An upper limit to the masses of stars

There is no accepted upper mass limit for stars. Such a basic quantity escapes both theory, because of incomplete understanding of star formation, and observation, because of incompleteness in surveying the Galaxy. The Arches cluster is ideal for such a test, being massive enough to expect stars at least as massive as 400 solar masses, and young enough for its most massive members to still be visible. It is old enough to be free of its natal molecular cloud, and close enough, and at a well-established distance, for us to discern its individual stars. Here I report an absence of stars with initial masses greater than 130 M_Sun in the Arches cluster, where the typical mass function predicts 18. I conclude that this indicates a firm limit of 150 M_Sun for stars as the probability that the observations are consistent with no limit is 10^-8.Comment: To appear in Nature, March 10, 2005, Vol. 34, No. 7030, 192 (ST ScI Eprint #1645). More files can be found at http://www.stsci.edu/~fige

Glutamate-Gated Chloride Channels of Haemonchus contortus Restore Drug Sensitivity to Ivermectin Resistant Caenorhabditis elegans

Anthelmintic resistance is a major problem in livestock farming, especially of small ruminants, but our understanding of it has been limited by the difficulty in carrying out functional genetic studies on parasitic nematodes. An important nematode infecting sheep and goats is Haemonchus contortus; in many parts of the world this species is resistant to almost all the currently available drugs, including ivermectin. It is extremely polymorphic and to date it has proved impossible to relate any sequence polymorphisms to its ivermectin resistance status. Expression of candidate drug-resistance genes in Caenorhabditis elegans could provide a convenient means to study the effects of polymorphisms found in resistant parasites, but may be complicated by differences between the gene families of target and model organisms. We tested this using the glutamate-gated chloride channel (GluCl) gene family, which forms the ivermectin drug target and are candidate resistance genes. We expressed GluCl subunits from C. elegans and H. contortus in a highly resistant triple mutant C. elegans strain (DA1316) under the control of the avr-14 promoter; expression of GFP behind this promoter recapitulated the pattern previously reported for avr-14. Expression of ivermectin-sensitive subunits from both species restored drug sensitivity to transgenic worms, though some quantitative differences were noted between lines. Expression of an ivermectin-insensitive subunit, Hco-GLC-2, had no effect on drug sensitivity. Expression of a previously uncharacterised parasite-specific subunit, Hco-GLC-6, caused the transgenic worms to become ivermectin sensitive, suggesting that this subunit also encodes a GluCl that responds to the drug. These results demonstrate that both orthologous and paralogous subunits from C. elegans and H. contortus are able to rescue the ivermectin sensitivity of mutant C. elegans, though some quantitative differences were observed between transgenic lines in some assays. C. elegans is a suitable system for studying parasitic nematode genes that may be involved in drug resistance

The stellar and sub-stellar IMF of simple and composite populations

The current knowledge on the stellar IMF is documented. It appears to become top-heavy when the star-formation rate density surpasses about 0.1Msun/(yr pc^3) on a pc scale and it may become increasingly bottom-heavy with increasing metallicity and in increasingly massive early-type galaxies. It declines quite steeply below about 0.07Msun with brown dwarfs (BDs) and very low mass stars having their own IMF. The most massive star of mass mmax formed in an embedded cluster with stellar mass Mecl correlates strongly with Mecl being a result of gravitation-driven but resource-limited growth and fragmentation induced starvation. There is no convincing evidence whatsoever that massive stars do form in isolation. Various methods of discretising a stellar population are introduced: optimal sampling leads to a mass distribution that perfectly represents the exact form of the desired IMF and the mmax-to-Mecl relation, while random sampling results in statistical variations of the shape of the IMF. The observed mmax-to-Mecl correlation and the small spread of IMF power-law indices together suggest that optimally sampling the IMF may be the more realistic description of star formation than random sampling from a universal IMF with a constant upper mass limit. Composite populations on galaxy scales, which are formed from many pc scale star formation events, need to be described by the integrated galactic IMF. This IGIMF varies systematically from top-light to top-heavy in dependence of galaxy type and star formation rate, with dramatic implications for theories of galaxy formation and evolution.Comment: 167 pages, 37 figures, 3 tables, published in Stellar Systems and Galactic Structure, Vol.5, Springer. This revised version is consistent with the published version and includes additional references and minor additions to the text as well as a recomputed Table 1. ISBN 978-90-481-8817-

A randomized trial to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage and juice intake in preschool-aged children: description of the Smart Moms intervention trial

Abstract Background Obesity in young children remains a public health concern, and maternal weight is one of the strongest predictors of obesity in early childhood. However, parental adherence in interventions for young children is often low and existing programs have had mixed success. An innovative approach to treatment is needed that increases adherence among mothers and improves weight-related behaviors simultaneously in mothers and children. The objective of the Smart Moms randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to test the efficacy of a 6-month primarily smartphone-delivered program to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage and juice consumption among children ages 3–5 whose mothers are overweight or obese. This paper describes the study design and intervention. Methods/Design Mother-child dyads were eligible if the mother was overweight or obese, owned a smartphone, and if the child was between the ages of 3–5 and consumed 12 oz or more per day of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and 100 % fruit juice. Participants were randomly assigned to the Smart Moms intervention or a waitlist control group. The intervention consisted of theoretically grounded and evidence-based behavioral strategies delivered through one group session, lessons on a mobile-optimized website, and text messages. Mothers submitted self-monitoring information via text message and received regular tailored feedback emails from interventionists. The primary outcome is change in child SSB and juice consumption and a secondary outcome is change in maternal weight. Discussion This Smart Moms study was designed to determine if a low-burden intervention delivered using mobile methods and targeted towards mothers could be effective at changing child sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Results will indicate if mobile-based methods can be a feasible way to engage mothers in family-based studies and will inform successful strategies to prevent childhood obesity through parent-targeted approaches. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02098902 (Registered March 25, 2014)