134 research outputs found
Sex differences in plasma clozapine and norclozapine concentrations in clinical practice and in relation to body mass index and plasma glucose concentrations: a retrospective survey
Background
Clozapine is widely prescribed and, although effective, can cause weight gain and dysglycemia. The dysmetabolic effects of clozapine are thought to be more prevalent in women with this gender on average attaining 17 % higher plasma clozapine concentrations than men.
Methods
We investigated the relationship between dose, body mass index (BMI), plasma glucose concentration, and plasma clozapine and N-desmethylclozapine (norclozapine) concentrations in 100 individuals with a severe enduring mental illness.
Results
Mean (10th/90th percentile) plasma clozapine concentrations were higher for women [0.49 (0.27–0.79) mg/L] compared with men [0.44 (0.26–0.70) mg/L] (F = 2.2; p = 0.035). There was no significant gender difference in the prescribed clozapine dose. BMI was significantly higher in women [mean (95 % CI) = 34.5 (26.0–45.3)] for females compared with 32.5 (25.2–41.0) for males. Overall, BMI increased by 0.7 kg/m 2 over a mean follow-up period of 210 days. A lower proportion, 41 % of women had a fasting blood glucose ≤6.0 mmol/L (<6.0 mmol/L is defined by the International Diabetes Federation as normal glucose handling), compared with 88 % of men (χ2 = 18.6, p < 0.0001).
Conclusions
We have shown that mean BMI and blood glucose concentrations are higher in women prescribed clozapine than in men. Women also tended to attain higher plasma clozapine concentrations than men. The higher BMI and blood glucose in women may relate to higher tissue exposure to clozapine, as a consequence of sex differences in drug metabolism
Inverting for emissions of carbon monoxide from Asia using aircraft observations over the western Pacific
Imaging Fabry-Perot Spectroscopy of NGC 5775: Kinematics of the Diffuse Ionized Gas Halo
We present imaging Fabry-Perot observations of Halpha emission in the nearly
edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 5775. We have derived a rotation curve and a radial
density profile along the major axis by examining position-velocity (PV)
diagrams from the Fabry-Perot data cube as well as a CO 2-1 data cube from the
literature. PV diagrams constructed parallel to the major axis are used to
examine changes in azimuthal velocity as a function of height above the
midplane. The results of this analysis reveal the presence of a vertical
gradient in azimuthal velocity. The magnitude of this gradient is approximately
1 km/s/arcsec, or about 8 km/s/kpc, though a higher value of the gradient may
be appropriate in localized regions of the halo. The evidence for an azimuthal
velocity gradient is much stronger for the approaching half of the galaxy,
although earlier slit spectra are consistent with a gradient on both sides.
There is evidence for an outward radial redistribution of gas in the halo. The
form of the rotation curve may also change with height, but this is not
certain. We compare these results with those of an entirely ballistic model of
a disk-halo flow. The model predicts a vertical gradient in azimuthal velocity
which is shallower than the observed gradient, indicating that an additional
mechanism is required to further slow the rotation speeds in the halo.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures. Uses emulateapj.cls. Accepted for publication
in Ap
Integral Field Unit Observations of NGC 891: Kinematics of the Diffuse Ionized Gas Halo
We present high and moderate spectral resolution spectroscopy of diffuse
ionized gas (DIG) emission in the halo of NGC 891. The data were obtained with
the SparsePak integral field unit at the WIYN Observatory. The wavelength
coverage includes the [NII]6548,6583, Halpha, and [SII]6716,6731 emission
lines. Position-velocity (PV) diagrams, constructed using spectra extracted
from four SparsePak pointings in the halo, are used to examine the kinematics
of the DIG. Using two independent methods, a vertical gradient in azimuthal
velocity is found to be present in the northeast quadrant of the halo, with
magnitude approximately 15-18 km/s/kpc, in agreement with results from HI
observations. The kinematics of the DIG suggest that this gradient begins at
approximately 1 kpc above the midplane. In another part of the halo, the
southeast quadrant, the kinematics are markedly different, and suggest rotation
at about 175 km/s, much slower than the disk but with no vertical gradient. We
utilize an entirely ballistic model of disk-halo flow in an attempt to
reproduce the kinematics observed in the northeast quadrant. Analysis shows
that the velocity gradient predicted by the ballistic model is far too shallow.
Based on intensity cuts made parallel to the major axis in the ballistic model
and an Halpha image of NGC 891 from the literature, we conclude that the DIG
halo is much more centrally concentrated than the model, suggesting that
hydrodynamics dominate over ballistic motion in shaping the density structure
of the halo. Velocity dispersion measurements along the minor axis of NGC 891
seem to indicate a lack of radial motions in the halo, but the uncertainties do
not allow us to set firm limits.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Characterizing Transition Temperature Gas in the Galactic Corona
We present a study of the properties of the transition temperature (T~10^5 K)
gas in the Milky Way corona, based on measurements of OVI, NV, CIV, SiIV and
FeIII absorption lines seen in the far ultraviolet spectra of 58 sightlines to
extragalactic targets, obtained with Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
(FUSE) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. In many sightlines the
Galactic absorption profiles show multiple components, which are analyzed
separately. We find that the highly-ionized atoms are distributed irregularly
in a layer with a scaleheight of about 3 kpc, which rotates along with the gas
in the disk, without an obvious gradient in the rotation velocity away from the
Galactic plane. Within this layer the gas has randomly oriented velocities with
a dispersion of 40-60 km/s. On average the integrated column densities are log
N(OVI)=14.3, log N(NV)=13.5, log N(CIV)=14.2, log N(SiIV)=13.6 and log
N(FeIII)=14.2, with a dispersion of just 0.2 dex in each case. In sightlines
around the Galactic Center and Galactic North Pole all column densities are
enhanced by a factor ~2, while at intermediate latitudes in the southern sky
there is a deficit in N(OVI) of about a factor 2, but no deficit for the other
ions. We compare the column densities and ionic ratios to a series of
theoretical predictions: collisional ionization equilibrium, shock ionization,
conductive interfaces, turbulent mixing, thick disk supernovae, static
non-equilibrium ionization (NIE) radiative cooling and an NIE radiative cooling
model in which the gas flows through the cooling zone. None of these models can
fully reproduce the data, but it is clear that non-equilibrium ionization
radiative cooling is important in generating the transition temperature gas.Comment: 99 pages, 11 figures, with appendix on Cooling Flow model; only a
sample of 5 subfigures of figure 2 included - full set of 69 available
through Ap
Recommended from our members
Inventory of Boreal Fire Emissions for North America in 2004: The Importance of Peat Burning and Pyro-Convective Injection
The summer of 2004 was one of the largest fire seasons on record for Alaska and western Canada. We construct a daily bottom-up fire emission inventory for that season, including consideration of peat burning and high-altitude (buoyant) injection, and evaluate it in a global chemical transport model (the GEOS-Chem CTM) simulation of CO through comparison with MOPITT satellite and ICARTT aircraft observations. The inventory is constructed by combining daily area burned reports and MODIS fire hot spots with estimates of fuel consumption and emission factors based on ecosystem type. We estimate the contribution from peat burning using drainage and peat distribution maps for Alaska and Canada; 17% of the reported 5.1 × 106 ha burned were located in peatlands in 2004. Our total estimate of North American fire emissions during the summer of 2004 is 30 Tg CO, including 11 Tg from peat. Including peat burning in the GEOS-Chem simulation improves agreement with MOPITT observations. The long-range transport of fire plumes observed by MOPITT suggests that the largest fires injected a significant fraction of their emissions in the upper troposphere.Earth and Planetary SciencesEngineering and Applied Science
Integral Field Unit Observations of NGC 4302: Kinematics of the Diffuse Ionized Gas Halo
We present moderate resolution spectroscopy of extraplanar diffuse ionized
gas (EDIG) emission in the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4302. The spectra were
obtained with the SparsePak integral field unit (IFU) at the WIYN Observatory.
The spectra are used to construct position-velocity (PV) diagrams at several
ranges of heights above the midplane. Azimuthal velocities are directly
extracted from the PV diagrams using the envelope tracing method, and indicate
an extremely steep dropoff in rotational velocity with increasing height, with
magnitude ~30 km/s/kpc. We find evidence for a radial variation in the velocity
gradient on the receding side. We have also performed artificial observations
of galaxy models in an attempt to match the PV diagrams. The results of a
statistical analysis also favor a gradient of ~30 km/s/kpc. We compare these
results with an entirely ballistic model of disk-halo flow, and find a strong
dichotomy between the observed kinematics and those predicted by the model. The
disagreement is worse than we have found for other galaxies in previous
studies. The conclusions of this paper are compared to results from two other
galaxies, NGC 5775 and NGC 891. We find that the vertical gradient in rotation
speed, per unit EDIG scale height, for all three galaxies is consistent with a
constant magnitude (within the errors) of approximately 15-25 km/s/scaleheight,
independent of radius. This relationship is also true within the galaxy NGC
4302. We also discuss how the gradient depends on the distribution and
morphology of the EDIG and the star formation rates of the galaxies, and
consequences for the origin of the gas.Comment: 37 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
VAST: An ASKAP Survey for Variables and Slow Transients
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an
unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio
wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and
Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP
to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena
from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent
pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar
scintillation, radio supernovae and orphan afterglows of gamma ray bursts. In
addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where
new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the
known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from
blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered
survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and
monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of
five seconds and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source
populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. Submitted for publication in Pub. Astron. Soc.
Australi
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Asian outflow and trans-Pacific transport of carbon monoxide and ozone pollution: An integrated satellite, aircraft, and model perspective
Satellite observations of carbon monoxide (CO) from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument are combined with measurements from the Transport and Chemical Evolution Over the Pacific (TRACE-P) aircraft mission over the northwest Pacific and with a global three-dimensional chemical transport model (GEOS-CHEM) to quantify Asian pollution outflow and its trans-Pacific transport during spring 2001. Global CO column distributions in MOPITT and GEOS-CHEM are highly correlated (R2 = 0.87), with no significant model bias. The largest regional bias is over Southeast Asia, where the model is 18% too high. A 60% decrease of regional biomass burning emissions in the model (to 39 Tg yr−1) would correct the discrepancy; this result is consistent with TRACE-P observations. MOPITT and TRACE-P also give consistent constraints on the Chinese source of CO from fuel combustion (181 Tg CO yr−1). Four major events of trans-Pacific transport of Asian pollution in spring 2001 were seen by MOPITT, in situ platforms, and GEOS-CHEM. One of them was sampled by TRACE-P (26–27 February) as a succession of pollution layers over the northeast Pacific. These layers all originated from one single event of Asian outflow that split into northern and southern plumes over the central Pacific. The northern plume (sampled at 6–8 km off California) had no ozone enhancement. The southern subsiding plume (sampled at 2–4 km west of Hawaii) contained a 8–17 ppbv ozone enhancement, driven by decomposition of peroxyacetylnitrate (PAN) to nitrogen oxides (NOx). This result suggests that PAN decomposition in trans-Pacific pollution plumes subsiding over the United States could lead to significant enhancements of surface ozone
The L&E of Intellectual Property – Do we get maximum innovation with the current regime?
Innovation is crucial to economic growth – the essential path for lifting much of the world population out of dire poverty and for maintaining the living standard of those who already have. To stimulate innovation, the legal system has to support the means through which innovators seek to get rewarded for their efforts. Amongst these means, some, such as the first mover advantage or 'lead time,' are not directly legal; but secrets and intellectual property rights are legal institutions supported for the specific purpose of stimulating innovation. Whilst the protection of secrets has not changed very much over recent years, intellectual property (or IP) has. IP borrows some features from ordinary property rights, but is also distinct, in that, unlike physical goods, information, the object of IP, is not inherently scarce; indeed as information and communication technologies expand, the creation and distribution of information is becoming ever cheaper and in many circumstances abundant, so that selection is of the essence ('on the internet, point of view is everything'). Where rights on information extend too far, their monopolising effect may hamper innovation.
The paper investigates the underlying structure of IP rights and surveys what we know empirically about the incentive effects of IP as about industries that flourish without formal IP
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