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Malaria infection does not affect the sensitivity of peripheral receptor neurons in Anopheles stephensi
Background: Mosquitoes transmit many important diseases including malaria, dengue and yellow fever. Disease transmission from one vertebrate host to another depends on repeated blood feedings by single mosquitoes. In order for the mosquito to acquire the blood that it needs to complete oogenesis, the insect must locate a suitable host. Olfactory cues (including carbon dioxide) released by the host and detected by the mosquito are the primary signals that vector insects use for host location. Previous studies have suggested that the physiological status - including bacterial, fungal, viral and Plasmodium infections - can modulate aspects of behavior in haematophagous insects. Methods: Standard electrophysiological techniques were used to record extracellular responses from the receptor neurons located in sensilla found on the maxillary palps of the insects. The recording microelectrode was inserted through the cuticle at the base of an individual sensillum and the extracellular electrical signals obtained from the three neurons within the sensillum were recorded. Stimulations consisted of 2 s pulses of the desired concentrations of CO2 or dosages of 1-octen-3-ol. Results: Accordingly, we were interested in determining whether Plasmodium infection affects the sensitivity of those peripheral olfactory sensors that are involved in host-seeking in mosquitoes. Our studies indicate that infection of female Anopheles stephensi with Plasmodium berghei does not alter the response characteristics of the neurons innervating the maxillary palp sensilla that respond to the attractants carbon dioxide and 1-octen-3-ol. Although the response characteristics of the peripheral sensory neurons are not affected by infection status, we found that the age of the mosquito alone does affect the threshold of sensitivity of these neurons to carbon dioxide. The proportion of older insects (21–30 d post-emergence) that responds to 150 ppm carbon dioxide is higher than the proportion that responds among younger insects (1–10 d post-emergence). Conclusions: Anopheles stephensi infected with Plasmodium berghei exhibit sensitivities to stimulation with carbon dioxide and 1-octen-3-ol similar to those of uninfected mosquitoes. However, the age of the infected or uninfected mosquito does affect the threshold of sensitivity of these neurons to carbon dioxide
Disrupted Maturation of the Microbiota and Metabolome among Extremely Preterm Infants with Postnatal Growth Failure
Growth failure during infancy is a major global problem that has adverse effects on long-term health and neurodevelopment. Preterm infants are disproportionately affected by growth failure and its effects. Herein we found that extremely preterm infants with postnatal growth failure have disrupted maturation of the intestinal microbiota, characterized by persistently low diversity, dominance of pathogenic bacteria within the Enterobacteriaceae family, and a paucity of strictly anaerobic taxa including Veillonella relative to infants with appropriate postnatal growth. Metabolomic profiling of infants with growth failure demonstrated elevated serum acylcarnitines, fatty acids, and other byproducts of lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation. Machine learning algorithms for normal maturation of the microbiota and metabolome among infants with appropriate growth revealed a pattern of delayed maturation of the microbiota and metabolome among infants with growth failure. Collectively, we identified novel microbial and metabolic features of growth failure in preterm infants and potentially modifiable targets for intervention
The Star Clusters in the Starburst Irregular Galaxy NGC 1569
We examine star clusters in the irregular, starburst galaxy NGC 1569 from HST
images. In addition to the two known super star clusters, we identify 45 other
clusters that are compact but resolved. Integrated UVI colors of the clusters
span a large range, and suggest that ages range from 3 Myrs to 1 Gyr. However,
most of the clusters were formed at the tail end of the recent starburst.
Numerous clusters in addition to the know super star clusters are similar in
luminosity to a small globular cluster. We examined the radial surface
brightness of four of the clusters. Their half-light radii and core radii are
in the range observed in present-day globular clusters. Therefore, conditions
that produced the recent starburst have also been those necessary for producing
compact, bright star clusters.
We examine resolved stars in the outer parts of the two super star clusters.
Cluster A is dominated by bright blue stars with a small population of red
supergiants. Sub-components A1 and A2 have similar colors and a two-dimensional
color map does not offer evidence that one component is dominated by red
supergiants and the other not. The contradiction of the presence of red super-
giants with Wolf-Rayet stars may instead not be a contradiction at all since
there coexistence in a coeval population is not inconsistent with the evolution
of massive stars. Cluster B is dominated by red supergiants, and this is
confirmed by the presence of the stellar CO absorption feature in an integrated
spectrum. The various age indicators are consistent with a picture in which
cluster B is of order 10--20 Myrs old, and cluster A is >4-5 Myrs old.Comment: To be published in AJ, November 200
Supernova Remnants in the Fossil Starburst in M82
We report the discovery of ten compact H-alpha-bright sources in the
post-starburst region northeast of the center of M82, ``M82 B.'' These objects
have H alpha luminosities and sizes consistent with Type II supernova remnants
(SNRs). They fall on the same H alpha surface brightness-diameter (Sigma-D)
relation defined by SNRs in other nearby star-forming galaxies, with the M82
candidates lying preferentially at the small diameter end. These are the first
candidates for optically-visible SNRs in M82 outside the heavily obscured
central starburst within ~250 pc from the galactic center. If these sources are
SNRs, they set an upper limit to the end of the starburst in region ``B2,''
about 500 pc from the galaxy's core, of ~50 Myr. Region ``B1,'' about 1000 pc
from the core, lacks good SNR candidates and is evidently somewhat older. This
suggests star formation in the galaxy has propagated inward toward the
present-day intense starburst core.Comment: Re-submitted to AJ, referee's comments taken into account, 15 pages
LaTeX preprint style, 4 postscript figures; full-resolution figures available
from http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~rd7a/snrs/ Changes: minor textual changes
and orientation/axes of Fig.
Age and Abundance Discrimination in Old Stellar Populations Using Mid-Ultraviolet Colors
The restframe mid-ultraviolet spectral region (2000-3200 A) is important in
analyzing the stellar populations of the "red envelope" systems observed at
high redshifts. Here, we explore the usefulness of the mid-UV for determining
ages and abundances of old populations. A mid-UV to optical/IR wavelength
baseline provides good separation of population components because the main
sequence turnoff dominates the integrated light between 2500 and 4000 A. We
find a six magnitude difference in the mid-UV continuum level over the
metallicity range -1.5 < log Z/Z_o < +0.5 and a comparable difference (per unit
log t) for ages in the range 4-16 Gyr. Logarithmic derivatives of mid-UV colors
with respect to age or metal abundance are 3-10 times larger than for the UBV
region. Most of the spectral information on old populations therefore resides
below 4000 A. We investigate the capability of UBV and mid-UV broad-band colors
to separately determine age and abundance, taking into account precision in the
color measurements. We find that the mid-UV improves resolution in (log t,log
Z) space by about a factor of 3 for a given observational precision.
Contamination by hot horizontal branch phases can seriously affect mid-UV
spectra, reaching over 80% in some cases. However, this is straightforward to
remove as long as far-UV measurements are available. Finally, we show that a 4
Gyr, solar abundance model based on empirical spectra provides an excellent fit
to the mid-UV spectrum of the E galaxy M32. This indicates that the poorer
results obtained from theoretical spectra arise from limitations of the
synthesis models for individual stars. [Condensed]Comment: 38 pages, 8 figures. Accepted by ApJ. Full resolution figures
available at: http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~rwo/miduv-fullresfigs.ps.g
UV-Optical Pixel Maps of Face-On Spiral Galaxies -- Clues for Dynamics and Star Formation Histories
UV and optical images of the face-on spiral galaxies NGC 6753 and NGC 6782
reveal regions of strong on-going star formation that are associated with
structures traced by the old stellar populations. We make NUV--(NUV-I) pixel
color-magnitude diagrams (pCMDs) that reveal plumes of pixels with strongly
varying NUV surface brightness and nearly constant I surface brightness. The
plumes correspond to sharply bounded radial ranges, with (NUV-I) at a given NUV
surface brightness being bluer at larger radii. The plumes are parallel to the
reddening vector and simple model mixtures of young and old populations, thus
neither reddening nor the fraction of the young population can produce the
observed separation between the plumes. The images, radial surface-brightness,
and color plots indicate that the separate plumes are caused by sharp declines
in the surface densities of the old populations at radii corresponding to disk
resonances. The maximum surface brightness of the NUV light remains nearly
constant with radius, while the maximum I surface brightness declines sharply
with radius. An MUV image of NGC 6782 shows emission from the nuclear ring. The
distribution of points in an (MUV-NUV) vs. (NUV-I) pixel color-color diagram is
broadly consistent with the simple mixture model, but shows a residual trend
that the bluest pixels in (MUV-NUV) are the reddest pixels in (NUV-I). This may
be due to a combination of red continuum from late-type supergiants and [SIII]
emission lines associated with HII regions in active star-forming regions. We
have shown that pixel mapping is a powerful tool for studying the distribution
and strength of on-going star formation in galaxies. Deep, multi-color imaging
can extend this to studies of extinction, and the ages and metallicities of
composite stellar populations in nearby galaxies.Comment: LaTeX with AASTeX style file, 29 pages with 12 figures (some color,
some multi-part). Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Spacetime dynamics of spinning particles - exact electromagnetic analogies
We compare the rigorous equations describing the motion of spinning test
particles in gravitational and electromagnetic fields, and show that if the
Mathisson-Pirani spin condition holds then exact gravito-electromagnetic
analogies emerge. These analogies provide a familiar formalism to treat
gravitational problems, as well as a means for comparing the two interactions.
Fundamental differences are manifest in the symmetries and time projections of
the electromagnetic and gravitational tidal tensors. The physical consequences
of the symmetries of the tidal tensors are explored comparing the following
analogous setups: magnetic dipoles in the field of non-spinning/spinning
charges, and gyroscopes in the Schwarzschild, Kerr, and Kerr-de Sitter
spacetimes. The implications of the time projections of the tidal tensors are
illustrated by the work done on the particle in various frames; in particular,
a reciprocity is found to exist: in a frame comoving with the particle, the
electromagnetic (but not the gravitational) field does work on it, causing a
variation of its proper mass; conversely, for "static observers," a stationary
gravitomagnetic (but not a magnetic) field does work on the particle, and the
associated potential energy is seen to embody the Hawking-Wald spin-spin
interaction energy. The issue of hidden momentum, and its counterintuitive
dynamical implications, is also analyzed. Finally, a number of issues regarding
the electromagnetic interaction and the physical meaning of Dixon's equations
are clarified.Comment: 32+11 pages, 5 figures. Edited and further improved version, with new
Section C.2 unveiling analogies for arbitrary spin conditions, and new Sec.
3.2.3 in the Supplement making connection to the post-Newtonian
approximation; former Sec. III.B.4 and Appendix C moved to the (reshuffled)
Supplement; references updated. The Supplement is provided in ancillary file.
Matches the final published versio
The Angular Correlation Function of Galaxies from Early SDSS Data
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is one of the first multicolor photometric and
spectroscopic surveys designed to measure the statistical properties of
galaxies within the local Universe. In this Letter we present some of the
initial results on the angular 2-point correlation function measured from the
early SDSS galaxy data. The form of the correlation function, over the
magnitude interval 18<r*<22, is shown to be consistent with results from
existing wide-field, photographic-based surveys and narrower CCD galaxy
surveys. On scales between 1 arcminute and 1 degree the correlation function is
well described by a power-law with an exponent of ~ -0.7. The amplitude of the
correlation function, within this angular interval, decreases with fainter
magnitudes in good agreement with analyses from existing galaxy surveys. There
is a characteristic break in the correlation function on scales of
approximately 1-2 degrees. On small scales, < 1', the SDSS correlation function
does not appear to be consistent with the power-law form fitted to the 1'<
theta <0.5 deg data. With a data set that is less than 2% of the full SDSS
survey area, we have obtained high precision measurements of the power-law
angular correlation function on angular scales 1' < theta < 1 deg, which are
robust to systematic uncertainties. Because of the limited area and the highly
correlated nature of the error covariance matrix, these initial results do not
yet provide a definitive characterization of departures from the power-law form
at smaller and larger angles. In the near future, however, the area of the SDSS
imaging survey will be sufficient to allow detailed analysis of the small and
large scale regimes, measurements of higher-order correlations, and studies of
angular clustering as a function of redshift and galaxy type
UV/Optical Nuclear Activity in the gE Galaxy NGC 1399
Using HST/STIS, we have detected far-ultraviolet nuclear activity in the
giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1399, the central and brightest galaxy in the
Fornax I cluster. The source reached a maximum observed far-UV luminosity of
\~1.2 x 10e39 ergs/s in January 1999. It was detectable in earlier HST archival
images in 1996 (B band) but not in 1991 (V band) or 1993 (UV). It faded by a
factor of ~4x by mid-2000. The source is almost certainly associated with the
low luminosity AGN responsible for the radio emission in NGC 1399. The
properties of the outburst are remarkably similar to the UV-bright nuclear
transient discovered earlier in NGC 4552 by Renzini et al. (1995). The source
is much fainter than expected from its Bondi accretion rate (estimated from
Chandra high resolution X-ray images), even in the context of "radiatively
inefficient accretion flow" models, and its variability also appears
inconsistent with such models. High spatial resolution UV monitoring is a
valuable means to study activity in nearby LLAGNs.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in Ap
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