Dynamics of Inner Galactic Disks: The Striking Case of M100

We investigate gas dynamics in the presence of a double inner Lindblad resonance within a barred disk galaxy. Using an example of a prominent spiral, M100, we reproduce the basic central morphology, including four dominant regions of star formation corresponding to the compression maxima in the gas. These active star forming sites delineate an inner boundary (so-called nuclear ring) of a rather broad oval detected in the near infrared. We find that inclusion of self-gravitational effects in the gas is necessary in order to understand its behavior in the vicinity of the resonances and its subsequent evolution. The self-gravity of the gas is also crucial to estimate the effect of a massive nuclear ring on periodic orbits in the stellar bar.Comment: 11 pages, postscript, compressed, uuencoded. Paper and 4 figures available at ftp://pa.uky.edu/shlosman/nobel or at http://www.pa.uky.edu/~shlosman/ . Invited talk at the Centennial Nobel Symposium on "Barred Galaxies and Circumnuclear Activity," A.Sandquist et al. (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, in pres

Stars and Gas in the Inner Parts of Galaxies seen in SAURON Integral Field Observations

We give two examples of spiral galaxies that show non-circular gas motions in the inner kiloparsecs, from SAURON integral field spectroscopy. We use harmonic decomposition of the velocity field of the ionized gas to study the underlying mass distribution, employing linear theory. The higher order harmonic terms and the main kinematic features of the observed data are consistent with an analytically constructed simple bar model. We also present maps of a number of strong absorption lines in M 100, derive simple stellar populations and correlate them with features in the gas kinematics.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published in 'The Fate of Gas in Galaxies', editors R. Morganti et al., New Astronomy Review (Elsevier). needs the elsart.cls style-file. A higher resolution version available at http://www.astro.rug.nl/~peletier/Research.htm

Rings and bars: unmasking secular evolution of galaxies

Secular evolution gradually shapes galaxies by internal processes, in contrast to early cosmological evolution which is more rapid. An important driver of secular evolution is the flow of gas from the disk into the central regions, often under the influence of a bar. In this paper, we review several new observational results on bars and nuclear rings in galaxies. They show that these components are intimately linked to each other, and to the properties of their host galaxy. We briefly discuss how upcoming observations, e.g., imaging from the Spitzer Survey of Stellar Structure in Galaxies (S4G), will lead to significant further advances in this area of research.Comment: Invited review at "Galaxies and their Masks", celebrating Ken Freeman's 70-th birthday, Sossusvlei, Namibia, April 2010. To be published by Springer, New York, editors D.L. Block, K.C. Freeman, & I. Puerari; minor change

Indicatoren voor de zorgtoewijzing bij persoonlijkheidsstoornissen: resultaten van een concept map analyse

Using the concept map method, this study revealed patient characteristics that are important for treatment selection decisions in patients with personality disorders. Concept mapping is a specific type of structured conceptualization process and describes the underlying structure of specific phenomena. The method uses qualitative and quantitative methods. In this study, we integrated a literature investigation with the opinions of 29 experts in the field of treatment allocation and/or personality disorders. Our goal was to reduce and describe the number of patient characteristics that are important for treatment allocation in personality disorders. The concept map procedure resulted in eight patient characteristics: (1) severity of symptoms, (2) severity of personality pathology, (3) ego-adaptive capacity, (4) motivation and capacity for a therapeutic alliance, (5) patient’s social system, (6) social demographic variables, (7) traumata, (8) treatment history and physical examination. This report describes in detail the concept mapping procedure and the outcomes are discussed

The Psychological Impact of Prenatal Diagnosis and Disclosure of Susceptibility Loci: First Impressions of Parents’ Experiences

Genomic microarray may detect susceptibility loci (SL) for neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and epilepsy, with a yet unquantifiable risk for the fetus. The prenatal disclosure of susceptibility loci is a topic of much debate. Many health care professionals fear that reporting susceptibility loci may put a psychological burden on pregnant couples. It is our policy to disclose prenatal susceptibility loci as we recognize them as actionable for prospective parents. The aim of this report was to evaluate the psychological impact of disclosing a prenatal diagnosis of susceptibility loci. The psychological impact of disclosing susceptibility loci was evaluated in the first patients who received such results. Eight out of 15 women who had a susceptibility locus disclosed and four of their partners consented to share their experiences through a telephonic evaluation (n = 12). Follow-up time ranged from 3 to 15 months after their prenatal test result. The reporting of susceptibility loci was initially ‘shocking’ for five parents while the other seven felt ‘worried’. Ten out of 12 participants indicated they would like to be informed about the susceptibility locus again, two were unsure. Most had no enduring worries. Participants unanimously indicated that pregnant couples should have an individualized pre-test choice about susceptibility loci (non)disclosure. We observed no negative psychological impact with the prenatal diagnosis and disclosure of SL on participants. A key factor in mitigating parental anxiety with SL disclosure appears to be post-test genetic counseling. Our report confirms that pregnant women and their partners prefer an individualized choice regarding the scope of prenatal testing

False negative NIPT results: Risk figures for chromosomes 13,18 and 21 based on chorionic villi results in 5967 cases and literature review

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) demonstrated a small chance for a false negative result. Since the "fetal" DNA in maternal blood originates from the cytotrophoblast of chorionic villi (CV), some false negative results will have a biological origin. Based on our experience with cytogenetic studies of CV, we tried to estimate this risk. 5967 CV samples of pregnancies at high risk for common aneuplodies were cytogenetically investigated in our centre between January 2000 and December 2011. All cases of fetal trisomy 13,18 and 21 were retrospectively studied for the presence of a normal karyotype or mosaicism < 30% in short-term cultured (STC-) villi. 404 cases of trisomies 13,18 and 21 were found amongst 5967 samples (6,8%). Of these 404 cases, 14 (3,7%) had a normal or low mosaic karyotype in STC-villi and therefore would potentially be missed with NIPT. It involved 2% (5/242) of all trisomy 21 cases and 7.3% (9/123) of all trisomy 18 cases. In 1:426 (14/5967) NIPT samples of patients at high risk for common aneuploidies, a trisomy 18 or 21 will potentially be missed due to the biological phenomenon of absence of the chromosome aberration in the cytotrophoblast

Choosing between Higher and Lower Resolution Microarrays

Developments in prenatal testing allow the detection of more findings. SNP arrays in prenatal diagnosis (PND) can be analyzed at 0.5 Mb resolution detecting more clinically relevant anomalies, or at 5 Mb resolution. We investigated whether women had sufficient knowledge to make informed choices regarding the scope of their prenatal test that were consistent with their attitude. Pregnant women could choose between testing at 5 or at 0.5 Mb array. Consenting women (N = 69) received pre-test genetic counseling by phone and filled out the Measure of Informed Choice questionnaire designed for this study. Choices based on sufficient knowledge and consistent with attitude were considered informed. Sixty-two percent of the women made an adequately informed choice, based on sufficient knowledge and attitude-consistent with their choice of microarray resolution. Women who made an informed choice, opted for 0.5 Mb array resolution more often. There were no differences between women making adequately informed or less informed choices regarding level of experienced anxiety or doubts. Over time on T0 and T1, anxiety and doubts significantly decreased. While previous studies demonstrated that knowledge is an important component in informed decision-making, this study underlines that a consistent attitude might be equally important for decision-making. We advocate more focus on attitude-consistency and deliberation as compared to only a strong focus on knowledge

First detection of the outer edge of an AGN accretion disc: very fast multiband optical variability of NGC 4395 with GTC/HiPERCAM and LT/IO:O

We present fast (∼200 s sampling) ugriz photometry of the low -mass AGN NGC 4395 with the Liverpool Telescope, followed by very fast (3 s sampling) us, gs, rs, is, and zs simultaneous monitoring with HiPERCAM on the 10.4m GTC. These observations provide the fastest ever AGN multiband photometry and very precise lag measurements. Unlike in all other AGN, gs lags us by a large amount, consistent with disc reprocessing but not with reprocessing in the broad-line region (BLR). There is very little increase in lag with wavelength at long wavelengths, indicating an outer edge (Rout) to the reprocessor. We have compared truncated disc reprocessing models to the combined HiPERCAM and previous X-ray/UV lags. For the normally accepted mass of 3.6 × 105M⊙, we obtain reasonable agreement with zero spin, Rout ∼ 1700Rg and the DONE physically motivated temperature-dependent disc colour-correction factor (fcol ⁠). A smaller mass of 4 × 104M⊙ can only be accommodated if fcol=2.4⁠, which is probably unrealistically high. Disc self gravity is probably unimportant in this low-mass AGN but an obscuring wind may provide an edge. For the small mass, the dust sublimation radius is similar to Rout so the wind could be dusty. However, for the more likely large mass, the sublimation radius is further out so the optically thick base of a line-driven gaseous wind is more likely. The inner edge of the BLR is close to Rout in both cases. These observations provide the first good evidence for a truncated AGN disc and caution that truncation should be included in reverberation lag modelling