Clinical survey of neurosensory side-effects of mandibular parasymphyseal bone harvesting

The aim of the present survey was to assess neurosensory disturbances and/or tooth-pulp sensitivity losses after mandibular parasymphyseal bone-harvesting procedures. Twenty-eight harvesting areas in 16 patients were surveyed. Mucosal and skin sensitivity of the chin/lower lip, divided into four regions, were determined via Pointed-Blunt and Two-Point-Discrimination Tests. Pulp sensitivity of the mandibular teeth from the left second bicuspid to the right second bicuspid was tested by cold vitality preoperatively and 12 months postoperatively. Teeth were grouped according to sensitivity alterations and distance from the harvesting defects, as measured on CT scans, and statistically significant differences sought. At 12 months, 29% of preoperatively vital cuspids overlying the harvesting defects revealed pulp-sensitivity losses; no patient reported anaesthesia or analgesia; hypoaesthesia was present in 4% (8 sites; 2 patients), hypoalgesia was present in 3% (5 sites; 2 patients) and Two-Point-Discrimination Tests yielded pathologic responses in 5% of tested areas (10 sites; 4 patients). Teeth with and without pulp sensitivity changes were statistically indistinguishable regarding distances between root apices or mental foramen and the harvesting defect. The loss of pulp sensitivity in any tooth cannot be predicted simply on the basis of the distance between its apex and the harvesting osteotomy line

Abundance ratios of red giants in low mass ultra faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Low mass dwarf spheroidal galaxies are key objects for our understanding of the chemical evolution of the pristine Universe and the Local Group of galaxies. Abundance ratios in stars of these objects can be used to better understand their star formation and chemical evolution. We report on the analysis of a sample of 11 stars belonging to 5 different ultra faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies (UfDSph) based on X-Shooter spectra obtained at the VLT. Medium resolution spectra have been used to determine the detailed chemical composition of their atmosphere. We performed a standard 1D LTE analysis to compute the abundances. Considering all the stars as representative of the same population of low mass galaxies, we found that the [alpha/Fe] ratios vs [Fe/H] decreases as the metallicity of the star increases in a way similar to what is found for the population of stars belonging to dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The main difference is that the solar [alpha/Fe] is reached at a much lower metallicity for the UfDSph than the dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We report for the first time the abundance of strontium in CVnI. The star we analyzed in this galaxy has a very high [Sr/Fe] and a very low upper limit of barium which makes it a star with an exceptionally high [Sr/Ba] ratio. Our results seem to indicate that the galaxies which have produced the bulk of their stars before the reionization (fossil galaxies) have lower [X/Fe] ratios at a given metallicity than the galaxies that have experienced a discontinuity in their star formation rate (quenching).Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, submitted to A&

Duality and o-O structure in non reflexive banach spaces

Let E be a Banach space with a supremum type norm induced by a collection of functionals L ⊂ X∗where X is a reflexive Banach space. Familiar spaces of this type are BMO, BV, C0,α(0 < α < 1), Lq,∞, for q > 1. For most of these spaces E, the predual E∗ exists and can be defined by atomic decomposition of its elements. Another typical result, when it is possible to define a rich vanishing subspace E0⊂ E is the "two star theorem ", namely (E0)∗ = E∗. This fails for E = BV and E =C0,1= Lip

Chemical abundances of the metal-poor horizontal-branch stars CS 22186-005 and CS 30344-033

We report on a chemical-abundance analysis of two very metal-poor horizontal-branch stars in the Milky Way halo: CS 22186-005 ([Fe/H]=-2.70) and CS 30344-033 ([Fe/H]=-2.90). The analysis is based on high-resolution spectra obtained at ESO, with the spectrographs HARPS at the 3.6 m telescope, and UVES at the VLT. We adopted one-dimensional, plane-parallel model atmospheres assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium. We derived elemental abundances for 13 elements for CS 22186-005 and 14 elements for CS 30344-033. This study is the first abundance analysis of CS 30344-033. CS 22186-005 has been analyzed previously, but we report here the first measurement of nickel (Ni; Z = 28) for this star, based on twenty-two NiI lines ([Ni/Fe]=-0.21$\pm$0.02); the measurement is significantly below the mean found for most metal-poor stars. Differences of up to 0.5 dex in [Ni/Fe] ratios were determined by different authors for the same type of stars in the literature, which means that it is not yet possible to conclude that there is a real intrinsic scatter in the [Ni/Fe] ratios. For the other elements for which we obtained estimates, the abundance patterns in these two stars match the Galactic trends defined by giant and turnoff stars well. This confirms the value of horizontal-branch stars as tracers of the chemical properties of stellar populations in the Galaxy. Our radial velocities measurements for CS 22186-005 differ from previously published measurements by more than the expected statistical errors. More measurements of the radial velocity of this star are encouraged to confirm or refute its radial velocity variability

Chemical Abundances from the Continuum

The calculation of solar absolute fluxes in the near-UV is revisited, discussing in some detail recent updates in theoretical calculations of bound-free opacity from metals. Modest changes in the abundances of elements such as Mg and the iron-peak elements have a significant impact on the atmospheric structure, and therefore self-consistent calculations are necessary. With small adjustments to the solar photospheric composition, we are able to reproduce fairly well the observed solar fluxes between 200 and 270 nm, and between 300 and 420 nm, but find too much absorption in the 270-290 nm window. A comparison between our reference 1D model and a 3D time-dependent hydrodynamical simulation indicates that the continuum flux is only weakly sensitive to 3D effects, with corrections reaching <10% in the near-UV, and <2% in the optical.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference A Stellar Journey, a symposium in celebration of Bengt Gustafsson's 65th birthday, June 23-27, 2008, Uppsal

Detailed abundances in stars belonging to ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies

We report preliminary results concerning the detailed chemical composition of metal poor stars belonging to close ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (hereafter UfDSphs). The abundances have been determined thanks to spectra obtained with X-Shooter, a high efficiency spectrograph installed on one of the ESO VLT units. The sample of ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal stars have abundance ratios slightly lower to what is measured in field halo star of the same metallicity.We did not find extreme abundances in our Hercules stars as the one found by Koch for his 2 Hercules stars. The synthesis of the neutron capture elements Ba and Sr seems to originate from the same nucleosynthetic process in operation during the early stages of the galactic evolution.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure; OMEG11 conference (Tokyo, Nov 2011