173 research outputs found
A new view on exoplanet transits: Transit of Venus described using three-dimensional solar atmosphere Stagger-grid simulations
Stellar activity and, in particular, convection-related surface structures,
potentially cause fluctuations that can affect the transit light curves.
Surface convection simulations can help the interpretation of ToV. We used
realistic three-dimensional radiative hydrodynamical simulation of the Sun from
the Stagger-grid and synthetic images computed with the radiative transfer code
Optim3D to provide predictions for the transit of Venus in 2004 observed by the
satellite ACRIMSAT. We computed intensity maps from RHD simulation of the Sun
and produced synthetic stellar disk image. We computed the light curve and
compared it to the ACRIMSAT observations and also to the light curves obtained
with solar surface representations carried out using radial profiles with
different limb-darkening laws. We also applied the same spherical tile imaging
method to the observations of center-to-limb Sun granulation with HINODE. We
managed to explain ACRIMSAT observations of 2004 ToV and showed that the
granulation pattern causes fluctuations in the transit light curve. We
evaluated the contribution of the granulation to the ToV. We showed that the
granulation pattern can partially explain the observed discrepancies between
models and data. This confirms that the limb-darkening and the granulation
pattern simulated in 3D RHD Sun represent well what is imaged by HINODE. In the
end, we found that the Venus's aureole contribution during ToV is less intense
than the solar photosphere, and thus negligible. Being able to explain
consistently the data of 2004 ToV is a new step forward for 3D RHD simulations
that are becoming essential for the detection and characterization of
exoplanets. They show that the granulation have to be considered as an
intrinsic incertitude, due to the stellar variability, on precise measurements
of exoplanet transits of, most likely, planets with small diameters.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Platelet-derived growth factor negatively regulates the insulin-like growth factor signaling pathway through the coordinated action of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and protein kinase C beta I
AbstractWe recently described that epidermal and fibroblast growth factors (EGF and FGF) regulate the IGF-I signaling pathway at the level of IRS-1 through the cooperative action of two independent signaling pathways; one dependent on phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) and the other on protein kinase D1 (PKD1) (Karam et al. [22]). To determine whether this mechanism could be generalized to another tyrosine kinase receptor-dependent growth factor, the effect of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) on the IGF-I signaling pathway was studied. PDGF inhibited IGF-I-stimulated IRS-1 tyrosine phosphorylation and subsequent IGF-I-induced PI 3-kinase activity, and stimulated IRS-1 serine 307 phosphorylation. These effects were mediated through a PI 3-kinase-dependent but extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-independent signaling pathway. However, PDGF-induced IRS-1 serine 307 phosphorylation was not sufficient per se to inhibit the IGF-I signaling but required another independent pathway. Noteworthy, although acutely stimulated by PDGF, and contrary to what we previously described (Karam et al. [22]), PKD1 did not associate with IRS-1and did not inhibit the IGF-I signaling in response to PDGF. However, we identified PKCΞ²I as a new regulatory partner of PI 3-kinase for PDGF-induced inhibition of the IGF-I signaling pathway. Therefore, our results reinforce the idea that a coordinated action of two independent pathways seems absolutely necessary to negatively regulate IRS-1. Moreover, they also demonstrated that, depending of the cross-talk considered, subtle and specific regulatory mechanisms occur at the level of IRS-1 and that a unique regulatory model is not conceivable
Solar BaII 4554 A line as Doppler diagnostics: NLTE analysis in 3D hydrodynamical model
The aim of this paper is to analyse the validity of the Dopplergram and
lambda-meter techniques for the Doppler diagnostics of solar photospheric
velocities using the BaII 4554 A line. Both techniques are evaluated by means
of NLTE radiative transfer calculations of the BaII 4554 A line in a
three-dimensional hydrodynamical model of solar convection. We consider the
cases of spatially unsmeared profiles and the profiles smeared to the
resolution of ground-based observations. We find that: (i)
Speckle-reconstructed Dopplergram velocities reproduce the ``true'' velocities
well at heights around 300 km, except for intergranular lanes with strong
downflows where the velocity can be overestimated. (ii) The lambda-meter
velocities give a good representation of the ``true'' velocities through the
whole photosphere, both under the original and reduced spatial resolutions. The
velocities derived from the inner wing of smeared BaII 4554 A line profiles are
more reliable than those for the outer wing. Only under high spatial resolution
does the inner wing velocities calculated in intergranular regions give an
underestimate (or even a sign reversal) compared with the model velocities.
(iii) NLTE effects should be taken into account in modelling the BaII 4554 A
line profiles. Such effects are more pronounced in intergranular regions. Our
analysis supports the opinion that the Dopplergram technique applied to the
BaII 4554 A line is a valuable tool for the Doppler diagnostics of the middle
photosphere around 300 km. The \lambda-meter technique applied to this line
gives us a good opportunity to ``trace'' the non-thermal motions along the
whole photosphere up to the temperature minimum and lower chromosphere.Comment: accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
Solar granulation from photosphere to low chromosphere observed in BaII 4554 A line
The purpose of this paper is to characterize the statistical properties of
solar granulation in the photosphere and low chromosphere up to 650 km. We use
velocity and intensity variations obtained at different atmospheric heights
from observations in BaII 4554 A. The observations were done during good seeing
conditions at the VTT at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife. The line core
forms rather high in the atmosphere and allows granulation properties to be
studied at heights that have been not accessed before in similar studies. In
addition, we analyze the synthetic profiles of the BaII 4554 A line by the same
method computed taking NLTE effects into account in the 3D hydrodynamical model
atmosphere. We suggest a 16-column model of solar granulation depending on the
direction of motion and on the intensity contrast measured in the continuum and
in the uppermost layer. We calculate the heights of intensity contrast sign
reversal and velocity sign reversal. We show that both parameters depend
strongly on the granulation velocity and intensity at the bottom photosphere.
The larger the two parameters, the higher the reversal takes place in the
atmosphere. On average, this happens at about 200-300 km. We suggest that this
number also depends on the line depth of the spectral line used in
observations. Despite the intensity and velocity reversal, about 40% of the
column structure of granulation is preserved up to heights around 650 km.Comment: accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
Site testing in summer at Dome C, Antarctica
We present summer site testing results based on DIMM data obtained at Dome C,
Antarctica. These data have been collected on the bright star Canopus during
two 3-months summer campaigns in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. We performed
continuous monitoring of the seeing a nd the isoplanatic angle in the visible.
We found a median seeing of 0.54 \arcsec and a median isoplanatic angle of 6.8
\arcsec. The seeing appears to have a deep minimum around 0.4 \arcsec almost
every day in late afternoon
A Serum Factor Induces Insulin-Independent Translocation of GLUT4 to the Cell Surface which Is Maintained in Insulin Resistance
In response to insulin, glucose transporter GLUT4 translocates from intracellular compartments towards the plasma membrane where it enhances cellular glucose uptake. Here, we show that sera from various species contain a factor that dose-dependently induces GLUT4 translocation and glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, human adipocytes, myoblasts and myotubes. Notably, the effect of this factor on GLUT4 is fully maintained in insulin-resistant cells. Our studies demonstrate that the serum-induced increase in cell surface GLUT4 levels is not due to inhibition of its internalization and is not mediated by insulin, PDGF, IGF-1, or HGF. Similarly to insulin, serum also augments cell surface levels of GLUT1 and TfR. Remarkably, the acute effect of serum on GLUT4 is largely additive to that of insulin, while it also sensitizes the cells to insulin. In accordance with these findings, serum does not appear to activate the same repertoire of downstream signaling molecules that are implicated in insulin-induced GLUT4 translocation. We conclude that in addition to insulin, at least one other biological proteinaceous factor exists that contributes to GLUT4 regulation and still functions in insulin resistance. The challenge now is to identify this factor
Computational Modeling and Analysis of Insulin Induced Eukaryotic Translation Initiation
Insulin, the primary hormone regulating the level of glucose in the bloodstream, modulates a variety of cellular and enzymatic processes in normal and diseased cells. Insulin signals are processed by a complex network of biochemical interactions which ultimately induce gene expression programs or other processes such as translation initiation. Surprisingly, despite the wealth of literature on insulin signaling, the relative importance of the components linking insulin with translation initiation remains unclear. We addressed this question by developing and interrogating a family of mathematical models of insulin induced translation initiation. The insulin network was modeled using mass-action kinetics within an ordinary differential equation (ODE) framework. A family of model parameters was estimated, starting from an initial best fit parameter set, using 24 experimental data sets taken from literature. The residual between model simulations and each of the experimental constraints were simultaneously minimized using multiobjective optimization. Interrogation of the model population, using sensitivity and robustness analysis, identified an insulin-dependent switch that controlled translation initiation. Our analysis suggested that without insulin, a balance between the pro-initiation activity of the GTP-binding protein Rheb and anti-initiation activity of PTEN controlled basal initiation. On the other hand, in the presence of insulin a combination of PI3K and Rheb activity controlled inducible initiation, where PI3K was only critical in the presence of insulin. Other well known regulatory mechanisms governing insulin action, for example IRS-1 negative feedback, modulated the relative importance of PI3K and Rheb but did not fundamentally change the signal flow
Global gene expression analysis in time series following N-acetyl L-cysteine induced epithelial differentiation of human normal and cancer cells in vitro
BACKGROUND: Cancer prevention trials using different types of antioxidant supplements have been carried out at several occasions and one of the investigated compounds has been the antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC). Studies at the cellular level have previously demonstrated that a single supplementation of NAC induces a ten-fold more rapid differentiation in normal primary human keratinocytes as well as a reversion of a colon carcinoma cell line from neoplastic proliferation to apical-basolateral differentiation [1]. The investigated cells showed an early change in the organization of the cytoskeleton, several newly established adherens junctions with E-cadherin/Ξ²-catenin complexes and increased focal adhesions, all features characterizing the differentiation process. METHODS: In order to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the proliferation arrest and accelerated differentiation induced by NAC treatment of NHEK and Caco-2 cells in vitro, we performed global gene expression analysis of NAC treated cells in a time series (1, 12 and 24 hours post NAC treatment) using the Affymetrix GeneChipβ’ Human Genome U95Av2 chip, which contains approximately 12,000 previously characterized sequences. The treated samples were compared to the corresponding untreated culture at the same time point. RESULTS: Microarray data analysis revealed an increasing number of differentially expressed transcripts over time upon NAC treatment. The early response (1 hour) was transient, while a constitutive trend was commonly found among genes differentially regulated at later time points (12 and 24 hours). Connections to the induction of differentiation and inhibition of growth were identified for a majority of up- and down-regulated genes. All of the observed transcriptional changes, except for seven genes, were unique to either cell line. Only one gene, ID-1, was mutually regulated at 1 hour post treatment and might represent a common mediator of early NAC action. The detection of several genes that previously have been identified as stimulated or repressed during the differentiation of NHEK and Caco-2 provided validation of results. In addition, real-time kinetic PCR analysis of selected genes also verified the differential regulation as identified by the microarray platform. CONCLUSION: NAC induces a limited and transient early response followed by a more consistent and extensively different expression at later time points in both the normal and cancer cell lines investigated. The responses are largely related to inhibition of proliferation and stimulation of differentiation in both cell types but are almost completely lineage specific. ID-1 is indicated as an early mediator of NAC action
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