"Low-state" Black Hole Accretion in Nearby Galaxies

I summarize the main observational properties of low-luminosity AGNs in nearby galaxies to argue that they are the high-mass analogs of black hole X-ray binaries in the "low/hard" state. The principal characteristics of low-state AGNs can be accommodated with a scenario in which the central engine is comprised of three components: an optically thick, geometrically accretion disk with a truncated inner radius, a radiatively inefficient flow, and a compact jet.Comment: 8 pages. To appear in From X-ray Binaries to Quasars: Black Hole Accretion on All Mass Scales, ed. T. J. Maccarone, R. P. Fender, and L. C. Ho (Dordrecht: Kluwer

Flu-like and other systemic drug reactions among persons receiving weekly rifapentine plus isoniazid or daily isoniazid for treatment of latent tuberculosis infection in the PREVENT tuberculosis study

BACKGROUND: Weekly rifapentine plus isoniazid for 3 months (3HP) is as effective as daily isoniazid for 9 months (9H) for latent tuberculosis infection in high-risk persons, but there have been reports of possible flu-like syndrome. METHODS: We identified clinically significant systemic drug reactions (SDR) and evaluated risk factors in patients who did not complete treatment in the PREVENT Tuberculosis study. RESULTS: Among 7552 persons who received ≥1 dose of study drug, 153 had a SDR: 138/3893 (3.5%) with 3HP vs 15/3659 (0.4%) with 9H (P < .001). In the 3HP arm, 87 (63%) had flu-like syndrome and 23 (17%) had cutaneous reactions; 13/3893 (0.3%) had severe reactions (6 were hypotensive) and 6 reported syncope. Symptoms occurred after a median of 3 doses, and 4 hours after the dose; median time to resolution was 24 hours. There were no deaths. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, factors independently associated with SDR included receipt of 3HP (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 9.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.5, 16.2), white non-Hispanic race/ethnicity (aOR 3.3; 95% CI, 2.3, 4.7), female sex (aOR 2.0; 95% CI, 1.4, 2.9), age ≥35 years (aOR 2.0; 95% CI, 1.4, 2.9), and lower body mass index (body mass index [BMI]; P = .009). In a separate multivariate analysis among persons who received 3HP, severe SDR were associated with white non-Hispanic race/ethnicity (aOR 5.4; 95% CI, 1.8, 16.3), and receipt of concomitant non-study medications (aOR 5.9; 95% CI, 1.3, 27.1). CONCLUSIONS: SDR were more common with 3HP, and mostly flu-like. Persons of white race, female sex, older age, and lower BMI were at increased risk. Severe reactions were rare and associated with 3HP, concomitant medication, and white race. The underlying mechanism is unclear

Fast evaluation of appointment schedules for outpatients in health care

We consider the problem of evaluating an appointment schedule for outpatients in a hospital. Given a fixed-length session during which a physician sees K patients, each patient has to be given an appointment time during this session in advance. When a patient arrives on its appointment, the consultations of the previous patients are either already finished or are still going on, which respectively means that the physician has been standing idle or that the patient has to wait, both of which are undesirable. Optimising a schedule according to performance criteria such as patient waiting times, physician idle times, session overtime, etc. usually requires a heuristic search method involving a huge number of repeated schedule evaluations. Hence, the aim of our evaluation approach is to obtain accurate predictions as fast as possible, i.e. at a very low computational cost. This is achieved by (1) using Lindley's recursion to allow for explicit expressions and (2) choosing a discrete-time (slotted) setting to make those expression easy to compute. We assume general, possibly distinct, distributions for the patient's consultation times, which allows us to account for multiple treatment types, as well as patient no-shows. The moments of waiting and idle times are obtained. For each slot, we also calculate the moments of waiting and idle time of an additional patient, should it be appointed to that slot. As we demonstrate, a graphical representation of these quantities can be used to assist a sequential scheduling strategy, as often used in practice

A simple derivation of level spacing of quasinormal frequencies for a black hole with a deficit solid angle and quintessence-like matter

In this paper, we investigate analytically the level space of the imaginary part of quasinormal frequencies for a black hole with a deficit solid angle and quintessence-like matter by the Padmanabhan's method \cite{Padmanabhan}. Padmanabhan presented a method to study analytically the imaginary part of quasinormal frequencies for a class of spherically symmetric spacetimes including Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes which has an evenly spaced structure. The results show that the level space of scalar and gravitational quasinormal frequencies for this kind of black holes only depend on the surface gravity of black-hole horizon in the range of -1 < w < -1/3, respectively . We also extend the range of $w$ to $w \leq -1$, the results of which are similar to that in -1 < w < -1/3 case. Particularly, a black hole with a deficit solid angle in accelerating universe will be a Schwarzschild-de Sitter black hole, fixing $w = -1$ and $\epsilon^2 = 0$. And a black hole with a deficit solid angle in the accelerating universe will be a Schwarzschild black hole,when $\rho_0 = 0$ and $\epsilon^2 = 0$. In this paper, $w$ is the parameter of state equation, $\epsilon^2$ is a parameter relating to a deficit solid angle and $\rho_0$ is the density of static spherically symmetrical quintessence-like matter at $r = 1$.Comment: 6 pages, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Scalar Field Theory on Fuzzy S^4

Scalar fields are studied on fuzzy $S^4$ and a solution is found for the elimination of the unwanted degrees of freedom that occur in the model. The resulting theory can be interpreted as a Kaluza-Klein reduction of CP^3 to S^4 in the fuzzy context.Comment: 16 pages, LaTe

(Sub)mm Interferometry Applications in Star Formation Research

This contribution gives an overview about various applications of (sub)mm interferometry in star formation research. The topics covered are molecular outflows, accretion disks, fragmentation and chemical properties of low- and high-mass star-forming regions. A short outlook on the capabilities of ALMA is given as well.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, in proceedings to "2nd European School on Jets from Young Star: High Angular Resolution Observations". A high-resolution version of the paper can be found at http://www.mpia.de/homes/beuther/papers.htm

Stigma experienced by people living with HIV who are on methadone maintenance treatment and have symptoms of common mental disorders in Hanoi, Vietnam: a qualitative study

Background: Stigma around human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), injection drug use (IDU), and mental health disorders can be co-occurring and have different impacts on the well-being of people living with HIV (PWH) who use drugs and have mental health disorders. This stigma can come from society, health professionals, and internalized stigma. A person who has more than one health condition can experience overlapping health-related stigma and levels of stigma which can prevent them from receiving necessary support and healthcare, serving to intensify their experience with stigma. This study investigates HIV, drug use, and mental health stigmas in three dimensions (social, internalized, and professional) around PWH on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) who have common mental disorders (CMDs) including depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders in Hanoi, Vietnam.Please check and confirm whether corresponding author's email id is correctly identified.The cooresponding author's email is correct Methods: We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews (IDIs) (n = 21) and two focus group discussions (FGDs) (n = 10) with PWH receiving MMT who have CMD symptoms, their family members, clinic health care providers, and clinic directors. We applied thematic analysis using NVIVO software version 12.0, with themes based on IDI and FGD guides and emergent themes from interview transcripts. Results: The study found evidence of different stigmas towards HIV, IDU, and CMDs from the community, family, health care providers, and participants themselves. Community and family members were physically and emotionally distant from patients due to societal stigma around illicit drug use and fears of acquiring HIV. Participants often conflated stigmas around drug use and HIV, referring to these stigmas interchangeably. The internalized stigma around having HIV and injecting drugs made PWH on MMT hesitant to seek support for CMDs. These stigmas compounded to negatively impact participants’ health. Conclusions: Strategies to reduce stigma affecting PWH on MMT should concurrently address stigmas around HIV, drug addiction, and mental health. Future studies could explore approaches to address internalized stigma to improve self-esteem, mental health, and capacities to cope with stigma for PWH on MMT. Trial registration: NCT04790201, available at clinicaltrials.gov

Large-scale magnetic fields from inflation due to a CPTCPT-even Chern-Simons-like term with Kalb-Ramond and scalar fields

We investigate the generation of large-scale magnetic fields due to the breaking of the conformal invariance in the electromagnetic field through the $CPT$-even dimension-six Chern-Simons-like effective interaction with a fermion current by taking account of the dynamical Kalb-Ramond and scalar fields in inflationary cosmology. It is explicitly demonstrated that the magnetic fields on 1Mpc scale with the field strength of $\sim 10^{-9}$G at the present time can be induced.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, version accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.

Representational predicaments for employees: Their impact on perceptions of supervisors\u27 individualized consideration and on employee job satisfaction

A representational predicament for a subordinate vis-à-vis his or her immediate superior involves perceptual incongruence with the superior about the subordinate\u27s work or work context, with unfavourable implications for the employee. An instrument to measure the incidence of two types of representational predicament, being neglected and negative slanting, was developed and then validated through an initial survey of 327 employees. A subsequent substantive survey with a fresh sample of 330 employees largely supported a conceptual model linking being neglected and negative slanting to perceptions of low individualized consideration by superiors and to low overall job satisfaction. The respondents in both surveys were all Hong Kong Chinese. Two case examples drawn from qualitative interviews illustrate and support the conceptual model. Based on the research findings, we recommend some practical exercises to use in training interventions with leaders and subordinates. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Future and potential spending on health 2015-40: Development assistance for health, and government, prepaid private, and out-of-pocket health spending in 184 countries

Background: The amount of resources, particularly prepaid resources, available for health can affect access to health care and health outcomes. Although health spending tends to increase with economic development, tremendous variation exists among health financing systems. Estimates of future spending can be beneficial for policy makers and planners, and can identify financing gaps. In this study, we estimate future gross domestic product (GDP), all-sector government spending, and health spending disaggregated by source, and we compare expected future spending to potential future spending. Methods: We extracted GDP, government spending in 184 countries from 1980-2015, and health spend data from 1995-2014. We used a series of ensemble models to estimate future GDP, all-sector government spending, development assistance for health, and government, out-of-pocket, and prepaid private health spending through 2040. We used frontier analyses to identify patterns exhibited by the countries that dedicate the most funding to health, and used these frontiers to estimate potential health spending for each low-income or middle-income country. All estimates are inflation and purchasing power adjusted. Findings: We estimated that global spending on health will increase from US$9.21 trillion in 2014 to$24.24 trillion (uncertainty interval [UI] 20.47-29.72) in 2040. We expect per capita health spending to increase fastest in upper-middle-income countries, at 5.3% (UI 4.1-6.8) per year. This growth is driven by continued growth in GDP, government spending, and government health spending. Lower-middle income countries are expected to grow at 4.2% (3.8-4.9). High-income countries are expected to grow at 2.1% (UI 1.8-2.4) and low-income countries are expected to grow at 1.8% (1.0-2.8). Despite this growth, health spending per capita in low-income countries is expected to remain low, at $154 (UI 133-181) per capita in 2030 and$195 (157-258) per capita in 2040. Increases in national health spending to reach the level of the countries who spend the most on health, relative to their level of economic development, would mean $321 (157-258) per capita was available for health in 2040 in low-income countries. Interpretation: Health spending is associated with economic development but past trends and relationships suggest that spending will remain variable, and low in some low-resource settings. Policy change could lead to increased health spending, although for the poorest countries external support might remain essential