Traumatic Myiasis Caused by an Association of <i>Sarcophaga tibialis</i> (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) and <i>Lucilia sericata</i> (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in a Domestic Cat in Italy

received: 2015-05-07 accepted: 2015-06-30 published: 2015-08-25© 2015, Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The attached file is the published version of the article.© 2015, Korean Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Dynamical Masses of Young Star Clusters in NGC 4038/4039

In order to estimate the masses of the compact, young star clusters in the merging galaxy pair, NGC 4038/4039 (``the Antennae''), we have obtained medium and high resolution spectroscopy using ISAAC on VLT-UT1 and UVES on VLT-UT2 of five such clusters. The velocity dispersions were estimated using the stellar absorption features of CO at 2.29 microns and metal absorption lines at around 8500 \AA, including lines of the Calcium Triplet. The size scales and light profiles were measured from HST images. From these data and assuming Virial equilibrium, we estimated the masses of five clusters. The resulting masses range from 6.5 x 10^5 to 4.7 x 10^6 M_sun. These masses are large, factor of a few to more than 10 larger than the typical mass of a globular cluster in the Milky Way. The mass-to-light ratios for these clusters in the V- and K-bands in comparison with stellar synthesis models suggest that to first order the IMF slopes are approximately consistent with Salpeter for a mass range of 0.1 to 100 M_sun. However, the clusters show a significant range of possible IMF slopes or lower mass cut-offs and that these variations may correlate with the interstellar environment of the cluster. Comparison with the results of Fokker-Planck simulations of compact clusters with properties similar to the clusters studied here, suggest that they are likely to be long-lived and may lose a substantial fraction of their total mass. This mass loss would make the star clusters obtain masses which are comparable to the typical mass of a globular cluster.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, A&A accepte

Human Factors and ISS Medical Systems: Highlights of Procedures and Equipment Findings

As part of the Space Human Factors Engineering Critical Questions Roadmap, a three year Technology Development Project (TDP) was funded by NASA Headquarters to examine emergency medical procedures on ISS. The overall aim of the emergency medical procedures project was to determine the human factors issues in the procedures, training, communications and equipment, and to recommend solutions that will improve the survival rate of crewmembers in the event of a medical emergency. Currently, each ISS crew remains on orbit for six month intervals. As there is not standing requirement for a physician crewmember, during such time, the maintenance of crew health is dependant on individual crewmembers. Further, in the event of an emergency, crew will need to provide prolonged maintenance care, as well as emergency treatment, to an injured crewmember while awaiting transport to Earth. In addition to the isolation of the crew, medical procedures must be carried out within the further limitations imposed by the physical environment of the space station. For example, in order to administer care on ISS without the benefit of gravity, the Crew Medical Officers (CMOs) must restrain the equipment required to perform the task, restrain the injured crewmember, and finally, restrain themselves. Both the physical environment and the physical space available further limit the technology that can be used onboard. Equipment must be compact, yet able to withstand high levels of radiation and function without gravity. The focus here is to highlight the human factors impacts from our three year project involving the procedures and equipment areas that have been investigated and provided valuable to ISS and provide groundwork for human factors requirements for medical applications for exploration missions

The LTHE LUMINOSITY, MASS, AND AGE DISTRIBUTIONS OF COMPACT STAR CLUSTERS IN M83 BASED ON HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE/WIDE FIELD CAMERA 3 OBSERVATIONS

The newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope has been used to obtain multi-band images of the nearby spiral galaxy M83. These new observations are the deepest and highest resolution images ever taken of a grand-design spiral, particularly in the near-ultraviolet, and allow us to better differentiate compact star clusters from individual stars and to measure the luminosities of even faint clusters in the U band. We find that the luminosity function (LF) for clusters outside of the very crowded starburst nucleus can be approximated by a power law, dN/dL vprop L α, with α = –2.04 ± 0.08, down to MV ≈ –5.5. We test the sensitivity of the LF to different selection techniques, filters, binning, and aperture correction determinations, and find that none of these contribute significantly to uncertainties in α. We estimate ages and masses for the clusters by comparing their measured UBVI, Hα colors with predictions from single stellar population models. The age distribution of the clusters can be approximated by a power law, dN/dτ vprop τγ, with γ = –0.9 ± 0.2, for M gsim few × 103 M sun and τ lsim 4 × 108 yr. This indicates that clusters are disrupted quickly, with ≈80%-90% disrupted each decade in age over this time. The mass function of clusters over the same M-τ range is a power law, dN/dM vprop M β, with β = –1.94 ± 0.16, and does not have bends or show curvature at either high or low masses. Therefore, we do not find evidence for a physical upper mass limit, MC , or for the earlier disruption of lower mass clusters when compared with higher mass clusters, i.e., mass-dependent disruption. We briefly discuss these implications for the formation and disruption of the clusters

Dynamical Evolution of Globular Cluster Systems formed in Galaxy Mergers: Deep HST/ACS Imaging of Old and Intermediate-Age Globular Clusters in NGC 3610

(ABRIDGED) The ACS camera on board the Hubble Space Telescope has been used to obtain deep images of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 3610, a well-established dissipative galaxy merger remnant. These observations supersede previous WFPC2 images which revealed the presence of a population of metal-rich globular clusters (GCs) of intermediate age (~1.5-4 Gyr). We detect a total of 580 GC candidates, 46% more than from the previous WFPC2 images. The new photometry strengthens the significance of the previously found bimodality of the color distribution of GCs. Peak colors in V-I are 0.93 +/-0.01 and 1.09 +/- 0.01 for the blue and red subpopulations, respectively. The luminosity function (LF) of the inner 50% of the metal-rich (`red') population of GCs differs markedly from that of the outer 50%. In particular, the LF of the inner 50% of the red GCs shows a flattening consistent with a turnover that is about 1.0 mag fainter than the turnover of the blue GC LF. This is consistent with predictions of recent models of GC disruption for the age range mentioned above and for metallicities that are consistent with the peak color of the red GCs as predicted by population synthesis models. We determine the specific frequency of GCs in NGC 3610 and find a present-day value of S_N = 1.4 +/- 0.6. We estimate that this value will increase to S_N = 3.8 +/- 1.7 at an age of 10 Gyr, which is consistent with typical S_N values for `normal' ellipticals. Our findings constitute further evidence in support of the notion that metal-rich GC populations formed during major mergers involving gas-rich galaxies can evolve dynamically (through disruption processes) into the red, metal-rich GC populations that are ubiquitous in `normal' giant ellipticals.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal. Figure 6 somewhat degraded to adhere to astro-ph rule

LEGUS and Halpha-LEGUS Observations of Star Clusters in NGC 4449: Improved Ages and the Fraction of Light in Clusters as a Function of Age

We present a new catalog and results for the cluster system of the starburst galaxy NGC 4449 based on multi-band imaging observations taken as part of the LEGUS and Halpha-LEGUS surveys. We improve the spectral energy fitting method used to estimate cluster ages and find that the results, particularly for older clusters, are in better agreement with those from spectroscopy. The inclusion of Halpha measurements, the role of stochasticity for low mass clusters, the assumptions about reddening, and the choices of SSP model and metallicity all have important impacts on the age-dating of clusters. A comparison with ages derived from stellar color-magnitude diagrams for partially resolved clusters shows reasonable agreement, but large scatter in some cases. The fraction of light found in clusters relative to the total light (i.e., T_L) in the U, B, and V filters in 25 different ~kpc-size regions throughout NGC 4449 correlates with both the specific Region Luminosity, R_L, and the dominant age of the underlying stellar population in each region. The observed cluster age distribution is found to decline over time as dN/dt ~ t^g, with g=-0.85+/-0.15, independent of cluster mass, and is consistent with strong, early cluster disruption. The mass functions of the clusters can be described by a power law with dN/dM ~ M^b and b=-1.86+/-0.2, independent of cluster age. The mass and age distributions are quite resilient to differences in age-dating methods. There is tentative evidence for a factor of 2-3 enhancement in both the star and cluster formation rate ~100 - 300 Myr ago, indicating that cluster formation tracks star formation generally. The enhancement is probably associated with an earlier interaction event

Anomalous Multiplicity Fluctuations from Phase Transitions in Heavy Ion Collisions

Event-by-event fluctuations and correlations between particles produced in relativistic nuclear collisions are studied. The fluctuations in positive, negative, total and net charge are closely related through correlations. In the event of a phase transitions to a quark-gluon plasma, fluctuations in total and net charge can be enhanced and reduced respectively which, however, is very sensitive to the acceptance and centrality. If the colliding system experiences strong density fluctuations due, e.g., to droplet formation in a first-order phase transition, all fluctuations can be enhanced substantially. The importance of fluctuations and correlations is exemplified by event-by-event measurement of the multiplicities of $J/\Psi$'s and charged particles since these observables should anti-correlate in the presence of co-mover or anomalous absorption.Comment: revised version to appear in Phys. Rev. C, 5 page