In this data release from the ongoing LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) we present 120-168 MHz images covering 27% of the northern sky. Our coverage is split into two regions centred at approximately 12h45m +44 • 30 and 1h00m +28 • 00 and spanning 4178 and 1457 square degrees respectively. The images were derived from 3,451 hrs (7.6 PB) of LOFAR High Band Antenna data which were corrected for the direction-independent instrumental properties as well as direction-dependent ionospheric distortions during extensive, but fully automated, data processing. A catalogue of 4,396,228 radio sources is derived from our total intensity (Stokes I) maps, where the majority of these have never been detected at radio wavelengths before. At 6 resolution, our full bandwidth Stokes I continuum maps with a central frequency of 144 MHz have: a median rms sensitivity of 83 µJy/beam; a flux density scale accuracy of approximately 10%; an astrometric accuracy of 0.2 ; and we estimate the point-source completeness to be 90% at a peak brightness of 0.8 mJy/beam. By creating three 16 MHz bandwidth images across the band we are able to measure the in-band spectral index of many sources, albeit with an error on the derived spectral index of > ±0.2 which is a consequence of our flux-density scale accuracy and small fractional bandwidth. Our circular polarisation (Stokes V) 20 resolution 120-168 MHz continuum images have a median rms sensitivity of 95 µJy/beam, and we estimate a Stokes I to Stokes V leakage of 0.056%. Our linear polarisation (Stokes Q and Stokes U) image cubes consist of 480 × 97.6 kHz wide planes and have a median rms sensitivity per plane of 10.8 mJy/beam at 4 and 2.2 mJy/beam at 20 ; we estimate the Stokes I to Stokes Q/U leakage to be approximately 0.2%. Here we characterise and publicly release our Stokes I, Q, U and V images in addition to the calibrated uv-data to facilitate the thorough scientific exploitation of this unique dataset.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine how models of weightlessness, hindlimb suspension (HS), and hindlimb immobilization (HI) affect the metabolic enzyme profile in the slow oxidative (SO), fast oxidative glycolytic (FOG), and fast glycolytic (FG) fibers of rat hindlimb. After 1, 2, or 4 wk of HS or HI, single fibers were isolated from freeze-dried soleus and gastrocnemius muscles; a small section of each fiber was run on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis gels to identify fiber type, and the remaining piece was assayed for either lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and citrate synthase (CS) or phosphofructokinase (PFK) and beta-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (beta-OH-acyl-CoA). Two weeks of HS induced an almost twofold increase in the activity of CS (2.13 +/- 0.13 vs. 3.60 +/- 0.26 mol.kg dry wt-1.h-1) in the SO fiber of the soleus, and the activity stayed high at 4 wk. Although the FOG fiber had significantly higher CS activity (3.85 +/- 0.29) than either the SO or FG (1.59 +/- 0.16 mol.kg dry wt-1.h-1) fiber, neither fast fiber type was altered by HS. The glycolytic enzymes LDH and PFK were both elevated in the SO fiber after HS. The increase in LDH occurred by 1 wk (14.80 +/- 1.51 vs. 8.83 +/- 0.78), whereas the activity of PFK was not significantly changed until 4 wk (1.16 +/- 0.13 vs. 0.68 +/- 0.05 mol.kg dry wt-1.h-1). The control FG fiber had the highest LDH (44.30 +/- 2.29) and PFK (2.40 +/- 0.16) activities, followed by the FOG fiber (LDH, 34.10 +/- 2.83; PFK, 1.62 +/- 0.17 mol.kg dry wt-1.h-1); however, the activities of these glycolytic enzymes in the fast fiber types were unaltered by HS. The activity of beta-OH-acyl-CoA was not affected by HS in either the slow or fast fiber types. HI showed qualitatively similar changes to those observed with HS; however, the enzyme shifts developed with a slower time course. In conclusion, both HS and HI shifted the SO fiber enzyme pattern toward that of the control FOG fiber; however, a complete conversion from the SO to FOG fiber did not occur within the 4-wk treatment period.

Radio mini-haloes are poorly-understood, moderately-extended diffuse radio sources that trace the presence of magnetic fields and relativistic electrons on scales of hundreds of kiloparsecs, predominantly in relaxed clusters. With relatively few confirmed detections to-date, many questions remain unanswered. This paper presents new radio observations of the galaxy cluster MS 1455.0+2232 performed with MeerKAT (covering the frequency range 872−1712 MHz) and LOFAR (covering 120−168 MHz), the first results from a homogeneously selected mini-halo census. We find that this mini-halo extends for ∼590 kpc at 1283 MHz, significantly larger than previously believed, and has a flatter spectral index (α = −0.97 ± 0.05) than typically expected. Our X-ray analysis clearly reveals a large-scale (254 kpc) sloshing spiral in the intracluster medium. We perform a point-to-point analysis, finding a tight single correlation between radio and X-ray surface brightness with a super-linear slope of $b_{\rm 1283\, MHz} = 1.16^{+0.06}_{-0.07}$ and $b_{\rm 145\, MHz} = 1.15^{+0.09}_{-0.08}$; this indicates a strong link between the thermal and non-thermal components of the intracluster medium. Conversely, in the spectral index/X-ray surface brightness plane, we find that regions inside and outside the sloshing spiral follow different correlations. We find compelling evidence for multiple sub-components in this mini-halo for the first time. While both the turbulent (re-)acceleration and hadronic scenarios are able to explain some observed properties of the mini-halo in MS 1455.0+2232, neither scenario is able to account for all the evidence presented by our analysis.

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The STRings for Absorption length in Water (STRAW) are the first in a series of pathfinders for the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE), a future large-scale neutrino telescope in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean. STRAW consists of two $$150\,\mathrm {m}$$ 150 m long mooring lines instrumented with optical emitters and detectors. The pathfinder is designed to measure the attenuation length of the water and perform a long-term assessment of the optical background at the future P-ONE site. After 2 years of continuous operation, measurements from STRAW show an optical attenuation length of about 28 m at $$450\,\mathrm {nm}$$ 450 nm . Additionally, the data allow a study of the ambient undersea background. The overall optical environment reported here is comparable to other deep-water neutrino telescopes and qualifies the site for the deployment of P-ONE.