Beyond the Brim of the Hat: Kinematics of Globular Clusters out to Large Radius in the Sombrero Galaxy

We have obtained radial velocity measurements for 51 new globular clusters around the Sombrero galaxy. These measurements were obtained using spectroscopic observations from the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope and the Hydra spectrograph at WIYN. Combined with our own past measurements and velocity measurements obtained from the literature we have constructed a large database of radial velocities that contains a total of 360 confirmed globular clusters. Previous studies' analyses of the kinematics and mass profile of the Sombrero globular cluster system have been constrained to the inner ~9' (~24 kpc or ~5 effective radii), but our new measurements have increased the radial coverage of the data, allowing us to determine the kinematic properties of M104 out to ~15' (~41 kpc or ~9 effective radii). We use our set of radial velocities to study the GC system kinematics and to determine the mass profile and V-band mass-to-light profile of the galaxy. We find that the V-band mass-to-light ratio increases from 4.5 at the center to a value of 20.9 at 41 kpc (~9 effective radii or 15'), which implies that the dark matter halo extends to the edge of our available data set. We compare our mass profile at 20 kpc (~4 effective radii or ~7.4') to the mass computed from x-ray data and find good agreement. We also use our data to look for rotation in the globular cluster system as a whole, as well as in the red and blue subpopulations. We find no evidence for significant rotation in any of these samples.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal; 23 pages, 14 figures, and 2 table

Development and analytical performance evaluation of an automated chemiluminescent immunoassay for pro-gastrin releasing peptide (ProGRP)

Background: Pro-gastrin releasing peptide ( ProGRP) concentrations in blood play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The automated quantitative ARCHITECT (R) ProGRP assay was developed to aid in the differential diagnosis and in the management of SCLC. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the analytical performance of this chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay at multiple sites. Methods: ARCHITECT ProGRP measures ProGRP using a two-step sandwich using monoclonal anti-ProGRP antibodies coated on paramagnetic microparticles and labeled with acridinium. Analytical performance of the assay was evaluated at four sites: Abbott Japan, Denka Seiken, the Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Munich. Results: Total precision (%CV) for nine analyte concentrations was between 2.2 and 5.7. The analytical sensitivity of the assay was between 0.20 pg/mL and 0.88 pg/mL. The functional sensitivity at 20% CV was between 0.66 pg/mL and 1.73 pg/mL. The assay was linear up to 50,000 pg/mL using a 1:10 autodilution protocol. The calibration curve was stable for 30 days. Comparison with the Fujirebio microtiter plate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (EIA) ProGRP assay gave a slope of 0.93 and a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.99. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that the ARCHITECT ProGRP assay has excellent sensitivity, precision, and correlation to a reference method. This assay provides a convenient automated method for ProGRP measurement in serum and plasma in hospitals and clinical laboratories. Clin Chem Lab Med 2009;47:1557-63

The Wass report:moving forward 3 years on

No abstract available

Measuring Mass-Based Hygroscopicity of Atmospheric Particles through in Situ Imaging.

Quantifying how atmospheric particles interact with water vapor is critical for understanding the effects of aerosols on climate. We present a novel method to measure the mass-based hygroscopicity of particles while characterizing their elemental and carbon functional group compositions. Since mass-based hygroscopicity is insensitive to particle geometry, it is advantageous for probing the hygroscopic behavior of atmospheric particles, which can have irregular morphologies. Combining scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM/EDX), scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) analysis, and in situ STXM humidification experiments, this method was validated using laboratory-generated, atmospherically relevant particles. Then, the hygroscopicity and elemental composition of 15 complex atmospheric particles were analyzed by leveraging quantification of C, N, and O from STXM, and complementary elemental quantification from SEM/EDX. We found three types of hygroscopic responses, and correlated high hygroscopicity with Na and Cl content. The mixing state of 158 other particles from the sample broadly agreed with those of the humidified particles, indicating the potential to infer atmospheric hygroscopic behavior from a selected subset of particles. These methods offer unique quantitative capabilities to characterize and correlate the hygroscopicity and chemistry of individual submicrometer atmospheric particles

Measuring Mass-Based Hygroscopicity of Atmospheric Particles through in Situ Imaging

Quantifying how atmospheric particles interact with water vapor is critical for understanding the effects of aerosols on climate. We present a novel method to measure the mass-based hygroscopicity of particles while characterizing their elemental and carbon functional group compositions. Since mass-based hygroscopicity is insensitive to particle geometry, it is advantageous for probing the hygroscopic behavior of atmospheric particles, which can have irregular morphologies. Combining scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM/EDX), scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) analysis, and in situ STXM humidification experiments, this method was validated using laboratory-generated, atmospherically relevant particles. Then, the hygroscopicity and elemental composition of 15 complex atmospheric particles were analyzed by leveraging quantification of C, N, and O from STXM, and complementary elemental quantification from SEM/EDX. We found three types of hygroscopic responses, and correlated high hygroscopicity with Na and Cl content. The mixing state of 158 other particles from the sample broadly agreed with those of the humidified particles, indicating the potential to infer atmospheric hygroscopic behavior from a selected subset of particles. These methods offer unique quantitative capabilities to characterize and correlate the hygroscopicity and chemistry of individual submicrometer atmospheric particles