A Comparative Study of Knots of Star Formation in Interacting vs. Spiral Galaxies

Interacting galaxies are known to have higher global rates of star formation on average than normal galaxies, relative to their stellar masses. Using UV and IR photometry combined with new and published H-alpha images, we have compared the star formation rates of ~700 star forming complexes in 46 nearby interacting galaxy pairs with those of regions in 39 normal spiral galaxies. The interacting galaxies have proportionally more regions with high star formation rates than the spirals. The most extreme regions in the interacting systems lie at the intersections of spiral/tidal structures, where gas is expected to pile up and trigger star formation. Published Hubble Telescope images show unusually large and luminous star clusters in the highest luminosity regions. The star formation rates of the clumps correlate with measures of the dust attenuation, consistent with the idea that regions with more interstellar gas have more star formation. For the clumps with the highest star formation rates, the apparent dust attenuation is consistent with the Calzetti starburst dust attenuation law. This suggests that the high luminosity regions are dominated by a central group of young stars surrounded by a shell of clumpy interstellar gas. In contrast, the lower luminosity clumps are bright in the UV relative to H-alpha, suggesting either a high differential attenuation between the ionized gas and the stars, or a post-starburst population bright in the UV but faded in H-alpha. The fraction of the global light of the galaxies in the clumps is higher on average for the interacting galaxies than for the spirals. Thus the star forming regions in interacting galaxies are more luminous, dustier, or younger on average.Comment: Astronomical Journal, in pres

Acute Kidney Injury in the Intensive Care Unit

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is defined as an abrupt decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Incidence varies from 20% to as high as 70% in critically ill patients. Classically, AKI has been divided into three broad pathophysiologic categories: prerenal AKI, intrinsic AKI, and postrenal (obstructive) AKI. The clinical manifestations of AKI vary among a wide range of symptoms and metabolic abnormalities. A sudden decrease in GFR will result in rising concentrations of solutes in the blood, which are normally excreted by the kidneys. Recently, new urinary and serum biomarkers have gained a place in the diagnosis, classification, and prognosis prediction of AKI. The best treatment for AKI is prevention. Patients with prerenal azotemia should have intravascular volume deficits corrected and cardiac function optimized. Obstructive (postrenal) kidney disease is treated by mechanical relief of the block. The primary management of acute interstitial nephritis is discontinuation of the inciting agent. Renal replacement therapy (RRT) has emerged as a supportive mechanism rather than just as a lifesaving measure. Continuous techniques are preferable in treating critically ill patients, although every modality has its benefits, indications, and contraindications

Windows .NET Network Distributed Basic Local Alignment Search Toolkit (W.ND-BLAST)

BACKGROUND: BLAST is one of the most common and useful tools for Genetic Research. This paper describes a software application we have termed Windows .NET Distributed Basic Local Alignment Search Toolkit (W.ND-BLAST), which enhances the BLAST utility by improving usability, fault recovery, and scalability in a Windows desktop environment. Our goal was to develop an easy to use, fault tolerant, high-throughput BLAST solution that incorporates a comprehensive BLAST result viewer with curation and annotation functionality. RESULTS: W.ND-BLAST is a comprehensive Windows-based software toolkit that targets researchers, including those with minimal computer skills, and provides the ability increase the performance of BLAST by distributing BLAST queries to any number of Windows based machines across local area networks (LAN). W.ND-BLAST provides intuitive Graphic User Interfaces (GUI) for BLAST database creation, BLAST execution, BLAST output evaluation and BLAST result exportation. This software also provides several layers of fault tolerance and fault recovery to prevent loss of data if nodes or master machines fail. This paper lays out the functionality of W.ND-BLAST. W.ND-BLAST displays close to 100% performance efficiency when distributing tasks to 12 remote computers of the same performance class. A high throughput BLAST job which took 662.68 minutes (11 hours) on one average machine was completed in 44.97 minutes when distributed to 17 nodes, which included lower performance class machines. Finally, there is a comprehensive high-throughput BLAST Output Viewer (BOV) and Annotation Engine components, which provides comprehensive exportation of BLAST hits to text files, annotated fasta files, tables, or association files. CONCLUSION: W.ND-BLAST provides an interactive tool that allows scientists to easily utilizing their available computing resources for high throughput and comprehensive sequence analyses. The install package for W.ND-BLAST is freely downloadable from . With registration the software is free, installation, networking, and usage instructions are provided as well as a support forum

A Short and Improved Synthesis of the Antiprotozoal Abietane Diterpenoid (-)-Sugikurojin A

Financial support from the Spanish Government [Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (201680I008)] is gratefully acknowledgedGonzález-Cardenete, MA.; Zaragoza, RJ. (2017). A Short and Improved Synthesis of the Antiprotozoal Abietane Diterpenoid (-)-Sugikurojin A. Synthesis. 49(6):1315-1318. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0036-1588353S1315131849

Influences from “other influencers” for physical activity practice in teenagers

OBJETIVO Examinar la influencia social (apoyo social, influencia social e influencia como modelo) de los “otros significativos” (padre, madre, amigos, profesor de educación física) en la práctica de actividad física según género y ciclo, en sujetos adolescentes. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS 831 sujetos de la provincia de Huesca (45,7% hombres y 54,3% mujeres) de entre 12 y 16 años. Contestaron a una adaptación del cuestionario “Four by one-day Physical Activity Questionaire” y al “Cuestionario de influencias sobre la Actividad Física y la Salud”. RESULTADOS La influencia del profesor de educación física como modelo y la influencia social de los amigos explicaron el 11,2% de la actividad física realizada. Se obtuvieron diferencias significativas para los referentes de género en todos los tipos de influencias sociales DISCUSIÓN El apoyo e influencia social diferenciado por parte de los progenitores, en función del género o edad de sus hijos, parece demostrar la importancia que tienen los referentes de género y los estereotipos sexuales, en la influencia sobre la práctica de actividad física en población adolescente.OBJECTIVE To estimate the social influence (social support, social influence and model) that exert "significant others" (father, mother, friends, physical education teacher) on physical activity by gender and cycle, among a representative sample of students in the province of Huesca enrolled in secondary education. MATERIALS AND METHOD The sample analysis was composed by 831 individuals from Huesca High School (45,7% men, 54,3% women), between 12 and 16 years old. Physical activity was assessed using an adapted version of “Four by one-day Physical Activity Questionaire” and “Cuestionario de influencias sobre la Actividad Física y la Salud”. RESULTS The physical activity teacher as a model and the social influence of friend explained 11,2% of the done physical activity. Significant differences in the social influences were obtained depending on the sex. DISCUSSION The influence of the physical activity teacher and the support from the friends appear as positive factors for the physical activity practic