655 research outputs found
âLots of Black people are on meds because they're seen as aggressiveâ: STOMP, COVID-19 and anti-racism in community learning disability services
Background
The STOMP agenda (Stopping Over-Medication of People with learning disabilities, autism, or both) drew focus to individuals with a diagnosis of a learning disability being prescribed psychotropic medication to manage âbehaviours that challengeâ. The following study is an audit of two community learning disability services in the London boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea for compliance with national guidance on the use of medication in this population, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and equality, diversity and anti-racism.
Method
Routinely collected data were audited relating to clients identified in each service, totalling 54 participants. Data were audited against five standards: minimum effective dose, medication reviews, alternative multidisciplinary input, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and equality, diversity and antiâracism. Comparisons were made to the overall caseload (Nâ=â365) where appropriate.
Results
Evidence demonstrated a greater risk of receiving psychotropic medication to manage behaviours that challenge for service users from racialised backgrounds, further evidencing institutional and/or individualised racism within practice for this population. Prescriptions also increased in dosage during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated by insufficient provision of alternative input and regular multi-disciplinary review as required by national guidance.
Conclusions
Community learning disability teams require dedicated, co-produced STOMP pathways to review those at risk of over-medication. Additional research is required to explore individual and systemic factors contributing to ethnic disparities in medication prescription for behaviours that challenge among people with learning disabilities. Further recommendations are considered around developing data collection, service user involvement, and future directions.Accessible summary:
- Abuse at care home (Winterbourne View) led the NHS to start a campaign known as STOMP to make sure people with learning disabilities and/or autism got the right medication.
- We looked at the medications people with learning disabilities in our area were given. We looked at how often these medications were checked by a doctor. We looked at what other support people were given.
- We also looked at how people with learning disabilities were affected by COVID-19. We also looked at differences between people from different racial backgrounds.
- We found that some people were given more medications to manage their behaviour. We found that the medications were not checked as often as they should be. This happened most for Black, Brown, and Asian people.
- We spoke to a local service user project about our findings. They said they think racism is one of the reasons for more medications. They also said it is bad that people are on too much medication and that people should get more support
The Evolution of Early-type Field Galaxies Selected from a NICMOS Map of the Hubble Deep Field North
The redshift distribution of well-defined samples of distant early-type
galaxies offers a means to test the predictions of monolithic and hierarchical
galaxy formation scenarios. NICMOS maps of the entire Hubble Deep Field North
in the F110W and F160W filters, when combined with the available WFPC2 data,
allow us to calculate photometric redshifts and determine the morphological
appearance of galaxies at rest-frame optical wavelengths out to z ~ 2.5. Here
we report results for two subsamples of early-type galaxies, defined primarily
by their morphologies in the F160W band, which were selected from the NICMOS
data down to H160_{AB} < 24.0. The observed redshift distributions of our two
early-type samples do not match that predicted by a monolithic collapse model,
which shows an overabundance at z > 1.5. A hierarchical formation model better
matches the redshift distribution of the HDF-N early-types at z > 1.5, but
still does not adequately describe the observed early-types. The hierarchical
model predicts significantly bluer colors on average than the observed
early-type colors, and underpredicts the observed number of early-types at z <
1. [abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal; 54 pages, 21
figures. Figures 10 and 11 are included separately in JPEG forma
COLDz: Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array discovery of a gas-rich galaxy in COSMOS
The broad spectral bandwidth at mm and cm-wavelengths provided by the recent upgrades to the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) has made it possible to conduct unbiased searches for molecular CO line emission at redshifts, z > 1.31. We present the discovery of a gas-rich, star-forming galaxy at z = 2.48, through the detection of CO(1-0) line emission in the COLDz survey, through a sensitive, Ka-band (31 to 39 GHz) VLA survey of a 6.5 square arcminute region of the COSMOS field. We argue that the broad line (FWHM ~570 +/- 80 km/s) is most likely to be CO(1-0) at z=2.48, as the integrated emission is spatially coincident with an infrared-detected galaxy with a photometric redshift estimate of z = 3.2 +/- 0.4. The CO(1-0) line luminosity is L'_CO = (2.2 +/- 0.3) x 10^{10} K km/s pc^2, suggesting a cold molecular gas mass of M_gas ~ (2 - 8)x10^{10}M_solar depending on the assumed value of the molecular gas mass to CO luminosity ratio alpha_CO. The estimated infrared luminosity from the (rest-frame) far-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) is L_IR = 2.5x10^{12} L_solar and the star-formation rate is ~250 M_solar/yr, with the SED shape indicating substantial dust obscuration of the stellar light. The infrared to CO line luminosity ratio is ~114+/-19 L_solar/(K km/s pc^2), similar to galaxies with similar SFRs selected at UV/optical to radio wavelengths. This discovery confirms the potential for molecular emission line surveys as a route to study populations of gas-rich galaxies in the future
Passively Evolving Early-type Galaxies at 1.4<z<2.5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
We report on a complete sample of 7 luminous early-type galaxies in the
Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UDF) with spectroscopic redshifts between 1.39 and
2.47 and to K<23 AB. Using the BzK selection criterion we have pre-selected a
set of objects over the UDF which fulfill the photometric conditions for being
passively evolving galaxies at z>1.4. Low-resolution spectra of these objects
have been extracted from the HST+ACS grism data taken over the UDF by the
GRAPES project. Redshift for the 7 galaxies have been identified based on the
UV feature at rest frame 2640<lambda<2850 AA. This feature is mainly due to a
combination of FeII, MgI and MgII absorptions which are characteristic of
stellar populations dominated by stars older than about 0.5 Gyr. The redshift
identification and the passively evolving nature of these galaxies is further
supported by the photometric redshifts and by the overall spectral energy
distribution (SED), with the ultradeep HST+ACS/NICMOS imaging revealing compact
morphologies typical of elliptical/early-type galaxies. From the SED we derive
stellar masses of 10^{11}Msun or larger and ages of about 1 Gyr. Their space
density at =1.7 appears to be roughly a factor of 2--3 smaller than that
of their local counterparts, further supporting the notion that such massive
and old galaxies are already ubiquitous at early cosmic times. Much smaller
effective radii are derived for some of the objects compared to local massive
ellipticals, which may be due to morphological K corrections, evolution, or the
presence of a central point-like source. Nuclear activity is indeed present in
a subset of the galaxies, as revealed by them being hard X-ray sources, hinting
to AGN activity having played a role in discontinuing star formation.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, ApJ in pres
The K20 survey. VI. The Distribution of the Stellar Masses in Galaxies up to z~2
We present a detailed analysis of the stellar mass content of galaxies up to
z=2.5 in the K20 galaxy sample, that has a 92% spectroscopic completeness and a
complete multicolor coverage. We find that the M/L ratio decreases
with redshift: in particular, the average M/L ratio of early type galaxies
decreases with , with a scatter that is indicative of a range of
star--formation time-scales and redshift of formation. More important, the
typical M/L of massive early type galaxies is larger than that of less massive
ones, suggesting that their stellar population formed at higher z. The final
K20 galaxy sample spans a range of stellar masses from M*=10^9Msun to
M*=10^12Msun, with massive galaxies ($M*>10^11Msun) detected up to z~2. We
compute the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function at various z, of which we observe only
a mild evolution (i.e. by 20-30%) up to z~1. At z>1, the evolution of the GSMF
appears to be much faster: at z~2, about 35% of the present day stellar mass in
objects with M*~10^11Msun appear to have assembled. We also detect a change in
the physical nature of the most massive galaxies, since at z>1 a population of
massive star--forming galaxies progressively appears. We finally analyze our
results in the framework of Lambda-CDM hierarchical models. First, we show that
the large number of massive galaxies detected at high z does not violate any
fundamental Lambda-CDM constraint based on the number of massive DM halos.
Then, we compare our results with the predictions of renditions of both
semianalytic and hydro-dynamical models, that range from severe underestimates
to slight overestimates of the observed mass density at z<~2. We discuss how
the differences among these models are due to the different implementation of
the main physical processes. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysic
A Substantial Population of Red Galaxies at z > 2: Modeling of the Spectral Energy Distributions of an Extended Sample
We investigate the nature of the substantial population of high-z galaxies
with Js-Ks>2.3 discovered as part of our FIRES survey. This colour cut
efficiently isolates z>2 galaxies with red rest-frame optical colors ("Distant
Red Galaxies" or DRGs). We select objects in the 2.5'x2.5' HDF-South (HDF-S)
and 5'x5' field around the MS1054-03 cluster; the surface densities at Ks<21
are 1.6+-0.6 and 1.0+-0.2 arcmin^-2. We discuss the 34 DRGs at 2<z<3.5: 11 at
Ks<22.5 in HDF-S and 23 at Ks<21.7 in the MS1054-03 field. We analyze the SEDs
constructed from our deep near-infrared (NIR) and optical imaging from the ESO
VLT and HST. We develop diagnostics involving I-Js, Js-H, and H-Ks to argue
that the red NIR colors of DRGs cannot be attributed solely to extinction and
require for many an evolved stellar population with prominent Balmer/4000A
break. In the rest-frame, the optical colours of DRGs fall within the envelope
of normal nearby galaxies and the UV colours suggest a wide range in star
formation activity and/or extinction. This contrasts with the much bluer and
more uniform SEDs of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). From evolutionary synthesis
models with constant star formation, solar metallicity, Salpeter IMF, and
Calzetti et al. extinction law, we derive for the HDF-S (MS1054-03 field) DRGs
median ages of 1.7(2.0) Gyr, A_V = 2.7(2.4) mag, stellar masses 0.8(1.6)x10^11
Msun, M/L_V = 1.2(2.3) Msun/LVsun, and SFR = 120(170) Msun/yr. Models assuming
declining SFRs with e-folding timescales of 10Myr-1Gyr generally imply younger
ages, lower A_V's and SFRs, but similar stellar masses within a factor of two.
Compared to LBGs at similar redshifts and rest-frame L_V's, DRGs are older,
more massive, and more obscured for any given star formation history.
[ABRIDGED]Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 27 pages, 14
b/w figure
The Impact of cold gas accretion above a mass floor on galaxy scaling relations
Using the cosmological baryonic accretion rate and normal star formation
efficiencies, we present a very simple model for star-forming galaxies (SFGs)
that accounts for the mass and redshift dependencies of the SFR-Mass and
Tully-Fisher relations from z=2 to the present. The time evolution follows from
the fact that each modelled galaxy approaches a steady state where the SFR
follows the (net) cold gas accretion rate. The key feature of the model is a
halo mass floor M_{min}~10^{11} below which accretion is quenched in order to
simultaneously account for the observed slopes of the SFR-Mass and
Tully-Fischer relations. The same successes cannot be achieved via a
star-formation threshold (or delay) nor by varying the SF efficiency or the
feedback efficiency. Combined with the mass ceiling for cold accretion due to
virial shock heating, the mass floor M_{min} explains galaxy "downsizing",
where more massive galaxies formed earlier and over a shorter period of time.
It turns out that the model also accounts for the observed galactic baryon and
gas fractions as a function of mass and time, and the cosmic SFR density from
z~6 to z=0, which are all resulting from the mass floor M_{min}. The model
helps to understand that it is the cosmological decline of accretion rate that
drives the decrease of cosmic SFR density between z~2 and z=0 and the rise of
the cosmic SFR density allows us to put a constraint on our main parameter
M_{min}~10^{11} solar masses. Among the physical mechanisms that could be
responsible for the mass floor, we view that photo-ionization feedback (from
first in-situ hot stars) lowering the cooling efficiency is likely to play a
large role.Comment: 19pages, 14 figures, accepted to ApJ, updated reference
Spectroscopy and Stellar Populations of Star-forming Galaxies at z~3 in the Hubble Deep Field - South
We present results of VLT/FORS2 spectroscopy of galaxies at z~3 in the Hubble
Deep Field-South (HDF-S). A sample of galaxies was drawn from the photo-z
catalogue based on the HST/WFPC2 optical images and the deep near-infrared
images obtained with VLT/ISAAC as a part of the FIRES project. We selected
galaxies with photometric redshift between 2.5 and 4. Most of the selected
galaxies are bright in rest-frame UV wavelengths and satisfy color selection
criteria of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z~3. The number of target galaxies
with I(AB)<25.0 was 15. We identified new 5 firm and 2 probable redshifts in
addition to confirmations of previously known 6 galaxies at z~3. We found 6
among these 13 galaxies lie at a quite narrow redshift range at z = 2.80+-0.01.
We examined stellar populations of the galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts
through comparisons of their optical and near-IR photometry data with template
spectra generated by a population synthesis code. The ages from the onset of
star formation for these star-forming galaxies with I<=25.0 are typically
50-200 Myr, and their stellar masses are between (0.5-5) x 10^10 M_sun,
consistent with previous studies. We also compared these SED fitting results
with those for distant red galaxies (DRGs) at z>2 discovered by FIRES. DRGs
have larger stellar masses, larger dust attenuation than our UV-luminous LBG
sample, and their star formation rates are often comparable to LBGs. These
trends suggest that majority of DRGs are indeed the most massive systems at the
redshift and are still in the active star-forming phase. Unless the number
density of DRGs is much smaller than LBGs, estimates based on UV selected
sample could miss substantial part of stellar mass density at z~3.Comment: 13 pages, 10 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in A&
The Fundamental Plane at z=1.27: First Calibration of the Mass Scale of Red Galaxies at Redshifts z>1
We present results on the Fundamental Plane (FP) of early-type galaxies in
the cluster RDCS J0848+4453 at z=1.27. Internal velocity dispersions of three
K-selected early-type galaxies are determined from deep Keck spectra.
Structural parameters are determined from HST NICMOS images. The galaxies show
substantial offsets from the FP of the nearby Coma cluster, as expected from
passive evolution of their stellar populations. The offsets from the FP can be
expressed as offsets in M/L ratio. The M/L ratios of the two most massive
galaxies are consistent with an extrapolation of results obtained at
z=0.02-0.83. The evolution of early-type galaxies with masses >10^11 M_sun is
well described by ln M/L(B) = (-1.06 +- 0.09) z, corresponding to passive
evolution of -1.50 +- 0.13 mag at z=1.3. Ignoring selection effects, the best
fitting stellar formation redshift is z*=2.6, corresponding to a luminosity
weighted age at the epoch of observation of ~2 Gyr. The M/L ratios of these two
galaxies are also in excellent agreement with predictions from models that
include progenitor bias. The third galaxy is a factor ~10 less massive than the
other two, shows strong Balmer absorption lines in its spectrum, and is offset
from the Coma Fundamental Plane by 2.9 mag in rest-frame B. Despite their large
range in M/L ratios, all three galaxies fall in the ``Extremely Red Object''
(ERO) class with I-H>3 and R-K>5, and our results show that it is hazardous to
use simple models for converting luminosity to mass for these objects.
Measurements of M/L ratios at high redshift can be considered first steps to
empirically disentangle luminosity and mass evolution at the high mass end of
the galaxy population, lifting an important degeneracy in the interpretation of
evolution of the luminosity function. [SHORTENED]Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Deviations from the Schmidt-Kennicutt relations during early galaxy evolution
We utilize detailed time-varying models of the coupled evolution of stars and
the HI, H_2, and CO-bright H_2 gas phases in galaxy-sized numerical simulations
to explore the evolution of gas-rich and/or metal-poor systems, expected to be
numerous in the Early Universe. The inclusion of the CO-bright H_2 gas phase,
and the realistic rendering of star formation as an H_2-regulated process (and
the new feedback processes that this entails) allows the most realistic
tracking of strongly evolving galaxies, and much better comparison with
observations. We find that while galaxies eventually settle into states
conforming to Schmidt-Kennicutt (S-K) relations, significant and systematic
deviations of their star formation rates (SFRs) from the latter occur,
especially pronounced and prolonged for ...
...This indicates potentially serious limitations of (S-K)-type relations as
reliable sub-grid elements of star formation physics in simulations of
structure formation in the Early Universe. We anticipate that galaxies with
marked deviations from the S-K relations will be found at high redshifts as
unbiased inventories of total gas mass become possible with ALMA and the EVLA.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
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