994 research outputs found
[Review of] Constance Wall Holt. Welsh Women: An Annotated Bibliography of Women in Wales and Women of Welch Descent in America
To be a Welsh woman, it seems, was to be doubly doomed to obscurity. Not only were women a less-public sector of society, but there was Welshness to contend with. It has been a case of Bibliographic Ethnic Discrimination. Too often entries have read: Women, Welsh, See Women, English. And this occurs in spite of the fact that Welsh, being Celts, are a distinct group with their own language and culture, though they have long been subject to English rule
[Review of] Stephen Clingman. The Novels of Nadine Gordimer: History from the Inside
Nadine Gordimer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in October 1991, celebrating nearly half a century of her writing of her homeland, South Africa. The prize-giving precipitated the reissue of this survey of Gordimer\u27s work by Stephen Clingman, also a South African. His book was written as a doctoral dissertation for Oxford University. The second edition, under review in this article, is unaltered except for a Prologue in which Clingman examines Gordimer\u27s two novels that followed changes in South Africa: the release of Nelson Mandela and other African National Party leaders and the apparent breakdown of apartheid
The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey: VI. Second HI Source Catalog of the Virgo Cluster Region
We present the third installment of HI sources extracted from the Arecibo
Legacy Fast ALFA extragalactic survey. This dataset continues the work of the
Virgo ALFALFA catalog. The catalogs and spectra published here consist of data
obtained during the 2005 and 2006 observing sessions of the survey. The catalog
consists of 578 HI detections within the range 11h 36m < R.A.(J2000) < 13h 52m
and +08 deg < Dec.(J2000) < +12 deg, and cz_sun < 18000 km/s. The catalog
entries are identified with optical counterparts where possible through the
examination of digitized optical images. The catalog detections can be
classified into three categories: (a) detections of high reliability with S/N >
6.5; (b) high velocity clouds in the Milky Way or its periphery; and (c)
signals of lower S/N which coincide spatially with an optical object and known
redshift. 75% of the sources are newly published HI detections. Of particular
note is a complex of HI clouds projected between M87 and M49 that do not
coincide with any optical counterparts. Candidate objects without optical
counterparts are few. The median redshift for this sample is 6500 km/s and the
cz distribution exhibits the local large scale structure consisting of Virgo
and the background void and the A1367-Coma supercluster regime at cz_sun ~7000
km/s. Position corrections for telescope pointing errors are applied to the
dataset by comparing ALFALFA continuum centroid with those cataloged in the
NRAO VLA Sky Survey. The uncorrected positional accuracy averages
27 arcsec ~(21 arcsec ~median) for all sources with S/N > 6.5 and is of order
~21 arcsec ~(16 arcsec ~median) for signals with S/N > 12. Uncertainties in
distances toward the Virgo cluster can affect the calculated HI mass
distribution.Comment: 25 pages, 1 Table, 8 figures, Accepted by the Astronomical Journa
CMV-specific T-cell responses at older ages: broad responses with a large central memory component may be key to long-term survival
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection sometimes causes large expansions of CMV-specific T-cells, particularly in older people. This is believed to undermine immunity to other pathogens and to accelerate immunosenescence. While multiple different CMV proteins are recognized, most publications on age-related T-cell expansions have focused on dominant target proteins, UL83 or UL123, and the T-cell activation marker, IFN-γ. We were concerned that this narrow approach might have skewed our understanding of CMV-specific immunity at older ages. We have, therefore, widened the scope of analysis to include in vitro-induced T-cell responses to 19 frequently recognized CMV proteins in young and older healthy volunteers and a group of oldest old, long-term survivors (>85 years of age). Polychromatic flow-cytometry was used to analyze T-cell activation markers (CD107, CD154, IL-2, TNF, IFN-γ) and memory phenotype (CD27, CD45RA). The older had on average larger T-cell responses than the young, but, interestingly, response size differences were relatively smaller when all activation markers were considered rather than IFN-γ or TNF alone. The oldest old recognized more proteins on average than the other groups and had even bigger T-cell responses than the older with a significantly larger central memory CD4 T-cell component
Functional diversity of CMV-specific T-cells is maintained in older people and significantly associated with protein specificity and response size
Background: Parallel up-regulation of several T-cell effector functions (‘polyfunctionality’) is believed to be critical for the protection against viruses but thought to decrease in large T-cell expansions, in particular at older ages. The factors determining T-cell polyfunctionality are incompletely understood. Here we revisit the question of CMV-specific T-cell polyfunctionality, including a wide range of T-cell target proteins, response sizes, and participant ages.
Methods: Polychromatic flow-cytometry was used to analyze the functional diversity (CD107, CD154, IL-2, TNF, IFN-) of CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses to 19 CMV proteins in a large group of young and older UK participants. A group of oldest old people (>85years) was included to explore these parameters in exceptional ‘survivors’. Polyfunctionality was assessed for each proteinspecific response subset by subset and in aggregate across all proteins using the novel polyfunctionality index (PI).
Results: Polyfunctionality was not reduced in healthy older compared to young people. However, it was significantly related to target protein specificity. For each protein it increased with response size. In the oldest old overall T-cell polyfunctionality was significantly lower.
Discussion: Our results give a new perspective on T-cell polyfunctionality and raise the question if maintaining polyfunctionality of CMV-specific T-cells at older ages is necessarily beneficial
Rotationally Supported Virgo Cluster Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies: Stripped Dwarf Irregular Galaxies?
New observations of 16 dwarf elliptical galaxies in the Virgo Cluster
indicate that at least seven dEs have significant velocity gradients along
their optical major axis, with typical rotation amplitudes of 20-30 km/s. Of
the remaining nine galaxies in this sample, 6 have velocity gradients less than
20 km/s kpc^{-1} while the other 3 observations had too low of a
signal--to--noise ratio to determine an accurate velocity gradient. Typical
velocity dispersions for these galaxies are ~44 +/- 5 km/s, indicating that
rotation can be a significant component of the stellar dynamics of Virgo dEs.
When corrected for the limited spatial extent of the spectral data, the
rotation amplitudes of the rotating dEs are comparable to those of similar
brightness dIs. Evidence for a relationship between the rotation amplitude and
galaxy luminosity is found, and, in fact, agrees well with the Tully-Fisher
relation. The similarity in the scaling relations of dIs and dEs implies that
it is unlikely that dEs evolve from significantly more luminous galaxies. These
observations reaffirm the possibility that some cluster dwarf elliptical
galaxies may be formed when the neutral gaseous medium is stripped from dwarf
irregular galaxies in the cluster environment. We hypothesize that several
different mechanisms are involved in the creation of the overall population of
dE galaxies, and that stripping of infalling dIs may be the dominant process in
the creation of dEs in clusters like Virgo.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figures (1 color). Published in A
Longitudinal Assessment of Growth in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: Results From the Single Ventricle Reconstruction Trial
Background: We sought to characterize growth between birth and age 3 years in infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome who underwent the Norwood procedure. Methods and Results: We performed a secondary analysis using the Single Ventricle Reconstruction Trial database after excluding patients 2 SD below normal). Failure to find consistent risk factors supports the strategy of tailoring nutritional therapies to patient‐ and stage‐specific targets. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT00115934
The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA Survey: III. HI Source Catalog of the Northern Virgo Cluster Region
We present the first installment of HI sources extracted from the Arecibo
Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) extragalactic survey, initiated in 2005. Sources
have been extracted from 3-D spectral data cubes and then examined
interactively to yield global HI parameters. A total of 730 HI detections are
catalogued within the solid angle 11h44m < R.A.(J2000) < 14h00m and +12deg <
Dec.(J2000) < +16deg, and redshift range -1600 \kms < cz < 18000 \kms. In
comparison, the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS) detected 40 HI signals in the
same region. Optical counterparts are assigned via examination of digital
optical imaging databases. ALFALFA HI detections are reported for three
distinct classes of signals: (a) detections, typically with S/N > 6.5; (b) high
velocity clouds in the Milky Way or its periphery; and (c) signals of lower S/N
(to ~ 4.5) which coincide spatially with an optical object of known similar
redshift. Although this region of the sky has been heavily surveyed by previous
targeted observations based on optical flux-- or size-- limited samples, 69% of
the extracted sources are newly reported HI detections. The resultant
positional accuracy of HI sources is 20" (median). The median redshift of the
sample is ~7000 \kms and its distribution reflects the known local large scale
structure including the Virgo cluster. Several extended HI features are found
in the vicinity of the Virgo cluster. A small percentage (6%) of HI detections
have no identifiable optical counterpart, more than half of which are high
velocity clouds in the Milky Way vicinity; the remaining 17 objects do not
appear connected to or associated with any known galaxy.Comment: Astronomical Journal, in pres
A Spitzer Space Telescope far-infrared spectral atlas of compact sources in the Magellanic Clouds. I. The Large Magellanic Cloud
[abridged] We present 52-93 micron spectra obtained with Spitzer in the
MIPS-SED mode, of a representative sample of luminous compact far-IR sources in
the LMC. These include carbon stars, OH/IR AGB stars, post-AGB objects and PNe,
RCrB-type star HV2671, OH/IR red supergiants WOHG064 and IRAS05280-6910, B[e]
stars IRAS04530-6916, R66 and R126, Wolf-Rayet star Brey3a, Luminous Blue
Variable R71, supernova remnant N49, a large number of young stellar objects,
compact HII regions and molecular cores, and a background galaxy (z~0.175). We
use the spectra to constrain the presence and temperature of cold dust and the
excitation conditions and shocks within the neutral and ionized gas, in the
circumstellar environments and interfaces with the surrounding ISM. Evolved
stars, including LBV R71, lack cold dust except in some cases where we argue
that this is swept-up ISM. This leads to an estimate of the duration of the
prolific dust-producing phase ("superwind") of several thousand years for both
RSGs and massive AGB stars, with a similar fractional mass loss experienced
despite the different masses. We tentatively detect line emission from neutral
oxygen in the extreme RSG WOHG064, with implications for the wind driving. In
N49, the shock between the supernova ejecta and ISM is revealed by its strong
[OI] 63-micron emission and possibly water vapour; we estimate that 0.2 Msun of
ISM dust was swept up. Some of the compact HII regions display pronounced
[OIII] 88-micron emission. The efficiency of photo-electric heating in the
interfaces of ionized gas and molecular clouds is estimated at 0.1-0.3%. We
confirm earlier indications of a low nitrogen content in the LMC. Evidence for
solid state emission features is found in both young and evolved object; some
of the YSOs are found to contain crystalline water ice.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. This paper
accompanies the Summer 2009 SAGE-Spec release of 48 MIPS-SED spectra, but
uses improved spectrum extraction. (Fig. 2 reduced resolution because of
arXiv limit.
How Experiences Become Data: The Process of Eliciting Adverse Event, Medical History and Concomitant Medication Reports in Antimalarial and Antiretroviral Interaction Trials.
Accurately characterizing a drug's safety profile is essential. Trial harm and tolerability assessments rely, in part, on participants' reports of medical histories, adverse events (AEs), and concomitant medications. Optimal methods for questioning participants are unclear, but different methods giving different results can undermine meta-analyses. This study compared methods for eliciting such data and explored reasons for dissimilar participant responses. Participants from open-label antimalarial and antiretroviral interaction trials in two distinct sites (South Africa, n = 18 [all HIV positive]; Tanzania, n = 80 [86% HIV positive]) were asked about ill health and treatment use by sequential use of (1) general enquiries without reference to particular conditions, body systems or treatments, (2) checklists of potential health issues and treatments, (3) in-depth interviews. Participants' experiences of illness and treatment and their reporting behaviour were explored qualitatively, as were trial clinicians' experiences with obtaining participant reports. Outcomes were the number and nature of data by questioning method, themes from qualitative analyses and a theoretical interpretation of participants' experiences. There was an overall cumulative increase in the number of reports from general enquiry through checklists to in-depth interview; in South Africa, an additional 12 medical histories, 21 AEs and 27 medications; in Tanzania an additional 260 medical histories, 1 AE and 11 medications. Checklists and interviews facilitated recognition of health issues and treatments, and consideration of what to report. Information was sometimes not reported because participants forgot, it was considered irrelevant or insignificant, or they feared reporting. Some medicine names were not known and answers to questions were considered inferior to blood tests for detecting ill health. South African inpatient volunteers exhibited a "trial citizenship", working to achieve researchers' goals, while Tanzanian outpatients sometimes deferred responsibility for identifying items to report to trial clinicians. Questioning methods and trial contexts influence the detection of adverse events, medical histories and concomitant medications. There should be further methodological work to investigate these influences and find appropriate questioning methods
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