Treatments are lacking for sarcopenia, a debilitating age-related skeletal muscle wasting syndrome. We identifed increased amounts of 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (15-PGDH), the ...prostaglandin E
(PGE
)-degrading enzyme, as a hallmark of aged tissues, including skeletal muscle. The consequent reduction in PGE
signaling contributed to muscle atrophy in aged mice and results from 15-PGDH-expressing myofibers and interstitial cells, such as macrophages, within muscle. Overexpression of 15-PGDH in young muscles induced atrophy. Inhibition of 15-PGDH, by targeted genetic depletion or a small-molecule inhibitor, increased aged muscle mass, strength, and exercise performance. These benefits arise from a physiological increase in PGE
concentrations, which augmented mitochondrial function and autophagy and decreased transforming growth factor-β signaling and activity of ubiquitin-proteasome pathways. Thus, PGE
signaling ameliorates muscle atrophy and rejuvenates muscle function, and 15-PGDH may be a suitable therapeutic target for countering sarcopenia.
Stem cells that naturally reside in adult tissues, such as muscle stem cells (MuSCs), exhibit robust regenerative capacity in vivo that is rapidly lost in culture. Using a bioengineered substrate to ...recapitulate key biophysical and biochemical niche features in conjunction with a highly automated single-cell tracking algorithm, we show that substrate elasticity is a potent regulator of MuSC fate in culture. Unlike MuSCs on rigid plastic dishes (approximately 10⁶ kilopascals), MuSCs cultured on soft hydrogel substrates that mimic the elasticity of muscle (12 kilopascals) self-renew in vitro and contribute extensively to muscle regeneration when subsequently transplanted into mice and assayed histologically and quantitatively by noninvasive bioluminescence imaging. Our studies provide novel evidence that by recapitulating physiological tissue rigidity, propagation of adult muscle stem cells is possible, enabling future cell-based therapies for muscle-wasting diseases.
X-ray emitting gaseous coronae around massive galaxies are a basic prediction of galaxy formation models. Although the coronae around spiral galaxies offer a fundamental test of these models, ...observational constraints on their characteristics are still scarce. While the presence of extended hot coronae has been established around a handful of massive spiral galaxies, the short X-ray observations only allowed for measurements of the basic characteristics of the coronae. In this work, we utilize deep XMM-Newton observations of NGC 6753 to explore its extended X-ray corona in unprecedented detail. Specifically, we establish the isotropic morphology of the hot gas, suggesting that it resides in hydrostatic equilibrium. The temperature profile of the gas shows a decrease with an increasing radius: it drops from in the innermost parts to at a 50 kpc radius. The temperature map reveals the complex temperature structure of the gas. We study the metallicity distribution of the gas, which is uniform at Solar. This value is about an order of magnitude lower than that obtained for elliptical galaxies with similar dark matter halo mass, hinting that the hot gas in spiral galaxies predominantly originates from external gas inflows rather than from internal sources. By extrapolating the density profile of the hot gas out to the virial radius, we estimate the total gas mass and derive the total baryon mass of NGC 6753. We conclude that the baryon mass fraction is , implying that about half of the baryons are missing.
Based on constraints from Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background, the baryon content of the high-redshift Universe can be precisely determined. However, at low redshift, about ...one-third of the baryons remain unaccounted for, which poses the long-standing missing baryon problem. The missing baryons are believed to reside in large-scale filaments in the form of warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). In this work, we employ a novel stacking approach to explore the hot phases of the WHIM. Specifically, we utilize the 470 ks Chandra LETG data of the luminous quasar, H 1821+643, along with previous measurements of UV absorption line systems and spectroscopic redshift measurements of galaxies toward the quasar's sightline. We repeatedly blueshift and stack the X-ray spectrum of the quasar corresponding to the redshifts of the 17 absorption line systems. Thus, we obtain a stacked spectrum with 8.0 Ms total exposure, which allows us to probe X-ray absorption lines with unparalleled sensitivity. Based on the stacked data, we detect an O vii absorption line that exhibits a Gaussian line profile and is statistically significant at the 3.3 level. Since the redshifts of the UV absorption line systems were known a priori, this is the first definitive detection of an X-ray absorption line originating from the WHIM. The equivalent width of the O vii line is (4.1 1.3) m , which corresponds to an O vii column density of . We constrain the absorbing gas to have a density of for a single WHIM filament. We derive for the cosmological mass density of O vii, assuming that all 17 systems contribute equally.
ABSTRACT The intracluster medium (ICM), as a magnetized and highly ionized fluid, provides an ideal laboratory to study plasma physics under extreme conditions that cannot be achieved on Earth. NGC ...1404 is a bright elliptical galaxy that is being gas stripped as it falls through the ICM of the Fornax Cluster. We use the new Chandra X-ray observations of NGC 1404 to study ICM microphysics. The interstellar medium of NGC 1404 is characterized by a sharp leading edge, 8 kpc from the Galaxy center, and a short downstream gaseous tail. Contact discontinuities are resolved on unprecedented spatial scales (0 5 = 45 pc) due to the combination of the proximity of NGC 1404, the superb spatial resolution of Chandra, and the very deep (670 ks) exposure. At the leading edge, we observe sub-kiloparsec-scale eddies generated by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) and put an upper limit of 5% Spitzer on the isotropic viscosity of the hot cluster plasma. We also observe mixing between the hot cluster gas and the cooler galaxy gas in the downstream stripped tail, which provides further evidence of a low viscosity plasma. The assumed ordered magnetic fields in the ICM ought to be smaller than 5 G to allow KHI to develop. The lack of an evident magnetic draping layer just outside the contact edge is consistent with such an upper limit.
Despite the progress that has been made in understanding radio relics, there are still open questions regarding the underlying particle acceleration mechanisms. In this paper, we present deep 1-4 GHz ...Very Large Array (VLA) observations of CIZA J2242.8+5301 (z = 0.1921), a double radio relic cluster characterized by small projection on the plane of the sky. Our VLA observations reveal, for the first time, the complex morphology of the diffuse sources and the filamentary structure of the northern relic. We discover new, faint, diffuse radio emission extending north of the main northern relic. Our Mach number estimates for the northern and southern relics, based on the radio spectral index map obtained using the VLA observations and existing LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) and Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope data, are consistent with previous radio and X-ray studies ( and ). However, color-color diagrams and models suggest a flatter injection spectral index than the one obtained from the spectral index map, indicating that projection effects might be not entirely negligible. The southern relic consists of five "arms." Embedded in it, we find a tailed radio galaxy that seems to be connected to the relic. A spectral index flattening, where the radio tail connects to the relic, is also measured. We propose that the southern relic may trace AGN fossil electrons that are reaccelerated by a shock, with an estimated strength of . High-resolution mapping of other tailed radio galaxies also supports a scenario where AGN fossil electrons are revived by the merger event and could be related to the formation of some diffuse cluster radio emission.
We report L-band VLA observations of 1RXS J0603.3+4214, a cluster that hosts a bright radio relic, known as the Toothbrush, and an elongated giant radio halo. These new observations allow us to study ...the surface brightness distribution down to 1 arcsec resolution with very high sensitivity. Our images provide an unprecedented detailed view of the Toothbrush, revealing enigmatic filamentary structures. To study the spectral index distribution, we complement our analysis with published LOFAR and GMRT observations. The bright "brush" of the Toothbrush shows a prominent narrow ridge to its north with a sharp outer edge. The spectral index at the ridge is in the range −0.70 ≤ ≤ −0.80. We suggest that the ridge is caused by projection along the line of sight. With a simple toy model for the smallest region of the ridge, we conclude that the magnetic field is below 5 G and varies significantly across the shock front. Our model indicates that the actual Mach number is higher than that obtained from the injection index and agrees well with the one derived from the overall spectrum, namely . The radio halo shows an average spectral index of = −1.16 0.05 and a slight gradient from north to south. The southernmost part of the halo is steeper and possibly related to a shock front. Excluding the southernmost part, the halo morphology agrees very well with the X-ray morphology. A power-law correlation is found between the radio and X-ray surface brightness.
We present a detailed chemical composition analysis of 35 red giant stars in the globular cluster M 22. High resolution spectra for this study were obtained at five observatories, and analyzed in a ...uniform manner. We have determined abundances of representative light proton-capture, α, Fe-peak and neutron-capture element groups. Our aim is to better understand the peculiar chemical enrichment history of this cluster, in which two stellar groups are characterized by a different content in iron, neutron capture elements Y, Zr and Ba, and α element Ca. The principal results of this study are: (i) substantial star-to-star metallicity scatter (− 2.0 ≲ Fe/H ≲ −1.6); (ii) enhancement of s-process/r-process neutron-capture abundance ratios in a fraction of giants, positively correlated with metallicity; (iii) sharp separation between the s-process-rich and s-process-poor groups by La/Eu ratio; (iv) possible increase of Cu/Fe ratios with increasing Fe/H, suggesting that this element also has a significant s-process component; and (v)presence of Na-O and C-N anticorrelations in both the stellar groups.
The interactions between radio-loud AGN and their environments play an important rôle in galaxy and cluster evolution. Recent work has demonstrated fundamental differences between high- and ...low-excitation radio galaxies (HERGs and LERGs), and shown that they may have different relationships with their environments. In the Chandra Large Project ERA (Environments of Radio-loud AGN), we made the first systematic X-ray environmental study of the cluster environments of radio galaxies at a single epoch (z ∼ 0.5), and found tentative evidence for a correlation between radio luminosity and cluster X-ray luminosity. We also found that this relationship appeared to be driven by the LERG subpopulation. We have now repeated the analysis with a low-redshift sample (z ∼ 0.1), and found strong correlations between radio luminosity and environment richness and between radio luminosity and central density for the LERGs but not for the HERGs. These results are consistent with models in which the HERGs are fuelled from accretion discs maintained from local reservoirs of gas, while LERGs are fuelled more directly by gas ingested from the intracluster medium. Comparing the samples, we found that although the maximum environment richness of the HERG environments is similar in both samples, there are poorer HERG environments in the z ∼ 0.1 sample than in the z ∼ 0.5 sample. We have therefore tentative evidence of evolution of the HERG environments. We found no differences between the LERG subsamples for the two epochs, as would be expected if radio and cluster luminosities are related.
We investigate the origin and nature of the multiple sloshing cold fronts in the core of Abell 496 by direct comparison between observations and dedicated hydrodynamical simulations. Our simulations ...model a minor merger with a 4 × 1013 M⊙ subcluster crossing A496 from the south-west to the north-north-east, passing the cluster core in the south-east at a pericentre distance of 100 to a few × 100 kpc about 0.6-0.8 Gyr ago. The gas sloshing triggered by the merger can reproduce almost all observed features, e.g. the characteristic spiral-like brightness residual distribution in the cluster centre and its asymmetry out to 500 kpc, also the positions of and contrasts across the cold fronts. If the subcluster passes close (100 kpc) to the cluster core, the resulting shear flows are strong enough to trigger Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities that in projection resemble the peculiar kinks in the cold fronts of Abell 496. Finally, we show that sloshing does not lead to a significant modification of the global intracluster medium profiles but a mild oscillation around the initial profiles.
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