69 research outputs found
A Concept for an STJ-based Spectrograph
We describe a multi-order spectrograph concept suitable for 8m-class
telescopes, using the intrinsic spectral resolution of Superconducting
Tunneling Junction detectors to sort the spectral orders. The spectrograph
works at low orders, 1-5 or 1-6, and provides spectral coverage with a
resolving power of R~8000 from the atmospheric cutoff at 320 nm to the long
wavelength end of the infrared H or K band at 1800 nm or 2400 nm. We calculate
that the spectrograph would provide substantial throughput and wavelength
coverage, together with high time resolution and sufficient dynamic range. The
concept uses currently available technology, or technologies with short
development horizons, restricting the spatial sampling to two linear arrays;
however an upgrade path to provide more spatial sampling is identified. All of
the other challenging aspects of the concept - the cryogenics, thermal baffling
and magnetic field biasing - are identified as being feasible.Comment: Accepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 12
pages with 10 figure
The GeV to TeV view of SNR IC443: predictions for Fermi
We present a theoretical model that explains the high energy phenomenology of
the neighborhood of SNR IC 443, as observed with the Major Atmospheric Gamma
Imaging Cherenkov (MAGIC) telescope and the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment
Telescope (EGRET). We also discuss how the model can be tested with
observations by the Fermi Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope. We interpret
MAGIC J0616+225 as delayed TeV emission of cosmic-rays diffusing from IC 443
and interacting with a known cloud located at a distance of about 20 pc in the
foreground of the remnant. This scenario naturally explains the displacement
between EGRET and MAGIC sources, their fluxes, and their spectra. Finally, we
predict how this context can be observed by Fermi.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Science with the
New Generation of High Energy Gamma-Ray Experiments (SciNeGHE '08), held in
Padova October 200
ASPECTOS DE GOVERNANÇA E DE GESTÃO INTEGRADA NA REGIÃO HIDROGRÁFICA DO ALTO RIO JUNDIAÍ: Governance aspects and integrated management in the Upper Jundiaí River hydrographic region
The current problems between governance, territorial and environmental management require solutions based on the contextual and systemic approach, highlighting the relationship between the parties and these with the whole. Thus, the integrated management of a territory presupposes such an approach to achieve better results. This article uses bibliographic research and its objective is to present a panorama of the integrated management in the hydrographic region of the High Jundiaí River through the contextual vision and the relations between governance, economy and public policies related to the mentioned management. It is identified that the integration of management requires in such region a greater decentralization of social participation in decision-making, joint deliberations of specific councils and insertion of actions of protection and civil defense, management of water and territorial resources, and basic sanitation in the Pluriannual Plans of the municipalities, which indicate the sources of financing of these actions.
Keywords: Systems approach. Governance. Integrated management. Upper Jundiaí river.Os atuais problemas entre governança, gestão territorial e ambiental exigem soluções baseadas na abordagem contextual e sistêmica, destacando-se a relação entre as partes e destas mesmas com o todo. Assim, a gestão integrada de um território pressupõe tal abordagem para o alcance de melhores resultados. Este artigo utiliza-se da pesquisa bibliográfica e o seu objetivo é apresentar um panorama da gestão integrada na região hidrográfica do Alto Rio Jundiaí por meio da visão contextual e das relações entre governança, economia e políticas públicas relativas à gestão citada. Identifica-se que a integração da gestão requer em tal região uma maior descentralização da participação social na tomada de decisões, deliberações conjuntas de colegiados específicos e inserção das ações de proteção e defesa civil, de gerenciamento dos recursos hídricos e territoriais, e de saneamento básico nos Planos Plurianuais dos municípios com apontamento das fontes de financiamento destas ações
Mutation analysis of 272 Spanish families affected by autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa using a genotyping microarray
Contains fulltext :
89342.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)PURPOSE: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by progressive loss of vision. The aim of this study was to identify the causative mutations in 272 Spanish families using a genotyping microarray. METHODS: 272 unrelated Spanish families, 107 with autosomal recessive RP (arRP) and 165 with sporadic RP (sRP), were studied using the APEX genotyping microarray. The families were also classified by clinical criteria: 86 juveniles and 186 typical RP families. Haplotype and sequence analysis were performed to identify the second mutated allele. RESULTS: At least one-gene variant was found in 14% and 16% of the juvenile and typical RP groups respectively. Further study identified four new mutations, providing both causative changes in 11% of the families. Retinol Dehydrogenase 12 (RDH12) was the most frequently mutated gene in the juvenile RP group, and Usher Syndrome 2A (USH2A) and Ceramide Kinase-Like (CERKL) were the most frequently mutated genes in the typical RP group. The only variant found in CERKL was p.Arg257Stop, the most frequent mutation. CONCLUSIONS: The genotyping microarray combined with segregation and sequence analysis allowed us to identify the causative mutations in 11% of the families. Due to the low number of characterized families, this approach should be used in tandem with other techniques
A population of gamma-ray emitting globular clusters seen with the Fermi Large Area Telescope
Globular clusters with their large populations of millisecond pulsars (MSPs)
are believed to be potential emitters of high-energy gamma-ray emission. Our
goal is to constrain the millisecond pulsar populations in globular clusters
from analysis of gamma-ray observations. We use 546 days of continuous
sky-survey observations obtained with the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi
Gamma-ray Space Telescope to study the gamma-ray emission towards 13 globular
clusters. Steady point-like high-energy gamma-ray emission has been
significantly detected towards 8 globular clusters. Five of them (47 Tucanae,
Omega Cen, NGC 6388, Terzan 5, and M 28) show hard spectral power indices and clear evidence for an exponential cut-off in the range
1.0-2.6 GeV, which is the characteristic signature of magnetospheric emission
from MSPs. Three of them (M 62, NGC 6440 and NGC 6652) also show hard spectral
indices , however the presence of an exponential cut-off
can not be unambiguously established. Three of them (Omega Cen, NGC 6388, NGC
6652) have no known radio or X-ray MSPs yet still exhibit MSP spectral
properties. From the observed gamma-ray luminosities, we estimate the total
number of MSPs that is expected to be present in these globular clusters. We
show that our estimates of the MSP population correlate with the stellar
encounter rate and we estimate 2600-4700 MSPs in Galactic globular clusters,
commensurate with previous estimates. The observation of high-energy gamma-ray
emission from a globular cluster thus provides a reliable independent method to
assess their millisecond pulsar populations that can be used to make
constraints on the original neutron star X-ray binary population, essential for
understanding the importance of binary systems in slowing the inevitable core
collapse of globular clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. Corresponding authors: J.
Kn\"odlseder, N. Webb, B. Pancraz
Fermi Large Area Telescope Constraints on the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe
The Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) includes photons with wavelengths
from ultraviolet to infrared, which are effective at attenuating gamma rays
with energy above ~10 GeV during propagation from sources at cosmological
distances. This results in a redshift- and energy-dependent attenuation of the
gamma-ray flux of extragalactic sources such as blazars and Gamma-Ray Bursts
(GRBs). The Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi detects a sample of gamma-ray
blazars with redshift up to z~3, and GRBs with redshift up to z~4.3. Using
photons above 10 GeV collected by Fermi over more than one year of observations
for these sources, we investigate the effect of gamma-ray flux attenuation by
the EBL. We place upper limits on the gamma-ray opacity of the Universe at
various energies and redshifts, and compare this with predictions from
well-known EBL models. We find that an EBL intensity in the optical-ultraviolet
wavelengths as great as predicted by the "baseline" model of Stecker et al.
(2006) can be ruled out with high confidence.Comment: 42 pages, 12 figures, accepted version (24 Aug.2010) for publication
in ApJ; Contact authors: A. Bouvier, A. Chen, S. Raino, S. Razzaque, A.
Reimer, L.C. Reye
RESUMEN PAPPS Infancia y Adolescencia 2020
En este documento de actualización presentamos cuatro temas trascendentes para la infancia y la adolescencia en nuestra actividad de atención primaria: el apoyo a la lactancia materna, la promoción de la actividad física, la prevención de lesiones infantiles por accidente de tráfico y el cribado de depresión mayor.
Four important topics about children and adolescents in our Primary Care activity are presented in this update document: support for breastfeeding, promotion of physical activity, prevention of child injuries due to traffic accidents, and screening for major depressio
Cribado de la depresión mayor en la infancia y adolescencia (Parte 2)
El síndrome depresivo que aparece durante la infancia o la adolescencia tiende a seguir un curso crónico, con alta probabilidad de permanecer en la edad adulta. Su sintomatología repercute en la vida diaria del menor y, en el caso de la depresión mayor, supone un riesgo para la aparición de conducta suicida. Dada la variabilidad de sus manifestaciones clínicas y las dificultades en el diagnóstico, se plantea la posible utilidad del uso de cuestionarios de cribado en la población infantil y adolescente, a partir de un análisis del rendimiento de estos y de la eficacia de las medidas terapéuticas actuales.
El presente trabajo se ha dividido en dos partes, y al final de este se recopilan las recomendaciones de distintos grupos de trabajo y tras el análisis de la evidencia, las recomendaciones que el grupo PrevInfad ha consensuado para la consulta de los pediatras en Atención Primaria
Characterizing Long COVID: Deep Phenotype of a Complex Condition.
BACKGROUND: Numerous publications describe the clinical manifestations of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC or long COVID ), but they are difficult to integrate because of heterogeneous methods and the lack of a standard for denoting the many phenotypic manifestations. Patient-led studies are of particular importance for understanding the natural history of COVID-19, but integration is hampered because they often use different terms to describe the same symptom or condition. This significant disparity in patient versus clinical characterization motivated the proposed ontological approach to specifying manifestations, which will improve capture and integration of future long COVID studies.
METHODS: The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) is a widely used standard for exchange and analysis of phenotypic abnormalities in human disease but has not yet been applied to the analysis of COVID-19.
FINDINGS: We identified 303 articles published before April 29, 2021, curated 59 relevant manuscripts that described clinical manifestations in 81 cohorts three weeks or more following acute COVID-19, and mapped 287 unique clinical findings to HPO terms. We present layperson synonyms and definitions that can be used to link patient self-report questionnaires to standard medical terminology. Long COVID clinical manifestations are not assessed consistently across studies, and most manifestations have been reported with a wide range of synonyms by different authors. Across at least 10 cohorts, authors reported 31 unique clinical features corresponding to HPO terms; the most commonly reported feature was Fatigue (median 45.1%) and the least commonly reported was Nausea (median 3.9%), but the reported percentages varied widely between studies.
INTERPRETATION: Translating long COVID manifestations into computable HPO terms will improve analysis, data capture, and classification of long COVID patients. If researchers, clinicians, and patients share a common language, then studies can be compared/pooled more effectively. Furthermore, mapping lay terminology to HPO will help patients assist clinicians and researchers in creating phenotypic characterizations that are computationally accessible, thereby improving the stratification, diagnosis, and treatment of long COVID.
FUNDING: U24TR002306; UL1TR001439; P30AG024832; GBMF4552; R01HG010067; UL1TR002535; K23HL128909; UL1TR002389; K99GM145411
The CHEOPS mission
The CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) was selected in 2012, as the
first small mission in the ESA Science Programme and successfully launched in
December 2019. CHEOPS is a partnership between ESA and Switzerland with
important contributions by ten additional ESA Member States. CHEOPS is the
first mission dedicated to search for transits of exoplanets using ultrahigh
precision photometry on bright stars already known to host planets. As a
follow-up mission, CHEOPS is mainly dedicated to improving, whenever possible,
existing radii measurements or provide first accurate measurements for a subset
of those planets for which the mass has already been estimated from
ground-based spectroscopic surveys and to following phase curves. CHEOPS will
provide prime targets for future spectroscopic atmospheric characterisation.
Requirements on the photometric precision and stability have been derived for
stars with magnitudes ranging from 6 to 12 in the V band. In particular, CHEOPS
shall be able to detect Earth-size planets transiting G5 dwarf stars in the
magnitude range between 6 and 9 by achieving a photometric precision of 20 ppm
in 6 hours of integration. For K stars in the magnitude range between 9 and 12,
CHEOPS shall be able to detect transiting Neptune-size planets achieving a
photometric precision of 85 ppm in 3 hours of integration. This is achieved by
using a single, frame-transfer, back-illuminated CCD detector at the focal
plane assembly of a 33.5 cm diameter telescope. The 280 kg spacecraft has a
pointing accuracy of about 1 arcsec rms and orbits on a sun-synchronous
dusk-dawn orbit at 700 km altitude.
The nominal mission lifetime is 3.5 years. During this period, 20% of the
observing time is available to the community through a yearly call and a
discretionary time programme managed by ESA.Comment: Submitted to Experimental Astronom
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