Astrocytes are well known to play critical roles in the development and maintenance of the central nervous system (CNS). Moreover, recent reports indicate that these cells are heterogeneous with ...respect to the molecules they express and the functions they exhibit in the quiescent or activated state. Because astrocytes also contribute to pathology, promising new results raise the possibility of manipulating specific astroglial populations for therapeutic roles. In this mini-review, we highlight the function of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), in particular mGluR3 and mGluR5, in reactive astrocytes and relate these to three degenerative CNS diseases: multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Previous studies demonstrate that effects of these receptors may be beneficial, but this varies depending on the subtype of receptor, the state of the astrocytes, and the specific disease to which they are exposed. Elucidating the role of mGluRs on astrocytes at specific times during development and disease will provide novel insights in understanding how to best use these to serve as therapeutic targets.
ABSTRACT
We present a study designed to measure the average Lyman-continuum escape fraction (〈fesc〉) of star-forming galaxies at z ≃ 3.5. We assemble a sample of 148 galaxies from the VANDELS ...spectroscopic survey at 3.35 ≤ zspec ≤ 3.95, selected to minimize line-of-sight contamination of their photometry. For this sample, we use ultra-deep, ground-based, U-band imaging and Hubble Space Telescope V-band imaging to robustly measure the distribution of $\mathcal {R_{\rm obs}}\, =(L_{\rm LyC}/L_{\rm UV})_{\rm obs}$. We then model the $\mathcal {R_{\rm obs}}$ distribution as a function of 〈fesc〉, carefully accounting for attenuation by dust, the intergalactic medium and the circumgalactic medium. A maximum likelihood fit to the $\mathcal {R_{\rm obs}}$ distribution returns a best-fitting value of $\langle f_{\rm esc}\rangle =0.07^{+0.02}_{-0.02}$, a result confirmed using an alternative Bayesian inference technique (both techniques exclude 〈fesc〉 = 0.0 at >3σ). By splitting our sample in two, we find evidence that 〈fesc〉 is positively correlated with Ly α equivalent width (Wλ(Ly α)), with high and low Wλ(Lyα) subsamples returning values of $\langle f_{\rm esc}\rangle =0.12^{+0.06}_{-0.04}$ and $\langle f_{\rm esc} \rangle =0.02^{+0.02}_{-0.01}$, respectively. In contrast, we find evidence that 〈fesc〉 is anticorrelated with intrinsic UV luminosity and UV dust attenuation; with low UV luminosity and dust attenuation subsamples both returning best fits in the range 0.10 ≤ 〈fesc〉 ≤ 0.22. We do not find a clear correlation between fesc and galaxy stellar mass, suggesting stellar mass is not a primary indicator of fesc. Although larger samples are needed to further explore these trends, our results suggest that it is entirely plausible that the low dust, low-metallicity galaxies found at z ≥ 6 will display the 〈fesc〉 ≥ 0.1 required to drive reionization.
The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Large Program to INvestigate CII at Early times (ALPINE) targets the CII 158
μ
m line and the far-infrared continuum in 118 spectroscopically confirmed ...star-forming galaxies between
z
= 4.4 and
z
= 5.9. It represents the first large CII statistical sample built in this redshift range. We present details regarding the data processing and the construction of the catalogs. We detected 23 of our targets in the continuum. To derive accurate infrared luminosities and obscured star formation rates (SFRs), we measured the conversion factor from the ALMA 158
μ
m rest-frame dust continuum luminosity to the total infrared luminosity (
L
IR
) after constraining the dust spectral energy distribution by stacking a photometric sample similar to ALPINE in ancillary single-dish far-infrared data. We found that our continuum detections have a median
L
IR
of 4.4 × 10
11
L
⊙
. We also detected 57 additional continuum sources in our ALMA pointings. They are at a lower redshift than the ALPINE targets, with a mean photometric redshift of 2.5 ± 0.2. We measured the 850
μ
m number counts between 0.35 and 3.5 mJy, thus improving the current interferometric constraints in this flux density range. We found a slope break in the number counts around 3 mJy with a shallower slope below this value. More than 40% of the cosmic infrared background is emitted by sources brighter than 0.35 mJy. Finally, we detected the CII line in 75 of our targets. Their median CII luminosity is 4.8 × 10
8
L
⊙
and their median full width at half maximum is 252 km s
−1
. After measuring the mean obscured SFR in various CII luminosity bins by stacking ALPINE continuum data, we find a good agreement between our data and the local and predicted SFR–
L
CII
relations.
Abstract
We present a detailed analysis of the X-ray and molecular gas emission in the nearby galaxy NGC 34, to constrain the properties of molecular gas, and assess whether, and to what extent, the ...radiation produced by the accretion on to the central black hole affects the CO line emission. We analyse the CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED) as resulting mainly from Herschel and ALMA data, along with X-ray data from NuSTAR and XMM–Newton. The X-ray data analysis suggests the presence of a heavily obscured active galactic nucleus (AGN) with an intrinsic luminosity of L1–100 keV ≃ 4.0 × 1042 erg s−1. ALMA high-resolution data (θ ≃ 0.2 arcsec) allow us to scan the nuclear region down to a spatial scale of ≈100 pc for the CO(6–5) transition. We model the observed SLED using photodissociation region (PDR), X-ray-dominated region (XDR), and shock models, finding that a combination of a PDR and an XDR provides the best fit to the observations. The PDR component, characterized by gas density log(n/cm−3) = 2.5 and temperature T = 30 K, reproduces the low-J CO line luminosities. The XDR is instead characterized by a denser and warmer gas (log(n/cm−3) = 4.5, T = 65 K), and is necessary to fit the high-J transitions. The addition of a third component to account for the presence of shocks has been also tested but does not improve the fit of the CO SLED. We conclude that the AGN contribution is significant in heating the molecular gas in NGC 34.
Tumor microenvironments (TMEs) influence cancer progression but are complex and often differ between patients. Considering that microenvironment variations may reveal rules governing intratumoral ...cellular programs and disease outcome, we focused on tumor-to-tumor variation to examine 52 head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. We found that macrophage polarity-defined by
and
(CS) expression but not by conventional M1 and M2 markers-had a noticeably strong prognostic association. CS macrophage polarity also identified a highly coordinated network of either pro- or antitumor variables, which involved each tumor-associated cell type and was spatially organized. We extended these findings to other cancer indications. Overall, these results suggest that, despite their complexity, TMEs coordinate coherent responses that control human cancers and for which CS macrophage polarity is a relevant yet simple variable.
Social learning and conformity, or positive frequency‐biased transmission, are important components of the evolution of culture and group identities in animals and humans. Previous theoretical work ...on the evolution of social learning and conformity when environmental states change found that conformity evolves for a large range of environmental conditions. However, the foraging environment can affect the adaptive benefits of social learning and conformity. Conformity can cause a population to focus mainly on one resource while ignoring other available resources, which can incite competition if the first resource is limited. We study the evolution of social learning and frequency‐biased transmission in a limited‐resource environment using a replicator model of a forager population feeding on two resources in which foragers set their resource preferences during an early learning stage. In sharp contrast with previous models, anti‐conformity, or negative frequency‐biased transmission, rather than conformity, evolves from a population of non‐conformists under most environmental conditions. Numerical simulations suggest that both social learning and conformity cause the foragers to favor one resource over the other even though the resources provide the same benefit to foragers. Resource limitation favors anti‐conformity because anti‐conformity tends to force both resources to be exploited equally. Similarly, depletion of resources selects against social learning. However, increasing social learning is adaptive when independent discovery of foraging cues is difficult because it increases the rate at which individuals learn to find food. Consequently, in an environment with difficult‐to‐learn food cues, increased social learning is more likely to evolve. However, social learning does not emerge from a population of individual learners. Our results show that competition and consumer‐resource interactions can alter the evolutionary course of social learning and transmission bias. As there are many examples of conformity in the animal kingdom, and especially in humans, future studies should explore what extensions of the model would allow conformity to first evolve.
We report key epidemiologic parameter estimates for coronavirus disease identified in peer-reviewed publications, preprint articles, and online reports. Range estimates for incubation period were ...1.8-6.9 days, serial interval 4.0-7.5 days, and doubling time 2.3-7.4 days. The effective reproductive number varied widely, with reductions attributable to interventions. Case burden and infection fatality ratios increased with patient age. Implementation of combined interventions could reduce cases and delay epidemic peak up to 1 month. These parameters for transmission, disease severity, and intervention effectiveness are critical for guiding policy decisions. Estimates will likely change as new information becomes available.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We present the ancillary data and basic physical measurements for the galaxies in the ALMA Large Program to Investigate C+ at Early Times (ALPINE) survey-the first large multiwavelength survey that ...aims at characterizing the gas and dust properties of 118 main-sequence galaxies at redshifts 4.4 < z < 5.9 via the measurement of emission at (64% at >3.5 ) and the surrounding far-infrared continuum in conjunction with a wealth of optical and near-infrared data. We outline in detail the spectroscopic data and selection of the galaxies as well as the ground- and space-based imaging products. In addition, we provide several basic measurements including stellar masses, star formation rates (SFR), rest-frame ultra-violet (UV) luminosities, UV continuum slopes (β), and absorption line redshifts, as well as H emission derived from Spitzer colors. We find that the ALPINE sample is representative of the 4 < z < 6 galaxy population selected by photometric methods and only slightly biased toward bluer colors (Δβ ∼ 0.2). Using as tracer of the systemic redshift (confirmed for one galaxy at z = 4.5 out of 118 for which we obtained optical λ3727 emission), we confirm redshifted Ly emission and blueshifted absorption lines similar to findings at lower redshifts. By stacking the rest-frame UV spectra in the rest frame, we find that the absorption lines in galaxies with high specific SFR are more blueshifted, which could be indicative of stronger winds and outflows.
Abstract
We constrain the distribution of spatially offset Lyman-alpha emission (Ly α) relative to rest-frame ultraviolet emission in ∼300 high redshift (3 < z < 5.5) Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) ...exhibiting Ly α emission from VANDELS, a VLT/VIMOS slit-spectroscopic survey of the CANDELS Ultra Deep Survey and Chandra Deep Field South fields (≃0.2 deg2 total). Because slit spectroscopy only provides one spatial dimension, we use Bayesian inference to recover the underlying two-dimensional Ly α spatial offset distribution. We model the distribution using a two-dimensional circular Gaussian, defined by a single parameter σr,Ly α, the standard deviation expressed in polar coordinates. Over the entire redshift range of our sample (3 < z < 5.5), we find $\sigma _{r,\mathrm{Ly}\,\alpha }=1.70^{+0.09}_{-0.08}$ kpc ($68\hbox{ per cent}$ conf.), corresponding to ∼0${^{\prime\prime}_{.}}$25 at 〈z〉 = 4.5. We also find that σr,Ly α decreases significantly with redshift. Because Ly α spatial offsets can cause slit losses, the decrease in σr,Ly α with redshift can partially explain the increase in the fraction of Ly α emitters observed in the literature over this same interval, although uncertainties are still too large to reach a strong conclusion. If σr,Ly α continues to decrease into the reionization epoch, then the decrease in Ly α transmission from galaxies observed during this epoch might require an even higher neutral hydrogen fraction than what is currently inferred. Conversely, if spatial offsets increase with the increasing opacity of the intergalactic medium, slit losses may explain some of the drop in Ly α transmission observed at z > 6. Spatially resolved observations of Ly α and UV continuum at 6 < z < 8 are needed to settle the issue.
We study the efficiency of galactic feedback in the early Universe by stacking the C II 158
μ
m emission in a large sample of normal star-forming galaxies at 4 <
z
< 6 from the ALMA Large Program ...to INvestigate C II at Early times (ALPINE) survey. Searching for typical signatures of outflows in the high-velocity tails of the stacked C II profile, we observe (i) deviations from a single-component Gaussian model in the combined residuals and (ii) broad emission in the stacked C II spectrum, with velocities of |
v
|≲500 km s
−1
. The significance of these features increases when stacking the subset of galaxies with star formation rates (SFRs) higher than the median (SFR
med
= 25
M
⊙
yr
−1
), thus confirming their star-formation-driven nature. The estimated mass outflow rates are comparable to the SFRs, yielding mass-loading factors of the order of unity (similarly to local star-forming galaxies), suggesting that star-formation-driven feedback may play a lesser role in quenching galaxies at
z
> 4. From the stacking analysis of the datacubes, we find that the combined C II core emission (|
v
|< 200 km s
−1
) of the higher-SFR galaxies is extended on physical sizes of ∼30 kpc (diameter scale), well beyond the analogous C II core emission of lower-SFR galaxies and the stacked far-infrared continuum. The detection of such extended metal-enriched gas, likely tracing circumgalactic gas enriched by past outflows, corroborates previous similar studies, confirming that baryon cycle and gas exchanges with the circumgalactic medium are at work in normal star-forming galaxies already at early epochs.