A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws

A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust, bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero' relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies, whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling. For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to Springer: 07-June-201

General anaesthetic and airway management practice for obstetric surgery in England: a prospective, multicentre observational study

There are no current descriptions of general anaesthesia characteristics for obstetric surgery, despite recent changes to patient baseline characteristics and airway management guidelines. This analysis of data from the direct reporting of awareness in maternity patients’ (DREAMY) study of accidental awareness during obstetric anaesthesia aimed to describe practice for obstetric general anaesthesia in England and compare with earlier surveys and best-practice recommendations. Consenting patients who received general anaesthesia for obstetric surgery in 72 hospitals from May 2017 to August 2018 were included. Baseline characteristics, airway management, anaesthetic techniques and major complications were collected. Descriptive analysis, binary logistic regression modelling and comparisons with earlier data were conducted. Data were collected from 3117 procedures, including 2554 (81.9%) caesarean deliveries. Thiopental was the induction drug in 1649 (52.9%) patients, compared with propofol in 1419 (45.5%). Suxamethonium was the neuromuscular blocking drug for tracheal intubation in 2631 (86.1%), compared with rocuronium in 367 (11.8%). Difficult tracheal intubation was reported in 1 in 19 (95%CI 1 in 16–22) and failed intubation in 1 in 312 (95%CI 1 in 169–667). Obese patients were over-represented compared with national baselines and associated with difficult, but not failed intubation. There was more evidence of change in practice for induction drugs (increased use of propofol) than neuromuscular blocking drugs (suxamethonium remains the most popular). There was evidence of improvement in practice, with increased monitoring and reversal of neuromuscular blockade (although this remains suboptimal). Despite a high risk of difficult intubation in this population, videolaryngoscopy was rarely used (1.9%)

Interactions between cover crops and soil microorganisms increase phosphorus availability in conservation agriculture

Aims An essential task of agricultural systems is to im- prove internal phosphorus (P) recycling. Cover crops and tillage reduction can increase sustainability, but it is not known whether stimulation of the soil microbial commu- nity can increase the availability of soil organic P pools. Methods In a field experiment in southwest Germany, the effects of a winter cover crop mixture (vs. bare fallow) and no-till (vs. non-inversion tillage) on microbial P- cycling were assessed with soybean as the main crop. Microbial biomass, phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), P cycling enzymes, and carbon-substrate use capacity were linked for the first time with the lability of organic P pools measured by enzyme addition assays (using phosphodi- esterase, non-phytase-phosphomonoesterase and fungal phytase). Results Microbial phosphorus, phosphatase, and fatty acids increased under cover crops, indicating an en- hanced potential for organic P cycling. Enzyme-stable organic P shifted towards enzyme-labile organic P pools. Effects of no-till were weaker, and a synergy with cover crops was not evident. Conclusions In this experiment, cover crops were able to increase the microbially mediated internal P cycling in a non-P-limited, temperate agroecosystems

Food Quality and Functionality

The growing awareness of the key role of nutrition to human health status has greatly contributed to the spread of a new feeding concept: the functional nutrition. Nowadays, the foods are not exclusively a source of energy for the performance of normal metabolic processes of the body, but also the unique source of bioactive compounds. These compounds contribute to “maximize” the human health status and to “minimize” the risk of occurrence of diseases. The main challenge facing researchers and food industries is to ensure the quality attributes of foods and, simultaneously, to improve the food functionality. The present book chapter give an overview of the scientific studies conducted at the Food Science area of D3A (Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences) with the aim to enhance the quality and the functionality of foods