The VISTA Science Archive

We describe the VISTA Science Archive (VSA) and its first public release of data from five of the six VISTA Public Surveys. The VSA exists to support the VISTA Surveys through their lifecycle: the VISTA Public Survey consortia can use it during their quality control assessment of survey data products before submission to the ESO Science Archive Facility (ESO SAF); it supports their exploitation of survey data prior to its publication through the ESO SAF; and, subsequently, it provides the wider community with survey science exploitation tools that complement the data product repository functionality of the ESO SAF. This paper has been written in conjunction with the first public release of public survey data through the VSA and is designed to help its users understand the data products available and how the functionality of the VSA supports their varied science goals. We describe the design of the database and outline the database-driven curation processes that take data from nightly pipeline-processed and calibrated FITS files to create science-ready survey datasets. Much of this design, and the codebase implementing it, derives from our earlier WFCAM Science Archive (WSA), so this paper concentrates on the VISTA-specific aspects and on improvements made to the system in the light of experience gained in operating the WSA.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Minor edits to fonts and typos after sub-editting. Published in A&

Unmet basic needs negatively affect health-related quality of life in people aging with HIV: results from the Positive Spaces, Healthy Places study

Abstract Background Basic needs (e.g., food security and stable housing) are important determinants of health and well-being, yet their impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the context of HIV and aging has not been systematically investigated. Methods Multiple linear regression models examined the relationship between unmet basic needs, and physical and mental HRQoL by age strata (20-34, 35-49 and 50+) in a cross-sectional sample of 496 people living with HIV in Ontario, Canada. Results An overwhelming majority of participants (87%) reported unmet needs related to food, clothing or housing. The prevalence of unmet basic needs in the two older groups appeared to be lower than among younger participants, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. The presence of unmet basic needs predicted substantially lower mean physical health and mental health summary scores in the two oldest groups. Notably, age moderated the influence of unmet basic needs on HRQoL. Conclusions The availability and accessibility of food security, appropriate clothing and stable housing for people living with HIV who are aging need to become a higher priority for program planners and decision makers

Binary pulsars studies with multiwavelength sky surveys – I. Companion star identification

The identification of the stellar companions to binary pulsars is key to studying the evolution of the binary system and how this is influenced by the interactions between the two stars. For only a fraction of the known binary pulsars, the stellar companions have been identified. Here, we used 11 source catalogues available from multiwavelength (ultraviolet, optical, infrared) imaging sky surveys to search for the stellar companions of a sample of 144 field binary pulsars (i.e. not in globular clusters) selected from the Australia Telescope National Facility data base (version 1.48) and from the public list of γ -ray pulsars detected by Fermi.We found positional associations in at least one source catalogue for 22 pulsars, of which 10 are detected in γ -rays by Fermi, including 15 millisecond pulsars. For six pulsars in our compilation, we confirm their identifications. For another seven pulsars that had yet not been identified, we examine potential identifications. In particular, we identified a likely companion star candidate to PSR J2317+1439, whereas for both PSR B1953+29 and PSR J1935+1726 the companion star identification is more uncertain. Follow-up observations of these three pulsars are needed to settle the proposed identifications. For the remaining nine pulsars that had been already identified, we provide additional spectral information in at least one of the surveys' spectral bands, which we will use to better constrain the stars' spectral energy distribution