ABSTRACT
Polarized dust emission is a key tracer in the study of interstellar medium and of star formation. The observed polarization, however, is a product of magnetic field structure, dust grain ...properties, and grain alignment efficiency, as well as their variations in the line of sight, making it difficult to interpret polarization unambiguously. The comparison of polarimetry at multiple wavelengths is a possible way of mitigating this problem. We use data from HAWC+ /SOFIA and from SCUBA-2/POL-2 (from the BISTRO survey) to analyse the NGC 2071 molecular cloud at 154, 214, and 850 $\mu$m. The polarization angle changes significantly with wavelength over part of NGC 2071, suggesting a change in magnetic field morphology on the line of sight as each wavelength best traces different dust populations. Other possible explanations are the existence of more than one polarization mechanism in the cloud or scattering from very large grains. The observed change of polarization fraction with wavelength, and the 214-to-154 $\mu$m polarization ratio in particular, are difficult to reproduce with current dust models under the assumption of uniform alignment efficiency. We also show that the standard procedure of using monochromatic intensity as a proxy for column density may produce spurious results at HAWC+wavelengths. Using both long-wavelength (POL-2, 850 $\mu$m) and short-wavelength (HAWC+, $\lesssim 200\, \mu$m) polarimetry is key in obtaining these results. This study clearly shows the importance of multi-wavelength polarimetry at submillimetre bands to understand the dust properties of molecular clouds and the relationship between magnetic field and star formation.
IntroductionApproximately 38% of haemodialysis patients carry Staphylococcus aureus in their noses, and carriers have a nearly four-fold increased risk of S. aureus access-related bloodstream ...infections (BSIs) compared with non-carriers. Our objective is to determine the clinical efficacy and effectiveness of a novel intervention using nasal povidone-iodine (PVI) to prevent BSIs among patients in haemodialysis units. We will survey patients and conduct qualitative interviews with healthcare workers to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing the intervention.Methods and analysisWe will perform an open-label, stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial to assess the effectiveness of nasal PVI compared with standard care. Sixteen outpatient haemodialysis units will participate in the study. The 3-year trial period will be divided into a 4-month baseline period and eight additional 4-month time blocks. The primary outcome of the study will be S. aureus BSI, defined as a S. aureus positive blood culture collected in the outpatient setting or within one calendar day after a hospital admission. The study team will evaluate characteristics of individual patients and the clusters by exposure status (control or intervention) to assess the balance between groups, and calculate descriptive statistics such as average responses separately for control and intervention survey questions.Ethics and disseminationThis study has received IRB approval from all study sites. A Data Safety and Monitoring Board will monitor this multicentre clinical trial. We will present our results at international meetings. The study team will publish findings in peer-reviewed journals and make each accepted peer-reviewed manuscript publicly available.Trial registration numberNCT04210505.
Since 1990, natural hazards have led to over 1.6 million fatalities globally, and economic losses are estimated at an average of around USD 260–310 billion per year. The scientific and policy ...communities recognise the need to reduce these risks. As a result, the last decade has seen a rapid development of global models for assessing risk from natural hazards at the global scale. In this paper, we review the scientific literature on natural hazard risk assessments at the global scale, and we specifically examine whether and how they have examined future projections of hazard, exposure, and/or vulnerability. In doing so, we examine similarities and differences between the approaches taken across the different hazards, and we identify potential ways in which different hazard communities can learn from each other. For example, there are a number of global risk studies focusing on hydrological, climatological, and meteorological hazards that have included future projections and disaster risk reduction measures (in the case of floods), whereas fewer exist in the peer-reviewed literature for global studies related to geological hazards. On the other hand, studies of earthquake and tsunami risk are now using stochastic modelling approaches to allow for a fully probabilistic assessment of risk, which could benefit the modelling of risk from other hazards. Finally, we discuss opportunities for learning from methods and approaches being developed and applied to assess natural hazard risks at more continental or regional scales. Through this paper, we hope to encourage further dialogue on knowledge sharing between disciplines and communities working on different hazards and risk and at different spatial scales.
Atopic dermatitis is a disease with an impaired skin barrier that affects 15%–20% of children. In the normal epidermis, the stratum corneum chymotryptic enzyme (SCCE) thought to play a central role ...in desquamation by cleaving proteins of the stratum corneum (e.g., corneodesmosin and plakoglobin). Genetic variations within the SCCE gene could be associated with dysregulation of SCCE activity leading to an abnormal skin barrier. We screened the SCCE gene for variations and performed a case–control study on 103 atopic dermatitis patients and 261 matched controls. 16 synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified and a 4 bp (AACC) insertion has been found in the 3′UTR. We performed an association study of the SCCE AACC insertion in the 3′UTR, and found a significant trend between the AACC allele with the two insertions and disease in the overall data set odds ratio (OR)=2.31; p=0.0007. The AACC insertion in the SCCE gene may result in a change to SCCE activity within the skin barrier. These findings suggest that SCCE could have an important role in the development of atopic dermatitis.
Background
Head and neck cancer (HNC), and its treatment, is associated with significant side‐effects which can affect quality of life (QOL). Physical activity (PA) is known to improve a number of ...QOL measures. We aimed to determine the prevalence of PA pre‐ and post‐treatment of HNC and to determine associations with QOL.
Methods
A questionnaire‐based survey of 172 patients pre‐ and post‐treatment for HNC.
Results
A total of 62.2% of patients met current UK PA guidelines pre‐treatment, reducing to 40.1% following treatment. There was a significant decrease in Metabolic equivalent task minutes/week post‐treatment, with 71% of participants reporting less PA after diagnosis (P < 0.001). Swimming and cycling remained the two most practiced sports. There was a positive correlation between the post‐treatment PA and QOL (P < 0.001).
Conclusion
These data suggest that PA may improve QOL following treatment for HNC. We believe that further studies are warranted.
The multiwavelength observation of the nearby radio galaxy M87 provides a unique opportunity to study in detail processes occurring in active galactic nuclei from radio waves to TeV -rays. Here we ...report the detection of -ray emission above 250 GeV from M87 in spring 2007 with the VERITAS atmospheric Cerenkov telescope array and discuss its correlation with the X-ray emission. The -ray emission is measured to be pointlike with an intrinsic source radius less than 4.5 super(image ). The differential energy spectrum is fitted well by a power-law function: image m super(-2) s super(-1) TeV super(-1). We show strong evidence for a year-scale correlation between the -ray flux reported by TeV experiments and the X-ray emission measured by the ASM RXTE observatory, and discuss the possible short-timescale variability. These results imply that the -ray emission from M87 is more likely associated with the core of the galaxy than with other bright X-ray features in the jet.
Summary
Peripheral quantitative computed tomography scans of the distal and midshaft radius were performed in 514 European men aged 40–79 years at baseline and a median of 4.3 years later. ...Age-related changes in volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) and bone geometry were greater in men with higher biochemical markers of bone turnover at baseline.
Introduction
This study aimed to determine prospective change in bone density and geometry at the radius in men and examine the influence of bone turnover markers and sex hormones on that change.
Methods
Men aged 40–79 years were recruited from population registers in Manchester (UK) and Leuven (Belgium). At baseline, markers of bone formation (P1NP and osteocalcin) and resorption (β-cTX and ICTP) were assessed. Total and bioavailable testosterone and oestradiol were also measured. Peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) was used to scan the radius at distal and midshaft sites at the baseline assessment and a median of 4.3 years later.
Results
Five hundred fourteen men, mean (SD) age of 59.6 (10.5) years, contributed to the data. At the midshaft site, there was a significant decrease in mean cortical vBMD (−0.04 %/year), bone mineral content (BMC) (−0.1 %/year) and cortical thickness (−0.4 %/year), while total and medullary area increased (+0.5 and +2.4 %/year respectively). At the distal radius, total vBMD declined (−0.5 %/year) and radial area increased (+0.6 %/year). Greater plasma concentrations of bone resorption and formation markers were associated with greater decline in BMC and cortical area at the midshaft and total vBMD at the distal site. Increased bone resorption was linked with an increase in total and medullary area and decrease in cortical thickness at the midshaft. Sex hormone levels were unrelated to change in pQCT parameters.
Conclusions
Age-related changes in vBMD and bone geometry are greater in men with higher biochemical markers of bone turnover at baseline. Sex hormones have little influence on change in pQCT parameters.
We have mapped linearly polarized dust emission from the pre-stellar cores L1498 and L1517B with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) using the Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) ...and its polarimeter (SCUBAPOL) at a wavelength of 850 μm. We use these measurements to determine the plane-of-sky magnetic field orientation in the cores. In L1498, we see a magnetic field across the peak of the core that lies at an offset of ∼19°± 12° to the short axis of the core. This is similar to the offsets seen in previous observations of pre-stellar cores. To the south-east of the peak, in the filamentary tail of the core, we see that the magnetic field has rotated to lie almost parallel to the long axis of the filament. We hypothesize that the field in the core may have decoupled from the field in the filament that connects the core to the rest of the cloud. We use the Chandrasekhar–Fermi (CF) method to measure the plane-of-sky field strength in the core of L1498 to be ∼10 ± 7-μG. In L1517B, we see a more gradual turn in the field direction from the northern part of the core to the south. This appears to follow a twist in the filament in which the core is buried, with the field staying at a roughly constant ∼25°± 6° offset to the short axis of the filament, consistent with previous observations of pre-stellar cores. Hence these two clouds in an apparently similar evolutionary state, that exhibit similar masses, morphologies and densities, have very different magnetic field configurations. We again use the CF method and calculate the magnetic field strength in L1517B to be ∼30 ± 10-μG. Both cores appear to be roughly virialized. Comparison with our previous work on somewhat denser cores shows that, for the denser cores, thermal and non-thermal (including magnetic) support are approximately equal, while for the lower density cores studied here, thermal support dominates.
•We examined HBV infant and child vaccine program impact on HBVprevalence in adults.•In Western Australia, HBV prevalence in Aboriginal women has fallen significantly.•Despite the declining ...prevalence, considerable disparities in HBV prevalence remain.
To evaluate the long-term effect of infant and childhood hepatitis B (HBV) vaccination programs among birthing women in Western Australia.
A cohort of Western Australian women born from 1974 to 1995 was created using Birth Registrations and Electoral Roll records. They were linked to a perinatal register and notifiable diseases register to identify women having respectively their first births between 2000 and 2012 and diagnoses of HBV infections. HBV prevalence was estimated in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women, and according to maternal birth year cohorts.
Of 66,073 women, 155 (0.23%) had a linked non-acute HBV notification. HBV prevalence was five times higher in Aboriginal women compared to their non-Aboriginal counterparts (0.92%, 95%CI 0.65–1.18 versus 0.18%, 0.15–0.21). Among Aboriginal women, after adjusting for year of giving birth and region of residence, those born in the targeted infant and school-based vaccination era (maternal year of birth 1988–1995) had an 89% lower risk (adjusted odds ratio aOR 0.11, 0.04–0.33) of HBV than those born in the pre-vaccination era (1974–1981). Prevalence also differed between Aboriginal women residing in rural/remote areas compared to those in major cities (aOR 3.06, 1.36–6.88). Among non-Aboriginal women, no significant difference in HBV prevalence was observed by maternal birth cohort (p = 0.20) nor by residence (p = 0.23), but there were significant differences by ethnicity with a 36-fold higher prevalence (aOR 36.08, 22.66–57.46) in non-Caucasian versus Caucasian women.
A significant decline in HBV prevalence in Aboriginal birthing mothers was observed following the introduction of HBV vaccination programs in Western Australia. There were also considerable disparities in prevalence between women by area of residence and ethnicity. Our findings reflect those observed in women in other Australian jurisdictions. Continued surveillance of HBV prevalence in birthing mothers will provide ongoing estimates of HBV vaccination program impact across Australia and the populations most at risk of chronic HBV.
In this paper, we present multiband optical polarimetric observations of the very-high energy blazar PKS 2155−304 made simultaneously with a HESS/Fermi high-energy campaign in 2008, when the source ...was found to be in a low state. The intense daily coverage of the data set allowed us to study in detail the temporal evolution of the emission, and we found that the particle acceleration time-scales are decoupled from the changes in the polarimetric properties of the source. We present a model in which the optical polarimetric emission originates at the polarized mm-wave core and propose an explanation for the lack of correlation between the photometric and polarimetric fluxes. The optical emission is consistent with an inhomogeneous synchrotron source in which the large-scale field is locally organized by a shock in which particle acceleration takes place. Finally, we use these optical polarimetric observations of PKS 2155−304 at a low state to propose an origin for the quiescent gamma-ray flux of the object, in an attempt to provide clues for the source of its recently established persistent TeV emission.
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