34,436 research outputs found
Mechanism of NaCl transport-stimulated prostaglandin formation in MDCK cells
Recently we have found that stimulation of NaCl transport in high-resistance MDCK cells enhances their prostaglandin formation. In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms by which prostaglandin formation could be linked to the ion transport in these cells. We found that stimulation of transport caused a transient stimulation of prostaglandin formation lasting 5-10 min. The rise in prostaglandin formation was paralleled by a rise of free intracellular arachidonic acid. Analysis of membrane lipids revealed that the rise of free arachidonic acid was paralleled by a loss of arachidonic acid from polyphosphoinositides. We failed to obtain indications for the stimulation of calcium-dependent phospholipase A2. However, we did obtain evidence that the incorporation of arachidonic acid into phospholipids was diminished during stimulation of ion transport, indicating a decreased rate of reesterification. Despite the fact that there was no significant fall in total cellular ATP on stimulation of ion transport, we found a high and transient rise of lactate production of the cells on stimulation of the ion transport indicating an alteration of the ADP/ATP ratio. Moreover, prostaglandin formation and lactate formation were linearly correlated in this situation. When glucose utilization was inhibited by mannoheptulose, the rise in lactate formation was abolished, whereas that of PG formation was unaltered, indicating that lactate formation and prostaglandin formation were not causally linked on stimulation of ion transport. Our results suggest that an increase in the rate of sodium chloride transport by MDCK cells stimulates formation by an inhibition of reesterification of free arachidonic acid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
Characterization of Active Main Belt Object P/2012 F5 (Gibbs): A Possible Impacted Asteroid
In this work we characterize the recently discovered active main belt object
P/2012 F5 (Gibbs), which was discovered with a dust trail > 7' in length in the
outer main belt, 7 months prior to aphelion. We use optical imaging obtained on
UT 2012 March 27 to analyze the central condensation and the long trail. We
find nuclear B-band and R-band apparent magnitudes of 20.96 and 19.93 mag,
respectively, which give an upper limit on the radius of the nucleus of 2.1 km.
The geometric cross-section of material in the trail was ~ 4 x 10^8 m^2,
corresponding to a dust mass of ~ 5 x 10^7 kg. Analysis of infrared images
taken by the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer in September 2010 reveals that
the object was below the detection limit, suggesting that it was less active
than it was during 2012, or possibly inactive, just 6 months after it passed
through perihelion. We set a 1-sigma upper limit on its radius during this time
of 2.9 km. P/2012 F5 (Gibbs) is dynamically stable in the outer main belt on
timescales of ~ 1 Gyr, pointing towards an asteroidal origin. We find that the
morphology of the ejected dust is consistent with it being produced by a single
event that occurred on UT 2011 July 7 20 days, possibly as the result of
a collision with a small impactor.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Asteroid family identification using the Hierarchical Clustering Method and WISE/NEOWISE physical properties
Using albedos from WISE/NEOWISE to separate distinct albedo groups within the
Main Belt asteroids, we apply the Hierarchical Clustering Method to these
subpopulations and identify dynamically associated clusters of asteroids. While
this survey is limited to the ~35% of known Main Belt asteroids that were
detected by NEOWISE, we present the families linked from these objects as
higher confidence associations than can be obtained from dynamical linking
alone. We find that over one-third of the observed population of the Main Belt
is represented in the high-confidence cores of dynamical families. The albedo
distribution of family members differs significantly from the albedo
distribution of background objects in the same region of the Main Belt, however
interpretation of this effect is complicated by the incomplete identification
of lower-confidence family members. In total we link 38,298 asteroids into 76
distinct families. This work represents a critical step necessary to debias the
albedo and size distributions of asteroids in the Main Belt and understand the
formation and history of small bodies in our Solar system.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. Full version of Table 3 to be published
electronically in Ap
NEOWISE observations of comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) as it approaches Mars
The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission
observed comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) three times at 3.4 {\mu}m and 4.6
{\mu}m as the comet approached Mars in 2014. The comet is an extremely
interesting target since its close approach to Mars in late 2014 will be
observed by various spacecraft in-situ. The observations were taken in 2014
Jan., Jul. and Sep. when the comet was at heliocentric distances of 3.82 AU,
1.88 AU, and 1.48 AU. The level of activity increased significantly between the
Jan. and Jul. visits but then decreased by the time of the observations in
Sep., approximately 4 weeks prior to its close approach to Mars. In this work
we calculate Af\r{ho} values, and CO/CO2 production rates.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letter
Non-factorizable contribution in nonleptonic weak interactions of K mesons
Two pion decays of K mesons, K_L-K_S mass difference, two photon and the
Dalitz decays of K_L are studied systematically by assuming that their
amplitude is given by a sum of factorizable and non-factorizable ones. The
former is estimated by using a naive factorization while the latter is assumed
to be dominated by dynamical contributions of various hadron states.Comment: 23 pages,1 figur
Consistent Factorization of Jet Observables in Exclusive Multijet Cross-Sections
We demonstrate the consistency at the next-to-leading-logarithmic (NLL) level
of a factorization theorem based on Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) for
jet shapes in e+e- collisions. We consider measuring jet observables in
exclusive multijet final states defined with cone and k_T-type jet algorithms.
Consistency of the factorization theorem requires that the renormalization
group evolution of hard, jet, and soft functions is such that the physical
cross-section is independent of the factorization scale mu. The anomalous
dimensions of the various factorized pieces, however, depend on the color
representation of jets, choice of jet observable, the number of jets whose
shapes are measured, and the jet algorithm, making it highly nontrivial to
satisfy the consistency condition. We demonstrate the intricate cancellations
between anomalous dimensions that occur at the NLL level, so that, up to power
corrections that we identify, our factorization of the jet shape distributions
is consistent for any number of quark and gluon jets, for any number of jets
whose shapes are measured or unmeasured, for any angular size R of the jets,
and for any of the algorithms we consider. Corrections to these results are
suppressed by the SCET expansion parameter lambda (the ratio of soft to
collinear or collinear to hard scales) and in the jet separation measure 1/t^2
= tan^2(R/2)/tan^2(psi/2), where psi is the angular separation between jets.
Our results can be used to calculate a wide variety of jet observables in
multijet final states to NLL accuracy.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, uses elsarticle.cls; v2: minor edits, added
reference
Lingering grains of truth around comet 17P/Holmes
Comet 17P/Holmes underwent a massive outburst in 2007 Oct., brightening by a
factor of almost a million in under 48 hours. We used infrared images taken by
the Wide-Field Survey Explorer mission to characterize the comet as it appeared
at a heliocentric distance of 5.1 AU almost 3 years after the outburst. The
comet appeared to be active with a coma and dust trail along the orbital plane.
We constrained the diameter, albedo, and beaming parameter of the nucleus to
4.135 0.610 km, 0.03 0.01 and 1.03 0.21, respectively. The
properties of the nucleus are consistent with those of other Jupiter Family
comets. The best-fit temperature of the coma was 134 11 K, slightly
higher than the blackbody temperature at that heliocentric distance. Using
Finson-Probstein modeling we found that the morphology of the trail was
consistent with ejection during the 2007 outburst and was made up of dust
grains between 250 m and a few cm in radius. The trail mass was 1.2
- 5.3 10 kg.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 2 tables, 4 figure
Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE: Near-Infrared Albedos
We present revised near-infrared albedo fits of 2835 Main Belt asteroids
observed by WISE/NEOWISE over the course of its fully cryogenic survey in 2010.
These fits are derived from reflected-light near-infrared images taken
simultaneously with thermal emission measurements, allowing for more accurate
measurements of the near-infrared albedos than is possible for visible albedo
measurements. As our sample requires reflected light measurements, it
undersamples small, low albedo asteroids, as well as those with blue spectral
slopes across the wavelengths investigated. We find that the Main Belt
separates into three distinct groups of 6%, 16%, and 40% reflectance at 3.4 um.
Conversely, the 4.6 um albedo distribution spans the full range of possible
values with no clear grouping. Asteroid families show a narrow distribution of
3.4 um albedos within each family that map to one of the three observed
groupings, with the (221) Eos family being the sole family associated with the
16% reflectance 3.4 um albedo group. We show that near-infrared albedos derived
from simultaneous thermal emission and reflected light measurements are an
important indicator of asteroid taxonomy and can identify interesting targets
for spectroscopic followup.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; full version of Table1 to be
published electronically in the journa
Do Guns Displace Books? – The Impact of Compulsory Military Service on Educational Attainment
Compulsory military service typically drafts young men when they are at the height of their learning ability. Thus, it can be expected to depress the demand for higher education since skill atrophy and the delayed entry into the civilian labor market reduce the returns to human-capital investments. Attending university, however, might open the possibility to avoid the draft, leading to an increase in the demand for tertiary education. To estimate the causal eff ect of conscription on the probability to obtain a university degree, we use a regression-discontinuity design that employs special regulations associated with the introduction of conscription in Germany in 1956. We estimate conscription to increase the probability of having a university degree.Regression discontinuity; conscription; career interruption; skill atrophy;TS2SLS
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