Calibration of the distance scale from galactic Cepheids: I Calibration based on the GFG sample

New estimates of the distances of 36 nearby galaxies are presented based on accurate distances of galactic Cepheids obtained by Gieren, Fouque and Gomez (1998) from the geometrical Barnes-Evans method. The concept of 'sosie' is applied to extend the distance determination to extragalactic Cepheids without assuming the linearity of the PL relation. Doing so, the distance moduli are obtained in a straightforward way. The correction for extinction is made using two photometric bands (V and I) according to the principles introduced by Freedman and Madore (1990). Finally, the statistical bias due to the incompleteness of the sample is corrected according to the precepts introduced by Teerikorpi (1987) without introducing any free parameters (except the distance modulus itself in an iterative scheme). The final distance moduli depend on the adopted extinction ratio {R_V}/{R_I} and on the limiting apparent magnitude of the sample. A comparison with the distance moduli recently published by the Hubble Space Telescope Key Project (HSTKP) team reveals a fair agreement when the same ratio {R_V}/{R_I} is used but shows a small discrepancy at large distance. In order to bypass the uncertainty due to the metallicity effect it is suggested to consider only galaxies having nearly the same metallicity as the calibrating Cepheids (i.e. Solar metallicity). The internal uncertainty of the distances is about 0.1 magnitude but the total uncertainty may reach 0.3 magnitude.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, access to a database of extragalactic Cepheids. Astronomy & Astrophysics (in press) 200

Secondary infertility caused by the retention of fetal bones after an abortion: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Unwanted contraception through prolonged retention of fetal bone is a rare cause of secondary infertility. It is usually associated with a history of abortion, either spontaneous or induced.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We describe a case of intrauterine retention of fetal bone diagnosed 8 years after the termination of a pregnancy. The patient had no complaints of pain, irregular vaginal bleeding or discharge. A hysteroscopy was performed and irregular structures were removed. These fragments were fetal bones, which probably functioned as an intrauterine contraceptive device. After removal of the fetal bone fragments the patient conceived spontaneously within 6 months.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case report stresses the importance of taking a thorough history and evaluation of the endometrium by transvaginal ultrasound or hysteroscopy in women with secondary infertility.</p

White matter abnormalities in active elite adult rugby players

The recognition, diagnosis and management of mild traumatic brain injuries is difficult and confusing. It is unclear how the severity and number of injuries sustained relate to brain injuries such as diffuse axonal injury, diffuse vascular injury and progressive neurodegeneration. Advances in neuroimaging techniques enable the investigation of neuropathologies associated with acute and long-term effects of injury. Head injuries are the most commonly reported injury seen during professional rugby. There is increased vigilance for the immediate effects of these injuries in matches, but there has been surprisingly little research investigating the longer-term effects of rugby participation. Here we present a longitudinal observational study investigating the relationship of exposure to rugby participation and sub-acute head injuries in professional adult male and female rugby union and league players using advanced MRI. Diffusion tensor imaging and susceptibility weighted imaging was used to assess white matter structure and evidence of axonal and diffuse vascular injury. We also studied changes in brain structure over time using Jacobian Determinant statistics extracted from serial volumetric imaging. We tested 41 male and 3 female adult elite rugby players, of whom 21 attended study visits after a head injury, alongside 32 non-sporting controls, 15 non-collision-sport athletic controls and 16 longitudinally assessed controls. 18 rugby players participated in the longitudinal arm of the study, with a second visit at least 6 months after their first scan. Neuroimaging evidence of either axonal injury or diffuse vascular injury was present in 23% (10/44) of players. In the non-acutely injured group of rugby players, abnormalities of fractional anisotropy and other diffusion measures were seen. In contrast, non-collision-sport athletic controls were not classified as showing abnormalities. A group level contrast also showed evidence of sub-acute injury using diffusion tensor imaging in rugby players. Examination of longitudinal imaging revealed unexpected reductions in white matter volume in the elite rugby players studied. These changes were not related to self-reported head injury history or neuropsychological test scores and might indicate excess neurodegeneration in white matter tracts affected by injury. Taken together, our findings suggest an association of participation in elite adult rugby with changes in brain structure. Further well-designed large scale studies are needed to understand the impact of both repeated sports related head impacts and head injuries on brain structure, and to clarify whether the abnormalities we have observed are related to an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease and impaired neurocognitive function following elite rugby participation

Bridging the data gaps in the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection in Malaysia using multi-parameter evidence synthesis

BACKGROUND: Collecting adequate information on key epidemiological indicators is a prerequisite to informing a public health response to reduce the impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Malaysia. Our goal was to overcome the acute data shortage typical of low/middle income countries using statistical modelling to estimate the national HCV prevalence and the distribution over transmission pathways as of the end of 2009. METHODS: Multi-parameter evidence synthesis methods were applied to combine all available relevant data sources - both direct and indirect - that inform the epidemiological parameters of interest. RESULTS: An estimated 454,000 (95% credible interval [CrI]: 392,000 to 535,000) HCV antibody-positive individuals were living in Malaysia in 2009; this represents 2.5% (95% CrI: 2.2-3.0%) of the population aged 15-64 years. Among males of Malay ethnicity, for 77% (95% CrI: 69-85%) the route of probable transmission was active or a previous history of injecting drugs. The corresponding proportions were smaller for male Chinese and Indian/other ethnic groups (40% and 71%, respectively). The estimated prevalence in females of all ethnicities was 1% (95% CrI: 0.6 to 1.4%); 92% (95% CrI: 88 to 95%) of infections were attributable to non-drug injecting routes of transmission. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalent number of persons living with HCV infection in Malaysia is estimated to be very high. Low/middle income countries often lack a comprehensive evidence base; however, evidence synthesis methods can assist in filling the data gaps required for the development of effective policy to address the future public health and economic burden due to HCV. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-014-0564-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Potential migration and subjective well-being in Europe

By examining the preferences over migration destinations of those revealing a desire to permanently leave their country, this paper provides new evidence on the relevance of subjective measures for cross country comparisons. While hard statistics such as GDP per capita and unemployment rates are commonly used to measure a country’s success, this analysis reveals that people’s preferences over alternative migration destinations are better explained by average levels of life satisfaction in the destination country. Aggregated measures of subjective well-being are, therefore, useful for international comparisons as they better reflect what makes some countries more attractive than others

Integrated information increases with fitness in the evolution of animats

One of the hallmarks of biological organisms is their ability to integrate disparate information sources to optimize their behavior in complex environments. How this capability can be quantified and related to the functional complexity of an organism remains a challenging problem, in particular since organismal functional complexity is not well-defined. We present here several candidate measures that quantify information and integration, and study their dependence on fitness as an artificial agent ("animat") evolves over thousands of generations to solve a navigation task in a simple, simulated environment. We compare the ability of these measures to predict high fitness with more conventional information-theoretic processing measures. As the animat adapts by increasing its "fit" to the world, information integration and processing increase commensurately along the evolutionary line of descent. We suggest that the correlation of fitness with information integration and with processing measures implies that high fitness requires both information processing as well as integration, but that information integration may be a better measure when the task requires memory. A correlation of measures of information integration (but also information processing) and fitness strongly suggests that these measures reflect the functional complexity of the animat, and that such measures can be used to quantify functional complexity even in the absence of fitness data.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, one supplementary figure. Three supplementary video files available on request. Version commensurate with published text in PLoS Comput. Bio

Evaluation of a brief anti-stigma campaign in Cambridge: do short-term campaigns work?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In view of the high costs of mass-media campaigns, it is important to understand whether it is possible for a media campaign to have significant population effects over a short period of time. This paper explores this question specifically in reference to stigma and discrimination against people with mental health problems using the <it>Time to Change </it>Cambridge anti-stigma campaign as an example.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>410 face-to-face interviews were performed pre, during and post campaign activity to assess campaign awareness and mental health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although campaign awareness was not sustained following campaign activity, significant and sustained shifts occurred for mental health-related knowledge items. Specifically, there was a 24% (p < 0.001) increase in persons agreeing with the statement: <it>If a friend had a mental health problem, I know what advice to give them to get professional help</it>, following the campaign. Additionally, for the statement: <it>Medication can be an effective treatment for people with mental health problems</it>, there was a 10% rise (p = 0.05) in the proportion of interviewees responding 'agree' or 'strongly agree' following the campaign. These changes, however, were not evident for attitudinal or behaviour related questions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although these results only reflect the impact of one small scale campaign, these preliminary findings suggest several considerations for mass-media campaign development and evaluation strategies such as: (1) Aiming to influence outcomes pertaining to knowledge in the short term; (2) Planning realistic and targeted outcomes over the short, medium and long term during sustained campaigns; and (3) Monitoring indirect campaign effects such as social discourse or other social networking/contact in the evaluation.</p

How many births in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will not be attended by a skilled birth attendant between 2011 and 2015?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The fifth Millennium Development Goal target for 90% of births in low and middle income countries to have a skilled birth attendant (SBA) by 2015 will not be met. In response to this, policy has focused on increasing SBA access. However, reducing maternal mortality also requires policies to prevent deaths among women giving birth unattended. We aimed to generate estimates of the absolute number of non-SBA births between 2011 and 2015 in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, given optimistic assumptions of future trends in SBA attendance. These estimates could be used by decision makers to inform the extent to which reductions in maternal mortality will depend on policies aimed specifically at those women giving birth unattended.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>For each country within South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa we estimated recent trends in SBA attendance and used these as the basis for three increasingly optimistic projections for future changes in SBA attendance. For each country we obtained estimates for the current SBA attendance in rural and urban settings and forecasts for the number of births and changes in rural/urban population over 2011-2015. Based on these, we calculated estimates for the number of non-SBA births for 2011-2015 under a variety of scenarios.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Conservative estimates are that there will be between 130 and 180 million non-SBA births in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa from 2011 to 2015 (90% of these in rural areas). Currently, there are more non-SBA births per year in South Asia than sub-Saharan Africa, but our projections suggest that the regions will have approximately the same number of non-SBA births by 2015. We also present results for each of the six countries currently accounting for more than 50% of global maternal deaths.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Over the next five years, many millions of women within South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will give birth without an SBA. Efforts to improve access to skilled attendance should be accompanied by interventions to improve the safety of non-attended deliveries.</p

Synthesis and solid-state characterisation of 4-substituted methylidene oxindoles

Background 4-substituted methylidene oxindoles are pharmacologically important. Detailed analysis and comparison of all the interactions present in crystal structures is necessary to understand how these structures arise. The XPac procedure allows comparison of complete crystal structures of related families of compounds to identify assemblies that are mainly the result of close-packing as well as networks of directed interactions. Results Five 4-substituted methylidene oxindoles have been synthesized by the Knoevenagel condensation of oxindole with para-substituted aromatic aldehydes and were characterized in the solid state by x-ray crystallography. Hence, the structures of (3E)-3-(4-Bromobenzylidene)-1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one, 3a, (3E)-3-(4-Chlorobenzylidene)-1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one, 3b, (3E)-3-(4-Methoxybenzylidene)-1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one, 3c, (3E)-3-(4-Methylbenzylidene)-1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one, 3d and (3E)-3-(4-Nitrobenzylidene)-1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one, 3e, were elucidated using single crystal X-ray crystallography. Conclusions A hydrogen bonded dimer molecular assembly or supramolecular construct was identified in all the crystal structures examined along with a further four 1D supramolecular constructs which were common to at least two of the family of structures studied. The 1D supramolecular constructs indicate that once the obvious strong interaction is satisfied to form hydrogen bonded dimer it is the conventionally weaker interactions, such as steric bulk and edge-to-face interactions which compete to influence the final structure formation

Analytic Aesthetics

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