ABSTRACT
We present the catalogue of Q-U-I JOint TEnerife (QUIJOTE) Wide Survey radio sources extracted from the maps of the Multi-Frequency Instrument compiled between 2012 and 2018. The catalogue ...contains 786 sources observed in intensity and polarization, and is divided into two separate sub-catalogues: one containing 47 bright sources previously studied by the Planck collaboration and an extended catalogue of 739 sources either selected from the Planck Second Catalogue of Compact Sources or found through a blind search carried out with a Mexican Hat 2 wavelet. A significant fraction of the sources in our catalogue (38.7 per cent) are within the |b| ≤ 20° region of the Galactic plane. We determine statistical properties for those sources that are likely to be extragalactic. We find that these statistical properties are compatible with currently available models, with a ∼1.8 Jy completeness limit at 11 GHz. We provide the polarimetric properties of (38, 33, 31, 23) sources with P detected above the $99.99{{\ \rm per\, cent}}$ significance level at (11, 13, 17, 19) GHz respectively. Median polarization fractions are in the 2.8–4.7 per cent range in the 11–19 GHz frequency interval. We do not distinguish between Galactic and extragalactic sources here. The results presented here are consistent with those reported in the literature for flat- and steep-spectrum radio sources.
•EU-Rotate_N evaluated in two sequences of melon-bare soil-pepper in greenhouses.•With calibration EU-Rotate_N accurately simulated growth, crop N uptake, yield.•ETc, drainage and soil water content ...were accurately simulated by EU-Rotate_N.•Soil mineral N and NO3− leaching underestimated but seasonal trends well predicted.
The capacity of the EU-Rotate_N model to simulate agronomic parameters (dry matter production, yield, crop N uptake, evapotranspiration (ETc), soil water content dynamics) and parameters associated to nitrate (NO3−) pollution (drainage, NO3− leaching, accumulation of mineral N in soil) was evaluated in sequences of melon and pepper crops grown in plastic greenhouses. Simulated values of all output variables were compared to measured values. Two sequences with either conventional or improved management for water and N were examined during the 2005 and 2006 cropping seasons. Additionally, simulation of drainage and NO3− leaching was evaluated during the period between crops following irrigations associated with soil disinfection and leaching of accumulated salts. Calibration of parameters related to crop growth, the critical N curve and ETc considerably improved simulation of drainage, NO3− leaching and of soil water and soil mineral N dynamics. Following calibration, the EU-Rotate_N model accurately simulated dry matter production, crop N uptake and marketable fruit yield; the simulation errors being lower or similar to those reported elsewhere. ETc and drainage were accurately simulated in the 2006 melon and pepper crops and in the 2005 melon crop; they were respectively over- and under-estimated in the 2005 pepper crop probably on account of a virus infection. EU-Rotate_N accurately simulated soil water content for the 0−30 and 30−60 cm soil layers. Soil mineral N and NO3− leaching were generally underestimated by EU-Rotate_N, the error being larger in the 2005 sequences; however, the model effectively simulated seasonal trends.
The axion is a hypothetical particle which is a candidate for cold dark matter. Haloscope experiments directly search for these particles in strong magnetic fields with RF cavities as detectors. The ...Relic Axion Detector Exploratory Setup (RADES) at CERN in particular is searching for axion dark matter in a mass range above 30 <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu</tex-math></inline-formula>eV. The figure of merit of our detector depends linearly on the quality factor of the cavity and therefore we are researching the possibility of coating our cavities with different superconducting materials to increase the quality factor. Since the experiment operates in strong magnetic fields of 11 T and more, superconductors with high critical magnetic fields are necessary. Suitable materials for this application are for example REBa<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">_2</tex-math></inline-formula>Cu<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">_3</tex-math></inline-formula>O<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">_{7-x}</tex-math></inline-formula>, Nb<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">_3</tex-math></inline-formula>Sn or NbN. We designed a microwave cavity which resonates at around 9 GHz, with a geometry optimized to facilitate superconducting coating and designed to fit in the bore of available high-field accelerator magnets at CERN. Several prototypes of this cavity were coated with different superconducting materials, employing different coating techniques. These prototypes were characterized in strong magnetic fields at 4.2 K.
Mucosal melanomas are rare, and less is known about the biomarkers of this subtype in comparison to cutaneous or uveal melanomas. Preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma (PRAME) has been studied ...as a tool for prognostication of uveal melanomas, and immunotherapy against PRAME-expressing tumor cells has already shown promise. Our goal was to retrospectively analyze 29 cases of mucosal melanomas at our institution to determine if any molecular and histopathologic prognosticators could be identified, as well as to study PRAME expression and its association with prognosis. We found that the majority of mucosal melanomas expressed PRAME and a high PRAME expression score predicted a poor prognosis. There was no association between prognosis and the histomorphologic features analyzed, such as presence of spindle cell or epithelioid predominance. BRAF mutations were absent in 16 of 16 cases tested. Pathogenic NRAS mutations were detected in 3 of 11 cases tested and were associated with shorter overall survival compared to those without NRAS alterations, but the presence of NRAS mutations did not correlate with PRAME expression. In conclusion, an increase in PRAME expression and the presence of a pathogenic NRAS were both associated with a worse prognosis in mucosal melanomas.
Indirect results in humans suggest that chronic overfeeding decreases physical activity with few suggestions regarding what mechanism(s) may link overfeeding and decreased activity. The primary sex ...hormones are known regulators of activity and there are reports that chronic overfeeding alters sex hormone levels. Thepurpose of this study was to determine if chronic overfeeding altered wheel running through altered sex hormone levels.
C57BL/6J mice were bred and the pups were weaned at 3-weeks of age and randomly assigned to either a control (CFD) or high fat/high sugar (HFHS) diet for 9-11 weeks depending on activity analysis. Nutritional intake, body composition, sex hormone levels, and 3-day and 2-week wheel-running activity were measured. Additionally, groups of HFHS animals were supplemented with testosterone (males) and 17β-estradiol (females) to determine if sex hormone augmentation altered diet-induced changes in activity.
117 mice (56♂, 61♀) were analyzed. The HFHS mice consumed significantly more calories per day than CFD mice (male:
< 0.0001; female:
< 0.0001) and had significantly higher body fat (male:
< 0.0001; female:
< 0.0001). The HFHS diet did not reduce sex hormone levels, but did significantly reduce acute running-wheel distance in male (
= 0.05, 70 ± 28%) and female mice (
= 0.02, 57 ± 26%). In animals that received hormone supplementation, there was no significant effect on activity levels. Two-weeks of wheel access was not sufficient to alter HFHS-induced reductions in activity or increases in body fat.
Chronic overfeeding reduces wheel running, but is independent of the primary sex hormones.
Factors affecting horn size in wild Caprinae are of biological and socio-economic interest because several species are selectively harvested on the basis of this heritable character. We analysed ...temporal trends in horn size in two mountain ungulates from south-eastern Spain, the Iberian wild goat Capra pyrenaica and the aoudad Ammotragus lervia. Trophy harvest is the main way in which these two species are exploited, although ‘poor-quality’ aoudads are also selectively removed. In recent years, both populations have suffered drastic decreases in number due to outbreaks of sarcoptic mange that led to the suspension of hunting for several years. Horn length in harvested male wild goats and aoudads declined during our study period. Over an 18-year period, the mean age of male goats shot as trophies rose by four years, while the age of trophy-harvested aoudads decreased by around six months over a 9-year period. Age and environmental conditions during the first few years of life explained 20% of variance in horn size in Iberian wild goat and 53% in aoudad. Population density early in life explained much of the reduction in goat horn size over time. Nevertheless, the major fall in population densities after the sarcoptic mange outbreaks did not lead to a recovery in horn size in either species. We suggest that the selective removal of large-horned animals may contribute to a decline in horn size. Other factors that may also explain the observed pattern include changes in interspecific competition, long-lasting maternal effects and reduced carrying capacity due to overgrazing during high density periods. Unfortunately, our data sets did not allow us to account for the possible effects of these factors.
Plasma membrane calcium ATPases (PMCA) are key proteins in the maintenance of calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis. Dysregulation of PMCA function is associated with several human pathologies, including ...neurodegenerative diseases, and, therefore, these proteins are potential drug targets to counteract those diseases. Gold compounds, namely of Au(I), are well-known for their therapeutic use in rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases for centuries. Herein, we report the ability of dichloro(2-pyridinecarboxylate)gold(III) (1), chlorotrimethylphosphinegold(I) (2), 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidenegold(I) chloride (3), and chlorotriphenylphosphinegold(I) (4) compounds to interfere with the Ca2+-ATPase activity of pig brain purified PMCA and with membranes from SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell cultures. The Au(III) compound (1) inhibits PMCA activity with the IC50 value of 4.9 µM, while Au(I) compounds (2, 3, and 4) inhibit the protein activity with IC50 values of 2.8, 21, and 0.9 µM, respectively. Regarding the native substrate MgATP, gold compounds 1 and 4 showed a non-competitive type of inhibition, whereas compounds 2 and 3 showed a mixed type of inhibition. All gold complexes showed cytotoxic effects on human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, although compounds 1 and 3 were more cytotoxic than compounds 2 and 4. In summary, this work shows that both Au (I and III) compounds are high-affinity inhibitors of the Ca2+-ATPase activity in purified PMCA fractions and in membranes from SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells. Additionally, they exert strong cytotoxic effects.
The two fundamental assumptions of the standard cosmological model – that the initial fluctuations are statistically isotropic and Gaussian – are rigorously tested using maps of the cosmic microwave ...background (CMB) anisotropy from the Planck satellite. The detailed results are based on studies of four independent estimates of the CMB that are compared to simulations using a fiducial ΛCDM model and incorporating essential aspects of the Planck measurement process. Deviations from isotropy have been found and demonstrated to be robust against component separation algorithm, mask choice, and frequency dependence. Many of these anomalies were previously observed in the WMAP data, and are now confirmed at similar levels of significance (about 3σ). However, we find little evidence of non-Gaussianity, with the exception of a few statistical signatures that seem to be associated with specific anomalies. In particular, we find that the quadrupole-octopole alignment is also connected to a low observed variance in the CMB signal. A power asymmetry is now found to persist on scales corresponding to about ℓ = 600 and can be described in the low-ℓ regime by a phenomenological dipole modulation model. However, any primordial power asymmetry is strongly scale-dependent and does not extend toarbitrarily small angular scales. Finally, it is plausible that some of these features may be reflected in the angular power spectrum of the data, which shows a deficit of power on similar scales. Indeed, when the power spectra of two hemispheres defined by a preferred direction are considered separately, one shows evidence of a deficit in power, while its opposite contains oscillations between odd and even modes that may be related to the parity violation and phase correlations also detected in the data. Although these analyses represent a step forward in building an understanding of the anomalies, a satisfactory explanation based on physically motivated models is still lacking.
An intense and long-lasting Saharan dust outbreak crossed
the Iberian Peninsula (IP) from the southwest (SW) to the northeast (NE)
from 25 March until 7 April 2021. This work aims to assess the ...optical and
mass contribution of both fine and coarse dust particles along their
transport. Five Iberian lidar stations were monitoring the transport and
evolution of the Saharan dust particles, i.e. El Arenosillo/Huelva,
Granada, Torrejón/Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, and Évora in
Portugal. The particular meteorological conditions determined the aerosol
scenario along the overall dust event, differing in the first part of the
event (25–31 March), in which the strongest dust incidence occurred on 29–31 March at the south and central stations and 1 April at Barcelona, from the
second one (1–7 April). The use of the two-step POLIPHON algorithm showed
the relevance of using polarized lidar measurements for separating the
aerosol properties of dust fine and coarse particles as an added value.
Both the fine dust (Df) and coarse dust (Dc) components of the total
particle backscatter coefficient (total dust, DD = Dc + Df) were
separately derived. The dust plume was well-mixed with height and no
significant differences were found in the vertical structure of both the Dc
and Df particle backscatter coefficients. From the beginning of the dust
outbreak until 1 April, the vertical Df / DD mass ratio was nearly constant in time at each station and also in altitude with values of ∼ 10 %. Moreover, the mean dust optical depth at 532 nm was decreasing along that dust pathway, reporting values from SW to NE stations of 0.34 at El Arenosillo/Huelva, 0.28 at Granada, 0.20 at Évora, 0.28 at
Torrejón/Madrid, and 0.14 at Barcelona, although its Df / DD ratio remained almost constant (28 %–30 %). A similar pattern was found for the total dust mass loading and its Df / DD ratio, i.e. mostly decreasing mean mass values
were reported, being constant in its Df / DD ratio (∼ 10 %)
along the SW–NE dust pathway. In addition, the episode-mean centre-of-mass
height increased with latitude overall, showing a high variability, being
greater than 0.5 km at the southern sites (El Arenosillo/Huelva, Granada,
Évora) and ∼ 1.0 km at Torrejón/Madrid and Barcelona.
However, despite the relatively high intensity of the dust intrusion, the
expected ageing of the dust particles was hardly observed, by taking into
account the minor changes found in the contribution and properties of the
coarse and fine dust particles. This is on the basis that the IP is
relatively close to the Saharan dust sources and then, under certain dust
transport conditions, any potential ageing processes in the dust particles
remained unappreciated. The following must be highlighted: the different relative
contribution of the fine dust particles to the total dust found for their
optical properties (∼ 30 %) associated with the radiative
effect of dust, with respect to that for the mass features (∼ 10 %) linked to air quality issues, along the overall dust event by
crossing the IP.
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