Abstract
The presence of transitional dwarf galaxies in filaments and cluster outskirts may be closely related to preprocessing in the filament; however, the underlying mechanism is not yet ...comprehensively understood. We present the spatially resolved chemical and kinematical properties of three blue-cored dwarf early-type galaxies (dE(bc)s) in the Virgo cluster and Virgo-related filaments (Crater and Virgo III) using the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral-field spectrograph galaxy Survey. We map the spatial distribution of H
α
, oxygen abundance (O/H), nitrogen-to-oxygen abundance ratio (N/O), stellar population age, and gas-stellar internal kinematics. We find irregular shapes of enhanced star-forming regions from the centers to the outlying regions of blue cores in dE(bc)s. These regions are relatively metal poor compared with the surrounding regions, rendering the overall metallicity gradient of each galaxy positive. Furthermore, they exhibit higher N/O ratios at a given O/H relative to their surroundings, implying metal-poor gas infall by external processes. The equivalent width of the H
α
emission line in metal-poor regions indicates young age of star formation, 6–8 Myr. The disturbed ionized gas velocity field, one of the most prominent features of galaxy mergers is also discovered in two dE(bc)s. We propose that a moderately dense filament environment is favorable for the formation of blue cores in dEs, in which dE(bc)s in filaments may have already been transformed before they fall into the Virgo cluster. This process may contribute to the composition of galaxy population at the outskirts of the cluster.
Abstract
We investigate the stellar and ionized gas kinematics, and stellar populations of NGC 3182 galaxy using integral field spectrograph data from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area ...survey. We try to clarify the nature of the ring structure in NGC 3182. We find a negative stellar age gradient out to the ring, while
α
/Fe considerably enhanced in the ring. The stellar metallicity shows a smooth negative gradient. From the line-ratio diagnostic diagrams, we confirm that NGC 3182 is a Seyfert galaxy from emission-line flux ratio, while the gas in the inner ring is ionized mostly by young stars. However, any obvious feature of outflows is not found in its gas kinematics. In the ring, star formation seems to have recently occurred and the gas metallicity is slightly enhanced compared to the center. From our results, we conclude that star formation has occurred in the circumnuclear region within a short period and this may result from a positive feedback by active galactic nucleus radiation pressure.
Hepatotoxicity of Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids Neuman, Manuela G; Cohen, Lawrence; Opris, Mihai ...
Journal of pharmacy & pharmaceutical sciences,
01/2015, Volume:
18, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This article aimed 1) to review herbal medicine containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA)-induced toxicities of the liver; 2) to encourage the recognition and prevention of common problems encountered ...when using complementary and alternative medicine and 3) to review the toxic effects of herbal remedies containing PAs.
We performed a systematic literature search using the PubMed and Google Scholar engines. The search was not restricted to languages. We also provide an interpretation of the data.
Herbal remedies containing PAs can induce liver damage, including hepato- sinusoidal obstruction syndrome or veno-occlusive disease. Preventing overdose and monitoring long-term use of such remedies may avoid glutathione depletion leading to mitochondrial injury, and therefore avoid liver cell damage. Moreover, immediately stopping the herbal medication prevents further harm to the liver. Chronic consumption of hepatotoxicants can lead to cancer formation and promotion. The role of active metabolites in PA-induced liver toxicity and their mechanism of action require further investigation. This article is open to POST-PUBLICATION REVIEW. Registered readers (see "For Readers") may comment by clicking on ABSTRACT on the issue's contents page.
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a debilitating mood disorder with no specific biological marker. No novel treatment has been developed specifically for BD in the last several decades. Although the ...pathophysiology of BD remains unclear, there is strong evidence in the literature supporting the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in BD. In this systematic review, we identified and investigated 12 studies that measure lactate, which is a direct marker for mitochondrial dysfunction, in BD patients and healthy controls. Six studies measured lactate levels in the brain through proton echo‐planar spectroscopy or magnetic resonance spectroscopy and five of these studies reported significantly elevated lactate levels in patients with BD. Two studies reporting cerebrospinal fluid lactate levels also found significantly elevated lactate in BD compared to healthy controls. Two other studies that reported peripheral lactate levels did not demonstrate significant findings. The meta‐analysis, using standardized means and a random‐effect model for five studies that measured brain lactate levels, corroborated the findings of the systematic review. Although the meta‐analysis had a nearly significant overall effect (Z = 1.97, P = 0.05), high statistical heterogeneity (I2 = 86%) and possible publication bias suggest that the results should be interpreted with caution. To validate lactate abnormalities in BD, further studies should be carried out, including larger sample sizes, not excluding female patients, and using standardized methodologies. Peripheral lactate levels and other bioenergetic markers should be thoroughly studied to better understand the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in BD and to help develop more objective diagnostic tools.
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have great potential to provide minimally invasive ways for the early detection of cancer metastasis and for the response monitoring of various cancer treatments. ...Despite the clinical importance and progress of CTC-based cancer diagnostics, most of the current methods of enriching CTCs are difficult to implement in general hospital settings due to complex and time-consuming protocols. Among existing technologies, size-based isolation methods provide antibody-independent, relatively simple, and high throughput protocols. However, the clogging issues and lower than desired recovery rates and purity are the key challenges. In this work, inspired by antifouling membranes with liquid-filled pores in nature, clog-free, highly sensitive (95.9 ± 3.1% recovery rate), selective (>2.5 log depletion of white blood cells), rapid (>3 mL/min), and label-free isolation of viable CTCs from whole blood without prior sample treatment is achieved using a stand-alone lab-on-a-disc system equipped with fluid-assisted separation technology (FAST). Numerical simulation and experiments show that this method provides uniform, clog-free, ultrafast cell enrichment with pressure drops much less than in conventional size-based filtration, at 1 kPa. We demonstrate the clinical utility of the point-of-care detection of CTCs with samples taken from 142 patients suffering from breast, stomach, or lung cancer.
Abstract We search for quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) in a wide area of the south ecliptic pole (SEP) field, which has been and will continue to be intensively explored through various space missions. ...For this purpose, we obtain deep broadband optical images of the SEP field covering an area of ∼14.5 × 14.5 deg 2 with the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet). The 5 σ detection limits for point sources in the BVRI bands are estimated to be ∼22.59, 22.60, 22.98, and 21.85 mag, respectively. Utilizing data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, unobscured QSO candidates are selected among the optically pointlike sources using mid-infrared (MIR) and optical–MIR colors. To refine our selection further and eliminate any contamination not adequately removed by the color-based selection, we perform spectral energy distribution fitting with archival photometric data ranging from optical to MIR. As a result, we identify a total of 2383 unobscured QSO candidates in the SEP field. We also apply a similar method to the north ecliptic pole field using Pan-STARRS data and obtain a similar result of identifying 2427 candidates. The differential number count per area of our QSO candidates is in good agreement with those measured from spectroscopically confirmed ones in other fields. Finally, we compare the results with the literature and discuss how this work will impact future studies, especially upcoming space missions.
Endoplasmic reticulum stress is closely associated with the onset and progression of inflammatory bowel disease. ERdj5 is an endoplasmic reticulum-resident protein disulfide reductase that mediates ...the cleavage and degradation of misfolded proteins. Although ERdj5 expression is significantly higher in the colonic tissues of patients with inflammatory bowel disease than in healthy controls, its role in inflammatory bowel disease has not yet been reported. In the current study, we used ERdj5-knockout mice to investigate the potential roles of ERdj5 in inflammatory bowel disease. ERdj5 deficiency causes severe inflammation in mouse colitis models and weakens gut barrier function by increasing NF-κB-mediated inflammation. ERdj5 may not be indispensable for goblet cell function under steady-state conditions, but its deficiency induces goblet cell apoptosis under inflammatory conditions. Treatment of ERdj5-knockout mice with the chemical chaperone ursodeoxycholic acid ameliorated severe colitis by reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress. These findings highlight the important role of ERdj5 in preserving goblet cell viability and function by resolving endoplasmic reticulum stress.
ABSTRACT We present a new database of our two-dimensional bulge-disk decompositions for 14,233 galaxies drawn from Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR12 in order to examine the properties of bulges residing ...in the local universe (0.005 < z < 0.05). We performed decompositions in the g and r bands by utilizing the galfit software. The bulge colors and bulge-to-total ratios are found to be sensitive to the details in the decomposition technique, and hence we hereby provide full details of our method. The g − r colors of bulges derived are almost constantly red regardless of bulge size, except for the bulges in the low bulge-to-total ratio galaxies (B/Tr 0.3). Bulges exhibit similar scaling relations to those followed by elliptical galaxies, but the bulges in galaxies with lower bulge-to-total ratios clearly show a gradually larger departure in slope from the elliptical galaxy sequence. The scatters around the scaling relations are also larger for the bulges in galaxies with lower bulge-to-total ratios. Both the departure in slopes and larger scatters likely originate from the presence of young stars. The bulges in galaxies with low bulge-to-total ratios show signs of a frosting of young stars so substantial that their luminosity-weighted Balmer-line ages are as small as 1 Gyr in some cases. While bulges seem largely similar in optical properties to elliptical galaxies, they do show clear and systematic departures as a function of bulge-to-total ratio. The stellar properties and perhaps associated formation processes of bulges seem much more diverse than those of elliptical galaxies.
Abstract
We investigate the fraction of quenched satellite galaxies in host galaxy groups and clusters using TNG300 in the IllustrisTNG cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulations. The simulations ...show that most satellites are quenched after they fall into their final hosts, and that post-processing is a more dominant mechanism of galaxy quenching than pre-processing. We find that the fraction of quenched satellites at
z
= 0 increases with host mass, which implies that more massive hosts have higher quenching efficiency because they have more massive groups infalling. Furthermore, we find that hosts that have many early-infall satellites show a higher fraction of quenched satellites at
z
= 0 than those that have many late-infall satellites, which results in a scatter of the quenched fraction of satellites in a given mass range of hosts at
z
= 0. Our results highlight the significance of the mass of hosts and the different infall times of satellites in understanding galaxy quenching.