118 research outputs found
Loose Ends for the Exomoon Candidate Host Kepler-1625b
The claim of an exomoon candidate in the Kepler-1625b system has generated
substantial discussion regarding possible alternative explanations for the
purported signal. In this work we examine in detail these possibilities. First,
the effect of more flexible trend models is explored and we show that
sufficiently flexible models are capable of attenuating the signal, although
this is an expected byproduct of invoking such models. We also explore trend
models using X and Y centroid positions and show that there is no data-driven
impetus to adopt such models over temporal ones. We quantify the probability
that the 500 ppm moon-like dip could be caused by a Neptune-sized transiting
planet to be < 0.75%. We show that neither autocorrelation, Gaussian processes
nor a Lomb-Scargle periodogram are able to recover a stellar rotation period,
demonstrating that K1625 is a quiet star with periodic behavior < 200 ppm.
Through injection and recovery tests, we find that the star does not exhibit a
tendency to introduce false-positive dip-like features above that of pure
Gaussian noise. Finally, we address a recent re-analysis by Kreidberg et al
(2019) and show that the difference in conclusions is not from differing
systematics models but rather the reduction itself. We show that their
reduction exhibits i) slightly higher intra-orbit and post-fit residual
scatter, ii) 900 ppm larger flux offset at the visit change, iii)
2 times larger Y-centroid variations, and iv) 3.5 times
stronger flux-centroid correlation coefficient than the original analysis.
These points could be explained by larger systematics in their reduction,
potentially impacting their conclusions.Comment: 21 pages, 4 tables, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journal, January 202
Women’s knowledge, attitudes and views of preconception health and intervention delivery methods:a cross-sectional survey
Background: Several preconception exposures have been associated with adverse pregnancy, birth and postpartum outcomes. However, few studies have investigated women’s knowledge of and attitudes towards preconception health, and the acceptability of potential intervention methods. Methods: Seven primary care centres in the West of England posted questionnaires to 4330 female patients aged 18 to 48 years. Without providing examples, we asked women to list maternal preconception exposures that might affect infant and maternal outcomes, and assessed their knowledge of nine literature-derived risk factors. Attitudes towards preconception health (interest, intentions, self-efficacy and perceived awareness and importance) and the acceptability of intervention delivery methods were also assessed. Multivariable multilevel regression examined participant characteristics associated with these outcomes. Results: Of those who received questionnaires, 835 (19.3%) responded. Women were most aware of the preconception risk factors of diet (86.0%) and physical activity (79.2%). Few were aware of weight (40.1%), folic acid (32.9%), abuse (6.3%), advanced age (5.9%) and interpregnancy intervals (0.2%), and none mentioned interpregnancy weight change or excess iron intake. After adjusting for demographic and reproductive covariates, women aged 18–24-years (compared to 40–48-year-olds) and nulligravid women were less aware of the benefit of preconception folic acid supplementation (adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for age: 4.30 [2.10–8.80], gravidity: aOR 2.48 [1.70–3.62]). Younger women were more interested in learning more about preconception health (aOR 0.37 [0.21–0.63]) but nulligravid women were less interested in this (aOR 1.79 [1.30–2.46]). Women with the lowest household incomes (versus the highest) were less aware of preconception weight as a risk factor (aOR: 3.11 [1.65–5.84]) and rated the importance of preconception health lower (aOR 3.38 [1.90–6.00]). The most acceptable information delivery methods were websites/apps (99.5%), printed healthcare materials (98.6%), family/partners (96.3%), schools (94.4%), television (91.9%), pregnancy tests (91.0%) and doctors, midwives and nurses (86.8–97.0%). Dentists (23.9%) and hairdressers/beauticians (18.1%) were the least acceptable. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate a need to promote awareness of preconception risk factors and motivation for preconception health changes, particularly amongst younger and nulligravid women and women with lower incomes. Interventions to improve preconception health should focus on communication from healthcare professionals, schools, family members, and digital media
Epidemiology of adult overweight recording and management by UK GPs:a systematic review
Supplementary Table: Key components of included studies. A table detailing key components of included studies. (PDF 99 kb
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