Structural parameters of galaxies in CANDELS

We present global structural parameter measurements of 109,533 unique, H-F160W-selected objects from the CANDELS multi-cycle treasury program. Sersic model fits for these objects are produced with GALFIT in all available near-infrared filters (H-F160W, J(F125W) and, for a subset, Y-F105W). The parameters of the best-fitting Sersic models (total magnitude, half-light radius, Sersic index, axis ratio, and position angle) are made public, along with newly constructed point-spread functions for each field and filter. Random uncertainties in the measured parameters are estimated for each individual object based on a comparison between multiple, independent measurements of the same set of objects. To quantify systematic uncertainties, we create a mosaic with simulated galaxy images with a realistic distribution of input parameters and then process and analyze the mosaic in an identical manner as the real data. We find that accurate and precise measurements-to 10% or better-of all structural parameters can typically be obtained for galaxies with H-F160W < 23, with comparable fidelity for basic size and shape measurements for galaxies to H-F160W similar to 24.5

The risk factor profile of women with secondary infertility: an unmatched case-control study in Kigali, Rwanda

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Secondary infertility is a common, preventable but neglected reproductive health problem in resource-poor countries. This study examines the association of past sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, bacterial vaginosis (BV) and factors in the obstetric history with secondary infertility and their relative contributions to secondary infertility.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between November 2007 and May 2009 a research infertility clinic was set up at the Kigali University Teaching Hospital in Rwanda. Cases were defined as sexually-active women aged 21-45 years presenting with secondary infertility (n = 177), and controls as multiparous women in the same age groups who recently delivered (n = 219). Participants were interviewed about socio-demographic characteristics and obstetric history using structured questionnaires, and were tested for HIV and reproductive tract infections (RTIs).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Risk factors in the obstetric history for secondary infertility were lack of prenatal care in the last pregnancy, the first pregnancy before the age of 21 years, a history of unwanted pregnancy, a pregnancy with other than current partner, an adverse pregnancy outcome, stillbirth, postpartum infection and curettage. Presence of HIV, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2), or <it>Treponema pallidum </it>antibodies, and bacterial vaginosis (BV), were significantly more common in women in secondary infertile relationships than those in fertile relationships. The population attributable fractions (PAF%) for obstetric events, HIV, other (STIs), and BV were 25%, 30%, 27%, and 14% respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The main finding of this study is that obstetric events, HIV and other STIs contribute approximately equally to secondary infertility in Rwanda. Scaling up of HIV/STI prevention, increased access to family planning services, improvement of prenatal and obstetric care and reduction of stillbirth and infant mortality rates are all likely to decrease secondary infertility in sub-Saharan Africa.</p

The new molecular markers DDIT3, STT3A, ARG2 and FAM129A are not useful in diagnosing thyroid follicular tumors

Preoperative characterization of thyroid follicular lesions is challenging. Fine-needle aspiration specimens cannot differentiate follicular carcinomas from benign follicular neoplasias. Recently, promising markers have been detected using modern molecular techniques. We conducted a retrospective study to confirm the usefulness of immunohistochemical staining for the protein markers, DDIT3, STT3A (ITM1), ARG2 and FAM129A (C1orf24) in separating benign and malignant thyroid follicular lesions. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded thyroid tissue from 30 in-house cases (15 follicular carcinomas and 15 follicular adenomas), as well as 8 follicular carcinomas and 21 follicular adenomas on tissue microarray slides were stained immunohistochemically for DDIT3, STT3A, ARG2 and FAM129A expression. Control tissue consisted of thyroid parenchyma adjacent to the tumors and 11 separate cases of normal thyroid parenchyma. All in-house cases of follicular adenomas, follicular carcinomas and adjacent normal thyroid tissue showed positive immunostaining with anti-DDIT3 and anti-STT3A. Anti-ARG2 and anti-FAM129A polyclonal antibodies showed positive staining in 20 and 60% of in-house follicular adenomas, and 40 and 87% of in-house follicular carcinomas, respectively. Monoclonal anti-FAM129A demonstrated positive staining in 13 and 33% of in-house follicular adenomas and follicular carcinomas, respectively. Polyclonal anti-DDIT3, -STT3A and -FAM129A antibodies showed positive staining in all tissue microarray slides of follicular carcinoma and in 76, 85 and 81% of the follicular adenomas, respectively. Monoclonal anti-STT3A stained 81% of the follicular adenoma cores. Anti-ARG2 stained positive in 13% of follicular carcinomas and 10% of follicular adenomas on the tissue microarray slides. In conclusion, DDIT3, STT3A, ARG2 and FAM129A immunohistochemistry does not appear to be useful in the diagnosis of thyroid follicular neoplasias, as they do not reliably distinguish follicular thyroid carcinoma from follicular thyroid adenoma

In Search of HPA Axis Dysregulation in Child and Adolescent Depression

Dysregulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis in adults with major depressive disorder is among the most consistent and robust biological findings in psychiatry. Given the importance of the adolescent transition to the development and recurrence of depressive phenomena over the lifespan, it is important to have an integrative perspective on research investigating the various components of HPA axis functioning among depressed young people. The present narrative review synthesizes evidence from the following five categories of studies conducted with children and adolescents: (1) those examining the HPA system’s response to the dexamethasone suppression test (DST); (2) those assessing basal HPA axis functioning; (3) those administering corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) challenge; (4) those incorporating psychological probes of the HPA axis; and (5) those examining HPA axis functioning in children of depressed mothers. Evidence is generally consistent with models of developmental psychopathology that hypothesize that atypical HPA axis functioning precedes the emergence of clinical levels of depression and that the HPA axis becomes increasingly dysregulated from child to adult manifestations of depression. Multidisciplinary approaches and longitudinal research designs that extend across development are needed to more clearly and usefully elucidate the role of the HPA axis in depression

Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a massive global health crisis. Because the crisis requires large-scale behaviour change and places significant psychological burdens on individuals, insights from the social and behavioural sciences can be used to help align human behavior with the recommendations of epidemiologists and public health experts. Here we discuss evidence from a selection of research topics relevant to pandemics, including work on navigating threats, social and cultural influences on behaviour, science communication, moral decision-making, leadership, and stress and coping. In each section, we note the nature and quality of prior research, including uncertainty and unsettled issues. We identify several insights for effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also highlight important gaps researchers should move quickly to fill in the coming weeks and months

ATP in the tumour microenvironment drives expression of nfP2X7, a key mediator of cancer cell survival

The ATP-gated receptor P2X7 is expressed in multiple malignant tumours including neuroblastoma, melanoma, prostate, lung and breast. P2X7 has a significant role in mediating diverse cell responses, which upon dysregulation are associated with tumour initiation and development. The rapid, ATP-mediated activation of P2X7 induces a fast-inward cation current in cells. However, prolonged ATP-mediated activation of P2X7 leads to formation of a pore that increases membrane permeability and eventually causes cell death. This presents a potential paradox, as the tumour microenvironment contains extracellular ATP at levels sufficient to activate the P2X7 pore and trigger cell death. However, P2X7 expression is associated with enhanced cancer cell survival, proliferation and metastatic potential. At least one distinct conformational form of P2X7, termed non-pore functional P2X7 (nfP2X7), has been described, which is not able to form a functional pore. We demonstrate for the first time in this study that exposure to a high ATP concentration, equivalent to those measured in the tumour microenvironment, drives nfP2X7 expression and also that nfP2X7 is essential for tumour cell survival. We show that monoclonal antibodies raised against a P2X7 amino acid sequence (200-216), whose conformation is distinct from that of wild-type (WT) P2X7, bind specifically to nfP2X7 expressed on the surface of tumour cells. We also show that nfP2X7 is broadly expressed in patient-derived tumour sections from a wide range of cancers. Therefore, antibodies raised against E200 provide tools that can differentiate between forms of the P2X7 receptor that have a key role in cancer

Structural evolution of early-type galaxies to z = 2.5 in CANDELS

Projected axis ratio measurements of 880 early-type galaxies at redshifts 1 &lt; z &lt; 2.5 selected from CANDELS are used to reconstruct and model their intrinsic shapes. The sample is selected on the basis of multiple rest-frame colors to reflect low star-formation activity. We demonstrate that these galaxies as an ensemble are dust-poor and transparent and therefore likely have smooth light profiles, similar to visually classified early-type galaxies. Similar to their present-day counterparts, the z &gt; 1 early-type galaxies show a variety of intrinsic shapes; even at a fixed mass, the projected axis ratio distributions cannot be explained by the random projection of a set of galaxies with very similar intrinsic shapes. However, a two-population model for the intrinsic shapes, consisting of a triaxial, fairly round population, combined with a flat (c/a ∼ 0.3) oblate population, adequately describes the projected axis ratio distributions of both present-day and z &gt; 1 early-type galaxies. We find that the proportion of oblate versus triaxial galaxies depends both on the galaxies' stellar mass, and - at a given mass - on redshift. For present-day and z &lt; 1 early-type galaxies the oblate fraction strongly depends on galaxy mass. At z &gt; 1, this trend is much weaker over the mass range explored here (1010 &lt; M */M ⊙ &lt; 1011), because the oblate fraction among massive (M * ∼ 1011 M ⊙) was much higher in the past: 0.59 ± 0.10 at z &gt; 1, compared to 0.20 ± 0.02 at z ∼ 0.1. When combined with previous findings that the number density and sizes of early-type galaxies substantially increase over the same redshift range, this can be explained by the gradual emergence of merger-produced elliptical galaxies, at the expense of the destruction of pre-existing disks that were common among their high-redshift progenitors. In contrast, the oblate fraction among low-mass early-type galaxies (log (M */M ⊙) &lt; 10.5) increased toward the present, from z = 0 to 0.38 ± 0.11 at z &gt; 1 to 0.72 ± 0.06 at z = 0. We speculate that this lower incidence of disks at early cosmic times can be attributed to two factors: low-mass, star-forming progenitors at z &gt; 1 were not settled into stable disks to the same degree as at later cosmic times, and the stripping of gas from star-forming disk galaxies in dense environments is an increasingly important process at lower redshifts. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved