Adverse Childhood Experiences in Medical Students: Implications for Wellness.

ObjectiveThe primary purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in a cohort of third-year medical students and characterize their childhood protective factors.MethodsThe authors developed a web-based anonymous survey distributed to all third-year medical students in one school (N = 98). The survey included the 10-item ACE Study questionnaire, a list of childhood protective factors (CPF) and questions to assess students' perception of the impact of ACEs on their physical and mental health. The medical school's IRB approved the student survey as an exempt study. The authors computed descriptive and comparative statistical analyses.ResultsEighty-six of 98 students responded (88% response rate). Forty-four students (51%) reported at least one ACE exposure and 10 (12%) reported ≥ 4 exposures. The latter were all female. The average difference in the ACE score between male and female medical students was - 1.1 (independent t test with unequal variances t(57.7) = - 2.82, P = .007). Students with an ACE score of ≥ 4 were significantly more likely to report a moderate or significant effect on their mental health, compared with students with scores ≤ 3 (chi-square test, P = < .0001). Most students reported high levels of CPF (median score = 13 of a maximum score = 14). ACEs and CPF were inversely associated (Pearson correlation = - 0.32, P = .003).ConclusionsA sizeable minority of medical students reported exposure to multiple ACEs. If replicated, findings suggest a significant vulnerability of these medical students to health risk behaviors and physical and mental health problems during training and future medical practice

Blob ejection from advection-dominated accretion flow: observational consequences

There is increasing evidence for the presence of an optically thin advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) in low luminosity active galactic nuclei and radio-loud quasars. The present paper is devoted to explore the fate of a blob ejected from an ADAF, and to discuss its observational consequences. It is inevitable for the ejected blob to drastically expand into its surroundings. Consequently, it is expected that a group of relativistic electrons should be accelerated, which may lead to nonthermal flares, since a strong shock will be formed by the interaction between the blob and its surroundings. Then the blob cools down efficiently, leading to the appearance of recombination lines about $10^5$s after its ejection from an ADAF. We apply this model to NGC 4258 for some observational prediction, and to PKS 2149--306 for the explanation of observational evidence. Future simultaneous observations of recombination X-ray lines and continuum emission are highly desired to test the present model.Comment: 4 pages in emulateapj.sty, no figure. Accepted by ApJ Letter

Clues to Quasar Broad Line Region Geometry and Kinematics

We present evidence that the high-velocity CIV lambda 1549 emission line gas of radio-loud quasars may originate in a disk-like configuration, in close proximity to the accretion disk often assumed to emit the low-ionization lines. For a sample of 36 radio-loud z~2 quasars we find the 20--30% peak width to show significant inverse correlations with the fractional radio core-flux density, R, the radio axis inclination indicator. Highly inclined systems have broader line wings, consistent with a high-velocity field perpendicular to the radio axis. By contrast, the narrow line-core shows no such relation with R, so the lowest velocity CIV-emitting gas has an inclination independent velocity field. We propose that this low-velocity gas is located at higher disk-altitudes than the high-velocity gas. A planar origin of the high-velocity CIV-emission is consistent with the current results and with an accretion disk-wind emitting the broad lines. A spherical distribution of randomly orbiting broad-line clouds and a polar high-ionization outflow are ruled out.Comment: 5 Latex pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Spectral Properties From Lyman-alpha to H-alpha For An Essentially Complete Sample of Quasars I: Data

We have obtained quasi-simultaneous ultraviolet-optical spectra for 22 out of 23 quasars in the complete PG-X-ray sample with redshift, z<0.4, and M_B<-23. The spectra cover rest-frame wavelengths from at least Lyman-alpha to H-alpha. Here we provide a detailed description of the data, including careful spectrophotometry and redshift determination. We also present direct measurements of the continua, strong emission lines and features, including Lyman-alpha, SiIV+OIV], CIV, CIII], SiIII], MgII, H-beta, [OIII], He5876+NaI5890,5896, H-alpha, and blended iron emission in the UV and optical. The widths, asymmetries and velocity shifts of profiles of strong emission lines show that CIV and Lyman-alpha are very different from H-beta and H-alpha. This suggests that the motion of the broad line region is related to the ionization structure, but the data appears not agree with the radially stratified ionization structure supported by reverberation mapping studies, and therefore suggest that outflows contribute additional velocity components to the broad emission line profiles.Comment: 42 pages, 10 figures, 13 tables. Accepted by AJ. Supplemental figures not included. Full version available at http://physics.uwyo.edu/~shang/pgxpaper/ShangPaper.pd

Development of microcomputer-based mental acuity tests for repeated-measures studies

The purpose of this report is to detail the development of the Automated Performance Test System (APTS), a computer battery of mental acuity tests that can be used to assess human performance in the presence of toxic elements and environmental stressors. There were four objectives in the development of APTS. First, the technical requirements for developing APTS followed the tenets of the classical theory of mental tests which requires that tests meet set criteria like stability and reliability (the lack of which constitutes insensitivity). To be employed in the study of the exotic conditions of protracted space flight, a battery with multiple parallel forms is required. The second criteria was for the battery to have factorial multidimensionality and the third was for the battery to be sensitive to factors known to compromise performance. A fourth objective was for the tests to converge on the abilities entailed in mission specialist tasks. A series of studies is reported in which candidate APTS tests were subjected to an examination of their psychometric properties for repeated-measures testing. From this work, tests were selected that possessed the requisite metric properties of stability, reliability, and factor richness. In addition, studies are reported which demonstrate the predictive validity of the tests to holistic measures of intelligence

An Empirical Ultraviolet Template for Iron Emission in Quasars as Derived from I Zw 1

We present an empirical template spectrum suitable for fitting/subtracting and studying the FeII and FeIII line emission in the restframe UV spectra of active galatic nuclei (AGNs), the first empirical UV iron template to cover the full 1250 - 3090 A range. Iron emission is often a severe contaminant in optical--UV spectra of AGNs. Its presence complicates and limits the accuracy of measurements of both strong and weak emission lines and the continuum emission, affecting studies of line and continuum interrelations, the ionization structure, and elemental abundances in AGNs. Despite the wealth of work on modeling the AGN FeII emission and the need to account for it in observed AGN spectra, there is no UV template electronically available to aid this process. The iron template we present is based on HST spectra of the Narrow Line Seyfert 1, IZw1. Its intrinsic narrow lines (~900 km/s) and rich iron spectrum make the template particularly suitable for use with most AGN spectra. The iron emission spectrum and the line identifications and measurements are presented and compared with the work of Laor et al. We illustrate the application of the derived FeII and FeIII templates by fitting and subtracting the iron emission from UV spectra of four high-z quasars and of the nearby quasar, 3C273. We briefly discuss the small discrepancies between this observed iron emission and the UV template, and compare the template with previously published ones. We discuss the advantages and limitations of the templates and of the template fitting method. We conclude that the templates work sufficiently well to be a valuable and important tool for eliminating and studying the iron emission in AGNs, at least until accurate theoretical iron emission models are developed. (Abridged)Comment: 73 pages including 7 figures, 6 tables. To appear in ApJS. Preprint is also available at http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~vester/IronEmission