Can we distinguish the consequences of early maltreatment on child behaviour from idiopathic autism?

OBJECTIVE: To identify clinical features that could distinguish children presenting with autistic-like features and a history of severe early maltreatment from children with idiopathic autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). DESIGN: Matched-comparison study. SETTING: Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK. PARTICIPANTS: 46 children with a history of early maltreatment, mean (SD) age 10.6 (3.3) years and 47 children with an ASD, mean (SD) age 10.4 (2.9) years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A range of standardised interview and observational measures that are designed to quantify autistic traits. Caregiver and teacher reports were obtained on broader aspects of behavioural and emotional adjustment. RESULTS: Both groups had normal range IQ and were predominantly male. On the basis of autistic traits alone, caregiver interview and structured observation concurred that over 60% of the formerly maltreated children met criteria for an ASD. Autistic symptom profiles were very similar in both groups, although children with idiopathic ASD had significantly more marked repetitive and stereotyped behaviours. Teacher and caregiver reports indicated that children from both groups had an increased and broadly similar prevalence of emotional and behavioural disorders. CONCLUSION: Children presenting with a history of early maltreatment, who show autistic traits of behaviour, have a high risk of meeting diagnostic criteria for ASD. Their symptom profiles are virtually indistinguishable from children with idiopathic autism

Recombination Lines and Free-Free Continua formed in Asymptotic Ionized Winds: Analytic solution for the radiative transfer

In dense hot star winds, the infrared and radio continua are dominated by free-free opacity and recombination emission line spectra. In the case of a spherically symmetric outflow that is isothermal and expanding at constant radial speed, the radiative transfer for the continuum emission from a dense wind is analytic. Even the emission profile shape for a recombination line can be derived. Key to these derivations is that the opacity scales with only the square of the density. These results are well-known. Here an extension of the derivation is developed that also allows for line blends and the inclusion of an additional power-law dependence beyond just the density dependence. The additional power-law is promoted as a representation of a radius dependent clumping factor. It is shown that differences in the line widths and equivalent widths of the emission lines depend on the steepness of the clumping power-law. Assuming relative level populations in LTE in the upper levels of He {\sc ii}, an illustrative application of the model to {\em Spitzer}/IRS spectral data of the carbon-rich star WR 90 is given.Comment: to appear in Astronomische Nachrichten (astroph submission is a preprint version

Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect Measurements for WASP-16, WASP-25 and WASP-31

We present new measurements of the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect for three WASP planetary systems, WASP-16, WASP-25 and WASP-31, from a combined analysis of their complete sets of photometric and spectroscopic data. We find a low amplitude RM effect for WASP-16 (Teff = 5700 \pm 150K), suggesting that the star is a slow rotator and thus of an advanced age, and obtain a projected alignment angle of lambda = -4.2 degrees +11.0 -13.9. For WASP-25 (Teff = 5750\pm100K) we detect a projected spin-orbit angle of lambda = 14.6 degrees \pm6.7. WASP-31 (Teff = 6300\pm100K) is found to be well-aligned, with a projected spin-orbit angle of lambda = 2.8degrees \pm3.1. A circular orbit is consistent with the data for all three systems, in agreement with their respective discovery papers. We consider the results for these systems in the context of the ensemble of RM measurements made to date. We find that whilst WASP-16 fits the hypothesis of Winn et al. (2010) that 'cool' stars (Teff < 6250K) are preferentially aligned, WASP-31 has little impact on the proposed trend. We bring the total distribution of the true spin-orbit alignment angle, psi, up to date, noting that recent results have improved the agreement with the theory of Fabrycky & Tremaine (2007) at mid-range angles. We also suggest a new test for judging misalignment using the Bayesian Information Criterion, according to which WASP-25 b's orbit should be considered to be aligned.Comment: 20 pages, 14 tables, 10 figures. Accepted to MNRA

The Liganding of Glycolipid Transfer Protein Is Controlled by Glycolipid Acyl Structure

Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) play major roles in cellular growth and development. Mammalian glycolipid transfer proteins (GLTPs) are potential regulators of cell processes mediated by GSLs and display a unique architecture among lipid binding/transfer proteins. The GLTP fold represents a novel membrane targeting/interaction domain among peripheral proteins. Here we report crystal structures of human GLTP bound to GSLs of diverse acyl chain length, unsaturation, and sugar composition. Structural comparisons show a highly conserved anchoring of galactosyl- and lactosyl-amide headgroups by the GLTP recognition center. By contrast, acyl chain chemical structure and occupancy of the hydrophobic tunnel dictate partitioning between sphingosine-in and newly-observed sphingosine-out ligand-binding modes. The structural insights, combined with computed interaction propensity distributions, suggest a concerted sequence of events mediated by GLTP conformational changes during GSL transfer to and/or from membranes, as well as during GSL presentation and/or transfer to other proteins

Radio and submillimetre observations of wind structure in zeta Pup

We present radio and submillimetre observations of the O4I(n)f star zeta Pup, and discuss structure in the outer region of its wind (~ 10-100 R*). The properties of bremsstrahlung, the dominant emission process at these wavelengths, make it sensitive to structure and allow us to study how the amount of structure changes in the wind by comparing the fluxes at different wavelengths. To look for variability, we acquired 3.6 and 6 cm observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). We supplemented these with archive observations from the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA). We did not find variability at more than the +- 20 % level. The long integration time does allow an accurate determination of the fluxes at 3.6 and 6 cm. Converting these fluxes into a mass loss rate, we find Mdot = 3.5 x 10^{-6} Msun/yr. This value confirms the significant discrepancy with the mass loss rate derived from the Halpha profile, making zeta Pup an exception to the usually good agreement between Halpha and radio mass loss rates. We also observed zeta Pup at 850 mum with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and at 20 cm with the VLA. A smooth wind model shows that the millimetre fluxes are too high compared to the radio fluxes. While recombination of helium in the outer wind cannot be discounted as an explanation, the wealth of evidence for structure strongly suggests this as the explanation for the discrepancy. Model calculations show that the structure needs to be present in the inner ~ 70 R* of the wind, but that it decays significantly, or maybe even disappears, beyond that radius.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Non-thermal emission processes in massive binaries

In this paper, I present a general discussion of several astrophysical processes likely to play a role in the production of non-thermal emission in massive stars, with emphasis on massive binaries. Even though the discussion will start in the radio domain where the non-thermal emission was first detected, the census of physical processes involved in the non-thermal emission from massive stars shows that many spectral domains are concerned, from the radio to the very high energies. First, the theoretical aspects of the non-thermal emission from early-type stars will be addressed. The main topics that will be discussed are respectively the physics of individual stellar winds and their interaction in binary systems, the acceleration of relativistic electrons, the magnetic field of massive stars, and finally the non-thermal emission processes relevant to the case of massive stars. Second, this general qualitative discussion will be followed by a more quantitative one, devoted to the most probable scenario where non-thermal radio emitters are massive binaries. I will show how several stellar, wind and orbital parameters can be combined in order to make some semi-quantitative predictions on the high-energy counterpart to the non-thermal emission detected in the radio domain. These theoretical considerations will be followed by a census of results obtained so far, and related to this topic... (see paper for full abstract)Comment: 47 pages, 5 postscript figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. Astronomy and Astrophysics Review, in pres

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Prevalence and architecture of de novo mutations in developmental disorders.

The genomes of individuals with severe, undiagnosed developmental disorders are enriched in damaging de novo mutations (DNMs) in developmentally important genes. Here we have sequenced the exomes of 4,293 families containing individuals with developmental disorders, and meta-analysed these data with data from another 3,287 individuals with similar disorders. We show that the most important factors influencing the diagnostic yield of DNMs are the sex of the affected individual, the relatedness of their parents, whether close relatives are affected and the parental ages. We identified 94 genes enriched in damaging DNMs, including 14 that previously lacked compelling evidence of involvement in developmental disorders. We have also characterized the phenotypic diversity among these disorders. We estimate that 42% of our cohort carry pathogenic DNMs in coding sequences; approximately half of these DNMs disrupt gene function and the remainder result in altered protein function. We estimate that developmental disorders caused by DNMs have an average prevalence of 1 in 213 to 1 in 448 births, depending on parental age. Given current global demographics, this equates to almost 400,000 children born per year

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements