Review of Alataleberis McKenzie and Warne, 1986 and description of Alatapacifica gen. nov. (Ostracoda, Crustacea) from the Cenozoic of Australasia

Species originally assigned to the pterygocytherine genus Alataleberis by McKenzie &amp; Warne, 1986 are placed here in two genera&mdash;Alataleberis sensu stricto and Alatapacifica gen. nov. Alataleberis species possess poorly defined dorsal ridges marked by a few spines in adult specimens and lack a subcentral tubercle. Alatapacifica species possess well-developed and buttressed dorsal ridges and a well-developed subcentral tubercle. Pterygocytherine genera/species groups recognized here from the southwest Pacific region are Alataleberis, Alatapacifica (septarca and robusta species groups), Alatahermanites Whatley &amp; Titterton, 1981 and the velivola species group of Pterygocythereis Blake, 1933.<br /

Neohornibrookella sorrentae (Chapman and Crespin, 1928) and allied ostracod taxa from the Neogene of southeastern Australia: Systematic and palaeoceanographical relationships, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography

Three closely allied shallow marine taxa, Neohornibrookella sorrentae (Chapman and Crespin), Neohornibrookella glyphica (Neil), and Neohornibrookella nepeani sp. nov. are recorded from latest early Miocene to late Pliocene strata in southeastern Australia. These taxa, together with Neohornibrookella quadranodosa (Holden) from the Miocene of Midway Island (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), form a morphologically distinct group of relatively large species (the sorrentae-group) within the genus Neohornibrookella Jellinek. Latitudinal expansion of the subtropical and warm-temperate climatic belts together with the influence of warm western boundary surface currents associated with the North and South Pacific gyres, are likely to have played key roles in the Miocene dispersal of this species group. Species of the sorrentae-group first migrated south from equatorial west Pacific regions into southeastern Australia during the early Miocene, under the influence of the East Australian Current. During three time intervals (i) latest early Miocene, (ii) latest late Miocene and (iii) earliest late Pliocene, forceful pulses of the East Australian Current played a significant role in propelling the widespread distribution of thermophilic Neohornibrookella species across southeast Australian shallow marine realms. During intervening middle and late Miocene times, Neohornibrookella species are only sporadically present across the Bass Strait region of southeast Australia, indicating a weaker East Australian Current influence and the cooling influence of coastal upwelling. During the mid early Pliocene Neohornibrookella species disappeared from the western Bass Strait region, suggesting the complete exclusion of East Australian Current waters from this region. This was probably due to the counteracting influence of the eastward flowing Zeehan Current (extension of the Leeuwin Current) impinging on the western Bass Strait region. This mid early Pliocene palaeobiogeographical partition in Bass Strait, defined by the distribution of sorrentae-group species, is here termed the Bassian Gateway. The two species, N. sorrentae and N. glyphica, occur concurrently during the mid Miocene in southeast Australia, but are associated with different lithofacies. It is hypothesised that there is a heterochronic evolutionary relationship expressed in the ornament of these two species. The thaerocytherid genera Neohornibrookella Jellinek, Tenedocythere Sissingh and Bosasella Bonaduce are here included in the new ostracod subfamily Tenedocytherinae

Mutational analyses of UPIIIA, SHH, EFNB2, and HNF1β in persistent cloaca and associated kidney malformations

OBJECTIVES: ‘Persistent cloaca’ is a severe malformation affecting females in which the urinary, genital and alimentary tracts share a single conduit. Previously, a Uroplakin IIIA (UPIIIA) mutation was reported in one individual with persistent cloaca, and UPIIIA, Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), Ephrin B2 (EFNB2) and Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1β (HNF1β) are expressed during the normal development of organs that are affected in this condition. HNF1β mutations have been associated with uterine malformations in humans, and mutations of genes homologous to human SHH or EFNB2 cause persistent cloaca in mice. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We sought mutations of coding regions of UPIIIA, SHH, EFNB2 and HNF1β genes by direct sequencing in a group of 20 patients with persistent cloaca. Most had associated malformations of the upper renal tract and over half had impaired renal excretory function. The majority of patients had congenital anomalies outside the renal/genital tracts and two had the VACTERL association. RESULTS: Apart from a previously described index case, we failed to find UPIIIA mutations, and no patient had a SHH, EFNB2 or HNF1β mutation. CONCLUSION: Persistent cloaca is only rarely associated with UPIIIA mutation. Despite the fact that SHH and EFNB2 are appealing candidate genes, based on their expression patterns and mutant mice phenotypes, they were not mutated in these humans with persistent cloaca. Although HNF1β mutations can perturb paramesonephric duct fusion in humans, HNF1β was not mutated in persistent cloaca

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Physical Properties and Purity of a Galaxy Cluster Sample Selected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect

We present optical and X-ray properties for the first confirmed galaxy cluster sample selected by the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect from 148 GHz maps over 455 square degrees of sky made with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. These maps, coupled with multi-band imaging on 4-meter-class optical telescopes, have yielded a sample of 23 galaxy clusters with redshifts between 0.118 and 1.066. Of these 23 clusters, 10 are newly discovered. The selection of this sample is approximately mass limited and essentially independent of redshift. We provide optical positions, images, redshifts and X-ray fluxes and luminosities for the full sample, and X-ray temperatures of an important subset. The mass limit of the full sample is around 8e14 Msun, with a number distribution that peaks around a redshift of 0.4. For the 10 highest significance SZE-selected cluster candidates, all of which are optically confirmed, the mass threshold is 1e15 Msun and the redshift range is 0.167 to 1.066. Archival observations from Chandra, XMM-Newton, and ROSAT provide X-ray luminosities and temperatures that are broadly consistent with this mass threshold. Our optical follow-up procedure also allowed us to assess the purity of the ACT cluster sample. Eighty (one hundred) percent of the 148 GHz candidates with signal-to-noise ratios greater than 5.1 (5.7) are confirmed as massive clusters. The reported sample represents one of the largest SZE-selected sample of massive clusters over all redshifts within a cosmologically-significant survey volume, which will enable cosmological studies as well as future studies on the evolution, morphology, and stellar populations in the most massive clusters in the Universe.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Higher resolution figures available at: http://peumo.rutgers.edu/~felipe/e-prints

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Extragalactic Sources at 148 GHz in the 2008 Survey

We report on extragalactic sources detected in a 455 square-degree map of the southern sky made with data at a frequency of 148 GHz from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope 2008 observing season. We provide a catalog of 157 sources with flux densities spanning two orders of magnitude: from 15 to 1500 mJy. Comparison to other catalogs shows that 98% of the ACT detections correspond to sources detected at lower radio frequencies. Three of the sources appear to be associated with the brightest cluster galaxies of low redshift X-ray selected galaxy clusters. Estimates of the radio to mm-wave spectral indices and differential counts of the sources further bolster the hypothesis that they are nearly all radio sources, and that their emission is not dominated by re-emission from warm dust. In a bright (>50 mJy) 148 GHz-selected sample with complete cross-identifications from the Australia Telescope 20 GHz survey, we observe an average steepening of the spectra between 5, 20, and 148 GHz with median spectral indices of $\alpha_{\rm 5-20} = -0.07 \pm 0.06$, $\alpha_{\rm 20-148} = -0.39 \pm0.04$, and $\alpha_{\rm 5-148} = -0.20 \pm 0.03$. When the measured spectral indices are taken into account, the 148 GHz differential source counts are consistent with previous measurements at 30 GHz in the context of a source count model dominated by radio sources. Extrapolating with an appropriately rescaled model for the radio source counts, the Poisson contribution to the spatial power spectrum from synchrotron-dominated sources with flux density less than 20 mJy is C^{\rm Sync} = (2.8 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{-6} \micro\kelvin^2.Comment: Accepted to Ap

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectrum at 148 and 218 GHz from the 2008 Southern Survey

We present measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectrum made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope at 148 GHz and 218 GHz, as well as the cross-frequency spectrum between the two channels. Our results clearly show the second through the seventh acoustic peaks in the CMB power spectrum. The measurements of these higher-order peaks provide an additional test of the {\Lambda}CDM cosmological model. At l > 3000, we detect power in excess of the primary anisotropy spectrum of the CMB. At lower multipoles 500 < l < 3000, we find evidence for gravitational lensing of the CMB in the power spectrum at the 2.8{\sigma} level. We also detect a low level of Galactic dust in our maps, which demonstrates that we can recover known faint, diffuse signals.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures. Submitted to ApJ. This paper is a companion to Hajian et al. (2010) and Dunkley et al. (2010

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Data Characterization and Map Making

We present a description of the data reduction and mapmaking pipeline used for the 2008 observing season of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). The data presented here at 148 GHz represent 12% of the 90 TB collected by ACT from 2007 to 2010. In 2008 we observed for 136 days, producing a total of 1423 hours of data (11 TB for the 148 GHz band only), with a daily average of 10.5 hours of observation. From these, 1085 hours were devoted to a 850 deg^2 stripe (11.2 hours by 9.1 deg) centered on a declination of -52.7 deg, while 175 hours were devoted to a 280 deg^2 stripe (4.5 hours by 4.8 deg) centered at the celestial equator. We discuss sources of statistical and systematic noise, calibration, telescope pointing, and data selection. Out of 1260 survey hours and 1024 detectors per array, 816 hours and 593 effective detectors remain after data selection for this frequency band, yielding a 38% survey efficiency. The total sensitivity in 2008, determined from the noise level between 5 Hz and 20 Hz in the time-ordered data stream (TOD), is 32 micro-Kelvin sqrt{s} in CMB units. Atmospheric brightness fluctuations constitute the main contaminant in the data and dominate the detector noise covariance at low frequencies in the TOD. The maps were made by solving the least-squares problem using the Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient method, incorporating the details of the detector and noise correlations. Cross-correlation with WMAP sky maps, as well as analysis from simulations, reveal that our maps are unbiased at multipoles ell > 300. This paper accompanies the public release of the 148 GHz southern stripe maps from 2008. The techniques described here will be applied to future maps and data releases.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, 6 tables, an ACT Collaboration pape

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Sunyaev Zel'dovich Selected Galaxy Clusters at 148 GHz in the 2008 Survey

We report on twenty-three clusters detected blindly as Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) decrements in a 148 GHz, 455 square-degree map of the southern sky made with data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope 2008 observing season. All SZ detections announced in this work have confirmed optical counterparts. Ten of the clusters are new discoveries. One newly discovered cluster, ACT-CL J0102-4915, with a redshift of 0.75 (photometric), has an SZ decrement comparable to the most massive systems at lower redshifts. Simulations of the cluster recovery method reproduce the sample purity measured by optical follow-up. In particular, for clusters detected with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than six, simulations are consistent with optical follow-up that demonstrated this subsample is 100% pure. The simulations further imply that the total sample is 80% complete for clusters with mass in excess of 6x10^14 solar masses referenced to the cluster volume characterized by five hundred times the critical density. The Compton y -- X-ray luminosity mass comparison for the eleven best detected clusters visually agrees with both self-similar and non-adiabatic, simulation-derived scaling laws.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Cosmology from Galaxy Clusters Detected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect

We present constraints on cosmological parameters based on a sample of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-selected galaxy clusters detected in a millimeter-wave survey by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. The cluster sample used in this analysis consists of 9 optically-confirmed high-mass clusters comprising the high-significance end of the total cluster sample identified in 455 square degrees of sky surveyed during 2008 at 148 GHz. We focus on the most massive systems to reduce the degeneracy between unknown cluster astrophysics and cosmology derived from SZ surveys. We describe the scaling relation between cluster mass and SZ signal with a 4-parameter fit. Marginalizing over the values of the parameters in this fit with conservative priors gives sigma_8 = 0.851 +/- 0.115 and w = -1.14 +/- 0.35 for a spatially-flat wCDM cosmological model with WMAP 7-year priors on cosmological parameters. This gives a modest improvement in statistical uncertainty over WMAP 7-year constraints alone. Fixing the scaling relation between cluster mass and SZ signal to a fiducial relation obtained from numerical simulations and calibrated by X-ray observations, we find sigma_8 = 0.821 +/- 0.044 and w = -1.05 +/- 0.20. These results are consistent with constraints from WMAP 7 plus baryon acoustic oscillations plus type Ia supernoava which give sigma_8 = 0.802 +/- 0.038 and w = -0.98 +/- 0.053. A stacking analysis of the clusters in this sample compared to clusters simulated assuming the fiducial model also shows good agreement. These results suggest that, given the sample of clusters used here, both the astrophysics of massive clusters and the cosmological parameters derived from them are broadly consistent with current models.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to Ap