354 research outputs found
Ambiguity of gamma-ray tracking of "two-interaction" events
Tracking of gamma-ray interactions in germanium detectors can allow
reconstruction of the photon paths, and is useful for many applications.
Scrutiny of the kinematics and geometry of gamma rays which are Compton
scattered only once prior to full absorption reveals that there are cases where
even perfect spatial and energy resolution cannot resolve the true interaction
sequence and consequently gamma-ray tracks cannot be reconstructed. The photon
energy range where this ambiguity exists is from 255 keV to around 700 keV.
This is a region of importance for nuclear structure research where two-point
interactions are probable.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
INTEGRAL-RXTE observations of Cygnus X-1
We present first results from contemporaneous observations of Cygnus X-1 with
INTEGRAL and RXTE, made during INTEGRAL's performance verification phase in
2002 November and December. Consistent with earlier results, the 3-250 keV data
are well described by Comptonization spectra from a Compton corona with a
temperature of kT~50-90 keV and an optical depth of tau~1.0-1.3 plus reflection
from a cold or mildly ionized slab with a covering factor of Omega/2pi~0.2-0.3.
A soft excess below 10 keV, interpreted as emission from the accretion disk, is
seen to decrease during the 1.5 months spanned by our observations. Our results
indicate a remarkable consistency among the independently calibrated detectors,
with the remaining issues being mainly related to the flux calibration of
INTEGRAL.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Figs. 2 and 3 are best viewed in color. Accepted
for publication in the INTEGRAL special edition of A&A
Estrogens Determine Adherens Junction Organization and E-Cadherin Clustering in Breast Cancer Cells via Amphiregulin
Estrogens play an important role in the development and progression of human cancers, particularly in breast cancer. Breast cancer progression depends on the malignant destabilization of adherens junctions (AJs) and disruption of tissue integrity. We found that estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) inhibition led to a striking spatial reorganization of AJs and microclustering of E-Cadherin (E-Cad) in the cell membrane of breast cancer cells. This resulted in increased stability of AJs and cell stiffness and a reduction of cell motility. These effects were actomyosindependent and reversible by estrogens. Detailed investigations showed that the ERa target gene and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) ligand Amphiregulin (AREG) essentially regulates AJ reorganization and E-Cad microclustering. Our results not only describe a biological mechanism for the organization of AJs and the modulation of mechanical properties of cells but also provide a new perspective on how estrogens and anti-estrogens might influence the formation of breast tumors
Multifrequency Observations of the Virgo Blazars 3C 273 and 3C 279 in CGRO Cycle 8
We report first observational results of multifrequency campaigns on the
prominent Virgo blazars 3C 273 and 3C 279 which were carried out in January and
February 1999. Both blazars are detected from radio to gamma-ray energies. We
present the measured X- to gamma-ray spectra of both sources, and for 3C 279 we
compare the 1999 broad-band (radio to gamma-ray) spectrum to measured previous
ones.Comment: 5 pages including 3 figures, latex2e, to appear in: 'Proc. of the 5th
Compton Symposium', AIP, in pres
INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton observations of the weak GRB 030227
We present INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton observations of the prompt gamma-ray
emission and the X-ray afterglow of GRB030227, the first GRB for which the
quick localization obtained with the INTEGRAL Burst Alert System (IBAS) has led
to the discovery of X-ray and optical afterglows. GRB030227 had a duration of
about 20 s and a peak flux of 1.1 photons cm^-2 s^-1 in the 20-200 keV energy
range. The time averaged spectrum can be fit by a single power law with photon
index about 2 and we find some evidence for a hard to soft spectral evolution.
The X-ray afterglow has been detected starting only 8 hours after the prompt
emission, with a 0.2-10 keV flux decreasing as t^-1 from 1.3x10e-12 to 5x10e-13
erg cm^-2 s^-1. The afterglow spectrum is well described by a power law with
photon index 1.94+/-0.05 modified by a redshifted neutral absorber with column
density of several 10e22 cm^-2. A possible emission line at 1.67 keV could be
due to Fe for a redshift z=3, consistent with the value inferred from the
absorption.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, latex, Accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Considerations for a European animal welfare standard to evaluate adverse phenotypes in teleost fish
No abstract available
A dynamical model reveals gene co-localizations in nucleus
Co-localization of networks of genes in the nucleus is thought to play an important role in determining gene expression patterns. Based upon experimental data, we built a dynamical model to test whether pure diffusion could account for the observed co-localization of genes within a defined subnuclear region. A simple standard Brownian motion model in two and three dimensions shows that preferential co-localization is possible for co-regulated genes without any direct interaction, and suggests the occurrence may be due to a limitation in the number of available transcription factors. Experimental data of chromatin movements demonstrates that fractional rather than standard Brownian motion is more appropriate to model gene mobilizations, and we tested our dynamical model against recent static experimental data, using a sub-diffusion process by which the genes tend to colocalize more easily. Moreover, in order to compare our model with recently obtained experimental data, we studied the association level between genes and factors, and presented data supporting the validation of this dynamic model. As further applications of our model, we applied it to test against more biological observations. We found that increasing transcription factor number, rather than factory number and nucleus size, might be the reason for decreasing gene co-localization. In the scenario of frequency-or amplitude-modulation of transcription factors, our model predicted that frequency-modulation may increase the co-localization between its targeted genes
Single-cell Hi-C reveals cell-to-cell variability in chromosome structure.
Large-scale chromosome structure and spatial nuclear arrangement have been linked to control of gene expression and DNA replication and repair. Genomic techniques based on chromosome conformation capture (3C) assess contacts for millions of loci simultaneously, but do so by averaging chromosome conformations from millions of nuclei. Here we introduce single-cell Hi-C, combined with genome-wide statistical analysis and structural modelling of single-copy X chromosomes, to show that individual chromosomes maintain domain organization at the megabase scale, but show variable cell-to-cell chromosome structures at larger scales. Despite this structural stochasticity, localization of active gene domains to boundaries of chromosome territories is a hallmark of chromosomal conformation. Single-cell Hi-C data bridge current gaps between genomics and microscopy studies of chromosomes, demonstrating how modular organization underlies dynamic chromosome structure, and how this structure is probabilistically linked with genome activity patterns
On the electronic structure of electron doped LaOFeAs as seen by X-ray absorption spectroscopy
We investigated the recently found superconductor LaO_{1-x}F_xFeAs by X-ray
absorption spectroscopy (XAS). From a comparison of the O K-edge with LDA
calculations we find good agreement and are able to explain the structure and
changes of the spectra with electron doping. An important result from this edge
is a limitation of the Hubbard U to values not significantly larger than 1 eV.
From experimental Fe L_2,3-edge spectra and charge transfer multiplet
calculations we gain further information on important physical values such as
hopping parameters, the charge transfer energy Delta, and the on-site Hubbard
U. Furthermore we find the system to be very covalent with a large amount of
ligand holes. A shift in the chemical potential is visible in the O K- and Fe
L_2,3-edge spectra which emphasizes the importance of band effects in these
compounds.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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