5,625 research outputs found
Infrared Non-detection of Fomalhaut b -- Implications for the Planet Interpretation
The nearby A4-type star Fomalhaut hosts a debris belt in the form of an
eccentric ring, which is thought to be caused by dynamical influence from a
giant planet companion. In 2008, a detection of a point-source inside the inner
edge of the ring was reported and was interpreted as a direct image of the
planet, named Fomalhaut b. The detection was made at ~600--800 nm, but no
corresponding signatures were found in the near-infrared range, where the bulk
emission of such a planet should be expected. Here we present deep observations
of Fomalhaut with Spitzer/IRAC at 4.5 um, using a novel PSF subtraction
technique based on ADI and LOCI, in order to substantially improve the Spitzer
contrast at small separations. The results provide more than an order of
magnitude improvement in the upper flux limit of Fomalhaut b and exclude the
possibility that any flux from a giant planet surface contributes to the
observed flux at visible wavelengths. This renders any direct connection
between the observed light source and the dynamically inferred giant planet
highly unlikely. We discuss several possible interpretations of the total body
of observations of the Fomalhaut system, and find that the interpretation that
best matches the available data for the observed source is scattered light from
transient or semi-transient dust cloud.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, ApJ 747, 166. V2: updated acknowledgments and
reference
Hearing the Voice of Medical Students Worldwide
The Student Forum, a new section of PLoS Medicine, is a space where medical students from across the world can exchange ideas about the critical issues affecting health and health care from their unique perspectiv
A standardized design for quagga mussel monitoring in Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona
The discovery of quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) in Lake Mead, Nevada-Arizona, on January 6, 2007 is the first known occurrence of dreissenid species in the western United States. This study developed elements of a cost-effective and standardized quagga mussel-monitoring program for Lake Mead using preliminary data to arrive at statistically based numbers of sampling sites. To represent the abundance of adult/juvenile quagga mussels in Lake Meadâs heterogeneous floor with 95% confidence, a stratified simple random sampling design revealed a requirement of 41 samples from hard substrates (i.e., rocky areas) and 97 samples from soft substrates (i.e., sandy and muddy areas). A simple random sampling design demonstrated that 42 samples from the lakeâs water column are necessary to represent veliger abundance with 95% confidence. Other important elements of the sampling program, such as standardization of protocols and processes and suggested data analyses, are discussed. The monitoring program, which is based on reconnaissance data, is intended to be optimized with data from its first yearâs samples. The sample number-selection approach and the other elements of this plan can be easily implemented by lake managers and can also be adapted to other locations where dreissenid mussel monitoring is needed
We need to talk about depression and dialysis: but what questions should we ask and does anyone know the answers?
Depression is common in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). When diagnosed via a gold standard semi-structured psychiatric interview by culturally-competent staff, depression affects one fifth to one quarter of people with CKD, whether in receipt of maintenance dialysis, with non-dialysis treated CKD, or with a functioning transplant (respective prevalence rates 22.8 (95% confidence interval (CI) 18.6 to 27.6)%, 21.4 (95%CI 11.1 to 37.2)% and 25.7 (95%CI 12.8 to 44.9)%)1. These frequencies are clearly in excess of the average population lifetime risk of ~ 9%2. Potential reasons for the high rates of depression in end stage kidney disease (ESKD) include the overlap of some risk factors for both conditions, the alteration of physiological processes associated with ESKD and the psychosocial consequences of living with ESKD3. Depression in people receiving dialysis is associated with lower quality of life, increased hospitalisations and, likely shortened survival3
Acute care for elders components of acute geriatric unit care: systematic descriptive review
OBJECTIVES: To describe the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) model components implemented as part of acute geriatric unit care and explore the association between each ACE component and outcomes of iatrogenic complications, functional decline, length of hospital stay, nursing home discharges, costs, and discharges home.
DESIGN: Systematic descriptive review of 32 articles, including 14 trials reporting on the implementation of ACE components or the effectiveness of their implementation in improving outcomes. Mean effect sizes (ESs) were calculated using trial outcome data. Information describing implementation of the ACE components in the trials was analyzed using content analysis.
SETTING: Acute care geriatric units.
PARTICIPANTS: Acutely ill or injured adults (N = 6,839) with an average age of 81.
INTERVENTIONS: Acute geriatric unit care was characterized by the implementation of one or more ACE components: medical review, early rehabilitation, early discharge planning, prepared environment, patient-centered care.
MEASUREMENTS: Falls, pressure ulcers, delirium, functional decline, length of hospital stay, discharge destination (home or nursing home), and costs.
RESULTS: Medical review, early rehabilitation, and patient-centered care, characterized by the implementation of standardized and individualized function-focused interventions, had larger standardized mean ESs (all ES = 0.20) averaged across all outcomes, than did early discharge planning (ES = 0.17) or prepared environment (ES = 0.11).
CONCLUSION: Specific ACE component interventions of medical review, early rehabilitation, and patient-centered care appear to be optimal for overall positive outcomes. These findings can help service providers design and evaluate the most-effective ACE model within the contexts of their respective institutions to improve outcomes for acutely ill or injured older adults.Financial support provided by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant #KRS-94307. Mary Fox was supported by an Ontario Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care Career Scientist Award, Kelly OâBrien by a CIHR Fellowship, Souraya Sidani and Dina Brooks by Canada Research Chairs, and Deborah Tregunno by an Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care Senior Nurse Research Award while conducting this study
Recent Star Formation in Sextans A
We investigate the relationship between the spatial distributions of stellar
populations and of neutral and ionized gas in the Local Group dwarf irregular
galaxy Sextans A. This galaxy is currently experiencing a burst of localized
star formation, the trigger of which is unknown. We have resolved various
populations of stars via deep UBV(RI)_C imaging over an area with diameter \sim
5.'3. We have compared our photometry with theoretical isochrones appropriate
for Sextans A, in order to determine the ages of these populations. We have
mapped out the history of star formation, most accurately for times \lesssim
100 Myr. We find that star formation in Sextans A is correlated both in time
and space, especially for the most recent (\lesssim 12 Myr) times. The youngest
stars in the galaxy are forming primarily along the inner edge of the large H I
shell. Somewhat older populations, \lesssim 50 Myr, are found inward of the
youngest stars. Progressively older star formation, from \sim 50--100 Myr,
appears to have some spatially coherent structure and is more centrally
concentrated. The oldest stars we can accurately sample appear to have
approximately a uniform spatial distribution, which extends beyond a surface
brightness of \mu_B \simeq 25.9 mag arcsec^{-2} (or, a radius r \simeq 2.'3$).
Although other processes are also possible, our data provides support for a
mechanism of supernova-driven expansion of the neutral gas, resulting in cold
gas pileup and compression along the H I shell and sequential star formation in
recent times.Comment: 64 pages, 22 figures, to appear in A
Jamming Model for the Extremal Optimization Heuristic
Extremal Optimization, a recently introduced meta-heuristic for hard
optimization problems, is analyzed on a simple model of jamming. The model is
motivated first by the problem of finding lowest energy configurations for a
disordered spin system on a fixed-valence graph. The numerical results for the
spin system exhibit the same phenomena found in all earlier studies of extremal
optimization, and our analytical results for the model reproduce many of these
features.Comment: 9 pages, RevTex4, 7 ps-figures included, as to appear in J. Phys. A,
related papers available at http://www.physics.emory.edu/faculty/boettcher
Study protocol : the empirical investigation of methods to correct for measurement error in biobanks with dietary assessment
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