559 research outputs found
Lebensqualität bei deutschsprachigen Patienten mit Rückenmarkverletzungen und Blasenfunktionsstörungen: Validierung der deutschen Adaption des Qualiveen®-Fragebogens
Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Blasenfunktionsstörungen bei Rückenmarkverletzten können zu erheblichen Einschränkungen der Lebensqualität führen. Zur Erfassung existiert ein validierter Fragebogen in französischer Sprache. Ziel war es, den Fragebogen in deutscher Sprache zu validieren. Material und Methoden: Übersetzung, sprachliche und interkulturelle Adaption erfolgten in Kooperation mit einer Forschungsstelle für Gesundheitssystemforschung. Die so entstandene Version wurde von 439Patienten an 18 Zentren in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz ausgefüllt. Die Daten wurden deskriptiv hinsichtlich klinischer und soziodemographischer Charakteristika ausgewertet. Die Gütekriterien der Items und Skalen wurden mit einer detaillierten Skalenanalyse geprüft. Ergebnisse: Die Stichprobe bestand aus 65,8% Paraplegikern und 32,8% Tetraplegikern. Interne Konsistenz, Reliabilität und Validität des Fragebogens waren sehr gut. Differenzielle Effekte in den erhobenen klinischen Variablen wurden sichtbar. Schlussfolgerungen: Der Qualiveen®-Fragebogen steht als erstes Instrument in deutscher Sprache zur Untersuchung des Einflusses von Blasenfunktionsstörungen auf die Lebensqualität bei Rückenmarkverletzten zur Verfügun
Orbital Period Determinations for Four SMC Be/X-ray Binaries
We present an optical and X-ray study of four Be/X-ray binaries located in
the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). OGLE I-band data of up to 11 years of
semi-continuous monitoring has been analysed for SMC X-2, SXP172 and SXP202B,
providing both a measurement of the orbital period (Porb = 18.62, 68.90, and
229.9 days for the pulsars respectively) and a detailed optical orbital profile
for each pulsar. For SXP172 this has allowed a direct comparison of the optical
and X-ray emission seen through regular RXTE monitoring, revealing that the
X-ray outbursts precede the optical by around 7 days. Recent X-ray studies by
XMM-Newton have identified a new source in the vicinity of SXP15.3 raising
doubt on the identification of the optical counterpart to this X-ray pulsar.
Here we present a discussion of the observations that led to the proposal of
the original counterpart and a detailed optical analysis of the counterpart to
the new X-ray source, identifying a 21.7 d periodicity in the OGLE I-band data.
The optical characteristics of this star are consistent with that of a SMC
Be/X-ray binary. However, this star was rejected as the counterpart to SXP15.3
in previous studies due to the lack of H{\alpha} emission.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 11 pages, 17 figure
A return to strong radio flaring by Circinus X-1 observed with the Karoo Array Telescope test array KAT-7
Circinus X-1 is a bright and highly variable X-ray binary which displays
strong and rapid evolution in all wavebands. Radio flaring, associated with the
production of a relativistic jet, occurs periodically on a ~17-day timescale. A
longer-term envelope modulates the peak radio fluxes in flares, ranging from
peaks in excess of a Jansky in the 1970s to an historic low of milliJanskys
during the years 1994 to 2007. Here we report first observations of this source
with the MeerKAT test array, KAT-7, part of the pathfinder development for the
African dish component of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), demonstrating
successful scientific operation for variable and transient sources with the
test array. The KAT-7 observations at 1.9 GHz during the period 13 December
2011 to 16 January 2012 reveal in temporal detail the return to the
Jansky-level events observed in the 1970s. We compare these data to
contemporaneous single-dish measurements at 4.8 and 8.5 GHz with the HartRAO
26-m telescope and X-ray monitoring from MAXI. We discuss whether the overall
modulation and recent dramatic brightening is likely to be due to an increase
in the power of the jet due to changes in accretion rate or changing Doppler
boosting associated with a varying angle to the line of sight.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS 14 May 201
The messy environment of Mrk 6
In recent years it has become clear that understanding the absorption present
in AGN is essential given its bearing on unification models. We present the
most recent XMM-Newton observation of Mrk 6, with the goal of understanding the
nature and origin of the complex absorption intrinsic to this source. X-ray
spectral fitting shows that a simple warm absorption model provides an equally
good statistical representation of the CCD data as a partial covering model.
Furthermore, once the RGS data are included in the spectral fitting, the simple
warm absorber model provides a very good fit to the data, without increasing
the complexity of the model, in contrast with the partial covering model which
requires the addition of either a low metalicity (<0.03 solar) thermal plasma
or low temperature blackbody emission in order to provide a similar quality
fit. The warm absorber is also a considerably more natural way to explain the
variability observed in the X-ray absorbing column density between the previous
XMM-Newton observation and this one, requiring only a second, higher column
density, higher ionisation, absorber to be present during the previous
XMM-Newton observation. In comparison, the partial covering models which
requires moving, clumpy, material relatively close to the source that result in
two distinct lines of sight, with separate absorbing columns that each vary
considerably without any associated change in their covering fractions, in
order to explain the observed variability. We associate the warm absorber
either with an accretion disk wind with densities of ~10^9 /cm^3, or with an
ionised `skin' or atmosphere of the molecular torus with densities of ~10^3 -
10^5 /cm^3.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication by MNRAS 05/200
Iron Kalpha emission from the low-luminosity Active Galaxies M81 and NGC 4579
We report on XMM-Newton spectroscopy of the low-luminosity active galaxies
(LLAGN) M81 and NGC4579 both of which have known black hole masses and
well-sampled spectral energy distributions (SED). The iron Kalpha line profiles
from both the LLAGN can be described in terms of two components - a narrow line
at 6.4 keV and a moderately broad line (FWHM = 20000 km/s) arising from highly
ionized, He-like or H-like species (E \sim 6.8 keV). We interpret the broad
lines arising from an accretion disk the inner edge of which is restricted to
large radii (r_{in} \sim 100 r_g). However, the Eddington ratio, {L}/{L_{Edd}},
of these sources, is 3 - 4 orders of magnitude lower than that required to
photo-ionize a cold disk to He-like iron. We suggest that the lines can be
explained as collisionally ionized X-ray lines arising from the transition
region between a hot (radiatively inefficient) flow in the inner regions and a
cold disk outside r \sim 100r_g. The accretion flow geometry probed by our
XMM-Newton observations is consistent with the truncated disk models proposed
to explain the SED of LLAGNs.Comment: 8 pages, uses emulateapj5, To apear in Ap
The Location and Kinematics of the Coronal-Line Emitting Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei
We use the photoionization code CLOUDY to determine both the location and the kinematics of the optical forbidden, high-ionization line (hereafter, FHIL) emitting gas in the narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxy Ark 564. The results of our models are compared with the observed properties of these emission lines to produce a physical model that is used to explain both the kinematics and the source of this gas. The main features of this model are that the FHIL emitting gas is launched from the putative dusty torus and is quickly accelerated to its terminal velocity of a few hundred km s-1. Iron-carrying grains are destroyed during this initial acceleration. This velocity is maintained by a balance between radiative forces and gravity in this super-Eddington source. Eventually the outflow is slowed at large radii by the gravitational forces of and interactions with the host galaxy. In this model, FHIL emission traces the transition between the active galactic nucleus (AGN) and bulge zones of influence
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