301 research outputs found
UGROŽENE VRSTE RIBA U SVIJETU: Hucho taimen (Pallas, 1773)
Taimen Hucho taimen (Pallas, 1773) was once common in China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia but is disappearing now from its native region. This vulnerable species has considerable ecological importance but there are few data available on its biology. The limited available data on its systematics, distribution, ecology, reproduction and threats are summarized and discussed.Taimen Hucho taimen (Pallas, 1773) je nekoć bio čest u Kini, Rusiji, Kazahstanu i Mongoliji, ali sada nestaje iz svojih prirodnih staništa. Ova osjetljiva vrsta ima značajnu ekološku važnost iako ima malo podataka o njenoj biologiji. Dostupni podaci vezani uz sistematiku, distribuciju, ekologiju, razmnožavanje i prijetnje su ograničeni te su sažeti i o njima se raspravlja
Return of 4U~1730--22 after 49 years silence: the peculiar burst properties of the 2021/2022 outbursts observed by Insight-HXMT
After in quiescence for 49 years, 4U~1730--22 became active and had two
outbursts in 2021 \& 2022; ten thermonuclear X-ray bursts were detected with
Insight-HXMT. Among them, the faintest burst showed a double-peaked profile,
placing the source as the 5th accreting neutron star (NS) exhibiting
double/triple-peaked type-I X-ray bursts; the other bursts showed photospheric
radius expansion (PRE). The properties of double-peaked non-PRE burst indicate
that it could be related to a stalled burning front. For the five bright PRE
bursts, apart from the emission from the neutron star (NS) surface, we find the
residuals both in the soft (10 keV) X-ray band.
Time-resolved spectroscopy reveals that the excess can be attributed to an
enhanced pre-burst/persistent emission or the Comptonization of the burst
emission by the corona/boundary-layer. We find, the burst emission shows a rise
until the photosphere touches down to the NS surface rather than the
theoretical predicted constant Eddington luminosity.
The shortage of the burst emission in the early rising phase is beyond the
occlusion by the disk. We speculate that the findings above correspond to that
the obscured part (not only the lower part) of the NS surface is exposed to the
line of sight due to the evaporation of the obscured material by the burst
emission, or the burst emission is anisotropic () in the burst early
phase. In addition, based on the average flux of PRE bursts at their touch-down
time, we derive a distance estimation as 10.4 kpc.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2208.13556;
text overlap with arXiv:2208.1212
In-orbit background simulation of a type-B CATCH satellite
The Chasing All Transients Constellation Hunters (CATCH) space mission plans
to launch three types of micro-satellites (A, B, and C). The type-B CATCH
satellites are dedicated to locating transients and detecting their
time-dependent energy spectra. A type-B satellite is equipped with lightweight
Wolter-I X-ray optics and an array of position-sensitive multi-pixel Silicon
Drift Detectors. To optimize the scientific payloads for operating properly in
orbit and performing the observations with high sensitivities, this work
performs an in-orbit background simulation of a type-B CATCH satellite using
the Geant4 toolkit. It shows that the persistent background is dominated by the
cosmic X-ray diffuse background and the cosmic-ray protons. The dynamic
background is also estimated considering trapped charged particles in the
radiation belts and low-energy charged particles near the geomagnetic equator,
which is dominated by the incident electrons outside the aperture. The
simulated persistent background within the focal spot is used to estimate the
observation sensitivity, i.e. 4.2210 erg cm s
with an exposure of 10 s and a Crab-like source spectrum, which can be
utilized further to optimize the shielding design. The simulated in-orbit
background also suggests that the magnetic diverter just underneath the optics
may be unnecessary in this kind of micro-satellites, because the dynamic
background induced by charged particles outside the aperture is around 3 orders
of magnitude larger than that inside the aperture.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in
Experimental Astronom
Detection of the inferred interaction network in hepatocellular carcinoma from EHCO (Encyclopedia of Hepatocellular Carcinoma genes Online)
BACKGROUND: The significant advances in microarray and proteomics analyses have resulted in an exponential increase in potential new targets and have promised to shed light on the identification of disease markers and cellular pathways. We aim to collect and decipher the HCC-related genes at the systems level. RESULTS: Here, we build an integrative platform, the Encyclopedia of Hepatocellular Carcinoma genes Online, dubbed EHCO , to systematically collect, organize and compare the pileup of unsorted HCC-related studies by using natural language processing and softbots. Among the eight gene set collections, ranging across PubMed, SAGE, microarray, and proteomics data, there are 2,906 genes in total; however, more than 77% genes are only included once, suggesting that tremendous efforts need to be exerted to characterize the relationship between HCC and these genes. Of these HCC inventories, protein binding represents the largest proportion (~25%) from Gene Ontology analysis. In fact, many differentially expressed gene sets in EHCO could form interaction networks (e.g. HBV-associated HCC network) by using available human protein-protein interaction datasets. To further highlight the potential new targets in the inferred network from EHCO, we combine comparative genomics and interactomics approaches to analyze 120 evolutionary conserved and overexpressed genes in HCC. 47 out of 120 queries can form a highly interactive network with 18 queries serving as hubs. CONCLUSION: This architectural map may represent the first step toward the attempt to decipher the hepatocarcinogenesis at the systems level. Targeting hubs and/or disruption of the network formation might reveal novel strategy for HCC treatment
Chinese herb mix Tiáo-Gēng-Tāng possesses antiaging and antioxidative effects and upregulates expression of estrogen receptors alpha and beta in ovariectomized rats
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Herb mixtures are widely used as an alternative to hormonal therapy in China for treatment of the menopausal syndrome. However, composition of these herb mixtures are complex and their working mechanism is often unknown. This study investigated the effect of Tiáo-Gēng-Tāng (TG-decoction), a Chinese herbal mixture extract, in balancing female hormones, regulating expression of estrogen receptors (ERs), and preventing aging-related tissue damage.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ovariectomized 5-month-old female rats were used to model menopause and treated with either TG-decoction or conjugated estrogen for 8 weeks. Estradiol (E<sub>2</sub>), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured in serum and in the hypothalamus. Hypothalamic expression of estrogen receptor (ER) alpha and beta were studied by real-time PCR and western blotting. Total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), oxidation indicator superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and tissue damage parameter malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured using standard assays. Aging-related ultrastructural alterations in mitochondria were studied in all animals by transmission electron microscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>TG-decoction-treatment elevated E<sub>2 </sub>and lowered FSH in serum of ovariectomized rats. The potency and efficacy of TG-decoction on the hypothalamus was generally weaker than that of conjugated estrogens. However, TG-decoction was superior in upregulating expression of ERα and β. TG-decoction increased hypothalamic SOD and T-AOC levels and decreased MDAlevels and mitochondrial damage in hypothalamic neurons.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>TG-decoction balances female hormones similarly to conjugated estrogens but less effectively. However, it is superior in up regulating ERα and β and exhibits antioxidative antiaging activities. Whilst it shares similar effects with estrogen, TG-decoction also seems to have distinctive and more complex functions and activities.</p
Deep underground laboratory measurement of C(,)O in the Gamow windows of the - and -processes
The C(,)O reaction is the main neutron source for
the slow-neutron-capture (s-) process in Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and for
the intermediate (i-) process. Direct measurements at astrophysical energies in
above-ground laboratories are hindered by the extremely small cross sections
and vast cosmic-ray induced background. We performed the first consistent
direct measurement in the range of 0.24 MeV to 1.9 MeV using the
accelerators at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL) and Sichuan
University. Our measurement covers almost the entire i-process Gamow window in
which the large uncertainty of the previous experiments has been reduced from
60\% down to 15\%, eliminates the large systematic uncertainty in the
extrapolation arising from the inconsistency of existing data sets, and
provides a more reliable reaction rate for the studies of the s- and
i-processes along with the first direct determination of the alpha strength for
the near-threshold state
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