The value of measurement of macular carotenoid pigment optical densities and distributions in age-related macular degeneration and other retinal disorders

AbstractThere is increasing recognition that the optical and antioxidant properties of the xanthophyll carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin play an important role in maintaining the health and function of the human macula. In this review article, we assess the value of non-invasive quantification of macular pigment levels and distributions to identify individuals potentially at risk for visual disability or catastrophic vision loss from age-related macular degeneration, and we consider the strengths and weaknesses of the diverse measurement methods currently available

Correction to: A novel preference-informed complementary trial (PICT) design for clinical trial research influenced by strong patient preferences (Trials, (2021), 22, 1, (206), 10.1186/s13063-021-05164-1)

Following the publication of the original article [1], we were notified that the Acknowledgements section needs to accommodate additional collaborators. The original article has been corrected

The metallicity profile of M31 from spectroscopy of hundreds of HII regions and PNe

The oxygen abundance gradients among nebular emission line regions in spiral galaxies have been used as important constraints for models of chemical evolution. We present the largest ever full-wavelength optical spectroscopic sample of emission line nebulae in a spiral galaxy (M31). We have collected spectra of 253 HII regions and 407 planetary nebulae with the Hectospec multi-fiber spectrograph of the MMT. We measure the line-of-sight extinction for 199 HII regions and 333 PNe; we derive oxygen abundance directly, based on the electron temperature, for 51 PNe; and we use strong line methods to estimate oxygen abundance for 192 HII regions and nitrogen abundance for 52 HII regions. The relatively shallow oxygen abundance gradient of the more extended HII regions in our sample is generally in agreement with the result of Zaritsky et al. (1994), based on only 19 M31 HII regions, but varies with the strong-line diagnostic employed. Our large sample size demonstrates that there is significant intrinsic scatter around this abundance gradient, as much as 3 times the systematic uncertainty in the strong line diagnostics. The intrinsic scatter is similar in the nitrogen abundances, although the gradient is significantly steeper. On small scales (deprojected distance < 0.5 kpc), HII regions exhibit local variations in oxygen abundance that are larger than 0.3 dex in 33% of neighboring pairs. We do not identify a significant oxygen abundance gradient among PNe, but we do find a significant gradient in the [N II] ratio that varies systematically with surface brightness. Our results underscore the complex and inhomogeneous nature of the ISM of M31, and our dataset illustrates systematic effects relevant to future studies of the metallicity gradients in nearby spiral galaxies.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ, full tables available at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~nsanders/papers/M31/summary.htm

High resolution AMI Large Array imaging of spinning dust sources: spatially correlated 8 micron emission and evidence of a stellar wind in L675

We present 25 arcsecond resolution radio images of five Lynds Dark Nebulae (L675, L944, L1103, L1111 & L1246) at 16 GHz made with the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) Large Array. These objects were previously observed with the AMI Small Array to have an excess of emission at microwave frequencies relative to lower frequency radio data. In L675 we find a flat spectrum compact radio counterpart to the 850 micron emission seen with SCUBA and suggest that it is cm-wave emission from a previously unknown deeply embedded young protostar. In the case of L1246 the cm-wave emission is spatially correlated with 8 micron emission seen with Spitzer. Since the MIR emission is present only in Spitzer band 4 we suggest that it arises from a population of PAH molecules, which also give rise to the cm-wave emission through spinning dust emission.Comment: accepted MNRA

Séance spécialisée : géodynamique des bassins océaniques et des marges continentales

Une morphologie de fonds sous-marins bathyaux comportant des indurations liées à des dépôts ferro-manganésifères inclus dans des sédiments hémipélagiques peu ou pas cimentés a été découverte sur une ride volcanique tertiaire au large de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (SW Pacifique). Elle semble être en relation avec des circulations hydrothermales au travers de la couverture sédimentaire pendant l'activité volcanique miocène de la ride des Loyauté. (Résumé d'auteur

When Do Stars Go BOOM?

The maximum mass of a star that can produce a white dwarf (WD) is an important astrophysical quantity. One of the best approaches to establishing this limit is to search for WDs in young star clusters in which only massive stars have had time to evolve and where the mass of the progenitor can be established from the cooling time of the WD together with the age of the cluster. Searches in young Milky Way clusters have not thus far yielded WD members more massive than about 1.1$~M_{\odot}$, well below the Chandrasekhar mass of $1.38~M_{\odot}$, nor progenitors with masses in excess of about $6~M_{\odot}$. However, the hunt for potentially massive WDs that escaped their cluster environs is yielding interesting candidates. To expand the cluster sample further, we used HST to survey four young and massive star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds for bright WDs that could have evolved from stars as massive as 10$~M_{\odot}$. We located five potential WD candidates in the oldest of the four clusters examined, the first extragalactic single WDs thus far discovered. As these hot WDs are very faint at optical wavelengths, final confirmation will likely have to await spectroscopy with 30-metre class telescopes.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Letter