Association of Systemic Inflammation With Retinal Vascular Caliber in Patients With AIDS.

PurposeTo evaluate relationships among retinal vascular caliber and biomarkers of systemic inflammation in patients with AIDS.MethodsA total of 454 participants with AIDS had retinal vascular caliber (central retinal artery equivalent and central retinal vein equivalent) determined from enrollment retinal photographs by reading center graders masked to clinical and biomarker information. Cryopreserved plasma specimens were assayed for inflammatory biomarkers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6, interferon-γ inducible protein (IP)-10, kynurenine/tryptophan (KT) ratio, and intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP).ResultsIn the simple linear regression of retinal vascular caliber on plasma biomarkers, elevated CRP, IL-6, and IP-10 were associated with retinal venular dilation, and elevated KT ratio with retinal arteriolar narrowing. In the multiple linear regression, including baseline characteristics and plasma biomarkers, AMD was associated with dilation of retinal arterioles (mean difference: 9.1 μm; 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.2, 12.9; P < 0.001) and venules (mean difference, 10.9 μm; 95% CI, 5.3, 16.6; P < 0.001), as was black race (P < 0.001). Hyperlipidemia was associated with retinal venular narrowing (mean difference, -7.5 μm; 95% CI, -13.7, -1.2; P = 0.02); cardiovascular disease with arteriolar narrowing (mean difference, -5.2 μm; 95% CI, -10.3, -0.1; P = 0.05); age with arteriolar narrowing (slope, -0.26 μm/year; 95% CI, -0.46, -0.06; P = 0.009); and IL-6 with venular dilation (slope, 5.3 μm/standard deviation log10[plasma IL-6 concentration]; 95% CI, 2.7, 8.0; P < 0.001).ConclusionsThese data suggest that retinal vascular caliber is associated with age, race, AMD, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease, and selected biomarkers of systemic inflammation

Auto-Guiding System for CQUEAN (Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse)

To perform imaging observation of optically red objects such as high redshift quasars and brown dwarfs, the Center for the Exploration of the Origin of the Universe (CEOU) recently developed an optical CCD camera, Camera for QUasars in EArly uNiverse(CQUEAN), which is sensitive at 0.7-1.1 um. To enable observations with long exposures, we developed an auto-guiding system for CQUEAN. This system consists of an off-axis mirror, a baffle, a CCD camera, a motor and a differential decelerator. To increase the number of available guiding stars, we designed a rotating mechanism for the off-axis guiding camera. The guiding field can be scanned along the 10 acrmin ring offset from the optical axis of the telescope. Combined with the auto-guiding software of the McDonald Observatory, we confirmed that a stable image can be obtained with an exposure time as long as 1200 seconds.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Korean Astronomical Society (JKAS

ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP) : How Do Dense Core Properties Affect the Multiplicity of Protostars?

During the transition phase from a prestellar to a protostellar cloud core, one or several protostars can form within a single gas core. The detailed physical processes of this transition, however, remain unclear. We present 1.3 mm dust continuum and molecular line observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array toward 43 protostellar cores in the Orion molecular cloud complex (lambda Orionis, Orion B, and Orion A) with an angular resolution of similar to 0.'' 35 (similar to 140 au). In total, we detect 13 binary/multiple systems. We derive an overall multiplicity frequency (MF) of 28% +/- 4% and a companion star fraction (CSF) of 51% +/- 6%, over a separation range of 300-8900 au. The median separation of companions is about 2100 au. The occurrence of stellar multiplicity may depend on the physical characteristics of the dense cores. Notably, those containing binary/multiple systems tend to show a higher gas density and Mach number than cores forming single stars. The integral-shaped filament of the Orion A giant molecular cloud (GMC), which has the highest gas density and hosts high-mass star formation in its central region (the Orion Nebula cluster), shows the highest MF and CSF among the Orion GMCs. In contrast, the lambda Orionis GMC has a lower MF and CSF than the Orion B and Orion A GMCs, indicating that feedback from H ii regions may suppress the formation of multiple systems. We also find that the protostars comprising a binary/multiple system are usually at different evolutionary stages.Peer reviewe

ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP) : Detection of Extremely High-density Compact Structure of Prestellar Cores and Multiple Substructures Within

Prestellar cores are self-gravitating dense and cold structures within molecular clouds where future stars are born. They are expected, at the stage of transitioning to the protostellar phase, to harbor centrally concentrated dense (sub)structures that will seed the formation of a new star or the binary/multiple stellar systems. Characterizing this critical stage of evolution is key to our understanding of star formation. In this work, we report the detection of high-density (sub)structures on the thousand-astronomical-unit (au) scale in a sample of dense prestellar cores. Through our recent ALMA observations toward the Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps, we have found five extremely dense prestellar cores, which have centrally concentrated regions of similar to 2000 au in size, and several 10(7) cm(-3) in average density. Masses of these centrally dense regions are in the range of 0.30 to 6.89 M. For the first time, our higher resolution observations (0.8 '' similar to 320 au) further reveal that one of the cores shows clear signatures of fragmentation; such individual substructures/fragments have sizes of 800-1700 au, masses of 0.08 to 0.84 M, densities of 2 - 8 x 10(7) cm(-3), and separations of similar to 1200 au. The substructures are massive enough (greater than or similar to 0.1 M) to form young stellar objects and are likely examples of the earliest stage of stellar embryos that can lead to widely (similar to 1200 au) separated multiple systems.Peer reviewe

ATOMS : ALMA three-millimeter observations of massive star-forming regions - III. Catalogues of candidate hot molecular cores and hyper/ultra compact H II regions

A correction has been published: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 511, Issue 1, March 2022, Pages 501–505, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac039We have identified 453 compact dense cores in 3mm continuum emission maps in the ALMA Three-millimetre Observations of Massive Star-forming regions survey, and compiled three catalogues of high-mass star-forming cores. One catalogue, referred to as hyper/ultra compact (H/UC)-HII catalogue, includes 89 cores that enshroud H/UC HII regions as characterized by associated compact H40 alpha emission. A second catalogue, referred to as pure s-cHMC, includes 32 candidate hot molecular cores (HMCs) showing rich spectra (N >= 20 lines) of complex organic molecules (COMs) and not associated with H/UC-HII regions. The third catalogue, referred to as pure w-cHMC, includes 58 candidate HMCs with relatively low levels of COM richness and not associated with H/UC-Hii regions. These three catalogues of dense cores provide an important foundation for future studies of the early stages of high-mass star formation across the Milky Way. We also find that nearly half of H/UC-HII cores are candidate HMCs. From the number counts of COM-containing and H/UC-HII cores, we suggest that the duration of high-mass protostellar cores showing chemically rich features is at least comparable to the lifetime of H/UC-HII regions. For cores in the H/UC-HII catalogue, the width of the H40 alpha line increases as the core size decreases, suggesting that the non-thermal dynamical and/or pressure line-broadening mechanisms dominate on the smaller scales of the H/UC-HII cores.Peer reviewe

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

Search for Physics beyond the Standard Model in Events with Overlapping Photons and Jets

Results are reported from a search for new particles that decay into a photon and two gluons, in events with jets. Novel jet substructure techniques are developed that allow photons to be identified in an environment densely populated with hadrons. The analyzed proton-proton collision data were collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in 2016 at root s = 13 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). The spectra of total transverse hadronic energy of candidate events are examined for deviations from the standard model predictions. No statistically significant excess is observed over the expected background. The first cross section limits on new physics processes resulting in such events are set. The results are interpreted as upper limits on the rate of gluino pair production, utilizing a simplified stealth supersymmetry model. The excluded gluino masses extend up to 1.7 TeV, for a neutralino mass of 200 GeV and exceed previous mass constraints set by analyses targeting events with isolated photons.Peer reviewe