The Catalog of Edge-on Disk Galaxies from SDSS. Part I: the catalog and the Structural Parameters of Stellar Disks

We present a catalog of true edge-on disk galaxies automatically selected from the Seventh Data Release (DR7) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. A visual inspection of the $g$, $r$ and $i$ images of about 15000 galaxies allowed us to split the initial sample of edge-on galaxy candidates into 4768 (31.8% of the initial sample) genuine edge-on galaxies, 8350 (55.7%) non-edge-ons, and 1865 (12.5%) edge-on galaxies not suitable for simple automatic analysis because these objects show signs of interaction, warps, or nearby bright stars project on it. We added more candidate galaxies from RFGC, EFIGI, RC3, and Galaxy Zoo catalogs found in the SDSS footprints. Our final sample consists of 5747 genuine edge-on galaxies. We estimate the structural parameters of the stellar disks (the stellar disk thickness, radial scale length, and central surface brightness) in the galaxies by analyzing photometric profiles in each of the g, r, and i images. We also perform simplified 3-D modeling of the light distribution in the stellar disks of edge-on galaxies from our sample. Our large sample is intended to be used for studying scaling relations in the stellar disks and bulges and for estimating parameters of the thick disks in different types of galaxies via the image stacking. In this paper we present the sample selection procedure and general description of the sample.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Diagnosis and prediction ofprimary open-angle glaucoma by the level of local cytokine

The incidence of glaucoma is rather high in different countries, being the leading cause of visual loss in the population, thus presuming relevance of the search for new and informative methods of diagnosing this disease. According to modern views, changes of local interleukins seem to be important for the glaucoma pathogenesisis. The aim of present study was to improve diagnosis and prognosis of primary open-angle glaucoma on the basis of information content of interleukins at the local level. The study was conducted on the basis of S. Fyodorov Intersectoral Research and Technology Complex “Eye Microsurgery”. The main group of patients consisted of 109 patients with primary open-angle stage II glaucoma. The age of glaucoma patients ranged from 58 to 75 years with a median of 62.4±2.5 years. The control group consisted of 52 persons without glaucoma at present and in past, the average age of which did not differ significantly from the members of the main group, i.e., 59.6±2.8 years (p > 0.05). The studies of interleukin content in lacrimal fluid was carried out by means of the Multiscan enzyme immunoassay (Finland) using common sandwich-variant of solid-phase enzyme immunoassay with R&D Diagnostic Inc. test systems (USA). The diagnostic significance (informativeness) for local interleukins was calculated according to the generally accepted formula. Statistically significant changes in the levels of lacrimal interleukins were revealed in the patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. The highest increase in the content of local interleukins was found for IL-2 (8.4-fold) and IL-17 (8.3-fold). The content of IL-8 was also increased significantly in the lacrimal fluid of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. However, the changes in the studied local anti-inflammatory interleukins proved to be multidirectional: the level of IL-4 in the formed primary open-angle glaucoma was significantly increased, and the level of IL-10, on the contrary, was decreased. Evaluation of diagnostic significance by the local interleukin levels showed the maximal informative value for IL-2 (J = 637.4), and IL-17 (J = 612.8), which indicates their leading role for diagnostics of primary open-angle glaucoma. High level of information content is typical for IL-8 (J = 572.5). Using regression analysis for the most informative interleukins in lacrimal fluid, we have developed a mathematical model that provides a high-probability prediction (P < 0.001) of primary open-angle glaucoma. Lacrimal concentrations of IL-2, IL-7 and IL-8 are the most informative indexes of lacrimal fluid for the diagnosis and prediction of primary open-angle glaucoma

Monitoring of optical properties of deep waters of Lake Baikal in 2021-2022

We present the results of the two-year (2021-2022) monitoring of absorption and scattering lengths of light with wavelength 400-620 nm within the effective volume of the deep underwater neutrino telescope Baikal-GVD, which were measured by a device Baikal-5D No.2. The Baikal-5D No.2. was installed during the 2021 winter expedition at a depth of 1180 m. The absorption and scattering lengths were measured every week in 9 spectral points. The device Baikal-5D No.2 also has the ability to measure detailed scattering and absorption spectra. The data obtained make it possible to estimate the range of changes in the absorption and scattering lengths over a sufficiently long period of time and to investigate the relationship between the processes of changes in absorption and scattering. An analysis was made of changes in absorption and scattering spectra for the period 2021-2022

Studies of the ambient light of deep Baikal waters with Baikal-GVD

The Baikal-GVD neutrino detector is a deep-underwater neutrino telescope under construction and recently after the winter 2023 deployment it consists of 3456 optical modules attached on 96 vertical strings. This 3-dimensional array of photo-sensors allows to observe ambient light in the vicinity of the Baikal-GVD telescope that is associated mostly with water luminescence. Results on time and space variations of the luminescent activity are reviewed based on data collected in 2018-2022

Large neutrino telescope Baikal-GVD: recent status

The Baikal-GVD is a deep-underwater neutrino telescope being constructed in Lake Baikal. After the winter 2023 deployment campaign the detector consists of 3456 optical modules installed on 96 vertical strings. The status of the detector and progress in data analysis are discussed in present report. The Baikal-GVD data collected in 2018-2022 indicate the presence of cosmic neutrino flux in high-energy cascade events consistent with observations by the IceCube neutrino telescope. Analysis of track-like events results in identification of first high-energy muon neutrino candidates. These and other results from 2018-2022 data samples are reviewed in this report

Search for directional associations between Baikal Gigaton Volume Detector neutrino-induced cascades and high-energy astrophysical sources

Baikal-GVD has recently published its first measurement of the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux, performed using high-energy cascade-like events. We further explore the Baikal-GVD cascade dataset collected in 2018-2022, with the aim to identify possible associations between the Baikal-GVD neutrinos and known astrophysical sources. We leverage the relatively high angular resolution of the Baikal-GVD neutrino telescope (2-3 deg.), made possible by the use of liquid water as the detection medium, enabling the study of astrophysical point sources even with cascade events. We estimate the telescope's sensitivity in the cascade channel for high-energy astrophysical sources and refine our analysis prescriptions using Monte-Carlo simulations. We primarily focus on cascades with energies exceeding 100 TeV, which we employ to search for correlation with radio-bright blazars. Although the currently limited neutrino sample size provides no statistically significant effects, our analysis suggests a number of possible associations with both extragalactic and Galactic sources. Specifically, we present an analysis of an observed triplet of neutrino candidate events in the Galactic plane, focusing on its potential connection with certain Galactic sources, and discuss the coincidence of cascades with several bright and flaring blazars.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Severe preeclampsia and gene mutation HNF4A (MODY1): а case report

Preeclampsia is an obstetric complication that is becoming a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The rate of preeclampsia in diabetes mellitus is 3 to 5-fold higher than in the population. Heparin is used for prevention of preeclampsia due to its experimentally shown important role in the trophoblast invasion and differentiation, as well as its influence on the production of proangiogenic factors. The paper gives a clinical case report that broadens our understanding on the preeclampsia pathophysiology and possibilities of its prevention. A 30-year old patient with no past history of serious physical illnesses had her two previous pregnancies with severe preeclampsia of early onset (arterial hypertension, massive proteinuria, thrombocytopenia, renal and hepatic insufficiency). Both babies were born extremely preterm (24 to 25 weeks of gestation) and died. Her hereditary background included type 2 diabetes in her maternal grandmother. At early terms of both pregnancies she had her fasting venous plasma glucose of 3.8 to 4.6 mmol/L (normal, < 5.1 mmol/L). Oral glucose tolerance test which had to be performed at 24 to 28 weeks of gestation, according to the protocol, was not performed. While planning for the third pregnancy, her body mass index was 29 kg/m2, with normal values of the blood pressure and renal function, no proteinuria and no evidence of the anti-phospholipid syndrome. In the 1st trimester, she had her fasting venous plasma glucose of 4.4 mmol/L. From the early term of her pregnancy, the patient was administered low molecular weight heparin; from the week 15, she was started with antihypertensive medications due to gestational arterial hypertension. Manifest diabetes was diagnosed at week 24 to 25 based on the results of the oral glucose tolerance test (4.96–10.42–11.46 mmol/L). With diet treatment, she had her postprandial glycaemia of up to 8.9 mmol/L, causing the initiation of basal-bolus insulin therapy from week 25  of gestation (0.4 U/kg), with achievement of good glucose control. At week 16, she had her sFlt1/PlGF level of 44 (high risk of preeclampsia). Molecular genetic assessment identified a HNF4A gene mutation, associated with MODY1. From week 34, she had moderate preeclampsia and fetal growth delay. An elective cesarean section was performed at week 38, with a healthy boy of 2300 g and 48 cm. After delivery, her diabetes was controlled by diet. The baby had an identical mutation. Thus, one cannot exclude a genetically determined link between complications of previous pregnancies and manifest diabetes diagnosed during the current pregnancy. Diagnosis of MODY1 in a pregnant patient would require the earliest initiation insulin treatment to prevent fetal macrosomia and neonatal hypoglycemia, as well as to prevent preeclampsia. The reason of successful outcome of this pregnancy could be related to heparin administration at the early terms of pregnancy that allowed for appropriate implantation and placenta formation, as well as for timely good glucose control

The Catalog of Edge-on Disk Galaxies Found in SDSS

We present a catalog of edge-on disk galaxies automatically identified in the seventh data release (DR7) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We made a preliminary quantitative morphological classification of the galaxies and then visually inspected 15225 pre-selected individual objects in g,r,i SDSS bands using the images taken from the eighth SDSS data release. The inspection reveals that only 40% of all pre-selected objects are bona fide edge-on galaxies, whereas 55% of the objects show features typical for the non edge-on galactic disks. The rest of the sample comprises the galaxies which are not good for an automatic analysis because of extremely bright stars nearby, numerous foreground stars, strong galactic warps, strongly interacting components, etc. The images of the catalog objects are used to estimate the structural parameters of disks and bulges for more than 6000 true edge-on galaxies in each of the g,r,i photometric bands. Our results from a simple preliminary analysis technique will be ameliorated by applying more realistic radial transfer models in future work on the catalog analysis. Hardware part of our work was partly supported by the AAS Small Research Grant

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Structural parameters of true edge-on galaxies

The initial sample of candidates to edge-on galaxies was automatically selected from the SDSS Seventh Data Release (DR7; Abazajian et al. 2009ApJS..182..543A, Cat. II/294) using its Catalog Access Server query tools. The selection criteria are discussed in detail by Kautsch et al. (2006, J/A+A/445/765; 2006A&A...451.1171K) and Kautsch (2009AN....330..100K). This selection was based on the axial ratio, angular diameter, magnitude, and color limits. Flagged galaxies and objects with extreme magnitude errors were not included. The SDSS query was tailored to select relatively bright galaxies with apparent Petrosian magnitudes in the g band less than 20 mag using the Petrosian flux; galaxies with angular major-axis diameters larger than 30 arcsec based upon isoA_g, the isophotal major axis given in SDSS in g band; and flat galaxies with an axis ratio \u3e3 in the g band, which is defined by the isophotal axes isoAg divided by isoBg. The objects are also selected in certain (-0.5\u3c=g-r\u3c=2) and (-0.5\u3c=r-i\u3c=2) color ranges. The use of the color ranges in reddening-corrected Petrosian magnitudes allows to prevent the inclusion of galaxies with unusual colors caused by active galactic nuclei, instrument flaws, or ghost images