sensor
prototypes. Spatial resolution in the strip length direction depends on the
ionizing event position. The average value obtained from the protype analysis
is close to 1.2% of the strip length for a 6 MIP signal.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure
Inverse Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (iLGADs) for precise tracking and timing applications
Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) is the baseline sensing technology of the
recently proposed Minimum Ionizing Particle (MIP) end-cap timing detectors
(MTD) at the Atlas and CMS experiments. The current MTD sensor is designed as a
multi-pad matrix detector delivering a poor position resolution, due to the
relatively large pad area, around 1 ; and a good timing resolution,
around 20-30 ps. Besides, in his current technological incarnation, the timing
resolution of the MTD LGAD sensors is severely degraded once the MIP particle
hits the inter-pad region since the signal amplification is missing for this
region. This limitation is named as the LGAD fill-factor problem. To overcome
the fill factor problem and the poor position resolution of the MTD LGAD
sensors, a p-in-p LGAD (iLGAD) was introduced. Contrary to the conventional
LGAD, the iLGAD has a non-segmented deep p-well (the multiplication layer).
Therefore, iLGADs should ideally present a constant gain value over all the
sensitive region of the device without gain drops between the signal collecting
electrodes; in other words, iLGADs should have a 100 fill-factor by
design. In this paper, tracking and timing performance of the first iLGAD
prototypes is presented.Comment: Conference Proceedings of VCI2019, 15th Vienna Conference of
Instrumentation, February 18-22, 2019, Vienna, Austri
Verification of the Kepler Input Catalog from Asteroseismology of Solar-type Stars
We calculate precise stellar radii and surface gravities from the
asteroseismic analysis of over 500 solar-type pulsating stars observed by the
Kepler space telescope. These physical stellar properties are compared with
those given in the Kepler Input Catalog (KIC), determined from ground-based
multi-color photometry. For the stars in our sample, we find general agreement
but we detect an average overestimation bias of 0.23 dex in the KIC
determination of log (g) for stars with log (g)_KIC > 4.0 dex, and a resultant
underestimation bias of up to 50% in the KIC radii estimates for stars with
R_KIC < 2 R sun. Part of the difference may arise from selection bias in the
asteroseismic sample; nevertheless, this result implies there may be fewer
stars characterized in the KIC with R ~ 1 R sun than is suggested by the
physical properties in the KIC. Furthermore, if the radius estimates are taken
from the KIC for these affected stars and then used to calculate the size of
transiting planets, a similar underestimation bias may be applied to the
planetary radii.Comment: Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letter
Dimerization and Incommensurate Spiral Spin Correlations in the Zigzag Spin Chain: Analogies to the Kondo Lattice
Using the density matrix renormalization group and a bosonization approach,
we study a spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain with near-neighbor
coupling and frustrating second-neighbor coupling , particularly in
the limit . This system exhibits both dimerization and
incommensurate spiral spin correlations. We argue that this system is closely
related to a doped, spin-gapped phase of the one-dimensional Kondo lattice.Comment: 18 pages, with 13 embedded encapsulated Postscript figures, uses
epsf.sty. Corrects a misstatement about the pitch angle, and contains
additional reference
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