The Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo observatories recently discovered gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral. A short gamma-ray burst (GRB) that followed the merger of this binary ...was also recorded by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM), and the Anti-Coincidence Shield for the Spectrometer for the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL), indicating particle acceleration by the source. The precise location of the event was determined by optical detections of emission following the merger. We searched for high-energy neutrinos from the merger in the GeV-EeV energy range using the Antares, IceCube, and Pierre Auger Observatories. No neutrinos directionally coincident with the source were detected within 500 s around the merger time. Additionally, no MeV neutrino burst signal was detected coincident with the merger. We further carried out an extended search in the direction of the source for high-energy neutrinos within the 14 day period following the merger, but found no evidence of emission. We used these results to probe dissipation mechanisms in relativistic outflows driven by the binary neutron star merger. The non-detection is consistent with model predictions of short GRBs observed at a large off-axis angle.
We report a first measurement for ultrahigh energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered ...simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around the ‘ankle’ at lg(E/eV)=18.5–19.0 differs significantly from expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass A>4. Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are thus disfavored as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux at Earth.
Background Cytokines play a key pathogenic role in Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). Several cytokines, such as IL-23, signal through the JAK-STAT pathway, which is negatively regulated by the suppressors ...of cytokine signalling (SOCS) proteins. In a previous study our group found a significant association between the intronic polymorphism rs7857730 in JAK2 gene and the presence of peripheral arthritis at disease onset in AS patients.1 Objectives The aim of this study is to assess the gene expression of JAK2 and SOCS-1, -2 -3 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in relation with the presence of PA as well as in relation with the intronic polymorphism rs7857730 of JAK2. Methods We studied 26 patients (19 males and 7 females) recruited from the National Spondyloarthropathies Registry (REGISPONSER) diagnosed of AS following the Modified New York Criteria. The study cohort included patients with a mean age of 58.5±8.0 years. The 30.7% of the patients had peripheral arthritis. Total RNA was extracted from PBMCs using the Nucleospin RNA kit (MN) and reverse transcribed into cDNA. mRNA expression was assessed by real-time quantitative RT-PCR using specific primers and Power SYBRGreen PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems) in the case of SOCS-1,-2 -3 or with RealTime Ready probes (Roche) for JAK2 expression. The results and statistical analysis were processed with Microsoft Excel, and SPSS v 15.0 softwares using the unpaired Student's t- test. P-values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results Patients with AS and PA showed lower expressions levels of SOCS-1 (P=0,05), SOCS-2 (P=0,04) and especially of SOCS3 (P=0,002) as well as higher expression levels of JAK2 (P=0,02) than patients without PA. Regarding the JAK2 rs7857730 polymorphism, we observed an increased expression of this transcript in patients homozygous for the PA risk allele A compared with C carriers (P=0,02). Besides we found a trend that didn't reach statistical significance in these patients carrying the protective allele C, so that they showed higher levels of SOCS transcripts, especially of SOCS-3 (P=0.1). Conclusions Our study confirms that the patients with AS and PA at disease onset had a higher expression levels of JAK2, as well as a lower expression levels of SOCS transcripts. These differences could lead to an increased cell activation in response to cytokines suchs as IL-23, because of the higher presence of activator proteins and lower expression of inhibitory proteins, which could be related to the clinical manifestation of PA in these AS patients. References Ann Rheum Dis 2011;70(Suppl3):215. Acknowledgements This work have been supported by Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (PI11/00400) and by RETICS Program, RD08/0075 (RIER) from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), within the VI PN de I+D+I 2008-2011, (FEDER). We are grateful to all the patients who have participated in the study. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.2496
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