296 research outputs found
The TWA 3 Young Triple System: Orbits, Disks, Evolution
We have characterized the spectroscopic orbit of the TWA 3A binary and
provide preliminary families of probable solutions for the TWA 3A visual orbit
as well as for the wide TWA 3A--B orbit. TWA 3 is a hierarchical triple located
at 34 pc in the 10 Myr old TW Hya association. The wide component
separation is 1."55; the close pair was first identified as a possible binary
almost 20 years ago. We initially identified the 35-day period orbital solution
using high-resolution infrared spectroscopy which angularly resolved the A and
B components. We then refined the preliminary orbit by combining the infrared
data with a re-analysis of our high-resolution optical spectroscopy. The
orbital period from the combined spectroscopic solution is 35 days, the
eccentricity is 0.63, and the mass ratio is 0.84; although this
high mass ratio would suggest that optical spectroscopy alone should be
sufficient to identify the orbital solution, the presence of the tertiary B
component likely introduced confusion in the blended optical spectra. Using
millimeter imaging from the literature, we also estimate the inclinations of
the stellar orbital planes with respect to the TWA 3A circumbinary disk
inclination and find that all three planes are likely misaligned by at least
30 degrees. The TWA 3A spectroscopic binary components have spectral
types of M4.0 and M4.5; TWA 3B is an M3. We speculate that the system formed as
a triple, is bound, and that its properties were shaped by dynamical
interactions between the inclined orbits and disk.Comment: Accepted to Ap
Targeted microbubbles: a novel application for the treatment of kidney stones
Kidney stone disease is endemic. Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy was the first major technological breakthrough where focused shockwaves were used to fragment stones in the kidney or ureter. The shockwaves induced the formation of cavitation bubbles, whose collapse released energy at the stone, and the energy fragmented the kidney stones into pieces small enough to be passed spontaneously. Can the concept of microbubbles be used without the bulky machine? The logical progression was to manufacture these powerful microbubbles ex vivo and inject these bubbles directly into the collecting system. An external source can be used to induce cavitation once the microbubbles are at their target; the key is targeting these microbubbles to specifically bind to kidney stones. Two important observations have been established: (i) bisphosphonates attach to hydroxyapatite crystals with high affinity; and (ii) there is substantial hydroxyapatite in most kidney stones. The microbubbles can be equipped with bisphosphonate tags to specifically target kidney stones. These bubbles will preferentially bind to the stone and not surrounding tissue, reducing collateral damage. Ultrasound or another suitable form of energy is then applied causing the microbubbles to induce cavitation and fragment the stones. This can be used as an adjunct to ureteroscopy or percutaneous lithotripsy to aid in fragmentation. Randall's plaques, which also contain hydroxyapatite crystals, can also be targeted to pre-emptively destroy these stone precursors. Additionally, targeted microbubbles can aid in kidney stone diagnostics by virtue of being used as an adjunct to traditional imaging methods, especially useful in high-risk patient populations. This novel application of targeted microbubble technology not only represents the next frontier in minimally invasive stone surgery, but a platform technology for other areas of medicine
Demonstrating high-precision photometry with a CubeSat: ASTERIA observations of 55 Cancri e
ASTERIA (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research In Astrophysics) is a 6U
CubeSat space telescope (10 cm x 20 cm x 30 cm, 10 kg). ASTERIA's primary
mission objective was demonstrating two key technologies for reducing
systematic noise in photometric observations: high-precision pointing control
and high-stabilty thermal control. ASTERIA demonstrated 0.5 arcsecond RMS
pointing stability and 10 milliKelvin thermal control of its camera
payload during its primary mission, a significant improvement in pointing and
thermal performance compared to other spacecraft in ASTERIA's size and mass
class. ASTERIA launched in August 2017 and deployed from the International
Space Station (ISS) November 2017. During the prime mission (November 2017 --
February 2018) and the first extended mission that followed (March 2018 - May
2018), ASTERIA conducted opportunistic science observations which included
collection of photometric data on 55 Cancri, a nearby exoplanetary system with
a super-Earth transiting planet. The 55 Cancri data were reduced using a custom
pipeline to correct CMOS detector column-dependent gain variations. A Markov
Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach was used to simultaneously detrend the
photometry using a simple baseline model and fit a transit model. ASTERIA made
a marginal detection of the known transiting exoplanet 55 Cancri e
(~\Rearth), measuring a transit depth of ppm. This is the
first detection of an exoplanet transit by a CubeSat. The successful detection
of super-Earth 55 Cancri e demonstrates that small, inexpensive spacecraft can
deliver high-precision photometric measurements.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures. Accepted in A
Arterial stiffness, endothelial dysfunction and impaired fibrinolysis are pathogenic mechanisms contributing to cardiovascular risk in ANCA-associated vasculitis
Spatial distribution of prokaryotic communities in hypersaline soils
Increasing salinization in wetland systems is a major threat to ecosystem services carried out by microbial communities. Thus, it is paramount to understand how salinity drives both microbial community structures and their diversity. Here we evaluated the structure and diversity of the prokaryotic communities from a range of highly saline soils (EC1:5 from 5.96 to 61.02 dS/m) from the Odiel Saltmarshes and determined their association with salinity and other soil physicochemical features by analyzing 16S rRNA gene amplicon data through minimum entropy decomposition (MED). We found that these soils harbored unique communities mainly composed of halophilic and halotolerant taxa from the phyla Euryarchaeota, Proteobacteria, Balneolaeota, Bacteroidetes and Rhodothermaeota. In the studied soils, several site-specific properties were correlated with community structure and individual abundances of particular sequence variants. Salinity had a secondary role in shaping prokaryotic communities in these highly saline samples since the dominant organisms residing in them were already well-adapted to a wide range of salinities. We also compared ESV-based results with OTU-clustering derived ones, showing that, in this dataset, no major differences in ecological outcomes were obtained by the employment of one or the other method.España, Ministerio de EconomÃa, Industria y Competitividad CGL2013-46941-P and CGL2017-83385-PJunta de AndalucÃa BIO-21
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