A change in the optical polarization associated with a gamma-ray flare in the blazar 3C 279

It is widely accepted that strong and variable radiation detected over all accessible energy bands in a number of active galaxies arises from a relativistic, Doppler-boosted jet pointing close to our line of sight. The size of the emitting zone and the location of this region relative to the central supermassive black hole are, however, poorly known, with estimates ranging from light-hours to a light-year or more. Here we report the coincidence of a gamma-ray flare with a dramatic change of optical polarization angle. This provides evidence for co-spatiality of optical and gamma-ray emission regions and indicates a highly ordered jet magnetic field. The results also require a non-axisymmetric structure of the emission zone, implying a curved trajectory for the emitting material within the jet, with the dissipation region located at a considerable distance from the black hole, at about 10^5 gravitational radii.Comment: Published in Nature issued on 18 February 2010. Corresponding authors: Masaaki Hayashida and Greg Madejsk

Influence of Visual Information on Consent for Invasive Procedures in Intensive Care Unit

Objective: Patients hospitalized in Intensive Care Units (ICU) are critically ill. Sometimes informed consent for invasive procedures cannot be obtained from patients or relatives due to insufficient information. Methodology: Relatives of the patients who were being hospitalized in ICUs of state hospitals in 3 provinces in Eastern part of Turkey during year 2015, who were planned to undergo central venous catheter insertion, tracheostomy, and percutaneous gastroenterostomy (PGE) were asked to sign consent forms and these relatives were included in the study. The study groups were allocated as verbal (VeIG) and verbal‑visual information groups (ViIG). The next of kin who had the right for signing was included in the study. Results: Relatives of patients were interviewed for 512 invasive procedures. For the central venous catheterization, 91.6% of the VeIG (n = 166) and 97.6% of the ViIG (n = 166) accepted the central venous catheterization interventions (n = 332), for the tracheostomy, 65.3% of the VeIG (n = 49), 85.4% of the ViIG (n = 48) accepted the tracheostomy interventions (n = 97), and for the PGE, 23.8% of the VeIG (n = 42) and 48.8% of the ViIG (n = 41) accepted the PGE interventions (n = 83). A statistically significant difference was detected between VeIG and ViIG with regard to approval and refusal rates for different interventions. When approval‑refusal rates were compared with regard to education level, statistically significant difference was not detected between VeIG and ViIG with regard to approval and refusal rates. Conclusions: Using visual materials such as video in addition to verbal information provided an improvement in consent ratios regardless of education levels.Keywords: Comparative effectiveness research, informed consent, Intensive CareUnit, multimedi