Psychiatric morbidity in hypertensives attending a cardiology outpatient clinic in West Africa

Objectives: To determine kinds of psychiatric morbidity among a sample of stable hypertensive outpatients in a teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: A cross‑sectional study of 260 enrolled outpatients. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using a 2‑stage evaluation method with the General Health Questionnaire Version 12 (GHQ‑12) and Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‑IV (SCID) to assess for psychiatric diagnosis. Results: 28 (10.8%) of the 260 patients endorsed some psychological distress, with a mean GHQ‑12 score of ≥2. At the second stage, 16.1% (N=13 of 81) interviewed had one or more psychiatric disorder on the SCID. The commonest psychiatric diagnosis made were mood disorders, with current major depressive disorder occurring at a rate of 6.2%. Other disorders found were past major depressive episode (2.5%), organic mood syndrome (3.7%), and somatoform disorder (3.7%). Conclusion: The relationship between hypertension and mood disorders should inform a higher index of suspicion among physicians and general practitioners in order to give patients appropriate treatments or referrals where necessary. It is recommended that collaboration with mental health service providers be encouraged.Keywords: African, cardiology, hypertensive, psychiatric morbidityNigerian Journal of Clinical Practice •Jan-Mar 2012 • Vol 15 • Issue

Trends in acute emergency room hypertension related deaths: An autopsy study

No Abstract

Survey of H-alpha emission from thirty nearby dwarf galaxies

Measurements of the H-alpha flux from 30 neighboring dwarf galaxies are presented. After correction for absorption, these fluxes are used to estimate the star formation rate (SFR). The SFR for 18 of the galaxies according to the H-alpha emission are compared with estimates of the SFR from FUV magnitudes obtained with the GALEX telescope. These are in good agreement over the range log[SFR] = [-3,0]M sun/yr.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

Abundances of Red Giants in the Andromeda II Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

We have obtained spectra for 50 candidate red giants in Andromeda II (a dwarf spheroidal companion of M31) using LRIS on the Keck II telescope. After eliminating background galaxies and Galactic foreground stars, we are left with a sample of 42 red giants for which membership in Andromeda II can be established unambiguously from radial velocities. Line indices measured on the Lick/IDS system are combined with V and I photometry obtained with the Keck II and Palomar 5m telescopes to investigate the age and metallicity distribution of these stars. Based on a comparison of the measured line indices to those of Lick/IDS standard stars in globular and open clusters, we derive a mean metallicity of [Fe/H] = -1.47+/-0.19 dex. This confirms earlier conclusions based on Thuan-Gunn gr photometry that Andromeda II obeys the familiar relation between mean stellar metallicity and galaxy luminosity. There is also evidence for a dispersion in metallicity of 0.35+/-0.10 dex based on the scatter in the measured Mgb line indices and the observed width of the galaxy's giant branch. Although existing observations of Local Group dwarf galaxies indicate that their mean stellar metallicity depends rather sensitively on host galaxy absolute magnitude, the internal spread in metallicity appears to be relatively independent of luminosity. Finally, a small number of stars are found above the Population II red giant branch, indicating the presence of a modest intermediate-age population in this galaxy. (ABRIDGED)

The heating of dust by old stellar populations in the Bulge of M31

We use new Herschel multi-band imaging of the Andromeda galaxy to analyze how dust heating occurs in the central regions of galaxy spheroids that are essentially devoid of young stars. We construct a dust temperature map of M31 through fitting modified blackbody SEDs to the Herschel data, and find that the temperature within 2 kpc rises strongly from the mean value in the disk of 17 pm 1K to \sim35K at the centre. UV to near-IR imaging of the central few kpc shows directly the absence of young stellar populations, delineates the radial profile of the stellar density, and demonstrates that even the near-UV dust extinction is optically thin in M31's bulge. This allows the direct calculation of the stellar radiation heating in the bulge, U\ast(r), as a function of radius. The increasing temperature profile in the centre matches that expected from the stellar heating, i.e. that the dust heating and cooling rates track each other over nearly two orders of magnitude in U\ast. The modelled dust heating is in excess of the observed dust temperatures, suggesting that it is more than sufficient to explain the observed IR emission. Together with the wavelength dependent absorption cross section of the dust, this demonstrates directly that it is the optical, not UV, radiation that sets the heating rate. This analysis shows that neither young stellar populations nor stellar near-UV radiation are necessary to heat dust to warm temperatures in galaxy spheroids. Rather, it is the high densities of Gyr-old stellar populations that provide a sufficiently strong diffuse radiation field to heat the dust. To the extent which these results pertain to the tenuous dust found in the centres of early-type galaxies remains yet to be explored.Comment: 11 pages. Accepted for publication in MNRA

LOFAR/H-ATLAS: The low-frequency radio luminosity - star-formation rate relation

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.Radio emission is a key indicator of star-formation activity in galaxies, but the radio luminosity-star formation relation has to date been studied almost exclusively at frequencies of 1.4 GHz or above. At lower radio frequencies the effects of thermal radio emission are greatly reduced, and so we would expect the radio emission observed to be completely dominated by synchrotron radiation from supernova-generated cosmic rays. As part of the LOFAR Surveys Key Science project, the Herschel-ATLAS NGP field has been surveyed with LOFAR at an effective frequency of 150 MHz. We select a sample from the MPA-JHU catalogue of SDSS galaxies in this area: the combination of Herschel, optical and mid-infrared data enable us to derive star-formation rates (SFRs) for our sources using spectral energy distribution fitting, allowing a detailed study of the low-frequency radio luminosity--star-formation relation in the nearby Universe. For those objects selected as star-forming galaxies (SFGs) using optical emission line diagnostics, we find a tight relationship between the 150 MHz radio luminosity ($L_{150}$) and SFR. Interestingly, we find that a single power-law relationship between $L_{150}$ and SFR is not a good description of all SFGs: a broken power law model provides a better fit. This may indicate an additional mechanism for the generation of radio-emitting cosmic rays. Also, at given SFR, the radio luminosity depends on the stellar mass of the galaxy. Objects which were not classified as SFGs have higher 150-MHz radio luminosity than would be expected given their SFR, implying an important role for low-level active galactic nucleus activity.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Stellar populations of early-type galaxies in different environments I. Line-strength indices

Aims: This paper commences a series devoted to the study of the stellar content of early-type galaxies. The goal of the series is to set constraints on the evolutionary status of these objects. Methods: In this paper we describe the details of the galaxy sample, the observations, and the data reduction. Line-strength indices and velocity dispersions sigma are measured in 98 early-type galaxies drawn from different environments, and the relation of the indices with the velocity dispersion analysed in detail. Results: The present sample indicates that some of the index-sigma relations depend on galaxy environment. In particular, the slope of the relation between Balmer lines and sigma is steeper for galaxies in the Virgo cluster, small groups, and in the field than for galaxies in the Coma cluster. In several indices there is also a significant offset in the zero point between the relations defined by the different subsamples. The slopes of the index-sigma relation for the Virgo and low-density environment galaxies are explained by a variation of both age and metallicity with velocity dispersion, as previously noted in other studies. For the galaxies in the Coma cluster, however, the relation of the indices with sigma only requires a variation of the abundance along the sigma sequence. In agreement with other studies we find that the models that better reproduce the slopes are those in which the alpha elements vary more than the Fe-peak elements along the sigma sequence, while, at a given sigma, older galaxies show an higher alpha/Fe ratio. Conclusions: The results can be explained assuming that galaxies in the Coma cluster have experienced a truncated star formation and chemical enrichment history compared to a more continuous time-extended history for their counterparts in lower density environments.Comment: accepted for publication in A&

Frequency of complementary and alternative medicine utilization in hypertensive patients attending an urban tertiary care centre in Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To study the frequency and pattern of use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patients with essential hypertension attending a tertiary hypertension clinic.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two hundred and twenty-five consecutive hypertensive patients attending the hypertension clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital over a 3-month period were interviewed. Socio-demographic data, duration of hypertension, clinic attendance, current blood pressure, and compliance to conventional medications was documented. CAM utilization was explored using both structured and open-ended questions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 90 (40%) male and 135 (60%) female patients with mean age ± SD overall was 55.1 ± 12.4 years. 88 (39.1%) of the respondents used CAM. Herbal products were the most commonly used CAM type. Amongst the CAM users, the most common herbal product used was garlic (69.3%). Others were native herbs (25%), ginger (23.9%), bitter leaf (<it>Vernonia amygdalina</it>) (9.1%), and aloe vera (4.5%). 2.5% used spiritual therapy. There was no difference in the clinical characteristics, socio-economic status, and blood pressure control of CAM users and non-users. Patients who utilized CAM had higher BMI compared with those who did not, but the difference was not statistically significant (mean BMI ± SD of 29.1 ± 5.6 vs 27.1 ± 5.9 kg/m²; P = 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A significant proportion of hypertensive patients attending our tertiary facility and receiving conventional treatment also use CAM therapies. Clinicians need to be aware of this practice, understand the rationale for this health-seeking behaviour, proactively enquire about their use, and counsel patients regarding the potential of some of the therapies for adverse reactions and drug interactions.</p