310 research outputs found
The interface between the stellar wind and interstellar medium around R Cassiopeiae revealed by far-infrared imaging
The circumstellar dust shells of intermediate initial-mass (about 1 to 8
solar masses) evolved stars are generated by copious mass loss during the
asymptotic giant branch phase. The density structure of their circumstellar
shell is the direct evidence of mass loss processes, from which we can
investigate the nature of mass loss. We used the AKARI Infrared Astronomy
Satellite and the Spitzer Space Telescope to obtain the surface brightness maps
of an evolved star R Cas at far-infrared wavelengths, since the temperature of
dust decreases as the distance from the star increases and one needs to probe
dust at lower temperatures, i.e., at longer wavelengths. The observed shell
structure and the star's known proper motion suggest that the structure
represents the interface regions between the dusty wind and the interstellar
medium. The deconvolved structures are fitted with the analytic bow shock
structure to determine the inclination angle of the bow shock cone. Our data
show that (1) the bow shock cone of 1 - 5 x 10^-5 solar masses (dust mass) is
inclined at 68 degrees with respect to the plane of the sky, and (2) the dust
temperature in the bow shock cone is raised to more than 20 K by collisional
shock interaction in addition to the ambient interstellar radiation field. By
comparison between the apex vector of the bow shock and space motion vector of
the star we infer that there is a flow of interstellar medium local to R Cas
whose flow velocity is at least 55.6 km/s, consistent with an environment
conducive to dust heating by shock interactions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Herbig Ae/Be Stars in the Magellanic Bridge
We have found Herbig Ae/Be star candidates in the western region of the
Magellanic Bridge. Using the near infrared camera SIRIUS and the 1.4 m
telescope IRSF, we surveyed about 3.0 deg x 1.3 deg (24 deg < RA < 36 deg, -75
deg < Dec. < -73.7 deg) in the J, H, and Ks bands. On the basis of colors and
magnitudes, about 200 Herbig Ae/Be star candidates are selected. Considering
the contaminations by miscellaneous sources such as foreground stars and
early-type dwarfs in the Magellanic Bridge, we estimate that about 80 (about
40%) of the candidates are likely to be Herbig Ae/Be stars. We also found one
concentration of the candidates at the young star cluster NGC 796, strongly
suggesting the existence of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars in the Magellanic
Bridge. This is the first detection of PMS star candidates in the Magellanic
Bridge, and if they are genuine PMS stars, this could be direct evidence of
recent star formation. However, the estimate of the number of Herbig Ae/Be
stars depends on the fraction of classical Be stars, and thus a more precise
determination of the Be star fraction or observations to differentiate between
the Herbig Ae/Be stars and classical Be stars are required.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Interplay between NS3 protease and human La protein regulates translation-replication switch of Hepatitis C virus
HCV NS3 protein plays a central role in viral polyprotein processing and RNA replication. We demonstrate that the NS3 protease (NS3pro) domain alone can specifically bind to HCV-IRES RNA, predominantly in the SLIV region. The cleavage activity of the NS3 protease domain is reduced upon HCV-RNA binding. More importantly, NS3pro binding to the SLIV hinders the interaction of La protein, a cellular IRES-trans acting factor required for HCV IRES-mediated translation, resulting in inhibition of HCV-IRES activity. Although overexpression of both NS3pro as well as the full length NS3 protein decreased the level of HCV IRES mediated translation, replication of HCV replicon RNA was enhanced significantly. These observations suggest that the NS3pro binding to HCV IRES reduces translation in favor of RNA replication. The competition between the host factor (La) and the viral protein (NS3) for binding to HCV IRES might regulate the molecular switch from translation to replication of HCV
Soluble egg antigen of Schistosoma Haematobium induces HCV replication in PBMC from patients with chronic HCV infection
BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to examine, in vitro , the effect of soluble egg antigen (SEA) of S. haematobium on intracellular HCV RNA load in peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMC) as well as on cell proliferation in patients with chronic HCV infection. METHODS: PBMC from 26 patients with chronic HCV infection were cultured for 72 hours in presence and absence of 50 μg SEA/ml medium. Intracellular HCV RNA quantification of plus and minus strands was assessed before and after stimulation. PBMC from five healthy subjects were cultured for 7 days, flow cytometric analysis of DNA content was used to assess the mitogenic effect of SEA on PBMC proliferation compared to phytoheamaglutinine (PHA). RESULTS: Quantification of the intracellular viral load showed increased copy number/cell of both or either viral strands after induction with SEA in 18 of 26 patients (69.2%) thus indicating stimulation of viral replication. Flow cytometric analysis showed that mean ± S.D. of percent values of cell proliferation was induced from 3.2 ± 1.5% in un-stimulated cells to 16.7 ± 2.5 % and 16.84 ± 1.7 % in cells stimulated with PHA and SEA respectively. CONCLUSION: the present study supports earlier reports on SEA proliferative activity on PBMC and provides a strong evidence that the higher morbidity observed in patients co-infected with schistosomiasis and HCV is related, at least in part, to direct stimulation of viral replication by SEA
Extracellular ATP is a pro-angiogenic factor for pulmonary artery vasa vasorum endothelial cells
Expansion of the vasa vasorum network has been observed in a variety of systemic and pulmonary vascular diseases. We recently reported that a marked expansion of the vasa vasorum network occurs in the pulmonary artery adventitia of chronically hypoxic calves. Since hypoxia has been shown to stimulate ATP release from both vascular resident as well as circulatory blood cells, these studies were undertaken to determine if extracellular ATP exerts angiogenic effects on isolated vasa vasorum endothelial cells (VVEC) and/or if it augments the effects of other angiogenic factors (VEGF and basic FGF) known to be present in the hypoxic microenvironment. We found that extracellular ATP dramatically increases DNA synthesis, migration, and rearrangement into tube-like networks on Matrigel in VVEC, but not in pulmonary artery (MPAEC) or aortic (AOEC) endothelial cells obtained from the same animals. Extracellular ATP potentiated the effects of both VEGF and bFGF to stimulate DNA synthesis in VVEC but not in MPAEC and AOEC. Analysis of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides revealed that ATP, ADP and MeSADP were the most potent in stimulating mitogenic responses in VVEC, indicating the involvement of the family of P2Y1-like purinergic receptors. Using pharmacological inhibitors, Western blot analysis, and Phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) in vitro kinase assays, we found that PI3K/Akt/mTOR and ERK1/2 play a critical role in mediating the extracellular ATP-induced mitogenic and migratory responses in VVEC. However, PI3K/Akt and mTOR/p70S6K do not significantly contribute to extracellular ATP-induced tube formation on Matrigel. Our studies indicate that VVEC, isolated from the sites of active angiogenesis, exhibit distinct functional responses to ATP, compared to endothelial cells derived from large pulmonary or systemic vessels. Collectively, our data support the idea that extracellular ATP participates in the expansion of the vasa vasorum that can be observed in hypoxic conditions
Refractoriness of hepatitis C virus internal ribosome entry site to processing by Dicer in vivo
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive-strand RNA virus harboring a highly structured internal ribosome entry site (IRES) in the 5' nontranslated region of its genome. Important for initiating translation of viral RNAs into proteins, the HCV IRES is composed of RNA structures reminiscent of microRNA precursors that may be targeted by the host RNA silencing machinery.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report that HCV IRES can be recognized and processed into small RNAs by the human ribonuclease Dicer in vitro. Furthermore, we identify domains II, III and VI of HCV IRES as potential substrates for Dicer in vitro. However, maintenance of the functional integrity of the HCV IRES in response to Dicer overexpression suggests that the structure of the HCV IRES abrogates its processing by Dicer in vivo.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that the HCV IRES may have evolved to adopt a structure or a cellular context that is refractory to Dicer processing, which may contribute to viral escape of the host RNA silencing machinery.</p
Lens stem cells may reside outside the lens capsule: an hypothesis
In this paper, we consider the ocular lens in the context of contemporary developments in biological ideas. We attempt to reconcile lens biology with stem cell concepts and a dearth of lens tumors
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