PG 1700+518 Revisited: Adaptive Optics Imaging and a Revised Starburst Age for the Companion

We present the results of adaptive-optics imaging of the z=0.2923 QSO PG 1700+518 in the J and H bands. The extension to the north of the QSO is clearly seen to be a discrete companion with a well-defined tidal tail, rather than a feature associated with the host galaxy of PG 1700+518 itself. On the other hand, an extension to the southwest of the QSO (seen best in deeper, but lower-resolution, optical images) does likely comprise tidal material from the host galaxy. The SED derived from images in J, H, and two non-standard optical bands indicates the presence of dust intermixed with the stellar component. We use our previously reported Keck spectrum of the companion, the SED found from the imaging data, and updated spectral-synthesis models to constrain the stellar populations in the companion and to redetermine the age of the starburst. While our best-fit age of 0.085 Gyr is nearly the same as our earlier determination, the fit of the new models is considerably better. This age is found to be remarkably robust with respect to different assumptions about the nature of the older stellar component and the effects of dust.Comment: 11 pages; includes two eps figures. Latex (AASTEX). Two additional figures in gif format. Postscript version including all figs. (424 kb) can be obtained from http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~canaguby/preprints.html To appear in ApJ. Letter

Fitting ACE Structural Equation Models to Case-Control Family Data

Investigators interested in whether a disease aggregates in families often collect case-control family data, which consist of disease status and covariate information for families selected via case or control probands. Here, we focus on the use of case-control family data to investigate the relative contributions to the disease of additive genetic effects (A), shared family environment (C), and unique environment (E). To this end, we describe a ACE model for binary family data and then introduce an approach to fitting the model to case-control family data. The structural equation model, which has been described previously, combines a general-family extension of the classic ACE twin model with a (possibly covariate-specific) liability-threshold model for binary outcomes. Our likelihood-based approach to fitting involves conditioning on the proband’s disease status, as well as setting prevalence equal to a pre-specified value that can be estimated from the data themselves if necessary. Simulation experiments suggest that our approach to fitting yields approximately unbiased estimates of the A, C, and E variance components, provided that certain commonly-made assumptions hold. These assumptions include: the usual assumptions for the classic ACE and liability-threshold models; assumptions about shared family environment for relative pairs; and assumptions about the case-control family sampling, including single ascertainment. When our approach is used to fit the ACE model to Austrian case-control family data on depression, the resulting estimate of heritability is very similar to those from previous analyses of twin data

Weighted-density approximation for general nonuniform fluid mixtures

In order to construct a general density-functional theory for nonuniform fluid mixtures, we propose an extension to multicomponent systems of the weighted-density approximation (WDA) of Curtin and Ashcroft [Phys. Rev. A 32, 2909 (1985)]. This extension corrects a deficiency in a similar extension proposed earlier by Denton and Ashcroft [Phys. Rev. A 42, 7312 (1990)], in that that functional cannot be applied to the multi-component nonuniform fluid systems with spatially varying composition, such as solid-fluid interfaces. As a test of the accuracy of our new functional, we apply it to the calculation of the freezing phase diagram of a binary hard-sphere fluid, and compare the results to simulation and the Denton-Ashcroft extension.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E as Brief Repor

SYSTEMS-2: a randomised phase II study of radiotherapy dose escalation for pain control in malignant pleural mesothelioma

SYSTEMS-2 is a randomised study of radiotherapy dose escalation for pain control in 112 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Standard palliative (20Gy/5#) or dose escalated treatment (36Gy/6#) will be delivered using advanced radiotherapy techniques and pain responses will be compared at week 5. Data will guide optimal palliative radiotherapy in MPM

Discovery of a 66 mas Ultracool Binary with Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics

We present the discovery of 2MASS J21321145+1341584AB as a closely separated (0.066") very low-mass field dwarf binary resolved in the near-infrared by the Keck II Telescope using laser guide star adaptive optics. Physical association is deduced from the angular proximity of the components and constraints on their common proper motion. We have obtained a near-infrared spectrum of the binary and find that it is best described by an L5+/-0.5 primary and an L7.5+/-0.5 secondary. Model-dependent masses predict that the two components straddle the hydrogen burning limit threshold with the primary likely stellar and the secondary likely substellar. The properties of this sytem - close projected separation (1.8+/-0.3 AU) and near unity mass ratio - are consistent with previous results for very low-mass field binaries. The relatively short estimated orbital period of this system (~7-12 yr) makes it a good target for dynamical mass measurements. Interestingly, the system's angular separation is the tightest yet for any very low-mass binary published from a ground-based telescope and is the tightest binary discovered with laser guide star adaptive optics to date.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication to A

The effect of prednisolone on endometrial uterine NK cell concentrations and pregnancy outcome in women with reproductive failure. A retrospective cohort study

This retrospective study of prospectively collected data examines the effect of prednisolone therapy on raised uterine Natural Killer cell (uNK) concentrations and pregnancy outcomes in women with recurrent miscarriage (RM) and recurrent implantation failure (RIF) after IVF/ICSI treatment. 136 women diagnosed with RRF who had a timed midluteal endometrial biopsy taken for uNK cell analysis were included. Women with high uNK cell concentrations (n = 45) were treated with prednisolone (10 mg/day) for one month, after which a second biopsy was taken for repeat uNK cell analysis. Women for whom prednisolone caused a decrease in uNK cell concentrations continued on prednisolone until 12 weeks of pregnancy. Pregnancy outcomes (live birth, miscarriage and implantation rates) and pregnancy complications were compared for women who received prednisolone and those who did not. Results showed that the prevalence of high uNK cells was 33.1%. Prednisolone significantly decreased the uNK cell concentration (P < 0.001), however reduction to normal limits was achieved in only 48.3% of patients. There was no difference in any of the pregnancy outcomes or complications between women who had received prednisolone and those who had not. In conclusion, this study showed a relatively high prevalence of raised uNK cells in women with recurrent reproductive failure and confirmed the effect of prednisolone on reducing uNK cell concentrations. We found however no evidence for a significant beneficial effect for prednisolone therapy on pregnancy outcomes. Until the results of an adequately powered RCT become available however, these findings should be considered preliminary

Estimating the Prevalence of Disease Using Relatives of Case and Control Probands

We introduce a method for estimating the prevalence of disease using data from a case-control family study performed to investigate the aggregation of disease in families. The families are sampled via case and control probands, and the resulting data consist of information on disease status and covariates for the probands and their relatives. We introduce estimators for overall prevalence and for covariate stratum-specific prevalence (e.g., sex-specific prevalence) that yield approximately unbiased estimates of their population counterparts. We also introduce corresponding confidence intervals that have good coverage properties even for small prevalences. The estimators and intervals address the over-representation of diseased individuals in case-control family data by using only the relatives (of the probands) and by taking into account whether each relative was selected via a case or a control proband. Finally, we describe a simulation experiment in which the estimators and intervals were applied to case-control family datasets sampled from a fictional population that resembled the catchment area for an Austrian family study of major depressive disorder. The resulting estimates varied closely and symmetrically around their population counterparts, and the resulting intervals had good coverage properties

Fraud detection in telephone conversations for financial services using linguistic features

Detecting the elements of deception in a conversation is one of the most challenging problems for the AI community. It becomes even more difficult to design a transparent system, which is fully explainable and satisfies the need for financial and legal services to be deployed. This paper presents an approach for fraud detection in transcribed telephone conversations using linguistic features. The proposed approach exploits the syntactic and semantic information of the transcription to extract both the linguistic markers and the sentiment of the customer’s response. We demonstrate the results on real-world financial services data using simple, robust and explainable classifiers such as Naive Bayes, Decision Tree, Nearest Neighbours, and Support Vector Machines

Cancer and systemic inflammation: treat the tumour and treat the host

Determinants of cancer progression and survival are multifactorial and host responses are increasingly appreciated to have a major role. Indeed, the development and maintenance of a systemic inflammatory response has been consistently observed to confer poorer outcome, in both early and advanced stage disease. For patients, cancer-associated symptoms are of particular importance resulting in a marked impact on day-to-day quality of life and are also associated with poorer outcome. These symptoms are now recognised to cluster with one another with anorexia, weight loss and physical function forming a recognised cluster whereas fatigue, pain and depression forming another. Importantly, it has become apparent that these symptom clusters are associated with presence of a systemic inflammatory response in the patient with cancer. Given the understanding of the above, there is now a need to intervene to moderate systemic inflammatory responses, where present. In this context the rationale for therapeutic intervention using nonselective anti-inflammatory agents is clear and compelling and likely to become a part of routine clinical practice in the near future. The published literature on therapeutic intervention using anti-inflammatory agents for cancer-associated symptoms was reviewed. There are important parallels with the development of useful treatments for the systemic inflammatory response in patients with rheumatological disease and cardiovascular disease