1,293 research outputs found
First Results for the Solar Neighborhood of the Asiago Red Clump Survey
The Asiago Red Clump Spectroscopic Survey (ARCS) is an ongoing survey that
provides atmospheric parameters, distances and space velocities of a well
selected sample of Red Clump stars distributed along the celestial equator. We
used the ARCS catalog for a preliminary investigation of the Galactic disk in
the Solar Neighborhood, in particular we focused on detection and
characterization of moving groups.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of "Assembling the
Puzzle of the Milky Way", Le Grand Bornand (April 17-22, 2011), C. Reyle, A.
Robin, M. Schultheis (eds.
Gingival hyperplasia around dental implants in jaws reconstructed with free vascularized flaps: a case report series
Free vascularized flaps are the gold standard for reconstruction of the facial skeleton after surgical ablation of pathologies or when important atrophy of the jaws exists. A frequent problem seen during prosthetic rehabilitation after reconstruction with free vascularized flaps is the onset of hyperplastic granulomatous reactive tissue around the prosthetic abutment of the implant. The features of this phenomenon seem to be directly related to the characteristics of the periimplant tissue and of the manufacturing materials of the prosthesis and abutments. This complication can be seen quite often; we found it in 7 of 40 patients (17.5%). It does not seem to significantly affect the survival rate of implants. The aim of the study was to analyze the behavior of such lesions and to suggest our clinical approach with the management of these kinds of patients and complications. To remove gingival hyperplasia, we used either a traditional cold scalpel or an electric cautery or laser. We had good results using these tools. The onset of this phenomenon was not influenced by either the kind of implant and free flaps used or by the local conditions of the patients (such as radiotherapy). The number of recurrences was highly influenced by the oral hygiene of the patients
The Diguanylate Cyclase SadC Is a Central Player in Gac/Rsm-Mediated Biofilm Formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative opportunistic human pathogen and a threat for immune-compromised and Cystic Fibrosis patients. It is responsible for acute and chronic infections and can switch between these lifestyles upon taking an informed decision involving complex regulatory networks. The RetS/LadS/Gac/Rsm network and the c-di-GMP signaling pathways are both central to this phenomenon redirecting the P. aeruginosa population towards a biofilm mode of growth, which is associated with chronic infections. While these two pathways were traditionally studied independently from each other, we recently showed that cellular levels of c-di-GMP are increased in the hyperbiofilm retS mutant. Here, we have formally established the link between the two networks by showing that the SadC diguanylate cyclase is central to the Gac/Rsm-associated phenotypes, notably biofilm formation. Importantly, SadC is involved in the signaling that converges onto the RsmA translational repressor either via RetS/LadS or via HptB/HsbR. Although the level of expression of the sadC gene does not seem impacted by the regulatory cascade, the production of the SadC protein is tightly repressed by RsmA. This adds to the growing complexity of the signaling network associated with c-di-GMP in P. aeruginosa. While this organism possesses more than forty c-di-GMP-related enzymes it remains unclear how signaling specificity is maintained within the c-di-GMP network. The finding that SadC but no other diguanylate cyclase is related to the formation of biofilm governed by the Gac/Rsm pathway further contributes to understand this insulation mechanism
The nature and evolution of Nova Cygni 2006
AIMS: Nova Cyg 2006 has been intensively observed throughout its full
outburst. We investigate the energetics and evolution of the central source and
of the expanding ejecta, their chemical abundances and ionization structure,
and the formation of dust. METHOD: We recorded low, medium, and/or
high-resolution spectra (calibrated into accurate absolute fluxes) on 39
nights, along with 2353 photometric UBVRcIc measures on 313 nights, and
complemented them with IR data from the literature. RESULTS: The nova displayed
initially the normal photometric and spectroscopic evolution of a fast nova of
the FeII-type. Pre-maximum, principal, diffuse-enhanced, and Orion absorption
systems developed in a normal way. After the initial outburst, the nova
progressively slowed its fading pace until the decline reversed and a second
maximum was reached (eight months later), accompanied by large spectroscopic
changes. Following the rapid decline from second maximum, the nova finally
entered the nebular phase and formed optically thin dust. We computed the
amount of formed dust and performed a photo-ionization analysis of the
emission-line spectrum during the nebular phase, which showed a strong
enrichment of the ejecta in nitrogen and oxygen, and none in neon, in agreement
with theoretical predictions for the estimated 1.0 Msun white dwarf in Nova Cyg
2006. The similarities with the poorly investigated V1493 Nova Aql 1999a are
discussed.Comment: in press in Astronomy and Astrophysic
A spectroscopic survey of faint, high-galactic latitude red clump stars. II. The medium resolution sample
Aims. The goal of our survey is to provide accurate and multi-epoch radial
velocities, atmospheric parameters (Teff, log g and [M/H]), distances and space
velocities of faint Red Clump stars. Methods. We recorded high signal-to-noise
(S/N >= 200) spectra of Red Clump stars, over the 4750-5950 Ang range, at a
resolving power 5500. The target stars are distributed over the great circle of
the celestial equator. Radial velocities were obtained via cross-correlation
against IAU radial velocity standards. Atmospheric parameters were derived via
chi^2 fit to a synthetic spectral library. A large number of RC stars from
other surveys were re-observed to check the consistency of our results.
Results. A total of 245 Red Clump stars were observed (60 of them with a second
epoch observation separated in time by about three months), and the results are
presented in an output catalog. None of them is already present in other
surveys of Red Clump stars. In addition to astrometric and photometric support
data from external sources, the catalog provides radial velocities (accuracy
sigma(RV)=1.3 km/s), atmospheric parameters (sigma(Teff)=88 K, sigma(log
g)=0.38 dex and sigma([M/H])=0.17 dex), spectro-photometric distances, (X,Y,Z)
galacto-centric positions and (U,V,W) space velocities.Comment: in press in A&
Does Quantum Mechanics Clash with the Equivalence Principle - and Does it Matter?
With an eye on developing a quantum theory of gravity, many physicists have
recently searched for quantum challenges to the equivalence principle of
general relativity. However, as historians and philosophers of science are well
aware, the principle of equivalence is not so clear. When clarified, we think
quantum tests of the equivalence principle won't yield much. The problem is
that the clash/not-clash is either already evident or guaranteed not to exist.
Nonetheless, this work does help teach us what it means for a theory to be
geometric.Comment: 12 page
Primordial Power Spectrum Reconstruction
In order to reconstruct the initial conditions of the universe it is
important to devise a method that can efficiently constrain the shape of the
power spectrum of primordial matter density fluctuations in a model-independent
way from data. In an earlier paper we proposed a method based on the wavelet
expansion of the primordial power spectrum. The advantage of this method is
that the orthogonality and multiresolution properties of wavelet basis
functions enable information regarding the shape of to be
encoded in a small number of non-zero coefficients. Any deviation from
scale-invariance can then be easily picked out. Here we apply this method to
simulated data to demonstrate that it can accurately reconstruct an input
, and present a prescription for how this method should be used
on future data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. JCAP accepted versio
Optical evolution of Nova Ophiuchi 2007 = V2615 Oph
The moderately fast Nova Oph 2007 reached maximum brightness on March 28,
2007 at V=8.52, B-V=+1.12, V-Rc=+0.76, V-Ic=+1.59 and Rc-Ic=+0.83, after fast
initial rise and a pre-maximum halt lasting a week. Decline times were
t(V,2)=26.5, t(B,2)=30, t(V,3)=48.5 and t(B,3)=56.5 days. The distance to the
nova is d=3.7 kpc, the height above the galactic plane z=215 pc, the reddening
E(B-V)=0.90 and the absolute magnitude at maximum M(V,max)=-7.2 and
M(B,max)=-7.0. The spectrum four days before maximum resembled a F6
super-giant, in agreement with broad-band colors. It later developed into that
of a standard 'FeII'-class nova. Nine days past maximum, the expansion velocity
estimated from the width of H emission component was 730 km/s, and the
displacement from it of the principal and diffuse enhanced absorption systems
were 650 and 1380 km/s, respectively. Dust probably formed and disappeared
during the period from 82 to 100 days past maximum, causing (at peak dust
concentration) an extinction of Delta B=1.8 mag and an extra Delta E(B-V)=0.44
reddening.Comment: accepted in press by MNRA
Primordial Neutrinos, Cosmological Perturbations in Interacting Dark-Energy Model: CMB and LSS
We present cosmological perturbation theory in neutrinos probe interacting
dark-energy models, and calculate cosmic microwave background anisotropies and
matter power spectrum. In these models, the evolution of the mass of neutrinos
is determined by the quintessence scalar field, which is responsible for the
cosmic acceleration today. We consider several types of scalar field potentials
and put constraints on the coupling parameter between neutrinos and dark
energy. Assuming the flatness of the universe, the constraint we can derive
from the current observation is at the 95 % confidence
level for the sum over three species of neutrinos. We also discuss on the
stability issue of the our model and on the impact of the scattering term in
Boltzmann equation from the mass-varying neutrinos.Comment: 26 pages Revtex, 11 figures, Add new contents and reference
Mass-Varying Neutrinos from a Variable Cosmological Constant
We consider, in a completely model-independent way, the transfer of energy
between the components of the dark energy sector consisting of the cosmological
constant (CC) and that of relic neutrinos. We show that such a cosmological
setup may promote neutrinos to mass-varying particles, thus resembling a
recently proposed scenario of Fardon, Nelson, and Weiner (FNW), but now without
introducing any acceleronlike scalar fields. Although a formal similarity of
the FNW scenario with the variable CC one can be easily established, one
nevertheless finds different laws for neutrino mass variation in each scenario.
We show that as long as the neutrino number density dilutes canonically, only a
very slow variation of the neutrino mass is possible. For neutrino masses to
vary significantly (as in the FNW scenario), a considerable deviation from the
canonical dilution of the neutrino number density is also needed. We note that
the present `coincidence' between the dark energy density and the neutrino
energy density can be obtained in our scenario even for static neutrino masses.Comment: 8 pages, minor corrections, two references added, to apear in JCA
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