Asteroids seen by JWST-MIRI: Radiometric Size, Distance and Orbit Constraints

Infrared measurements of asteroids are crucial for the determination of physical and thermal properties of individual objects, and for the understanding of the small-body populations in the solar system as a whole. But standard radiometric methods can only be applied if the orbit of an object is known, hence its position at the time of the observation. We present MIRI observations of the outer-belt asteroid 10920 and an unknown object, detected in all 9 MIRI bands in close proximity to 10920. We developed a new method "STM-ORBIT" to interpret the multi-band measurements without knowing the object's true location. The method leads to a confirmation of radiometric size-albedo solution for 10920 and puts constraints on the asteroid's location and orbit in agreement with its true orbit. Groundbased lightcurve observations of 10920, combined with Gaia data, indicate a very elongated object (a/b >= 1.5), with a spin-pole at (l, b) = (178{\deg}, 81{\deg}), and a rotation period of 4.861191 h. A thermophysical study leads to a size of 14.5 - 16.5 km, a geometric albedo between 0.05 and 0.10, and a thermal inertia in the range 9 to 35 Jm-2s-0.5K-1. For the newly discovered MIRI object, the STM-ORBIT method revealed a size of 100-230 m. The new asteroid must be on a very low-inclination orbit and it was located in the inner main-belt region during JWST observations. A beaming parameter {\eta} larger than 1.0 would push the size even below 100 meter, a main-belt regime which escaped IR detections so far. These kind of MIRI observations can therefore contribute to formation and evolution studies via classical size-frequency studies which are currently limited to objects larger than about one kilometer in size. We estimate that MIRI frames with pointings close to the ecliptic and only short integration times of a few seconds will always include a few asteroids, most of them will be unknown objects.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables, accepted for A&A publication on Nov 22, 202

Zapalenie mięśnia sercowego związane z zakażeniem Salmonella parathypi C

Myocarditis related to bacterial gastroenteritis is rare, especially in immunocompetent persons. The clinical course of the disease is characterised by non-specific, sparse symptoms, which greatly impedes diagnosis. This paper presents a case of myocarditis in a 39 year-old man with a Salmonella paratyphi C infection. Salmonella infections rarely cause myocarditis, but they should always be considered in cases where myocarditis is suspected and there is no evidence of a viral aetiology.Zapalenie mięśnia sercowego związane z bakteryjnym zapaleniem jelita występuje rzadko, zwłaszcza u osób immunokompetentnych. Przebieg kliniczny choroby charakteryzuje się niespecyficznymi, skąpymi objawami, co znacznie utrudnia diagnozę. W pracy przedstawiono przypadek zapalenia mięśnia sercowego u 39-letniego mężczyzny z zakażeniem Salmonella parathypi C. Zakażenia salmonellą są rzadką przyczyną zapalenia mięśnia sercowego, ale zawsze powinny być brane pod uwagę w przypadkach z podejrzeniem myocarditis w przypadku braku dowodów na etiologię wirusową

Increasing integrated testing in community settings through interventions for change, including the Spring European Testing Week

Background: Maximising access to testing by targeting more than one infection is effective in identifying new infections in settings or populations. Within the EU funded Joint Action INTEGRATE, this paper examined the feasibility and impact of expanding integrated testing for HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), chlamydia, gonorrhoea and/or syphilis in four community-based pilots through targeted interventions in Croatia, Italy and Poland and the Spring European Testing Week since community settings are key in detecting new infections and reaching key populations. Methods: Pilots led by local INTEGRATE partners prioritised testing for other infections or key populations. The Croatian pilot expanded testing for men who have sex with men to syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Italian partners implemented a HIV and HCV testing/information event at a migrant centre. A second Italian pilot tested migrants for HIV and HCV through outreach and a low-threshold service for people who use drugs. Polish partners tested for HIV, HCV and syphilis among people who inject drugs in unstable housing via a mobile van. Pilots monitored the number of individuals tested for each infection and reactive results. The pilot Spring European Testing Week from 18 to 25 May 2018 was an INTEGRATE-driven initiative to create more testing awareness and opportunities throughout Europe. Results: The Croatian pilot found a high prevalence for each syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea respectively, 2.1%, 12.4% and 6.7%. The Italian migrant centre pilot found low proportions who were previously tested for HIV (24%) or HCV (11%) and the second Italian pilot found an HCV prevalence of 6.2%, with low proportions previously tested for HIV (33%) or HCV (31%). The Polish pilot found rates of being previously tested for HIV, HCV and syphilis at 39%, 37%, and 38%, respectively. Results from the Spring European Testing Week pilot showed it was acceptable with increased integrated testing, from 50% in 2018 to 71% in 2019 in participants. Conclusions: Results show that integrated testing is feasible and effective in community settings, in reaching key populations and minimising missed testing opportunities, and the pilots made feasible because of the European collaboration and funding. For sustainability and expansion of integrated community testing across Europe, local government investment in legislation, financial and structural support are crucial.The INTEGRATE Joint Action was co-funded by the 3rd Health Programme of the European Union under grant agreement no 761319. The EuroTEST/European Testing Week initiative has received funding and grants from Gilead Sciences, ViiV Healthcare, Janssen, Merck/MSD and the European Commission under the 3rd and 2nd Health Programmes. HUHIV: CheckPoint Zagreb is funded by cooperation programs by the City of Zagreb and Ministry of Health incl. HIV, HCV and syphilis rapid tests, CT/NG tests are donated by Cepheid with the contribution of the Department of Immunological and Molecular Diagnostics of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases Dr Fran Mihaljević during the pilot project. CRI/FVM: For the pilot activity in the migrant centre, HIV and HCV rapid tests were donated by FVM/CRI. Moreover, FVM contributed with the staff and equipment (mobile unit). FVM: The medical centre and outreach street unit are funded by the Health Department of Lazio Regional Administration of Italy. NAC/FES: Funding for FES pilot in 2019 was provided by NAC. FES secured their staff, mobile unit and tests. Daniel Simões is the recipient of PhD Grant PD/BD/128008/2016 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). All funders had no role in the study design, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Gravitational Lensing, Dark Matter and the Optical Gravitational Lens Experiment

After briefly reviewing the history of gravitational lensing, we recall the basic principles of the theory. We then describe and use a simple optical gravitational lens experiment which has the virtue of accounting for all types of image configurations observed so far among the presently known gravitational lens systems. Finally, we briefly present the 4m International Liquid Mirror Telescope project in the context of a photometric monitoring of multiply imaged quasars

The fate of the interstellar medium in early-type galaxies I. First direct measurement of the timescale of dust removal

An important aspect of quenching star formation is the removal of the cold interstellar medium (ISM; non-ionised gas and dust) from a galaxy. In addition, dust grains can be destroyed in a hot or turbulent medium. The adopted timescale of dust removal usually relies on uncertain theoretical estimates. It is tricky to track the dust removal, because usually dust is constantly replenished by consecutive generations of stars. Our objective is to measure observationally the timescale of dust removal. We here explore an approach to select galaxies which do have detectable amounts of dust and cold ISM but exhibit a low current dust production rate. Any decrease of the dust and gas content as a function of the age of such galaxies therefore must be attributed to processes governing the ISM removal. We used a sample of galaxies detected by Herschel in the far-infrared with visually assigned early-type morphology or spirals with red colours. We also obtained JCMT/SCUBA-2 observations for five of them. We discovered an exponential decline of the dust-to-stellar mass ratio with age, which we interpret as an evolutionary trend of dust removal from these galaxies. For the first time we directly measure the dust removal timescale in such galaxies to be tau=(2.5+-0.4) Gyr (the corresponding half-life time is (1.75+-0.25) Gyr). This quantity may be used in models in which it must be assumed a priori and cannot be derived. Any process which removes dust in these galaxies, such as dust grain destruction, cannot happen on shorter timescales. The timescale is comparable to the quenching timescales found in simulations for galaxies with similar stellar masses. The dust is likely of internal, not external origin. It was either formed in the past directly by supernovae, or from seeds produced by SNe and with grain growth in the ISM contributing substantially to the dust mass accumulation.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepted; 13 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

Continuous, self-sustaining smouldering destruction of simulated faeces

A new approach for the rapid destruction of human waste using smouldering combustion is presented. Recently, self-sustaining smouldering combustion was shown to destroy the organic component of simulated human solid waste and dog faeces resulting in the sanitization of all pathogens using a batch process (Yermán et al., 2015). Here, a continuous smouldering process is demonstrated for the first time, allowing for a much smaller reactor size and much less energy input per mass of waste treated. The self-sustained smouldering of simulated human faeces mixed with sand is evaluated over long periods (more than 16 h) based on a single ignition. The key process of intermittent self-sustained smouldering, in which the reaction is terminated and restarted by only turning the air off and on, is demonstrated. Experiments examine the influence of two key operator controls: airflow rate and set elevation of the quasi-steady-state smouldering front in a 37 cm high reactor. Quasi-steady-state fuel destruction rates from 93 g/h to 12 g/h were achieved by varying the superficial flow velocity from 7.4 cm/s to 0.11 cm/s, the latter with a velocity approximately an order of magnitude lower than possible for a self-sustaining reaction in an equivalent batch system. Excess energy of up to 140 J/g of sand was recovered from the clean sand produced in each cycle, which could be used to further increase the energy efficiency of this novel waste treatment system

Zapalenie mięśnia sercowego związane z zakażeniem Salmonella parathypi C

Myocarditis related to bacterial gastroenteritis is rare, especially in immunocompetent persons. The clinical course ofthe disease is characterised by non-specific, sparse symptoms, which greatly impedes diagnosis. This paper presentsa case of myocarditis in a 39 year-old man with a Salmonella paratyphi C infection. Salmonella infections rarely causemyocarditis, but they should always be considered in cases where myocarditis is suspected and there is no evidenceof a viral aetiology.Zapalenie mięśnia sercowego związane z bakteryjnym zapaleniem jelita występuje rzadko, zwłaszcza u osób immunokompetentnych. Przebieg kliniczny choroby charakteryzuje się niespecyficznymi, skąpymi objawami, co znacznie utrudnia diagnozę. W pracy przedstawiono przypadek zapalenia mięśnia sercowego u 39-letniego mężczyzny z zakażeniem Salmonella parathypi C. Zakażenia salmonellą są rzadką przyczyną zapalenia mięśnia sercowego, ale zawsze powinny być brane pod uwagę w przypadkach z podejrzeniem myocarditis w przypadku braku dowodów na etiologię wirusową

Spectroscopy of HD 86222 – a quintuple system with an eclipsing component

We present spectroscopic and photometric analysis of the quintuple star HD 86222 with an eclipsing component. Until now three visual components A, B, and C of this multiple star were known. Four components in the A/B pair were detected during the examination of the cross correlation functions obtained from the spectra. We noticed that the visual components A and B, separated by , are in fact two binary stars – one eclipsing pair and one spectroscopic system. The pair with higher radial velocity amplitude corresponds to the eclipsing period. Photometric and spectroscopic observations of the eclipsing binary enable us to obtain the Wilson-Devinney model. The masses of this pair are M1 = 1.29 ± 0.09 M⊙ and M2 = 1.33 ± 0.09 M⊙, respectively. The radii, slightly higher than for the main sequence stars, are R1 = 1.35 ± 0.01 R⊙ and R2 = 1.36 ± 0.01 R⊙, respectively. The main parameters of the spectroscopic binary are also estimated, but they must be confirmed by future observations because of the uncertainty of the period. The farthest star named C, is 15 arc seconds from the main A and B components. Assuming that this object is gravitationally connected with the A and B binary pairs, HD 86222 has at least five components

The HepHIV 2023 Madrid conference: A call to action for political leadership in reaching the sustainable development goals on earlier testing and linkage to care for HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections

Introduction and Objectives: The HepHIV 2023 Conference, held in Madrid in November 2023, highlighted how Europe is not on track to meet the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals and Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) targets. This article presents the outcomes of the conference, which focus on ways to improve testing and linkage to care for HIV, viral hepatitis, and other sexually transmitted infections. HIV-related stigma and discrimination, a major barrier to progress, was a key concept of the conference and on the agenda of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union. Methods: The HepHIV 2023 organizing committee, alongside the Spanish Ministry of Health, oversaw the conference organization and prepared the scientific programme based on abstract rankings. Key outcomes are derived from conference presentations and discussions. Results: Conference presentations covered the obstacles that HIV-related stigma and discrimination continue to pose to access to services, models for data collection to better monitor progress in the future, and examples of legislative action that can be taken at national levels. Diversification of testing approaches was also highlighted, to reach key populations, (e.g. migrant populations), to increase testing offered in healthcare settings (e.g. emergency departments), and to account for different stages of epidemics across the region. Conclusion: With a strong call for intensified action to address the impact of HIV-related stigma and discrimination on testing uptake, the conference concluded that strengthened collaboration is required between governments and implementers around testing and linkage to care. There is also an ongoing need to ensure sustainable political commitment and appropriate resource allocation to address gaps and inequalities in access for key populations and to focus on the implementation of integrated responses to HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections. © 2024 The Author(s). HIV Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British HIV Association