The University of New South Wales Extrasolar Planet Search: a catalogue of variable stars from fields observed 2004--2007

We present a new catalogue of variable stars compiled from data taken for the University of New South Wales Extrasolar Planet Search. From 2004 October to 2007 May, 25 target fields were each observed for 1-4 months, resulting in ~87000 high precision light curves with 1600-4400 data points. We have extracted a total of 850 variable light curves, 659 of which do not have a counterpart in either the General Catalog of Variable Stars, the New Suspected Variables catalogue or the All Sky Automated Survey southern variable star catalogue. The catalogue is detailed here, and includes 142 Algol-type eclipsing binaries, 23 beta Lyrae-type eclipsing binaries, 218 contact eclipsing binaries, 53 RR Lyrae stars, 26 Cepheid stars, 13 rotationally variable active stars, 153 uncategorised pulsating stars with periods <10 d, including delta Scuti stars, and 222 long period variableswith variability on timescales of >10 d. As a general application of variable stars discovered by extrasolar planet transit search projects, we discuss several astrophysical problems which could benefit from carefully selected samples of bright variables. These include: (i) the quest for contact binaries with the smallest mass ratio, which could be used to test theories of binary mergers; (ii) detached eclipsing binaries with pre-main-sequence components, which are important test objects for calibrating stellar evolutionary models; and (iii) RR Lyrae-type pulsating stars exhibiting the Blazhko-effect, which is one of the last great mysteries of pulsating star research.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

High-performance hybrid oxide catalyst of manganese and cobalt for low-pressure methanol synthesis

Carbon dioxide capture and use as a carbon feedstock presents both environmental and industrial benefits. Here we report the discovery of a hybrid oxide catalyst comprising manganese oxide nanoparticles supported on mesoporous spinel cobalt oxide, which catalyses the conversion of carbon dioxide to methanol at high yields. In addition, carboncarbon bond formation is observed through the production of ethylene. We document the existence of an active interface between cobalt oxide surface layers and manganese oxide nanoparticles by using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron energy-loss spectroscopy in the scanning transmission electron microscopy mode. Through control experiments, we find that the catalyst&apos;s chemical nature and architecture are the key factors in enabling the enhanced methanol synthesis and ethylene production. To demonstrate the industrial applicability, the catalyst is also run under high conversion regimes, showing its potential as a substitute for current methanol synthesis technologies.open2

Diagnostic strategy and timing of intervention in infected necrotizing pancreatitis: an international expert survey and case vignette study

AbstractBackgroundThe optimal diagnostic strategy and timing of intervention in infected necrotizing pancreatitis is subject to debate. We performed a survey on these topics amongst a group of international expert pancreatologists.MethodsAn online survey including case vignettes was sent to 118 international pancreatologists. We evaluated the use and timing of fine needle aspiration (FNA), antibiotics, catheter drainage and (minimally invasive) necrosectomy.ResultsThe response rate was 74% (N = 87). None of the respondents use FNA routinely, 85% selectively and 15% never. Most respondents (87%) use a step-up approach in patients with infected necrosis. Walled-off necrosis (WON) is considered a prerequisite for endoscopic drainage and percutaneous drainage by 66% and 12%, respectively. After diagnosing infected necrosis, 55% routinely postpone invasive interventions, whereas 45% proceed immediately to intervention. Lack of consensus about timing of intervention was apparent on day 14 with proven infected necrosis (58% intervention vs. 42% non-invasive) as well as on day 20 with only clinically suspected infected necrosis (59% intervention vs. 41% non-invasive).DiscussionThe step-up approach is the preferred treatment strategy in infected necrotizing pancreatitis amongst expert pancreatologists. There is no uniformity regarding the use of FNA and timing of intervention in the first 2–3 weeks of infected necrotizing pancreatitis

The FANCM:p.Arg658* truncating variant is associated with risk of triple-negative breast cancer

Abstract: Breast cancer is a common disease partially caused by genetic risk factors. Germline pathogenic variants in DNA repair genes BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, and CHEK2 are associated with breast cancer risk. FANCM, which encodes for a DNA translocase, has been proposed as a breast cancer predisposition gene, with greater effects for the ER-negative and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes. We tested the three recurrent protein-truncating variants FANCM:p.Arg658*, p.Gln1701*, and p.Arg1931* for association with breast cancer risk in 67,112 cases, 53,766 controls, and 26,662 carriers of pathogenic variants of BRCA1 or BRCA2. These three variants were also studied functionally by measuring survival and chromosome fragility in FANCM−/− patient-derived immortalized fibroblasts treated with diepoxybutane or olaparib. We observed that FANCM:p.Arg658* was associated with increased risk of ER-negative disease and TNBC (OR = 2.44, P = 0.034 and OR = 3.79; P = 0.009, respectively). In a country-restricted analysis, we confirmed the associations detected for FANCM:p.Arg658* and found that also FANCM:p.Arg1931* was associated with ER-negative breast cancer risk (OR = 1.96; P = 0.006). The functional results indicated that all three variants were deleterious affecting cell survival and chromosome stability with FANCM:p.Arg658* causing more severe phenotypes. In conclusion, we confirmed that the two rare FANCM deleterious variants p.Arg658* and p.Arg1931* are risk factors for ER-negative and TNBC subtypes. Overall our data suggest that the effect of truncating variants on breast cancer risk may depend on their position in the gene. Cell sensitivity to olaparib exposure, identifies a possible therapeutic option to treat FANCM-associated tumors

Kirtland’s Warbler breeding productivity and habitat use in red pine-dominated habitat in Wisconsin, USA

During the breeding season, Kirtland’s Warblers (Setophaga kirtlandii) are strongly associated with young jack pine (Pinus banksiana) forests in northern Lower Michigan, USA. Since 2007, the species has been breeding in unusual habitat, red pine (Pinus resinosa) dominated plantations, in central Wisconsin, USA. Kirtland’s Warbler productivity and habitat use in red pine is not well understood, and the central Wisconsin population is at a range edge, a situation often associated with lower productivity. To compare range-edge and range-core populations, we estimated reproductive success and characterized habitat use of Kirtland’s Warblers in central Wisconsin red pine-dominated plantations during 2015–2017 using logistic regression models. We also monitored nests and fledgling success, and estimated nest survival using logistic exposure models. Trees were closer together and herbaceous vegetation was taller and denser within territories than at randomly located points outside of territories. Females selected nest sites with deeper dead ground vegetation and live vegetation that was taller and denser than was available at randomly located points within male territories. Nest success was not strongly influenced by within-patch habitat factors. Nest daily survival rate was 0.97 (95% CI = 0.94–0.98). The average number of young fledged per nest was between 2.5 and 2.8. Nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) was 22.7%. Overall, reproductive success in the peripheral central Wisconsin breeding population of Kirtland’s Warblers that used red pine-dominated plantations was similar to that of Kirtland’s Warblers breeding in typical jack pine habitat in the range core. Young red pine-dominated habitat appears to approximate young jack pine in habitat quality for Kirtland’s Warblers, and this may provide managers some flexibility in habitat maintenance for this conservation-reliant species

Closing the research-implementation gap: Integrating species and human footprint data into Argentina's forest planning

Closing the research-implementation gap is key for advancing biodiversity conservation. One approach is to generate ecologically relevant spatial datasets that integrate easily with existing management plans. Our goal was to identify priority forest conservation areas in Argentina by combining species distributions, human footprint data, and existing forest zoning. We: (i) mapped potential habitat distributions of 70 plant and animal species associated with forests, and of recognized social and ecological importance, (ii) combined the species distributions with human footprint data to identify priority conservation areas, and (iii) evaluated the juxtaposition of our priority conservation areas with current forest management zones. We found that priority conservation areas (i.e., high number of species and low human footprint) are poorly protected by the current zoning scheme. While the Andean-Patagonian region had a substantial portion (57 %) of priority conservation areas in high protection zones, in four other forest regions we evaluated, only 16–37 % of priority areas had high protection levels. Of great concern are the Chaco and Espinal regions, where 36 % and 39 %, respectively, of priority conservation areas are in low protection zones, where conversion to other uses (row crops, livestock) is allowed. Our results provide new spatial information to managers and conservationists highlighting where current forest zoning performs well, and where it may warrant re-evaluation. Overall, our study highlights the value of integrating species distributions and human footprint maps into existing land use plans to guide conservation efforts in data-poor countries, and is an example of a strategy for closing the research-implementation gap.Fil: Martinuzzi, Sebastián. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Olah, Ashley M.. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Rivera, Luis Osvaldo. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Politi, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Silveira, Eduarda M. O.. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Rosas, Yamina Micaela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Lizarraga, Leonidas. Administración de Parques Nacionales; ArgentinaFil: Názaro, María Paula. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Bardavid, Sofia. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Radeloff, Volker. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Pidgeon, Anna Michle. University of Wisconsin; Estados Unido

Enhancing forest conservation planning in Argentina with spatially-explicit data on human footprint

Human land use andinfrastructure are the major threats to terrestrial ecosystems, resulting inhabitat loss, fragmentation, and biodiversity declines. The human footprintframework maps showing the cumulative human pressure on the landscape, andrepresents a useful tool for quantifying potential human impacts and identifiedthe last of the wilderness. Argentina is one of the top countries in terms ofdeforestation and land use change, and available information for supportingforest conservation efforts is limited. Our main goal was to determinepotential ecological intactness and conservation condition of natural forestareas in Argentina based on human footprint data. We mapped the human footprintof Argentina at 100-m pixel resolution using detailed information on land useand infrastructure, and found that more than half of the forest areas in thecountry are under higher level of human influence. Some forest types andregions are more affected than others. At the same time, we observed that the nationalforest conservation plan in place for Argentina might allow the presence of humanactivities in areas with null human footprint (e.g. wilderness areas), which couldbe a threat for biodiversity and habitat conservation. Our study provides novelinformation about the potential ecological intactness of natural forestslandscapes in Argentina, and highlights the value of human footprint data for informingconservation planning efforts.Fil: Martinuzzi, Sebastián. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Pidgeon, Anna Michle. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Rosas, Yamina Micaela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Lizarraga, Leónidas. Administración de Parques Nacionales. Delegación Regional del Noroeste; ArgentinaFil: Politi, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Rivera, Luis Osvaldo. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Huertas Herrera, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Olivera Silveira, Eduarda M.. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Olah, Ashley. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Volker, Radeloff. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosNorth American Congress for Conservation BiologyEstados UnidosSociety for Conservation Biology North Americ

Nationwide native forest structure maps for Argentina based on forest inventory data, SAR Sentinel-1 and vegetation metrics from Sentinel-2 imagery

Detailed maps of forest structure attributes are crucial for sustainable forest management, conservation, and forest ecosystem science at the landscape level. Mapping the structure of broad heterogeneous forests is challenging, but the integration of extensive field inventory plots with wall-to-wall metrics derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical remote sensing offers a potential solution. Our goal was to map forest structure attributes (diameter at breast height, basal area, mean height, dominant height, wood volume and canopy cover) at 30-m resolution across the diverse 463,000 km2 of native forests of Argentina based on SAR Sentinel-1, vegetation metrics from Sentinel-2 and geographic coordinates. We modelled the forest structure attributes based on the latest national forest inventory, generated uncertainty maps, quantified the contribution of the predictors, and compared our height predictions with those from GEDI (Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation) and GFCH (Global Forest Canopy Height). We analyzed 3788 forest inventory plots (1000 m2 each) from Argentina's Second Native Forest Inventory (2015–2020) to develop predictive random forest regression models. From Sentinel-1, we included both VV (vertical transmitted and received) and VH (vertical transmitted and horizontal received) polarizations and calculated 1st and 2nd order textures within 3 × 3 pixels to match the size of the inventory plots. For Sentinel-2, we derived EVI (enhanced vegetation index), calculated DHIs (dynamic habitat indices (annual cumulative, minimum and variation) and the EVI median, then generated 1st and 2nd order textures within 3 × 3 pixels of these variables. Our models including metrics from Sentinel-1 and 2, plus latitude and longitude predicted forest structure attributes well with root mean square errors (RMSE) ranging from 23.8% to 70.3%. Mean and dominant height models had notably good performance presenting relatively low RMSE (24.5% and 23.8%, respectively). Metrics from VH polarization and longitude were overall the most important predictors, but optimal predictors differed among the different forest structure attributes. Height predictions (r = 0.89 and 0.85) outperformed those from GEDI (r = 0.81) and the GFCH (r = 0.66), suggesting that SAR Sentinel-1, DHIs from Sentinel-2 plus geographic coordinates provide great opportunities to map multiple forest structure attributes for large areas. Based on our models, we generated spatially-explicit maps of multiple forest structure attributes as well as uncertainty maps at 30-m spatial resolution for all Argentina's native forest areas in support of forest management and conservation planning across the country.Fil: Silveira, Eduarda. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Radeloff, Volker. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Martinuzzi, Sebastián. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Martínez Pastur, Guillermo José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Bono, Julieta. Administración de Parques Nacionales; ArgentinaFil: Politi, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Lizárraga, Roberto Leonidas. Administración de Parques Nacionales; ArgentinaFil: Rivera, Luis Osvaldo. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Ciuffoli, Lucía. Administración de Parques Nacionales; ArgentinaFil: Rosas, Yamina Micaela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Olah, Ashley M.. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Gavier Pizarro, Gregorio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pidgeon, Anna Michle. University of Wisconsin; Estados Unido