Use of Sperm Proteins as a Putative Fertility Marker

The objectives of this study were to characterize the variation and evaluate whether CD9 and SERPINA5 could be used as fertility markers in bovine sperm

CARMA CO(J = 2 - 1) Observations of the Circumstellar Envelope of Betelgeuse

We report radio interferometric observations of the 12C16O 1.3 mm J = 2-1 emission line in the circumstellar envelope of the M supergiant Alpha Ori and have detected and separated both the S1 and S2 flow components for the first time. Observations were made with the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) interferometer in the C, D, and E antenna configurations. We obtain good u-v coverage (5-280 klambda) by combining data from all three configurations allowing us to trace spatial scales as small as 0.9\arcsec over a 32\arcsec field of view. The high spectral and spatial resolution C configuration line profile shows that the inner S1 flow has slightly asymmetric outflow velocities ranging from -9.0 km s-1 to +10.6 km s-1 with respect to the stellar rest frame. We find little evidence for the outer S2 flow in this configuration because the majority of this emission has been spatially-filtered (resolved out) by the array. We also report a SOFIA-GREAT CO(J= 12-11) emission line profile which we associate with this inner higher excitation S1 flow. The outer S2 flow appears in the D and E configuration maps and its outflow velocity is found to be in good agreement with high resolution optical spectroscopy of K I obtained at the McDonald Observatory. We image both S1 and S2 in the multi-configuration maps and see a gradual change in the angular size of the emission in the high absolute velocity maps. We assign an outer radius of 4\arcsec to S1 and propose that S2 extends beyond CARMA's field of view (32\arcsec at 1.3 mm) out to a radius of 17\arcsec which is larger than recent single-dish observations have indicated. When azimuthally averaged, the intensity fall-off for both flows is found to be proportional to R^{-1}, where R is the projected radius, indicating optically thin winds with \rho \propto R^{-2}.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures To be published in the Astronomical Journal (Received 2012 February 10; accepted 2012 May 25

Use of Pregnancy Associated Glycoproteins to determine Fetal Age Throughout Gestation

The objective of the current study was to determine if a commercially available blood pregnancy test could be modified to detect differences in pregnancy-associated glycoprotein (PAG) concentrations that would be indicative of stage of pregnancy or fetal age

Relationship of DAG1 and SERPINA5 Sperm Proteins With Bull Fertility

Study Description: Semen from 22 dairy bulls was used to evaluate the presence, localization, and quantification of DAG1 and SERPINA5 on sperm. Sperm motility parameters and viability was also evaluated for semen from each bull. Semen from 19 out of the 22 dairy bulls was used for in vitro embryo production (two Low-SCR and one High-SCR were not available for in vitro embryo production). Bulls were classified based on their sire conception rates (SCR) values as High-SCR (SCR \u3e 1.0) or Low-SCR fertility (SCR \u3c -4.0). Low fertility bulls were subdivided based on their blastocyst rate (BL) as High-BL (Low-SCR/High-BL BL ≥ 31%) or Low-BL (Low-SCR/Low-BL BL ≤ 26%), and High-SCR bulls were not subdivided. The GLM procedure in SAS was used with bull as a fixed effect to determine if variance was greater between bulls compared to within bull. Correlations were determined among DAG1 and SERPINA5 concentrations, percentage of tail labeled for SERPINA5, SCR, sperm total motility, progressive motility, and viability, and in vitro embryo produced cleavage rate (CL) and BL. The GLIMMIX procedure of SAS was used to evaluate the relationship of bull field fertility (High- and Low-SCR), and field and in vitro fertility (High-SCR, Low-SCR/High-BL, Low-SCR/Low-BL) classifications with sperm total (TMOT) and progressive (PROG) motility, viability, CL, BL, DAG1 and SERPINA5 relative concentration, and proportion of sperm tail labeled for SERPINA5. Both SERPINA5 and DAG1 were localized on the sperm head; however, SERPINA5 was also localized on the sperm tail. There was greater variance in concentration among bulls compared to within bull for both DAG1 (P \u3c 0.01; 69.4 vs 49.1, respectively) and SERPINA5 (P \u3c 0.01; 325.8 vs 285.4, respectively). There was a positive correlation between concentration of DAG1 and SERPINA5 (P = 0.01; r = 0.54). Concentrations of SERPINA5 were also correlated with CL (P = 0.04; r = 0.48), and percentage of sperm tail labeled for SERPINA5 was correlated with viability (P = 0.05; r = 0.44) and tended to be correlated with CL (P = 0.10; r = 0.39). There was no relationship between SCR or BL rate classifications and DAG1 (P ≥ 0.66), SERPINA5 (P ≥ 0.54), or percentage of sperm tail labeled for SERPINA5 (P ≥ 0.48)

The Interactions of Change in Nutrition on Uterine Environment and Cholesterol Concentrations in Beef Cattle

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of nutritional changes prior to and after artificial insemination (AI) on uterine environment and plasma cholesterol concentrations

Massive Stars In The W33 Giant Molecular Complex

Rich in H II regions, giant molecular clouds are natural laboratories to study massive stars and sequential star formation. The Galactic star-forming complex W33 is located at = ∼ ◦ l 12.8 and at a distance of 2.4 kpc and has a size of ≈10 pc and a total mass of ≈(0.8−8.0) × 105 M⊙. The integrated radio and IR luminosity of W33—when combined with the direct detection of methanol masers, the protostellar object W33A, and the protocluster embedded within the radio source W33 main—mark the region as a site of vigorous ongoing star formation. In order to assess the long-term star formation history, we performed an infrared spectroscopic search for massive stars, detecting for the first time 14 early-type stars, including one WN6 star and four O4–7 stars. The distribution of spectral types suggests that this population formed during the past ∼2–4 Myr, while the absence of red supergiants precludes extensive star formation at ages 6–30 Myr. This activity appears distributed throughout the region and does not appear to have yielded the dense stellar clusters that characterize other star-forming complexes such as Carina and G305. Instead, we anticipate that W33 will eventually evolve into a loose stellar aggregate, with Cyg OB2 serving as a useful, albeit richer and more massive, comparator. Given recent distance estimates, and despite a remarkably similar stellar population, the rich cluster Cl 1813–178 located on the northwest edge of W33 does not appear to be physically associated with W33

The First Release COSMOS Optical and Near-IR Data and Catalog

We present imaging data and photometry for the COSMOS survey in 15 photometric bands between 0.3um and 2.4um. These include data taken on the Subaru 8.3m telescope, the KPNO and CTIO 4m telescopes, and the CFHT 3.6m telescope. Special techniques are used to ensure that the relative photometric calibration is better than 1% across the field of view. The absolute photometric accuracy from standard star measurements is found to be 6%. The absolute calibration is corrected using galaxy spectra, providing colors accurate to 2% or better. Stellar and galaxy colors and counts agree well with the expected values. Finally, as the first step in the scientific analysis of these data we construct panchromatic number counts which confirm that both the geometry of the universe and the galaxy population are evolving.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, 14 tables, Accepted to ApJS for COSMOS speciall issu

Chemical evolution of the Galactic bulge as traced by microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars. II. Ages, metallicities, detailed elemental abundances, and connections to the Galactic thick disc

The Bulge is the least understood major stellar population of the Milky Way. Most of what we know about the formation and evolution of the Bulge comes from bright giant stars. The underlying assumption that giants represent all the stars, and accurately trace the chemical evolution of a stellar population, is under debate. In particular, recent observations of a few microlensed dwarf stars give a very different picture of the evolution of the Bulge from that given by the giant stars. [ABRIDGED] We perform a detailed elemental abundance analysis of dwarf stars in the Galactic bulge, based on high-resolution spectra that were obtained while the stars were optically magnified during gravitational microlensing events. [ABRIDGED] We present detailed elemental abundances and stellar ages for six new dwarf stars in the Galactic bulge. Combining these with previous events, here re-analysed with the same methods, we study a homogeneous sample of 15 stars, which constitute the largest sample to date of microlensed dwarf stars in the Galactic bulge. We find that the stars span the full range of metallicities from [Fe/H]=-0.72 to +0.54, and an average metallicity of =-0.08+/-0.47, close to the average metallicity based on giant stars in the Bulge. Furthermore, the stars follow well-defined abundance trends, that for [Fe/H]<0 are very similar to those of the local Galactic thick disc. This suggests that the Bulge and the thick disc have had, at least partially, comparable chemical histories. At sub-solar metallicities we find the Bulge dwarf stars to have consistently old ages, while at super-solar metallicities we find a wide range of ages. Using the new age and abundance results from the microlensed dwarf stars we investigate possible formation scenarios for the Bulge.Comment: New version accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic