1,109 research outputs found
A novel reactivity of papain and a convenient active site titration in the presence of other thiols
An Extremely Luminous Galaxy at z=5.74
We report the discovery of an extremely luminous galaxy lying at a redshift
of z=5.74, SSA22-HCM1. The object was found in narrowband imaging of the SSA22
field using a 105 Angstrom bandpass filter centered at 8185 Angstroms during
the course of the Hawaii narrowband survey using LRIS on the 10 m Keck II
Telescope, and was identified by the equivalent width of the emission
W_lambda(observed)=175 Angstroms, flux = 1.7 x 10^{-17} erg cm^{-2} s^{-1}).
Comparison with broadband colors shows the presence of an extremely strong
break (> 4.2 at the 2 sigma level) between the Z band above the line, where the
AB magnitude is 25.5, and the R band below, where the object is no longer
visible at a 2 sigma upper limit of 27.1 (AB mags). These properties are only
consistent with this object's being a high-z Ly alpha emitter. A 10,800 s
spectrum obtained with LRIS yields a redshift of 5.74. The object is similar in
its continuum shape, line properties, and observed equivalent width to the
z=5.60 galaxy, HDF 4-473.0, as recently described by Weymann et al. (1998), but
is 2-3 times more luminous in the line and in the red continuum. For H_0 = 65
km s^{-1} Mpc^{-1} and q_0 = (0.02, 0.5) we would require star formation rates
of around (40, 7) solar masses per year to produce the UV continuum in the
absence of extinction.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Latex with emulateapj style file; to appear in
the Astrophysical Journal (Letters
Cytokine gene polymorphisms in preterm infants with necrotising enterocolitis: genetic association study
BACKGROUND The inflammatory cytokine cascade is implicated in the pathogenesis of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC). Genetic association studies of cytokine polymorphisms may help to detect molecular mechanisms that are causally related to the disease process. AIM To examine associations between the common genetic variants in candidate inflammatory cytokine genes and NEC in preterm infants. METHODS Multi-centre case-control and genetic association study. DNA samples were collected from 50 preterm infants with NEC and 50 controls matched for gestational age and ethnic group recruited to a multi-centre case-control study. Ten candidate single-nucleotide polymorphisms in cytokines previously associated with infectious or inflammatory diseases were genotyped. The findings were included in random-effects meta-analyses with data from previous genetic association studies. RESULTS All allele distributions were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. None of the studied cytokine polymorphisms was significantly associated with NEC. Four previous genetic association studies of cytokine polymorphisms and NEC in preterm infants were found. Meta-analyses were possible for several single-nucleotide polymorphisms. These increased the precision of the estimates of effect size but did not reveal any significant associations. CONCLUSIONS The available data are not consistent with more than modest associations between these candidate cytokine variant alleles and NEC in preterm infants. Data from future association studies of these polymorphisms may be added to the meta-analyses to obtain more precise estimates of effects sizes.The study was funded by Tenovus (Scotland)
The Density of Lyman-alpha Emitters at Very High Redshift
We describe narrowband and spectroscopic searches for emission-line star
forming galaxies in the redshift range 3 to 6 with the 10 m Keck II Telescope.
These searches yield a substantial population of objects with only a single
strong (equivalent width >> 100 Angstrom) emission line, lying in the 4000 -
10,000 Angstrom range. Spectra of the objects found in narrowband-selected
samples at lambda ~5390 Angstroms and ~6741 Angstroms show that these very high
equivalent width emission lines are generally redshifted Lyman alpha 1216
Angstrom at z~3.4 and 4.5. The density of these emitters above the 5 sigma
detection limit of 1.5 e-17 ergs/cm^2/s is roughly 15,000 per square degree per
unit redshift interval at both z~3.4 and 4.5. A complementary deeper (1 sigma
\~1.0 e-18 ergs/cm^2/s) slit spectroscopic search covering a wide redshift
range but a more limited spatial area (200 square arcminutes) shows such
objects can be found over the redshift range 3 to 6, with the currently highest
redshift detected being at z=5.64. The Lyman alpha flux distribution can be
used to estimate a minimum star formation rate in the absence of reddening of
roughly 0.01 solar masses/Mpc^3/year (H_0 = 65 km/s/Mpc and q_0 = 0.5).
Corrections for reddening are likely to be no larger than a factor of two,
since observed equivalent widths are close to the maximum values obtainable
from ionization by a massive star population. Within the still significant
uncertainties, the star formation rate from the Lyman alpha-selected sample is
comparable to that of the color-break-selected samples at z~3, but may
represent an increasing fraction of the total rates at higher redshifts. This
higher-z population can be readily studied with large ground-based telescopes.Comment: 7 pages, 5 encapsulated figures; aastex, emulateapj, psfig and lscape
style files. Separate gif files for 2 gray-scale images also available at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/hu/emitters.html . Added discussion of
foreground contaminants. Updated discussion of comparison with external
surveys (Sec. 5 and Fig. 5). Note: continuum break strength limits (Fig. 3
caption) are correct here -- published ApJL text has a sign erro
Managing an Ageing Population: Challenging Oral Epidemiology
Global population projections indicate that the proportion of older people is increasing and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Many countries are already experiencing the challenges of managing an ageing population, including increased pension contributions from workers, rises to national retirement ages, and spiralling healthcare costs. In oral health terms, in addition to simply an ageing population, epidemiological studies have demonstrated significant changes in the oral health of older adults in recent years. As the numbers of edentulous older adults has declined, there has been a significant increase in the number of partially dentate elderly. Changing attitudes, improved access to dental care and more effective preventative programmes have meant that large numbers of patients are now retaining natural teeth into old age. However, as older patients retain natural teeth for longer, the dental profession is charged with controlling chronic dental diseases in an increasingly challenging oral environment
Physical Conditions of Accreting Gas in T Tauri Star Systems
We present results from a low resolution (R~300) near-infrared spectroscopic
variability survey of actively accreting T Tauri stars (TTS) in the
Taurus-Auriga star forming region. Paschen and Brackett series H I
recombination lines were detected in 73 spectra of 15 classical T Tauri
systems. The values of the Pan/PaB, Brn/BrG, and BrG/Pan H I line ratios for
all observations exhibit a scatter of < 20% about the weighted mean, not only
from source to source, but also for epoch-to-epoch variations in the same
source. A representative or `global' value was determined for each ratio in
both the Paschen and Brackett series as well as the BrG/Pan line ratios. A
comparison of observed line ratio values was made to those predicted by the
temperature and electron density dependent models of Case B hydrogen
recombination line theory. The measured line ratios are statistically well-fit
by a tightly constrained range of temperatures (T < 2000 K) and electron
densities 1e9 < n_e < 1e10 cm^-3. A comparison of the observed line ratio
values to the values predicted by the optically thick and thin local
thermodynamic equilibrium cases rules out these conditions for the emitting H I
gas. Therefore, the emission is consistent with having an origin in a non-LTE
recombining gas. While the range of electron densities is consistent with the
gas densities predicted by existing magnetospheric accretion models, the
temperature range constrained by the Case B comparison is considerably lower
than that expected for accreting gas. The cooler gas temperatures will require
a non-thermal excitation process (e.g., coronal/accretion-related X-rays and UV
photons) to power the observed line emission.Comment: 12 pages, emulateapj format, Accepted for publication in Ap
The effect of collisional enhancement of Balmer lines on the determination of the primordial helium abundance
This paper describes a new determination of the primordial helium abundance
(Y_P), based on the abundance analysis of five metal-poor extragalactic HII
regions. For three regions of the sample (SBS 0335-052, I Zw 18, and H29) we
present tailored photoionization models based on improved calculations with
respect to previous models. In particular, we use the photoionization models to
study quantitatively the effect of collisional excitation of Balmer lines on
the determination of the helium abundance (Y) in the individual regions. This
effect is twofold: first, the intensities of the Balmer lines are enhanced with
respect to the pure recombination value, mimicking a higher hydrogen abundance;
second, the observed reddening is larger than the true extinction, due to the
differential effect of collisions on different Balmer lines. In addition to
these effects, our analysis takes into account the following features of HII
regions: (i) the temperature structure, (ii) the density structure, (iii) the
presence of neutral helium, (iv) the collisional excitation of the HeI lines,
(v) the underlying absorption of the HeI lines, and (vi) the optical thickness
of the HeI lines. The object that shows the highest increase in Y after the
inclusion of collisional effects in the analysis is SBS 0335-052, whose helium
abundance has been revised by Delta Y = +0.0107. The revised Y values for the
five objects in our sample yield an increase of +0.0035 in Y_P, giving Y_P =
0.2391 +/- 0.0020.Comment: 59 pages, 8 figures. AAS Latex. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Dental Attendances to General Medical Practitioners in Wales: a 44 Year Analysis
One-third of the UK population is composed of problem-oriented dental attenders, seeking dental care only when they have acute dental pain or problems. Patients seek urgent dental care from a range of health care professionals, including general medical practitioners. This study aimed to identify trends in dental attendance at Welsh medical practices over a 44-y period, specifically in relation to dental policy change and factors associated with repeat attendance. A retrospective observational study was completed via the nationwide Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank of visits to general medical practice in Wales. Read codes associated with dental diagnoses were extracted for patients attending their general medical practitioner between 1974 and 2017. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and univariate and multivariable logistic regression. Over the 44-y period, there were 439,361 dental Read codes, accounting for 288,147 patient attendances. The overall attendance rate was 2.60 attendances per 1,000 patient-years (95% CI, 2.59 to 2.61). The attendance rate was negligible through 1987 but increased sharply to 5.0 per 1,000 patient-years in 2006 (95% CI, 4.94 to 5.09) before almost halving to 2.6 per 1,000 in 2017 (95% CI, 2.53 to 2.63) to a pattern that coincided with changes to National Health Service policies. Overall 26,312 patients were repeat attenders and were associated with living in an area classified as urban and deprived (odds ratio [OR], 1.22; 95% CI, 1.19 to 1.25; P < 0.0001) or rural (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.83 to 0.85; P < 0.0001). Repeat attendance was associated with greater odds of having received an antibiotic prescription (OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 2.50 to 2.56; P < 0.0001) but lower odds of having been referred to another service (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.81; P < 0.0001). Welsh patients’ reliance on medical care for dental problems was influenced by social deprivation and health policy. This indicates that future interventions to discourage dental attendance at medical practitioners should be targeted at those in the most deprived urban areas or rural areas. In addition, health policy may influence attendance rates positively and negatively and should be considered in the future when decisions related to policy change are made
Theoretical He I Emissivities in the Case B Approximation
We calculate the He I case B recombination cascade spectrum using improved
radiative and collisional data. We present new emissivities over a range of
electron temperatures and densities. The differences between our results and
the current standard are large enough to have a significant effect not only on
the interpretation of observed spectra of a wide variety of objects but also on
determinations of the primordial helium abundance.Comment: Accepted to ApJ
The primordial Helium-4 abundance determination: systematic effects
By extrapolating to O/H = N/H = 0 the empirical correlations Y-O/H and Y-N/H
defined by a relatively large sample of ~ 45 Blue Compact Dwarfs (BCDs), we
have obtained a primordial 4Helium mass fraction Yp= 0.2443+/-0.0015 with dY/dZ
= 2.4+/-1.0. This result is in excellent agreement with the average Yp=
0.2452+/-0.0015 determined in the two most metal-deficient BCDs known, I Zw 18
(Zsun/50) and SBS 0335-052 (Zsun/41), where the correction for He production is
smallest. The quoted error (1sigma) of < 1% is statistical and does not include
systematic effects. We examine various systematic effects including collisional
excitation of Hydrogen lines, ionization structure and temperature fluctuation
effects, and underlying stellar HeI absorption, and conclude that combining all
systematic effects, our Yp may be underestimated by ~ 2-4%. Taken at face
value, our Yp implies a baryon-to-photon number ratio eta = 4.7x10^-10 and a
baryon mass fraction Omega_b h^2_{100} = 0.017+/-0.005 (2sigma), consistent
with the values obtained from deuterium and Cosmic Microwave Background
measurements. Correcting Yp upward by 2-4% would make the agreement even
better.Comment: 12 pages, 5 PS figures, to appear in "Matter in the Universe", ed P.
Jetzer, K. Pretzl and R. von Steiger, Kluwer, Dordrecht (2002
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