Background: The problems of adherence to energy restriction in humans are well known. Objective: To compare the feasibility and effectiveness of intermittent continuous energy (IER) with continuous ...energy restriction (CER) for weight loss, insulin sensitivity and other metabolic disease risk markers. Design: Randomized comparison of a 25% energy restriction as IER (approximately 2710 kJ/day for 2 days/week) or CER (approximately 6276 kJ/day for 7 days/week) in 107 overweight or obese (mean (+/-s.d.) body mass index 30.6 (+/-5.1) kg m-2) premenopausal women observed over a period of 6 months. Weight, anthropometry, biomarkers for breast cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and dementia risk; insulin resistance (HOMA), oxidative stress markers, leptin, adiponectin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 and IGF binding proteins 1 and 2, androgens, prolactin, inflammatory markers (high sensitivity C-reactive protein and sialic acid), lipids, blood pressure and brain-derived neurotrophic factor were assessed at baseline and after 1, 3 and 6 months. Results: Last observation carried forward analysis showed that IER and CER are equally effective for weight loss: mean (95% confidence interval ) weight change for IER was -6.4 (-7.9 to -4.8) kg vs -5.6 (-6.9 to -4.4) kg for CER (P-value for difference between groups=0.4). Both groups experienced comparable reductions in leptin, free androgen index, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, total and LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and increases in sex hormone binding globulin, IGF binding proteins 1 and 2. Reductions in fasting insulin and insulin resistance were modest in both groups, but greater with IER than with CER; difference between groups for fasting insulin was -1.2 (-1.4 to -1.0) micromoll-1 and for insulin resistance was -1.2 (-1.5 to -1.0) micromol-1 l-1 (both P=0.04). Conclusion: IER is as effective as CER with regard to weight loss, insulin sensitivity and other health biomarkers, and may be offered as an alternative equivalent to CER for weight loss and reducing disease risk.
Abstract
We present a sample of Type Icn supernovae (SNe Icn), a newly discovered class of transients characterized by their interaction with H- and He-poor circumstellar material (CSM). This sample ...is the largest collection of SNe Icn to date and includes observations of two published objects (SN 2019hgp and SN 2021csp) and two objects not yet published in the literature (SN 2019jc and SN 2021ckj). The SNe Icn display a range of peak luminosities, rise times, and decline rates, as well as diverse late-time spectral features. To investigate their explosion and progenitor properties, we fit their bolometric light curves to a semianalytical model consisting of luminosity inputs from circumstellar interaction and radioactive decay of
56
Ni. We infer low ejecta masses (≲2
M
⊙
) and
56
Ni masses (≲0.04
M
⊙
) from the light curves, suggesting that normal stripped-envelope supernova (SESN) explosions within a dense CSM cannot be the underlying mechanism powering SNe Icn. Additionally, we find that an estimate of the star formation rate density at the location of SN 2019jc lies at the lower end of a distribution of SESNe, in conflict with a massive star progenitor of this object. Based on its estimated ejecta mass,
56
Ni mass, and explosion site properties, we suggest a low-mass, ultra-stripped star as the progenitor of SN 2019jc. For other SNe Icn, we suggest that a Wolf–Rayet star progenitor may better explain their observed properties. This study demonstrates that multiple progenitor channels may produce SNe Icn and other interaction-powered transients.
We report on work to increase the number of well-measured Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at high redshifts. Light curves, including high signal-to-noise Hubble Space Telescope data, and spectra of six ...SNe Ia that were discovered during 2001, are presented. Additionally, for the two SNe with z > 1, we present ground-based J-band photometry from Gemini and the Very Large Telescope. These are among the most distant SNe Ia for which ground-based near-IR observations have been obtained. We add these six SNe Ia together with other data sets that have recently become available in the literature to the Union compilation. We have made a number of refinements to the Union analysis chain, the most important ones being the refitting of all light curves with the SALT2 fitter and an improved handling of systematic errors. We call this new compilation, consisting of 557 SNe, the Union2 compilation. The flat concordance ΛCDM model remains an excellent fit to the Union2 data with the best-fit constant equation-of-state parameter w = -0.997+0.050 -0.054(stat)+0.077 -0.082(stat + sys together) for a flat universe, or w = -1.038+0.056 -0.059(stat)+0.093 -0.097(stat + sys together) with curvature. We also present improved constraints on w(z). While no significant change in w with redshift is detected, there is still considerable room for evolution in w. The strength of the constraints depends strongly on redshift. In particular, at z >~ 1, the existence and nature of dark energy are only weakly constrained by the data. Based in part on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the data archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under the NASA contract NAS 5-26555. The observations are associated with programs HST-GO-08585 and HST-GO-09075. Based, in part, on observations obtained at the ESO La Silla Paranal Observatory (ESO programs 67.A-0361 and 169.A-0382). Based, in part, on observations obtained at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO). Based on observations obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Based, in part, on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory (Gemini programs GN-2001A-SV-19 and GN-2002A-Q-31). Based, in part on observations obtained at the Subaru Telescope. Based, in part, on data that were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory.
Summary
INCREASED SIZE EXCLUSION LIMIT2 (ISE2) is a chloroplast‐localized RNA helicase that is indispensable for proper plant development. Chloroplasts in leaves with reduced ISE2 expression have ...previously been shown to exhibit reduced thylakoid contents and increased stromal volume, indicative of defective development. It has recently been reported that ISE2 is required for the splicing of group II introns from chloroplast transcripts. The current study extends these findings, and presents evidence for ISE2's role in multiple aspects of chloroplast RNA processing beyond group II intron splicing. Loss of ISE2 from Arabidopsis thaliana leaves resulted in defects in C‐to‐U RNA editing, altered accumulation of chloroplast transcripts and chloroplast‐encoded proteins, and defective processing of chloroplast ribosomal RNAs. Potential ISE2 substrates were identified by RNA immunoprecipitation followed by next‐generation sequencing (RIP‐seq), and the diversity of RNA species identified supports ISE2's involvement in multiple aspects of chloroplast RNA metabolism. Comprehensive phylogenetic analyses revealed that ISE2 is a non‐canonical Ski2‐like RNA helicase that represents a separate sub‐clade unique to green photosynthetic organisms, consistent with its function as an essential protein. Thus ISE2's evolutionary conservation may be explained by its numerous roles in regulating chloroplast gene expression.
Significance Statement
RNA processing is a critical part of modulating gene expression in chloroplasts and many of the nucleus‐encoded protein factors involved are unknown. In this study, we show that the evolutionarily conserved RNA helicase ISE2 functions in multiple aspects of chloroplast RNA processing including C‐to‐U RNA editing and ribosome biogenesis, and may also associate with a wide assortment of chloroplast RNA species to mediate RNA processing.
There is an urgent need for monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies that broadly protect against Ebola virus and other filoviruses. The conserved, essential interaction between the filovirus ...glycoprotein, GP and its entry receptor Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) provides an attractive target for such mAbs but is shielded by multiple mechanisms, including physical sequestration in late endosomes. Here, we describe a bispecific-antibody strategy to target this interaction, in which mAbs specific for NPC1 or the GP receptor-binding site are coupled to a mAb against a conserved, surface-exposed GP epitope. Bispecific antibodies, but not parent mAbs, neutralized all known ebolaviruses by coopting viral particles themselves for endosomal delivery and conferred postexposure protection against multiple ebolaviruses in mice. Such "Trojan horse" bispecific antibodies have potential as broad antifilovirus immunotherapeutics.
We present a comprehensive set of optical and near-infrared (NIR) photometric and spectroscopic observations for SN 2014ck, extending from pre-maximum to six months later. These data indicate that SN ...2014ck is photometrically nearly identical to SN 2002cx, which is the prototype of the class of peculiar transients named SNe Iax. Similar to SN 2002cx, SN 2014ck reached a peak brightness M
B = −17.37 ± 0.15 mag, with a post-maximum decline rate Δm
15(B) = 1.76 ± 0.15 mag. However, the spectroscopic sequence shows similarities with SN 2008ha, which was three magnitudes fainter and faster declining. In particular, SN 2014ck exhibits extremely low ejecta velocities, ∼3000 km s−1 at maximum, which are close to the value measured for SN 2008ha and half the value inferred for SN 2002cx. The bolometric light curve of SN 2014ck is consistent with the production of
$0.10^{+0.04}_{-0.03} \,\mathrm{M}_{{\odot }}$
of 56Ni. The spectral identification of several iron-peak features, in particular Co ii lines in the NIR, provides a clear link to SNe Ia. Also, the detection of narrow Si, S and C features in the pre-maximum spectra suggests a thermonuclear explosion mechanism. The late-phase spectra show a complex overlap of both permitted and forbidden Fe, Ca and Co lines. The appearance of strong Ca ii λλ7292, 7324 again mirrors the late-time spectra of SN 2008ha and SN 2002cx. The photometric resemblance to SN 2002cx and the spectral similarities to SN 2008ha highlight the peculiarity of SN 2014ck, and the complexity and heterogeneity of the SNe Iax class.
We present the Palomar Transient Factory discoveries and the photometric and spectroscopic observations of PTF11kmb and PTF12bho. We show that both transients have properties consistent with the ...class of calcium-rich gap transients, specifically lower peak luminosities and rapid evolution compared to ordinary supernovae, and a nebular spectrum dominated by Ca ii emission. A striking feature of both transients is their host environments: PTF12bho is an intracluster transient in the Coma Cluster, while PTF11kmb is located in a loose galaxy group, at a physical offset ∼150 kpc from the most likely host galaxy. Deep Subaru imaging of PTF12bho rules out an underlying host system to a limit of , while Hubble Space Telescope imaging of PTF11kmb reveals a marginal counterpart that, if real, could be either a background galaxy or a globular cluster. We show that the offset distribution of Ca-rich gap transients is significantly more extreme than that seen for SNe Ia or even short-hard gamma-ray bursts (sGRBs). Thus, if the offsets are caused by a kick, they require higher kick velocities and/or longer merger times than sGRBs. We also show that almost all Ca-rich transients found to date are in group and cluster environments with elliptical host galaxies, indicating a very old progenitor population; the remote locations could partially be explained by these environments having the largest fraction of stars in the intragroup/intracluster light following galaxy-galaxy interactions.
With the increased capability of learning analytics in higher education, more institutions are developing or implementing student dashboards. Despite the emergence of dashboards as an easy way to ...present data to students, students have had limited involvement in the dashboard development process. As part of a larger program of research examining student and academic perceptions of learning analytics, we report here on work in progress exploring student perceptions of dashboards and student preferences for dashboard features. First, we present findings on higher education students’ attitudes towards learning analytic dashboards resulting from four focus groups (
N
= 41). Thematic analysis of the focus group transcripts identified five key themes relating to dashboards: ‘provide everyone with the same learning opportunities’, ‘to compare or not to compare’, ‘dashboard privacy’, ‘automate alerts’ and ‘make it meaningful—give me a customizable dashboard’. Next we present findings from a content analysis of students’ drawings of dashboards demonstrating that students are interested in features that support learning opportunities, provide comparisons to peers and are meaningful to the student. Finally, we present preliminary findings from a survey of higher education students, reinforcing students’ desire to choose whether to have a dashboard and to be able to customize their dashboards. These findings highlight the potential for providing students with some level of control over learning analytics as a means to increasing self-regulated learning and academic achievement. Future research directions aimed at better understanding students emotional and behavioral responses to learning analytics feedback on dashboards and alerts are outlined.
We present spectra and light curves of SNLS 06D4eu and SNLS 07D2bv, two hydrogen-free superluminous supernovae (SNe) discovered by the Supernova Legacy Survey. SNLS 07D2bv does not have a host galaxy ...redshift, but on the basis of the SN spectrum, we estimate it to be at z ~ 1.5. Both SNe have similar observer-frame griz light curves, which map to rest-frame light curves in the U band and UV, rising in ~20 rest-frame days or longer and declining over a similar timescale. We compare the spectra with theoretical models, and we identify lines of C II, C III, Fe III, and Mg II in the spectra of SNLS 06D4eu and SCP 06F6 and find that they are consistent with an expanding explosion of only a few solar masses of carbon, oxygen, and other trace metals. Normal mechanisms of powering core-collapse or thermonuclear SNe do not seem to work for these SNe.
PDF
