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The Galactic TeV
${\gamma}$
-ray source
${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$
is currently an unidentified source. In an attempt to unveil its origin, we present here the most detailed study of interstellar gas using data from the Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey, 7- and 12-mm wavelength Mopra surveys and Southern Galactic Plane Survey of HI. Several components of atomic and molecular gas are found to overlap
${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$
at various velocities along the line of sight. The CS(1-0) emission clumps confirm the presence of dense gas. Both correlation and anti-correlation between the gas and TeV
${\gamma}$
-ray emission have been identified in various gas tracers, enabling several origin scenarios for the TeV
${\gamma}$
-ray emission from
${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$
. For a hadronic scenario,
${\mathrm{SNR\,G}8.7{-}0.1}$
and the progenitor supernova remnant (SNR) of
${\mathrm{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$
require cosmic ray (CR) enhancement factors of
${\mathord{\sim} 50}$
times the solar neighbour CR flux value to produce the TeV
${\gamma}$
-ray emission. Assuming an isotropic diffusion model, CRs from both these SNRs require a slow diffusion coefficient, as found for other TeV SNRs associated with adjacent ISM gas. The morphology of gas located at 3.8 kpc (the dispersion measure distance to
${\mathrm{PSR\,J}1803{-}2137}$
) tends to anti-correlate with features of the TeV emission from
${\mathrm{HESS\,J}1804{-}216}$
, making the leptonic scenario possible. Both pure hadronic and pure leptonic scenarios thus remain plausible.
Shortages of personal protective equipment during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have led to the extended use or reuse of single-use respirators and surgical masks by frontline healthcare workers. The evidence base underpinning such practices warrants examination.
Objectives:
To synthesize current guidance and systematic review evidence on extended use, reuse, or reprocessing of single-use surgical masks or filtering face-piece respirators.
Data sources:
We used the World Health Organization, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Public Health England websites to identify guidance. We used Medline, PubMed, Epistemonikos, Cochrane Database, and preprint servers for systematic reviews.
Methods:
Two reviewers conducted screening and data extraction. The quality of included systematic reviews was appraised using AMSTAR-2. Findings were narratively synthesized.
Results:
In total, 6 guidance documents were identified. Levels of detail and consistency across documents varied. They included 4 high-quality systematic reviews: 3 focused on reprocessing (decontamination) of N95 respirators and 1 focused on reprocessing of surgical masks. Vaporized hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation were highlighted as the most promising reprocessing methods, but evidence on the relative efficacy and safety of different methods was limited. We found no well-established methods for reprocessing respirators at scale.
Conclusions:
Evidence on the impact of extended use and reuse of surgical masks and respirators is limited, and gaps and inconsistencies exist in current guidance. Where extended use or reuse is being practiced, healthcare organizations should ensure that policies and systems are in place to ensure these practices are carried out safely and in line with available guidance.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often complicated by the after-effects of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The mixture of brain conditions results in abnormal affective and cognitive functioning, as well as maladaptive behavior. To better understand how brain activity explains cognitive and emotional processes in these conditions, we used an emotional N-back task and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study neural responses in US military veterans after deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, we sought to examine whether hierarchical dimensional models of maladaptive personality could account for the relationship between combat-related brain conditions and fMRI responses under cognitive and affective challenge. FMRI data, measures of PTSD symptomatology (PTSS), blast-induced mTBI (bmTBI) severity, and maladaptive personality (MMPI-2-RF) were gathered from 93 veterans. Brain regions central to emotion regulation were selected for analysis, and consisted of bilateral amygdala, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC), and ventromedial prefrontal/subgenual anterior cingulate (vmPFC-sgACC). Cognitive load increased activity in dlPFC and reduced activity in emotional responding brain regions. However, individuals with greater PTSS showed blunted deactivations in bilateral amygdala and vmPFC-sgACC, and weaker responses in right dlPFC. Additionally, we found that elevated emotional/internalizing dysfunction (EID), specifically low positive emotionality (RC2), accounted for PTSS-related changes in bilateral amygdala under increased cognitive load. Findings suggest that PTSS might result in amygdala and vmPFC-sgACC activity resistant to moderation by cognitive demands, reflecting emotion dysregulation despite a need to marshal cognitive resources. Anhedonia may be an important target for interventions that improve the affective and cognitive functioning of individuals with PTSD.
Effective patient engagement is central to patient-centered outcomes research. A well-designed infrastructure supports and facilitates patient engagement, enabling study development and implementation. We sought to understand infrastructure needs from recipients of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) pilot grant awards.
Methods
We surveyed recipients of PCORI pilot project awards on self-perceived strengths in engagement infrastructure through PCORI’s Ways of Engaging-Engagement Activity Tool survey, and interviewed leaders of 8 projects who volunteered as exemplars. Descriptive statistics summarized the survey findings. We conducted a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts.
Results
Of the 50 surveyed pilots, 22 answered the engagement infrastructure questions (44% response rate). Survey and interview findings emphasized the importance of committed institutional leadership, ongoing relationships with stakeholder organizations, and infrastructure funding through Clinical and Translational Science Awards, PCORI, and institutional discretionary funds.
Conclusions
These findings highlight the importance of and how to improve upon existing institutional infrastructure.
Adult ventilator-associated event (VAE) definitions include ventilator-associated conditions (VAC) and subcategories for infection-related ventilator-associated complications (IVAC) and possible ventilator-associated pneumonia (PVAP). We explored these definitions for children.
DESIGN
Retrospective cohort
SETTING
Pediatric, cardiac, or neonatal intensive care units (ICUs) in 6 US hospitals
PATIENTS
Patients ≤18 years old ventilated for ≥1 day
METHODS
We identified patients with pediatric VAC based on previously proposed criteria. We applied adult temperature, white blood cell count, antibiotic, and culture criteria for IVAC and PVAP to these patients. We matched pediatric VAC patients with controls and evaluated associations with adverse outcomes using Cox proportional hazards models.
RESULTS
In total, 233 pediatric VACs (12,167 ventilation episodes) were identified. In the cardiac ICU (CICU), 62.5% of VACs met adult IVAC criteria; in the pediatric ICU (PICU), 54.2% of VACs met adult IVAC criteria; and in the neonatal ICU (NICU), 20.2% of VACs met adult IVAC criteria. Most patients had abnormal white blood cell counts and temperatures; we therefore recommend simplifying surveillance by focusing on “pediatric VAC with antimicrobial use” (pediatric AVAC). Pediatric AVAC with a positive respiratory diagnostic test (“pediatric PVAP”) occurred in 8.9% of VACs in the CICU, 13.3% of VACs in the PICU, and 4.3% of VACs in the NICU. Hospital mortality was increased, and hospital and ICU length of stay and duration of ventilation were prolonged among all pediatric VAE subsets compared with controls.
CONCLUSIONS
We propose pediatric AVAC for surveillance related to antimicrobial use, with pediatric PVAP as a subset of AVAC. Studies on generalizability and responsiveness of these metrics to quality improvement initiatives are needed, as are studies to determine whether lower pediatric VAE rates are associated with improvements in other outcomes.
The high Antarctic plateau provides exceptional conditions for infrared observations on account of the cold, dry and stable atmosphere above the ice surface. This paper describes the scientific goals behind the first program to examine the time-varying universe in the infrared from Antarctica — the Kunlun Infrared Sky Survey (KISS). This will employ a 50cm telescope to monitor the southern skies in the 2.4μmKdark window from China's Kunlun station at Dome A, on the summit of the Antarctic plateau, through the uninterrupted 4-month period of winter darkness. An earlier paper discussed optimisation of the Kdark filter for sensitivity (Li et al. 2016). This paper examines the scientific program for KISS. We calculate the sensitivity of the camera for the extrema of observing conditions that will be encountered. We present the parameters for sample surveys that could then be carried out for a range of cadences and sensitivities. We then discuss several science programs that could be conducted with these capabilities, involving star formation, brown dwarfs and hot Jupiters, exoplanets around M dwarfs, the terminal phases of stellar evolution, fast transients, embedded supernova searches, reverberation mapping of AGN, gamma ray bursts and the detection of the cosmic infrared background.
We present an update on the Mopra Central Molecular Zone Carbon Monoxide (CO) survey, with data taken in 2016 extending the original 3.5° ≥ l ≥ 358.5°, +1.0° ≥ b ≥ -0.5° to 4.0° ≥ l ≥ 358.0°, +1.0° ≥ b ≥ -1.0°. Using the four simultaneously observed lines of 12CO, 13CO, C18O, and C17O Nyquist sampled at 0.6′ spatial and 0.1 km/s spectral resolution, we are building an optical-thickness-corrected three-dimensional model of the diffuse gas, and making cloud mass estimates. This data, as part of the Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey (Braiding et al. (2015), Burton et al. (2013)), is at the highest resolution available across such a widespread region, and includes the Sagittarius A, Sagittarius B2, Sagittarius C, and G1.3 cloud complexes, as well as Bania’s Clump 2.
We investigate the physical conditions of the gas, atomic and molecular, in the filaments in the context of Photo-Dissociation Regions (PDRs) using the KOSMA-PDR mode of clumpy clouds. We also compare the [CII] vs. [NII] integrated intensity predictions in Abel et al. 2005 for HII regions and adjacent PDRs in the Galactic disk, and check for their applicability under the extreme physical conditions present in the GC. Our preliminary results show that observed integrated intensities are well reproduced by the PDR model. The gas is exposed to a relatively low Far-UV field between 102 – 103 Draine fields. The total volume hydrogen density is well constrained between 104 – 105 cm−3. The hydrogen ionization rate due to cosmic-rays varies between 10−15 and 4× 10−15 s−1, with the highest value ~ 10−14 s−1 found towards G0.07+0.04. Our results show that the line-of-sight contribution to the total distance of the filaments to the Arches Cluster is not negligible. The spatial distribution of the [CII]/[NII] ratio shows that the integrated intensity ratios are fairly homogeneously distributed for values below 10 in energy units. Calculations including variation on the [C/N] abundance ratio show that tight constraints on this ratio are needed to reproduce the observations.
We report on an initial survey of the cores of the Rho Ophiuchus and R Coronae Australis clouds, made with the AAT’s new IR array camera, IRIS. No turnover is seen in the initial luminosity function for ρ Oph to the sensitivity limit of the survey. Some implications for the low mass end of the initial mass function are discussed.
The dry, cold, tenuous and stable air above the Antarctic Plateau provides superb conditions for the conduct of many classes of astronomical observations. We review in particular the rationale for undertaking near-IR, mm and particle astronomy in Antarctica, disciplines where telescopes are now operating at the US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
A condensed summary of molecular cloud astrophysics is presented. Some examples of the power of combining near-IR and mm molecular line observations are given.
We describe a versatile infrared camera/spectrograph, IRIS, designed and constructed at the Anglo-Australian Observatory for use on the Anglo-Australian Telescope. A variety of optical configurations can be selected under remote control to provide several direct image scales and a few low-resolution spectroscopic formats. Two cross-dispersed transmission echelles are of novel design, as is the use of a modified Bowen-Burch system to provide a fast f/ratio in the widest-field option. The drive electronics includes a choice of readout schemes for versatility, and continuous display when the array is not taking data, to facilitate field acquisition and focusing.
The linearity of the detector has been studied in detail. Although outwardly good, slight nonlinearities prevent removal of fixed-pattern noise from the data without application of a cubic linearising function.
Specific control and data-reduction software has been written. We describe also a scanning mode developed for spectroscopic imaging.
The AAT’S new IR array camera, IRIS, has been used to image the Galactic Centre in the He I (2.058μm), H+ Br γ(2.166μm) and H2 1-0 S(l) (2.122μm) emission lines. The case is presented for UV-excitation of the molecular gas, as opposed to shocks.
This paper discusses the observation of molecular hydrogen line emission outside near-infrared wavelengths, and in particular the opportunities afforded to molecular astrophysics by studies in the mid- and far-infrared.
The plans of JACARA, the Joint Australian Centre for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica, for Australian involvement in future astronomical activities on the antarctic plateau, are outlined.
Our knowledge of the universe comes from recording the photon and particle fluxes incident on the Earth from space. We thus require sensitive measurement across the entire energy spectrum, using large telescopes with efficient instrumentation located on superb sites. Technological advances and engineering constraints are nearing the point where we are recording as many photons arriving at a site as is possible. Major advances in the future will come from improving the quality of the site. The ultimate site is, of course, beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, such as on the Moon, but economic limitations prevent our exploiting this avenue to the degree that the scientific community desires. Here we describe an alternative, which offers many of the advantages of space for a fraction of the cost: the Antarctic Plateau.
We demonstrate the presence of a cluster of hot, population I stars at the very centre of the Galaxy, using the depth of the first overtone band of CO and the presence of emission in He I 2 ·058 μm and [Fell] 1·644μm to identify stars. The cluster is very compact and comprises at least several hundred stars. They lie close to the nonthermal radio source Sgr A* and dominate the luminosity and mass loss of the Galactic core. Their presence suggests that a starburst occurred at the Galactic centre.
Spectroscopic imaging of the SNR RCW 103 has revealed extensive emission in near-infrared lines of H2and [Fe II], where the blast wave is encountering a molecular cloud. The H2 appears to be located outside the [FeII], a morphology which challenges our understanding of shock wave physics. It is suggested that reverse shocks may be responsible for the phenomenom.