Prospects for measuring supermassive black hole masses with future extremely large telescopes

The next generation of giant-segmented mirror telescopes ($>$ 20 m) will enable us to observe galactic nuclei at much higher angular resolution and sensitivity than ever before. These capabilities will introduce a revolutionary shift in our understanding of the origin and evolution of supermassive black holes by enabling more precise black hole mass measurements in a mass range that is unreachable today. We present simulations and predictions of the observations of nuclei that will be made with the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the adaptive optics assisted integral-field spectrograph IRIS, which is capable of diffraction-limited spectroscopy from $Z$ band (0.9 $\mu$m) to $K$ band (2.2 $\mu$m). These simulations, for the first time, use realistic values for the sky, telescope, adaptive optics system, and instrument, to determine the expected signal-to-noise ratio of a range of possible targets spanning intermediate mass black holes of $\sim10^4$ \msun to the most massive black holes known today of $>10^{10}$ $M_\odot$. We find that IRIS will be able to observe Milky Way-mass black holes out the distance of the Virgo cluster, and will allow us to observe many more brightest cluster galaxies where the most massive black holes are thought to reside. We also evaluate how well the kinematic moments of the velocity distributions can be constrained at the different spectral resolutions and plate scales designed for IRIS. We find that a spectral resolution of $\sim8000$ will be necessary to measure the masses of intermediate mass black holes. By simulating the observations of galaxies found in SDSS DR7, we find that over $10^5$ massive black holes will be observable at distances between $0.005 < z < 0.18$ with the estimated sensitivity and angular resolution provided by access to $Z$-band (0.9 $\mu$m) spectroscopy from IRIS and the TMT adaptive optics system. (Abridged)Comment: 19 pages, 20 figures, accepted to A

An Innovative Approach to Decreasing Concussions in Adolescent Female Soccer Athletes: 2370 Board #117 May 29, 9

Concussion is a public health issue, fundamental to health promotion and injury prevention. Concussions are prevalent in adolescent athletic competition, in high-collision and non-collision sports. A history of previous concussion increases risk by a factor of three, female gender increases it 1.5 to 2.5 times, and female middle-school soccer players have 22.9 times increased risk during games. Non-collision concussions (indirect) may be primed by altered movement patterns from previous injuries, disruption of cervical proprioception, or musculoskeletal pain. Assessment of dynamic balance and functional movement allows identification of poor movement patterns or control. PURPOSE: To assess a preventative movement-based warm-up routine designed to re-set aberrant afferent information from various systems (vestibular, somatic, ocular) for a cohort of high school female soccer players with prior concussions. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of convenience consisting of 17 Virginian high school female soccer athletes ages 15 to 18 during 2013-2014 season. Three players had suffered a concussion within the last 6 to 8 months. Athletes were assessed pre-season using the Lower Quarter Y-balance test (LQ-YBT) and the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). Cohort was instructed in a general warm-up placing emphasis on normalizing movement patterns (identified via the YBT and FMS), vestibular ocular reflex, and ACL-prevention exercises, which was performed during the entire season before practices and games. RESULTS: Sixteen varsity high school female soccer athletes, ages 14 to 18 years, participated. The average FMS composite score was 15±2, with 2 athletes being below the injury risk score of 14, and another 3 scoring right at the cutoff. The difference from side to side for the composite LQ-YBT ranged from 5 - 8cm. A total of 10 athletes had differences, with 6 of the athletes had an anterior difference of ≥4cm, and 6 had a posterior difference of ≥6cm. These levels are predictive of a deficit in dynamic balance. There were no new, or repeat concussions during the soccer season. CONCLUSIONS: The finding of no new or repeat concussions, suggests that the intervention may have helped and may indicate a new injury prevention paradigm

The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: Data Reduction System

IRIS (InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph) is the diffraction-limited first light instrument for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) that consists of a near-infrared (0.84 to 2.4 $\mu$m) imager and integral field spectrograph (IFS). The IFS makes use of a lenslet array and slicer for spatial sampling, which will be able to operate in 100's of different modes, including a combination of four plate scales from 4 milliarcseconds (mas) to 50 mas with a large range of filters and gratings. The imager will have a field of view of 34$\times$34 arcsec$^{2}$ with a plate scale of 4 mas with many selectable filters. We present the preliminary design of the data reduction system (DRS) for IRIS that need to address all of these observing modes. Reduction of IRIS data will have unique challenges since it will provide real-time reduction and analysis of the imaging and spectroscopic data during observational sequences, as well as advanced post-processing algorithms. The DRS will support three basic modes of operation of IRIS; reducing data from the imager, the lenslet IFS, and slicer IFS. The DRS will be written in Python, making use of open-source astronomical packages available. In addition to real-time data reduction, the DRS will utilize real-time visualization tools, providing astronomers with up-to-date evaluation of the target acquisition and data quality. The quicklook suite will include visualization tools for 1D, 2D, and 3D raw and reduced images. We discuss the overall requirements of the DRS and visualization tools, as well as necessary calibration data to achieve optimal data quality in order to exploit science cases across all cosmic distance scales.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 6 tables, Proceeding 9913-165 of the SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 201

Reductions in retrobulbar and retinal capillary blood flow strongly correlate with changes in optic nerve head and retinal morphology over four years in open-angle glaucoma patients of African descent compared to patients of European descent

Purpose To investigate the relationship of changes in ocular blood flow with optic nerve head and retinal morphology in open-angle glaucoma patients of African versus European descent over four years. Materials and Methods In this study, 112 patients with open-angle glaucoma were examined at baseline, 79 (59 European descent, 20 African descent) of which were followed for four years. Retinal capillary blood flow was assessed with Heidelberg retinal flowmetry. Retrobulbar blood flow was measured by color Doppler imaging. Retinal structural changes were examined with optical coherence tomography and Heidelberg retinal tomography-III. Mixed-model analysis of covariance was used to test for the significance of change from baseline to four-year follow-up, and Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate linear associations. Results In open-angle glaucoma patients of African descent, structural changes of the optic nerve head demonstrated a strong association with the end diastolic velocities and resistive indices of the short posterior ciliary arteries over four years. In addition, there was a significantly larger increase in the avascular area of the inferior retina in patients of African descent, and this reduction in retinal capillaries strongly correlated with a reduction in macular thickness. Conclusion Reductions in retinal capillary and retrobulbar blood flow strongly correlated with changes in the optic nerve head and macular thickness over four years in open-angle glaucoma patients of African descent compared to European descent. This data suggests that ocular vascular health may be a more influential contributing factor in the pathophysiology of open-angle glaucoma in patients of African descent compared to European descent

Multifactor dimensionality reduction for graphics processing units enables genome-wide testing of epistasis in sporadic ALS

Motivation: Epistasis, the presence of gene–gene interactions, has been hypothesized to be at the root of many common human diseases, but current genome-wide association studies largely ignore its role. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) is a powerful model-free method for detecting epistatic relationships between genes, but computational costs have made its application to genome-wide data difficult. Graphics processing units (GPUs), the hardware responsible for rendering computer games, are powerful parallel processors. Using GPUs to run MDR on a genome-wide dataset allows for statistically rigorous testing of epistasis

The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: Instrument Overview

We present an overview of the design of IRIS, an infrared (0.84 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph and imaging camera for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). With extremely low wavefront error (<30 nm) and on-board wavefront sensors, IRIS will take advantage of the high angular resolution of the narrow field infrared adaptive optics system (NFIRAOS) to dissect the sky at the diffraction limit of the 30-meter aperture. With a primary spectral resolution of 4000 and spatial sampling starting at 4 milliarcseconds, the instrument will create an unparalleled ability to explore high redshift galaxies, the Galactic center, star forming regions and virtually any astrophysical object. This paper summarizes the entire design and basic capabilities. Among the design innovations is the combination of lenslet and slicer integral field units, new 4Kx4k detectors, extremely precise atmospheric dispersion correction, infrared wavefront sensors, and a very large vacuum cryogenic system.Comment: Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-76 (2014

The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: latest science cases and simulations

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) first light instrument IRIS (Infrared Imaging Spectrograph) will complete its preliminary design phase in 2016. The IRIS instrument design includes a near-infrared (0.85 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph (IFS) and imager that are able to conduct simultaneous diffraction-limited observations behind the advanced adaptive optics system NFIRAOS. The IRIS science cases have continued to be developed and new science studies have been investigated to aid in technical performance and design requirements. In this development phase, the IRIS science team has paid particular attention to the selection of filters, gratings, sensitivities of the entire system, and science cases that will benefit from the parallel mode of the IFS and imaging camera. We present new science cases for IRIS using the latest end-to-end data simulator on the following topics: Solar System bodies, the Galactic center, active galactic nuclei (AGN), and distant gravitationally-lensed galaxies. We then briefly discuss the necessity of an advanced data management system and data reduction pipeline.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, SPIE (2016) 9909-0

The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: instrument overview

IRIS is a near-infrared (0.84 to 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph and wide-field imager being developed for first light with the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). It mounts to the advanced adaptive optics (AO) system NFIRAOS and has integrated on-instrument wavefront sensors (OIWFS) to achieve diffraction-limited spatial resolution at wavelengths longer than 1 μm. With moderate spectral resolution (R ~ 4000 – 8,000) and large bandpass over a continuous field of view, IRIS will open new opportunities in virtually every area of astrophysical science. It will be able to resolve surface features tens of kilometers across Titan, while also mapping the most distant galaxies at the scale of an individual star forming region. This paper summarizes the entire design and capabilities, and includes the results from the nearly completed preliminary design phase

Transposed Genes in Arabidopsis Are Often Associated with Flanking Repeats

Much of the eukaryotic genome is known to be mobile, largely due to the movement of transposons and other parasitic elements. Recent work in plants and Drosophila suggests that mobility is also a feature of many nontransposon genes and gene families. Indeed, analysis of the Arabidopsis genome suggested that as many as half of all genes had moved to unlinked positions since Arabidopsis diverged from papaya roughly 72 million years ago, and that these mobile genes tend to fall into distinct gene families. However, the mechanism by which single gene transposition occurred was not deduced. By comparing two closely related species, Arabidopsis thaliana and Arabidopsis lyrata, we sought to determine the nature of gene transposition in Arabidopsis. We found that certain categories of genes are much more likely to have transposed than others, and that many of these transposed genes are flanked by direct repeat sequence that was homologous to sequence within the orthologous target site in A. lyrata and which was predominantly genic in identity. We suggest that intrachromosomal recombination between tandemly duplicated sequences, and subsequent insertion of the circular product, is the predominant mechanism of gene transposition

Patient Satisfaction with Primary Care Office-Based Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment

BACKGROUND: Factors associated with satisfaction among patients receiving primary care–based buprenorphine/naloxone are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To identify factors related to patient satisfaction in patients receiving primary care–based buprenorphine/naloxone that varied in counseling intensity (20 vs 45 minutes) and office visit frequency (weekly vs thrice weekly). DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and forty-two opioid-dependent subjects. MEASUREMENTS: Demographics, drug treatment history, and substance use status at baseline and during treatment were collected. The primary outcome was patient satisfaction at 12 weeks. RESULTS: Patients’ mean overall satisfaction score was 4.4 (out of 5). Patients were most satisfied with the medication and ancillary services and indicated strong willingness to refer a substance-abusing friend for the same treatment. Patients were least satisfied with their interactions with other opioid-dependent patients, referrals to Narcotics Anonymous, and the inconvenience of the treatment location. Female gender (β = .17, P = .04) and non-White ethnicity/race (β = .17, P = .04) independently predicted patient satisfaction. Patients who received briefer counseling and buprenorphine/naloxone dispensed weekly had greater satisfaction than those whose medication was dispensed thrice weekly (mean difference 4.9, 95% confidence interval 0.08 to 9.80, P = .03). CONCLUSIONS: Patients are satisfied with primary care office-based buprenorphine/naloxone. Providers should consider the identified barriers to patient satisfaction