Observations of Giant Pulses from Pulsar PSR B0950+08 using LWA1

We report the detection of giant pulse emission from PSR B0950+08 in 24 hours of observations made at 39.4 MHz, with a bandwidth of 16 MHz, using the first station of the Long Wavelength Array, LWA1. We detected 119 giant pulses from PSR B0950+08 (at its dispersion measure), which we define as having SNRs at least 10 times larger than for the mean pulse in our data set. These 119 pulses are 0.035% of the total number of pulse periods in the 24 hours of observations. The rate of giant pulses is about 5.0 per hour. The cumulative distribution of pulse strength $S$ is a steep power law, $N(>S)\propto S^{-4.7}$, but much less steep than would be expected if we were observing the tail of a Gaussian distribution of normal pulses. We detected no other transient pulses in a dispersion measure range from 1 to 90 pc cm$^{-3}$, in the beam tracking PSR B0950+08. The giant pulses have a narrower temporal width than the mean pulse (17.8 ms, on average, vs. 30.5 ms). The pulse widths are consistent with a previously observed weak dependence on observing frequency, which may be indicative of a deviation from a Kolmogorov spectrum of electron density irregularities along the line of sight. The rate and strength of these giant pulses is less than has been observed at $\sim$100 MHz. Additionally, the mean (normal) pulse flux density we observed is less than at $\sim$100 MHz. These results suggest this pulsar is weaker and produces less frequent giant pulses at 39 MHz than at 100 MHz.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, typos correcte

Multi-messenger astronomy of gravitational-wave sources with flexible wide-area radio transient surveys

We explore opportunities for multi-messenger astronomy using gravitational waves (GWs) and prompt, transient low-frequency radio emission to study highly energetic astrophysical events. We review the literature on possible sources of correlated emission of gravitational waves and radio transients, highlighting proposed mechanisms that lead to a short-duration, high-flux radio pulse originating from the merger of two neutron stars or from a superconducting cosmic string cusp. We discuss the detection prospects for each of these mechanisms by low-frequency dipole array instruments such as LWA1, LOFAR and MWA. We find that a broad range of models may be tested by searching for radio pulses that, when de-dispersed, are temporally and spatially coincident with a LIGO/Virgo GW trigger within a \usim 30 second time window and \usim 200 \mendash 500 \punits{deg}^{2} sky region. We consider various possible observing strategies and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. Uniquely, for low-frequency radio arrays, dispersion can delay the radio pulse until after low-latency GW data analysis has identified and reported an event candidate, enabling a \emph{prompt} radio signal to be captured by a deliberately targeted beam. If neutron star mergers do have detectable prompt radio emissions, a coincident search with the GW detector network and low-frequency radio arrays could increase the LIGO/Virgo effective search volume by up to a factor of \usim 2. For some models, we also map the parameter space that may be constrained by non-detections.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figure

Educational needs of epileptologists regarding psychiatric comorbidities of the epilepsies: a descriptive quantitative survey.

Psychiatric disorders are relatively frequent comorbidities in epilepsy and they have an impact on morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. This is a report from the Task Force on Education of the ILAE Commission on Neuropsychiatry based on a survey about educational needs of epileptologists regarding management of the psychiatric comorbidities of epilepsy. The Task Force designed a quantitative questionnaire to survey the self-perceived confidence of child and adult epileptologists and psychiatrists in managing major psychiatric comorbidities of epilepsy to identify: (1) critical areas of improvement from a list of skills that are usually considered necessary for effective management of these conditions, and (2) the preferred educational format for improving these skills. A total of 211 respondents from 36 different countries participated in the survey. Confidence and usefulness scores suggest that responders would most value education and training in the management of specific clinical scenarios. Child neurologists identified major Axis I disorders, such as mood and anxiety disorders, while adult neurologists identified attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder as key areas. Both adult and child neurologists identified screening skills as the priority. Psychiatrists mainly valued specific training in the management of psychiatric complications of epilepsy surgery or psychiatric adverse events of antiepileptic drugs. Sessions during congresses and face-to-face meetings represent the preferred educational format, while e-learning modules and review papers were chosen by a minority of respondents. Results of this survey identify key areas for improvement in managing the psychiatric comorbidities of epilepsy and suggest specific strategies to develop better training for clinicians involved in epilepsy care

Is it possible to enhance immune response after vaccination? The role of a probiotic with a proven positive effect on all components of the immune system

Preventive vaccination is currently the most affordable and economical way to reduce morbidity and mortality from many infections, improve quality and human life expectancy with an almost ideal balance of benefits and risks among all medical procedures. The article deals with the reasons for variability of the immune response caused by vaccines, between individuals and between populations, which is of fundamental importance for human health. The authors have presented data indicating a key role of the gut microbiota in the control of the immune response to vaccination. Particular attention is paid to the microbial diversity in different loci of the body. The role of microorganisms in the proper functioning of the body and the formation of a number of pathological conditions is described. Most modern vaccines are live-attenuated, killed / inactivated or subunit (recombinant) vaccines, and they are designed for the parenteral route of administration. Most of these vaccines elicit a weak immune response, especially in the mucous membranes, due to the route of administration and are associated with weak cell-mediated immunity. Therefore, mechanisms that can enhance virus-specific vaccine immunity in infants and children are required, such as the use of more potent or selective immunity-enhancing adjuvants. Some probiotic strains may be considered as promising vaccine adjuvants. This article evaluates the recent clinical studies of probiotics used to enhance vaccine-specific immunity in adults and infants. The present-day knowledge on the role of the probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG with the aim of activating immunity after vaccination are presented

Infant colic: from theory to practice

Infant colic is one of the most common, yet least studied, functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Until now, there is no certainty both in the understanding of the nature of this condition and in the approaches to its correction. At the same time, infant crying is of concern to parents, forcing them to seek professional help and incur considerable medical expenses and to resort, sometimes unreasonably, to dietary and medical corrections. This article provides information on the etiology, pathogenesis and management of infantile colic from an evidence-based perspective, based on a review of the current literature. Various preconditions for the occurrence and development of infantile colic are analysed in detail, none of which can affect all occurrences. Evidence for the proven efficacy of including Lactobacillus reuteri in the treatment of intestinal colic in infants is presented. Effects on the gastrointestinal tract microbiome can be of undeniable benefit. Lactobacillus reuteri is one of the most studied and scientifically documented probiotics. 203 completed clinical trials involving 17,200 participants, including 67 trials involving 8,200 participants between 0 and 3 years of age. Numerous placebo-controlled studies have shown that taking Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 can significantly reduce crying time in infants with colic, and in these studies, rates of 50% or more reduction in crying time were 2.3 times higher compared to controls

Parameter Estimation for Gravitational-wave Bursts with the BayesWave Pipeline

We provide a comprehensive multi-aspect study of the performance of a pipeline used by the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration for estimating parameters of gravitational-wave bursts. We add simulated signals with four different morphologies (sine-Gaussians (SGs), Gaussians, white-noise bursts, and binary black hole signals) to simulated noise samples representing noise of the two Advanced LIGO detectors during their first observing run. We recover them with the BayesWave (BW) pipeline to study its accuracy in sky localization, waveform reconstruction, and estimation of model-independent waveform parameters. BW localizes sources with a level of accuracy comparable for all four morphologies, with the median separation of actual and estimated sky locations ranging from 25 degrees. 1 to 30 degrees. 3. This is a reasonable accuracy in the two-detector case, and is comparable to accuracies of other localization methods studied previously. As BW reconstructs generic transient signals with SG wavelets, it is unsurprising that BW performs best in reconstructing SG and Gaussian waveforms. The BW accuracy in waveform reconstruction increases steeply with the network signal-to-noise ratio (S/N-net), reaching a 85% and 95% match between the reconstructed and actual waveform below S/N-net approximate to 20 and S/N-net approximate to 50, respectively, for all morphologies. The BW accuracy in estimating central moments of waveforms is only limited by statistical errors in the frequency domain, and is also affected by systematic errors in the time domain as BW cannot reconstruct low-amplitude parts of signals that are overwhelmed by noise. The figures of merit we introduce can be used in future characterizations of parameter estimation pipelines