Background: Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) often presents with varying neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), which may differ based on genetic mutations. We hypothesized distinct NPS trajectories in FTD progression among carriers of chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72), progranulin (GRN), and microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) mutations. Methods: We analyzed 1662 participants from ALLFTD, including 342 C9orf72, 148 GRN, 168 MAPT mutation carriers, and 1004 noncarriers. We categorized participants into four stages based on CDR plus NACC FTLD global scores: 1) Presymptomatic (consistent CDR=0), 2) Early conversion (CDR increasing from 0 to 0.5), 3) Advanced conversion (CDR increasing from 0.5 to ≥1.0), and 4) Symptomatic (CDR>1.0). The Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire (NPI-Q) assessed NPS changes, analyzed using a mixed-effects model, accounting for age and baseline scores. Results: Our results indicated similar NPS trajectories in the presymptomatic stage for all groups. Notably, during early conversion, C9orf72 and GRN carriers exhibited significantly higher NPI-Q score increases than MAPT carriers, primarily in psychosis and hyperactivity domains. In later stages, increases in NPS were similar across groups. Conclusions: This study suggests familial FTD progression, particularly in TDP-43 pathology, may involve more severe NPS like psychosis or hyperactivity, differing from tau pathology or sporadic FTD. Further research is needed to explore these distinct trajectories.

The Variables and Slow Transients Survey (VAST) on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is designed to detect highly variable and transient radio sources on timescales from 5 s to $\sim\!5$ yr. In this paper, we present the survey description, observation strategy and initial results from the VAST Phase I Pilot Survey. This pilot survey consists of $\sim\!162$ h of observations conducted at a central frequency of 888 MHz between 2019 August and 2020 August, with a typical rms sensitivity of $0.24\ \mathrm{mJy\ beam}^{-1}$ and angular resolution of $12-20$ arcseconds. There are 113 fields, each of which was observed for 12 min integration time, with between 5 and 13 repeats, with cadences between 1 day and 8 months. The total area of the pilot survey footprint is 5 131 square degrees, covering six distinct regions of the sky. An initial search of two of these regions, totalling 1 646 square degrees, revealed 28 highly variable and/or transient sources. Seven of these are known pulsars, including the millisecond pulsar J2039–5617. Another seven are stars, four of which have no previously reported radio detection (SCR J0533–4257, LEHPM 2-783, UCAC3 89–412162 and 2MASS J22414436–6119311). Of the remaining 14 sources, two are active galactic nuclei, six are associated with galaxies and the other six have no multi-wavelength counterparts and are yet to be identified.

Gravitational waves from coalescing neutron stars encode information about nuclear matter at extreme densities, inaccessible by laboratory experiments. The late inspiral is influenced by the presence of tides, which depend on the neutron star equation of state. Neutron star mergers are expected to often produce rapidly rotating remnant neutron stars that emit gravitational waves. These will provide clues to the extremely hot post-merger environment. This signature of nuclear matter in gravitational waves contains most information in the 2–4 kHz frequency band, which is outside of the most sensitive band of current detectors. We present the design concept and science case for a Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory (NEMO): a gravitational-wave interferometer optimised to study nuclear physics with merging neutron stars. The concept uses high-circulating laser power, quantum squeezing, and a detector topology specifically designed to achieve the high-frequency sensitivity necessary to probe nuclear matter using gravitational waves. Above 1 kHz, the proposed strain sensitivity is comparable to full third-generation detectors at a fraction of the cost. Such sensitivity changes expected event rates for detection of post-merger remnants from approximately one per few decades with two A+ detectors to a few per year and potentially allow for the first gravitational-wave observations of supernovae, isolated neutron stars, and other exotica.

We present three new analyses of existing data from past fieldwork at Teotihuacan. First, we confirm and refine the wealth-based housing typology of Millon's Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP). Second, we analyze the spatial configurations of excavated compounds, using network methods to identify the size and layout of individual dwellings within walled compounds. Third, we use those results to generate the first population estimate for the city based on measurements from the TMP map. We extrapolate the average sizes of dwellings from excavated compounds to the entire sample of mapped residences as depicted on the TMP map of the city. We generate a range of population estimates, of which we suggest that 100,000 persons is the most reasonable estimate for the Xolalpan-Metepec population of Teotihuacan. These analyses show that legacy data from fieldwork long past can be used to answer research questions that are relevant and important today.

In many areas of south and south-eastern Asia, concentrations of As in ground water have been found to exceed the WHO maximum concentration limit of 10 μg/l. This is adversely affecting the health of millions of people and has grave current and future health implications. It has recently been suggested that extensive abstraction of ground water in these areas may accelerate the release of As to ground water. This study uses geochemical and isotopic data to assess this hypothesis. The area investigated in this study is in the Chakdaha block of the Nadia District, West Bengal. The ground water is predominantly of the Ca-Mg-HCO3 type, although some samples were found to contain elevated concentrations of Na, Cl and SO4. This is thought to reflect a greater degree of water-rock interaction at the locations of these particular samples. Arsenic concentrations exceeded the national limit of 50 μg/l in 13 of the 22 samples collected. Four of the 13 samples with high As were recovered from tubewells with depths of 60 m or more. Shallow ground water samples were found to have a stable isotopic composition which falls subparallel to the Global Meteoric Water Line. This probably represents a contribution of evaporated surface water to the ground water, possibly from surface ponds or re-infiltrating irrigation water. Deep ground water, conversely, was shown to have a composition that closely reflects that of meteoric water. The data presented in this study suggest that, whilst the drawdown of surface waters may drive As release in shallow ground waters, it is not responsible for driving As release in deep ground water. However, local abstraction may have resulted in changes in the ground water flow regime of the area, with contaminated shallow ground waters being drawn into previously uncontaminated deep aquifers.

Arsenic mobilization and Fe(III) reduction in acetate-amended sediments collected from a range of depths from an aquifer with elevated groundwater arsenic concentrations in West Bengal were monitored over a 1 month period. Significant arsenic release was noted in sediment collected from 24 m and 45 m depth, with some Fe(III) reduction also observed in the 24 m sample. The structure of the microbial communities present in the sediments prior to incubation showed marked differences down the sediment column. Profiling of the microbial community in the 24 m and 45 m samples revealed a relatively complex make-up, with Acinetobacter species comprising the bulk of the 24 m sedimentary bacterial population, but no previously characterized As(V)-reducers were detected in either sample.

Phased VLA observations of the Galactic center magnetar J1745-2900 over 8-12 GHz reveal rich single pulse behavior. The average profile is comprised of several distinct components and is fairly stable over day timescales and GHz frequencies. The average profile is dominated by the jitter of relatively narrow pulses. The pulses in each of the four profile components are uncorrelated in phase and amplitude, although the occurrence of pulse components 1 and 2 appear to be correlated. Using a collection of the brightest individual pulses, we verify that the index of the dispersion law is consistent with the expected cold plasma value of 2. The scattering time is weakly constrained, but consistent with previous measurements, while the dispersion measure DM = 1763+3−10 pc cm−3 is lower than previous measurements, which could be a result of time variability in the line-of-sight column density or changing pulse profile shape over time or frequency.

The Kepler-discovered Systems with Tightly-packed Inner Planets (STIPs), typically with several planets of Earth to super-Earth masses on well-aligned, sub-AU orbits may host the most common type of planets, including habitable planets, in the Galaxy. They pose a great challenge for planet formation theories, which fall into two broad classes: (1) formation further out followed by inward migration; (2) formation in situ, in the very inner regions of the protoplanetary disk. We review the pros and cons of these classes, before focusing on a new theory of sequential in situ formation from the inside-out via creation of successive gravitationally unstable rings fed from a continuous stream of small (~cm-m size) “pebbles,” drifting inward via gas drag. Pebbles first collect at the pressure trap associated with the transition from a magnetorotational instability (MRI)-inactive (“dead zone”) region to an inner, MRI-active zone. A pebble ring builds up that begins to dominate the local mass surface density of the disk and spawns a planet. The planet continues to grow, most likely by pebble accretion, until it becomes massive enough to isolate itself from the accretion flow via gap opening. This reduces the local gas density near the planet, leading to enhanced ionization and a retreat of the dead zone inner boundary. The process repeats with a new pebble ring gathering at the new pressure maximum associated with this boundary. We discuss the theory's predictions for planetary masses, relative mass scalings with orbital radius, and minimum orbital separations, and their comparison with observed systems. Finally, we discuss open questions, including potential causes of diversity of planetary system architectures, i.e., STIPs versus Solar System analogs.

Inside-Out Planet Formation (IOPF; Chatterjee & Tan 2014, hereafter CT14) is a scenario for sequential in situ planet formation at the pressure traps of retreating dead zone inner boundaries (DZIBs) motivated to explain the many systems with tightly packed inner planets (STIPs) discovered by Kepler. The scenario involves build-up of a pebble-dominated protoplanetary ring, supplied by radial drift of pebbles from the outer disk. It may also involve further build-up of planetary masses to gap-opening scales via continued pebble accretion. Here we study radial drift & growth of pebbles delivered to the DZIB in fiducial IOPF disk models.

Significant new opportunities for astrophysics and cosmology have been identified at low radio frequencies. The Murchison Widefield Array is the first telescope in the southern hemisphere designed specifically to explore the low-frequency astronomical sky between 80 and 300 MHz with arcminute angular resolution and high survey efficiency. The telescope will enable new advances along four key science themes, including searching for redshifted 21-cm emission from the EoR in the early Universe; Galactic and extragalactic all-sky southern hemisphere surveys; time-domain astrophysics; and solar, heliospheric, and ionospheric science and space weather. The Murchison Widefield Array is located in Western Australia at the site of the planned Square Kilometre Array (SKA) low-band telescope and is the only low-frequency SKA precursor facility. In this paper, we review the performance properties of the Murchison Widefield Array and describe its primary scientific objectives.

The future of centimetre and metre-wave astronomy lies with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a telescope under development by a consortium of 17 countries that will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing radio facility. Most of the key science for the SKA will be addressed through large-area imaging of the Universe at frequencies from a few hundred MHz to a few GHz. The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a technology demonstrator aimed in the mid-frequency range, and achieves instantaneous wide-area imaging through the development and deployment of phased-array feed systems on parabolic reflectors. The large field-of-view makes ASKAP an unprecedented synoptic telescope that will make substantial advances in SKA key science. ASKAP will be located at the Murchison Radio Observatory in inland Western Australia, one of the most radio-quiet locations on the Earth and one of two sites selected by the international community as a potential location for the SKA. In this paper, we outline an ambitious science program for ASKAP, examining key science such as understanding the evolution, formation and population of galaxies including our own, understanding the magnetic Universe, revealing the transient radio sky and searching for gravitational waves.