Multi-wavelength study of the gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231: III. Long slit spectroscopy: micro-lensing probes the QSO structure

(ABRIDGED) Aims: We discuss and characterize micro-lensing among the 3 brightest lensed images (A-B-C) of the gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231 (a quadruply imaged AGN) by means of long slit optical and NIR spectroscopy. Qualitative constraints on the size of different emission regions are derived. Methods: We decompose the spectra into their individual emission components using a multi-component fitting approach. A complementary decomposition of the spectra enables us to isolate the macro-lensed fraction of the spectra independently of any spectral modelling. Results: -1. The data support micro-lensing de-amplification of images A and C. Not only is the continuum emission microlensed in those images but also a fraction of the Broad Line emitting Region (BLR).-2. Micro-lensing of a very broad component of MgII emission line suggests that the corresponding emission occurs in a region more compact than the other components of the emission line. -3. We find evidence that a large fraction of the FeII emission arises in the outer parts of the BLR. We also find very compact emitting region in the ranges 3080-3540 A and 4630-4800 A that is likely associated with FeII. -4. The OIII narrow emission line regions are partly spatially resolved. This enables us to put a lower limit of 110h^{-1} pc on their intrinsic size. -5. Analysis of MgII absorption found in the spectra indicates that the absorbing medium is intrinsic to the quasar, has a covering factor of 20%, and is constituted of small clouds homogeneously distributed in front of the continuum and BLRs. -6. Two neighbour galaxies are detected at redshifts z=0.10 and z=0.289. These galaxies are possible members of galaxy groups reported at those redshifts.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics. Small modifications to match the final versio

The Formation of the First Massive Black Holes

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are common in local galactic nuclei, and SMBHs as massive as several billion solar masses already exist at redshift z=6. These earliest SMBHs may grow by the combination of radiation-pressure-limited accretion and mergers of stellar-mass seed BHs, left behind by the first generation of metal-free stars, or may be formed by more rapid direct collapse of gas in rare special environments where dense gas can accumulate without first fragmenting into stars. This chapter offers a review of these two competing scenarios, as well as some more exotic alternative ideas. It also briefly discusses how the different models may be distinguished in the future by observations with JWST, (e)LISA and other instruments.Comment: 47 pages with 306 references; this review is a chapter in "The First Galaxies - Theoretical Predictions and Observational Clues", Springer Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Eds. T. Wiklind, V. Bromm & B. Mobasher, in pres

The Formation and Evolution of the First Massive Black Holes

The first massive astrophysical black holes likely formed at high redshifts (z>10) at the centers of low mass (~10^6 Msun) dark matter concentrations. These black holes grow by mergers and gas accretion, evolve into the population of bright quasars observed at lower redshifts, and eventually leave the supermassive black hole remnants that are ubiquitous at the centers of galaxies in the nearby universe. The astrophysical processes responsible for the formation of the earliest seed black holes are poorly understood. The purpose of this review is threefold: (1) to describe theoretical expectations for the formation and growth of the earliest black holes within the general paradigm of hierarchical cold dark matter cosmologies, (2) to summarize several relevant recent observations that have implications for the formation of the earliest black holes, and (3) to look into the future and assess the power of forthcoming observations to probe the physics of the first active galactic nuclei.Comment: 39 pages, review for "Supermassive Black Holes in the Distant Universe", Ed. A. J. Barger, Kluwer Academic Publisher

On the cosmic evolution of the scaling relations between black holes and their host galaxies: Broad Line AGN in the zCOSMOS survey

(Abriged) We report on the measurement of the rest frame K-band luminosity and total stellar mass of the hosts of 89 broad line Active Galactic Nuclei detected in the zCOSMOS survey in the redshift range 1<z<2.2. The unprecedented multiwavelength coverage of the survey field allows us to disentangle the emission of the host galaxy from that of the nuclear black hole in their Spectral Energy Distributions. We derive an estimate of black hole masses through the analysis of the broad Mg II emission lines observed in the medium-resolution spectra taken with VIMOS/VLT as part of the zCOSMOS project. We found that, as compared to the local value, the average black hole to host galaxy mass ratio appears to evolve positively with redshift, with a best fit evolution of the form (1+z)^{0.68 \pm0.12 +0.6 -0.3}, where the large asymmetric systematic errors stem from the uncertainties in the choice of IMF, in the calibration of the virial relation used to estimate BH masses and in the mean QSO SED adopted. A thorough analysis of observational biases induced by intrinsic scatter in the scaling relations reinforces the conclusion that an evolution of the MBH-M* relation must ensue for actively growing black holes at early times: either its overall normalization, or its intrinsic scatter (or both) appear to increase with redshift. This can be interpreted as signature of either a more rapid growth of supermassive black holes at high redshift, a change of structural properties of AGN hosts at earlier times, or a significant mismatch between the typical growth times of nuclear black holes and host galaxies.Comment: 47 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Evaluation of patients with a recent clinical fracture and osteoporosis, a multidisciplinary approach

The aetiology of osteoporotic fractures is multifactorial, but little is known about the way to evaluate patients with a recent clinical fracture for the presence of secondary osteoporosis

Parathyroid Hormone versus Bisphosphonate Treatment on Bone Mineral Density in Osteoporosis Therapy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

BACKGROUND: Bisphosphonates and parathyroid hormone (PTH) represent the antiresorptive and anabolic classes of drugs for osteoporosis treatment. Bone mineral density (BMD) is an essential parameter for the evaluation of anti-osteoporotic drugs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of PTH versus bisphosphonates on BMD for the treatment of osteoporosis. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We performed a literature search to identify studies that investigated the effects of PTH versus bisphosphonates treatment on BMD. A total of 7 articles were included in this study, representing data on 944 subjects. The pooled data showed that the percent change of increased BMD in the spine is higher with PTH compared to bisphosphonates (WMD = 5.90, 95% CI: 3.69-8.10, p<0.01,). In the hip, high dose (40 µg) PTH (1-34) showed significantly higher increments of BMD compared to alendronate (femoral neck: WMD = 5.67, 95% CI: 3.47-7.87, p<0.01; total hip: WMD = 2.40, 95%CI: 0.49-4.31, p<0.05). PTH treatment has yielded significantly higher increments than bisphosphonates with a duration of over 12 months (femoral neck: WMD = 5.67, 95% CI: 3.47-7.86, p<0.01; total hip: WMD = 2.40, 95% CI: 0.49-4.31, P<0.05) and significantly lower increments at 12 months (femoral neck: WMD = -1.05, 95% CI: -2.26-0.16, p<0.01; total hip: WMD: -1.69, 95% CI: -3.05-0.34, p<0.05). In the distal radius, a reduction in BMD was significant between PTH and alendronate treatment. (WMD = -3.68, 95% CI: -5.57-1.79, p<0.01). DISCUSSION: Our results demonstrated that PTH significantly increased lumbar spine BMD as compared to treatment with bisphosphonates and PTH treatment induced duration- and dose-dependent increases in hip BMD as compared to bisphosphonates treatment. This study has also disclosed that for the distal radius, BMD was significantly lower from PTH treatment than alendronate treatment

The association between hip fracture and hip osteoarthritis: A case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There have been reports both supporting and refuting an inverse relationship between hip fracture and hip osteoarthritis (OA). We explore this relationship using a case-control study design.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Exclusion criteria were previous hip fracture (same side or contralateral side), age younger than 60 years, foreign nationality, pathological fracture, rheumatoid arthritis and cases were radiographic examinations were not found in the archives. We studied all subjects with hip fracture that remained after the exclusion process that were treated at Akureyri University Hospital, Iceland 1990-2008, n = 562 (74% women). Hip fracture cases were compared with a cohort of subjects with colon radiographs, n = 803 (54% women) to determine expected population prevalence of hip OA. Presence of radiographic hip OA was defined as a minimum joint space of 2.5 mm or less on an anteroposterior radiograph, or Kellgren and Lawrence grade 2 or higher. Possible causes of secondary osteoporosis were identified by review of medical records.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The age-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for subjects with hip fracture having radiographic hip OA was 0.30 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.12-0.74) for men and 0.33 (95% CI 0.19-0.58) for women, compared to controls. The probability for subjects with hip fracture and hip OA having a secondary cause of osteoporosis was three times higher than for subjects with hip fracture without hip OA.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of our study support an inverse relationship between hip fractures and hip OA.</p

Deficiency in trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) increases tumorigenicity of human breast cancer cells and mammary tumor development in TFF1-knockout mice

Although trefoil factor 1 (TFF1; previously named pS2) is abnormally expressed in about 50% of human breast tumors, its physiopathological role in this disease has been poorly studied. Moreover, controversial data have been reported. TFF1 function in the mammary gland therefore needs to be clarified. In this study, using retroviral vectors, we performed TFF1 gain- or loss-of-function experiments in four human mammary epithelial cell lines: normal immortalized TFF1-negative MCF10A, malignant TFF1-negative MDA-MB-231 and malignant TFF1-positive MCF7 and ZR75.1. The expression of TFF1 stimulated the migration and invasion in the four cell lines. Forced TFF1 expression in MCF10A, MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 cells did not modify anchorage-dependent or -independent cell proliferation. By contrast, TFF1 knockdown in MCF7 enhanced soft-agar colony formation. This increased oncogenic potential of MCF7 cells in the absence of TFF1 was confirmed in vivo in nude mice. Moreover, chemically induced tumorigenesis in TFF1-deficient (TFF1-KO) mice led to higher tumor incidence in the mammary gland and larger tumor size compared with wild-type mice. Similarly, tumor development was increased in the TFF1-KO ovary and lung. Collectively, our results clearly show that TFF1 does not exhibit oncogenic properties, but rather reduces tumor development. This beneficial function of TFF1 is in agreement with many clinical studies reporting a better outcome for patients with TFF1-positive breast primary tumors

Increased de novo copy number variants in the offspring of older males

The offspring of older fathers have an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism. In light of the evidence implicating copy number variants (CNVs) with schizophrenia and autism, we used a mouse model to explore the hypothesis that the offspring of older males have an increased risk of de novo CNVs. C57BL/6J sires that were 3- and 12–16-months old were mated with 3-month-old dams to create control offspring and offspring of old sires, respectively. Applying genome-wide microarray screening technology, 7 distinct CNVs were identified in a set of 12 offspring and their parents. Competitive quantitative PCR confirmed these CNVs in the original set and also established their frequency in an independent set of 77 offspring and their parents. On the basis of the combined samples, six de novo CNVs were detected in the offspring of older sires, whereas none were detected in the control group. Two of the CNVs were associated with behavioral and/or neuroanatomical phenotypic features. One of the de novo CNVs involved Auts2 (autism susceptibility candidate 2), and other CNVs included genes linked to schizophrenia, autism and brain development. This is the first experimental demonstration that the offspring of older males have an increased risk of de novo CNVs. Our results support the hypothesis that the offspring of older fathers have an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism by generation of de novo CNVs in the male germline