The radial abundance gradient of oxygen towards the Galactic anticentre

We present deep optical spectroscopy of eight HII regions located in the anticentre of the Milky Way. The spectra were obtained at the 10.4m GTC and 8.2m VLT. We determined Te([NII]) for all objects and Te([OIII]) for six of them. We also included in our analysis an additional sample of 13 inner-disc Galactic Hii regions from the literature that have excellent T_e determinations. We adopted the same methodology and atomic dataset to determine the physical conditions and ionic abundances for both samples. We also detected the CII and OII optical recombination lines in Sh 2-100, which enables determination of the abundance discrepancy factor for this object. We found that the slopes of the radial oxygen gradients defined by the HII regions from R_25 (= 11.5 kpc) to 17 kpc and those within R_25 are similar within the uncertainties, indicating the absence of flattening in the radial oxygen gradient in the outer Milky Way. In general, we found that the scatter of the O/H ratios of Hii regions is not substantially larger than the observational uncertainties. The largest possible local inhomogeneities of the oxygen abundances are of the order of 0.1 dex. We also found positive radial gradients in Te([O III]) and Te([N II]) across the Galactic disc. The shapes of these temperature gradients are similar and also consistent with the absence of flattening of the metallicity distribution in the outer Galactic disc.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System physical function correlates with Toronto Extremity Salvage Score in an orthopaedic oncology population

Background: The National Institute of Health\u27s Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) uses computerised-adaptive testing to reduce survey burden and improve sensitivity. PROMIS is being used across medical and surgical disciplines but has not been studied in orthopaedic oncology. Questions/purposes: The aim of the study was to compare PROMIS measures with upper extremity (UE) and lower extremity (LE) Toronto Extremity Salvage Score (TESS) by assessing the following: (1) responder burden, (2) correlation between scores and (3) floor/ceiling effects. Patients and methods: This cross-sectional trial analysed all 97 adult patients treated surgically for a bone or soft tissue tumour at a tertiary institution between November 2015 and March 2016. TESS (UE or LE) and PROMIS (Physical Function, Pain Interference and Depression) surveys were administered preoperatively. Pearson correlations between each PROMIS domain and TESS were calculated, as were floor/ceiling effects of each outcome measure. Results: (1) Completion of three PROMIS questionnaires required a mean total of 16.8 (+/- 5.8 standard deviation) questions, compared with 31 and 32 questions for the LE and UE TESS questionnaires, respectively. (2) The PROMIS Physical Function scores demonstrated a strong positive correlation with the LE TESS (r = 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72-0.91; p \u3c 0.001) and moderate positive correlation with the UE TESS (r = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.34-0.83; p = 0.055). The PROMIS Depression scores demonstrated a weak negative correlation with both the LE TESS (r = -0.38; 95% CI, -0.61 to -0.10; p = 0.010) and with UE TESS (r = -0.38; 95% CI, -0.67 to -0.01; p = 0.055). The PROMIS Pain Interference scores demonstrated a strong negative correlation with the LE TESS (r = -0.71; 95% CI, -0.83 to -0.52; p \u3c 0.001) and a moderate negative correlation with the UE TESS (r = -0.62; 95% CI, -0.81 to -0.30; p = 0.001). (3) The UE TESS had a range of scores from 16 to 100 with a 27% ceiling effect and no floor effect, and the LE TESS had a range from 10 to 98 with no floor or ceiling effect. There was no floor or ceiling effect for any PROMIS measures. Conclusions: In an orthopaedic oncology population, the PROMIS Physical Function and Pain Interference scores correlate with the TESS and have the benefit of reduced survey burden and ceiling effect. The PROMIS Depression scores may provide additional information regarding patient outcomes not captured by the TESS. Level of Evidence: Level III. The translational potential of this article: Patient reported outcome measures asses patients\u27 symptoms, function and health-related quality of life and are designed to capture more clinical information than can be gathered by objective medial testing alone. As reimbursements and the understanding of patient outcomes are becoming tied to performance on PROMIS measures, it is an important step to establish how PROMIS measures correlate and compare to traditional legacy measures

Campus Incivility and Free Speech: A Contemporary Dilemma

The issue of free speech on college campuses is as old as education itself and as current as today\u27s news. Institutions of higher education often find themselves torn between their desire to create environments where students and professors remain physically safe and their mission to protect academic freedom and the right of free speech. This interactive presentation will provide academic leaders with the skill set to increase the likelihood that constructive conflicts between ideas don\u27t escalate into destructive, violent acts

Carbon and oxygen in HII regions of the Magellanic Clouds: abundance discrepancy and chemical evolution

We present C and O abundances in the Magellanic Clouds derived from deep spectra of HII regions. The data have been taken with the Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph at the 8.2-m VLT. The sample comprises 5 HII regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and 4 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We measure pure recombination lines (RLs) of CII and OII in all the objects, permitting to derive the abundance discrepancy factors (ADFs) for O^2+, as well as their O/H, C/H and C/O ratios. We compare the ADFs with those of other HII regions in different galaxies. The results suggest a possible metallicity dependence of the ADF for the low-metallicity objects, but more uncertain for high-metallicity objects. We compare nebular and B-type stellar abundances and we find that the stellar abundances agree better with the nebular ones derived from collisionally excited lines (CELs). Comparing these results with other galaxies we observe that stellar abundances seem to agree better with the nebular ones derived from CELs in low-metallicity environments and from RLs in high-metallicity environments. The C/H, O/H and C/O ratios show almost flat radial gradients, in contrast with the spiral galaxies where such gradients are negative. We explore the chemical evolution analysing C/O vs. O/H and comparing with the results of HII regions in other galaxies. The LMC seems to show a similar chemical evolution to the external zones of small spiral galaxies and the SMC behaves as a typical star-forming dwarf galaxy.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 17 pages, 11 figures, 8 table

Conducta de los Enfermeros Frente a las Alarmas Clínicas en Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos: una Revisión Integradora

O presente estudo tem como propósito refletir sobre a prática de enfermagem no que concerne à temática da monitorização hemodinâmica. Pretendemos identificar a evidência empírica produzida sobre o comportamento dos enfermeiros perante os alarmes clínicos e, consequentemente, incentivar a adoção de estratégias que promovam um ambiente de cuidados intensivos menos ruidoso. Perspetivou-se um estudo de revisão sistemática da literatura. Selecionámos um conjunto de dezoito bases de dados eletrónicas, tendo recorrido a três idiomas. A colheita de informação decorreu entre dezembro de 2011 e janeiro de 2012 e, através de uma estratégia de cruzamento dos descritores selecionados, foram incluídos 5 artigos. Face a todo o corpo de discussão salientamos três categorias essenciais: opinião dos profissionais de saúde acerca dos alarmes clínicos; comportamento dos profissionais; estratégias promotoras de um ambiente menos ruidoso. Constatamos que os profissionais de saúde têm presente a bipolaridade dos alarmes clínicos e identificam limitações na sua gestão. Verificamos ainda que o comportamento dos profissionais nos estudos analisados não é linear, variando entre alterar os parâmetros no início de cada turno até ignorar uma grande maioria deles. Cientes desta realidade, os profissionais sugerem diversas estratégias passíveis de implementar, com vista a alarmes e comportamentos mais eficazes

Fokker-Planck type equations with Sobolev diffusion coefficients and BV drift coefficients

In this paper we give an affirmative answer to an open question mentioned in [Le Bris and Lions, Comm. Partial Differential Equations 33 (2008), 1272--1317], that is, we prove the well-posedness of the Fokker-Planck type equations with Sobolev diffusion coefficients and BV drift coefficients.Comment: 11 pages. The proof has been modifie