716 research outputs found
The anatomy of tubercles: A corrosion study in a fresh water estuary
The structure and mineralogy of corrosion products formed on carbon steel coupons exposed in Duluth Superior Harbor (DSH, USA), were investigated and compared with corrosion products on similar substrata from other locations. Corrosion products in DSH form within a few months each year and are removed by ice scour and reform. The corrosion products formed in DSH are tubercles with an outer surface, an inner shell of magnetite, and a core of iron(III) oxyhydroxides, goethite, and lepidocrocite, in association with stalks produced by bacteria. In general, the tubercles formed in DSH are similar in morphology and mineralogy to corrosion products described for carbon steel and cast iron exposed to treated waters in decades-old drinking water and cooling water systems. DSH tubercles are unique in several structural details. DSH tubercles increase areal coverage of the substratum by consolidation of tubercles. Furthermore, the core material extends into the pit and is an exact replica of the pit profile
X-Ray Groups of Galaxies in the Aegis Deep and Wide Fields
We present the results of a search for extended X-ray sources and their
corresponding galaxy groups from 800-ks Chandra coverage of the All-wavelength
Extended Groth Strip International Survey (AEGIS). This yields one of the
largest X-ray selected galaxy group catalogs from a blind survey to date. The
red-sequence technique and spectroscopic redshifts allow us to identify 100
of reliable sources, leading to a catalog of 52 galaxy groups. The groups span
the redshift range and virial mass range
. For the 49 extended
sources which lie within DEEP2 and DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey coverage, we
identify spectroscopic counterparts and determine velocity dispersions. We
select member galaxies by applying different cuts along the line of sight or in
projected spatial coordinates. A constant cut along the line of sight can cause
a large scatter in scaling relations in low-mass or high-mass systems depending
on the size of cut. A velocity dispersion based virial radius can more
overestimate velocity dispersion in comparison to X-ray based virial radius for
low mass systems. There is no significant difference between these two radial
cuts for more massive systems. Independent of radial cut, overestimation of
velocity dispersion can be created in case of existence of significant
substructure and also compactness in X-ray emission which mostly occur in low
mass systems. We also present a comparison between X-ray galaxy groups and
optical galaxy groups detected using the Voronoi-Delaunay method (VDM) for
DEEP2 data in this field.Comment: Accepted for publication in AP
Extent, impact, and mitigation of batch effects in tumor biomarker studies using tissue microarrays
Tissue microarrays (TMAs) have been used in thousands of cancer biomarker studies. To what extent batch effects, measurement error in biomarker levels between slides, affects TMA-based studies has not been assessed systematically. We evaluated 20 protein biomarkers on 14 TMAs with prospectively collected tumor tissue from 1,448 primary prostate cancers. In half of the biomarkers, more than 10% of biomarker variance was attributable to between-TMA differences (range, 1–48%). We implemented different methods to mitigate batch effects (R package batchtma), tested in plasmode simulation. Biomarker levels were more similar between mitigation approaches compared to uncorrected values. For some biomarkers, associations with clinical features changed substantially after addressing batch effects. Batch effects and resulting bias are not an error of an individual study but an inherent feature of TMA-based protein biomarker studies. They always need to be considered during study design and addressed analytically in studies using more than one TMA
Parametrization of Born-Infeld Type Phantom Dark Energy Model
Applying the parametrization of dark energy density, we can construct
directly independent-model potentials. In Born-Infeld type phantom dark energy
model, we consider four special parametrization equation of state parameter.
The evolutive behavior of dark energy density with respect to red-shift ,
potentials with respect to and are shown mathematically. Moreover,
we investigate the effect of parameter upon the evolution of the
constructed potential with respect to . These results show that the
evolutive behavior of constructed Born-Infeld type dark energy model is quite
different from those of the other models.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space
Scienc
Evidence for a distinct neuro-immune signature in rats that develop behavioural disability after nerve injury
Accelerated expansion from braneworld models with variable vacuum energy
In braneworld models a variable vacuum energy may appear if the size of the
extra dimension changes during the evolution of the universe. In this scenario
the acceleration of the universe is related not only to the variation of the
cosmological term, but also to the time evolution of and, possibly, to the
variation of other fundamental "constants" as well. This is because the
expansion rate of the extra dimension appears in different contexts, notably in
expressions concerning the variation of rest mass and electric charge. We
concentrate our attention on spatially-flat, homogeneous and isotropic,
brane-universes where the matter density decreases as an inverse power of the
scale factor, similar (but at different rate) to the power law in FRW-universes
of general relativity.
We show that these braneworld cosmologies are consistent with the observed
accelerating universe and other observational requirements. In particular,
becomes constant and asymptotically in
time. Another important feature is that the models contain no "adjustable"
parameters. All the quantities, even the five-dimensional ones, can be
evaluated by means of measurements in 4D. We provide precise constrains on the
cosmological parameters and demonstrate that the "effective" equation of state
of the universe can, in principle, be determined by measurements of the
deceleration parameter alone. We give an explicit expression relating the
density parameters , and the deceleration
parameter . These results constitute concrete predictions that may help in
observations for an experimental/observational test of the model.Comment: References added, typos correcte
Genotoxic agents promote the nuclear accumulation of annexin A2: role of annexin A2 in mitigating DNA damage
Annexin A2 is an abundant cellular protein that is mainly localized in the cytoplasm and plasma membrane, however a small population has been found in the nucleus, suggesting a nuclear function for the protein. Annexin A2 possesses a nuclear export sequence (NES) and inhibition of the NES is sufficient to cause nuclear accumulation. Here we show that annexin A2 accumulates in the nucleus in response to genotoxic agents including gamma-radiation, UV radiation, etoposide and chromium VI and that this event is mediated by the nuclear export sequence of annexin A2. Nuclear accumulation of annexin A2 is blocked by the antioxidant agent N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and stimulated by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), suggesting that this is a reactive oxygen species dependent event. In response to genotoxic agents, cells depleted of annexin A2 show enhanced phospho-histone H2AX and p53 levels, increased numbers of p53-binding protein 1 nuclear foci and increased levels of nuclear 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanine, suggesting that annexin A2 plays a role in protecting DNA from damage. This is the first report showing the nuclear translocation of annexin A2 in response to genotoxic agents and its role in mitigating DNA damage.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); European Union [PCOFUND-GA-2009-246542]; Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal; Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute; Terry Fox Foundationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Observational constraint on generalized Chaplygin gas model
We investigate observational constraints on the generalized Chaplygin gas
(GCG) model as the unification of dark matter and dark energy from the latest
observational data: the Union SNe Ia data, the observational Hubble data, the
SDSS baryon acoustic peak and the five-year WMAP shift parameter. It is
obtained that the best fit values of the GCG model parameters with their
confidence level are ()
, ()
. Furthermore in this model, we can see that the
evolution of equation of state (EOS) for dark energy is similar to quiessence,
and its current best-fit value is with the confidence
level .Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Annexin-A5 assembled into two-dimensional arrays promotes cell membrane repair
Eukaryotic cells possess a universal repair machinery that ensures rapid resealing of plasma membrane disruptions. Before resealing, the torn membrane is submitted to considerable tension, which functions to expand the disruption. Here we show that annexin-A5 (AnxA5), a protein that self-assembles into two-dimensional (2D) arrays on membranes upon Ca2+ activation, promotes membrane repair. Compared with wild-type mouse perivascular cells, AnxA5-null cells exhibit a severe membrane repair defect. Membrane repair in AnxA5-null cells is rescued by addition of AnxA5, which binds exclusively to disrupted membrane areas. In contrast, an AnxA5 mutant that lacks the ability of forming 2D arrays is unable to promote membrane repair. We propose that AnxA5 participates in a previously unrecognized step of the membrane repair process: triggered by the local influx of Ca2+, AnxA5 proteins bind to torn membrane edges and form a 2D array, which prevents wound expansion and promotes membrane resealing
The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey: the group catalogue
[Abridged] We present a homogeneous and complete catalogue of optical groups
identified in the purely flux limited (17.5<=I<=24.0) VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey
(VVDS). We use mock catalogues extracted from the MILLENNIUM simulation, to
correct for potential systematics that might affect the overall distribution as
well as the individual properties of the identified systems. Simulated samples
allow us to forecast the number and properties of groups that can be
potentially found in a survey with VVDS-like selection functions. We use them
to correct for the expected incompleteness and also to asses how well galaxy
redshifts trace the line-of-sight velocity dispersion of the underlying mass
overdensity. In particular, we train on these mock catalogues the adopted
group-finding technique (the Voronoi-Delaunay Method, VDM). The goal is to
fine-tune its free parameters, recover in a robust and unbiased way the
redshift and velocity dispersion distributions of groups and maximize the level
of completeness (C) and purity (P) of the group catalogue. We identify 318 VVDS
groups with at least 2 members within 0.2<=z<=1.0, among which 144 (/30) with
at least 3 (/5) members. The sample has globally C=60% and P=50%. Nearly 45% of
the groups with at least 3 members are still recovered if we run the algorithm
with a parameter set which maximizes P (75%). We exploit the group sample to
study the redshift evolution of the fraction f_b of blue galaxies (U-B<=1)
within 0.2<=z<=1. We find that f_b is significantly lower in groups than in the
whole ensemble of galaxies irrespectively of their environment. These
quantities increase with redshift, with f_b in groups showing a marginally
significant steeper increase. We also confirm that, at any explored redshift,
f_b decreases for increasing group richness, and we extend towards fainter
luminosities the magnitude range over which this result holds.Comment: Submitted to A&A, revised version after referee comments, Table 5
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