This study aimed to evaluate the yield of the NHS Health Checks programme.
A cohort study, conducted in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink in England. Electronic health records were analysed for ...patients aged 40-74 receiving an NHS Health Check between 2010 and 2013.
There were 65 324 men and 75 032 women receiving a health check. For every 1000 men assessed, there were 205 smokers (95% confidence interval 195-215), 355 (340-369) with hypertension (≥140/90 mmHg) and 633 (607-658) with elevated cholesterol (≥5 mmol/l). Among 1000 women, there were 161 (151-171) smokers, 247 (238-257) with hypertension and 668 (646-689) with elevated cholesterol. In the 12 months following the check, statins were prescribed to 18% of men and 21% of women with ≥20% cardiovascular risk and antihypertensive drugs to 11% of men and 16% of women with ≥20% cardiovascular risk. Slight reductions in risk factor values were observed in the minority of participants with follow-up values recorded in the 15 months following the check.
A universal primary prevention programme identifies substantial risk factor burden in a population without known cardiovascular disease. Research is needed to monitor interventions, and intermediate- and long-term outcomes, in those identified at high risk.
In the past two decades, stable isotope analysis (SIA) has been increasingly used to infer dietary ecology and habitat use in sea turtles. Tissue samples for SIA are often collected from adult ...females during a nesting event because turtles are easily accessible then. However, this sampling opportunity can be easily missed, or the female may be disturbed during the nesting event and abandon nest construction. The current research assessed the relationships of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values between mothers, and their eggs and hatchlings of loggerhead turtles
Caretta caretta
to evaluate the accuracy of using eggs or hatchlings in inferring the mothers’ stable isotope values. Whole blood and epidermis from mothers (
n
= 5), yolk, albumen and shell in their eggs (
n
= 5 per female) and epidermis, whole blood, liver, muscle and residual yolks in their hatchlings (
n
= 5 for 3 females) were collected from loggerhead turtles in the 2012/2013 nesting season at Mon Repos sea turtle rookery (24°47′46″S; 152°26′26″E), in South East Queensland, Australia. The effect of lipid extraction on isotopic values in sampled tissues was also evaluated. Lipid extraction had a significant effect on δ
13
C values for egg yolk, residual yolk and liver, but also altered δ
15
N values for these tissues. Significant correlations were found between adult tissues and both their egg-yolk and hatchling tissues. Isotopic values of fresh egg yolk sampled straight after oviposition and residual yolk internalized by hatchlings at hatching were similar, implying that the stable isotope values of yolk remains unchanged throughout embryonic development. Stable isotope values were distinct between different tissues sampled from the same hatchling. With the caution that our results are based on a small sample size (
n
= 3), they support the method of sampling hatchlings, or eggs, rather than nesting females, to infer information about the feeding habits and migratory patterns of nesting turtle populations.
Observationally locating the position of the H2O snowline in protoplanetary disks is crucial for understanding planetesimal and planet formation processes, and the origin of water on the Earth. In ...our studies, we conducted calculations of chemical reactions and water line profiles in protoplanetary disks, and identified that ortho/para-H216O, H218O lines with small Einstein A coefficients and relatively high upper state energies are dominated by emission from the hot midplane region inside the H2O snowline. Therefore, through analyzing their line profiles the position of the H2O snowline can be located. Moreover, because the number density of the H218O is much smaller than that of H216O, the H218O lines can trace deeper into the disk and thus they are potentially better probes of the exact position of the H2O snowline in disk midplane.
Context.
The chemistry of planet-forming disks sets the exoplanet atmosphere composition and the prebiotic molecular content. Dust traps are of particular importance as pebble growth and transport ...are crucial for setting the chemistry where giant planets form.
Aims.
The asymmetric Oph IRS 48 dust trap located at 60 au radius provides a unique laboratory for studying chemistry in pebble-concentrated environments in warm Herbig disks with gas-to-dust ratios as low as 0.01.
Methods.
We use deep ALMA Band 7 line observations to search the IRS 48 disk for H
2
CO and CH
3
OH line emission, the first steps of complex organic chemistry.
Results.
We report the detection of seven H
2
CO and six CH
3
OH lines with energy levels between 17 and 260 K. The line emission shows a crescent morphology, similar to the dust continuum, suggesting that the icy pebbles play an important role in the delivery of these molecules. Rotational diagrams and line ratios indicate that both molecules originate from warm molecular regions in the disk with temperatures > 100 K and column densities ∼10
14
cm
−2
or a fractional abundance of ∼10
−8
and with H
2
CO/CH
3
OH ∼0.2, indicative of ice chemistry. Based on arguments from a physical-chemical model with low gas-to-dust ratios, we propose a scenario where the dust trap provides a huge icy grain reservoir in the disk midplane, or an ‘ice trap’, which can result in high gas-phase abundances of warm complex organic molecules through efficient vertical mixing.
Conclusions.
This is the first time that complex organic molecules have been clearly linked to the presence of a dust trap. These results demonstrate the importance of including dust evolution and vertical transport in chemical disk models as icy dust concentrations provide important reservoirs for complex organic chemistry in disks.
Abstract
Planets form in dusty, gas-rich disks around young stars, while at the same time, the planet formation process alters the physical and chemical structure of the disk itself. Embedded planets ...will locally heat the disk and sublimate volatile-rich ices, or in extreme cases, result in shocks that sputter heavy atoms such as Si from dust grains. This should cause chemical asymmetries detectable in molecular gas observations. Using high-angular-resolution ALMA archival data of the HD 169142 disk, we identify compact SO
J
= 8
8
− 7
7
and SiS
J
= 19 − 18 emission coincident with the position of a ∼ 2
M
Jup
planet seen as a localized, Keplerian NIR feature within a gas-depleted, annular dust gap at ≈38 au. The SiS emission is located along an azimuthal arc and has a morphology similar to that of a known
12
CO kinematic excess. This is the first tentative detection of SiS emission in a protoplanetary disk and suggests that the planet is driving sufficiently strong shocks to produce gas-phase SiS. We also report the discovery of compact
12
CO and
13
CO
J
= 3 − 2 emission coincident with the planet location. Taken together, a planet-driven outflow provides the best explanation for the properties of the observed chemical asymmetries. We also resolve a bright, azimuthally asymmetric SO ring at ≈24 au. While most of this SO emission originates from ice sublimation, its asymmetric distribution implies azimuthal temperature variations driven by a misaligned inner disk or planet–disk interactions. Overall, the HD 169142 disk shows several distinct chemical signatures related to giant planet formation and presents a powerful template for future searches of planet-related chemical asymmetries in protoplanetary disks.
Molecular line observations are powerful tracers of the physical and chemical conditions across the different evolutionary stages of star, disk, and planet formation. The high angular resolution and ...unprecedented sensitivity of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) enables the current drive to detect small-scale gas structures in protoplanetary disks that can be attributed directly to forming planets. We report high angular resolution ALMA Band 7 observations of sulphur monoxide (SO) in the nearby planet-hosting disk around the Herbig star HD 100546. SO is rarely detected in evolved protoplanetary disks, but in other environments, it is most often used as a tracer of shocks. The SO emission from the HD 100546 disk primarily originates from gas within the ≈20 au millimeter-dust cavity and shows a clear azimuthal brightness asymmetry of a factor of 2. In addition, the difference in the line profile shape is significant when these new Cycle 7 data are compared to Cycle 0 data of the same SO transitions. We discuss the different physical and chemical mechanisms that might cause this asymmetry and time variability, including disk winds, disk warps, and a shock triggered by a (forming) planet. We propose that SO is enhanced in the cavity by the presence of a giant planet. The SO asymmetry complements evidence for hot circumplanetary material around giant planet HD 100546 c that is traced via CO ro-vibrational emission. This work sets the stage for further observational and modelling efforts to detect and understand the chemical imprint of a forming planet on its parent disk.
PDF
