The Star Clusters of the Large Magellanic Cloud: Structural Parameters

We present and analyze the radial luminosity profiles of a sample of 1066 stellar clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud. By design, this study closely follows the compilation by Hill & Zaritsky of the structural parameters of stellar clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Both King and Elson-Fall-Freeman (EFF) model profiles are fit to V-band surface brightness profiles measured from the Magellanic Cloud Photometric Survey images. We tabulate the concentration, central surface brightness, tidal radii, 90% enclosed luminosity radii (r_{90}), and local background luminosity density. Over two thirds of the clusters in the sample are adequately fit by one or both of these models. One notable and systematic exception, as in the SMC, are those clusters that lack a central brightness concentration, the "ring" clusters. While the bulk properties of the clusters are similar between the LMC and SMC populations, we find that the LMC lacks clusters that are as large, either in terms of core radii or r_{90}, as the largest in the SMC, perhaps a signature of larger tidal stresses in the LMC.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. 11 pages. Full version of Tables and Figures will be available through the Journa

I’m Not Just Fat, I’m Old: Has the Study of Body Image Talk Overlooked “Old Talk?”

Background: Research indicates that body dissatisfaction is correlated with and often predictive of both physical and mental health problems. “Fat talk,” a well-studied form of body image talk in adolescents and university-aged women, has been implicated as contributing to body dissatisfaction and mediating the relationship between body dissatisfaction and other mental health problems. Limited research, however, has investigated fat talk across the female lifespan. Further, consistent with most body image research, fat talk research solely focuses on the thin dimension of idealized female attractiveness, even though other dimensions may contribute to body dissatisfaction in women. Method: The current study investigated whether or not “old talk,” a hereto un-described form of body image talk, appears to be a parallel, but distinct, form of body image talk that taps into the young dimension of the thin-young-ideal standard of female beauty. An international, internet sample of women (aged 18-87, N = 914) completed questionnaires aimed at assessing fat talk, old talk, body image disturbance, and eating disorder pathology. Results: Results indicated that both fat talk and old talk were reported by women across the lifespan, although they evidenced different trajectories of frequency. Like fat talk, old talk was significantly correlated with body image disturbance and eating disorder pathology, albeit at a lower rate than fat talk in the total sample. Old talk was more highly correlated with ageing appearance anxiety than fat talk, and the correlation between old talk and body image disturbance and ED pathology increased with women’s ages. Conclusion: Results suggest that old talk is a form of body image talk that is related to but distinct from fat talk. Old talk appears to be similarly problematic to fat talk for women whose age increases their deviation from the thin-young-ideal. Further research into the phenomenon of old talk is warranted as is increased attention to fat talk across the full lifespan of women

FAD Mutations in Amyloid Precursor Protein Do Not Directly Perturb Intracellular Calcium Homeostasis

Disturbances in intracellular calcium homeostasis are likely prominent and causative factors leading to neuronal cell death in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Familial AD (FAD) is early-onset and exhibits autosomal dominant inheritance. FAD-linked mutations have been found in the genes encoding the presenilins and amyloid precursor protein (APP). Several studies have shown that mutated presenilin proteins can directly affect calcium release from intracellular stores independently of Aβ production. Although less well established, there is also evidence that APP may directly modulate intracellular calcium homeostasis. Here, we directly examined whether overexpression of FAD-linked APP mutants alters intracellular calcium dynamics. In contrast to previous studies, we found that overexpression of mutant APP has no effects on basal cytosolic calcium, ER calcium store size or agonist-induced calcium release and subsequent entry. Thus, we conclude that mutated APP associated with FAD has no direct effect on intracellular calcium homeostasis independently of Aβ production

Impact of climate change on allergic diseases in Germany

Background: Allergic diseases, especially inhalant allergies, have reached epidemic levels and environmental factors play an important role in their development. Climate change influences the occurrence, frequency, and severity of allergic diseases. Methods: The contents of this article were selected by the authors and developed section by section according to their expertise and the current state of knowledge. The sections were then discussed and agreed upon amongst all authors. Results: The article highlights direct and indirect effects of climate change on allergies. It goes into detail about the connections between climate change and (new) pollen allergens as well as (new) occupational inhalation allergens, explains the effects of climate change on the clinical picture of atopic dermatitis, discusses the connections between air pollutants and allergies, and provides information about the phenomenon of thunderstorm asthma. Conclusions: There is a need for action in the field of pollen and fungal spore monitoring, allergy and sensitisation monitoring, urban planning from an allergological perspective, and changes in the working environment, among others. This is part of a series of articles that constitute the German Status Report on Climate Change and Health 2023

An integrative environmental pollen diversity assessment and its importance for the Sustainable Development Goals

Pollen is at once intimately part of the reproductive cycle of seed plants and simultaneously highly relevant for the environment (pollinators, vector for nutrients, or organisms), people (food safety and health), and climate (cloud condensation nuclei and climate reconstruction). We provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the many and connected roles of pollen to foster a better integration of the currently disparate fields of pollen research, which would benefit from the sharing of general knowledge, technical advancements, or data processing solutions. We propose a more interdisciplinary and holistic research approach that encompasses total environmental pollen diversity (ePD) (wind and animal and occasionally water distributed pollen) at multiple levels of diversity (genotypic, phenotypic, physiological, chemical, and functional) across space and time. This interdisciplinary approach holds the potential to contribute to pressing human issues, including addressing United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, fostering social and political awareness of these tiny yet important and fascinating particles

Global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way I. The pipeline and fundamental parameters in the second quadrant

Aims: On the basis of the PPMXL star catalogue we performed a survey of star clusters in the second quadrant of the Milky Way. Methods: From the PPMXL catalogue of positions and proper motions we took the subset of stars with near-infrared photometry from 2MASS and added the remaining 2MASS stars without proper motions (called 2MAst, i.e. 2MASS with astrometry). We developed a data-processing pipeline including interactive human control of a standardised set of multi-dimensional diagrams to determine kinematic and photometric membership probabilities for stars in a cluster region. The pipeline simultaneously produced the astrophysical parameters of a cluster. From literature we compiled a target list of presently known open and globular clusters, cluster candidates, associations, and moving groups. From established member stars we derived spatial parameters (coordinates of centres and radii of the main morphological parts of clusters) and cluster kinematics (average proper motions and sometimes radial velocities). For distance, reddening, and age determination we used specific sets of theoretical isochrones. Tidal parameters were obtained by a fit of three-parameter King profiles to the observed density distributions of members. Results: We investigated all 871 objects in the 2nd Galactic quadrant, of which we successfully treated 642 open clusters, 2 globular clusters, and 8 stellar associations. The remaining 219 objects (24%) were recognised by us to be nonexistent clusters, duplicate entries, or clusters too faint for 2MAst. We found that our sample is complete in the 2nd quadrant up to a distance of 2 kpc, where the average surface density is 94 clusters per kpc$^{2}$. Compared with literature values we found good agreement in spatial and kinematic data, as well as for optical distances and reddening. Small, but systematic offsets were detected in the age determination.Comment: published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 10 pages, 7 figures (plus 3 pages of appendices incl. 2 more figures), catalogues will be available at the CDS, all the machine-readable online data described in appendices A, B, and C are also available at: http://www.aip.de/People/rdscholz/kharchenko_etal_2012

Newly Identified Star Clusters in M33. III. Structural Parameters

We present the morphological properties of 161 star clusters in M33 using the Advanced Camera For Surveys Wide Field Channel onboard the Hubble Space Telescope using observations with the F606W and F814W filters. We obtain, for the first time, ellipticities, position angles, and surface brightness profiles for a significant number of clusters. On average, M33 clusters are more flattened than those of the Milky Way and M31, and more similar to clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The ellipticities do not show any correlation with age or mass, suggesting that rotation is not the main cause of elongation in the M33 clusters. The position angles of the clusters show a bimodality with a strong peak perpendicular to the position angle of the galaxy major axis. These results support the notion that tidal forces are the reason for the cluster flattening. We fit King and EFF models to the surface brightness profiles and derive structural parameters including core radii, concentration, half-light radii and central surface brightness for both filters. The surface brightness profiles of a significant number of clusters show irregularities such as bumps and dips. Young clusters (Log age < 8) are notably better fitted by models with no radial truncation (EFF models), while older clusters show no significant differences between King or EFF fits. M33 star clusters seem to have smaller sizes, smaller concentrations, and smaller central surface brightness as compared to clusters in the MW, M31, LMC and SMC. Analysis of the structural parameters presents a age-radius relation also detected in other star cluster systems. The overall analysis shows differences in the structural evolution between the M33 cluster system and cluster systems in nearby galaxies. These differences could have been caused by the strong differences in these various environments.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Compensated right ventricular function of the onset of pulmonary hypertension in a rat model depends on chamber remodeling and contractile augmentation.

Right-ventricular function is a good indicator of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) prognosis; however, how the right ventricle (RV) adapts to the pressure overload is not well understood. Here, we aimed at characterizing the time course of RV early remodeling and discriminate the contribution of ventricular geometric remodeling and intrinsic changes in myocardial mechanical properties in a monocrotaline (MCT) animal model. In a longitudinal study of PAH, ventricular morphology and function were assessed weekly during the first four weeks after MCT exposure. Using invasive measurements of RV pressure and volume, heart performance was evaluated at end of systole and diastole to quantify contractility (end-systolic elastance) and chamber stiffness (end-diastolic elastance). To distinguish between morphological and intrinsic mechanisms, a computational model of the RV was developed and used to determine the level of prediction when accounting for wall masses and unloaded volume measurements changes. By four weeks, mean pulmonary arterial pressure and elastance rose significantly. RV pressures rose significantly after the second week accompanied by significant RV hypertrophy, but RV stroke volume and cardiac output were maintained. The model analysis suggested that, after two weeks, this compensation was only possible due to a significant increase in the intrinsic inotropy of RV myocardium. We conclude that this MCT-PAH rat is a model of RV compensation during the first month after treatment, where geometric remodeling on EDPVR and increased myocardial contractility on ESPVR are the major mechanisms by which stroke volume is preserved in the setting of elevated pulmonary arterial pressure. The mediators of this compensation might themselves promote longer-term adverse remodeling and decompensation in this animal model