A feature-rich transmission spectrum for WASP-127b

WASP-127b is one of the lowest density planets discovered to date. With a sub-Saturn mass ($M_{\rm p}=0.18 \pm 0.02 M_J$) and super-Jupiter radius ($R_{\rm p}= 1.37 \pm 0.04 R_J$), it orbits a bright G5 star, which is about to leave the main-sequence. We aim to explore WASP-127b's atmosphere in order to retrieve its main atmospheric components, and to find hints for its intriguing inflation and evolutionary history. We used the ALFOSC spectrograph at the NOT telescope to observe a low resolution ($R\sim330$, seeing limited) long-slit spectroscopic time series during a planetary transit, and present here the first transmission spectrum for WASP-127b. We find the presence of a strong Rayleigh slope at blue wavelengths and a hint of Na absorption, although the quality of the data does not allow us to claim a detection. At redder wavelengths the absorption features of TiO and VO are the best explanation to fit the data. Although higher signal-to-noise ratio observations are needed to conclusively confirm the absorption features, WASP-127b seems to posses a cloud-free atmosphere and is one of the best targets to perform further characterization studies in the near future.Comment: Accepted for Publication A&A Letters, May 22nd, 201

Convective Wavelength Shifts in the Spectra of Late-Type Stars

We present ultra-high resolution spectra for a set of nearby F-G-K stars on, or close to, the main sequence. The wavelength shifts of stellar lines relative to their laboratory wavelengths are measured for more than a thousand Fe I lines per star, finding a clear correlation with line depth. The observed patterns are interpreted as convective blue-shifts that become more prominent for weaker lines, which are formed in deeper atmospheric layers. A morphological sequence with spectral type or effective temperature is apparent. Two K giant stars have also been studied. The velocity span between weak and strong lines for these stars is larger than for the dwarfs and subgiants of similar spectral types. Our results show that convective wavelength shifts may seriously compromise the accuracy of absolute spectroscopic radial velocities, but that an empirical correction may be applied to measured velocities.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; uses emulateapj.sty; to appear in ApJ

Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate lifestyle-related behaviors in elementary school children

Background: The SI! Program promotes cardiovascular health through a multilevel school-based intervention on four lifestyle-related components: diet, physical activity, understanding the body and heart, and management of emotions. We report here the development and validation of the KAH (knowledge, attitudes and habits)-questionnaire adapted for elementary school children (6-7 years old) as a tool for the forthcoming evaluation of the SI! Program, where the KAH scoring will be the primary outcome. The efficacy of such an intervention will be based on the improvements in children's KAH towards a healthy lifestyle. Methods: The questionnaire validation process started with a pool of items proposed by the pedagogical team who developed the SI! Program for elementary school. The questionnaire was finalized by decreasing the number of items from 155 to 48 using expert panels and statistical tests on the responses from 384 children (ages 6-7). A team of specialized psychologists administered the questionnaire at schools providing standard directions for the final administration. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's a coefficients. Reliability was measured through the split-half method, and problematic items were detected applying the item response theory. Analysis of variance and Tukey's test of additivity were used for multiple comparisons. Results: The final KAH-questionnaire for elementary school children should be administered to children individually by trained staff. The 48 items-questionnaire is divided evenly between the 4 components of the intervention, with an overall Cronbach's a = 0.791 (a = 0.526 for diet, a = 0.537 for physical activity, a = 0.523 for human body and heart, and a = 0.537 for management of emotions). Conclusions: The KAH-questionnaire is a reliable instrument to assess the efficacy of the SI! Program on instilling healthy lifestyle-related behaviors in elementary school children.This work is supported by the SHE Foundation (Foundation for Science, Health and Education) and the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.S

Upregulation of natural killer cells functions underlies the efficacy of intratumorally injected dendritic cells engineered to produce interleukin-12

OBJECTIVE: Injection of dendritic cells (DC) engineered with recombinant adenoviral vectors to produce interleukin-12 (IL-12) inside experimental murine tumors frequently achieves complete regressions. In such a system the function of CD8(+) T cells has been shown to be an absolute requirement, in contrast to observations made upon depletion of CD4(+) T cells, which minimally affected the outcome. The aim of this work was to study the possible involvement of natural killer (NK) cells in this setting. MATERIALS, METHODS, AND RESULTS: Depletions with anti-AsialoGM1 antiserum showed only a small decrease in the proportion of complete regressions obtained that correlated with induction of NK activities in lymphatic tissues into which DC migrate, whereas combined depletions of CD4(+) and NK cells completely eliminated the antitumor effects. Likewise in vivo neutralization of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) also eliminated those therapeutic effects. Trying to define the cellular role played by NK cells in vivo, it was observed that injection of cultured DC inside the spleen of T- and B-cell-deficient (Rag1(-/-)) mice induced upregulation of NK activity only if DC had been adenovirally engineered to produce IL-12. In addition, identically transfected fibroblasts also activated NK cells, indicating that IL-12 transfection was the unique requirement. Equivalent human DC only activated in vitro the cytolytic and cytokine-secreting functions of autologous NK cells if transfected to express human IL-12. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these results point out an important role played by NK cell activation in the potent immunotherapeutic effects elicited by intratumoral injection of IL-12--secreting DC and that NK activation under these conditions is mainly, if not only, dependent on IL-12

Multicolor photometry of ten Seyfert 1 galaxies

We present BVI photometry of ten Seyfert 1 galaxies and narrow band H-alpha images for six of these objects as well. The results indicate that the luminosity sample distribution has an amplitude of almost 4 magnitudes with an average of M_B=-20.7. The observed morphologies are confined to early type galaxies. A barred structure is found in only 2 objects. Despite that early morphological types are dominant in this sample, integrated (B-V) colors are very blue. For instance, the SO galaxies show, on average, a (B-V)=0.78. This effect seems to be caused by the luminosity contribution of the active nucleus and/or the disk to the total luminosity of the galaxy. In the B band, the contribution of the active galactic nucleus to the total luminosity of the galaxy varies from 3% to almost 60% and the bulge to disk luminosity ratio (L_bulge/L_disk) ranges from 0.6 to 22. Signs of tidal interactions seems to be a common characteristic since they are observed in 6 of the objects and one of them seems to be located in a poor cluster not yet identified in the literature. H_alpha extended emission is rare, with only 1 galaxy showing clear evidence of it. Luminosity profile decomposition shows that the model Gauss + bulge + disk properly reproduces the surface brightness of the galaxies. However, in order to account for the luminosity profile, most of the disk galaxies needs the inner truncated exponential form with a central cutoff radius ranging from 3 to 10 kpc. This is interpreted in terms of reddened regions that are well identified in the B-V color maps. These regions present very similar colors among them, with (B-V)~1.2. This fact could be associated to the presence of dust confined in the inner regions of the galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 25 figures. Accepted to Astronomy & Astrophysic