World squid fisheries

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Glycation does not modify bovine serum albumin (BSA)-induced reduction of rat aortic relaxation: The response to glycated and nonglycated BSA is lost in metabolic syndrome

The effects of nonglycated bovine serum albumin (BSA) and advanced glycosylation end products of BSA (AGE-BSA) on vascular responses of control and metabolic syndrome (MS) rats characterized by hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin resistance were studied. Albumin and in vitro prepared AGE-BSA have vascular effects; however, recent studies indicate that some effects of in vitro prepared AGEs are due to the conditions in which they were generated. We produced AGEs by incubating glucose with BSA for 60 days under sterile conditions in darkness and at 37°C. To develop MS rats, male Wistar animals were given 30% sucrose in drinking water since weanling. Six month old animals were used. Blood pressure, insulin, triglycerides, and serum albumin were increased in MS rats. Contraction of aortic rings elicited with norepinephrine was stronger. There were no effects of nonglycated BSA or AGE-BSA on contractions in control or MS rats; however, both groups responded to L-NAME, an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis. Arterial relaxation induced using acetylcholine was smaller in MS rats. Nonglycated BSA and AGE-BSA significantly diminished relaxation in a 35% in the control group but the decrease was similar when using nonglycated BSA and AGE-BSA. This decrease was not present in the MS rats and was not due to increased RAGEs or altered biochemical characteristics of BSA. In conclusion, both BSA and AGE-BSA inhibit vascular relaxation in control artic rings. In MS rats the effect is lost possibly due to alterations in endothelial cells that are a consequence of the illness

A Combined Fit of the Diffuse Neutrino Spectrum using IceCube Muon Tracks and Cascades

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory first observed a diffuse flux of high energy astrophysical neutrinos in 2013. Since then, this observation has been confirmed in multiple detection channels such as high energy starting events, cascades, and through-going muon tracks. Combining these event selections into a high statistics global fit of 10 years of IceCube’s neutrino data could strongly improve the understanding of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux: challenging or confirming the simple unbroken power-law flux model as well as the astrophysical neutrino flux composition. One key component of such a combined analysis is the consistent modelling of systematic uncertainties of different event selections. This can be achieved using the novel SnowStorm Monte Carlo method which allows constraints to be placed on multiple systematic parameters from a single simulation set. We will report on the status of a new combined analysis of through-going muon tracks and cascades. It is based on a consistent all flavor neutrino signal and background simulation using, for the first time, the SnowStorm method to analyze IceCube’s high-energy neutrino data. Estimated sensitivities for the energy spectrum of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux will be shown

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array: Joint Contribution to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2015)

We have conducted three searches for correlations between ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected by the Telescope Array and the Pierre Auger Observatory, and high-energy neutrino candidate events from IceCube. Two cross-correlation analyses with UHECRs are done: one with 39 cascades from the IceCube `high-energy starting events' sample and the other with 16 high-energy `track events'. The angular separation between the arrival directions of neutrinos and UHECRs is scanned over. The same events are also used in a separate search using a maximum likelihood approach, after the neutrino arrival directions are stacked. To estimate the significance we assume UHECR magnetic deflections to be inversely proportional to their energy, with values $3^\circ$, $6^\circ$ and $9^\circ$ at 100 EeV to allow for the uncertainties on the magnetic field strength and UHECR charge. A similar analysis is performed on stacked UHECR arrival directions and the IceCube sample of through-going muon track events which were optimized for neutrino point-source searches.Comment: one proceeding, the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, 30 July - 6 August 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands; will appear in PoS(ICRC2015

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array:Joint Contribution to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2015)

We have conducted three searches for correlations between ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected by the Telescope Array and the Pierre Auger Observatory, and high-energy neutrino candidate events from IceCube. Two cross-correlation analyses with UHECRs are done: one with 39 cascades from the IceCube `high-energy starting events' sample and the other with 16 high-energy `track events'. The angular separation between the arrival directions of neutrinos and UHECRs is scanned over. The same events are also used in a separate search using a maximum likelihood approach, after the neutrino arrival directions are stacked. To estimate the significance we assume UHECR magnetic deflections to be inversely proportional to their energy, with values $3^\circ$, $6^\circ$ and $9^\circ$ at 100 EeV to allow for the uncertainties on the magnetic field strength and UHECR charge. A similar analysis is performed on stacked UHECR arrival directions and the IceCube sample of through-going muon track events which were optimized for neutrino point-source searches

Update on the Combined Analysis of Muon Measurements from Nine Air Shower Experiments

Over the last two decades, various experiments have measured muon densities in extensive air showers over several orders of magnitude in primary energy. While some experiments observed differences in the muon densities between simulated and experimentally measured air showers, others reported no discrepancies. We will present an update of the meta-analysis of muon measurements from nine air shower experiments, covering shower energies between a few PeV and tens of EeV and muon threshold energies from a few 100 MeV to about 10GeV. In order to compare measurements from different experiments, their energy scale was cross-calibrated and the experimental data has been compared using a universal reference scale based on air shower simulations. Above 10 PeV, we find a muon excess with respect to simulations for all hadronic interaction models, which is increasing with shower energy. For EPOS-LHC and QGSJet-II.04 the significance of the slope of the increase is analyzed in detail under different assumptions of the individual experimental uncertainties

Searching for VHE gamma-ray emission associated with IceCube neutrino alerts using FACT, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS

The realtime follow-up of neutrino events is a promising approach to searchfor astrophysical neutrino sources. It has so far provided compelling evidencefor a neutrino point source: the flaring gamma-ray blazar TXS 0506+056 observedin coincidence with the high-energy neutrino IceCube-170922A detected byIceCube. The detection of very-high-energy gamma rays (VHE, $\mathrm{E} >100\,\mathrm{GeV}$) from this source helped establish the coincidence andconstrained the modeling of the blazar emission at the time of the IceCubeevent. The four major imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays (IACTs) -FACT, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS - operate an active follow-up program oftarget-of-opportunity observations of neutrino alerts sent by IceCube. Thisprogram has two main components. One are the observations of known gamma-raysources around which a cluster of candidate neutrino events has been identifiedby IceCube (Gamma-ray Follow-Up, GFU). Second one is the follow-up of singlehigh-energy neutrino candidate events of potential astrophysical origin such asIceCube-170922A. GFU has been recently upgraded by IceCube in collaborationwith the IACT groups. We present here recent results from the IACT follow-upprograms of IceCube neutrino alerts and a description of the upgraded IceCubeGFU system.<br