Palomar/TripleSpec Observations of Spitzer/MIPSGAL 24 μm Circumstellar Shells: Unveiling the Natures of Their Central Sources

We present near-IR spectroscopic observations of the central sources in 17 circumstellar shells from a sample of more than 400 "bubbles" discovered in the Spitzer/MIPSGAL 24 μm survey of the Galactic plane and in the Cygnus-X region. To identify the natures of these shells, we have obtained J, H, and K band spectra with a resolution of ~2600 of the stars at their centers. We observed 14 MIPSGAL bubbles (MBs), WR149, and 2 objects in the Cygnus-X region (WR138a and BD+43 3710), our sample being about 2.5 mag fainter in the K band than previous studies of the central sources of MBs. We use spectroscopic diagnostics and spectral libraries of late- and early-type stars to constrain the natures of our targets. We find five late-type giants. The equivalent widths of their CO 2.29 μm features allow us to determine the spectral types of the stars and hence derive the extinction along the line of sight, distance, and physical size of the shells. We also find 12 early-type stars: in 9 MBs and the 3 comparison objects. We find that the subtype inferred from the near-IR for WR138a (WN9h) and WR149 (WN5h) agrees with that derived from optical observations. A careful analysis of the literature and the environment of BD+43 3710 allows us to rule out the carbon star interpretation previously suggested. Our near-IR spectrum suggests that it is a B5 supergiant. At the centers of the nine MBs, we find a WC5-6 star possibly of low mass, a candidate O5-6 V star, a B0 supergiant, a B/A-type giant, and five luminous blue variable (LBV) candidates. We also report the detections of emission lines arising from at least two shells with typical extents (~10"), in agreement with those in the mid-IR. We summarize the findings on the natures of the MBs since their discovery, with 30% of them now known. Most MBs with central sources detected in the near- to mid-IR have been identified and are red and blue giants, supergiants, or stars evolving toward these phases, including, in particular, a handful of newly discovered Wolf–Rayet stars and a significant number of LBV candidates

A demand-driven approach for a multi-agent system in Supply Chain Management

This paper presents the architecture of a multi-agent decision support system for Supply Chain Management (SCM) which has been designed to compete in the TAC SCM game. The behaviour of the system is demand-driven and the agents plan, predict, and react dynamically to changes in the market. The main strength of the system lies in the ability of the Demand agent to predict customer winning bid prices - the highest prices the agent can offer customers and still obtain their orders. This paper investigates the effect of the ability to predict customer order prices on the overall performance of the system. Four strategies are proposed and compared for predicting such prices. The experimental results reveal which strategies are better and show that there is a correlation between the accuracy of the models' predictions and the overall system performance: the more accurate the prediction of customer order prices, the higher the profit. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Interferometric Follow-Up of WISE Hyper-Luminous Hot, Dust-Obscured Galaxies

WISE has discovered an extraordinary population of hyper-luminous dusty galaxies which are faint in the two bluer passbands ($3.4\, \mu$m and $4.6\, \mu$m) but are bright in the two redder passbands of WISE ($12\, \mu$m and $22\, \mu$m). We report on initial follow-up observations of three of these hot, dust-obscured galaxies, or Hot DOGs, using the CARMA and SMA interferometer arrays at submm/mm wavelengths. We report continuum detections at $\sim$ 1.3 mm of two sources (WISE J014946.17+235014.5 and WISE J223810.20+265319.7, hereafter W0149+2350 and W2238+2653, respectively), and upper limits to CO line emission at 3 mm in the observed frame for two sources (W0149+2350 and WISE J181417.29+341224.8, hereafter W1814+3412). The 1.3 mm continuum images have a resolution of 1-2 arcsec and are consistent with single point sources. We estimate the masses of cold dust are 2.0$\times 10^{8} M_{\odot}$ for W0149+2350 and 3.9$\times 10^{8} M_{\odot}$ for W2238+2653, comparable to cold dust masses of luminous quasars. We obtain 2$\sigma$ upper limits to the molecular gas masses traced by CO, which are 3.3$\times 10^{10} M_{\odot}$ and 2.3$\times 10^{10} M_{\odot}$ for W0149+2350 and W1814+3412, respectively. We also present high-resolution, near-IR imaging with WFC3 on the Hubble Space Telescope for W0149+2653 and with NIRC2 on Keck for W2238+2653. The near-IR images show morphological structure dominated by a single, centrally condensed source with effective radius less than 4 kpc. No signs of gravitational lensing are evident.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. ApJ in pres

Amniotic Membrane Transplantation for Ocular Surface Reconstruction

The purpose of this study is to analyze the clinical experience and the effect of human amniotic membrane transplantation on pterygium excision and bullous keratopathy. From January 1999 to January 2001 at University Hospital »Sestre milosrdnice« amniotic membrane transplantation was performed consecutively in 21 eyes: 11 eyes with bullous keratopathy and 10 with recurrent pterygia. In the group with bullous keratopathy epithelization took place in 19.6 days in 72.7% and the reduction of pain was satisfactory. Recurrence rate in group with recurrent pterygia was 20%. Based on the presented results it could be concluded that amniotic membrane transplantation can be considered as an effective alternative for treating severe ocular surface diseases and as an alternative for penetrating keratoplasty if there is a lack of graft

Safety and efficacy of apremilast through 104 weeks in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis who continued on apremilast or switched from etanercept treatment: findings from the LIBERATE study

Background Apremilast, an oral phosphodiesterase‐4 inhibitor, has demonstrated efficacy in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. Objective To evaluate long‐term efficacy and safety of apremilast in biologic‐naive patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis and safety of switching from etanercept to apremilast in the phase 3b LIBERATE trial. Methods Two hundred fifty patients were randomized to placebo, apremilast 30 mg BID or etanercept 50 mg QW through Week 16; thereafter, all patients continued or switched to apremilast through Week 104 (extension phase). Skin, scalp and nail involvement at Weeks 16, 52 and 104 were assessed using the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI; 0–72), Scalp Physician Global Assessment (ScPGA; 0–5) and Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI; 0–8); patient‐reported outcomes (PROs) were assessed using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI; 0–32) and pruritus visual analog scale (VAS; 0–100 mm). Results The apremilast‐extension phase (Weeks 16–104) included 226 patients in the placebo/apremilast (n = 73), apremilast/apremilast (n = 74) and etanercept/apremilast (n = 79) groups, and at Week 104, 50.7%, 45.9% and 51.9% of these patients, respectively, maintained ≥75% reduction from baseline in PASI score (based on last‐observation‐carried‐forward analysis). Across treatment groups, ScPGA 0 (clear) or 1 (minimal) was achieved by 50.0%–59.2% of patients; NAPSI mean change from baseline was −48.1% to −51.1%; DLQI score ≤5 was achieved by 66.0%–72.5% of patients; and pruritus VAS mean change from baseline was −24.4 to −32.3. AEs in ≥5% of patients (diarrhoea, nausea, nasopharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infection and headache) did not increase with prolonged apremilast exposure. Conclusions Apremilast demonstrated significant and sustained improvements in skin, scalp, nails and PROs (pruritus and quality of life) over 104 weeks in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Safety was consistent with the known safety profile of apremilast

Sensitive VLBI Observations of the z = 4.7 QSO BRI 1202-0725

We present sensitive phase-referenced VLBI results on the radio continuum emission from the z=4.7 double source BRI 1202-0725. The observations were carried out at 1425 MHz using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), the phased Very Large Array (VLA), and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). Our sensitive VLBI images of BRI 1202-0725 at 0.25 x 0.14 arcsec resolution show a continuum structure in each of its two components. Fitting Gaussian models to these continuum structures yield total flux densities of 315 +/- 38 and 250 +/- 39 microJy, for the northern and the southern components, respectively. The estimated intrinsic brightness temperatures of these continuum structures are about 2 x 10^4 K. Neither component is detected at the full VLBI resolution (29 mas x 7 mas), with a 4 sigma point source upper limit of 40 microJy/beam, or an upper limit to the intrinsic brightness temperature of 6.7 x 10^5 K. The highest angular resolution with at least a 4sigma detection is about 85 mas. At this resolution, the images reveal a single continuum feature in the northern component of BRI 1202-0725, and two continuum features in the southern component, separated by 320 mas. This is similar to the structures seen in the high resolution images of the CO emission. The extent of the observed continuum sources at 1.4 GHz and the derived brightness temperatures are consistent with nuclear starbursts. Moreover, the absence of any compact high-brightness temperature source suggests that thereis no radio-loud AGN in BRI 1202-0725.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A

Carotid Baroreflex Responses to Simulated Hypotension are Blunted During Passive Whole-body Heat Stress in Young Women

Previous studies have proposed that carotid baroreflex (CBR) function is potentially compromised during heat stress, thus possibly disrupting the ability to maintain arterial blood pressure in the heat (e.g., decreased orthostatic tolerance during hyperthermia). Recently, we demonstrated that CBR function is preserved, if not enhanced, during a passive whole-body heat stress (WBH) in young healthy men. What remains unknown is how CBR function is impacted by hyperthermia in women. PURPOSE: Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that CBR-mediated responses are preserved during a passive WBH in young women. METHODS: Changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and HR were assessed in 7 healthy women (age: 21±1 yrs, height: 171±5 cm, weight: 66±5 kg, BMI: 23±2 kg/m2) using 5-s trials of neck pressure (NP, carotid hypotension) and neck suction (NS, carotid hypertension) ranging from +40 to -80 Torr during normothermia (NT) and WBH (increased core temp ~1.0 °C) conditions. To assess the CBR control of MAP and HR, a separate two-way repeated measures ANOVA was utilized for 1) hypertensive stimuli (i.e., NS: -20, -40, -60 & -80 Torr) and 2) hypotensive-stimuli (i.e., NP: +20 & +40 Torr). Additionally, the time-to-peak responses for HR and MAP, separately, in response +40 Torr & -80 Torr trials were examined between thermal conditions using paired t-tests. RESULTS: During WBH, the CBR-mediated increases in MAP and HR in response to NP were blunted (main effect of thermal condition p=0.02 and p=0.02, respectively). While the CBR-mediated decreases in MAP in response to NS were not different between thermal conditions (main effect of thermal condition p=0.34), decreases in HR were markedly greater during WBH (main effect of thermal condition p\u3c0.001). Additionally, the time-to-peak responses for MAP and HR were not altered between thermal conditions for either NP or NS trials (p \u3e 0.05 for all comparisons). CONCLUSION: Taken together, these data suggest the CBR control of MAP and HR during simulated hypotension is blunted in females during passive WBH, while the control of MAP and HR seems to be preserved, if not enhanced, during simulated hypertension. Contrary to our findings in young men, these results suggest there are sex differences in CBR function during WBH. This diminished ability to increase MAP and HR in response to a hypotensive stimulus during hyperthermia may be a key component in reduced orthostatic tolerance in females during WBH

High resolution imaging of molecular line emission from high redshift QSOs

We present moderate (1'') and high resolution (0.2'') observations of the CO(2-1) emission at 43 GHz, and radio continuum emission at 1.47 GHz, from the z=4.7 QSO BRI 1202-0725 and the z=4.4 QSO BRI 1335--0417 using the Very Large Array. The moderate resolution observations show that in both cases the CO emission is spatially resolved into two components separated by 1'' for 1335-0417 and 4'' for 1202-0725. The high resolution observations show that each component has sub-structure on scales of 0.2'' to 0.5'', with intrinsic brightness temperatures > 20K. The CO ladder from (2-1) up to (7-6) suggests a high kinetic temperature for the gas (70 K), and a high column density (10^{24} cm^{-2}). In both sources the continuum-to-line ratio: L_{FIR}/L'_{CO(1-0)} = 335. All these characteristics (brightness temperature, excitation temperature, column density, and continuum-to-line ratio) are comparable to conditions found in low redshift, ultra-luminous nuclear starburst galaxies. We find that the CO emitting regions in 1202-0725 and 1335-0417 must be close to face-on in order to avoid having the gas mass exceed the gravitational mass, implying perhaps unreasonably large rotational velocities. While this problem is mitigated by lowering the CO luminosity-to-H_2 mass conversion factor (X), the required X values become comparable to, or lower than, the minimum values dictated by optically thin CO emission. We considered the possibility of magnification by gravitational lensing in order to reduce the molecular gas masses.Comment: aastex 12 postscript figures. to appear in the Astronomical Journa

Glaucoma Triple Procedure: A One-site vs. a Two-site Approach

The purpose of this study is to describe and evaluate the success rate of combined glaucoma and small cataract surgery by means of a one-site versus two-site approach. Fifty-eight eyes of fifty-five patients undergoing combined surgery were operated: thirtyone eyes underwent two-site approach and twenty-seven eyes underwent one-site approach. Short term and long term mean intraocular pressure (IOP) was similar in both groups. There was no significant difference in postoperative inflammation and complication rates between two groups. There is no significant difference in the postoperative results in those two different approaches to perform combined operations of cataract and glaucoma