935 research outputs found
LkH 330: Evidence for dust clearing through resolved submillimeter imaging
Mid-infrared spectrophotometric observations have revealed a small sub-class
of circumstellar disks with spectral energy distributions (SEDs) suggestive of
large inner gaps with low dust content. However, such data provide only an
indirect and model dependent method of finding central holes. We present here
the direct characterization of a 40 AU radius inner gap in the disk around LkHa
330 through 340 GHz (880 micron) dust continuum imaging with the Submillimeter
Array (SMA). This large gap is fully resolved by the SMA observations and
mostly empty of dust with less than 1.3 x 10^-6 M_solar of solid particles
inside of 40 AU. Gas (as traced by accretion markers and CO M-band emission) is
still present in the inner disk and the outer edge of the gap rises steeply --
features in better agreement with the underlying cause being gravitational
perturbation than a more gradual process such as grain growth. Importantly, the
good agreement of the spatially resolved data and spectrophometry-based model
lends confidence to current interpretations of SEDs with significant dust
emission deficits as arising from disks with inner gaps or holes. Further
SED-based searches can therefore be expected to yield numerous additional
candidates that can be examined at high spatial resolution.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted to ApJ
Coagulation of small grains in disks: the influence of residual infall and initial small-grain content
Turbulent coagulation in protoplanetary disks is known to operate on
timescale far shorter than the lifetime of the disk. In the absence of
mechanisms that replenish the small dust grain population, protoplanetary disks
would rapidly lose their continuum opacity-bearing dust. This is inconsistent
with infrared observations of disks around T Tauri stars and Herbig Ae/Be
stars, which are usually optically thick at visual wavelengths and show
signatures of small (a<~ 3um) grains. A plausible replenishing mechanism of
small grains is collisional fragmentation or erosion of large dust aggregates,
which model calculations predict to play an important role in protoplanetary
disks. If optically thick disks are to be seen as proof for ongoing
fragmentation or erosion, then alternative explanations for the existence of
optically thick disks must be studied carefully. In this study we explore two
scenarios. First, we study the effect of residual, low-level infall of matter
onto the disk surface. We find that infall rates as low as 10^{-11} Msun/yr
can, in principle, replenish the small grain population to a level that keeps
the disk marginally optically thick. However, it remains to be seen if the
assumption of such inflow is realistic for star+disk systems at the age of
several Myrs, at which winds and jets are expected to have removed any residual
envelope. In summary, fragmentation or erosion still appear to be the most
promising processes to explain the abundant presence of small grains in old
disks.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, A&A in pres
The formation and habitability of terrestrial planets in the presence of hot jupiters
`Hot jupiters,' giant planets with orbits very close to their parent stars,
are thought to form farther away and migrate inward via interactions with a
massive gas disk. If a giant planet forms and migrates quickly, the
planetesimal population has time to re-generate in the lifetime of the disk and
terrestrial planets may form (Armitage 2003). We present results of simulations
of terrestrial planet formation in the presence of hot jupiters, broadly
defined as having orbital radii <= 0.5 AU. We show that terrestrial planets
similar to those in the Solar System can form around stars with hot jupiters,
and can have water contents equal to or higher than the Earth's. For small
orbital radii of hot jupiters (e.g. 0.15, 0.25 AU) potentially habitable
planets can form, but for semi-major axes of 0.5 AU or greater their formation
is suppressed. We show that the presence of an outer giant planet such as
Jupiter does not enhance the water content of the terrestrial planets, but
rather decreases their formation and water delivery timescales. We speculate
that asteroid belts may exist interior to the terrestrial planets in systems
with hot jupiters.Comment: 5 pages, 2 color figures in emulate ApJ style submitted to Icaru
Successful establishment of primary small airway cell cultures in human lung transplantation
Background: The study of small airway diseases such as post-transplant bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is hampered by the difficulty in assessing peripheral airway function either physiologically or directly. Our aims were to develop robust methods for sampling small airway epithelial cells (SAEC) and to establish submerged SAEC cultures for downstream experimentation
Dibenzo[a,j]phenazine-Cored Donor-Acceptor-Donor Compounds as Green-to-Red/NIR Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Organic Light Emitters
A new family of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters based on U-shaped D-A-D architecture with a novel accepting unit has been developed. All investigated compounds have small singlet-triplet energy splitting (E-ST) ranging from 0.02 to 0.20eV and showed efficient TADF properties. The lowest triplet state of the acceptor unit plays the key role in the TADF mechanism. OLEDs fabricated with these TADF emitters achieved excellent efficiencies up to 16% external quantum efficiency (EQE)
An Unbiased Cell Morphology–Based Screen for New, Biologically Active Small Molecules
We have implemented an unbiased cell morphology–based screen to identify small-molecule modulators of cellular processes using the Cytometrix (TM) automated imaging and analysis system. This assay format provides unbiased analysis of morphological effects induced by small molecules by capturing phenotypic readouts of most known classes of pharmacological agents and has the potential to read out pathways for which little is known. Four human-cancer cell lines and one noncancerous primary cell type were treated with 107 small molecules comprising four different protein kinase–inhibitor scaffolds. Cellular phenotypes induced by each compound were quantified by multivariate statistical analysis of the morphology, staining intensity, and spatial attributes of the cellular nuclei, microtubules, and Golgi compartments. Principal component analysis was used to identify inhibitors of cellular components not targeted by known protein kinase inhibitors. Here we focus on a hydroxyl-substituted analog (hydroxy-PP) of the known Src-family kinase inhibitor PP2 because it induced cell-specific morphological features distinct from all known kinase inhibitors in the collection. We used affinity purification to identify a target of hydroxy-PP, carbonyl reductase 1 (CBR1), a short-chain dehydrogenase-reductase. We solved the X-ray crystal structure of the CBR1/hydroxy-PP complex to 1.24 Å resolution. Structure-based design of more potent and selective CBR1 inhibitors provided probes for analyzing the biological function of CBR1 in A549 cells. These studies revealed a previously unknown function for CBR1 in serum-withdrawal-induced apoptosis. Further studies indicate CBR1 inhibitors may enhance the effectiveness of anticancer anthracyclines. Morphology-based screening of diverse cancer cell types has provided a method for discovering potent new small-molecule probes for cell biological studies and anticancer drug candidates
In silico Analysis of Combinatorial microRNA Activity Reveals Target Genes and Pathways Associated with Breast Cancer Metastasis
This is an open access article. Unrestricted non-commercial use is permitted provided the original work is properly cited
Cosmogenic ³⁵S measurements in the Tibetan Plateau to quantify glacier snowmelt
The cosmogenic radionuclide ³⁵S (t₁/₂ ~ 87 days) is a unique tracer for high-altitude air mass and has been used extensively to understand stratospheric air mass mixing. In this paper, we investigate if ³⁵S can be utilized as an independent tracer to quantify glacier melt. We report the first measurements of ³⁵S in samples collected from the Tibetan Plateau during 2009–2012 with an aim to interpret ³⁵S in atmospheric particles and their deposition over glacier and snowmelts. Our measurements show that ³⁵S activity in the aerosol phase varies from 116 ± 13 to 2229 ± 52 atoms/m³ resulting in higher values during winter–spring and lower values during summer–autumn. This seasonality is likely due to higher mixing of ³⁵S-rich stratospheric air masses during winter–spring and ³⁵S-poor air masses from the Bay of Bengal during the Asian summer monsoon. The average ³⁵S activity in the Zhadang glacier was found to be 3–8 times higher relative to the nearby lake water. The main source of ³⁵S activity in the Zhadang glacier is atmospheric deposition, whereas both atmospheric deposition and glacier snowmelt are the primary sources in the Nam Co Lake. The focus of this study is to quantitatively determine the spatial and temporal variations in glacier snowmelt. In the future, extensive sampling of aerosols and snow is required for determining ³⁵S in combination with stable oxygen isotopes in sulfate to better understand the glacier melt process and hydrological cycle on the Tibetan Plateau
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