Low-luminosity Type II supernovae - III. SN 2018hwm, a faint event with an unusually long plateau

In this work, we present photometric and spectroscopic data of the low-luminosity (LL) Type IIP supernova (SN) 2018hwm. The object shows a faint (Mr = -15 mag) and very long (~ 130 d) plateau, followed by a 2.7 mag drop in the r band to the radioactive tail. The first spectrum shows a blue continuum with narrow Balmer lines, while during the plateau the spectra show numerous metal lines, all with strong and narrow P-Cygni profiles. The expansion velocities are low, in the 1000-1400 km s-1 range. The nebular spectrum, dominated by H α in emission, reveals weak emission from [O I] and [Ca II] doublets. The absolute light curve and spectra at different phases are similar to those of LL SNe IIP. We estimate that 0.002 M⊙ of 56Ni mass were ejected, through hydrodynamical simulations. The best fit of the model to the observed data is found for an extremely low explosion energy of 0.055 foe, a progenitor radius of 215 R⊙, and a final progenitor mass of 9-10 M⊙. Finally, we performed a modelling of the nebular spectrum, to establish the amount of oxygen and calcium ejected. We found a low M(16O)≈ 0.02M⊙, but a high M(40Ca) of 0.3 M⊙. The inferred low explosion energy, the low ejected 56Ni mass, and the progenitor parameters, along with peculiar features observed in the nebular spectrum, are consistent with both an electron-capture SN explosion of a superasymptotic giant branch star and with a low-energy, Ni-poor iron core-collapse SN from a 10-12 M⊙ red supergiant.</p

A New Academic Quality at Work Tool (AQ@workT) to Assess the Quality of Life at Work in the Italian Academic Context

The present study provides evidence for a valid and reliable tool, the Academic Quality at Work Tool (AQ@workT), to investigate the quality of life at work in academics within the Italian university sector. The AQ@workT was developed by the QoL@Work research team, namely a group of expert academics in the field of work and organizational psychology affiliated with the Italian Association of Psychologists. The tool is grounded in the job demands-resources model and its psychometric properties were assessed in three studies comprising a wide sample of lecturers, researchers, and professors: a pilot study (N = 120), a calibration study (N = 1084), and a validation study (N = 1481). Reliability and content, construct, and nomological validity were supported, as well as measurement invariance across work role (researchers, associate professors, and full professors) and gender. Evidence from the present study shows that the AQ@workT represents a useful and reliable tool to assist university management to enhance quality of life, to manage work-related stress, and to mitigate the potential for harm to academics, particularly during a pandemic. Future studies, such as longitudinal tests of the AQ@workT, should test predictive validity among the variables in the tool

Activity of chemotherapy in mucinous ovarian cancer with a recurrence free interval of more than 6 months: results from the SOCRATES retrospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mucinous ovarian carcinoma have a poorer prognosis compared with other histological subtypes. The aim of this study was to evaluate, retrospectively, the activity of chemotherapy in patients with platinum sensitive recurrent mucinous ovarian cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The SOCRATES study retrospectively assessed the pattern of care of a cohort of patients with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer observed in the years 2000–2002 in 37 Italian centres. Data were collected between April and September 2005. Patients with recurrent ovarian cancer with > 6 months of platinum free interval were considered eligible.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty patients with mucinous histotype and 388 patients with other histotypes were analyzed. At baseline, mucinous tumours differed from the others for an higher number of patients with lower tumor grading (p = 0.0056) and less advanced FIGO stage (p = 0.025). At time of recurrence, a statistically significant difference was found in performance status (worse in mucinous, p = 0.024). About 20% of patients underwent secondary cytoreduction in both groups, but a lower number of patients were optimally debulked in the mucinous group (p = 0.03). Patients with mucinous cancer received more frequently single agent platinum than platinum based-combination therapy or other non-platinum schedules as second line therapy (p = 0.026), with a response rate lower than in non-mucinous group (36.4% vs 62.6%, respectively, p = 0.04). Median time to progression and overall survival were worse for mucinous ovarian cancer. Finally, mucinous cancer received a lower number of chemotherapy lines (p = 0.0023).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This analysis shows that platinum sensitive mucinous ovarian cancer has a poor response to chemotherapy. Studies dedicated to this histological subgroup are needed.</p

Low-luminosity Type II supernovae - III. SN 2018hwm, a faint event with an unusually long plateau

In this work, we present photometric and spectroscopic data of the low-luminosity (LL) Type IIP supernova (SN) 2018hwm. The object shows a faint (Mr = -15 mag) and very long (∼130 d) plateau, followed by a 2.7 mag drop in the r band to the radioactive tail. The first spectrum shows a blue continuum with narrow Balmer lines, while during the plateau the spectra show numerous metal lines, all with strong and narrow P-Cygni profiles. The expansion velocities are low, in the 1000-1400 km s-1 range. The nebular spectrum, dominated by H α in emission, reveals weak emission from [O i] and [Ca ii] doublets. The absolute light curve and spectra at different phases are similar to those of LL SNe IIP. We estimate that 0.002 M of 56Ni mass were ejected, through hydrodynamical simulations. The best fit of the model to the observed data is found for an extremely low explosion energy of 0.055 foe, a progenitor radius of 215 R, and a final progenitor mass of 9-10 M. Finally, we performed a modelling of the nebular spectrum, to establish the amount of oxygen and calcium ejected. We found a low M(16O)$\approx 0.02\, \mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$, but a high M(40Ca) of 0.3 M. The inferred low explosion energy, the low ejected 56Ni mass, and the progenitor parameters, along with peculiar features observed in the nebular spectrum, are consistent with both an electron-capture SN explosion of a superasymptotic giant branch star and with a low-energy, Ni-poor iron core-collapse SN from a 10-12 M red supergiant

SN 2009N: linking normal and subluminous Type II-P SNe

We present ultraviolet, optical, near-infrared photometry and spectroscopy of SN 2009N in NGC 4487. This object is a Type II-P supernova with spectra resembling those of subluminous II-P supernovae, while its bolometric luminosity is similar to that of the intermediate-luminosity SN 2008in. We created SYNOW models of the plateau phase spectra for line identification and to measure the expansion velocity. In the near-infrared spectra we find signs indicating possible weak interaction between the supernova ejecta and the pre-existing circumstellar material. These signs are also present in the previously unpublished near-infrared spectra of SN 2008in. The distance to SN 2009N is determined via the expanding photosphere method and the standard candle method as D = 21.6 +/- 1.1 Mpc. The produced nickel-mass is estimated to be similar to 0.020 +/- 0.004 M-circle dot. We infer the physical properties of the progenitor at the explosion through hydrodynamical modelling of the observables. We find the values ofthe total energy as similar to 0.48 x 10(51) erg, the ejected mass as similar to 11.5 M-circle dot, and the initial radius as similar to 287 R-circle dot.</p

Low luminosity Type II supernovae - II. Pointing towards moderate mass precursors

We present new data for five underluminous Type II-plateau supernovae (SNe IIP), namely SN 1999gn, SN 2002gd, SN 2003Z, SN 2004eg and SN 2006ov. This new sample of low-luminosity SNe IIP (LL SNe IIP) is analysed together with similar objects studied in the past. All of them show a flat light-curve plateau lasting about 100 d, an underluminous late-time exponential tail, intrinsic colours that are unusually red, and spectra showing prominent and narrow P Cygni lines. A velocity of the ejected material below 10(3) km s(-1) is inferred from measurements at the end of the plateau. The Ni-56 masses ejected in the explosion are very small (&lt; 10(-2) M-circle dot). We investigate the correlations among Ni-56 mass, expansion velocity of the ejecta and absolute magnitude in the middle of the plateau, confirming the main findings of Hamuy, according to which events showing brighter plateau and larger expansion velocities are expected to produce more Ni-56. We propose that these faint objects represent the LL tail of a continuous distribution in parameters space of SNe IIP. The physical properties of the progenitors at the explosion are estimated through the hydrodynamical modelling of the observables for two representative events of this class, namely SN 2005cs and SN 2008in. We find that the majority of LL SNe IIP, and quite possibly all, originate in the core collapse of intermediate-mass stars, in the mass range 10-15 M-circle dot.</p

Pre-exenterative chemotherapy, a novel therapeutic approach for patients with persistent or recurrent cervical cancer

BACKGROUND: Most cervical cancer patients with pelvic recurrent or persistent disease are not candidates for exenteration, therefore, they only receive palliative chemotherapy. Here we report the results of a novel treatment modality for these patients pre-exenterative chemotherapy- under the rational that the shrinking of the pelvic tumor would allow its resection. METHODS: Patients with recurrent or persistent disease and no evidence of systemic disease, considered not be candidates for pelvic exenteration because of the extent of pelvic tumor, received 3-courses of platinum-based chemotherapy. Response was evaluated by CT scan and bimanual pelvic examination; however the decision to perform exenteration relied on the physical findings. Toxicity to chemotherapy was evaluated with standard criteria. Survival was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Seventeen patients were studied. The median number of chemotherapy courses was 4. There were 9 patients who responded to chemotherapy, evaluated by bimanual examination and underwent pelvic exenteration. Four of them had pathological complete response. Eight patients did not respond and were not subjected to surgery. One patient died due to exenteration complications. At a median follow-up of 11 months, the median survival for the whole group was 11 months, 3 months in the non-operated and 32 months in those subjected to exenteration. CONCLUSION: Pre-exenterative chemotherapy is an alternative for cervical cancer patients that are no candidates for exenteration because of the extent of the pelvic disease. Its place in the management of recurrent disease needs to be investigated in randomized studies, however, its value for offering long-term survival in some of these patients with no other option than palliative care must be stressed

PESSTO: survey description and products from the first data release by the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects

Context. The Public European Southern Observatory Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects (PESSTO) began as a public spectroscopic survey in April 2012. PESSTO classifies transients from publicly available sources and wide-field surveys, and selects science targets for detailed spectroscopic and photometric follow-up. PESSTO runs for nine months of the year, January – April and August – December inclusive, and typically has allocations of 10 nights per month. Aims. We describe the data reduction strategy and data products that are publicly available through the ESO archive as the Spectroscopic Survey data release 1 (SSDR1). Methods. PESSTO uses the New Technology Telescope with the instruments EFOSC2 and SOFI to provide optical and NIR spectroscopy and imaging. We target supernovae and optical transients brighter than 20.5m for classification. Science targets are selected for follow-up based on the PESSTO science goal of extending knowledge of the extremes of the supernova population. We use standard EFOSC2 set-ups providing spectra with resolutions of 13–18 Å between 3345−9995 Å. A subset of the brighter science targets are selected for SOFI spectroscopy with the blue and red grisms (0.935−2.53 μm and resolutions 23−33 Å) and imaging with broadband JHKs filters. Results. This first data release (SSDR1) contains flux calibrated spectra from the first year (April 2012–2013). A total of 221 confirmed supernovae were classified, and we released calibrated optical spectra and classifications publicly within 24 h of the data being taken (via WISeREP). The data in SSDR1 replace those released spectra. They have more reliable and quantifiable flux calibrations, correction for telluric absorption, and are made available in standard ESO Phase 3 formats. We estimate the absolute accuracy of the flux calibrations for EFOSC2 across the whole survey in SSDR1 to be typically ~15%, although a number of spectra will have less reliable absolute flux calibration because of weather and slit losses. Acquisition images for each spectrum are available which, in principle, can allow the user to refine the absolute flux calibration. The standard NIR reduction process does not produce high accuracy absolute spectrophotometry but synthetic photometry with accompanying JHKs imaging can improve this. Whenever possible, reduced SOFI images are provided to allow this. Conclusions. Future data releases will focus on improving the automated flux calibration of the data products. The rapid turnaround between discovery and classification and access to reliable pipeline processed data products has allowed early science papers in the first few months of the survey

A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source

Gravitational waves were discovered with the detection of binary black-hole mergers1 and they should also be detectable from lower-mass neutron-star mergers. These are predicted to eject material rich in heavy radioactive isotopes that can power an electromagnetic signal. This signal is luminous at optical and infrared wavelengths and is called a kilonova2,3,4,5. The gravitational-wave source GW170817 arose from a binary neutron-star merger in the nearby Universe with a relatively well confined sky position and distance estimate6. Here we report observations and physical modelling of a rapidly fading electromagnetic transient in the galaxy NGC 4993, which is spatially coincident with GW170817 and with a weak, short γ-ray burst7,8. The transient has physical parameters that broadly match the theoretical predictions of blue kilonovae from neutron-star mergers. The emitted electromagnetic radiation can be explained with an ejected mass of 0.04 ± 0.01 solar masses, with an opacity of less than 0.5 square centimetres per gram, at a velocity of 0.2 ± 0.1 times light speed. The power source is constrained to have a power-law slope of −1.2 ± 0.3, consistent with radioactive powering from r-process nuclides. (The r-process is a series of neutron capture reactions that synthesise many of the elements heavier than iron.) We identify line features in the spectra that are consistent with light r-process elements (atomic masses of 90–140). As it fades, the transient rapidly becomes red, and a higher-opacity, lanthanide-rich ejecta component may contribute to the emission. This indicates that neutron-star mergers produce gravitational waves and radioactively powered kilonovae, and are a nucleosynthetic source of the r-process element