468 research outputs found
BUMC Annual Report
Annual report of the Boston University Medical Center
BUMC Annual Report
Annual report of the Boston University Medical Center
BMQ
BMQ: Boston Medical Quarterly was published from 1950-1966 by the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals
Vagus nerve stimulation: State of the art of stimulation and recording strategies to address autonomic function neuromodulation
International audienceObjective. Neural signals along the vagus nerve (VN) drive many somatic and autonomic functions. The clinical interest of VN stimulation (VNS) is thus potentially huge and has already been demonstrated in epilepsy. However, side effects are often elicited, in addition to the targeted neuromodulation. Approach. This review examines the state of the art of VNS applied to two emerging modulations of autonomic function: heart failure and obesity, especially morbid obesity. Main results. We report that VNS may benefit from improved stimulation delivery using very advanced technologies. However, most of the results from fundamental animal studies still need to be demonstrated in humans
BUMC Annual Report
Annual report of the Boston University Medical Center
Integral-field near-infrared spectroscopy of two blue dwarf galaxies: NGC 5253 and He 2-10
We present integral field spectroscopy in the near infrared (NIR) of He 2-10
and NGC 5253, two well known nearby dwarf irregular galaxies showing high
star-formation rates. Our data provide an unprecedented detailed view of the
interstellar medium and star formation in these galaxies, allowing us to obtain
spatially resolved information from the NIR emission and absorption line
tracers. We study the spatial distribution and kinematics of different
components of the interstellar medium (ISM) mostly through the Bracket series
lines, the molecular hydrogen spectrum, [FeII] emission, and CO absorptions.
Although the ISM is mostly photo-excited, as derived by the [FeII]/Bry and H2
line ratios, some regions corresponding to non-thermal radio sources show a
[FeII]/Bry excess due to a significant contribution of SN driven shocks. In He
2-10 we find that the molecular gas clouds, as traced by CO(2-1) and H2
infrared line, show consistent morphologies and velocities when studied with
the two different tracers. Moreover, there is a clear association with the
youngest super star clusters as traced by the ionized gas. In the same galaxy
we observe a cavity depleted of gas, which is surrounded by some of the most
active regions of star formation, that we interpret as a signature of
feedback-induced star formation from older episodes of star formation. Finally,
we measured high turbulence in the ISM of both galaxies, sigma~30-80 km/s,
driven by the high star-formation activity.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Spinocerebellar ataxia 27B: episodic symptoms and acetazolamide response in 34 patients
Ashton C et al report a retrospective multi-centre cohort of 34 patients from Canada, France, Austria and Australia with spinocerebellar ataxia 27B, describing the common feature of episodic ataxia and other episodic features, as well as the inefficacy of acetazolamide in these patients
Evidence for a Novel Reaction Mechanism of a Prompt Shock-Induced Fission Following the Fusion of 78Kr and 40Ca Nuclei at E/A =10 MeV
An analysis of experimental data from the inverse-kinematics ISODEC
experiment on 78Kr+40Ca reaction at a bombarding energy of 10 AMeV has revealed
signatures of a hitherto unknown reaction mechanism, intermediate between the
classical damped binary collisions and fusion-fission, but also substantially
different from what is being termed in the literature as fast fission or quasi
fission. These signatures point to a scenario where the system fuses
transiently while virtually equilibrating mass asymmetry and energy and, yet,
keeping part of the energy stored in a collective shock-imparted and, possibly,
angular momentum bearing form of excitation. Subsequently the system fissions
dynamically along the collision or shock axis with the emerging fragments
featuring a broad mass spectrum centered around symmetric fission, relative
velocities somewhat higher along the fission axis than in transverse direction,
and virtually no intrinsic spin. The class of massasymmetric fission events
shows a distinct preference for the more massive fragments to proceed along the
beam direction, a characteristic reminiscent of that reported earlier for
dynamic fragmentation of projectile-like fragments alone and pointing to the
memory of the initial mass and velocity distribution.Comment: 5 PAGES, 6 FIGURE
Infrared wavefront sensing for adaptive optics assisted Galactic Center observations with the VLT interferometer and GRAVITY: operation and results
This article describes the operation of the near-infrared wavefront sensing
based Adaptive Optics (AO) system CIAO. The Coud\'e Infrared Adaptive Optics
(CIAO) system is a central auxiliary component of the Very Large Telescope
(VLT) interferometer (VLTI). It enables in particular the observations of the
Galactic Center (GC) using the GRAVITY instrument. GRAVITY is a highly
specialized beam combiner, a device that coherently combines the light of the
four 8-m telescopes and finally records interferometric measurements in the
K-band on 6 baselines simultaneously. CIAO compensates for phase disturbances
caused by atmospheric turbulence, which all four 8 m Unit Telescopes (UT)
experience during observation. Each of the four CIAO units generates an almost
diffraction-limited image quality at its UT, which ensures that maximum flux of
the observed stellar object enters the fibers of the GRAVITY beam combiner. We
present CIAO performance data obtained in the first 3 years of operation as a
function of weather conditions. We describe how CIAO is configured and used for
observations with GRAVITY. In addition, we focus on the outstanding features of
the near-infrared sensitive Saphira detector, which is used for the first time
on Paranal, and show how it works as a wavefront sensor detector.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Instruments (open
access journal from mdpi
- …