1,655 research outputs found
Impaired endothelial function of the retinal vasculature in hypertensive patients
<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> Arterial hypertension constitutes a central factor in the pathogenesis of stroke. We examined endothelial function of the retinal vasculature as a model of the cerebral circulation.</p>
<p><b>Methods:</b> Thirty-eight young subjects (19 hypertensive and 19 normotensive) were treated with the AT1-receptor blocker candesartan cilexetil and placebo, each over 7 days. Retinal capillary flow and blood flow velocity in the central retinal artery were assessed with scanning laser Doppler flowmetry and pulsed Doppler ultrasound, respectively. NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) was infused to inhibit nitric oxide (NO) synthesis. Diffuse luminance flicker was applied to stimulate NO release.</p>
<p><b>Results:</b> In normotensive subjects, L-NMMA decreased retinal capillary flow by 8.2%±13% (P<0.05) and flickering light increased mean blood flow velocity in the central retinal artery by 19%±29% (P<0.01). In contrast, no significant change to these provocative tests was seen in hypertensive subjects. Treatment with candesartan cilexetil restored a normal pattern of reactivity in retinal capillaries (L-NMMA: decrease in perfusion by 10%±17%, P<0.05) and the central retinal artery (flicker: increase in mean blood flow velocity by 42%±31%, P<0.001) in hypertensive patients.</p>
<p><b>Conclusions:</b> Endothelial function of the retinal vasculature is impaired in early essential hypertension but can be improved by AT1-receptor blockade.</p>
Observations of Multiple Surges Associated with Magnetic Activities in AR10484 on 25 October 2003
We present a multiwavelength study of recurrent surges observed in H{\alpha},
UV (SOHO/EIT) and Radio (Learmonth, Australia) from the super-active region
NOAA 10484 on 25 October, 2003. Several bright structures visible in H{\alpha}
and UV corresponding to subflares are also observed at the base of each surge.
Type III bursts are triggered and RHESSI X-ray sources are evident with surge
activity. The major surge consists of the bunches of ejective paths forming a
fan-shape region with an angular size of (\approx 65\degree) during its maximum
phase. The ejection speed reaches upto \sim200 km/s. The SOHO/MDI magnetograms
reveal that a large dipole emerges east side of the active region on 18-20
October 2003, a few days before the surges. On October 25, 2003, the major
sunspots were surrounded by "moat regions" with moving magnetic features
(MMFs). Parasitic fragmented positive polarities were pushed by the ambient
dispersion motion of the MMFs and annihilated with negative polarities at the
borders of the moat region of the following spot to produce flares and surges.
A topology analysis of the global Sun using PFSS shows that the fan structures
visible in the EIT 171 A images follow magnetic field lines connecting the
present AR to a preceding AR in the South East. Radio observations of type III
bursts indicate that they are coincident with the surges, suggesting that
magnetic reconnection is the driver mechanism. The magnetic energy released by
reconnection is transformed into plasma heating and provides the kinetic energy
for the ejections. A lack of a radio signature in the high corona suggests that
the surges are confined to follow the closed field lines in the fans. We
conclude that these cool surges may have some local heating effects in the
closed loops, but probably play a minor role in global coronal heating and the
surge material does not escape to the solar wind.Comment: Accepted for the Publication in ApJ; 25 pages, 10 Figures, and 1
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Recurrent Coronal Jets Induced by Repetitively Accumulated Electric Currents
Three extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) jets recurred in about one hour on 2010
September 17 in the following magnetic polarity of active region 11106. The EUV
jets were observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar
Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board
SDO measured the vector magnetic field, from which we derive the magnetic flux
evolution, the photospheric velocity field, and the vertical electric current
evolution. The magnetic configuration before the jets is derived by the
nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolation.
We derive that the jets are above a pair of parasitic magnetic bipoles which
are continuously driven by photospheric diverging flows. The interaction drove
the build up of electric currents that we indeed observed as elongated patterns
at the photospheric level. For the first time, the high temporal cadence of HMI
allows to follow the evolution of such small currents. In the jet region, we
found that the integrated absolute current peaks repetitively in phase with the
171 A flux evolution. The current build up and its decay are both fast, about
10 minutes each, and the current maximum precedes the 171 A by also about 10
minutes. Then, HMI temporal cadence is marginally fast enough to detect such
changes.
The photospheric current pattern of the jets is found associated to the
quasi-separatrix layers deduced from the magnetic extrapolation. From previous
theoretical results, the observed diverging flows are expected to build
continuously such currents. We conclude that magnetic reconnection occurs
periodically, in the current layer created between the emerging bipoles and the
large scale active region field. It induced the observed recurrent coronal jets
and the decrease of the vertical electric current magnitude.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&
3D evolution of a filament disappearance event observed by STEREO
A filament disappearance event was observed on 22 May 2008 during our recent
campaign JOP 178. The filament, situated in the southern hemisphere, showed
sinistral chirality consistent with the hemispheric rule. The event was well
observed by several observatories in particular by THEMIS. One day before the
disappearance, H observations showed up and down flows in adjacent
locations along the filament, which suggest plasma motions along twisted flux
rope. THEMIS and GONG observations show shearing photospheric motions leading
to magnetic flux canceling around barbs. STEREO A, B spacecraft with separation
angle 52.4 degrees, showed quite different views of this untwisting flux rope
in He II 304 \AA\ images. Here, we reconstruct the 3D geometry of the filament
during its eruption phase using STEREO EUV He II 304 \AA\ images and find that
the filament was highly inclined to the solar normal. The He II 304 \AA\ movies
show individual threads, which oscillate and rise to an altitude of about 120
Mm with apparent velocities of about 100 km s, during the rapid
evolution phase. Finally, as the flux rope expands into the corona, the
filament disappears by becoming optically thin to undetectable levels. No CME
was detected by STEREO, only a faint CME was recorded by LASCO at the beginning
of the disappearance phase at 02:00 UT, which could be due to partial filament
eruption. Further, STEREO Fe XII 195 \AA\ images showed bright loops beneath
the filament prior to the disappearance phase, suggesting magnetic reconnection
below the flux rope
On the nature of prominence emission observed by SDO/AIA
The Prominence-Corona Transition Region (PCTR) plays a key role in the
thermal and pressure equilibrium of solar prominences. Our knowledge of this
interface is limited and several major issues remain open, including the
thermal structure and, in particular, the maximum temperature of the detectable
plasma. The high signal-to-noise ratio of images obtained by the Atmospheric
Imaging Assembly (AIA) on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory clearly show that
prominences are often seen in emission in the 171 and 131 bands. We investigate
the temperature sensitivity of these AIA bands for prominence observation, in
order to infer the temperature content in an effort to explain the emission.
Using the CHIANTI atomic database and previously determined prominence
differential emission measure distributions, we build synthetic spectra to
establish the main emission-line contributors in the AIA bands. We find that
the Fe IX line always dominates the 171 band, even in the absence of plasma at
> 10^6 K temperatures, while the 131 band is dominated by Fe VIII. We conclude
that the PCTR has sufficient plasma emitting at > 4 10^5 K to be detected by
AIA.Comment: accepted Ap
Toroidal Miller-Turner and Soloviev CME models in EUHFORIA: I. Implementation
The aim of this paper is to present the implementation of two new CME models
in the space weather forecasting tool, EUHFORIA. We introduce the two toroidal
CME models analytically, along with their numerical implementation in EUHFORIA.
One model is based on the modified Miller-Turner (mMT) solution, while the
other is derived from the Soloviev equilibrium, a specific solution of the
Grad-Shafranov equation. The magnetic field distribution in both models is
provided in analytic formulae, enabling a swift numerical computation. After
detailing the differences between the two models, we present a collection of
thermodynamic and magnetic profiles obtained at Earth using these CME solutions
in EUHFORIA with a realistic solar wind background. Subsequently, we explore
the influence of their initial parameters on the time profiles at L1. In
particular, we examine the impact of the initial density, magnetic field
strength, velocity, and minor radius. In EUHFORIA, we obtained different
thermodynamic and magnetic profiles depending on the CME model used. We found
that changing the initial parameters affects both the amplitude and the trend
of the time profiles. For example, using a high initial speed results in a fast
evolving and compressed magnetic structure. The speed of the CME is also linked
to the strength of the initial magnetic field due to the contribution of the
Lorentz force on the CME expansion. However, increasing the initial magnetic
field also increases the computation time. Finally, the expansion and integrity
of the magnetic structure can be controlled via the initial density of the CME.
Both toroidal CME models are successfully implemented in EUHFORIA and can be
utilized to predict the geo-effectiveness of the impact of real CME events.
Moreover, the current implementation could be easily modified to model other
toroidal magnetic configurations
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