842 research outputs found
Variation of Herbage Intake (HI) from Upland Pasture, as Influenced by the Grazing Initiation Date (GID)
Studies were conducted on an experimental pasture belonging to the Arrhenatherethum medioeur. and Lolio-Cynosureth. assoc. with D. glomerata, L. perenne and T. repens as main species, at an altitude of 680 m. Four equally sized paddocks (0.3 ha) were grazed by 10 Charolais heifers. The differences in total herbage dry matter intake (HDMI) between the four paddocks with different grazing initiation dates (GID) were significant (P \u3c 0.05). The results of this experiment show that in order to achieve a higher HDMI and better herbage utilization an earlier initiation of grazing is recommended. That is, grazing should commence when the sward height is about 15 cm
The radio lighthouse CU Virginis: the spindown of a single main sequence star
The fast rotating star CU Virginis is a magnetic chemically peculiar star
with an oblique dipolar magnetic field. The continuum radio emission has been
interpreted as gyrosyncrotron emission arising from a thin magnetospheric
layer. Previous radio observations at 1.4 GHz showed that a 100% circular
polarized and highly directive emission component overlaps to the continuum
emission two times per rotation, when the magnetic axis lies in the plane of
the sky. This sort of radio lighthouse has been proposed to be due to cyclotron
maser emission generated above the magnetic pole and propagating
perpendicularly to the magnetic axis. Observations carried out with the
Australia Telescope Compact Array at 1.4 and 2.5 GHz one year after this
discovery show that this radio emission is still present, meaning that the
phenomenon responsible for this process is steady on a timescale of years. The
emitted radiation spans at least 1 GHz, being observed from 1.4 to 2.5 GHz. On
the light of recent results on the physics of the magnetosphere of this star,
the possibility of plasma radiation is ruled out. The characteristics of this
radio lighthouse provides us a good marker of the rotation period, since the
peaks are visible at particular rotational phases. After one year, they show a
delay of about 15 minutes. This is interpreted as a new abrupt spinning down of
the star. Among several possibilities, a quick emptying of the equatorial
magnetic belt after reaching the maximum density can account for the magnitude
of the breaking. The study of the coherent emission in stars like CU Vir, as
well as in pre main sequence stars, can give important insight into the angular
momentum evolution in young stars. This is a promising field of investigation
that high sensitivity radio interferometers such as SKA can exploit.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS, 8 pages, 7 figures, updated versio
Observations of radio pulses from CU Virginis
The magnetic chemically peculiar star CU Virginis is a unique astrophysical
laboratory for stellar magnetospheres and coherent emission processes. It is
the only known main sequence star to emit a radio pulse every rotation period.
Here we report on new observations of the CU Virginis pulse profile in the 13
and 20\,cm radio bands. The profile is known to be characterised by two peaks
of 100 circularly polarised emission that are thought to arise in an
electron-cyclotron maser mechanism. We find that the trailing peak is stable at
both 13 and 20\,cm, whereas the leading peak is intermittent at 13\,cm. Our
measured pulse arrival times confirm the discrepancy previously reported
between the putative stellar rotation rates measured with optical data and with
radio observations. We suggest that this period discrepancy might be caused by
an unknown companion or by instabilities in the emission region. Regular
long-term pulse timing and simultaneous multi-wavelength observations are
essential to clarify the behaviour of this emerging class of transient radio
source.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS Letters; 5 pages, 2 figures, 3 table
Vitamin D in cancer chemoprevention
Context: There is increasing evidence that Vitamin D (Vit D) and its metabolites, besides their well-known calcium-related functions, may also exert antiproliferative, pro-differentiating, and immune modulatory effects on tumor cells in vitro and may also delay tumor growth in vivo.
Objective: The aim of this review is to provide fresh insight into the most recent advances on the role of Vit D and its analogues as chemopreventive drugs in cancer therapy.
Methods: A systematic review of experimental and clinical studies on Vit D and cancer was undertaken by using the major electronic health database including ISI Web of Science, Medline, PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar.
Results and conclusion: Experimental and clinical observations suggest that Vit D and its analogues may be effective in preventing the malignant transformation and/or the progression of various types of human tumors including breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and some hematological malignances. These findings suggest the possibility of the clinical use of these molecules as novel potential chemopreventive and anticancer agent
The Patterns of High-Level Magnetic Activity Occurring on the Surface of V1285 Aql: The OPEA Model of Flares and DFT Models of Stellar Spots
Statistically analyzing Johnson UBVR observations of V1285 Aql during the
three observing seasons, both activity level and behavior of the star are
discussed in respect to obtained results. We also discuss the out-of-flare
variation due to rotational modulation. Eighty-three flares were detected in
the U-band observations of season 2006 . First, depending on statistical
analyses using the independent samples t-test, the flares were divided into two
classes as the fast and the slow flares. According to the results of the test,
there is a difference of about 73 s between the flare-equivalent durations of
slow and fast flares. The difference should be the difference mentioned in the
theoretical models. Second, using the one-phase exponential association
function, the distribution of the flare-equivalent durations versus the flare
total durations was modeled. Analyzing the model, some parameters such as
plateau, half-life values, mean average of the flare-equivalent durations,
maximum flare rise, and total duration times are derived. The plateau value,
which is an indicator of the saturation level of white-light flares, was
derived as 2.421{\pm}0.058 s in this model, while half-life is computed as 201
s. Analyses showed that observed maximum value of flare total duration is 4641
s, while observed maximum flare rise time is 1817 s. According to these
results, although computed energies of the flares occurring on the surface of
V1285 Aql are generally lower than those of other stars, the length of its
flaring loop can be higher than those of more active stars.Comment: 44 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, 2011PASP..123..659
MMP-2, MMP-9 and activin A blood levels in patients with breast cancer or prostate cancer metastatic to the bone.
Background: The clinical significance of the
circulating levels of activin A and matrix metalloproteinase-2
(MMP-2) and -9 (MMP-9) was investigated in patients with
breast cancer (BC) or prostate cancer (PC) with (M1) or
without (M0) bone metastasis. Patients and Methods: MMP-2,
MMP-9 and activin A blood concentrations were measured by
enzyme immunoassays in 79 cancer patients and in 57 healthy
blood donors (HS) who served as a control group. The
diagnostic accuracy of these molecules to discriminate between
M0 and M1 patients was evaluated by the receiver operating
characteristic curve (ROC) and compared to that of tumor
markers CA15.3 or prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Results:
Activin A and MMP-2 were significantly increased in BC and
PC patients as compared to sex-matched HS while MMP-9
levels were more elevated only in the PC patients. Interestingly,
in the PC patients, activin A levels were significantly higher than
those measured in the BC patients. In this latter group, activin A
and CA15.3 but not MMP-2 or MMP-9 were increased in the
M1 patients as compared to M0 patients. Furthermore, a
significant relationship was also highlighted between activin A
concentration and the number of bone metastases and tumor
grade, between MMP-9 and tumor grade, and between MMP-2
and CA15.3. ROC curve analysis showed a good diagnostic
accuracy for activin A and CA15.3 but a poor accuracy for
MMP-2 and MMP-9 in discriminating between M0 and M1
patients. However, CA15.3 retained the best diagnostic accuracy
in this respect. In the PC group, only activin A and PSA levels
were significantly increased in the M1 patients as compared to
the M0 patients. A similar although not statistically significant
trend was noted for MMP-9. Interestingly, a significant correlation
was observed between PSA and activin A and MMP-9, and
between Activin A and Gleason score and the number of
skeletal metastases. ROC curve analysis showed a good
diagnostic accuracy for activin A, MMP-9 and PSA and a poor
diagnostic accuracy for MMP-2 in detecting M1 patients.
However, PSA showed the highest diagnostic accuracy.
Conclusion: Activin A, MMP-2 and MMP-9 may be regarded as
possible therapeutic targets in the treatment of metastatic bone
disease. However, their usefulness as additional markers of bone
metastasis remains to be better define
Modulation of cell-cycle dynamics is required to regulate the number of cerebellar GABAergic interneurons and their rhythm of maturation
First Extended Catalogue of Galactic bubble infrared fluxes from WISE and Herschel surveys
In this paper, we present the first extended catalogue of far-infrared fluxes of Galactic bubbles. Fluxes were estimated for 1814 bubbles, defined here as the ‘golden sample’, and were selected from the Milky Way Project First Data Release (Simpson et al.) The golden sample was comprised of bubbles identified within the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) dataset (using 12- and 22-μm images) and Herschel data (using 70-, 160-, 250-, 350- and 500-μm wavelength images). Flux estimation was achieved initially via classical aperture photometry and then by an alternative image analysis algorithm that used active contours. The accuracy of the two methods was tested by comparing the estimated fluxes for a sample of bubbles, made up of 126 H ii regions and 43 planetary nebulae, which were identified by Anderson et al. The results of this paper demonstrate that a good agreement between the two was found. This is by far the largest and most homogeneous catalogue of infrared fluxes measured for Galactic bubbles and it is a step towards the fully automated analysis of astronomical datasets
Quiescent Radio Emission from Southern Late-type M Dwarfs and a Spectacular Radio Flare from the M8 Dwarf DENIS 1048-3956
We report the results of a radio monitoring program conducted at the
Australia Telescope Compact Array to search for quiescent and flaring emission
from seven nearby Southern late-type M and L dwarfs. Two late-type M dwarfs,
the M7 V LHS 3003 and the M8 V DENIS 1048-3956, were detected in quiescent
emission at 4.80 GHz. The observed emission is consistent with optically thin
gyrosynchrotron emission from mildly relativistic (~1-10 keV) electrons with
source densities n_e ~ 10 G magnetic fields. DENIS
1048-3956 was also detected in two spectacular, short-lived flares, one at 4.80
GHz (peak f_nu = 6.0+/-0.8 mJy) and one at 8.64 GHz (peak f_nu = 29.6+/-1.0
mJy) approximately 10 minutes later. The high brightness temperature (T_B >~
10^13 K), short emission period (~4-5 minutes), high circular polarization
(~100%), and apparently narrow spectral bandwidth of these events imply a
coherent emission process in a region of high electron density (n_e ~
10^11-10^12 cm^-3) and magnetic field strength (B ~ 1 kG). If the two flare
events are related, the apparent frequency drift in the emission suggests that
the emitting source either moved into regions of higher electron or magnetic
flux density; or was compressed, e.g., by twisting field lines or gas motions.
The quiescent fluxes from the radio-emitting M dwarfs violate the Gudel-Benz
empirical radio/X-ray relations, confirming a trend previously noted by Berger
et al. (abridged)Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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