Following Black Hole Scaling Relations Through Gas-Rich Mergers

We present black hole mass measurements from kinematic modeling of high-spatial resolution integral field spectroscopy of the inner regions of 9 nearby (ultra-)luminous infrared galaxies in a variety of merger stages. These observations were taken with OSIRIS and laser guide star adaptive optics on the Keck I and Keck II telescopes, and reveal gas and stellar kinematics inside the spheres of influence of these supermassive black holes. We find that this sample of black holes are overmassive ($\sim10^{7-9}$ M$_{Sun}$) compared to the expected values based on black hole scaling relations, and suggest that the major epoch of black hole growth occurs in early stages of a merger, as opposed to during a final episode of quasar-mode feedback. The black hole masses presented are the dynamical masses enclosed in $\sim$25pc, and could include gas which is gravitationally bound to the black hole but has not yet lost sufficient angular momentum to be accreted. If present, this gas could in principle eventually fuel AGN feedback or be itself blown out from the system.Comment: accepted to Ap

Introduction to the special issue : From RIDGE to Ridge 2000

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 25, no. 1 (2012): 12–17, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2012.01.Articles in this special issue of Oceanography represent a compendium of research that spans the disciplinary and thematic breadth of the National Science Foundation's Ridge 2000 Program, as well as its geographic focal points. The mid-ocean ridge (MOR) crest is where much of Earth's volcanism is focused and where most submarine volcanic activity occurs. If we could look down from space at our planet with the ocean drained, the MOR's topography and shape, along with its intervening fracture zones, would resemble the seams on a baseball, with the ocean basins dominating our planetary panorama. The volcanic seafloor is hidden beneath the green-blue waters of the world's ocean, yet therein lie fundamental clues to how our planet works and has evolved over billions of years, something that was not clearly understood 65 years ago—witness the following quote from H.H. Hess (1962) in his essay on "geopoetry" and commentary on J.H.F. Umbgrove's (1947) comprehensive summary of Earth and ocean history: The birth of the oceans is a matter of conjecture, the subsequent history is obscure, and the present structure is just beginning to be understood. Fascinating speculation on these subjects has been plentiful, but not much of it predating the last decade [the 1950s] holds water.This special issue was funded by a supplement to the Ridge 2000 Office grant at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (NSF-OCE-0838923)

Estimating the reproduction number, R0, from individual-based models of tree disease spread

Tree populations worldwide are facing an unprecedented threat from a variety of tree diseases and invasive pests. Their spread, exacerbated by increasing globalisation and climate change, has an enormous environmental, economic and social impact. Computational individual-based models are a popular tool for describing and forecasting the spread of tree diseases due to their flexibility and ability to reveal collective behaviours. In this paper we present a versatile individual-based model with a Gaussian infectivity kernel to describe the spread of a generic tree disease through a synthetic treescape. We then explore several methods of calculating the basic reproduction number R0, a characteristic measurement of disease infectivity, defining the expected number of new infections resulting from one newly infected individual throughout their infectious period. It is a useful comparative summary parameter of a disease and can be used to explore the threshold dynamics of epidemics through mathematical models. We demonstrate several methods of estimating R0 through the individual-based model, including contact tracing, inferring the Kermack–McKendrick SIR model parameters using the linear noise approximation, and an analytical approximation. As an illustrative example, we then use the model and each of the methods to calculate estimates of R0 for the ash dieback epidemic in the UK

Hydrologically driven ecosystem processes determine the distribution and persistence of ecosystem-specialist predators under climate change

Climate change has the capacity to alter physical and biological ecosystem processes, jeopardizing the survival of associated species. This is a particular concern in cool, wet northern peatlands that could experience warmer, drier conditions. Here we show that climate, ecosystem processes and food chains combine to influence the population performance of species in British blanket bogs. Our peatland process model accurately predicts water-table depth, which predicts abundance of craneflies (keystone invertebrates), which in turn predicts observed abundances and population persistence of three ecosystem-specialist bird species that feed on craneflies during the breeding season. Climate change projections suggest that falling water tables could cause 56–81% declines in cranefly abundance and, hence, 15–51% reductions in the abundances of these birds by 2051–2080. We conclude that physical (precipitation, temperature and topography), biophysical (evapotranspiration and desiccation of invertebrates) and ecological (food chains) processes combine to determine the distributions and survival of ecosystem-specialist predators

CD97 stabilises the immunological synapse between dendritic cells and T cells and is targeted for degradation by the Salmonella effector SteD.

The Salmonella enterica effector SteD depletes mature MHC class II (mMHCII) molecules from the surface of infected antigen-presenting cells through ubiquitination of the cytoplasmic tail of the mMHCII β chain. This requires the Nedd4 family HECT E3 ubiquitin ligase Wwp2 and a tumor-suppressing transmembrane protein adaptor Tmem127. Here, through a proteomic screen of dendritic cells, we found that SteD targets the plasma membrane protein CD97 for degradation by a similar mechanism. SteD enhanced ubiquitination of CD97 on K555 and mutation of this residue eliminated the effect of SteD on CD97 surface levels. We showed that CD97 localises to and stabilises the immunological synapse between dendritic cells and T cells. Removal of CD97 by SteD inhibited dendritic cell-T cell interactions and reduced T cell activation, independently of its effect on MHCII. Therefore, SteD suppresses T cell immunity by two distinct processes

Avoidance of psychological pain and suicidal ideation in community samples: Replication across two countries and two languages

Objectives: A multidimensional psychological pain model of suicide has been developed that includes three dimensions: affective, cognitive, and avoidance. In the present research, we evaluated the relationships between the three dimensions of psychological pain and suicidal ideation. Method: Two community samples from Portugal and the U.S. participated in the research. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression analysis demonstrated that when controlling for the effects of depressive symptoms and psychache, the avoidance dimension, but not the cognitive or affective dimension of psychological pain, explained significant, and unique variance in suicidal ideation in each sample. Conclusion: Even when individuals perceive psychological pain, there may not be an elevated risk of suicide, provided that they do not consider suicide as a form of coping to decrease that pain

First spectroscopic measurements of [OIII] emission from Lyman-alpha selected field galaxies at z ~ 3.1

We present the first spectroscopic measurements of the [OIII] 5007 A line in two z ~ 3.1 Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies (LAEs) using the new near-infrared instrument LUCIFER1 on the 8.4m Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). We also describe the optical imaging and spectroscopic observations used to identify these Lya emitting galaxies. Using the [OIII] line we have measured accurate systemic redshifts for these two galaxies, and discovered a velocity offset between the [OIII] and Ly-alpha lines in both, with the Lya line peaking 342 and 125 km/s redward of the systemic velocity. These velocity offsets imply that there are powerful outflows in high-redshift LAEs. They also ease the transmission of Lya photons through the interstellar medium and intergalactic medium around the galaxies. By measuring these offsets directly, we can refine both Lya-based tests for reionization, and Lya luminosity function measurements where the Lya forest affects the blue wing of the line. Our work also provides the first direct constraints on the strength of the [OIII] line in high-redshift LAEs. We find [OIII] fluxes of 7 and 36 x 10^-17 erg s^-1 cm^-2 in two z ~ 3.1 LAEs. These lines are strong enough to dominate broad-band flux measurements that include the line (in thiscase, K_s band photometry). Spectral energy distribution fits that do not account for the lines would therefore overestimate the 4000 A (and/or Balmer) break strength in such galaxies, and hence also the ages and stellar masses of such high-z galaxies.Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal. 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 table (emulateapj

Chandra Detection of a TypeII Quasar at z=3.288

We report on observations of a TypeII quasar at redshift z=3.288, identified as a hard X-ray source in a 185 ks observation with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and as a high-redshift photometric candidate from deep, multiband optical imaging. CXOJ084837.9+445352 (hereinafter CXO52) shows an unusually hard X-ray spectrum from which we infer an absorbing column density N(H) = (4.8+/-2.1)e23 / cm2 (90% confidence) and an implied unabsorbed 2-10 keV rest-frame luminosity of L(2-10) = 3.3e44 ergs/s, well within the quasar regime. Hubble Space Telescope imaging shows CXO52 to be elongated with slight morphological differences between the WFPC2 F814W and NICMOS F160W bands. Optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of CXO52 show high-ionization emission lines with velocity widths ~1000 km/s and flux ratios similar to a Seyfert2 galaxy or radio galaxy. The latter are the only class of high-redshift TypeII luminous AGN which have been extensively studied to date. Unlike radio galaxies, however, CXO52 is radio quiet, remaining undetected at radio wavelengths to fairly deep limits, f(4.8GHz) < 40 microJy. High-redshift TypeII quasars, expected from unification models of active galaxies and long-thought necessary to explain the X-ray background, are poorly constrained observationally with few such systems known. We discuss recent observations of similar TypeII quasars and detail search techniques for such systems: namely (1) X-ray selection, (2) radio selection, (3) multi-color imaging selection, and (4) narrow-band imaging selection. Such studies are likely to begin identifying luminous, high-redshift TypeII systems in large numbers. We discuss the prospects for these studies and their implications to our understanding of the X-ray background.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures; to appear in The Astrophysical Journa

Lewy Body Dementia Association\u27s Research Centers of Excellence Program: Inaugural Meeting Proceedings.

The first Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) Research Centers of Excellence (RCOE) Investigator\u27s meeting was held on December 14, 2017, in New Orleans. The program was established to increase patient access to clinical experts on Lewy body dementia (LBD), which includes dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson\u27s disease dementia (PDD), and to create a clinical trials-ready network. Four working groups (WG) were created to pursue the LBDA RCOE aims: (1) increase access to high-quality clinical care, (2) increase access to support for people living with LBD and their caregivers, (3) increase knowledge of LBD among medical and allied (or other) professionals, and (4) create infrastructure for a clinical trials-ready network as well as resources to advance the study of new therapeutics

Treatment seeking and antibiotic use for urinary tract infection symptoms in the time of COVID-19 in Tanzania and Uganda

Funding: CARE: COVID-19 and Antimicrobial Resistance in East Africa – impact and response is a Global Effort on COVID-19 (GECO) Health Research Award (MR/V036157/1) funded by UK Research and Innovation (Medical Research Council) and the Department of Health and Social Care (National Institute for Health Research).Background There is still little empirical evidence on how the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and associated regulations may have disrupted care-seeking for non-COVID-19 conditions or affected antibiotic behaviours in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We aimed to investigate the differences in treatment-seeking behaviours and antibiotic use for urinary tract infection (UTI)-like symptoms before and during the pandemic at recruitment sites in two East African countries with different COVID-19 control policies: Mbarara, Uganda and Mwanza, Tanzania. Methods In this repeated cross-sectional study, we used data from outpatients (pregnant adolescents aged >14 and adults aged >18) with UTI-like symptoms who visited health facilities in Mwanza, Tanzania and Mbarara, Uganda. We assessed the prevalence of self-reported behaviours (delays in care-seeking, providers visited, antibiotics taken) at three different time points, labelled as ‘pre-COVID-19 phase’ (February 2019 to February 2020), ‘COVID-19 phase 1’ (March 2020 to April 2020), and ‘COVID-19 phase 2’ (July 2021 to February 2022). Results In both study sites, delays in care-seeking were less common during the pandemic than they were in the pre-COVID phase. Patients in Mwanza, Tanzania had shorter care-seeking pathways during the pandemic compared to before it, but this difference was not observed in Mbarara, Uganda. Health centres were the dominant sources of antibiotics in both settings. Over time, reported antibiotic use for UTI-like symptoms became more common in both settings. During the COVID-19 phases, there was a significant increase in self-reported use of antibiotics like metronidazole (<30% in the pre-COVID-19 phase to 40% in COVID phase 2) and doxycycline (30% in the pre-COVID-19 phase to 55% in COVID phase 2) that were not recommended for treating UTI-like symptoms in the National Treatment Guidelines in Mbarara, Uganda. Conclusions There was no clear evidence that patients with UTI-like symptoms attending health care facilities had longer or more complex treatment pathways despite strict government-led interventions related to COVID-19. However, antibiotic use increased over time, including some antibiotics not recommended for treating UTI, which has implications for future antimicrobial resistance.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe