bRing: An observatory dedicated to monitoring the β\beta Pictoris b Hill sphere transit

Aims. We describe the design and first light observations from the $\beta$ Pictoris b Ring ("bRing") project. The primary goal is to detect photometric variability from the young star $\beta$ Pictoris due to circumplanetary material surrounding the directly imaged young extrasolar gas giant planet \bpb. Methods. Over a nine month period centred on September 2017, the Hill sphere of the planet will cross in front of the star, providing a unique opportunity to directly probe the circumplanetary environment of a directly imaged planet through photometric and spectroscopic variations. We have built and installed the first of two bRing monitoring stations (one in South Africa and the other in Australia) that will measure the flux of $\beta$ Pictoris, with a photometric precision of $0.5\%$ over 5 minutes. Each station uses two wide field cameras to cover the declination of the star at all elevations. Detection of photometric fluctuations will trigger spectroscopic observations with large aperture telescopes in order to determine the gas and dust composition in a system at the end of the planet-forming era. Results. The first three months of operation demonstrate that bRing can obtain better than 0.5\% photometry on $\beta$ Pictoris in five minutes and is sensitive to nightly trends enabling the detection of any transiting material within the Hill sphere of the exoplanet

Incorporating Ambipolar and Ohmic Diffusion in the AMR MHD code RAMSES

We have implemented non-ideal Magneto-Hydrodynamics (MHD) effects in the Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) code RAMSES, namely ambipolar diffusion and Ohmic dissipation, as additional source terms in the ideal MHD equations. We describe in details how we have discretized these terms using the adaptive Cartesian mesh, and how the time step is diminished with respect to the ideal case, in order to perform a stable time integration. We have performed a large suite of test runs, featuring the Barenblatt diffusion test, the Ohmic diffusion test, the C-shock test and the Alfven wave test. For the latter, we have performed a careful truncation error analysis to estimate the magnitude of the numerical diffusion induced by our Godunov scheme, allowing us to estimate the spatial resolution that is required to address non-ideal MHD effects reliably. We show that our scheme is second-order accurate, and is therefore ideally suited to study non-ideal MHD effects in the context of star formation and molecular cloud dynamics

In vivo evaluation of edge-loading in metal-on-metal hip resurfacing patients with pseudotumours

Objectives: Pseudotumours (abnormal peri-prosthetic soft-tissue reactions) following metal-on-metal hip resurfacing arthroplasty (MoMHRA) have been associated with elevated metal ion levels, suggesting that excessive wear may occur due to edge-loading of these MoM implants. This study aimed to quantify in vivo edge-loading in MoMHRA patients with and without pseudotumours during functional activities. Methods: The duration and magnitude of edge-loading in vivo was quantified during functional activities by combining the dynamic hip joint segment contact force calculated from the three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis system with the 3D reconstruction of orientation of the acetabular component and each patient’s specific hip joint centre, based on CT scans. Results: Edge-loading in the hips with pseudotumours occurred with a four-fold increase in duration and magnitude of force compared with the hips without pseudotumours (p = 0.02). Conclusions: The study provides the first in vivo evidence to support that edge-loading is an important mechanism that leads to localised excessive wear (edge-wear), with subsequent elevation of metal ion levels in MoMHRA patients with pseudotumours

Data calibration for the MASCARA and bRing instruments

Aims: MASCARA and bRing are photometric surveys designed to detect variability caused by exoplanets in stars with $m_V < 8.4$. Such variability signals are typically small and require an accurate calibration algorithm, tailored to the survey, in order to be detected. This paper presents the methods developed to calibrate the raw photometry of the MASCARA and bRing stations and characterizes the performance of the methods and instruments. Methods: For the primary calibration a modified version of the coarse decorrelation algorithm is used, which corrects for the extinction due to the earth's atmosphere, the camera transmission, and intrapixel variations. Residual trends are removed from the light curves of individual stars using empirical secondary calibration methods. In order to optimize these methods, as well as characterize the performance of the instruments, transit signals were injected in the data. Results: After optimal calibration an RMS scatter of 10 mmag at $m_V \sim 7.5$ is achieved in the light curves. By injecting transit signals with periods between one and five days in the MASCARA data obtained by the La Palma station over the course of one year, we demonstrate that MASCARA La Palma is able to recover 84.0, 60.5 and 20.7% of signals with depths of 2, 1 and 0.5% respectively, with a strong dependency on the observed declination, recovering 65.4% of all transit signals at $\delta > 0^\circ$ versus 35.8% at $\delta < 0^\circ$. Using the full three years of data obtained by MASCARA La Palma to date, similar recovery rates are extended to periods up to ten days. We derive a preliminary occurrence rate for hot Jupiters around A-stars of ${>} 0.4 \%$, knowing that many hot Jupiters are still overlooked. In the era of TESS, MASCARA and bRing will provide an interesting synergy for finding long-period (${>} 13.5$ days) transiting gas-giant planets around the brightest stars.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in A&

The Spatial, Ionization, and Kinematic Conditions of the z=1.39 Damped Ly-alpha Absorber in Q0957+561 A,B

We examined the sizes of the absorption clouds in a z=1.3911 damped Ly-alpha absorber (DLA) in the double image lensed quasar Q0957+561 A,B (separation 135 pc at the absorber redshift). Using HIRES/Keck spectra, we studied the MgII 2796,2803 doublet, FeII multiplet, and MgI 2853 transition in absorption. We defined six "clouds" in the system of sightline A and seven clouds in the system of sightline B. An examination of the N(v) profiles, using the apparent optical depth method, reveals no clear physical connection between the clouds in A and those in B. The observed column density ratios of all clouds is log[N(MgI)/N(FeII)] ~ -2 across the full velocity range in both systems and also spatially (in both sightlines). This is a remarkable uniformity not seen in Lyman limit systems. The uniformity of the cloud properties suggests that the multiple clouds are not part of a "halo". Based upon photoionization modeling, we constrain the ionization parameters in the range -6.2 < log(U) < -5.1, where the range brackets known abundance ratio and dust depletion patterns. The inferred cloud properties are densities of 2 < n_H < 20 cm^-3, and line of sight sizes of 1 < D < 25 pc. The masses of the clouds in system A are 10 < M/M_sun < 1000 and in system B are 1 < M/M_sun < 60 for spherical clouds. For planar clouds, the upper limits are 400 M_sun and 160 M_sun for A and B, respectively. We favor a model of the absorber in which the DLA region itself is a single cloud in thiscomplex, which could be a parcel of gas in a galactic ISM. A spherical cloud of ~10 pc would be limited to one of the sightlines (A) and imply a covering factor less than 0.1 for the DLA complex. We infer that the DLA cloud properties are consistent with those of lower density, cold clouds in the Galactic interstellar medium.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; final versio

Incidence and severity of radiological lateral osteoarthritis 15 years following medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty

Aims: To assess the incidence of radiological lateral osteoarthritis (OA) at 15 years after medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) and assess the relationship of lateral OA with symptoms and patient characteristics. Methods: Cemented Phase 3 medial Oxford UKA implanted by two surgeons since 1998 for the recommended indications were prospectively followed. A 15-year cumulative revision rate for lateral OA of 5% for this series was previously reported. A total of 163 unrevised knees with 15-year (SD 1) anterior-posterior knee radiographs were studied. Lateral joint space width (JSWL) was measured and severity of lateral OA was classified as: nil/mild, moderate, and severe. Preoperative and 15-year Oxford Knee Scores (OKS) and American Knee Society Scores were determined. The effect of age, sex, BMI, and intraoperative findings was analyzed. Statistical analysis included one-way analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis H test, with significance set at 5%. Results: The mean age was 80.6 years (SD 8.3), with 84 females and 79 males. The mean JSWL was 5.6 mm (SD 1.4), and was not significantly related to age, sex, or intraoperative findings. Those with BMI > 40 kg/m2 had a smaller JSWL than those with a ‘normal’ BMI (p = 0.039). The incidence of severe and moderate lateral OA were both 4.9%. Overall, 2/142 (1.4%) of those with nil/mild lateral OA, 1/8 (13%) with moderate, and 2/8 (25%) with severe subsequently had a revision. Those with severe (mean OKS 35.6 (SD 9.3)) and moderate OA (mean OKS 35.8 (SD 10.5)) tended to have worse outcome scores than those with nil/mild (mean OKS 39.5 (SD 9.2)) but the difference was only significant for OKS-Function (p = 0.044). Conclusion: This study showed that the rate of having severe or moderate radiological lateral OA at 15 years after medial UKA was low (both 4.9%). Although patients with severe or moderate lateral OA had a lower OKS than those with nil/mild OA, their mean scores (OKS 36) would be classified as good

Notices sur les collaborateurs et les collaboratrices

Periprosthetic fracture (PF) after primary total hip replacement (THR) is an uncommon but potentially devastating complication. We analysed data on 257,202 primary THRs with cemented stems and 390 linked first revisions for PF recorded in the National Joint Registry (NJR) of England and Wales to determine if cemented femoral stem brand was associated with the risk of having revision for a PF after primary THR. All cemented femoral stem brands with more than 10,000 primary operations recorded in the NJR were identified. The four most commonly used cemented femoral stems were: Exeter V40 (n=146,409), CPT (n=24,300), C-Stem (n=15,113) and Charnley (n=20,182). We compared the revision risk ratios due to PF amongst the stems using a Poisson regression model adjusting for patient factors. Compared to the Exeter V40, the age, gender and ASA grade adjusted revision rate ratio for the cemented CPT stem was 3.89 (95%CI 3.07,4.93), for the C-Stem 0.89 (95%CI 0.57,1.41) and for the Charnley stem 0.41 (95%CI 0.24,0.70). Limitations of the study include incomplete data capture, analysis of only PF requiring revision and that observation does not imply causality. Nevertheless, this study demonstrates that the choice of a cemented stem is associated with the risk of revision for PF. </p

Low and High Ionization Absorption Properties of Mg II Absorption-Selected Galaxies at Intermediate Redshifts. II. Taxonomy, Kinematics, and Galaxies

[Abridged] We examine a sample of 45 Mg II absorption-selected systems over the redshift range 0.4 to 1.4. Mg II and Fe II absorption profiles were observed at a resolution of ~6 km/s with HIRES/Keck. Lyman-alpha and C IV data were measured in archival FOS/HST spectra (~230 km/s). We perform a multivariate analysis of W(MgII), W(FeII), W(CIV) and W(Lya) (rest-frame) equivalent widths and the Mg II kinematic spread. We find five categories of Mg II absorbers: "Classic", "C IV-deficient", "Single/Weak", "Double", and "DLA/HI-Rich". There is a strong connection between low-ionization kinematics and the location of an absorber on the W(CIV)-W(MgII) plane. In most absorbers a significant fraction of the C IV arises in a phase separate from Mg II. Many of the C IV profiles are resolved in the FOS spectra due to velocity structure.. For 16 galaxies, we compare the available absorption-line properties (taken from Churchill et al. 2000, Paper I) to the galaxy properties but find no significant (greater than 3-sigma) correlations, although several suggestive trends are apparent. We compare the locations of our intermediate redshift absorbers on the W(CIV)-W(MgII) plane with those of lower and higher redshift data taken from the literature and find evidence for evolution that is connected with the Mg II kinematics. We discuss the potential of using the above categorizations of absorbers to understand the evolution in the underlying physical processes giving rise to the gas and governing its ionization phases and kinematics.Comment: Accepted: The Astrophysical Journal; Work based upon data presented in Paper I [astro-ph/0005585