1,006 research outputs found
Discovery of a [WO] central star in the planetary nebula Th 2-A
% context About 2500 planetary nebulae are known in our Galaxy but only 224
have central stars with reported spectral types in the Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue
of Galactic Planetary Nebulae (Acker et al. 1992; Acker et al. 1996) % aims We
have started an observational program aiming to increase the number of PN
central stars with spectral classification. % methods By means of spectroscopy
and high resolution imaging, we identify the position and true nature of the
central star. We carried out low resolution spectroscopic observations at
CASLEO telescope, complemented with medium resolution spectroscopy performed at
Gemini South and Magellan telescopes. % results As a first outcome of this
survey, we present for the first time the spectra of the central star of the PN
Th 2-A. These spectra show emission lines of ionized C and O, typical in
Wolf-Rayet stars. % conclusions We identify the position of that central star,
which is not the brightest one of the visual central pair. We classify it as of
type [WO 3]pec, which is consistent with the high excitation and dynamical age
of the nebula.Comment: 3 pages and 2 figures. Paper recommended for publication in A&
Dysregulated autophagy in restrictive cardiomyopathy due to Pro209Leu mutation in BAG3
Myofibrillary myopathies (MFM) are hereditary myopathies histologically characterized by degeneration of myofibrils and aggregation of proteins in striated muscle. Cardiomyopathy is common in MFM but the pathophysiological mechanisms are not well understood. The BAG3-Pro209Leu mutation is associated with early onset MFM and severe restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM), often necessitating heart transplantation during childhood. We report on a young male patient with a BAG3-Pro209Leu mutation who underwent heart transplantation at eight years of age. Detailed morphological analyses of the explanted heart tissue showed intracytoplasmic inclusions, aggregation of BAG3 and desmin, disintegration of myofibers and Z-disk alterations. The presence of undegraded autophagosomes, seen by electron microscopy, as well as increased levels of p62, LC3-I and WIPI1, detected by immunohistochemistry and western blot analyses, indicated a dysregulation of autophagy. Parkin and PINK1, proteins involved in mitophagy, were slightly increased whereas mitochondrial OXPHOS activities were not altered. These findings indicate that altered autophagy plays a role in the pathogenesis and rapid progression of RCM in MFM caused by the BAG3-Pro209Leu mutation, which could have implications for future therapeutic strategies
Sakurai's Object: characterizing the near-infrared CO ejecta between 2003 and 2007
We present observations of Sakurai's Object obtained at 1–5 μm between 2003 and 2007. By fitting a radiative transfer model to an echelle spectrum of CO fundamental absorption features around 4.7 μm, we determine the excitation conditions in the line-forming region. We find 12C/13C = 3.5+2.0−1.5, consistent with CO originating in ejecta processed by the very late thermal pulse, rather than in the pre-existing planetary nebula. We demonstrate the existence of 2.2 × 10−6≤MCO≤ 2.7 × 10−6 M⊙ of CO ejecta outside the dust, forming a high-velocity wind of 500 ± 80 km s−1. We find evidence for significant weakening of the CO band and cooling of the dust around the central star between 2003 and 2005. The gas and dust temperatures are implausibly high for stellar radiation to be the sole contributor
The populations of planetary nebulae in the direction of the Galactic bulge
We have observed 44 planetary nebulae (PNe) in the direction of the Galactic
bulge, and merged our data with published ones. We have distinguished, in the
merged sample of 164 PNe, those PNe most likely to prtain physically to the
Galactic bulge and those most likely to belong to the Galactic disk. We have
determined the chemical composition of all the 164 objects in a coherent way.
We looked for stellar emission features and discovered 14 new [WR] stars and 15
new weak emission line central stars.
The analyzed data led us to the following conclusions: (1) The spectral type
distribution of [WR] stars is very different in the bulge and in the disk of
the Galaxy. However, the observed distributions are strongly dependent on
selection effects. (2) The proportion of [WR] PNe is significantly larger in
the bulge than in the disk. (3) The oxygen abundances in [WR] stars do no
appear to be significantly affected by nucleosynthesis and mixing in the
progenitors. (4) The O/H gradient of the Galactic disk PNe population flattens
in the most internal parts of the Galaxy. (5) The median oxygen abundance in
the bulge PN population is larger by 0.2 dex than in the disk population seen
in the direction of the bulge. (6) Bulge PNe with smaller O/H tend to have
smaller radial velocities. (7) The oxygen abundance distribution of bulge PNe
is similar in shape to that of the metallicity distribution of bulge giants,
but significantly narrower. (8) The location of SB 32 (PN G 349.7-09.1) in the
(V_lsr, l_II) diagram and its low oxygen abundance argues that it probably
belongs to the halo population.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
A spectroscopic atlas of post-AGB stars and planetary nebulae selected from the IRAS Point Source Catalogue
Aims: We study the optical spectral properties of a sample of stars showing
far infrared colours similar to those of well-known planetary nebulae. The
large majority of them were unidentified sources or poorly known in the
literature at the time when this spectroscopic survey started, some 15 years
ago.
Methods: We present low-resolution optical spectroscopy, finding charts and
improved astrometric coordinates of a sample of 253 IRAS sources.
Results: We have identified 103 sources as post-AGB stars, 21 as ``transition
sources'', and 36 as planetary nebulae, some of them strongly reddened. Among
the rest of sources in the sample, we were also able to identify 38 young
stellar objects, 5 peculiar stars, and 2 Seyfert galaxies. Up to 49 sources in
our spectroscopic sample do not show any optical counterpart, and most of them
are suggested to be heavily obscured post-AGB stars, rapidly evolving on their
way to becoming planetary nebulae.
Conclusions: An analysis of the galactic distribution of the sources
identified as evolved stars in the sample is presented together with a study of
the distribution of these stars in the IRAS two-colour diagram. Finally, the
spectral type distribution and other properties of the sources identified as
post-AGB in this spectroscopic survey are discussed in the framework of stellar
evolution.Comment: 69 pages, 413 figures. Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
The speciation and genotyping of Cronobacter isolates from hospitalised patients
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognised all Cronobacter species as human pathogens. Among premature neonates and immunocompromised infants, these infections can be life-threatening, with clinical presentations of septicaemia, meningitis and necrotising enterocolitis. The neurological sequelae can be permanent and the mortality rate as high as 40 – 80 %. Despite the highlighted issues of neonatal infections, the majority of Cronobacter infections are in the elderly population suffering from serious underlying disease or malignancy and include wound and urinary tract infections, osteomyelitis, bacteraemia and septicaemia. However, no age profiling studies have speciated or genotyped the Cronobacter isolates. A clinical collection of 51 Cronobacter strains from two hospitals were speciated and genotyped using 7-loci multilocus sequence typing (MLST), rpoB gene sequence analysis, O-antigen typing and pulsed- field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The isolates were predominated by C. sakazakii sequence type 4 (63 %, 32/51) and C. malonaticus sequence type 7 (33 %, 17/51). These had been isolated from throat and sputum samples of all age groups, as well as recal and faecal swabs. There was no apparent relatedness between the age of the patient and the Cronobacter species isolated. Despite the high clonality of Cronobacter , PFGE profiles differentiated strains across the sequence types into 15 pulsotypes. There was almost complete agreement between O-antigen typing and rpoB gene sequence analysis and MLST profiling. This study shows the value of applying MLST to bacterial population studies with strains from two patient cohorts, combined with PFGE for further discrimination of strains
Trigonometric Parallaxes of Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae
Trigonometric parallaxes of 16 nearby planetary nebulae are presented,
including reduced errors for seven objects with previous initial results and
results for six new objects. The median error in the parallax is 0.42 mas, and
twelve nebulae have parallax errors less than 20 percent. The parallax for
PHL932 is found here to be smaller than was measured by Hipparcos, and this
peculiar object is discussed. Comparisons are made with other distance
estimates. The distances determined from these parallaxes tend to be
intermediate between some short distance estimates and other long estimates;
they are somewhat smaller than estimated from spectra of the central stars.
Proper motions and tangential velocities are presented. No astrometric
perturbations from unresolved close companions are detected.Comment: 24 pages, includes 4 figures. Accepted for A
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