The radius and mass of the subgiant star bet Hyi from interferometry and asteroseismology

We have used the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) to measure the angular diameter of beta Hydri. This star is a nearby G2 subgiant whose mean density was recently measured with high precision using asteroseismology. We determine the radius and effective temperature of the star to be 1.814+/-0.017 R_sun (0.9%) and 5872+/-44 K (0.7%) respectively. By combining this value with the mean density, as estimated from asteroseismology, we make a direct estimate of the stellar mass. We find a value of 1.07+/-0.03 M_sun (2.8%), which agrees with published estimates based on fitting in the H-R diagram, but has much higher precision. These results place valuable constraints on theoretical models of beta Hyi and its oscillation frequencies.Comment: 3 figures, 3 tables, to appear in MNRAS Letter

Nonoperative Modalities to Treat Symptomatic Cervical Spondylosis

Cervical spondylosis is a common and disabling condition. It is generally felt that the initial management should be nonoperative, and these modalities include physiotherapy, analgesia and selective nerve root injections. Surgery should be reserved for moderate to severe myelopathy patients who have failed a period of conservative treatment and patients whose symptoms are not adequately controlled by nonoperative means. A review of the literature supporting various modalities of conservative management is presented, and it is concluded that although effective, nonoperative treatment is labour intensive, requiring regular review and careful selection of medications and physical therapy on a case by case basis

Molecular-Based Optical Diagnostics for Hypersonic Nonequilibrium Flows

This manuscript describes Molecular-Based Optical Diagnostics for Hypersonic Nonequilibrium Flows. This is a book chapter and has no formal abstract

Global citizenship as the completion of cosmopolitanism

A conception of global citizenship should not be viewed as separate from, or synonymous with, the cosmopolitan moral orientation, but as a primary component of it. Global citizenship is fundamentally concerned with individual moral requirements in the global frame. Such requirements, framed here as belonging to the category of individual cosmopolitanism, offer guidelines on right action in the context of global human community. They are complementary to the principles of moral cosmopolitanism – those to be used in assessing the justice of global institutions and practices – that have been emphasised by cosmopolitan political theorists. Considering principles of individual and moral cosmopolitanism together can help to provide greater clarity concerning individual duties in the absence of fully global institutions, as well as clarity on individual obligations of justice in relation to emerging and still-developing trans-state institutions

Neonatal Lipopolysaccharide Exposure Delays Puberty and Alters Hypothalamic Kiss1 and Kiss1r mRNA Expression in the Female Rat

Immunological challenge experienced in early life can have long-term programming effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that permanently influence the stress response. Similarly, neonatal exposure to immunological stress enhances stress-induced suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary gonadal (HPG) axis in adulthood, but may also affect earlier development, including the timing of puberty. To investigate the timing of the critical window for this programming of the HPG axis, neonatal female rats were injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 50 μg/kg i.p.) or saline on postnatal days 3 + 5, 7 + 9, or 14 + 16 and monitored for vaginal opening and first vaginal oestrus as markers of puberty. We also investigated the effects of neonatal programming on the development of the expression patterns of kisspeptin (Kiss1) and its receptor (Kiss1r) in hypothalamic sites known to contain kisspeptin-expressing neuronal populations critical to reproductive function: the medial preoptic area (mPOA) and the arcuate nucleus in neonatally-stressed animals. We determined that the critical period for a significant delay in puberty as a result of neonatal LPS exposure is before 7 days of age in the female rat, and demonstrated that Kiss1, but not Kiss1r mRNA, expression in the mPOA is down-regulated in pre-pubertal females. These data suggest that the mPOA population of kisspeptin neurones play a pivotal role in controlling the onset of puberty, and that their function can be affected by neonatal stress