47 research outputs found
Colonoscopic screening for colorectal cancer improves quality of life measures: a population-based screening study
BACKGROUND: Screening asymptomatic individuals for neoplasia can have adverse consequences on quality of life. Colon cancer screening is widespread but the quality of life (QOL) consequences are unknown. This study determined the impact of screening colonoscopy on QOL measures in asymptomatic average-risk participants. METHODS: Asymptomatic male and female participants aged 55â74 years were randomly selected from the Australian Electoral Roll or six primary care physicians' databases. Participants completed the Short-Form (SF-36) Quality of Life Assessment at baseline and at a mean of 39 days after colonoscopy. Outcome measures were (i) significant changes in raw scores in any of the eight SF-36 domains assessed following colonoscopic screening and (ii) improvements or declines in previously validated categories, representing clinically significant changes, within any of the eight SF-36 domains. RESULTS: Baseline QOL measures were similar to those of a matched general population sample. Role Limitations due to Emotions, Mental Health and Vitality raw scores significantly improved following colonoscopy (P < 0.05, 2-tailed t-test). Health ratings according to Category were similar (same clinical status) in the majority of participants. However, 30% participants recorded clinically significant improvement in the Mental Health and Vitality domains (P < 0.05, Wilcoxon Signed-Ranks test). This improvement was not offset by declines in other domains or in other participants. Improvement in QOL was not related to colonoscopy results. CONCLUSION: Average-risk persons benefit significantly from colon cancer screening with colonoscopy, improving in Mental Health and Vitality domains of Quality of Life. This improvement is not offset by declines in other domains
The headlight cloud in NGC 628: An extreme giant molecular cloud in a typical galaxy disk
Context. Cloud-scale surveys of molecular gas reveal the link between giant molecular cloud properties and star formation across a range of galactic environments. Cloud populations in galaxy disks are considered to be representative of the normal star formation process, while galaxy centers tend to harbor denser gas that exhibits more extreme star formation. At high resolution, however, molecular clouds with exceptional gas properties and star formation activity may also be observed in normal disk environments. In this paper we study the brightest cloud traced in CO(2-1) emission in the disk of nearby spiral galaxy NGC 628. Aims. We characterize the properties of the molecular and ionized gas that is spatially coincident with an extremely bright H ii region in the context of the NGC 628 galactic environment. We investigate how feedback and large-scale processes influence the properties of the molecular gas in this region.
Methods. High-resolution ALMA observations of CO(2-1) and CO(1â0) emission were used to characterize the mass and dynamical state of the 'headlight' molecular cloud. The characteristics of this cloud are compared to the typical properties of molecular clouds in NGC 628. A simple large velocity gradient (LVG) analysis incorporating additional ALMA observations of 13CO(1â0), HCO+(1â0), and HCN(1â0) emission was used to constrain the beam-diluted density and temperature of the molecular gas. We analyzed the MUSE spectrum using Starburst99 to characterize the young stellar population associated with the H ii region.
Results. The unusually bright headlight cloud is massive (1â2 x 107 M), with a beam-diluted density of nH2 = 5 x 104
cmâ3 based on LVG modeling. It has a low virial parameter, suggesting that the CO emission associated with this cloud may be overluminous due to heating by the H ii region. A young (2â4 Myr) stellar population with mass 3 x105 M is associated.
Conclusions. We argue that the headlight cloud is currently being destroyed by feedback from young massive stars. Due to the large mass of the cloud, this phase of the its evolution is long enough for the impact of feedback on the excitation of the gas to be observed. The high mass of the headlight cloud may be related to its location at a spiral co-rotation radius, where gas experiences reduced galactic shear compared to other regions of the disk and receives a sustained inflow of gas that can promote the mass growth of the cloud.CNH, AH and JP acknowledge support from the Programme National âPhysique et Chimie du Milieu Interstellaireâ (PCMI) of CNRS/INSU with INC/INP co-funded by CEA and CNES, and
from the Programme National Cosmology and Galaxies (PNCG) of CNRS/INSU
with INP and IN2P3, co-funded by CEA and CNES. AU acknowledges support from the Spanish funding grants AYA2016-79006-P (MINECO/FEDER)
and PGC2018-094671-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER). The work of AKL, JS, and
DU is partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No.
1615105, 1615109, and 1653300. FB acknowledges funding from the European
Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No
726384). APSH is a fellow of the International Max Planck Research School
for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRSHD). SCOG acknowledges support from the DFG via SFB 881 âThe Milky Way
Systemâ (sub-projects B1, B2 and B8). JMDK gratefully acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme via the ERC Starting Grant MUSTANG (grant agreement number 714907). JMDK and MC gratefully acknowledge funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the form of an
Emmy Noether Research Group (grant number KR4801/1-1). SEM acknowledges funding during part of this work from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) via grant SCHI 536/7-2 as part of the priority program SPP 1573
âISM-SPP: Physics of the Interstellar Mediumâ
Dense Gas, Dynamical Equilibrium Pressure, and Star Formation in Nearby Star-Forming Galaxies
We use new ALMA observations to investigate the connection between dense gas
fraction, star formation rate, and local environment across the inner region of
four local galaxies showing a wide range of molecular gas depletion times. We
map HCN (1-0), HCO (1-0), CS (2-1), CO (1-0), and CO (1-0)
across the inner few kpc of each target. We combine these data with short
spacing information from the IRAM large program EMPIRE, archival CO maps,
tracers of stellar structure and recent star formation, and recent HCN surveys
by Bigiel et al. and Usero et al. We test the degree to which changes in the
dense gas fraction drive changes in the SFR. (tracing the
dense gas fraction) correlates strongly with (tracing molecular gas
surface density), stellar surface density, and dynamical equilibrium pressure,
. Therefore, becomes very low and HCN becomes very
faint at large galactocentric radii, where ratios as low as become common. The apparent ability of dense gas to form stars,
(where is traced by the HCN
intensity and the star formation rate is traced by a combination of H
and 24m emission), also depends on environment.
decreases in regions of high gas surface density,
high stellar surface density, and high . Statistically, these
correlations between environment and both and
are stronger than that between apparent dense gas fraction
() and the apparent molecular gas star formation efficiency
. We show that these results are not specific to
HCN.Comment: 31 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal, email for access to data table before publicatio
Do Spectroscopic Dense Gas Fractions Track Molecular Cloud Surface Densities?
We use ALMA and IRAM 30-m telescope data to investigate the relationship
between the spectroscopically-traced dense gas fraction and the cloud-scale
(120 pc) molecular gas surface density in five nearby, star-forming galaxies.
We estimate the dense gas mass fraction at 650 pc and 2800 pc scales using the
ratio of HCN (1-0) to CO (1-0) emission. We then use high resolution (120 pc)
CO (2-1) maps to calculate the mass-weighted average molecular gas surface
density within 650 pc or 2770 pc beam where the dense gas fraction is
estimated. On average, the dense gas fraction correlates with the mass-weighted
average molecular gas surface density. Thus, parts of a galaxy with higher mean
cloud-scale gas surface density also appear to have a larger fraction of dense
gas. The normalization and slope of the correlation do vary from galaxy to
galaxy and with the size of the regions studied. This correlation is consistent
with a scenario where the large-scale environment sets the gas volume density
distribution, and this distribution manifests in both the cloud-scale surface
density and the dense gas mass fraction.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal Letter
Utilization of HIV-1 envelope V3 to identify X4- and R5-specific Tat and LTR sequence signatures
Biosynthesis of gramicidin S II. Incorporation experiments with labeled amino acid analogs, and the amino acid activation process
Other primary malignancies in breast cancer patients treated with breast conserving surgery and radiation therapy
Our purpose was to examine the incidence and impact on survival of other primary malignancies (OPM) outside of the breast in breast cancer patients and to identify risk factors associated with OPM