The foreground transfer function for HI intensity mapping signal reconstruction: MeerKLASS and precision cosmology applications

Blind cleaning methods are currently the preferred strategy for handling foreground contamination in single-dish HI intensity mapping surveys. Despite the increasing sophistication of blind techniques, some signal loss will be inevitable across all scales. Constructing a corrective transfer function using mock signal injection into the contaminated data has been a practice relied on for HI intensity mapping experiments. However, assessing whether this approach is viable for future intensity mapping surveys where precision cosmology is the aim, remains unexplored. In this work, using simulations, we validate for the first time the use of a foreground transfer function to reconstruct power spectra of foreground-cleaned low-redshift intensity maps and look to expose any limitations. We reveal that even when aggressive foreground cleaning is required, which causes ${>}\,50\%$ negative bias on the largest scales, the power spectrum can be reconstructed using a transfer function to within sub-percent accuracy. We specifically outline the recipe for constructing an unbiased transfer function, highlighting the pitfalls if one deviates from this recipe, and also correctly identify how a transfer function should be applied in an auto-correlation power spectrum. We validate a method that utilises the transfer function variance for error estimation in foreground-cleaned power spectra. Finally, we demonstrate how incorrect fiducial parameter assumptions (up to ${\pm}100\%$ bias) in the generation of mocks, used in the construction of the transfer function, do not significantly bias signal reconstruction or parameter inference (inducing ${<}\,5\%$ bias in recovered values).Comment: 25 pages, 20 figures. See Figure 4 for the main demonstration of the transfer function's performance for reconstructing signal loss from foreground cleaning. Submitted to MNRAS for publicatio

Tuberous sclerosis with pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis and renal angiomyolipomas. Computed tomographic findings: a case report

The authors describe a case of a 31-year-old female with tuberous sclerosis, a genetic, rare, variably expressed disease. Clinical symptoms were chest pain, and progressive dyspnea. Computed tomography scan of the chest showed bilateral, diffuse, small thin-walled cysts scattered throughout the lungs characteristic for pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis. Computed tomography scan of the abdomen revealed enlarged, heterogeneous kidneys, with low density tumors corresponding to angiomyolipomas. Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis and bilateral renal angiomyolipomas are some presentations of tuberous sclerosis and the coexistence of both conditions may cause devastating morbidity and mortality

GWAS in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women, and the second cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. It is expected that more than 240,000 new cases and 40,450 deaths related to the disease will occur in 2016. It is well known that inherited genetic variants are drivers for breast cancer development. There are many mechanisms through which germline genetic variation affects prognosis, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which account for approximately 20% of the increased hereditary risks. Therefore, it is evident that the genetic pathways that underlie cancer development are complex in which networks of multiple alleles confer disease susceptibility and risks. Global analyses through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed several loci across the genome are associated with the breast cancer. This chapter compiles all breast GWAS released since 2007, year of the first article published in this area, and discuss the future directions of this field. Currently, hundreds of genetic markers are linked to breast cancer, and understanding the underlying mechanisms of these variants might lead to the discover of biomarkers and targets for therapy in patients

The Neurocognitive Assessment in the Metabolic and Aging Cohort (NAMACO) study: baseline participant profile.

The aim of the study was to examine baseline neurocognitive impairment (NCI) prevalence and factors associated with NCI among patients enrolled in the Neurocognitive Assessment in the Metabolic and Aging Cohort (NAMACO) study. The NAMACO study is an ongoing, prospective, longitudinal, multicentre and multilingual (German, French and Italian) study within the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. Between 1 May 2013 and 30 November 2016, 981 patients ≥ 45 years old were enrolled in the study. All underwent standardized neuropsychological (NP) assessment by neuropsychologists. NCI was diagnosed using Frascati criteria and classified as HIV-associated or as related to other factors. Dichotomized analysis (NCI versus no NCI) and continuous analyses (based on NP test z-score means) were performed. Most patients (942; 96.2%) had viral loads &lt; 50 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL. NCI was identified in 390 patients (39.8%): 263 patients (26.8%) had HIV-associated NCI [249 patients (25.4%) had asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment (ANI)] and 127 patients (13%) had NCI attributable to other factors, mainly psychiatric disorders. There was good correlation between dichotomized and continuous analyses, with NCI associated with older age, non-Caucasian ethnicity, shorter duration of education, unemployment and longer antiretroviral therapy duration. In this large sample of aging people living with HIV with well-controlled infection in Switzerland, baseline HIV-associated NCI prevalence, as diagnosed after formal NP assessment, was 26.8%, with most cases being ANI. The NAMACO study data will enable longitudinal analyses within this population to examine factors affecting NCI development and course

Neck emergency due to parathyroid adenoma bleeding: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The spontaneous rupture of a parathyroid adenoma accompanied by extracapsular hemorrhage is a rare, potentially fatal, condition and is a cervicomediastinal surgical emergency.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>This report describes an atypical two-step spontaneous rupture of an asymptomatic parathyroid adenoma in a 56-year-old Caucasian woman who presented with a painful mass in the right side of her neck.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based on this case report and similar cases reported in the medical literature, a diagnosis of extracapsular parathyroid hemorrhage should be considered when a non-traumatic sudden neck swelling coexists with hypercalcemia and regional ecchymosis.</p

MIGHTEE-Hi: Evolution of Hi Scaling Relations of Star-forming Galaxies at z &lt; 0.5*

We present the first measurements of H I galaxy scaling relations from a blind survey at z > 0.15. We perform spectral stacking of 9023 spectra of star-forming galaxies undetected in H I at 0.23 < z < 0.49, extracted from MIGHTEE-H I Early Science data cubes, acquired with the MeerKAT radio telescope. We stack galaxies in bins of galaxy properties (stellar mass M *, star formation rateSFR, and specific star formation rate sSFR, with sSFR ≡ M */SFR), obtaining ≳5σ detections in most cases, the strongest H I-stacking detections to date in this redshift range. With these detections, we are able to measure scaling relations in the probed redshift interval, finding evidence for a moderate evolution from the median redshift of our sample z med ~ 0.37 to z ~ 0. In particular, low-M * galaxies ( {\mathrm{log}}_{10}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })\sim 9 )experienceastrongHIdepletion( 0.5dexinlog10(MHI/M⊙) ), while massive galaxies ( {\mathrm{log}}_{10}({M}_{* }/{M}_{\odot })\sim 11$ ) keep their H I mass nearly unchanged. When looking at the star formation activity, highly star-forming galaxies evolve significantly in M H I (f H I, where f H I ≡ M H I/M *) at fixed SFR (sSFR), while at the lowest probed SFR (sSFR) the scaling relations show no evolution. These findings suggest a scenario in which low-M * galaxies have experienced a strong H I depletion during the last ~5 Gyr, while massive galaxies have undergone a significant H I replenishment through some accretion mechanism, possibly minor mergers. Interestingly, our results are in good agreement with the predictions of the SIMBA simulation. We conclude that this work sets novel important observational constraints on galaxy scaling relations