A Runaway Black Hole in COSMOS: Gravitational Wave or Slingshot Recoil?

We present a detailed study of a peculiar source in the COSMOS survey at z=0.359. Source CXOCJ100043.1+020637 (CID-42) presents two compact optical sources embedded in the same galaxy. The distance between the 2, measured in the HST/ACS image, is 0.495" that, at the redshift of the source, corresponds to a projected separation of 2.46 kpc. A large (~1200 km/s) velocity offset between the narrow and broad components of Hbeta has been measured in three different optical spectra from the VLT/VIMOS and Magellan/IMACS instruments. CID-42 is also the only X-ray source having in its X-ray spectra a strong redshifted broad absorption iron line, and an iron emission line, drawing an inverted P-Cygni profile. The Chandra and XMM data show that the absorption line is variable in energy by 500 eV over 4 years and that the absorber has to be highly ionized, in order not to leave a signature in the soft X-ray spectrum. That these features occur in the same source is unlikely to be a coincidence. We envisage two possible explanations: (1) a gravitational wave recoiling black hole (BH), caught 1-10 Myr after merging, (2) a Type 1/ Type 2 system in the same galaxy where the Type 1 is recoiling due to slingshot effect produced by a triple BH system. The first possibility gives us a candidate gravitational waves recoiling BH with both spectroscopic and imaging signatures. In the second case, the X-ray absorption line can be explained as a BAL-like outflow from the foreground nucleus (a Type 2 AGN) at the rearer one (a Type 1 AGN), which illuminates the otherwise undetectable wind, giving us the first opportunity to show that fast winds are present in obscured AGN.Comment: 13 figures; submitted to ApJ. Sent back to the referee after the first interaction and awaiting the final comment

Pathology and Viral Antigen Distribution of Lethal Pneumonia in Domestic Cats Due to Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza A Virus

A novel swine-origin H1N1 influenza A virus has been identified as the cause of the 2009 influenza pandemic in humans. Since then, infections with the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus have been documented in a number of animal species. The first known cases of lethal respiratory disease associated with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infection in house pets occurred in domestic cats in Oregon. A 10-year-old, neutered male and an 8-year-old, spayed female domestic short hair cat died shortly after developing severe respiratory disease. Grossly, lung lobes of both cats were diffusely firm and incompletely collapsed. Histologically, moderate to severe, necrotizing to pyonecrotizing bronchointerstitial pneumonia was accompanied by serofibrinous exudation and hyaline membranes in the alveolar spaces. Influenza A virus was isolated from nasal secretions of the male and from lung homogenate of the female cat. Both isolates were confirmed as pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR). Using immunohistochemistry, influenza A viral antigen was demonstrated in bronchiolar epithelial cells, pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages in pneumonic areas. The most likely sources of infection were people in the household with influenza-like illness or confirmed pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza. The two cases reported here provide, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first description of the pathology and viral antigen distribution of lethal respiratory disease in domestic cats after natural pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infection, probably transmitted from humans.This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The article is published by Sage Publications on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, European College of Veterinary Pathologists, and the Japanese College of Veterinary. The published article can be found at: http://vet.sagepub.com/.Keywords: influenza, pneumonia, pandemic, pH1N1, lung, immunohistochemistry, ca

Disrupting Circadian Homeostasis of Sympathetic Signaling Promotes Tumor Development in Mice

and why disruption of circadian rhythm may lead to tumorigenesis. oncogenic potential, leading to tumor development in the same organ systems in wild-type and circadian gene-mutant mice. is a clock-controlled physiological function. The central circadian clock paces extracellular mitogenic signals that drive peripheral clock-controlled expression of key cell cycle and tumor suppressor genes to generate a circadian rhythm in cell proliferation. Frequent disruption of circadian rhythm is an important tumor promoting factor

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

LöhrChristianeVeterinaryMedicinePathologyViralAntigen.pdf

A novel swine-origin H1N1 influenza A virus has been identified as the cause of the 2009 influenza pandemic in humans. Since then, infections with the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus have been documented in a number of animal species. The first known cases of lethal respiratory disease associated with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infection in house pets occurred in domestic cats in Oregon. A 10-year-old, neutered male and an 8-year-old, spayed female domestic short hair cat died shortly after developing severe respiratory disease. Grossly, lung lobes of both cats were diffusely firm and incompletely collapsed. Histologically, moderate to severe, necrotizing to pyonecrotizing bronchointerstitial pneumonia was accompanied by serofibrinous exudation and hyaline membranes in the alveolar spaces. Influenza A virus was isolated from nasal secretions of the male and from lung homogenate of the female cat. Both isolates were confirmed as pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR). Using immunohistochemistry, influenza A viral antigen was demonstrated in bronchiolar epithelial cells, pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages in pneumonic areas. The most likely sources of infection were people in the household with influenza-like illness or confirmed pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza. The two cases reported here provide, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first description of the pathology and viral antigen distribution of lethal respiratory disease in domestic cats after natural pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infection, probably transmitted from humans

LöhrChristianeVeterinaryMedicinePathologyViralAntigen_Figures1-11.tif

A novel swine-origin H1N1 influenza A virus has been identified as the cause of the 2009 influenza pandemic in humans. Since then, infections with the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus have been documented in a number of animal species. The first known cases of lethal respiratory disease associated with pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infection in house pets occurred in domestic cats in Oregon. A 10-year-old, neutered male and an 8-year-old, spayed female domestic short hair cat died shortly after developing severe respiratory disease. Grossly, lung lobes of both cats were diffusely firm and incompletely collapsed. Histologically, moderate to severe, necrotizing to pyonecrotizing bronchointerstitial pneumonia was accompanied by serofibrinous exudation and hyaline membranes in the alveolar spaces. Influenza A virus was isolated from nasal secretions of the male and from lung homogenate of the female cat. Both isolates were confirmed as pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR). Using immunohistochemistry, influenza A viral antigen was demonstrated in bronchiolar epithelial cells, pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages in pneumonic areas. The most likely sources of infection were people in the household with influenza-like illness or confirmed pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza. The two cases reported here provide, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first description of the pathology and viral antigen distribution of lethal respiratory disease in domestic cats after natural pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza virus infection, probably transmitted from humans

The neural signatures of egocentric bias in normative decision-making

Bargaining parties often disagree on what fair is, due to the reason that people are prone to believe that what favors oneself is fair, i.e., an egocentric bias. In this study, we investigated the neural signatures underlying egocentric bias in fairness decision-making, conjoining an adapted ultimatum game (UG) with event-related fMRI and functional connectivity. Participants earned monetary rewards with a partner in a production stage, wherein their contributions to the earnings were manipulated. Afterwards, the joint earnings were randomly divided, and the distribution was presented simultaneously with contribution information to participants, who accepted/rejected distributions of earnings as the same manner in standard UG. We identified an egocentric bias in fairness decisions, such that participants frequently rejected self-contributed disadvantageous outcomes, but much less so in response to other-contributed advantageous outcomes, although both involved mismatch between contribution and payoff. This bias was underpinned by regions involved in representing fairness norms, including the anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Furthermore, the thalamus activity was predictive of the bias, such that the level of egocentric bias decreased as a function of the activation level of the thalamus. Finally, our functional-connectivity findings indicated that the thalamus worked together with insula and dACC to modulate behavioral egocentric bias in fairness-related decisions. Our findings uncover the neural basis underlying the modulation of egocentric bias in normative decision-making, and highlight the role of neural circuits associated with norm enforcement in this phenomenon