21 research outputs found
Comparison of Bacterial Diversity in Air and Water of a Major Urban Center
The interaction of wind with aquatic and terrestrial surfaces is known to control the creation of microbial aerosols allowing for their entrainment into air masses that can be transported regionally and globally. Near surface interactions between urban waterways and urban air are understudied but some level of interaction among these bacterial communities would be expected and may be relevant to understanding both urban air and water quality. To address this gap related to patterns of local air-water microbial exchange, we utilized next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA genes from paired air and water samples collected from 3 urban waterfront sites and evaluated their relative bacterial diversity. Aerosol samples at all sites were significantly more diverse than water samples. Only 17–22% of each site’s bacterial aerosol OTUs were present at every site. These shared aerosol OTUs included taxa associated with terrestrial systems (e.g., Bacillus), aquatic systems (e.g., Planktomarina) and sewage (e.g., Enterococcus). In fact, sewage-associated genera were detected in both aerosol and water samples, (e.g., Bifidobacterium, Blautia, and Faecalibacterium), demonstrating the widespread influence of similar pollution sources across these urban environments. However, the majority (50–61%) of the aerosol OTUs at each site were unique to that site, suggesting that local sources are an important influence on bioaerosols. According to indicator species analysis, each site’s aerosols harbored the highest percentage of bacterial OTUs statistically determined to uniquely represent that site’s aquatic bacterial community, further demonstrating a local connection between water quality and air quality in the urban environment
Study of the luminous blue variable star candidate G26.47+0.02 and its environment
The luminous blue variable (LBV) stars are peculiar very massive stars. The
study of these stellar objects and their surroundings is important for
understanding the evolution of massive stars and its effects on the
interstellar medium. We study the LBV star candidate G26.47+0.02. Using several
large-scale surveys in different frequencies we performed a multiwavelength
study of G26.47+0.02 and its surroundings. We found a molecular shell (seen in
the 13CO J=1-0 line) that partially surrounds the mid-infrared nebula of
G26.47+0.02, which suggests an interaction between the strong stellar winds and
the molecular gas. From the HI absorption and the molecular gas study we
conclude that G26.47+0.02 is located at a distance of ~4.8 kpc. The radio
continuum analysis shows a both thermal and non-thermal emission toward this
LBV candidate, pointing to wind-wind collision shocks from a binary system.
This hypothesis is supported by a search of near-IR sources and the Chandra
X-ray analysis. Additional multiwavelength and long-term observations are
needed to detect some possible variable behavior, and if that is found, to
confirm the binary nature of the system.Comment: accepted in A&A 01/05/201
Flat-spectrum symmetric objects with ~1 kpc sizes I. The candidates
In order to understand the origin and evolution of radio galaxies, searches
for the youngest such sources have been conducted. Compact-medium symmetric
objects (CSO-MSOs) are thought to be the earliest stages of radio sources, with
possible ages of <10^3 yrs for CSOs (<1 kpc in size) and 10^4-10^5 yrs for MSOs
(1-15 kpc). From a literature selection in heterogeneous surveys, we have
established a sample of 37 confirmed CSOs. In addition, we only found three
confirmed flat-spectrum MSOs in the literature.
The typical CSO resides on a z<0.5 galaxy, has a flat radio spectrum
(a_thin<0.5; S_v proportional to v^-a), is <0.3 kpc in size, has an arm length
ratio <2, and well-aligned (theta<20 deg) opposite lobes with a flux density
ratio <10. In order to populate the 0.3-1 kpc size range (large CSOs) and also
in order to find more flat-spectrum MSOs, we have built a sample of 157 radio
sources with a_{1.40}^{4.85}<0.5 that were resolved with the VLA-A 8.4 GHz. As
first results, we have 'rediscovered' nine of the known CSO/MSOs while
identifying two new ~14 kpc MSOs and two candidate CSO/MSOs (which only lack
redshifts for final classification). We were able to reject 61 of the remaining
144 objects from literature information alone. In the series of papers that
starts with this one we plan to classify the remaining 83 CSO/MSO candidates
(thanks to radio and optical observations) as well as characterize the physical
properties of the (likely) many 0.3-15 kpc flat-spectrum CSO/MSOs to be found.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables (note that Table 2, in landscape
format, has a separate file); accepted by MNRA
The density and peculiar velocity fields of nearby galaxies
We review the quantitative science that can be and has been done with
redshift and peculiar velocity surveys of galaxies in the nearby universe.
After a brief background setting the cosmological context for this work, the
first part of this review focuses on redshift surveys. The practical issues of
how redshift surveys are carried out, and how one turns a distribution of
galaxies into a smoothed density field, are discussed. Then follows a
description of major redshift surveys that have been done, and the local
cosmography out to 8,000 km/s that they have mapped. We then discuss in some
detail the various quantitative cosmological tests that can be carried out with
redshift data. The second half of this review concentrates on peculiar velocity
studies, beginning with a thorough review of existing techniques. After
discussing the various biases which plague peculiar velocity work, we survey
quantitative analyses done with peculiar velocity surveys alone, and finally
with the combination of data from both redshift and peculiar velocity surveys.
The data presented rule out the standard Cold Dark Matter model, although
several variants of Cold Dark Matter with more power on large scales fare
better. All the data are consistent with the hypothesis that the initial
density field had a Gaussian distribution, although one cannot rule out broad
classes of non-Gaussian models. Comparison of the peculiar velocity and density
fields constrains the Cosmological Density Parameter. The results here are
consistent with a flat universe with mild biasing of the galaxies relative to
dark matter, although open universe models are by no means ruled out.Comment: In press, Physics Reports. 153 pages. gzip'ed postscript of text plus
20 embedded figures. Also available via anonymous ftp at
ftp://eku.ias.edu/pub/strauss/review/physrep.p
Diabetes self-management arrangements in Europe: a realist review to facilitate a project implemented in six countries
Background: Self-management of long term conditions can promote quality of life whilst delivering benefits to the financing of health care systems. However, rarely are the meso-level influences, likely to be of direct relevance to these desired outcomes, systematically explored. No specific international guidelines exist suggesting the features of the most appropriate structure and organisation of health care systems within which to situate self-management approaches and practices. This review aimed to identify the quantitative literature with regard to diabetes self-management arrangements currently in place within the health care systems of six countries (The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Bulgaria, and Greece) and explore how these are integrated into the broader health care and welfare systems in each country.
Methods: The methodology for a realist review was followed. Publications of interest dating from 2000 to 2013 were identified through appropriate MeSH terms by a systematic search in six bibliographic databases. A search diary was maintained and the studies were assessed for their quality and risk of bias.
Results: Following the multi-step search strategy, 56 studies were included in the final review (the majority from the UK) reporting design methods and findings on 21 interventions and programmes for diabetes and chronic disease self-management. Most (11/21, 52%) of the interventions were designed to fit within the context of primary care. The majority (11/21, 52%) highlighted behavioural change as an important goal. Finally, some (5/21, 24%) referred explicitly to Internet-based tools.
Conclusions: This review is based on results which are derived from a total of at least 5,500 individuals residing in the six participating countries. It indicates a policy shift towards patient-centred self-management of diabetes in a primary care context. The professional role of diabetes specialist nurses, the need for multidisciplinary approaches and a focus on patient education emerge as fundamental principles in the design of relevant programmes. Socio-economic circumstances are relevant to the capacity to self-manage and suggest that any gains and progress will be hard to maintain during economic austerity. This realist review should be interpreted within the wider context of a whole systems approach regarding self-care support and chronic illness management
Mayhem for moderns: The culture of sensationalism in France, c. 1900.
In France, c. 1900, sensationalized violence was a common cultural currency and a profound problem. A thriving mass press served up sensational news reports, images, and serial novels to an eager public. Meanwhile, a growing chorus of critics sounded in on the dangers of this culture of violence. This dissertation explores this phenomenon as a window upon the history of sensibilities, mass culture, and modern France. My research centers upon the Parisian press---the daily mass press, especially, but the weekly illustrated press, the bourgeois and socialist press, as well---from the 1860s to 1910. I look to other sources to place these in the widest context: literary reactions to and appropriations of sensationalism; medical sources on the modern nerves; sixteenth and seventeenth-century reports of murder, suicide and catastrophe, along with histoires tragiques from the same period; debates over the publicity of execution in France; satire directed against the mass press, the public execution, and the public taste for tales of blood; scientists, philosophers, Catholic critics and legislators on the dangers of sensationalism. I mark out a set of preconditions for this culture of sensationalism---a tum-of-the-century understanding of a nervous modernity; a modern shift in the perception of violent sights and the dangers of curiosity; and a nineteenth-century transformation in the definition of the news. I argue that there was a symbiotic relationship between the purveyors of sensationalism and their many critics. I set out the imaginative functions of these stories of violence. I show the ways in which (the seemingly opposed principles of) horror and detection went hand in hand. I argue that the sensationalism of violence served to create a community of horror and outrage. It played a central role in the making of a mass public, a new public that transcended lines of class, gender and politics. Sensationalism, I argue, generated a way of talking about the world and demanding change that was taken up by socialist newspapers, legislators, novelists and criminologists, alike.Ph.D.Communication and the ArtsCultural anthropologyEuropean historyMass communicationSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/132885/2/9990983.pd
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Personalized matched targeted therapy in advanced pancreatic cancer: a pilot cohort analysis
Despite progress, 2-year pancreatic cancer survival remains dismal. We evaluated a biomarker-driven, combination/N-of-one strategy in 18 patients (advanced/metastatic pancreatic cancer) (from Molecular Tumor Board). Targeted agents administered/patient = 2.5 (median) (range, 1-4); first-line therapy (N = 5); second line, (N = 13). Comparing patients (high versus low degrees of matching) (matching score ≥50% versus <50%; reflecting number of alterations matched to targeted agents divided by number of pathogenic alterations), survival was significantly longer (hazard ratio [HR] 0.24 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.078-0.76, P = 0.016); clinical benefit rates (CBR) (stable disease ≥6 months/partial/complete response) trended higher (45.5 vs 0.0%, P = 0.10); progression-free survival, HR, 95% CI, 0.36 (0.12-1.10) (p = 0.075). First versus ≥2nd-line therapy had higher CBRs (80.0 vs 7.7%, P = 0.008). No grade 3-4 toxicities occurred. The longest responder achieved partial remission (17.5 months) by co-targeting MEK and CDK4/6 alterations (chemotherapy-free). Therefore, genomically matched targeted agent combinations were active in these advanced pancreatic cancers. Larger prospective trials are warranted
Personalized matched targeted therapy in advanced pancreatic cancer: a pilot cohort analysis
Abstract Despite progress, 2-year pancreatic cancer survival remains dismal. We evaluated a biomarker-driven, combination/N-of-one strategy in 18 patients (advanced/metastatic pancreatic cancer) (from Molecular Tumor Board). Targeted agents administered/patient = 2.5 (median) (range, 1–4); first-line therapy (N = 5); second line, (N = 13). Comparing patients (high versus low degrees of matching) (matching score ≥50% versus <50%; reflecting number of alterations matched to targeted agents divided by number of pathogenic alterations), survival was significantly longer (hazard ratio [HR] 0.24 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.078–0.76, P = 0.016); clinical benefit rates (CBR) (stable disease ≥6 months/partial/complete response) trended higher (45.5 vs 0.0%, P = 0.10); progression-free survival, HR, 95% CI, 0.36 (0.12–1.10) (p = 0.075). First versus ≥2nd-line therapy had higher CBRs (80.0 vs 7.7%, P = 0.008). No grade 3–4 toxicities occurred. The longest responder achieved partial remission (17.5 months) by co-targeting MEK and CDK4/6 alterations (chemotherapy-free). Therefore, genomically matched targeted agent combinations were active in these advanced pancreatic cancers. Larger prospective trials are warranted