Risk factors for vulnerable youth in urban townships in South Africa: the potential contribution of reactive attachment disorder

Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a psychiatric disorder developing in early or middle childhood as a consequence of significant failures in the caregiving environment. RAD results in children failing to relate socially, either by exhibiting markedly inhibited behaviour or by indiscriminate social behaviour and is associated with significant socio-behavioural problems in the longer term. This study examined RAD in South Africa, a setting with high environmental risks. We recruited a sub-sample of 40 10-year-old children from a cohort enrolled during pregnancy for whom early attachment status was known. Children were purposefully selected to represent the four attachment categories using the data available on the strange situation procedure (SSP) at 18 months. The Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) assessed current attachment and RAD was diagnosed using a standardised assessment package. A high proportion of the children (5/40% or 12.5%) fulfilled diagnostic criteria for RAD; all were boys and were displaying the disinhibited type. SSP classification at 18 months was not significantly associated with RAD symptoms at age of 10 years, while current MCAST classifications were. This suggests that children in this sample are at much higher risk of RAD than in high-income populations, and despite a fairly typical attachment distribution in this population at 18 months, RAD was evidenced in later childhood and associated with current attachment disorganisation. The strengths of this research include its longitudinal nature and use of diagnostic assessments. Given increasing evidence that RAD is relatively stable over time and introduces longer term socio-behavioural risks; the high rate of RAD in this sample (12.5%) highlights potential developmental threats to children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our results should be interpreted with caution given sample size and risk of selection bias. Further research is needed to confirm these findings

Powerful H2_2 Line-cooling in Stephan's Quintet : I - Mapping the Significant Cooling Pathways in Group-wide Shocks

We present results from the mid-infrared spectral mapping of Stephan's Quintet using the Spitzer Space Telescope. A 1000 km/s collision has produced a group-wide shock and for the first time the large-scale distribution of warm molecular hydrogen emission is revealed, as well as its close association with known shock structures. In the main shock region alone we find 5.0 $\times10^{8}$ M$_{\odot}$ of warm H$_2$ spread over $\sim$ 480 kpc$^2$ and additionally report the discovery of a second major shock-excited H$_2$ feature. This brings the total H$_2$ line luminosity of the group in excess of 10$^42$ erg/s. In the main shock, the H$_2$ line luminosity exceeds, by a factor of three, the X-ray luminosity from the hot shocked gas, confirming that the H$_2$-cooling pathway dominates over the X-ray. [Si II]34.82$\mu$m emission, detected at a luminosity of 1/10th of that of the H$_2$, appears to trace the group-wide shock closely and in addition, we detect weak [FeII]25.99$\mu$m emission from the most X-ray luminous part of the shock. Comparison with shock models reveals that this emission is consistent with regions of fast shocks (100 < $V_{s}$ < 300 km/s) experiencing depletion of iron and silicon onto dust grains. Star formation in the shock (as traced via ionic lines, PAH and dust emission) appears in the intruder galaxy, but most strikingly at either end of the radio shock. The shock ridge itself shows little star formation, consistent with a model in which the tremendous H$_{2}$ power is driven by turbulent energy transfer from motions in a post-shocked layer. The significance of the molecular hydrogen lines over other measured sources of cooling in fast galaxy-scale shocks may have crucial implications for the cooling of gas in the assembly of the first galaxies.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, Accepted to Ap

Active Disk Building in a local HI-Massive LIRG: The Synergy between Gas, Dust, and Star Formation

HIZOA J0836-43 is the most HI-massive (M_HI = 7.5x10^10 Msun) galaxy detected in the HIPASS volume and lies optically hidden behind the Milky Way. Markedly different from other extreme HI disks in the local universe, it is a luminous infrared galaxy (LIRG) with an actively star forming disk (>50 kpc), central to its ~ 130 kpc gas disk, with a total star formation rate (SFR) of ~20.5 Msun yr^{-1}. Spitzer spectroscopy reveals an unusual combination of powerful polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission coupled to a relatively weak warm dust continuum, suggesting photodissociation region (PDR)-dominated emission. Compared to a typical LIRG with similar total infrared luminosity (L_TIR=10^11 Lsun), the PAHs in HIZOA J0836-43 are more than twice as strong, whereas the warm dust continuum (lambda > 20micron) is best fit by a star forming galaxy with L_TIR=10^10 Lsun. Mopra CO observations suggest an extended molecular gas component (H_2 + He > 3.7x10^9 Msun) and a lower limit of ~ 64% for the gas mass fraction; this is above average compared to local disk systems, but similar to that of z~1.5 BzK galaxies (~57%). However, the star formation efficiency (SFE = L_IR/L'_CO) for HIZOA J0836-43 of 140 Lsun (K km s^{-1} pc^2)^{-1} is similar to that of local spirals and other disk galaxies at high redshift, in strong contrast to the increased SFE seen in merging and strongly interacting systems. HIZOA J0836-43 is actively forming stars and building a massive stellar disk. Its evolutionary phase of star formation (M_stellar, SFR, gas fraction) compared to more distant systems suggests that it would be considered typical at redshift z~1. This galaxy provides a rare opportunity in the nearby universe for studying (at z~0.036) how disks were building and galaxies evolving at z~1, when similarly large gas fractions were likely more common.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 16 pages, 8 figure

The orphaning experience: descriptions from Ugandan youth who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has continued to pose significant challenges to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of African children and youth have lost parents to HIV/AIDS leaving a generation of orphans to be cared for within extended family systems and communities. The experiences of youth who have lost parents to the HIV/AIDS epidemic provide an important ingress into this complex, evolving, multi-dimensional phenomenon. A fundamental qualitative descriptive study was conducted to develop a culturally relevant and comprehensive description of the experiences of orphanhood from the perspectives of Ugandan youth. A purposeful sample of 13 youth who had lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS and who were affiliated with a non-governmental organization providing support to orphans were interviewed. Youth orphaned by HIV/AIDS described the experience of orphanhood beginning with parental illness, not death. Several losses were associated with the death of a parent including lost social capitol, educational opportunities and monetary assets. Unique findings revealed that youth experienced culturally specific stigma and conflict which was distinctly related to their HIV/AIDS orphan status. Exploitation within extended cultural family systems was also reported. Results from this study suggest that there is a pressing need to identify and provide culturally appropriate services for these Ugandan youth prior to and after the loss of a parent(s)

Turbulent molecular gas and star formation in the shocked intergalactic medium of Stephan's Quintet

We report on single-dish radio CO observations towards the inter-galactic medium (IGM) of the Stephan's Quintet (SQ) group of galaxies. Extremely bright mid-IR H2 rotational line emission from warm molecular gas has been detected by Spitzer in the kpc-scale shock created by a galaxy collision. We detect in the IGM CO(1-0), (2-1) and (3-2) line emission with complex profiles, spanning a velocity range of 1000 km/s. The spectra exhibit the pre-shock recession velocities of the two colliding gas systems (5700 and 6700 km/s), but also intermediate velocities. This shows that much of the molecular gas has formed out of diffuse gas accelerated by the galaxy-tidal arm collision. A total H2 mass of 5x10^9 Msun is detected in the shock. The molecular gas carries a large fraction of the gas kinetic energy involved in the collision, meaning that this energy has not been thermalized yet. The turbulent kinetic energy of the H2 gas is at least a factor of 5 greater than the thermal energy of the hot plasma heated by the collision. The ratio between the warm H2 mass derived from Spitzer IRS spectroscopy and the H2 mass derived from CO fluxes is ~0.3 in the IGM of SQ, which is 10-100 times higher than in star-forming galaxies. In the shocked region, the ratio of the PAH-to-CO surface luminosities, commonly used to measure the star formation efficiency of the H2 gas, is lower (up to a factor 75) than the observed values in star-forming galaxies. We suggest that turbulence fed by the galaxy-tidal arm collision maintains a high heating rate within the H2 gas. This interpretation implies that the velocity dispersion on the scale of giant molecular clouds in SQ is one order of magnitude larger than the Galactic value. The high amplitude of turbulence may explain why this gas is not forming stars efficiently. [abridged version]Comment: Revised abstract and small editing to match published version. 15 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Strong Far-IR Cooling Lines, Peculiar CO Kinematics and Possible Star Formation Suppression in Hickson Compact Group 57

We present [C II] and [O I] observations from Herschel and CO(1-0) maps from the Combined Array for{\dag} Research in Millimeter Astronomy (CARMA) of the Hickson Compact Group HCG 57, focusing on the galaxies HCG 57a and HCG 57d. HCG 57a has been previously shown to contain enhanced quantities of warm molecular hydrogen consistent with shock and/or turbulent heating. Our observations show that HCG 57d has strong [C II] emission compared to L$_{\rm FIR}$ and weak CO(1-0), while in HCG 57a, both the [C II] and CO(1-0) are strong. HCG 57a lies at the upper end of the normal distribution of [C II]/CO and [C II]/FIR ratios, and its far-IR cooling supports a low density warm diffuse gas that falls close to the boundary of acceptable PDR models. However, the power radiated in the [C II] and warm H$_2$ emission have similar magnitudes, as seen in other shock-dominated systems and predicted by recent models. We suggest that shock-heating of the [C II] is a viable alternative to photoelectric heating in violently disturbed diffuse gas. The existence of shocks is also consistent with peculiar CO kinematics in the galaxy, indicating highly non-circular motions are present. These kinematically disturbed CO regions also show evidence of suppressed star formation, falling a factor of 10-30 below normal galaxies on the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation. We suggest that the peculiar properties of both galaxies are consistent with a highly dissipative off-center collisional encounter between HCG 57d and 57a, creating ring-like morphologies in both systems. Highly dissipative gas-on-gas collisions may be more common in dense groups because of the likelihood of repeated multiple encounters. The possibility of shock-induced SF suppression may explain why a subset of these HCG galaxies have been found previously to fall in the mid-infrared green valley.Comment: ApJ accepted, 16 pages, 12 figures, 3 table

Constructing a WISE High Resolution Galaxy Atlas

After eight months of continuous observations, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mapped the entire sky at 3.4 {\mu}m, 4.6 {\mu}m, 12 {\mu}m and 22 {\mu}m. We have begun a dedicated WISE High Resolution Galaxy Atlas (WHRGA) project to fully characterize large, nearby galaxies and produce a legacy image atlas and source catalogue. Here we summarize the deconvolution technique used to significantly improve the spatial resolution of WISE imaging, specifically designed to study the internal anatomy of nearby galaxies. As a case study, we present results for the galaxy NGC 1566, comparing the WISE super-resolution image processing to that of Spitzer, GALEX and ground-based imaging. The is the first paper in a two part series; results for a much larger sample of nearby galaxies is presented in the second paper.Comment: Published in the AJ (2012, AJ, 144, 68

Evidence of neuroinflammation and blood–brain barrier disruption in women with preeclampsia and eclampsia

Cerebral complications in preeclampsia are leading causes of maternal mortality. Animal models suggest that an injured blood–brain barrier and neuroinflammation may be important but there is paucity of data from human studies. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate this in women with preeclampsia and eclampsia. We included women recruited to the South African Preeclampsia Obstetric Adverse Events (PROVE) biobank. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were collected around delivery. CSF was analyzed for neuroinflammatory markers interleukin 1β, interleukin 6, interleukin-8 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). The CSF to plasma albumin ratio was measured to assess blood–brain barrier function. Women with eclampsia (n = 4) showed increased CSF concentrations of all pro-inflammatory cytokines and TNF-alpha compared to women with normotensive pregnancies (n = 7) and also for interleukin-6 and TNF-alpha compared to women with preeclampsia (n = 4). Women with preeclampsia also showed increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 but not TNF-alpha in the CSF compared to women with normotensive pregnancies. In particular, women with eclampsia but also women with preeclampsia showed an increase in the CSF to plasma albumin ratio compared to normotensive women. In conclusion, women with preeclampsia and eclampsia show evidence of neuroinflammation and an injured blood–brain barrier. These findings are seen in particular among women with eclampsia