World Food Day: 16 October 2008

No Abstract

Urban and rural differences in child injury deaths in South Africa: A one-year review

Injury, a major cause of morbidity and mortality for children worldwide, is concentrated in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite the growing rate of childhood injury in LMICs, effective prevention and control remain inadequate owing to the lack of comprehensive epidemiological information on the external causes and magnitude of this problem. This population based study examined whether the incidence and the pattern of fatal injuries among children differ in rural and urban areas of South Africa. The National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (NIMSS) was used to select cases for the period of 2007. Age and gender-specific incidence rates for rural and urban children were computed for specific injury types. Following a cross-sectional method, we analysed all deaths among children below 15 years of age in Gauteng (urban) and Mpumalanga (rural) who died in 2007. For the year 2007, NIMSS recorded a total of 612 injury deaths among children in Mpumalanga (rural) and another 1 400 injury deaths among children in Gauteng (urban). Equally high overall injury death rates were found among children from Gauteng (31.7/100 000) and Mpumalanga (29.2/100 000). The study also revealed several differences with respect to the primary external causes of child injury-related deaths across the two provinces. In particular, passenger related motor vehicle deaths were more evident among children in rural areas than in urban areas, while other unintentional (non-transport-related) deaths – specifically those associated with burns – were more common among urban children than among rural children.Such differences may arise because of the many environmental and infrastructure-related differences that exist between rural and urban areas. Therefore, prevention and intervention efforts in South Africa should focus on the risk factors that are unique to urban and rural children respectively.Keywords: childhood, urban, rural, death

One Year Later and the Myth of a Post-Racial Society

Many commentators, both conservative and liberal, have celebrated the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States, claiming the election signified America has truly become a “post-racial” society. It is not just Lou Dobbs who argues the United States in the “21st century [is a] post-partisan, post-racial society.” This view is consistent with beliefs the majority of White Americans have held for well over a decade: that African Americans have achieved, or will soon achieve, racial equality in the United States despite substantial evidence to the contrary. Indeed, this view is consistent with opinions found in the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and elsewhere—attitudes that even the tragic events following the Katrina disaster had nothing to do with race.African and African American Studie

New Young Star Candidates in BRC 27 and BRC 34

We used archival Spitzer Space Telescope mid-infrared data to search for young stellar objects (YSOs) in the immediate vicinity of two bright-rimmed clouds, BRC 27 (part of CMa R1) and BRC 34 (part of the IC 1396 complex). These regions both appear to be actively forming young stars, perhaps triggered by the proximate OB stars. In BRC 27, we find clear infrared excesses around 22 of the 26 YSOs or YSO candidates identified in the literature, and identify 16 new YSO candidates that appear to have IR excesses. In BRC 34, the one literature-identified YSO has an IR excess, and we suggest 13 new YSO candidates in this region, including a new Class I object. Considering the entire ensemble, both BRCs are likely of comparable ages, within the uncertainties of small number statistics and without spectroscopy to confirm or refute the YSO candidates. Similarly, no clear conclusions can yet be drawn about any possible age gradients that may be present across the BRCs.Comment: 54 pages, 19 figures, accepted by A

Progenitor, Precursor and Evolution of the Dusty Remnant of the Stellar Merger M31-LRN-2015

M31-2015-LRN is a likely stellar merger discovered in the Andromeda Galaxy in 2015. We present new optical to mid-infrared photometry and optical spectroscopy for this event. The transient brightened by ∼3 mag as compared to its progenitor. The complex precursor emission, which started ∼2 years before the nova event, may be explained by the binary undergoing Roche-lobe overflow. The dynamical mass loss from the outer Lagrange point L2 creates an optically thick outflow to power the observed brightening of the system. We find two possible periods of 16±0.3 and 28.1±1.4 days at different phases of the precursor lightcurve, possibly related to the geometry of the mass-loss from the binary. Although the progenitor spectral energy distribution shows no evidence of pre-existing warm dust in system, the remnant forms an optically thick dust shell 2−4 months after the outburst peak. The optical depth of the shell increases after 1.5 years, suggesting the existence of shocks that enhance the dust formation process. We propose that the merger remnant is likely an inflated giant obscured by a cooling shell of gas with mass ∼0.2 M⊙ ejected at the onset of the common envelope phase

Multiwavelength approach to classifying transient events in the direction of M31

Context. In the hunt for rare time-domain events, it is important to consider confusing exotic extragalactic phenomena with more common Galactic foreground events. Aims. We show how observations from multiple wavebands, in this case optical and X-ray observations, can be used to facilitate the distinction between the two. Methods. We discovered an extremely bright and rapid transient event during optical observations of the M 31 galaxy taken by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF). The persistent optical counterpart of this transient was previously thought to be a variable star in M 31 without any dramatic flux excursions. The iPTF event initially appeared to be an extraordinarily rapid and energetic extragalactic transient, which had a ≈3 mag positive flux excursion in less than a kilosecond; one of the exciting possibilities was this event could be a very fast nova in M 31. The nature of the source was resolved with the help of Chandraarchival data, where we found an X-ray counterpart and obtained its X-ray spectrum. Results. We find the X-ray spectrum of the quiescent emission can be described by a model of optically thin plasma emission with a temperature of ≈7 MK, typical for coronal emission from an active star. The combination of the X-ray luminosity, which is calculated assuming the source is located in M 31 (~3 × 10^(36) erg s^(−1)), and the color temperature exclude any type of known accreting compact object or active star in M 31. We argue instead that the optical transient source is an M-type main-sequence, active star located in the disk of the Milky Way at a distance of ~0.5–1 kpc. Its persistent X-ray luminosity is in the ≈1.3–5 × 10^(30)erg s^(−1) range and it has the absolute optical magnitude of 9.5–11.0 mag in the R band. The observed optical flare has the equivalent duration of ≈95 min and total energy of ≈(0.3–1) × 10^(35) erg in the R band, which places it among the brightest flares ever observed from an M-type star. This case can serve as an example for the classification of Galactic and extragalactic events in upcoming high-cadence time-domain projects, such as the Zwicky Transient Facility and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope