The Solar Neighborhood XXV: Discovery of New Proper Motion Stars with 0.40 "/yr > mu > 0.18 "/yr between Declinations -47 degrees and 00 degrees

We present 2817 new southern proper motion systems with 0.40 "/yr > mu > 0.18 "/yr and declination between -47 degrees and 00 degrees. This is a continuation of the SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) proper motion searches of the southern sky. We use the same photometric relations as previous searches to provide distance estimates based on the assumption that the objects are single main sequence stars. We find 79 new red dwarf systems predicted to be within 25 pc, including a few new components of previously known systems. Two systems - SCR 1731-2452 at 9.5 pc and SCR 1746-3214 at 9.9 pc - are anticipated to be within 10 pc. We also find 23 new white dwarf candidates with distance estimates of 15-66 pc, as well as 360 new red subdwarf candidates. With this search, we complete the SCR sweep of the southern sky for stars with mu > 0.18 "/yr and R_59F < 16.5, resulting in a total of 5042 objects in 4724 previously unreported proper motion systems. Here we provide selected comprehensive lists from our SCR proper motion search to date, including 152 red dwarf systems estimated to be within 25 pc (nine within 10 pc), 46 white dwarfs (ten within 25 pc), and 598 subdwarf candidates. The results of this search suggest that there are more nearby systems to be found at fainter magnitudes and lower proper motion limits than those probed so far.Comment: 47 pages, 16 of text. 7 figure

The Solar Neighborhood VIII: Discovery of New High Proper Motion Nearby Stars Using the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey

Five new objects with proper motions between 1.0 arcsec/yr and 2.6 arcsec/yr have been discovered via a new RECONS search for high proper motion stars utilizing the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey. The first portion of the search, discussed here, is centered on the south celestial pole and covers declinations -90 degrees to -57.5 degrees. Photographic photometry from SuperCOSMOS and JHKs near-infrared photometry from 2MASS for stars nearer than 10 pc are combined to provide a suite of new M_Ks-color relations useful for estimating distances to main sequence stars. These relations are then used to derive distances to the new proper motion objects as well as previously known stars with mu >= 1.0 arcsec/yr (many of which have no trigonometric parallaxes) recovered during this phase of the survey. Four of the five new stars have red dwarf colors, while one is a nearby white dwarf. Two of the red dwarfs are likely to be within the RECONS 10 pc sample, and the white dwarf probably lies between 15 and 25 pc. Among the 23 known stars recovered during the search, there are three additional candidates for the RECONS sample that have no trigonometric parallaxes.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy Journa

Clinical utility of tolvaptan in the management of hyponatremia in heart failure patients

Hyponatremia is an electrolyte disorder frequently observed in several clinical settings and common in hospitalized patients with decompensated heart failure (HF). It is caused by deregulation of arginine vasopressin (AVP) homeostasis associated with water retention in hypervolemic or in euvolemic states. While hypervolemic hypotonic hyponatremia is also seen in advanced liver cirrhosis, renal failure, and nephrotic syndrome, the bulk of evidence associating this electrolyte disorder to increasing morbidity and mortality can be found in the HF literature. Hospitalized HF patients with low serum sodium concentration have lower short-term and long-term survival, longer hospital stay and increased readmission rates. Conventional therapeutic approaches, ie, restriction of fluid intake, saline and diuretics, can be effective, but often the results are unpredictable. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated the effectiveness of nonpeptide AVP receptor antagonists (vaptans) in the treatment of hyponatremia. The vaptans induce aquaresis, an electrolyte-sparing excretion of free water resulting in the correction of serum sodium concentrations and plasma osmolality, without activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) or changes in renal function and blood pressure. Further prospective studies in a selected congestive HF population with hyponatremia, using clinical-status titrated dose of tolvaptan, are needed to determine whether serum sodium normalization will be translated into a better long-term prognosis. This review will focus on recent clinical trials with tolvaptan, an oral V2 receptor antagonist, in HF patients. The ability of tolvaptan to safely increase serum sodium concentration without activating the RAAS or compromising renal function and electrolyte balance makes it an attractive agent for treating hyponatremic HF patients

Hypoglycaemic and hypotensive effects of Ficus exasperata Vahl. (Moraceae) leaf aqueous extracts in rats

The hypotensive and hypoglycaemic effects of Ficus exasperata (Vahl) (family: Moraceae) leaf aqueous extract (FEE) were investigated in experimental rat models. In this study, spontaneously-hypertensive rats (SHR) (type 1 diabetes), obese Zucker (type 2 diabetes) and Wistar rats were used. Three (A, B and C) groups of rats, each group consisting of 10 rats, were used. Group A Wistar rats received distilled water in quantities equivalent to the volume of streptozotocin (STZ) and FEE administered intraperitoneally to treated rats. Diabetes mellitus was induced in the SHR group B rats by multiple low-dose (MLD) intraperitoneal injections of STZ (40 mg/kg body weight) to induce type 1 diabetes. The animals in group C were the obese Zucker rats with non-insulin-independent diabetes mellitus (NDDM) (type 2 diabetes) on genetic basis. F. exasperata leaf aqueous extract (FEE, 100 mg/kg/day p.o.) was administered orally by orogastric intubation to fasted Groups B and C rats. In groups B and C rats, administration of FEE commenced 4 weeks post STZ injection, and continued for the next 4 consecutive weeks. Group A rats gave normal biochemical and morphological findings. Group B rats exhibited pronounced polyuria, hypoinsulinaemia, hyperlipidaemia and hyperglycaemia. These findings were also observed in group C rats, except that there was hyperinsilinaemia. Histopathological study of the aortic blood vessels showed extensive collagen fiber formation as well as perivascular fibrosis in both groups B and C rats. Four weeks of oral administration of F. exasperata leaf aqueous extract to diabetic groups of rats decreased blood glucose, blood pressure and lipid profiles. Administration of FEE (100 mg/kg p.o.) also restored the microanatomy of the blood vessels to almost normal levels. The findings of this study suggest that F. exasperata leaf aqueous extract possesses hypoglycaemic, hypotensive and hypolipidaemic properties. These findings lend biomedical and pharmacological support to the folkloric, ethnomedical uses of the plant in the management and/or control of diabetes and hypertension among the Yoruba-speaking people of Western Nigeria.Key Words: Ficus exasperata (Vahl) leaf aqueous extract; streptozotocin; rats; hypoglycaemic; hypotensive and hypolipidaemicproperties

'Parasitic invasions' or sources of good governance: constraining foreign competition in Hong Kong banking, 1956-81

This paper investigates the operation and impact of the moratorium on new banking licences imposed in Hong Kong in 1965 and the claims that foreign banks destabilised the banking system and drained resources from the colony. First it examines foreign banks' attempts to circumvent the moratorium through claims of special circumstances and buying interests in local banks, and secondly it examines the efforts of incumbents to extend barriers to non-bank financial institutions and to branches of foreign banks. The general conclusions are that while the moratorium was aimed at increasing the stability of the banking system, it had the effect of decreasing the regulatory breadth of the government, and reducing incentives for mergers and acquisitions that might have improved governance

Cyber and AI security challenges for LNG maritime transport and terminals—responses in law and standards

This article considers how key state players in the maritime transport and storage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) face up to the cyber security threats which have sadly become ubiquitous in recent times. The cyber threat for the gas sector, with increasing investment in LNG and current geopolitics, makes the study especially acute

The Solar Neighborhood XV: Discovery of New High Proper Motion Stars with mu >= 0.4"/yr between Declinations -47 degrees and 00 degrees

We report the discovery of 152 new high proper motion systems (mu >= 0.4"/yr) in the southern sky (Declination = -47 degrees to 00 degrees) brighter than UKST plate R_{59F} =16.5 via our SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) search. This paper complements Paper XII in The Solar Neighborhood series, which covered the region from Declination = -90 degrees to -47 degrees and discussed all 147 new systems from the southernmost phase of the search. Among the total of 299 systems from both papers, there are 148 (71 in Paper XII, 77 in this paper) new systems moving faster than 0.5"/yr that are additions to the classic ``LHS'' (Luyten Half Second) sample. These constitute an 8% increase in the sample of all stellar systems with mu >= 0.5"/yr in the southern sky. As in Paper XII, distance estimates are provided for the systems reported here based upon a combination of photographic plate magnitudes and 2MASS photometry, assuming all stars are on the main sequence. Two SCR systems from the portion of the sky included in this paper are anticipated to be within 10 pc, and an additional 23 are within 25 pc. In total, the results presented in Paper XII and here for this SCR sweep of the entire southern sky include five new systems within 10 pc and 38 more between 10 and 25 pc. The largest number of nearby systems have been found in the slowest proper motion bin, 0.6"/yr > mu >= 0.4"/yr, indicating that there may be a large population of low proper motion systems very near the Sun.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa

The Solar Neighborhood XXIII CCD Photometric Distance Estimates of SCR Targets -- 77 M Dwarf Systems within 25 Parsecs

We present CCD photometric distance estimates of 100 SCR (SuperCOSMOS RECONS) systems with $\mu$ $\geq$ 0\farcs18/yr, 28 of which are new discoveries previously unpublished in this series of papers. These distances are estimated using a combination of new $VRI$ photometry acquired at CTIO and $JHK$ magnitudes extracted from 2MASS. The estimates are improvements over those determined using photographic plate $BRI$ magnitudes from SuperCOSMOS plus $JHK$, as presented in the original discovery papers. In total, 77 of the 100 systems investigated are predicted to be within 25 pc. If all 77 systems are confirmed to have $\pi$$_{trig}$ $\ge$ 40 milliarcseconds, this sample would represent a 23% increase in M dwarf systems nearer than 25 pc in the southern sky.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figure