We plot the globular clusters of the Fornax galaxy and those associated with the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the horizontal-branch type vs metallicity diagram. The horizontal-branch types ...for the Fornax clusters include corrections for red horizontal-branch stars from the field and are based on our recent work and new results in the literature. Fornax globular clusters continue to stand out as having red horizontal branches for their low metallicities, with no counterparts in either the outer Galactic halo or the Magellanic Clouds. The clusters associated with Sagittarius lie to the blue of the Fornax clusters, except for the metal-rich cluster Ter 7. Although the metallicities of the three metal-poor Sagittarius globular clusters are similar to those of the Fornax clusters, their horizontal branches are bluer and they lie in a region also populated by the old LMC and old halo clusters. Neither cluster system resembles the younger Galactic halo globular clusters, often suggested to have been accreted from disrupted dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Except for Ter 7, both the Fornax and Sagittarius globular clusters are metal-poor compared with their Galactic counterparts of the same horizontal-branch type. We find no correlation between HB type and other cluster properties, such as central concentration, luminosity, central surface brightness, and estimated collision rate. (Author)
Background. Access to antiretroviral therapy is rapidly expanding in sub-Saharan Africa. Identifying the predictors of incomplete adherence, virologic failure, and antiviral drug resistance is ...essential to achieving long-term success. Methods. A total of 150 subjects who had received antiretroviral therapy for at least 6 months completed a structured questionnaire and adherence assessment, and plasma human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) RNA levels were measured. Virologic failure was defined as an HIV RNA level >400 copies/mL; for patients with an HIV RNA level >1000 copies/mL, genotypic antiviral drug resistance testing was performed. Predictors were analyzed using bivariable and multivariable logistic regression models. Results. A total of 23 (16%) of 150 subjects reported incomplete adherence. Sacrificing health care for other necessities (adjusted odds ratio AOR, 19.8; P < .01) and the proportion of months receiving self-funded treatment (AOR, 23.5; P = .04) were associated with incomplete adherence. Virologic failure was identified in 48 (32%) of 150 subjects and was associated with incomplete adherence (AOR, 3.6; P = .03) and the proportion of months receiving self-funded antiretroviral therapy (AOR, 13.0; P = .02). Disclosure of HIV infection status to family members or others was protective against virologic failure (AOR, 0.10; P = .04). Conclusions. Self-funded treatment was associated with incomplete adherence and virologic failure, and disclosure of HIV infection status was protective against virologic failure. Efforts to provide free antiretroviral therapy and to promote social coping may enhance adherence and reduce rates of virologic failure.
The temporal and spatial expression patterns of three 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) synthase genes were investigated in pollinated orchid (Phalaenopsis spp.) flowers. Pollination signals ...initiate a cascade of development events in multiple floral organs, including the induction of ethylene biosynthesis, which coordinates several postpollination developmental responses. The initiation and propagation of ethylene biosynthesis is regulated by the coordinated expression of three distinct ACC synthase genes in orchid flowers. One ACC synthase gene (Phal-ACS1) is regulated by ethylene and participates in amplification and interorgan transmission of the pollination signal, as we have previously described in a related orchid genus. Two additional ACC synthase genes (Phal-ACS2 and Phal-ACS3) are expressed primarily in the stigma and ovary of pollinated orchid flowers. Phal-ACS2 mRNA accumulated in the stigma within 1 h after pollination, whereas Phal-ACS1 mRNA was not detected until 6 h after pollination. Similar to the expression of Phal-ACS2, the Phal-ACS3 gene was expressed within 2 h after pollination in the ovary. Exogenous application of auxin, but not ACC, mimicked pollination by stimulating a rapid increase in ACC synthase activity in the stigma and ovary and inducing Phal-ACS2 and Phal-ACS3 mRNA accumulation in the stigma and ovary, respectively. These results provide the basis for an expanded model of interorgan regulation of three ACC synthase genes that respond to both primary (Phal-ACS2 and Phal-ACS3) and secondary (Phal-ACS1) pollination signals
The net primary production of tropical forests and its partitioning between long‐lived carbon pools (wood) and shorter‐lived pools (leaves, fine roots) are of considerable importance in the global ...carbon cycle. However, these terms have only been studied at a handful of field sites, and with no consistent calculation methodology. Here we calculate above‐ground coarse wood carbon productivity for 104 forest plots in lowland New World humid tropical forests, using a consistent calculation methodology that incorporates corrections for spatial variations in tree‐size distributions and wood density, and for census interval length. Mean wood density is found to be lower in more productive forests. We estimate that above‐ground coarse wood productivity varies by more than a factor of three (between 1.5 and 5.5 Mg C ha−1 a−1) across the Neotropical plots, with a mean value of 3.1 Mg C ha−1 a−1. There appear to be no obvious relationships between wood productivity and rainfall, dry season length or sunshine, but there is some hint of increased productivity at lower temperatures. There is, however, also strong evidence for a positive relationship between wood productivity and soil fertility. Fertile soils tend to become more common towards the Andes and at slightly higher than average elevations, so the apparent temperature/productivity relationship is probably not a direct one. Coarse wood productivity accounts for only a fraction of overall tropical forest net primary productivity, but the available data indicate that it is approximately proportional to total above‐ground productivity. We speculate that the large variation in wood productivity is unlikely to directly imply an equivalent variation in gross primary production. Instead a shifting balance in carbon allocation between respiration, wood carbon and fine root production seems the more likely explanation.
Summary Background Autosomal dominant familial Alzheimer's disease (ADAD) is a rare disorder with non-amnestic neurological symptoms in some clinical presentations. We aimed to compile and compare ...data from symptomatic participants in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network observational study (DIAN-OBS) with those reported in the literature to estimate the prevalences of non-amnestic neurological symptoms in participants with ADAD. Methods We prospectively collected data from the DIAN-OBS database, which recruited participants from study centres in the USA, Europe, and Australia, between Feb 29, 2008, and July 1, 2014. We also did a systematic review of publications to extract individual-level clinical data for symptomatic participants with ADAD. We used data for age of onset (from first report of cognitive decline), disease course from onset to death, and the presence of 13 neurological findings that have been reported in association with ADAD. Using multivariable linear regression, we investigated the prevalences of various non-amnestic neurological symptoms and the contributions of age of onset and specific mutation type on symptoms. Findings The DIAN-OBS dataset included 107 individuals with detailed clinical data (forming the DIAN-OBS cohort). Our systematic review yielded 188 publications reporting on 1228 symptomatic individuals, with detailed neurological examination descriptions available for 753 individuals (forming the published data cohort). The most prevalent non-amnestic cognitive manifestations in participants in the DIAN-OBS cohort were those typical of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, including visual agnosia (55·1%, 95% CI 45·7–64·6), aphasia (57·9%, 48·6–67·3), and behavioural changes (61·7%, 51·5–70·0). Non-amnestic cognitive manifestations were less prevalent in the published data cohort (eg, visual agnosia 5·6%, 3·9–7·2, aphasia 23·0%, 20·0–26·0, and behavioural changes 31·7%, 28·4–35·1). Prevalence of non-cognitive neurological manifestations in the DIAN-OBS cohort was low, including myoclonus and spasticity (9·3%, 95% CI 3·8–15·0), and seizures (2·8%, 0·5–5·9) and moderate for parkinsonism (11·2%, 5·3–17·1). By constrast, prevalence was higher in the published data cohort for myoclonus and spasticity (19·4%, 16·6–22·2 and 15·0%, 12·5–17·6, respectively), parkinsonism (12·5%, 10·1–15·0), and seizures (20·3%, 17·4–23·2). In an analysis of the published data cohort, ischaemic stroke was more prevalent at older ages of onset of symptoms of ADAD (odds ratio 1·09 per 1 year increase in age of onset, 95% CI 1·04–1·14, p=0·0003); and motor symptoms were more common at younger age of onset (myoclonus 0·93, 0·90–0·97, p=0·0007; seizures 0·95, 0·92–0·98, p=0·0018; corticobulbar deficits 0·91, 0·86–0·96, p=0·0012; and cerebellar ataxia 0·82, 0·74–0·91, p=0·0002). In the DIAN-OBS cohort, non-cognitive symptoms were more common at more severe stages of disease. Interpretation The non-cognitive clinical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease seem to affect a small proportion of participants with mild to moderate ADAD, and are probably influenced by disease severity, environmental, and genetic factors. When evaluating patients with potential ADAD, clinicians should note that cognitive symptoms typical of sporadic Alzheimer's disease are the most consistent finding, with some patients manifesting non-cognitive neurological symptoms. Future work is needed to determine the environmental and genetic factors that cause these neurological symptoms. Funding National Institutes of Health and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Weight loss is common in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and is predictive of mortality. Leptin, an adipocyte-derived peptide hormone is implicated in the regulation of satiety and energy expenditure. It ...acts on the hypothalamus to suppress appetite and increase energy expenditure. We undertook this study to determine if inappropriately elevated leptin levels play a role in AD-associated weight loss. Serum leptin levels of 8 patients in each of the following groups were determined: (1) AD, body mass index (BMI) >25; (2) AD, BMI <20; (3) non-Alzheimer’s (vascular) dementia (VaD), BMI >25, and (4) VaD, BMI <20. Mean serum leptin levels were significantly lower in below-appropriate-weight patients (both AD and VaD) than in appropriate-weight controls. Below-appropriate-weight AD patients had a significantly lower mean serum leptin concentration than appropriate-weight VaD controls. Weight loss is a feature of AD. Inappropriately elevated leptin levels do not appear to be implicated. Indeed, we have shown that the afferent limb of the leptin feedback loop is intact in below-appropriate-weight AD patients and suggest hypothalamic dysfunction may underlie this feature.
In this paper we analyse the effect of the Restart programme in the United Kingdom. This programme consists of an interview of the long-term unemployed to counsel them on effective job search. ...Failure to attend the interview carries the threat of the cessation of unemployment benefits. The results, using experimental data, indicate that the programme has a significant effect of reducing unemployment duration. Estimation of an independent competing risks model distinguishing between exits from unemployment to: a job, a training placement or to signing-off unemployment benefit shows that the channels through which Restart works differs according to exit type.
In his 1854 memoir Jail Journal Irish nationalist John Mitchel, having witnessed the devastating consequences of the Famine firsthand, constructs an acerbic critique of British colonial policy that ...at some points repels the reader. Stirring revulsion are the journal's advocacy of blood sacrifice and, even more, its overt racial supremacism. That racist strain likely explains why, until recently, scholars on both sides of the Atlantic have ignored Jail Journal. Yet, as area studies increasingly engages with a more comparative and transcultural approach, Mitchel's transnational narrative merits a second look. This article breaks ground by identifying startling parallels between this work by a vocal nineteenth-century supporter of slavery in the Americas, and leading slave narratives. It shows clearly the bitter irony that to tell his ultimately supremacist story of victimisation, Mitchel appropriated the slave narrative's tropes of kidnap, of Middle Passage dehumanisation and commodification, of escape, and of liberation. Illuminating needs of the nineteenth-century US and British racial states - needs fuelled by the flawed Eurocentric logic of the transnational intellectual elite - this analysis of John Mitchel's Jail Journal contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the global dimensions of racism.
The radius and surface composition of an exploding massive star, as well as the explosion energy per unit mass, can be measured using early UV observations of core-collapse supernovae (SNe). We ...present the first results from a simultaneous GALEX/PTF search for early ultraviolet (UV) emission from SNe. Six SNe II and one Type II superluminous SN (SLSN-II) are clearly detected in the GALEX near-UV (NUV) data. We compare our detection rate with theoretical estimates based on early, shock-cooling UV light curves calculated from models that fit existing Swift and GALEX observations well, combined with volumetric SN rates. We find that our observations are in good agreement with calculated rates assuming that red supergiants (RSGs) explode with fiducial radii of 500 R{sub ⊙}, explosion energies of 10{sup 51} erg, and ejecta masses of 10 M{sub ⊙}. Exploding blue supergiants and Wolf–Rayet stars are poorly constrained. We describe how such observations can be used to derive the progenitor radius, surface composition, and explosion energy per unit mass of such SN events, and we demonstrate why UV observations are critical for such measurements. We use the fiducial RSG parameters to estimate the detection rate of SNe during the shock-cooling phase (<1 day after explosion) for several ground-based surveys (PTF, ZTF, and LSST). We show that the proposed wide-field UV explorer ULTRASAT mission is expected to find >85 SNe per year (∼0.5 SN per deg{sup 2}), independent of host galaxy extinction, down to an NUV detection limit of 21.5 mag AB. Our pilot GALEX/PTF project thus convincingly demonstrates that a dedicated, systematic SN survey at the NUV band is a compelling method to study how massive stars end their life.
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