Molecular clouds are expected to emit non–thermal radiation due to cosmic ray interactions in the dense magnetized gas. Such emission is amplified if a cloud is located close to an accelerator of ...cosmic rays and if energetic particles can leave the accelerator site and diffusively reach the cloud. We consider here a situation in which a molecular cloud is located in the proximity of a supernova remnant which is efficiently accelerating cosmic rays and gradually releasing them in the interstellar medium. We calculate the multiwavelength spectrum from radio to gamma rays which is emerging from the cloud as the result of cosmic ray interactions. The total energy output is dominated by the gamma–ray emission, which can exceed the emission in other bands by an order of magnitude or more. This suggests that some of the unidentified TeV sources detected so far, with no obvious or very weak counterparts in other wavelengths, might be in fact associated with clouds illuminated by cosmic rays coming from a nearby source. Moreover, under certain conditions, the gamma–ray spectrum exhibits a concave shape, being steep at low energies and hard at high energies. This fact might have important implications for the studies of the spectral compatibility of GeV and TeV gamma–ray sources.
Abstract
Background
We updated the indirect estimates for women and girls living with Female Genital Mutilation Cutting (FGM/C) in Switzerland, using data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office of ...migrant women and girls born in one of the 30 high-prevalence FGM/C countries that are currently living in Switzerland.
Methods
We used Yoder and Van Baelen’s “Extrapolation of FGM/C Countries’ Prevalence Data” method, where we applied DHS and MICS prevalence figures from the 30 countries where FGM/C is practiced, and applied them to the immigrant women and girls living in Switzerland from the same 30 countries.
Results
In 2010, the estimated number of women and girls living with or at risk of FGM/C in Switzerland was 9059, whereas in 2018, we estimated that 21,706 women and girls were living with or at risk of FGM/C.
Conclusion
Over the past decade, there have been significant increases in the number of estimated women and girls living with or at risk of FGM/C in Switzerland due to the increase in the total number of women and girls originally coming form the countries where the practice of FGM/C is traditional.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Tweetable
Accurate coding of FGM/C, related health consequences and procedures through the ICD can facilitate the assessment of care, policy, prevention measures, and costs.
Abstract
Background
The real prevalence and incidence of women living with or at risk of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is unknown in Switzerland and many parts of Europe, as there are no ...representative surveys similar to DHS or MICS for European countries. Indirect estimates are commonly used to estimate the number of women with FGM/C in high-income countries, but may not reflect the actual FGM/C prevalence among migrants. Direct measures may provide more accurate estimates that could guide policy- and clinical decision-making. Swiss hospital data may provide a sample of patients that can be used to describe the prevalence of FGM/C in Swiss hospitals. Our study assesses the number of inpatient women and girls in Swiss university hospitals from countries with high FGM/C prevalence, and of inpatients with a coded diagnosis of FGM/C.
Methods
We conducted an exploratory descriptive study in Switzerland to assess the number of women and girls admitted to Swiss university hospitals between 2016 and 2018 from 30 FGM/C practicing countries, as well as inpatients with a coded diagnosis of FGM/C using anonymized data. We calculated indirect estimates for inpatient women and girls living with or at risk of FGM/C and compared them with the number of inpatients with a coded diagnosis of FGM/C.
Results
8720 women and girls from FGM/C practicing countries were admitted. 207 patients had a coded diagnosis of FGM/C, including 7 with a nationality outside the 30 targeted countries, corresponding to an overall prevalence of 2.3% (95%CI, 2.0–2.6). The number of FGM/C cases by hospital was significantly different across years (
P
< 0.001), with a higher proportion of cases collected in Geneva, Switzerland.
Conclusions
The comparison between indirect estimates of inpatients with or at risk of FGM/C and the low number of FGM/C cases coded, suggests low recording and coding capacities of FGM/C.
Tweetable abstract
The capacity of coding primary and secondary diagnosis of FGM/C in Swiss university hospitals seems low.
Protocol number: 2018–01851: SwissEthics Committee, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Aims. We investigate the nature of the accelerated particles responsible for the production of the gamma-ray emission observed from the middle-aged supernova remnant (SNR) HB 21. Methods. We present ...the analysis of more than nine years of Fermi LAT data from the SNR HB 21. We performed morphological and spectral analysis of the SNR by means of a three-dimensional binned likelihood analysis. To assess the intrinsic properties of the parent particle models, we fit the obtained gamma-ray spectral energy distribution of the SNR by both hadronic- and leptonic-induced gamma-ray spectrum. Results. We observe an extended emission positionally in agreement with the SNR HB 21. The bulk of this gamma-ray emission is detected from the remnant; photons up to ~10 GeV show clear evidence of curvature at the lower energies. The remnant is characterized by an extension of 0°.83, that is, 30% smaller than claimed in previous studies. The increased statistics allowed us also to resolve a point-like source at the edge of the remnant, in proximity to a molecular cloud of the Cyg OB7 complex. In the southern part of the remnant, a hint of an additional gamma-ray excess in correspondence to shocked molecular clouds is observed. Conclusions. The spectral energy distribution of the SNR shows evidence of a break around 400 MeV, which can be properly fitted within both the hadronic and leptonic scenario. The pion-decay mechanism reproduces well the gamma rays, postulating a proton spectrum with a slope ~2.5 and with a steepening around tens of GeV, which could be explained by the energy-dependent escape of particles from the remnant. In the leptonic scenario the electron spectrum within the SNR matches closely the locally measured spectrum. This remarkable and novel result shows that SNR HB 21 could be a direct contributor to the population of Galactic electrons. In the leptonic scenario, we find that the local electron spectrum with a break around 2 GeV, closely evokes the best-fitting parental spectrum within this SNR. If such a scenario is confirmed, this would indicate that the SNR might be a source of Galactic background electrons.
The 7 year data set of the Milagro TeV observatory contains 2.2 x 10(11) events of which most are due to hadronic cosmic rays. These data are searched for evidence of intermediate scale structure. ...Excess emission on angular scales of approximately 10 degrees has been found in two localized regions of unknown origin with greater than 12sigma significance. Both regions are inconsistent with pure gamma-ray emission with high confidence. One of the regions has a different energy spectrum than the isotropic cosmic-ray flux at a level of 4.6sigma, and it is consistent with hard spectrum protons with an exponential cutoff, with the most significant excess at approximately 10 TeV. Potential causes of these excesses are explored, but no compelling explanations are found.
Existing endoscopy-based data on gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) in the general population are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate typical symptoms and complications of GORD, and their ...associated risk factors, in a representative sample of the Italian population.
1533 adults from two Italian villages were approached to undergo symptom assessment using a validated questionnaire and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Data were obtained from 1033 individuals (67.4% response rate).
The prevalence of reflux symptoms was 44.3%; 23.7% of the population experienced such symptoms on at least 2 days per week (frequent symptoms). The prevalence rates of oesophagitis and Barrett's oesophagus in the population were 11.8% and 1.3%, respectively. Both frequent (relative risk (RR) 2.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7 to 3.9) and infrequent (RR 1.9; 95% CI 1.2 to 3.0) reflux symptoms were associated with the presence of oesophagitis. No reflux symptoms were reported by 32.8% of individuals with oesophagitis and 46.2% of those with Barrett's oesophagus. Hiatus hernia was associated with frequent reflux symptoms and oesophagitis, and was present in 76.9% of those with Barrett's oesophagus. We found no association between body mass index and reflux symptoms or oesophagitis.
GORD is common in Italy, but the prevalence of Barrett's oesophagus in the community is lower than has been reported in selected populations. Both frequent and infrequent reflux symptoms are associated with an increased risk of oesophagitis. Individuals with oesophagitis and Barrett's oesophagus often have no reflux symptoms.
Abstract
Supernova remnants are often presented as the most probable sources of Galactic cosmic rays. This idea is supported by the accumulation of evidence that particle acceleration is happening at ...supernova remnant shocks. Observations in the TeV range have especially contributed to increase the understanding of the mechanisms, but many aspects of the particle acceleration at supernova remnant shocks are still debated. The Cherenkov telescope array is expected to lead to the detection of many new supernova remnants in the TeV and multi-TeV range. In addition to the individual study of each, the study of these objects as a population can help constrain the parameters describing the acceleration of particles and increase our understanding of the mechanisms involved.
The diffuse gamma radiation arising from the interaction of cosmic-ray particles with matter and radiation in the Galaxy is one of the few probes available to study the origin of the cosmic rays. ...Data from the Milagro gamma-ray observatory--a water Cerenkov detector that continuously views 62 sr of the overhead sky--shows that the brightest extended region in the entire northern sky is the Cygnus region of the Galactic plane. The TeV image of the Cygnus region contains at least one new source, MGRO J2019+37, which is 10.9 s above the isotropic background, as well as correlations with the matter density in the region. However, the gamma-ray flux from the Cygnus region (after excluding MGRO J2019+37) as measured at 612 TeV exceeds that predicted from a model of cosmic-ray production and propagation. This observation indicates the existence of either hard-spectrum cosmic-ray sources and/or unresolved sources of TeV gamma rays in the region.
We present a detailed analysis of the interstellar medium towards the tera electron volt (TeV) ...-ray sources HESS J1640-465 and HESS J1641-463 using results from the Mopra Southern Galactic Plane ...CO Survey and from a Mopra 7 mm-wavelength study. The ...-ray sources are positionally coincident with two supernova remnants (SNRs) G338.3-0.0 and G338.5+0.1, respectively. A bright complex of H ii regions connect the two SNRs and TeV objects. Observations in the CO(1-0) transition lines reveal substantial amounts of diffuse gas positionally coincident with the ...-ray sources at multiple velocities along the line of sight, while 7 mm observations in CS, SiO, HC sub( 3)N and CH sub( 3)OH transition lines reveal regions of dense, shocked gas. Archival H i data from the Southern Galactic Plane Survey was used to account for the diffuse atomic gas. Physical parameters of the gas towards the TeV sources were calculated from the data. We find that for a hadronic origin for the ...-ray emission, the cosmic ray enhancement rates are ~10 super( 3) and 10 super( 2) times the local solar value for HESS J1640-465 and HESS J1641-463, respectively. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
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