Black Hole Growth in Disk Galaxies Mediated by the Secular Evolution of Short Bars

The growth of black holes (BHs) in disk galaxies lacking classical bulges, which implies an absence of significant mergers, appears to be driven by secular processes. Short bars of sub-kiloparsec radius have been hypothesized to be an important mechanism for driving gas inflows to small scale, feeding central BHs. In order to quantify the maximum BH mass allowed by this mechanism, we examine the robustness of short bars to the dynamical influence of BHs. Large-scale bars are expected to be robust, long-lived structures; extremely massive BHs, which are rare, are needed to completely destroy such bars. However, we find that short bars, which are generally embedded in largescale outer bars, can be destroyed quickly when BHs of mass Mbh ∼ 0.05% 0.2% of the total stellar mass (M∗) are present. In agreement with this prediction, all galaxies observed to host short bars have BHs with a mass fraction less than 0.2% M∗. Thus, the dissolution of short inner bars is possible, perhaps even frequent, in the universe. An important implication of this result is that inner-bar-driven gas inflows may be terminated when BHs grow to ∼0.1% M∗. We predict that 0.2% M∗ is the maximum mass of BHs allowed if they are fed predominately via inner bars. This value matches well the maximum ratio of BH-to-host-galaxy stellar mass observed in galaxies with pseudo-bulges and most nearby active galactic nucleus host galaxies. This hypothesis provides a novel explanation for the lower M Mbh in galaxies that have avoided significant mergers compared with galaxies with classical bulges

Forced Moves or Good Tricks in Design Space? Landmarks in the Evolution of Neural Mechanisms for Action Selection

This review considers some important landmarks in animal evolution, asking to what extent specialized action-selection mechanisms play a role in the functional architecture of different nervous system plans, and looking for “forced moves” or “good tricks” (see Dennett, D., 1995, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, Penguin Books, London) that could possibly transfer to the design of robot control systems. A key conclusion is that while cnidarians (e.g. jellyfish) appear to have discovered some good tricks for the design of behavior-based control systems—largely lacking specialized selection mechanisms—the emergence of bilaterians may have forced the evolution of a central ganglion, or “archaic brain”, whose main function is to resolve conflicts between peripheral systems. Whilst vertebrates have many interesting selection substrates it is likely that here too the evolution of centralized structures such as the medial reticular formation and the basal ganglia may have been a forced move because of the need to limit connection costs as brains increased in size

Outcome in patients perceived as receiving excessive care across different ethical climates: a prospective study in 68 intensive care units in Europe and the USA

Purpose: Whether the quality of the ethical climate in the intensive care unit (ICU) improves the identification of patients receiving excessive care and affects patient outcomes is unknown. Methods: In this prospective observational study, perceptions of excessive care (PECs) by clinicians working in 68 ICUs in Europe and the USA were collected daily during a 28-day period. The quality of the ethical climate in the ICUs was assessed via a validated questionnaire. We compared the combined endpoint (death, not at home or poor quality of life at 1 year) of patients with PECs and the time from PECs until written treatment-limitation decisions (TLDs) and death across the four climates defined via cluster analysis. Results: Of the 4747 eligible clinicians, 2992 (63%) evaluated the ethical climate in their ICU. Of the 321 and 623 patients not admitted for monitoring only in ICUs with a good (n = 12, 18%) and poor (n = 24, 35%) climate, 36 (11%) and 74 (12%), respectively were identified with PECs by at least two clinicians. Of the 35 and 71 identified patients with an available combined endpoint, 100% (95% CI 90.0–1.00) and 85.9% (75.4–92.0) (P = 0.02) attained that endpoint. The risk of death (HR 1.88, 95% CI 1.20–2.92) or receiving a written TLD (HR 2.32, CI 1.11–4.85) in patients with PECs by at least two clinicians was higher in ICUs with a good climate than in those with a poor one. The differences between ICUs with an average climate, with (n = 12, 18%) or without (n = 20, 29%) nursing involvement at the end of life, and ICUs with a poor climate were less obvious but still in favour of the former. Conclusion: Enhancing the quality of the ethical climate in the ICU may improve both the identification of patients receiving excessive care and the decision-making process at the end of life

Hemolytic anemia and the reactive sulfhydryl groups of the erythrocyte membrane.

Membrane sulfhydryl (SH) groups have been reported to be important for the maintenance of red cell integrity in vivo (Jacob and Jandl, 1962). A technique has been developed for the determination of reactive membrane sulfhydryl content in intact erythrocytes, utilizing subhemolytic concentrations of p-chloromercuribenzoate (PMB). The erythrocyte membrane of 52 healthy subjects contained 2.50 - 2.85 x 10^-16 moles of reactive SH groups (mean 2.50 +/- 0.20) per erythrocyte, when determined by this method. A 27-36% reduction of erythrocyte membrane SH content was observed in various conditions characterized by accelerated red cell destruction, including glucose- 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, drug-induced, autoimmune and other acquired hemolytic anemias and congenital spherocytosis. Normal membrane sulfhydryl content was found in iron deficiency anemia, pernicious anemia in relapse, and in other miscellaneous hematological conditions. Inhibition of membrane SH groups with PMB caused marked potassium leakage from the otherwise intact cells. The possible role of membrane sulfhydryl groups in the development of certain types of hemolytic anemias, and in the maintenance of active transmembrane cation transport in the erythrocyte is discussed

WS-PGRADE/gUSE Generic DCI Gateway Framework for a Large Variety of User Communities

The WS-PGRADE/gUSE generic DCI gateway framework has been developed to support a large variety of user communities. It provides a generic purpose, workflow-oriented graphical user interface to create and run workflows on various DCIs including clusters, Grids, desktop Grids and clouds. The framework can be used by NGIs to support small user communities who cannot afford to develop their own customized science gateway. The WS- PGRADE/gUSE framework also provides two API interfaces (Application Specific Module API and Remote API) to create application-specific science gateways according to the needs of different user communities. The paper describes in detail the workflow concept of WS-PGRADE, the DCI Bridge service that enables access to most of the popular European DCIs and the Application Specific Module and Remote API concepts to generate application-specific science gateways. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

X Chromosome Dose and Sex Bias in Autoimmune Diseases:Increased Prevalence of 47,XXX in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Sjögren's Syndrome

OBJECTIVE: More than 80% of autoimmune disease is female dominant, but the mechanism for this female bias is poorly understood. We suspected an X chromosome dose effect and hypothesized that trisomy X (47,XXX , 1 in ~1,000 live female births) would be increased in female predominant diseases (e.g. systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE], primary Sjögren’s syndrome [SS], primary biliary cirrhosis [PBC] and rheumatoid arthritis [RA]) compared to diseases without female predominance (sarcoidosis) and controls. METHODS: We identified 47,XXX subjects using aggregate data from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays and confirmed, when possible, by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) or quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR). RESULTS: We found 47,XXX in seven of 2,826 SLE and three of 1,033 SS female patients, but only in two of the 7,074 female controls (p=0.003, OR=8.78, 95% CI: 1.67-86.79 and p=0.02, OR=10.29, 95% CI: 1.18-123.47; respectively). One 47,XXX subject was present for ~404 SLE women and ~344 SS women. 47,XXX was present in excess among SLE and SS subjects. CONCLUSION: The estimated prevalence of SLE and SS in women with 47,XXX was respectively ~2.5 and ~2.9 times higher than in 46,XX women and ~25 and ~41 times higher than in 46,XY men. No statistically significant increase of 47,XXX was observed in other female-biased diseases (PBC or RA), supporting the idea of multiple pathways to sex bias in autoimmunity

Traumatic brain injury : integrated approaches to improve prevention, clinical care, and research

Rahul Raj on työryhmän InTBIR Participants Investigators jäsen.Peer reviewe

Medidas de democracia em surveys Survey meassures of democracy

Este artigo examina como as questões dos surveys sobre democracia são estruturadas de modos diferentes, dependendo do emprego de uma definição idealista ou realista e da presença ou não de comparações com regimes alternativos. Começo mostrando medidas de democracia em países pós-comunistas que perguntam às pessoas se estão satisfeitas ou não com a democracia e pedem que a comparem com um padrão ideal. As seções posteriores apresentam os resultados de questões realistas do New Democracies Barometer, que pedem às pessoas para avaliar regimes do passado, do presente e do futuro - e alternativas não-democráticas historicamente familiares.<br>This paper examines how survey questions about democracy are framed in different ways, depending upon whether an idealist or realist definition is employed, and whether or not comparisons are made with alternative regimes. It starts by reporting measures of democracy in post-Communist countries that ask people whether they are satisfied with democracy and to compare it with an ideal standard. Subsequent sections set out the results of realist questions from the New Democracies Barometer, which ask people to evaluate regimes past, present and future-and historically familiar undemocratic regimes that people have known