A key goal of the Stage IV dark energy experiments Euclid, LSST, and WFIRST is to measure the growth of structure with cosmic time from weak lensing analysis over large regions of the sky. Weak ...lensing cosmology will be challenging: in addition to highly accurate galaxy shape measurements, statistically robust and accurate photometric redshift (photo-z) estimates for billions of faint galaxies will be needed in order to reconstruct the three-dimensional matter distribution. Here we present an overview of and initial results from the Complete Calibration of the Color-Redshift Relation (C3R2) survey, which is designed specifically to calibrate the empirical galaxy color-redshift relation to the Euclid depth. These redshifts will also be important for the calibrations of LSST and WFIRST. The C3R2 survey is obtaining multiplexed observations with Keck (DEIMOS, LRIS, and MOSFIRE), the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC; OSIRIS), and the Very Large Telescope (VLT; FORS2 and KMOS) of a targeted sample of galaxies that are most important for the redshift calibration. We focus spectroscopic efforts on undersampled regions of galaxy color space identified in previous work in order to minimize the number of spectroscopic redshifts needed to map the color-redshift relation to the required accuracy. We present the C3R2 survey strategy and initial results, including the 1283 high-confidence redshifts obtained in the 2016A semester and released as Data Release 1.
The Complete Calibration of the Color-Redshift Relation (C3R2) survey is a multi-institution, multi-instrument survey that aims to map the empirical relation of galaxy color to redshift to i ∼ 24.5 ...(AB), thereby providing a firm foundation for weak lensing cosmology with the Stage IV dark energy missions Euclid and WFIRST. Here we present 3171 new spectroscopic redshifts obtained in the 2016B and 2017A semesters with a combination of DEIMOS, LRIS, and MOSFIRE on the Keck telescopes.13 The observations come from all of the Keck partners: Caltech, NASA, the University of Hawaii, and the University of California. Combined with the 1283 redshifts published in DR1, the C3R2 survey has now obtained and published 4454 high-quality galaxy redshifts. We discuss updates to the survey design and provide a catalog of photometric and spectroscopic data. Initial tests of the calibration method performance are given, indicating that the sample, once completed and combined with extensive data collected by other spectroscopic surveys, should allow us to meet the cosmology requirements for Euclid, and make significant headway toward solving the problem for WFIRST. We use the full spectroscopic sample to demonstrate that galaxy brightness is weakly correlated with redshift once a galaxy is localized in the Euclid or WFIRST color space, with potentially important implications for the spectroscopy needed to calibrate redshifts for faint WFIRST and LSST sources.
Background
Iatrogenic blood contamination during cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) centesis is common, which can limit the diagnostic usefulness of the sample. A novel ultrasound‐guided CSF collection ...technique is described in horses, by which CSF is obtained from the atlantoaxial (AA) space.
Hypothesis/Objectives
To compare ultrasound‐guided AA centesis with lumbosacral (LS) centesis in South American camelids (SAC). The hypotheses were that AA centesis would yield samples with less blood contamination although being technically more challenging than LS centesis.
Animals
Eight clinically healthy adult SAC from a university‐owned teaching herd.
Methods
Single‐blinded, randomized, 4‐way, 4‐period crossover study in which 2 veterinarians each performed both centesis techniques on each animal once. Cytological sample analysis was performed, and the technical difficulty of sample acquisition was assessed.
Results
The CSF was collected successfully and without complications by either technique during all collection attempts. Aspects of technical difficulty and concentrations of CSF analytes did not vary significantly between techniques. Median total nucleated cell and red blood cell counts were 1/μL and 0.5/μL and 167.5/μL and 155/μL for AA and LS techniques, respectively. The median total protein concentration was 32.9 mg/dL and 38 mg/dL for AA and LS centeses. A median of 1 attempt was necessary for both centesis techniques and the median number of needle repositioning events was 1 for AA and 0 for LS.
Conclusion and Clinical Importance
Depending on clinical circumstances, ultrasound‐guided AA centesis appears to be an acceptable alternative to other techniques for collection of CSF from SAC.
Abstract As the prevalence of cancer in young people rises, and with improved survival rates such that over 80% of young cancer patients can expect to recover, future fertility and having their own ...family has become an important consideration which needs to be addressed. Best-practice oncofertility management includes initial discussion, assessment of fertility risk and medical risk, and consideration of preservation strategies prior to commencement of potentially gonadotoxic therapy, where possible, as well as post cancer-treatment fertility care. The window of opportunity for oocyte cryopreservation and/or ovarian tissue cryopreservation may be very limited. Therefore it is of paramount importance that a patient’s medical condition, gonadotoxicity risk, and current reproductive health and potential are considered when planning fertility preservation. Antimullerian hormone (AMH) is one of a group of tests performed which can assist with planning treatment and with counselling regarding the likely yield of a cycle. Knowledge regarding pre-treatment AMH, along with a patient’s age and the type of cancer treatment, may also assist with counselling regarding the likelihood of recovery of fertility after completion of this treatment. However, there are many factors which affect AMH levels, and it is well-known that the results of stimulation can be very variable, as can be the long-term impact of the potentially gonadotoxic treatment. Hence an AMH test, while useful, needs to be contextualized as being only one of many factors to be considered when planning optimal (in terms of yield and safety) fertility preservation treatment and advising re future fertility.
Background
Esophageal dysfunction and gastro‐esophageal reflux disease (GERD) are common among patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Although high‐dose proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) typically ...normalize esophageal acid exposure, the effectiveness of PPI therapy has not been systematically studied in SSc patients. The aim of this study was to characterize reflux in SSc patients on high‐dose PPI using esophageal pH‐impedance testing.
Methods
In this case‐controlled retrospective analysis, 38 patients fulfilling 2013 American College of Rheumatology SSc criteria who underwent esophageal pH‐impedance testing on twice‐daily PPI between January 2014 and March 2017 at a tertiary referral center were compared with a control‐cohort of 38 non‐SSc patients matched for PPI formulation and dose, hiatal hernia size, age, and gender. Patient clinical characteristics, including endoscopy and high‐resolution manometry findings, were assessed via chart review.
Key Results
On pH‐impedance, SSc patients had higher acid exposure times (AETs) than controls. Sixty‐one percent of the SSc patients and 18% of the control patients had a total AET ≥4.5% (P < .001). Systemic sclerosis patients also had significantly longer AETs, longer median bolus clearance, and lower nocturnal impedance values.
Conclusions & Inferences
Abnormal esophageal acid exposure despite high‐dose PPI therapy was common among patients with SSc. The lack of increased reflux episodes in the SSc patients, and longer bolus clearance times and lower nocturnal impedance, supports ineffective clearance as the potential mechanism. Systemic sclerosis patients may require adjunctive therapies to PPIs to control acid reflux.
Esophageal dysfunction and reflux are common in patients with systemic sclerosis yet the effectiveness of acid suppression therapy in these patients has not been systematically studied. Our study indicates that systemic sclerosis patients have significant esophageal acid exposure despite high‐dose proton pump inhibitor therapy, suggesting ineffective esophageal clearance as a mechanism. Patients with systemic sclerosis may need adjunctive therapies in addition to acid suppression to control their reflux.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common, heterogeneous disorder characterized by abdominal pain associated with changes in bowel habits. The pathogenesis of IBS is multifactorial and may relate to ...alterations in the gut microbiota, changes in visceral sensation and motility, and genetic and environmental factors. Administration of systemic antibiotics may increase the risk of IBS by altering gastrointestinal homeostasis. Therapeutic interventions for IBS with diarrhea that are thought to target alterations in the gut microbiota include the nonsystemic antibiotic rifaximin, the medical food serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin, prebiotics, probiotics, and dietary modification. SYN-010 is a modified-release statin formulation that reduces methane production by Methanobrevibacter smithii and is currently in development for the treatment of patients with constipation-predominant IBS. Use of these interventions in the management of patients with IBS may function to restore a healthy gut microbiota and ameliorate symptoms of IBS.
We report on an observation of the Galactic black hole candidate GRS 1739-278 during its 2014 outburst, obtained with NuSTAR. The source was captured at the peak of a rising "low/hard" state, at a ...flux of ~0.3 Crab. A broad, skewed iron line and disk reflection spectrum are revealed. Fits to the sensitive NuSTAR spectra with a number of relativistically blurred disk reflection models yield strong geometrical constraints on the disk and hard X-ray "corona." Two models that explicitly assume a "lamp post" corona find its base to have a vertical height above the black hole of h = (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) GM/c super(2) and h = 18 4 GM/c super(2) (90% confidence errors); models that do not assume a "lamp post" return emissivity profiles that are broadly consistent with coronae of this size. Given that X-ray microlensing studies of quasars and reverberation lags in Seyferts find similarly compact coronae, observations may now signal that compact coronae are fundamental across the black hole mass scale. All of the models fit to GRS 1739-278 find that the accretion disk extends very close to the black hole-the least stringent constraint is r sub(in) - (ProQuest: Formulae and/or non-USASCII text omitted) GM/c super(2). Only two of the models deliver meaningful spin constraints, but a = 0.8 0.2 is consistent with all of the fits. Overall, the data provide especially compelling evidence of an association between compact hard X-ray coronae and the base of relativistic radio jets in black holes.
Abstract
We present a new method based on information theory to find the optimal number of bands required to measure the physical properties of galaxies with desired accuracy. As a proof of concept, ...using the recently updated COSMOS catalog (COSMOS2020), we identify the most relevant wave bands for measuring the physical properties of galaxies in a Hawaii Two-0- (H20) and UVISTA-like survey for a sample of
i
< 25 AB mag galaxies. We find that with the available
i
-band fluxes,
r
,
u
, IRAC/
ch
2, and
z
bands provide most of the information regarding the redshift with importance decreasing from
r
band to
z
band. We also find that for the same sample, IRAC/
ch
2,
Y
,
r
, and
u
bands are the most relevant bands in stellar-mass measurements with decreasing order of importance. Investigating the intercorrelation between the bands, we train a model to predict UVISTA observations in near-IR from H20-like observations. We find that magnitudes in the
YJH
bands can be simulated/predicted with an accuracy of 1
σ
mag scatter ≲0.2 for galaxies brighter than 24 AB mag in near-IR bands. One should note that these conclusions depend on the selection criteria of the sample. For any new sample of galaxies with a different selection, these results should be remeasured. Our results suggest that in the presence of a limited number of bands, a machine-learning model trained over the population of observed galaxies with extensive spectral coverage outperforms template fitting. Such a machine-learning model maximally comprises the information acquired over available extensive surveys and breaks degeneracies in the parameter space of template fitting inevitable in the presence of a few bands.
Background
While the revised UNOS HTx donor allocation system aimed to minimize waitlist mortality by prioritizing more critically ill transplant candidates, there is concern for increased ...post‐transplant morbidity and mortality. We examined the impact of the revised allocation system on waitlist and post‐transplant outcomes at a high‐volume transplant center.
Methods
One hundred and sixty nine adult patients underwent first‐time single‐organ HTx one year before (Era 1:79 patients) and after (Era 2:90 patients) implementation of the new allocation system (10/18/2018). Clinical characteristics, waitlist outcomes, and post‐transplant morbidity and mortality were compared.
Results
Era 2 patients were twice as likely to be transplanted on temporary mechanical circulatory support (43% vs. 19%, p < .0001). While Era 2 waitlist time was shorter (10 vs. 43 days, p < .001), exception status requests (21.1% vs. 17.9%) and waitlist mortality (3.3% vs. 2.2%) were similar. There was no difference in primary graft dysfunction, intensive care unit or hospital length of stay, readmissions, rejection, allograft vasculopathy, or 1‐year survival (91.1% vs. 93.7%).
Conclusions
In a high‐volume center, the revised HTx allocation system shortened waitlist time with no significant change in waitlist mortality or observed impact on post‐transplant outcomes. With careful patient selection, the revised allocation system may optimize waitlist and post‐transplant outcomes.
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