Hubble Space Telescope WFPC-2 Imaging of Cassiopeia A

The young SNR Cassiopeia A was imaged with WFPC-2 through four filters selected to capture the complete velocity range of the remnant's main shell in several important emission lines. Primary lines detected were [O III] 4959,5007, [N II] 6583, [S II] 6716,6731 + [O II] 7319,7330 + [O I] 6300,6364, and [S III] 9069,9532. About 3/4th of the remnant's main shell was imaged in all four filters. Considerable detail is observed in the reverse-shocked ejecta with typical knot scale lengths of 0.2"-0.4" (1 - 2 x 10^16 cm). Both bright and faint emission features appear highly clumped. Large differences in [S III] and [O III] line intensities indicating chemical abundance differences are also seen, particularly in knots located along the bright northern limb and near the base of the northeast jet. A line of curved overlapping filament in the remnant's northwestern rim appears to mark the location of the remnant's reverse shock front in this region. Finger-like ejecta structures elsewhere suggest cases where the reverse shock front is encountering the remnant's clumped ejecta. Narrow-band [N II] images of the remnant's circumstellar knots ("QSFs") reveal them to be 0.1"-0.6" thick knots and filaments, often with diffuse edges facing away from the center of expansion. Three color composite images of the whole remnant and certain sections along with individual filter enlargements of selected regions of the bright optical shell are presented and discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figures Accepted to the Astronomical Journa

The interaction between practice and performance pressure on the planning and control of fast target directed movement

Pressure to perform often results in decrements to both outcome accuracy and the kinematics of motor skills. Furthermore, this pressure-performance relationship is moderated by the amount of accumulated practice or the experience of the performer. However, the interactive effects of performance pressure and practice on the underlying processes of motor skills are far from clear. Movement execution involves both an offline pre-planning process and an online control process. The present experiment aimed to investigate the interaction between pressure and practice on these two motor control processes. Two groups of participants (control and pressure; N = 12 and 12, respectively) practiced a video aiming amplitude task and were transferred to either a non-pressure (control group) or a pressure condition (pressure group) both early and late in practice. Results revealed similar accuracy and movement kinematics between the control and pressure groups at early transfer. However, at late transfer, the introduction of pressure was associated with increased performance compared to control conditions. Analysis of kinematic variability throughout the movement suggested that the performance increase was due to participants adopting strategies to improve movement planning in response to pressure reducing the effectiveness of the online control system

Planck 2015 results. XXIII. The thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect--cosmic infrared background correlation

We use Planck data to detect the cross-correlation between the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect and the infrared emission from the galaxies that make up the the cosmic infrared background (CIB). We first perform a stacking analysis towards Planck-confirmed galaxy clusters. We detect infrared emission produced by dusty galaxies inside these clusters and demonstrate that the infrared emission is about 50% more extended than the tSZ effect. Modelling the emission with a Navarro--Frenk--White profile, we find that the radial profile concentration parameter is $c_{500} = 1.00^{+0.18}_{-0.15}$. This indicates that infrared galaxies in the outskirts of clusters have higher infrared flux than cluster-core galaxies. We also study the cross-correlation between tSZ and CIB anisotropies, following three alternative approaches based on power spectrum analyses: (i) using a catalogue of confirmed clusters detected in Planck data; (ii) using an all-sky tSZ map built from Planck frequency maps; and (iii) using cross-spectra between Planck frequency maps. With the three different methods, we detect the tSZ-CIB cross-power spectrum at significance levels of (i) 6 $\sigma$, (ii) 3 $\sigma$, and (iii) 4 $\sigma$. We model the tSZ-CIB cross-correlation signature and compare predictions with the measurements. The amplitude of the cross-correlation relative to the fiducial model is $A_{\rm tSZ-CIB}= 1.2\pm0.3$. This result is consistent with predictions for the tSZ-CIB cross-correlation assuming the best-fit cosmological model from Planck 2015 results along with the tSZ and CIB scaling relations.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figure

Early toxicity predicts long-term survival in high-grade glioma

BACKGROUND: Patients with high-grade gliomas are treated with surgery followed by chemoradiation. The risk factors and implications of neurological side effects are not known. METHODS: Acute and late ≥ grade 3 neurological toxicities (NTs) were analysed among 2761 patients from 14 RTOG trials accrued from 1983 to 2003. The association between acute and late toxicity was analysed using a stepwise logistic regression model. The association between the occurrence of acute NT and survival was analysed as an independent variable. RESULTS: There were 2610 analysable patients (86% glioblastoma, 10% anaplastic astrocytoma). All received a systemic agent during radiation (83% chemotherapy, 17% biological agents). Median radiation dose was 60 Gy. There were 182 acute and 83 late NT events. On univariate analysis, older age, poor performance status, aggressive surgery, pre-existing neurological dysfunction, poor mental status and twice-daily radiation were associated with increased acute NT. In a stepwise logistic regression model the occurrence of acute NT was significantly associated with late NT (OR=2.40; 95% CI=1.2-4.8; P=0.014). The occurrence of acute NT predicted poorer overall survival, independent of recursive partitioning analysis class (median 7.8 vs 11.8 months). INTERPRETATION: Acute NT is significantly associated with both late NT and overall survival

The First Magnetic Fields

We review current ideas on the origin of galactic and extragalactic magnetic fields. We begin by summarizing observations of magnetic fields at cosmological redshifts and on cosmological scales. These observations translate into constraints on the strength and scale magnetic fields must have during the early stages of galaxy formation in order to seed the galactic dynamo. We examine mechanisms for the generation of magnetic fields that operate prior during inflation and during subsequent phase transitions such as electroweak symmetry breaking and the quark-hadron phase transition. The implications of strong primordial magnetic fields for the reionization epoch as well as the first generation of stars is discussed in detail. The exotic, early-Universe mechanisms are contrasted with astrophysical processes that generate fields after recombination. For example, a Biermann-type battery can operate in a proto-galaxy during the early stages of structure formation. Moreover, magnetic fields in either an early generation of stars or active galactic nuclei can be dispersed into the intergalactic medium.Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Pdf can be also downloaded from http://canopus.cnu.ac.kr/ryu/cosmic-mag1.pd

The Toronto Concussion Study: a prospective investigation of characteristics in a cohort of adults from the general population seeking care following acute concussion, 2016–2020

PurposeThere is limited research regarding the characteristics of those from the general population who seek care following acute concussion.MethodsTo address this gap, a large cohort of 473 adults diagnosed with an acute concussion (female participants = 287; male participants = 186) was followed using objective measures prospectively over 16 weeks beginning at a mean of 5.1 days post-injury.ResultsFalls were the most common mechanism of injury (MOI) (n = 137, 29.0%), followed by sports-related recreation (n = 119, 25.2%). Male participants were more likely to be injured playing recreational sports or in a violence-related incident; female participants were more likely to be injured by falling. Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) was reported by 80 participants (16.9 %), and loss of consciousness (LOC) was reported by 110 (23.3%). In total, 54 participants (11.4%) reported both PTA and LOC. Male participants had significantly higher rates of PTA and LOC after their injury compared to their female counterparts. Higher initial symptom burden was associated with a longer duration of recovery for both male and female participants. Female participants had more symptoms and higher severity of symptoms at presentation compared to male participants. Female participants were identified to have a longer recovery duration, with a mean survival time of 6.50 weeks compared to 5.45 weeks in male participants (p < 0.0001). A relatively high proportion of female and male participants in this study reported premorbid diagnoses of depression and anxiety compared to general population characteristics.ConclusionAlthough premorbid diagnoses of depression and/or anxiety were associated with higher symptom burden at the initial visit, the duration of symptoms was not directly associated with a pre-injury history of psychological/psychiatric disturbance. This cohort of adults, from the general population, seeking care for their acute concussion attained clinical and functional recovery over a period of 4–12 weeks

Testing Standard and Modular Designs for Psychotherapy Treating Depression, Anxiety, and Conduct Problems in Youth

CONTEXT: Decades of randomized controlled trials have produced separate evidence-based treatments for depression, anxiety, and conduct problems in youth, but these treatments are not often used in clinical practice, and they produce mixed results in trials with the comorbid, complex youths seen in practice. An integrative, modular redesign may help. OBJECTIVE: Standard/separate and modular/integrated arrangements of evidence-based treatments for depression, anxiety, and conduct problems in youth were compared with usual care treatment, with the modular design permitting a multidisorder focus and a flexible application of treatment procedures. DESIGN: Randomized effectiveness trial. SETTING: Ten outpatient clinical service organizations in Massachusetts and Hawaii. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 84 community clinicians were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions for the treatment of 174 clinically referred youths who were 7 to 13 years of age (70% of these youths were boys, and 45% were white). The study was conducted during the period from January 12, 2005 to May 8, 2009. INTERVENTIONS: Standard manual treatment (59 youths [34% of the sample]; cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety, and behavioral parent training for conduct problems), modular treatment (62 youths [36%]; integrating the procedures of the 3 separate treatments), and usual care (53 youths [30%]). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcomes were assessed using weekly youth and parent assessments. These assessments relied on a standardized Brief Problem Checklist and a patient-generated Top Problems Assessment (ie, the severity ratings on the problems that the youths and parents had identified as most important). We also conducted a standardized diagnostic assessment before and after treatment. RESULTS: Mixed effects regression analyses showed that modular treatment produced significantly steeper trajectories of improvement than usual care and standard treatment on multiple Brief Problem Checklist and Top Problems Assessment measures. Youths receiving modular treatment also had significantly fewer diagnoses than youths receiving usual care after treatment. In contrast, outcomes of standard manual treatment did not differ significantly from outcomes of usual care. CONCLUSIONS: The modular approach outperformed usual care and standard evidence-based treatments on multiple clinical outcome measures. The modular approach may be a promising way to build on the strengths of evidence-based treatments, improving their utility and effectiveness with referred youths in clinical practice settings. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01178554.Psycholog