The HIPASS Catalogue: III - Optical Counterparts & Isolated Dark Galaxies

We present the largest catalogue to date of optical counterparts for HI radio-selected galaxies, Hopcat. Of the 4315 HI radio-detected sources from the HI Parkes All Sky Survey (Hipass) catalogue, we find optical counterparts for 3618 (84%) galaxies. Of these, 1798 (42%) have confirmed optical velocities and 848 (20%) are single matches without confirmed velocities. Some galaxy matches are members of galaxy groups. From these multiple galaxy matches, 714 (16%) have confirmed optical velocities and a further 258 (6%) galaxies are without confirmed velocities. For 481 (11%), multiple galaxies are present but no single optical counterpart can be chosen and 216 (5%) have no obvious optical galaxy present. Most of these 'blank fields' are in crowded fields along the Galactic plane or have high extinctions. Isolated 'Dark galaxy' candidates are investigated using an extinction cut of ABj < 1 mag and the blank fields category. Of the 3692 galaxies with an ABj extinction < 1 mag, only 13 are also blank fields. Of these, 12 are eliminated either with follow-up Parkes observations or are in crowded fields. The remaining one has a low surface brightness optical counterpart. Hence, no isolated optically dark galaxies have been found within the limits of the Hipass survey.Comment: 10 pages, 15 figures, MNRAS (in press

Non-neural phenotype of spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy : results from a large cohort of Italian patients

Objective To carry out a deep characterisation of the main androgen-responsive tissues involved in spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). Methods 73 consecutive Italian patients underwent a full clinical protocol including biochemical and hormonal analyses, genitourinary examination, bone metabolism and densitometry, cardiological evaluation and muscle pathology. Results Creatine kinase levels were slightly to markedly elevated in almost all cases (68 of the 73; 94%). 30 (41%) patients had fasting glucose above the reference limit, and many patients had total cholesterol (40; 54.7%), low-density lipoproteins cholesterol (29; 39.7%) and triglyceride (35; 48%) levels above the recommended values. Although testosterone, luteinising hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone values were generally normal, in one-third of cases we calculated an increased Androgen Sensitivity Index reflecting the presence of androgen resistance in these patients. According to the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), 7/70 (10%) patients reported severe lower urinal tract symptoms (IPSS score &gt;19), and 21/73 (30%) patients were moderately symptomatic (IPSS score from 8 to 19). In addition, 3 patients were carriers of an indwelling bladder catheter. Videourodynamic evaluation indicated that 4 of the 7 patients reporting severe urinary symptoms had an overt prostate-unrelated bladder outlet obstruction. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan data were consistent with low bone mass in 25/61 (41%) patients. Low bone mass was more frequent at the femoral than at the lumbar level. Skeletal muscle biopsy was carried out in 20 patients and myogenic changes in addition to the neurogenic atrophy were mostly observed. Conclusions Our study provides evidence of a wide non-neural clinical phenotype in SBMA, suggesting the need for comprehensive multidisciplinary protocols for these patients

Enhanced neural empathic responses in patients with Spino-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy: An electrophysiological study

Background: Spino\u2010bulbar muscular atrophy is a rare genetic X\u2010linked disease caused by testosterone insensitivity. An inverse correlation has been described between testosterone levels and empathic responses. The present study explored the profile of neural empathic responding in spinobulbar muscular atrophy patients. Methods: Eighteen patients with spino\u2010bulbar muscular atrophy and eighteen healthy male controls were enrolled in the study. Their event\u2010related potentials were recorded during an \u201cEmpathy Task\u201d designed to distinguish neural responses linked with experience\u2010sharing (early response) and mentalizing (late response) components of empathy. The task involved the presentation of contextual information (painful vs. neutral sentences) and facial expressions (painful vs. neutral). An explicit dispositional empathy\u2010related questionnaire was also administered to all participants, who were screened via neuropsychological battery tests that did not reveal potential cognitive deficits. Due to electrophysiological artefacts, data from 12 patients and 17 controls were finally included in the analyses. Results: Although patients and controls did not differ in terms of dispositional, explicit empathic self\u2010ratings, notably conservative event\u2010related potentials analyses (i.e., spatio\u2010temporal permutation cluster analyses) showed a significantly greater experience\u2010sharing neural response in patients compared to healthy controls in the Empathy\u2010task when both contextual information and facial expressions were painful. Conclusion: The present study contributes to the characterization of the psychological profile of patients with spinobulbar muscular atrophy, highlighting the peculiarities in enhanced neural responses underlying empathic reactions