Exposure to violence and PTSD symptoms among Somali women

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, exposure to traumatic stressors, and health care utilization were examined in 84 women attending a primary health care clinic in Mogadishu, Somalia. The Somalia-Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale was used in this active warzone to measure symptoms. Nearly all women reported high levels of confrontations with violence; half described being exposed to a potentially traumatizing event. Nearly one third had significant PTSD symptoms. Compared to those who did not, women who reported exposure to a traumatic stressor reported more confrontations with violence (7.1 vs. 3.3; p < . 001), health complaints (3.8 vs. 2.9; p = .03), and nearly 3 times as much (p = .03) health service utilization. A potentially traumatizing event was found to be a simplified proxy for assessing mental health distress in women attending a primary health care facility in highly insecure, unpredictable, resource-limited settings

A ~ 12 kpc HI extension and other HI asymmetries in the isolated galaxy CIG 340 (IC 2487)

HI kinematic asymmetries are common in late-type galaxies irrespective of environment, although the amplitudes are strikingly low in isolated galaxies. As part of our studies of the HI morphology and kinematics in isolated late-type galaxies we have chosen several very isolated galaxies from the AMIGA sample for HI mapping. Here we present GMRT 21-cm HI line mapping of CIG 340 which was selected because its integrated HI spectrum has a very symmetric profile, Aflux = 1.03. Optical images of the galaxy hinted at a warped disk in contrast to the symmetric integrated HI spectrum profile. Our aim is to determine the extent to which the optical asymmetry is reflected in the resolved HI morphology and kinematics. GMRT observations reveal significant HI morphological asymmetries in CIG 340 despite it's overall symmetric optical form and highly symmetric HI spectrum. The most notable HI features are: 1) a warp in the HI disk (with an optical counterpart), 2) the HI north/south flux ratio = 1.32 is much larger than expected from the integrated HI spectrum profile and 3) a ~ 45" (12 kpc) HI extension, containing ~ 6% of the detected HI mass on the northern side of the disk. We conclude that in isolated galaxies a highly symmetric HI spectrum can mask significant HI morphological asymmetries. The northern HI extension appears to be the result of a recent perturbation (10^8 yr), possibly by a satellite which is now disrupted or projected within the disk. This study provides an important step in our ongoing program to determine the predominant source of HI asymmetries in isolated galaxies. For CIG 340 the isolation from major companions, symmetric HI spectrum, optical morphology and interaction timescales have allowed us to narrow the possible causes the HI asymmetries and identify tests to further constrain the source of the asymmetries.Comment: 10 page

Magneto-Centrifugal Launching of Jets from Accretion Disks. II: Inner Disk-Driven Winds

We follow numerically the time evolution of axisymmetric outflows driven magneto-centrifugally from the inner portion of accretion disks, from their launching surface to large, observable distances. Special attention is paid to the collimation of part of the outflow into a dense, narrow jet around the rotation axis, after a steady state has been reached. For parameters typical of T Tauri stars, we define a fiducial ``jet'' as outlined by the contour of constant density at 10^4 cm^{-3}. We find that the jet, so defined, appears nearly cylindrical well above the disk, in agreement with previous asymptotic analyses. Closer to the equatorial plane, the density contour can either bulge outwards or pinch inwards, depending on the conditions at the launching surface, particularly the mass flux distribution. We find that even though a dense, jet-like feature is always formed around the axis, there is no guarantee that the high-density axial jet would dominate the more tenuous, wide-angle part of the wind. Specifically, on the 100 AU scale, resolvable by HST and ground-based adaptive optics for nearby T Tauri winds, the fraction of the wind mass flux enclosed by the fiducial jet can vary substantially, again depending on the launching conditions. We show two examples in which the fraction is ~20% and ~45%. These dependences may provide a way to constrain the conditions at the launching surface, which are poorly known at present.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ, scheduled for vol. 595, October 1, 200

Dense Ionized and Neutral Gas Surrounding Sgr A*

We present high resolution H41a hydrogen recombination line observations of the 1.2' (3 pc) region surrounding Sgr A* at 92 GHz using the OVRO Millimeter Array with an angular resolution of 7" x 3" and velocity resolution of 13 km/s. New observations of H31a, H35a, H41a, and H44a lines were obtained using the NRAO 12-m telescope, and their relative line strengths are interpreted in terms of various emission mechanisms. These are the most extensive and most sensitive observations of recombination line to date. Observations of HCO+ (1 - 0) transition at 89 GHz are also obtained simultaneously with a 40% improved angular resolution and 4-15 times improved sensitivity over previous observations, and the distribution and kinematics of the dense molecular gas in the circumnuclear disk (CND) are mapped and compared with those of the ionized gas. The line brightness ratios of the hydrogen recombination lines are consistent with purely spontaneous emission from 7000 K gas with n_e = 20,000 cm$^{-3}$ near LTE condition. A virial analysis suggests that the most prominent molecular gas clumps in the CND have mean densities of 10^7 cm^{-3}, sufficient to withstand the tidal shear in the Galactic Center region. Therefore, these clumps may survive over several dynamical times, and the CND may be a dynamically stable structure. We estimate a total gas mass of 3 x 10^5 solar mass for the CND. \Comment: 34 pages including 11 figures (4 jpgs), Latex, uses aastex. The full pdf format file including high resolution figures is available at http://www.astro.umass.edu/~myun/papers/SgrA.pdf . To appear in the 20 November 2004 (V616) issue of the Astrophysical Journa

Present and future evidence for evolving dark energy

We compute the Bayesian evidences for one- and two-parameter models of evolving dark energy, and compare them to the evidence for a cosmological constant, using current data from Type Ia supernova, baryon acoustic oscillations, and the cosmic microwave background. We use only distance information, ignoring dark energy perturbations. We find that, under various priors on the dark energy parameters, LambdaCDM is currently favoured as compared to the dark energy models. We consider the parameter constraints that arise under Bayesian model averaging, and discuss the implication of our results for future dark energy projects seeking to detect dark energy evolution. The model selection approach complements and extends the figure-of-merit approach of the Dark Energy Task Force in assessing future experiments, and suggests a significantly-modified interpretation of that statistic.Comment: 10 pages RevTex4, 3 figures included. Minor changes to match version accepted by PR

Entanglement control in one-dimensional s=1/2s=1/2 random XY spin chain

The entanglement in one-dimensional random XY spin systems where the impurities of exchange couplings and the external magnetic fields are considered as random variables is investigated by solving the different spin-spin correlation functions and the average magnetization per spin. The entanglement dynamics near particular locations of the system is also studied when the exchange couplings (or the external magnetic fields) satisfy three different distributions(the Gaussian distribution, double-Gaussian distribution, and bimodal distribution). We find that the entanglement can be controlled by varying the strength of external magnetic field and the different distributions of impurities. Moreover, the entanglement of some nearest-neighboring qubits can be increased for certain parameter values of the three different distributions.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Strong Far-IR Cooling Lines, Peculiar CO Kinematics and Possible Star Formation Suppression in Hickson Compact Group 57

We present [C II] and [O I] observations from Herschel and CO(1-0) maps from the Combined Array for{\dag} Research in Millimeter Astronomy (CARMA) of the Hickson Compact Group HCG 57, focusing on the galaxies HCG 57a and HCG 57d. HCG 57a has been previously shown to contain enhanced quantities of warm molecular hydrogen consistent with shock and/or turbulent heating. Our observations show that HCG 57d has strong [C II] emission compared to L$_{\rm FIR}$ and weak CO(1-0), while in HCG 57a, both the [C II] and CO(1-0) are strong. HCG 57a lies at the upper end of the normal distribution of [C II]/CO and [C II]/FIR ratios, and its far-IR cooling supports a low density warm diffuse gas that falls close to the boundary of acceptable PDR models. However, the power radiated in the [C II] and warm H$_2$ emission have similar magnitudes, as seen in other shock-dominated systems and predicted by recent models. We suggest that shock-heating of the [C II] is a viable alternative to photoelectric heating in violently disturbed diffuse gas. The existence of shocks is also consistent with peculiar CO kinematics in the galaxy, indicating highly non-circular motions are present. These kinematically disturbed CO regions also show evidence of suppressed star formation, falling a factor of 10-30 below normal galaxies on the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation. We suggest that the peculiar properties of both galaxies are consistent with a highly dissipative off-center collisional encounter between HCG 57d and 57a, creating ring-like morphologies in both systems. Highly dissipative gas-on-gas collisions may be more common in dense groups because of the likelihood of repeated multiple encounters. The possibility of shock-induced SF suppression may explain why a subset of these HCG galaxies have been found previously to fall in the mid-infrared green valley.Comment: ApJ accepted, 16 pages, 12 figures, 3 table

Practice Patterns and Trends in the Use of Medical Therapy in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Ontario

Background Clinical guidelines emphasize medical therapy as the initial approach to the management of patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the extent to which medical therapy is applied before and after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in contemporary clinical practice is uncertain. We evaluated medication use for patients with stable CAD undergoing PCI, and assessed whether the COURAGE study altered medication use in the Canadian healthcare system. Methods and Results A population‐based cohort of 23 680 older patients \u3e65 years old) with stable CAD undergoing PCI in Ontario between 2003 and 2010 was assembled. Optimal medical therapy (OMT) was defined as prescription for a β‐blocker, statin, and either angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker in the 90 days before PCI, and the same medications plus thienopyridine 90 days following PCI. Prior to PCI, 8023 (33.9%) patients were receiving OMT, 11 891 (50.2%) were on suboptimal therapy, and 3766 (15.9%) were not prescribed any medications of interest. There was significant improvement in medical therapy following PCI (OMT: 11 149 [47.1%], suboptimal therapy: 11 591 [48.9%], and none: 940 [4.0%], PPP\u3c0.001). Conclusions OMT was prescribed in about 1 in 3 patients prior to PCI and less than half after PCI. In contrast to the anticipated impact of COURAGE, we found lower rates of medication use in PCI patients after its publication

Total Molecular Gas Masses of Planck - Herschel Selected Strongly Lensed Hyper Luminous Infrared Galaxies

We report the detection of CO(1 - 0) line emission from seven Planck and Herschel selected hyper luminous (LIR(8-1000um) > 10^13Lsun) infrared galaxies with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). CO(1 - 0) measurements are a vital tool to trace the bulk molecular gas mass across all redshifts. Our results place tight constraints on the total gas content of these most apparently luminous high-z star-forming galaxies (apparent IR luminosities of LIR > 10^(13-14) Lsun), while we confirm their predetermined redshifts measured using the Large Millimeter Telescope, LMT (zCO = 1.33 - 3.26). The CO(1 - 0) lines show similar profiles as compared to Jup = 2 -4 transitions previously observed with the LMT. We report enhanced infrared to CO line luminosity ratios of = 110 (pm 22) Lsun(K km s^-1 pc^-2)^-1 compared to normal star-forming galaxies, yet similar to those of well-studied IR-luminous galaxies at high-z. We find average brightness temperature ratios of = 0.93 (2 sources), = 0.34 (5 sources), and = 0.18 (1 source). The r31 and r41 values are roughly half the average values for SMGs. We estimate the total gas mass content as uMH2 = (0.9 - 27.2) x 10^11(alphaCO/0.8)Msun, where u is the magnification factor and alphaCO is the CO line luminosity to molecular hydrogen gas mass conversion factor. The rapid gas depletion times are, on average, tau = 80 Myr, which reveal vigorous starburst activity, and contrast the Gyr depletion timescales observed in local, normal star-forming galaxies.Comment: published in MNRAS, 9pages, 5fig