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| 2. |
- Angelopoulos, V., et al.
(författare)
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First Results from the THEMIS Mission
- 2008
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Ingår i: Space Science Reviews. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0038-6308 .- 1572-9672. ; 141:1-4, s. 453-476
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- THEMIS was launched on February 17, 2007 to determine the trigger and large-scale evolution of substorms. During the first seven months of the mission the five satellites coasted near their injection orbit to avoid differential precession in anticipation of orbit placement, which started in September 2007 and led to a commencement of the baseline mission in December 2007. During the coast phase the probes were put into a string-of-pearls configuration at 100 s of km to 2 R-E along-track separations, which provided a unique view of the magnetosphere and enabled an unprecedented dataset in anticipation of the first tail season. In this paper we describe the first THEMIS substorm observations, captured during instrument commissioning on March 23, 2007. THEMIS measured the rapid expansion of the plasma sheet at a speed that is commensurate with the simultaneous expansion of the auroras on the ground. These are the first unequivocal observations of the rapid westward expansion process in space and on the ground. Aided by the remote sensing technique at energetic particle boundaries and combined with ancillary measurements and MHD simulations, they allow determination and mapping of space currents. These measurements show the power of the THEMIS instrumentation in the tail and the radiation belts. We also present THEMIS Flux Transfer Events (FTE) observations at the magnetopause, which demonstrate the importance of multi-point observations there and the quality of the THEMIS instrumentation in that region of space.
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| 3. |
- Lewis, K., et al.
(författare)
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Decreased epithelial barrier function evoked by exposure to metabolic stress and nonpathogenic E. coli is enhanced by TNF-a
- 2008
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Ingår i: American Journal of Physiology - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. - : American Physiological Society. - 0193-1857 .- 1522-1547. ; 294:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A defect in mitochondrial activity contributes to many diseases. We have shown that monolayers of the human colonic T84 epithelial cell line exposed to dinitrophenol (DNP, uncouples oxidative phosphorylation) and nonpathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) (strain HB101) display decreased barrier function. Here the impact of DNP on macrophage activity and the effect of TNF-a, DNP, and E. coli on epithelial permeability were assessed. DNP treatment of the human THP-1 macrophage cell line resulted in reduced ATP synthesis, and, although hyporesponsive to LPS, the metabolically stressed macrophages produced IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-a. Given the role of TNF-a in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the association between increased permeability and IBD, recombinant TNF-a (10 ng/ml) was added to the DNP (0.1 mM) + E. coli (106 colony-forming units), and this resulted in a significantly greater loss of T84 epithelial barrier function than that elicited by DNP + E. coli. This increased epithelial permeability was not due to epithelial death, and the enhanced E. coli translocation was reduced by pharmacological inhibitors of NF-?ß signaling (pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, NF-?ß essential modifier-binding peptide, BAY 11-7082, and the proteosome inhibitor, MG132). In contrast, the drop in transepithelial electrical resistance was unaffected by the inhibitors of NF-?ß. Thus, as an integrative model system, our findings support the induction of a positive feedback loop that can severely impair epithelial barrier function and, as such, could contribute to existing inflammation or trigger relapses in IBD. Thus metabolically stressed epithelia display increased permeability in the presence of viable nonpathogenic E. coli that is exaggerated by TNF-a released by activated immune cells, such as macrophages, that retain this ability even if they themselves are experiencing a degree of metabolic stress. Copyright © 2008 the American Physiological Society.
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| 4. |
- Eastwood, J.P., et al.
(författare)
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Multi-point observations of the Hall electromagnetic field and secondary island formation during magnetic reconnection
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 112:A6, s. A06235-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A key feature of collisionless magnetic reconnection is the formation of Hall magnetic and electric field structure in the vicinity of the diffusion region. Here we present multi‐point Cluster observations of a reconnection event in the near‐Earth magnetotail where the diffusion region was nested by the Cluster spacecraft; we compare observations made simultaneously by different spacecraft on opposite sides of the magnetotail current sheet. This allows the spatial structure of both the electric and magnetic field to be probed. It is found that, close to the diffusion region, the magnetic field displays a symmetric quadrupole structure. The Hall electric field is symmetric, observed to be inwardly directed on both sides of the current sheet. It is large (∼40 mV m−1) on the earthward side of the diffusion region, but substantially weaker on the tailward side, suggesting a reduced reconnection rate reflected by a similar reduction in Ey. A small‐scale magnetic flux rope was observed in conjunction with these observations. This flux rope, observed very close to the reconnection site and entrained in the plasma flow, may correspond to what have been termed secondary islands in computer simulations. The core magnetic field inside the flux rope is enhanced by a factor of 3, even though the lobe guide field is negligible. Observations of the electric field inside the magnetic island show extremely strong (∼100 mV m−1) fields which may play a significant role in the particle dynamics during reconnection.
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| 5. |
- Eastwood, J. P., et al.
(författare)
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THEMIS observations of a hot flow anomaly : Solar wind, magnetosheath, and ground-based measurements
- 2008
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Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276 .- 1944-8007. ; 35:17, s. L17S03-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The THEMIS spacecraft encountered a Hot Flow Anomaly ( HFA) on the dusk flank of the Earth's bow shock on 4 July 2007, observing it on both sides of the shock. Meanwhile, the THEMIS ground magnetometers traced the progress of the associated Magnetic Impulse Event along the dawn flank of the magnetosphere, providing a unique opportunity to study the transmission of the HFA through the shock and the subsequent downstream response. THEMIS-A, in the solar wind, observed classic HFA signatures. Isotropic electron distributions inside the upstream HFA are attributed to the action of the electron firehose instability. THEMIS-E, just downstream, observed a much more complex disturbance with the pressure perturbation decoupled from the underlying discontinuity. Simple calculations show that the pressure perturbation would be capable of significantly changing the magnetopause location, which is confirmed by the ground-based observations.
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| 6. |
- Hoa, NK, et al.
(författare)
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The possible mechanisms by which phanoside stimulates insulin secretion from rat islets
- 2007
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Ingår i: The Journal of endocrinology. - : Bioscientifica. - 0022-0795 .- 1479-6805. ; 192:2, s. 389-394
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We recently showed that phanoside, a gypenoside isolated from the plant Gynostemma pentaphyllum, stimulates insulin secretion from rat pancreatic islets. To study the mechanisms by which phanoside stimulates insulin secretion. Isolated pancreatic islets of normal Wistar (W) rats and spontaneously diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats were batch incubated or perifused. At both 3.3 and 16.7 mM glucose, phanoside stimulated insulin secretion several fold in both W and diabetic GK rat islets. In perifusion of W islets, phanoside (75 and 150 μM) dose dependently increased insulin secretion that returned to basal levels when phanoside was omitted. When W rat islets were incubated at 3.3 mM glucose with 150 μM phanoside and 0.25 mM diazoxide to keep K-ATP channels open, insulin secretion was similar to that in islets incubated in 150 μM phanoside alone. At 16.7 mM glucose, phanoside-stimulated insulin secretion was reduced in the presence of 0.25 mM diazoxide (P<0.01). In W islets depolarized by 50 mM KCl and with diazoxide, phanoside stimulated insulin release twofold at 3.3 mM glucose but did not further increase the release at 16.7 mM glucose. When using nimodipine to block L-type Ca2+ channels in B-cells, phanoside-induced insulin secretion was unaffected at 3.3 mM glucose but decreased at 16.7 mM glucose (P<0.01). Pretreatment of islets with pertussis toxin to inhibit exocytotic Ge-protein did not affect insulin response to 150 μM phanoside. Phanoside stimulated insulin secretion from Wand GK rat islets. This effect seems to be exerted distal to K-ATP channels and L-type Ca2+ channels, which is on the exocytotic machinery of the B-cells.
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