1,411 research outputs found
SDSS J013127.34032100.1: A newly discovered radio-loud quasar at with extremely high luminosity
Only very few z>5 quasars discovered to date are radio-loud, with a
radio-to-optical flux ratio (radio-loudness parameter) higher than 10. Here we
report the discovery of an optically luminous radio-loud quasar, SDSS
J013127.34-032100.1 (J0131-0321 in short), at z=5.18+-0.01 using the Lijiang
2.4m and Magellan telescopes. J0131-0321 has a spectral energy distribution
consistent with that of radio-loud quasars. With an i-band magnitude of 18.47
and radio flux density of 33 mJy, its radio-loudness parameter is ~100. The
optical and near-infrared spectra taken by Magellan enable us to estimate its
bolometric luminosity to be L_bol ~ 1.1E48 erg/s, approximately 4.5 times
greater than that of the most distant quasar known to date. The black hole mass
of J0131-0321 is estimated to be 2.7E9 solar masses, with an uncertainty up to
0.4 dex. Detailed physical properties of this high-redshift, radio-loud,
potentially super-Eddington quasar can be probed in the future with more
dedicated and intensive follow-up observations using multi-wavelength
facilities.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted to ApJ
Genetic polymorphisms of CYP2A13 and its relationship to nasopharyngeal carcinoma in the Cantonese population
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is characterized by a high prevalence in Southern China, especially among Cantonese individuals of the Guangdong Province. Epidemiological studies have suggested that frequent exposure to high levels of nitrosamine from preserved foods such as salted fish could be a risk factor for NPC. Cytochrome P450 encompasses a family of enzymes that metabolize carcinogens and CYP2A13, a member of this family, is expressed predominantly in the respiratory tract with the highest levels in the nasal mucosa. In an effort to test whether a correlation exists between CYP2A13 genetic polymorphism and the risk of developing NPC, we sequenced all nine exons and the exon-intron junctions of the CYP2A13 gene in 45 NPC patients. We identified a total of 21 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs), including 7 novel SNPs. The most frequent functional variant allele was 74A-1757G-3375T-7233G with a haplotype frequency of 7.8% in the 45 NPC cases. In addition, a stop codon mutation was detected in one case. We then selected the 3 most frequent SNPs and one stop codon mutation to expand our study to a case-control analysis within the Cantonese population. A novel haplotype consisting 8 SNPs in introns, and four additional novel SNPs were identified; but no correlation between CYP2A13 genetic polymorphism and individual susceptibility to NPC was observed
A New Magnetic Topological Quantum Material Candidate by Design
Magnetism, when combined with an unconventional electronic band structure,
can give rise to forefront electronic properties such as the quantum anomalous
Hall effect, axion electrodynamics, and Majorana fermions. Here we report the
characterization of high-quality crystals of EuSnP, a new quantum
material specifically designed to engender unconventional electronic states
plus magnetism. EuSnP has a layered, BiTe-type structure.
Ferromagnetic interactions dominate the Curie-Weiss susceptibility, but a
transition to antiferromagnetic ordering occurs near 30 K. Neutron diffraction
reveals that this is due to two-dimensional ferromagnetic spin alignment within
individual Eu layers and antiferromagnetic alignment between layers - this
magnetic state surrounds the Sn-P layers at low temperatures. The bulk
electrical resistivity is sensitive to the magnetism. Electronic structure
calculations reveal that EuSnP might be a strong topological insulator,
which can be a new magnetic topological quantum material (MTQM) candidate. The
calculations show that surface states should be present, and they are indeed
observed by ARPES measurements.Comment: 30 page, 12 figure
Expression of Human Leukocyte Antigen G is associated with Prognosis in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
Human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) has multiple immune regulatory functions including the induction of immune tolerance in malignancies. The roles of HLA-G have not been investigated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study is aimed to evaluate the role of HLA-G as prognostic factor for NPC patients as well as its role in the immune regulation. Western assays showed high HLA-G expression in NPC cell lines, but low in the immortalized nasopharyngeal epithelial cell line NP69. HLA-G protein was further detected in 79.2% of 552 NPC specimens with immunohistochemistry (IHC), but not in normal nasopharyngeal epithelium tissue. Moreover, high expression of HLA-G predicted poor survival of NPC patients and positively correlated with tumor N classification and recurrence or metastasis. Multivariate analysis indicated that HLA-G was an independent and unfavorable prognostic factor. Furthermore, the presence of CD68+macrophages and IL-10 were also examined, which are two prognostic markers of NPC and important factors for regulating immune surveillance. The correlations of HLA-G with these two immune factors were revealed in NPC tissues. Taken together, our results suggest that HLA-G is an independent biomarker for NPC prognosis, and HLA-G might contribute to NPC progression, which might jointly regulate immune surveillance in NPC together with macrophages and IL-10
Transferrin receptor 1-mediated iron uptake plays an essential role in hematopoiesis
Transferrin receptor 1 (Tfr1) mediates the endocytosis of diferric transferrin in order to transport iron, and Tfr1 has been suggested to play an important role in hematopoiesis. To study the role of Tfr1 in hematopoiesis, we generated hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) specific Tfr1 knockout mice. We found that Tfr1 conditional knockout mice reached full term but died within one week of birth. Further analyses revealed that Tfr1-deficient HSC had impaired development of all hematopoietic progenitors except thrombocytes and B lymphocytes. In addition, Tfr1-deficient cells had cellular iron deficiency, which blocked the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic precursor cells, attenuated the commitment of hematopoietic lineages, and reduced the regeneration potential of HSC. Notably, hemin rescued the colony-forming capacity of Tfr1-deficient HSC, whereas expressing a mutant Tfr1 that lacks the protein’s iron-transporting capacity failed to rescue hematopoiesis. These findings provide direct evidence that Tfr1 is essential for hematopoiesis through binding diferric transferrin to supply iron to cells
FAST observations of an extremely active episode of FRB 20201124A: III. Polarimetry
As the third paper in the multiple-part series, we report the statistical
properties of radio bursts detected from the repeating fast radio burst (FRB)
source FRB 20201124A with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio
telescope (FAST) during an extremely active episode between the 25th and the
28th of September 2021 (UT). We focus on the polarisation properties of 536
bright bursts with . We found that the Faraday rotation
measures (RMs) monotonically dropped from to in the 4-day window. The RM values were compatible with
the values ( to ) reported 4 month ago (Xu et
al. 2022). However, the RM evolution rate in the current observation window was
at least an order of magnitude smaller than the one ($\sim 500\ {\rm rad \
m^{-2}\, day^{-1}}\le 1\ {\rm rad \ m^{-2} day^{-1}}L/IV/I\sigma$) were observed in 33% of
all bursts. The polarisation of single pulses seems to follow certain complex
trajectories on the Poincar\'e sphere, which may shed light on the radiation
mechanism at the source or the plasma properties along the path of FRB
propagation.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures. Accepted by Research in Astronomy and
Astrophysics (RAA
- …