1,340 research outputs found
Group V Phospholipase A2 Induces Leukotriene Biosynthesis in Human Neutrophils through the Activation of Group IVA Phospholipase A2
We reported previously that exogenously added human group V phospholipase A2 (hVPLA2) could elicit leukotriene B4 (LTB4) biosynthesis in human neutrophils (Han, S. K., Kim, K. P., Koduri, R., Bittova, L., Munoz, N. M., Leff, A. R., Wilton, D. C., Gelb, M. H., and Cho, W. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274, 11881-11888). To determine the mechanism of the hVPLA2-induced LTB4 biosynthesis in neutrophils, we thoroughly examined the effects of hVPLA2 and their lipid products on the activity of group IVA cytosolic PLA2 (cPLA2) and LTB4 biosynthesis under different conditions. As low as 1 nM exogenous hVPLA2 was able to induce the release of arachidonic acid (AA) and LTB4. Typically, AA and LTB4 were released in two phases, which were synchronized with a rise in intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) near the perinuclear region and cPLA2 phosphorylation. A cellular PLA2 assay showed that hVPLA2 acted primarily on the outer plasma membrane, liberating fatty acids and lysophosphatidylcholine (lyso-PC), whereas cPLA2 acted on the perinuclear membrane. Lyso-PC and polyunsaturated fatty acids including AA activated cPLA2 and 5-lipoxygenase by increasing [Ca2+]i and inducing cPLA2 phosphorylation, which then led to LTB4 biosynthesis. The delayed phase was triggered by the binding of secreted LTB4 to the cell surface LTB4 receptor, which resulted in a rise in [Ca2+]i and cPLA2 phosphorylation through the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase, extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2. These results indicate that a main role of exogenous hVPLA2 in neutrophil activation and LTB4 biosynthesis is to activate cPLA2 and 5-lipoxygenase primarily by liberating from the outer plasma membrane lyso-PC that induces [Ca2+]i increase and cPLA2 phosphorylation and that hVPLA2-induced LTB4 production is augmented by the positive feedback activation of cPLA2 by LTB4
A Micro Molecular Bipolar Outflow From HL Tau
We present detailed geometry and kinematics of the inner outflow toward HL
Tau observed using Near Infrared Integral Field Spectograph (NIFS) at the
Gemini-North 8-m Observatory. We analyzed H2 2.122 um emission and [Fe II]
1.644 um line emission as well as the adjacent continuum observed at a <0".2
resolution. The H2 emission shows (1) a bubble-like geometry to the northeast
of the star, as briefly reported in the previous paper, and (2) faint emission
in the southwest counterflow, which has been revealed through careful analysis.
The emission on both sides of the star show an arc 1".0 away from the star,
exhibiting a bipolar symmetry. Different brightness and morphologies in the
northeast and southwest flows are attributed to absorption and obscuration of
the latter by a flattened envelope and a circumstellar disk. The H2 emission
shows a remarkably different morphology from the collimated jet seen in [Fe II]
emission. The positions of some features coincide with scattering continuum,
indicating that these are associated with cavities in the dusty envelope. Such
properties are similar to millimeter CO outflows, although the spatial scale of
the H2 outflow in our image (~150 AU) is strikingly smaller than the mm
outflows, which often extend over 1000-10000 AU scales. The position-velocity
diagram of the H2 and [Fe II] emission do not show any evidence for kinematic
interaction between these flows. All results described above support the
scenario that the jet is surrounded by an unseen wide-angled wind, which
interacts with the ambient gas and produce the bipolar cavity and shocked H2
emission.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Protostellar Jet and Outflow in the Collapsing Cloud Core
We investigate the driving mechanism of outflows and jets in star formation
process using resistive MHD nested grid simulations. We found two distinct
flows in the collapsing cloud core: Low-velocity outflows (sim 5 km/s) with a
wide opening angle, driven from the first adiabatic core, and high-velocity
jets (sim 50 km/s) with good collimation, driven from the protostar.
High-velocity jets are enclosed by low-velocity outflow. The difference in the
degree of collimation between the two flows is caused by the strength of the
magnetic field and configuration of the magnetic field lines. The magnetic
field around an adiabatic core is strong and has an hourglass configuration.
Therefore, the low-velocity outflow from the adiabatic core are driven mainly
by the magnetocentrifugal mechanism and guided by the hourglass-like field
lines. In contrast, the magnetic field around the protostar is weak and has a
straight configuration owing to Ohmic dissipation in the high-density gas
region. Therefore, high-velocity jet from the protostar are driven mainly by
the magnetic pressure gradient force and guided by straight field lines.
Differing depth of the gravitational potential between the adiabatic core and
the protostar cause the difference of the flow speed. Low-velocity outflows
correspond to the observed molecular outflows, while high-velocity jets
correspond to the observed optical jets. We suggest that the protostellar
outflow and the jet are driven by different cores (the first adiabatic core and
protostar), rather than that the outflow being entrained by the jet.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the "Protostellar Jets in Context"
conference held on the island of Rhodes, Greece (7-12 July 2008
Spacelike surfaces with free boundary in the Lorentz-Minkowski space
We investigate a variational problem in the Lorentz-Minkowski space \l^3
whose critical points are spacelike surfaces with constant mean curvature and
making constant contact angle with a given support surface along its common
boundary. We show that if the support surface is a pseudosphere, then the
surface is a planar disc or a hyperbolic cap. We also study the problem of
spacelike hypersurfaces with free boundary in the higher dimensional
Lorentz-Minkowski space \l^{n+1}.Comment: 16 pages. Accepted in Classical and Quantum Gravit
Renormalized Thermodynamic Entropy of Black Holes in Higher Dimensions
We study the ultraviolet divergent structures of the matter (scalar) field in
a higher D-dimensional Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole and compute the matter
field contribution to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy by using the Pauli-Villars
regularization method. We find that the matter field contribution to the black
hole entropy does not, in general, yield the correct renormalization of the
gravitational coupling constants. In particular we show that the matter field
contribution in odd dimensions does not give the term proportional to the area
of the black hole event horizon.Comment: Final Revision Form as to be published in Physical Review D, ReVTeX,
No Figure
Quantum Creation of Black Hole by Tunneling in Scalar Field Collapse
Continuously self-similar solution of spherically symmetric gravitational
collapse of a scalar field is studied to investigate quantum mechanical black
hole formation by tunneling in the subcritical case where, classically, the
collapse does not produce a black hole.Comment: t clarification of the quantization method in Sec. IV, version to
appear in PR
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Mulsemedia: State of the art, perspectives, and challenges
Mulsemedia-multiple sensorial media-captures a wide variety of research efforts and applications. This article presents a historic perspective on mulsemedia work and reviews current developments in the area. These take place across the traditional multimedia spectrum-from virtual reality applications to computer games-as well as efforts in the arts, gastronomy, and therapy, to mention a few. We also describe standardization efforts, via the MPEG-V standard, and identify future developments and exciting challenges the community needs to overcome
Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase-β acts upstream of AMP-activated protein kinase in mammalian cells
SummaryAMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is the downstream component of a kinase cascade that plays a pivotal role in energy homeostasis. Activation of AMPK requires phosphorylation of threonine 172 (T172) within the T loop region of the catalytic α subunit. Recently, LKB1 was shown to activate AMPK. Here we show that AMPK is also activated by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase (CaMKK). Overexpression of CaMKKβ in mammalian cells increases AMPK activity, whereas pharmacological inhibition of CaMKK, or downregulation of CaMKKβ using RNA interference, almost completely abolishes AMPK activation. CaMKKβ isolated from rat brain or expressed in E. coli phosphorylates and activates AMPK in vitro. In yeast, CaMKKβ expression rescues a mutant strain lacking the three kinases upstream of Snf1, the yeast homolog of AMPK. These results demonstrate that AMPK is regulated by at least two upstream kinases and suggest that AMPK may play a role in Ca2+-mediated signal transduction pathways
Gemini Observations of Disks and Jets in Young Stellar Objects and in Active Galaxies
We present first results from the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph
(NIFS) located at Gemini North. For the active galaxies Cygnus A and Perseus A
we observe rotationally-supported accretion disks and adduce the existence of
massive central black holes and estimate their masses. In Cygnus A we also see
remarkable high-excitation ionization cones dominated by photoionization from
the central engine. In the T-Tauri stars HV Tau C and DG Tau we see
highly-collimated bipolar outflows in the [Fe II] 1.644 micron line, surrounded
by a slower molecular bipolar outflow seen in the H_2 lines, in accordance with
the model advocated by Pyo et al. (2002).Comment: Invited paper presented at the 5th Stromlo Symposium. 9 pages, 7
figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc
Properties of Newly Formed Dust Grains in The Luminous Type IIn Supernova 2010jl
Supernovae (SNe) have been proposed to be the main production sites of dust
grains in the Universe. Our knowledge on their importance to dust production
is, however, limited by observationally poor constraints on the nature and
amount of dust particles produced by individual SNe. In this paper, we present
a spectrum covering optical through near-Infrared (NIR) light of the luminous
Type IIn supernova (SN IIn) 2010jl around one and half years after the
explosion. This unique data set reveals multiple signatures of newly formed
dust particles. The NIR portion of the spectrum provides a rare example where
thermal emission from newly formed hot dust grains is clearly detected. We
determine the main population of the dust species to be carbon grains at a
temperature of ~1,350 - 1,450K at this epoch. The mass of the dust grains is
derived to be ~(7.5 - 8.5) x 10^{-4} Msun. Hydrogen emission lines show
wavelength-dependent absorption, which provides a good estimate on the typical
size of the newly formed dust grains (~0.1 micron, and most likely <~0.01
micron). We attribute the dust grains to have been formed in a dense cooling
shell as a result of a strong SN-circumstellar media (CSM) interaction. The
dust grains occupy ~10% of the emitting volume, suggesting an inhomogeneous,
clumpy structure. The average CSM density is required to be >~3 x 10^{7}
cm^{-3}, corresponding to a mass loss rate of >~0.02 Msun yr^{-1} (for a mass
loss wind velocity of ~100 km s^{-1}). This strongly supports a scenario that
SN 2010jl and probably other luminous SNe IIn are powered by strong
interactions within very dense CSM, perhaps created by Luminous Blue Variable
(LBV)-like eruptions within the last century before the explosion.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures. Accepted by ApJ on 30 July 2013. The accepted
version was submitted on 8 July 2013, and the original version was submitted
on 3 March 201
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