The european urology residents education programme hands-on training format: 4 years of hands-on training improvements from the European School of Urology

Background: The European School of Urology (ESU) started the European Urology Residents Education Programme (EUREP) in 2003 for final year urology residents, with hands-on training (HOT) added later in 2007. Objective: To assess the geographical reach of EUREP, trainee demographics, and individual quality feedback in relation to annual methodology improvements in HOT. Design, setting, and participants: From September 2014 to October 2017 (four EUREP courses) several new features have been applied to the HOT format of the EUREP course: 1:1 training sessions (2015), fixed 60-min time slots (2016), and standardised teaching methodology (2017). The resulting EUREP HOT format was verified by collecting and prospectively analysing the following data: total number of participants attending different HOT courses; participants’ age; country of origin; and feedback obtained annually. Results and limitations: A total of 796 participants from 54 countries participated in 1450 HOT sessions over the last 4 yr. This included 294 (20%) ureteroscopy (URS) sessions, 237 (16.5%) transurethral resection (TUR) sessions, 840 (58%) basic laparoscopic sessions, and 79 (5.5%) intermediate laparoscopic sessions. While 712 residents (89%) were from Europe, 84 (11%) were from non-European nations. Of the European residents, most came from Italy (16%), Germany (15%), Spain (15%), and Romania (8%). Feedback for the basic laparoscopic session showed a constant improvement in scores over the last 4 yr, with the highest scores achieved last year. This included feedback on improvements in tutor rating (p = 0.017), organisation (p < 0.001), and personal experience with EUREP (p < 0.001). Limitations lie in the difficulties associated with the use of an advanced training curriculum with wet laboratory or cadaveric courses in this format, although these could be performed in other training centres in conjunction with EUREP. Conclusions: The EUREP trainee demographics show that the purpose of the course is being achieved, with excellent feedback reported. While European trainees dominate the demographics, participation from a number of non-European countries suggests continued ESU collaboration with other national societies and wider dissemination of simulation training worldwide.EUREP is supported by educational grant from Olympus.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Multiphase circumgalactic medium probed with MUSE and ALMA

Galaxy haloes appear to be missing a large fraction of their baryons, most probably hiding in the circumgalactic medium (CGM), a diffuse component within the dark matter halo that extends far from the inner regions of the galaxies. A powerful tool to study the CGM gas is offered by absorption lines in the spectra of background quasars. Here, we present optical (MUSE) and mm (ALMA) observations of the field of the quasar Q1130−1449 which includes a log [N(H I)/cm−2] = 21.71 ± 0.07 absorber at z = 0.313. Ground-based VLT/MUSE 3D spectroscopy shows 11 galaxies at the redshift of the absorber down to a limiting SFR > 0.01 M⊙ yr−1 (covering emission lines of [O II], Hβ, [O III], [N II], and H α), 7 of which are new discoveries. In particular, we report a new emitter with a smaller impact parameter to the quasar line of sight (b = 10.6 kpc) than the galaxies detected so far. Three of the objects are also detected in CO(1–0) in our ALMA observations indicating long depletion time-scales for the molecular gas and kinematics consistent with the ionized gas. We infer from dedicated numerical cosmological RAMSES zoom-in simulations that the physical properties of these objects qualitatively resemble a small group environment, possibly part of a filamentary structure. Based on metallicity and velocity arguments, we conclude that the neutral gas traced in absorption is only partly related to these emitting galaxies while a larger fraction is likely the signature of gas with surface brightness almost four orders of magnitude fainter that current detection limits. Together, these findings challenge a picture where strong-N(HI) quasar absorbers are associated with a single bright galaxy and favour a scenario where the H I gas probed in absorption is related to far more complex galaxy structures

MUSE-ALMA haloes V: physical properties and environment of z ≤ 1.4 H i quasar absorbers

We present results of the MUSE-ALMA haloes, an ongoing study of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of low-redshift galaxies (z ≤ 1.4), currently comprising 14 strong H I absorbers in 5 quasar fields. We detect 43 galaxies associated with absorbers down to star formation rate (SFR) limits of 0.01–0.1 M⊙ yr−1, found within impact parameters (b) of 250 kpc from the quasar sightline. Excluding the targeted absorbers, we report a high detection rate of 89 per cent and find that most absorption systems are associated with pairs or groups of galaxies (3–11 members). We note that galaxies with the smallest impact parameters are not necessarily the closest to the absorbing gas in velocity space. Using a multiwavelength data set (UVES/HIRES, HST, MUSE), we combine metal and H I column densities, allowing for derivation of the lower limits of neutral gas metallicity as well as emission-line diagnostics (SFR, metallicities) of the ionized gas in the galaxies. We find that groups of associated galaxies follow the canonical relations of N(H I)–b and Wr(2796)–b, defining a region in parameter space below which no absorbers are detected. The metallicity of the ISM of associated galaxies, when measured, is higher than the metallicity limits of the absorber. In summary, our findings suggest that the physical properties of the CGM of complex group environments would benefit from associating the kinematics of individual absorbing components with each galaxy member