151 research outputs found
The rise and fall of star-formation in merging galaxy clusters
CIZA J2242.8+5301 (`Sausage') and 1RXS J0603.3+4213 (`Toothbrush') are two
low-redshift (), massive (), post-core
passage merging clusters, which host shock waves traced by diffuse radio
emission. To study their star-formation properties, we uniformly survey the
`Sausage' and `Toothbrush' clusters in broad and narrow band filters and select
a sample of and line emitters, down to a rest-frame equivalent
width ({\AA}). We robustly separate between H and higher redshift
emitters using a combination of optical multi-band (B, g, V, r, i, z) and
spectroscopic data. We build H luminosity functions for the entire
cluster region, near the shock fronts, and away from the shock fronts and find
striking differences between the two clusters. In the dynamically younger,
Gyr old `Sausage' cluster we find numerous () H emitters above a
star-formation rate (SFR) of M_{\sun} yr surprisingly located
in close proximity to the shock fronts, embedded in very hot intra-cluster
medium plasma. The SFR density for the cluster population is at least at the
level of typical galaxies at . Down to the same star-formation rate,
the possibly dynamically more evolved `Toothbrush' cluster has only
H galaxies. The cluster H galaxies fall on the SFR-stellar mass
relation for the field. However, the `Sausage' cluster has an
H emitter density times that of blank fields. If the shock passes
through gas-rich cluster galaxies, the compressed gas could collapse into dense
clouds and excite star-formation for a few Myr. This process ultimately
leads to a rapid consumption of the molecular gas, accelerating the
transformation of gas-rich field spirals into cluster S0s or ellipticals.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS after minor referee report. 21
pages, 15 figures, 5 table
The effects of charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) on galaxy shape measurements
(Abridged) We examine the effects of charge transfer inefficiency (CTI)
during CCD readout on galaxy shape measurements required by studies of weak
gravitational lensing. We simulate a CCD readout with CTI such as that caused
by charged particle radiation damage. We verify our simulations on data from
laboratory-irradiated CCDs. Only charge traps with time constants of the same
order as the time between row transfers during readout affect galaxy shape
measurements. We characterize the effects of CTI on various galaxy populations.
We baseline our study around p-channel CCDs that have been shown to have charge
transfer efficiency up to an order of magnitude better than several models of
n-channel CCDs designed for space applications. We predict that for galaxies
furthest from the readout registers, bias in the measurement of galaxy shapes,
Delta(e), will increase at a rate of 2.65 +/- 0.02 x 10^(-4) per year at L2 for
accumulated radiation exposure averaged over the solar cycle. If uncorrected,
this will consume the entire shape measurement error budget of a dark energy
mission within about 4 years. Software mitigation techniques demonstrated
elsewhere can reduce this by a factor of ~10, bringing the effect well below
mission requirements. CCDs with higher CTI than the ones we studeied may not
meet the requirements of future dark energy missions. We discuss ways in which
hardware could be designed to further minimize the impact of CTI.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in PAS
The Investigational Drug VT-1129 Is a Highly Potent Inhibitor of Cryptococcus Species CYP51 but Only Weakly Inhibits the Human Enzyme
Cryptococcosis is a life-threatening disease often associated with HIV infection. Three Cryptococcus species CYP51 enzymes were purified and catalyzed the 14α-demethylation of lanosterol, eburicol, and obtusifoliol. The investigational agent VT-1129 bound tightly to all three CYP51 proteins (dissociation constant [K(d)] range, 14 to 25 nM) with affinities similar to those of fluconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole, clotrimazole, and ketoconazole (K(d) range, 4 to 52 nM), whereas VT-1129 bound weakly to human CYP51 (K(d), 4.53 μM). VT-1129 was as effective as conventional triazole antifungal drugs at inhibiting cryptococcal CYP51 activity (50% inhibitory concentration [IC(50)] range, 0.14 to 0.20 μM), while it only weakly inhibited human CYP51 activity (IC(50), ∼600 μM). Furthermore, VT-1129 weakly inhibited human CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP3A4, suggesting a low drug-drug interaction potential. Finally, the cellular mode of action for VT-1129 was confirmed to be CYP51 inhibition, resulting in the depletion of ergosterol and ergosta-7-enol and the accumulation of eburicol, obtusifolione, and lanosterol/obtusifoliol in the cell membranes
Evidence for the accelerated expansion of the Universe from weak lensing tomography with COSMOS
We present a tomographic cosmological weak lensing analysis of the HST COSMOS
Survey. Applying our lensing-optimized data reduction, principal component
interpolation for the ACS PSF, and improved modelling of charge-transfer
inefficiency, we measure a lensing signal which is consistent with pure
gravitational modes and no significant shape systematics. We carefully estimate
the statistical uncertainty from simulated COSMOS-like fields obtained from
ray-tracing through the Millennium Simulation. We test our pipeline on
simulated space-based data, recalibrate non-linear power spectrum corrections
using the ray-tracing, employ photometric redshifts to reduce potential
contamination by intrinsic galaxy alignments, and marginalize over systematic
uncertainties. We find that the lensing signal scales with redshift as expected
from General Relativity for a concordance LCDM cosmology, including the full
cross-correlations between different redshift bins. For a flat LCDM cosmology,
we measure sigma_8(Omega_m/0.3)^0.51=0.75+-0.08 from lensing, in perfect
agreement with WMAP-5, yielding joint constraints Omega_m=0.266+0.025-0.023,
sigma_8=0.802+0.028-0.029 (all 68% conf.). Dropping the assumption of flatness
and using HST Key Project and BBN priors only, we find a negative deceleration
parameter q_0 at 94.3% conf. from the tomographic lensing analysis, providing
independent evidence for the accelerated expansion of the Universe. For a flat
wCDM cosmology and prior w in [-2,0], we obtain w<-0.41 (90% conf.). Our dark
energy constraints are still relatively weak solely due to the limited area of
COSMOS. However, they provide an important demonstration for the usefulness of
tomographic weak lensing measurements from space. (abridged)Comment: 26 pages, 25 figures, matches version accepted for publication by
Astronomy and Astrophysic
Kepler eclipsing binary stars. VII. the catalogue of eclipsing binaries found in the entire Kepler data set
The primary Kepler Mission provided nearly continuous monitoring of ~200,000 objects with unprecedented photometric precision. We present the final catalog of eclipsing binary systems within the 105 deg2 Kepler field of view. This release incorporates the full extent of the data from the primary mission (Q0-Q17 Data Release). As a result, new systems have been added, additional false positives have been removed, ephemerides and principal parameters have been recomputed, classifications have been revised to rely on analytical models, and eclipse timing variations have been computed for each system. We identify several classes of systems including those that exhibit tertiary eclipse events, systems that show clear evidence of additional bodies, heartbeat systems, systems with changing eclipse depths, and systems exhibiting only one eclipse event over the duration of the mission. We have updated the period and galactic latitude distribution diagrams and included a catalog completeness evaluation. The total number of identified eclipsing and ellipsoidal binary systems in the Kepler field of view has increased to 2878, 1.3% of all observed Kepler targets
Spatial concordance of DNA methylation classification in diffuse glioma.
BACKGROUND: Intratumoral heterogeneity is a hallmark of diffuse gliomas. DNA methylation profiling is an emerging approach in the clinical classification of brain tumors. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of intratumoral heterogeneity on classification confidence.
METHODS: We used neuronavigation to acquire 133 image-guided and spatially separated stereotactic biopsy samples from 16 adult patients with a diffuse glioma (7 IDH-wildtype and 2 IDH-mutant glioblastoma, 6 diffuse astrocytoma, IDH-mutant and 1 oligodendroglioma, IDH-mutant and 1p19q codeleted), which we characterized using DNA methylation arrays. Samples were obtained from regions with and without abnormalities on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI. Methylation profiles were analyzed to devise a 3-dimensional reconstruction of (epi)genetic heterogeneity. Tumor purity was assessed from clonal methylation sites.
RESULTS: Molecular aberrations indicated that tumor was found outside imaging abnormalities, underlining the infiltrative nature of this tumor and the limitations of current routine imaging modalities. We demonstrate that tumor purity is highly variable between samples and explains a substantial part of apparent epigenetic spatial heterogeneity. We observed that DNA methylation subtypes are often, but not always, conserved in space taking tumor purity and prediction accuracy into account.
CONCLUSION: Our results underscore the infiltrative nature of diffuse gliomas and suggest that DNA methylation subtypes are relatively concordant in this tumor type, although some heterogeneity exists
Cosmological Constraints on Decaying Dark Matter
We present a complete analysis of the cosmological constraints on decaying
dark matter. Previous analyses have used the cosmic microwave background and
Type Ia supernova. We have updated them with the latest data as well as
extended the analysis with the inclusion of Lyman- forest, large scale
structure and weak lensing observations. Astrophysical constraints are not
considered in the present paper. The bounds on the lifetime of decaying dark
matter are dominated by either the late-time integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect for
the scenario with weak reionization, or CMB polarization observations when
there is significant reionization. For the respective scenarios, the lifetimes
for decaying dark matter are Gyr and Gyr (at 95.4% confidence level), where the
phenomenological parameter is the fraction of the decay energy deposited in
baryonic gas. This allows us to constrain particle physics models with dark
matter candidates through investigation of dark matter decays into Standard
Model particles via effective operators. For decaying dark matter of
GeV mass, we found that the size of the coupling constant in the effective
dimension-4 operators responsible for dark matter decay has to generically be . We have also explored the implications of our analysis for
representative models in theories of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking,
minimal supergravity and little Higgs.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures. Added references and corrected typos as well as
grammatical oversight
Integrating Omic Technologies into Aquatic Ecological Risk Assessment and Environmental Monitoring: Hurdles, Achievements, and Future Outlook
Background: In this commentary we present the findings from an international consortium on fish toxicogenomics sponsored by the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council (Fish Toxicogenomics—Moving into Regulation and Monitoring, held 21–23 April 2008 at the Pacific Environmental Science Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada).
Objectives: The consortium from government agencies, academia, and industry addressed three topics: progress in ecotoxicogenomics, regulatory perspectives on roadblocks for practical implementation of toxicogenomics into risk assessment, and dealing with variability in data sets.
Discussion: Participants noted that examples of successful application of omic technologies have been identified, but critical studies are needed to relate molecular changes to ecological adverse outcome. Participants made recommendations for the management of technical and biological variation. They also stressed the need for enhanced interdisciplinary training and communication as well as considerable investment into the generation and curation of appropriate reference omic data.
Conclusions: The participants concluded that, although there are hurdles to pass on the road to regulatory acceptance, omics technologies are already useful for elucidating modes of action of toxicants and can contribute to the risk assessment process as part of a weight-of-evidence approach
KEPLER ECLIPSING BINARY STARS. VII. the CATALOG of ECLIPSING BINARIES FOUND in the ENTIRE KEPLER DATA SET
The primary Kepler Mission provided nearly continuous monitoring of ∼200,000 objects with unprecedented photometric precision. We present the final catalog of eclipsing binary systems within the 105 deg2 Kepler field of view. This release incorporates the full extent of the data from the primary mission (Q0-Q17 Data Release). As a result, new systems have been added, additional false positives have been removed, ephemerides and principal parameters have been recomputed, classifications have been revised to rely on analytical models, and eclipse timing variations have been computed for each system. We identify several classes of systems including those that exhibit tertiary eclipse events, systems that show clear evidence of additional bodies, heartbeat systems, systems with changing eclipse depths, and systems exhibiting only one eclipse event over the duration of the mission. We have updated the period and galactic latitude distribution diagrams and included a catalog completeness evaluation. The total number of identified eclipsing and ellipsoidal binary systems in the Kepler field of view has increased to 2878, 1.3% of all observed Kepler targets. An online version of this catalog with downloadable content and visualization tools is maintained at http://keplerEBs.villanova.edu
First Evaluation of [11C]R116301 as an In Vivo Tracer of NK1 Receptors in Man
PURPOSE: NK1 receptors have been implicated in various neuropsychiatric and other disorders. R116301 is a selective NK1 receptor antagonist. In this pilot study, [(11)C]R116301 was evaluated as a potential positron emission tomography (PET) ligand for the NK1 receptor. PROCEDURES: Two dynamic PET studies were performed in three normal volunteers before and after a blocking dose of aprepitant. Data were analyzed using striatum to cerebellum standardized uptake value (SUV) ratios. RESULTS: Baseline SUV ratios at 60-90 min after injection ranged from 1.22 to 1.70. Following aprepitant administration, this specific signal was completely blocked. Aprepitant administration did not significantly affect uptake in cerebellum, confirming the absence of NK1 receptors in cerebellum. CONCLUSION: These preliminary results indicate that [(11)C]R116301 has potential as a radioligand for in vivo assessment of NK1 receptors in the human brai
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