Weak Lensing Mass Measurements of Substructures in COMA Cluster with Subaru/Suprime-Cam

We obtain the projected mass distributions for two Subaru/Suprime-Cam fields in the southwest region (r\simlt 60') of the Coma cluster (z=0.0236) by weak lensing analysis and detect eight subclump candidates. We quantify the contribution of background large-scale structure (LSS) on the projected mass distributions using SDSS multi-bands and photometric data, under the assumption of mass-to-light ratio for field galaxies. We find that one of eight subclump candidates, which is not associated with any member galaxies, is significantly affected by LSS lensing. The mean projected mass for seven subclumps extracted from the main cluster potential is = (5.06\pm1.30)10^12h^-1 M_sun after a LSS correction. A tangential distortion profile over an ensemble of subclumps is well described by a truncated singular-isothermal sphere model and a truncated NFW model. A typical truncated radius of subclumps, r_t\simeq 35 h^-1 kpc, is derived without assuming any relations between mass and light for member galaxies. The radius coincides well with the tidal radius, \sim42 h^-1 kpc, of the gravitational force of the main cluster. Taking into account the incompleteness of data area, a projection effect and spurious lensing peaks, it is expected that mass of cluster substructures account for 19 percent of the virial mass, with 13 percent statistical error. The mass fraction of cluster substructures is in rough agreement with numerical simulations.Comment: ApJ, accepted, 16 pages, 10 figures and 4 tables. High-resolution pictures available at http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~okabe/files/comaWL.pd

Men who were thin during early adulthood exhibited greater weight gain‐associated visceral fat accumulation in a study of middle‐aged Japanese men

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the relationship between weight gain from early adulthood and visceral fat accumulation.MethodsThe participants were 549 men aged 42 to 64 years who were randomly selected from the local resident registry for the National Institute for Longevity Sciences\u27 neighbourhood. They were asked to recall their weight at 18 years of age, and then, post‐18 weight‐change values were calculated for each participant (their current weight minus their weight at 18). The participants were divided according to their median body mass index (BMI) at 18 years of age (initial BMI) (<20.14 and ≥20.14 kg m−2). Visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) were measured on computed tomography scans.ResultsThe participants with initial BMI of <20.14 kg m−2 exhibited greater post‐18 weight changes than those with initial BMI of ≥20.14 kg m−2. The participants\u27 post‐18 weight‐change values were negatively correlated with their initial BMI and positively correlated with both VFA and SFA. The slope of the regression line for the relationship between post‐18 weight change and VFA was steeper in the participants with initial BMI of <20.14 kg m−2 (β = 4.36) than in those with initial BMI of ≥20.14 kg m−2 (β = 3.23).ConclusionsVisceral fat accumulation is affected not only by an individual\u27s post‐18 weight gain but also by their initial BMI. Men who were thin in early adulthood experienced greater weight gain‐associated VFA increases, but the same was not true for SFA

Educational Disparities in Mortality Among Adults With Diabetes in the U.S.

OBJECTIVE — To measure relative and absolute educational disparities in mortality among U.S. adults with diabetes and to compare their magnitude with disparities observed within the nondiabetic population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS — A total of 85,867 individuals (5,007 with diabetes), aged 35–84 years, who participated in the National Health Interview Survey fro

Meditation on the Soles of the Feet Practice Provides Some Control of Aggression for Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that affects cognition, mental and physical health, and functionality of older people. As the disease progresses from the mild to moderate stage, there is a concomitant increase in several behavioral variables, chiefly agitation, anger, and aggression. Currently, there are no evidence-based treatments for these behaviors in this population. Three individuals with moderate Alzheimer’s disease were taught an informal mindfulness practice, meditation on the Soles of the Feet (SoF), as a self-management strategy within a multiple-baseline design across participants. All three were able to learn and use the SoF practice to manage their verbal and physical aggression. Their use of the SoF practice was correlated with decreased perceived psychological stress for their spouses and caregivers, as well as for the participants, but to a much smaller degree. In terms of social validity, the participants, their spouses, and caregivers rated the SoF practice as acceptable, effective, with no unintended effects, and indicated that they would recommend the practice to others. However, they also rated SoF as effortful for the participants because it involves the participants remembering to use the practice with rising anger, a requirement particularly challenging for those with memory problems. The SoF practice may enable individuals in the early stages of dementia to manage their anger and aggression. The data were derived from an internally valid experimental design, suggestive of initial proof-of-concept, but needs to be replicated before any clinical implications can be imputed from this study

The Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP Survey: Overview and Survey Design

Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) is a wide-field imaging camera on the prime focus of the 8.2m Subaru telescope on the summit of Maunakea in Hawaii. A team of scientists from Japan, Taiwan and Princeton University is using HSC to carry out a 300-night multi-band imaging survey of the high-latitude sky. The survey includes three layers: the Wide layer will cover 1400 deg$^2$ in five broad bands ($grizy$), with a $5\,\sigma$ point-source depth of $r \approx 26$. The Deep layer covers a total of 26~deg$^2$ in four fields, going roughly a magnitude fainter, while the UltraDeep layer goes almost a magnitude fainter still in two pointings of HSC (a total of 3.5 deg$^2$). Here we describe the instrument, the science goals of the survey, and the survey strategy and data processing. This paper serves as an introduction to a special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, which includes a large number of technical and scientific papers describing results from the early phases of this survey.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables. Corrected for a typo in the coordinates of HSC-Wide spring equatorial field in Table

OCT1 polymorphism is associated with response and survival time in anti-Parkinsonian drug users

Substrates for the Organic Cation Transporter 1, encoded by the SLC22A1 gene, are metformin, amantadine, pramipexole, and, possibly, levodopa. Recently, we identified that the rs622342 A > C polymorphism is associated with the HbA1c lowering effect in metformin users. In the Rotterdam Study, we associated this polymorphism with higher prescribed doses of all anti-Parkinsonian drugs. Between the first and fifth prescriptions for levodopa, for each minor rs622342 C allele, the prescribed doses were 0.34 defined daily dose higher (95% CI 0.064, 0.62; p = 0.017). The mortality ratio after start of levodopa therapy was 1.47 times higher (95% CI 1.01, 2.13; p = 0.045)

Constraining primordial non-Gaussianity with cosmological weak lensing: shear and flexion

We examine the cosmological constraining power of future large-scale weak lensing surveys on the model of \emph{Euclid}, with particular reference to primordial non-Gaussianity. Our analysis considers several different estimators of the projected matter power spectrum, based on both shear and flexion, for which we review the covariances and Fisher matrices. The bounds provided by cosmic shear alone for the local bispectrum shape, marginalized over $\sigma_8$, are at the level of $\Delta f_\mathrm{NL} \sim 100$. We consider three additional bispectrum shapes, for which the cosmic shear constraints range from $\Delta f_\mathrm{NL}\sim 340$ (equilateral shape) up to $\Delta f_\mathrm{NL}\sim 500$ (orthogonal shape). The competitiveness of cosmic flexion constraints against cosmic shear ones depends on the galaxy intrinsic flexion noise, that is still virtually unconstrained. Adopting the very high value that has been occasionally used in the literature results in the flexion contribution being basically negligible with respect to the shear one, and for realistic configurations the former does not improve significantly the constraining power of the latter. Since the flexion noise decreases with decreasing scale, by extending the analysis up to $\ell_\mathrm{max} = 20,000$ cosmic flexion, while being still subdominant, improves the shear constraints by $\sim 10$ when added. However on such small scales the highly non-linear clustering of matter and the impact of baryonic physics make any error estimation uncertain. By considering lower, and possibly more realistic, values of the flexion intrinsic shape noise results in flexion constraining power being a factor of $\sim 2$ better than that of shear, and the bounds on $\sigma_8$ and $f_\mathrm{NL}$ being improved by a factor of $\sim 3$ upon their combination. (abridged)Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables. To appear on JCA

Combination therapy with irinotecan and cisplatin as neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer

To evaluate the response rate and toxicity of the combination of irinotecan (CPT-11) and cisplatin in a neoadjuvant setting, a phase II study was conducted regarding the regimen of this combination in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. Eligibility included patients with previously untreated stage Ib2, IIb, or IIIb squamous cell carcinoma with good performance status. CPT-11 (60 mg m−2) was administered intravenously on days 1, 8 and 15, followed by cisplatin (60 mg m−2) given intravenously on day 1. Treatment was repeated every 4 weeks for a total of two or three cycles. Among 23 eligible patients (median age: 59 years), three showed complete response (13%), 15 showed partial response (65%), for an overall response rate of 78% (95% confidence interval 58–90%). Stable disease was observed in four cases (17%) and progressive disease in one (4%). The median time to failure and median survival time have not yet been reached. Of the 52 treatment cycles administered, diarrhoea and grade 3 or 4 neutropenia were observed in 10% and 75% respectively. There were no therapy-related deaths. The combination of CPT-11 with cisplatin is a promising regimen for neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer. The toxicities of this regimen are well tolerated. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig