880 research outputs found
Spitzer observations of the N157B supernova remnant and its surroundings
(Aims): We study the LMC interstellar medium in the field of the nebula
N157B, which contains a supernova remnant, an OB association, ionized gas, and
high-density dusty filaments in close proximity. We investigate the relative
importance of shock excitation by the SNR and photo-ionization by the OB stars,
as well as possible interactions between the supernova remnant and its
environment. (Methods): We apply multiwavelength mapping and photometry, along
with spatially resolved infrared spectroscopy, to identifying the nature of the
ISM using new infrared data from the Spitzer space observatory and X-ray,
optical, and radio data from the literature. (Results): The N157B SNR has no
infrared counterpart. Infrared emission from the region is dominated by the
compact blister-type HII region associated with 2MASS J05375027-6911071 and
excited by an O8-O9 star. This object is part of an extended infrared emission
region that is associated with a molecular cloud. We find only weak emission
from the shock-indicator [FeII], and both the excitation and the heating of the
extended cloud are dominated by photo-ionization by the early O stars of LH99.
(Conclusions): Any possible impact by the expanding SNR does not now affect the
extended cloud of molecules and dust, despite the apparent overlap of SNR X-ray
emission with infrared and Ha emission from the cloud. This implies that the
supernova progenitor cannot have been more massive than about 25 solar masses.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, published in A&
Astro-WISE: Chaining to the Universe
The recent explosion of recorded digital data and its processed derivatives
threatens to overwhelm researchers when analysing their experimental data or
when looking up data items in archives and file systems. While current hardware
developments allow to acquire, process and store 100s of terabytes of data at
the cost of a modern sports car, the software systems to handle these data are
lagging behind. This general problem is recognized and addressed by various
scientific communities, e.g., DATAGRID/EGEE federates compute and storage power
over the high-energy physical community, while the astronomical community is
building an Internet geared Virtual Observatory, connecting archival data.
These large projects either focus on a specific distribution aspect or aim to
connect many sub-communities and have a relatively long trajectory for setting
standards and a common layer. Here, we report "first light" of a very different
solution to the problem initiated by a smaller astronomical IT community. It
provides the abstract "scientific information layer" which integrates
distributed scientific analysis with distributed processing and federated
archiving and publishing. By designing new abstractions and mixing in old ones,
a Science Information System with fully scalable cornerstones has been
achieved, transforming data systems into knowledge systems. This break-through
is facilitated by the full end-to-end linking of all dependent data items,
which allows full backward chaining from the observer/researcher to the
experiment. Key is the notion that information is intrinsic in nature and thus
is the data acquired by a scientific experiment. The new abstraction is that
software systems guide the user to that intrinsic information by forcing full
backward and forward chaining in the data modelling.Comment: To be published in ADASS XVI ASP Conference Series, 2006, R. Shaw, F.
Hill and D. Bell, ed
Natural History of Coral-Algae Competition across a Gradient of Human Activity in the Line Islands
Competition between corals and benthic algae is prevalent on coral reefs worldwide and has the potential to influence the structure of the reef benthos. Human activities may influence the outcome of these interactions by favoring algae to become the superior competitor, and this type of change in competitive dynamics is a potential mechanism driving coral-algal phase shifts. Here we surveyed the types and outcomes of coral-algal interactions varied across reefs on the different islands. On reefs surrounding inhabited islands, however, turf algae were generally the superior competitors. When corals were broken down by size class, we found that the smallest and the largest coral colonies were the best competitors against algae; the former successfully fought off algae while being completely surrounded, and the latter generally avoided algal overgrowth by growing up above the benthos. Our data suggest that human disruption of the reef ecosystem may lead to a building pattern of competitive disadvantage for corals against encroaching algae, potentially initiating a transition towards algal dominance
A mid-infrared study of HII regions in the Magellanic Clouds: N88A and N160A
To show the importance of high-spatial resolution observations of HII regions
when compared with observations obtained with larger apertures such as ISO, we
present mid-infrared spectra of two Magellanic Cloud HII regions, N88A and
N160A. We obtained mid-infrared (8-13 um), long-slit spectra with TIMMI2 on the
ESO 3.6m telescope. These are combined with archival spectra obtained with the
Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope, and are
compared with the low-spatial resolution ISO-SWS data. An inventory of the
spectra in terms of atomic fine-structure lines and molecular bands is
presented. Concerning N88A, an isolated HII region with no adjacent infrared
sources, the observations indicate that the line fluxes observed by ISO-SWS and
Spitzer-IRS come exclusively from the compact HII region of about 3 arcsec in
diameter. This is not the case for N160A, which has a more complex morphology.
We have spectroscopically isolated for the first time the individual
contributions of the three components of N160A, two high-excitation blobs, A1
and A2, and the young stellar object N160A-IR. In addition, extended [SIV]
emission is observed with TIMMI2 and is most likely associated with the central
star cluster located between A1 and A2. We show the value of these high-spatial
resolution data in determining source characteristics, such as the degree of
ionization of each high-excitation blob or the bolometric luminosity of the
YSO. This luminosity is about one order of magnitude lower than previously
estimated. For each high-excitation blob, we also determine the electron
density and the elemental abundances of Ne, S, and Ar.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Pre-therapy fasting slows epithelial turnover and modulates the microbiota but fails to mitigate methotrexate-induced gastrointestinal mucositis
BACKGROUND: Recent findings by Tang et al. (2020) show dietary restriction (30%, 2 weeks) prevents methotrexate-induced mortality by modulation of the microbiota, specifically the expansion of Lactobacillus. While fundamentally insightful, upscaling this schedule is a major obstacle to clinical uptake. Here, we evaluate a safe and clinically achievable schedule of pre-therapy fasting for 48 h on microbiota composition, body composition and intestinal proliferation, and assess its impact on the severity of methotrexate-induced gastrointestinal mucositis using a validated preclinical rat model. METHODS: Age- and weight-matched male Wistar rats were treated with a sublethal dose of 45 mg/kg methotrexate with or without pre-therapy fasting. The impact of acute fasting on epithelial proliferation, body composition and the microbiota was assessed using plasma citrulline, Ki67 immunohistochemistry, miniSpec and 16S rRNA sequencing. The severity of gastrointestinal mucositis was evaluated using plasma citrulline and body weight. RESULTS: Whilst pre-therapy fasting slowed epithelial proliferation and increased microbial diversity and richness, it also induced significant weight loss and was unable to attenuate the severity of mucositis in both age- and weight-matched groups. In contrast to Tang et al., we saw no expansion of Lactobacillus following acute fasting. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the beneficial effects of acute fasting are masked by the detrimental effects on body weight and composition and lacking influence on Lactobacillus. Future studies should consider alternative fasting schedules or aim to induce comparable microbial and mucosal manipulation without compromising body composition using clinically feasible methods of dietary or microbial intervention
The stellar content, metallicity and ionization structure of HII regions
Observations of infrared fine-structure lines provide direct information on
the metallicity and ionization structure of HII regions and indirectly on the
hardness of the radiation field ionizing these nebulae. We have analyzed a
sample of Galactic and Magellanic Cloud HII regions observed by the Infrared
Space Observatory (ISO) to examine the interplay between stellar content,
metallicity and the ionization structure of HII regions. The observed
[SIV]10.5/[SIII]18.7 mum and [NeIII]15.5/[NeII]12.8 mum line ratios are shown
to be highly correlated over more than two orders of magnitude. We have
compared the observed line ratios to the results of photoionization models
using different stellar energy distributions. The derived characteristics of
the ionizing star depend critically on the adopted stellar model as well as the
(stellar) metallicity. We have compared the stellar effective temperatures
derived from these model studies for a few well-studied HII regions with
published direct spectroscopic determinations of the spectral type of the
ionizing stars. This comparison supports our interpretation that stellar and
nebular metallicity influences the observed infrared ionic line ratios. We can
explain the observed increase in degree of ionization, as traced by the
[SIV]\[SIII] and [NeIII]\[NeII] line ratios, by the hardening of the radiation
field due to the decrease of metallicity. The implications of our results for
the determination of the ages of starbursts in starburst galaxies are assessed.Comment: 9 pages; accepted for publication in A&A; figure 3 modifie
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