| 1. |
- Ederle, Joerg, et al.
(författare)
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Carotid artery stenting compared with endarterectomy in patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis (International Carotid Stenting Study): an interim analysis of a randomised controlled trial
- 2010
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - 1474-547X. ; 375:9719, s. 985-997
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Stents are an alternative treatment to carotid endarterectomy for symptomatic carotid stenosis, but previous trials have not established equivalent safety and efficacy. We compared the safety of carotid artery stenting with that of carotid endarterectomy. Methods The International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS) is a multicentre, international, randomised controlled trial with blinded adjudication of outcomes. Patients with recently symptomatic carotid artery stenosis were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive carotid artery stenting or carotid endarterectomy. Randomisation was by telephone call or fax to a central computerised service and was stratified by centre with minimisation for sex, age, contralateral occlusion, and side of the randomised artery. Patients and investigators were not masked to treatment assignment. Patients were followed up by independent clinicians not directly involved in delivering the randomised treatment. The primary outcome measure of the trial is the 3-year rate of fatal or disabling stroke in any territory, which has not been analysed yet. The main outcome measure for the interim safety analysis was the 120-day rate of stroke, death, or procedural myocardial infarction. Analysis was by intention to treat (ITT). This study is registered, number ISRCTN25337470. Findings The trial enrolled 1713 patients (stenting group, n=855; endarterectomy group, n=858). Two patients in the stenting group and one in the endarterectomy group withdrew immediately after randomisation, and were not included in the ITT analysis. Between randomisation and 120 days, there were 34 (Kaplan-Meier estimate 4.0%) events of disabling stroke or death in the stenting group compared with 27 (3.2%) events in the endarterectomy group (hazard ratio [HR] 1.28, 95% CI 0.77-2.11). The incidence of stroke, death, or procedural myocardial infarction was 8.5% in the stenting group compared with 5.2% in the endarterectomy group (72 vs 44 events; HR 1.69, 1.16-2.45, p=0.006), Risks of any stroke (65 vs 35 events; HR 1.92, 1.27-2.89) and all-cause death (19 vs seven events; HR 2.76, 1.16-6.56) were higher in the stenting group than in the endarterectomy group. Three procedural myocardial infarctions were recorded in the stenting group, all of which were fatal, compared with four, all non-fatal, in the endarterectomy group. There was one event of cranial nerve palsy in the stenting group compared with 45 in the endarterectomy group. There were also fewer haematomas of any severity in the stenting group than in the endarterectomy group (31 vs 50 events; p=0.0197). Interpretation Completion of long-term follow-up is needed to establish the efficacy of carotid artery stenting compared with endarterectomy. In the meantime, carotid endarterectomy should remain the treatment of choice for patients suitable for surgery.
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| 2. |
- Abdo, A. A., et al.
(författare)
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Gamma-ray emission concurrent with the nova in the symbiotic binary V407 cygni
- 2010
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 329:5993, s. 817-821
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Novae are thermonuclear explosions on a white dwarf surface fueled by mass accreted from a companion star. Current physical models posit that shocked expanding gas from the nova shell can produce x-ray emission, but emission at higher energies has not been widely expected. Here, we report the Fermi Large Area Telescope detection of variable γ-ray emission (0.1 to 10 billion electron volts) from the recently detected optical nova of the symbiotic star V407 Cygni. We propose that the material of the nova shell interacts with the dense ambient medium of the red giant primary and that particles can be accelerated effectively to produce π0 decay γ-rays from proton-proton interactions. Emission involving inverse Compton scattering of the red giant radiation is also considered and is not ruled out.
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| 3. |
- Murphy, T., et al.
(författare)
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VAST: An ASKAP Survey for Variables and Slow Transients
- 2013
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Ingår i: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 1323-3580 .- 1448-6083. ; 30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar scintillation, radio supernovae, and orphan afterglows of gamma-ray bursts. In addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of 5 s and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.
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| 4. |
- Bower, G. C., et al.
(författare)
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THE ALLEN TELESCOPE ARRAY Pi GHz SKY SURVEY. I. SURVEY DESCRIPTION AND STATIC CATALOG RESULTS FOR THE BOOTES FIELD
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 725:2, s. 1792-1804
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Pi GHz Sky Survey (PiGSS) is a key project of the Allen Telescope Array. PiGSS is a 3.1 GHz survey of radio continuum emission in the extragalactic sky with an emphasis on synoptic observations that measure the static and time-variable properties of the sky. During the 2.5 year campaign, PiGSS will twice observe similar to 250,000 radio sources in the 10,000 deg(2) region of the sky with b > 30 degrees to an rms sensitivity of similar to 1 mJy. Additionally, sub-regions of the sky will be observed multiple times to characterize variability on timescales of days to years. We present here observations of a 10 deg(2) region in the Bootes constellation overlapping the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey field. The PiGSS image was constructed from 75 daily observations distributed over a 4 month period and has an rms flux density between 200 and 250 mu Jy. This represents a deeper image by a factor of 4-8 than we will achieve over the entire 10,000 deg(2). We provide flux densities, source sizes, and spectral indices for the 425 sources detected in the image. We identify similar to 100 new flat-spectrum radio sources; we project that when completed PiGSS will identify 10(4) flat-spectrum sources. We identify one source that is a possible transient radio source. This survey provides new limits on faint radio transients and variables with characteristic durations of months.
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| 5. |
- Croft, S., et al.
(författare)
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THE ALLEN TELESCOPE ARRAY TWENTY-CENTIMETER SURVEY-A 690 DEG(2), 12 EPOCH RADIO DATA SET. I. CATALOG AND LONG-DURATION TRANSIENT STATISTICS
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - 1538-4357 .- 0004-637X. ; 719:1, s. 45-58
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the Allen Telescope Array Twenty-centimeter Survey (ATATS), a multi-epoch (12 visits), 690 deg(2) radio image and catalog at 1.4 GHz. The survey is designed to detect rare, very bright transients as well as to verify the capabilities of the ATA to form large mosaics. The combined image using data from all 12 ATATS epochs has rms noise sigma = 3.94 mJy beam(-1) and dynamic range 180, with a circular beam of 150 '' FWHM. It contains 4408 sources to a limiting sensitivity of 5 sigma = 20 mJy beam(-1). We compare the catalog generated from this 12 epoch combined image to the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), a legacy survey at the same frequency, and find that we can measure source positions to better than similar to 20 ''. For sources above the ATATS completeness limit, the median flux density is 97% of the median value for matched NVSS sources, indicative of an accurate overall flux calibration. We examine the effects of source confusion due to the effects of differing resolution between ATATS and NVSS on our ability to compare flux densities. We detect no transients at flux densities greater than 40 mJy in comparison with NVSS and place a 2 sigma upper limit of 0.004 deg(-2) on the transient rate for such sources. These results suggest that the greater than or similar to 1 Jy transients reported by Matsumara et al. may not be true transients, but rather variable sources at their flux density threshold.
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| 6. |
- Allen, G., et al.
(författare)
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South East Pacific atmospheric composition and variability sampled = ong 20 degrees S during VOCALS-REx
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:11, s. 5237-5262
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) was conducted from 15 October to 15 November 2008 in the South East Pacific (SEP) region to investigate interactions between land, sea and atmosphere in this unique tropical eastern ocean environment and to improve the skill of global and regional models in = presenting the region. This study synthesises selected aircraft, ship = d surface site observations from VOCALS-REx to statistically summarise = d characterise the atmospheric composition and variability of the = rine Boundary Layer (MBL) and Free Troposphere (FT) along the 20 = grees S parallel between 70 degrees W and 85 degrees W. Significant = nal gradients in mean MBL sub-micron aerosol particle size and = mposition, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone were seen over = e campaign, with a generally more variable and polluted coastal = vironment and a less variable, more pristine remote maritime regime. = adients in aerosol and trace gas concentrations were observed to be = sociated with strong gradients in cloud droplet number. The FT was = ten more polluted in terms of trace gases than the MBL in the mean; = wever increased variability in the FT composition suggests an episodic = ture to elevated concentrations. This is consistent with a complex = rtical interleaving of airmasses with diverse sources and hence = llutant concentrations as seen by generalised back trajectory = alysis, which suggests contributions from both local and long-range = urces. Furthermore, back trajectory analysis demonstrates that the = served zonal gradients both in the boundary layer and the free = oposphere are characteristic of marked changes in airmass history with = stance offshore - coastal boundary layer airmasses having been in = cent contact with the local land surface and remote maritime airmasses = ving resided over ocean for in excess of ten days. Boundary layer = mposition to the east of 75 degrees W was observed to be dominated by = astal emissions from sources to the west of the Andes, with evidence = r diurnal pumping of the Andean boundary layer above the height of the = rine capping inversion. Analysis of intra-campaign variability in = mospheric composition was not found to be significantly correlated = th observed low-frequency variability in the large scale flow pattern; = mpaign-average interquartile ranges of CO, SO(2) and O(3) = ncentrations at all longitudes were observed to dominate over much = aller differences in median concentrations calculated between periods = different flow regimes. The campaign climatology presented here aims = provide a valuable dataset to inform model simulation and future = ocess studies, particularly in the context of aerosol-cloud = teraction and further evaluation of dynamical processes in the SEP = gion for conditions analogous to those during VOCALS-REx. To this end, = r results are discussed in terms of coastal, transitional and remote = atial regimes in the MBL and FT and a gridded dataset are provided as = resource.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Morgan, W. T., et al.
(författare)
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Enhancement of the aerosol direct radiative effect by semi-volatile aerosol components : airborne measurements in North-Western Europe
- 2010
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 10:17, s. 8151-8171
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A case study of atmospheric aerosol measurements exploring the impact of the vertical distribution of aerosol chemical composition upon the radiative budget in North-Western Europe is presented. Sub-micron aerosol chemical composition was measured by an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) on both an airborne platform and a ground-based site at Cabauw in the Netherlands. The examined period in May 2008 was characterised by enhanced pollution loadings in North-Western Europe and was dominated by ammonium nitrate and Organic Matter (OM). Both ammonium nitrate and OM were observed to increase with altitude in the atmospheric boundary layer. This is primarily attributed to partitioning of semi-volatile gas phase species to the particle phase at reduced temperature and enhanced relative humidity. Increased ammonium nitrate concentrations in particular were found to strongly increase the ambient scattering potential of the aerosol burden, which was a consequence of the large amount of associated water as well as the enhanced mass. During particularly polluted conditions, increases in aerosol optical depth of 50-100% were estimated to occur due to the observed increase in secondary aerosol mass and associated water uptake. Furthermore, the single scattering albedo was also shown to increase with height in the boundary layer. These enhancements combined to increase the negative direct aerosol radiative forcing by close to a factor of two at the median percentile level. Such increases have major ramifications for regional climate predictions as semi-volatile components are often not included in aerosol models. The results presented here provide an ideal opportunity to test regional and global representations of both the aerosol vertical distribution and subsequent impacts in North-Western Europe. North-Western Europe can be viewed as an analogue for the possible future air quality over other polluted regions of the Northern Hemisphere, where substantial reductions in sulphur dioxide emissions have yet to occur. Anticipated reductions in sulphur dioxide in polluted regions will result in an increase in the availability of ammonia to form ammonium nitrate as opposed to ammonium sulphate. This will be most important where intensive agricultural practises occur. Our observations over North-Western Europe, a region where sulphur dioxide emissions have already been reduced, indicate that failure to include the semi-volatile behaviour of ammonium nitrate will result in significant errors in predicted aerosol direct radiative forcing. Such errors will be particularly significant on regional scales.
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| 9. |
- Wood, R., et al.
(författare)
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The VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) : goals, platforms, and field operations
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 11:2, s. 627-654
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The VAMOS(1) Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) was an international field program designed to make observations of poorly understood but critical components of the coupled climate system of the southeast Pacific. This region is characterized by strong coastal upwelling, the coolest SSTs in the tropical belt, and is home to the largest subtropical stratocumulus deck on Earth. The field intensive phase of VOCALS-REx took place during October and November 2008 and constitutes a critical part of a broader CLIVAR program (VOCALS) designed to develop and promote scientific activities leading to improved understanding, model simulations, and predictions of the southeastern Pacific (SEP) coupled ocean-atmosphere-land system, on diurnal to interannual timescales. The other major components of VOCALS are a modeling program with a model hierarchy ranging from the local to global scales, and a suite of extended observations from regular research cruises, instrumented moorings, and satellites. The two central themes of VOCALS-REx focus upon (a) links between aerosols, clouds and precipitation and their impacts on marine stratocumulus radiative properties, and (b) physical and chemical couplings between the upper ocean and the lower atmosphere, including the role that mesoscale ocean eddies play. A set of hypotheses designed to be tested with the combined field, monitoring and modeling work in VOCALS is presented here. A further goal of VOCALS-REx is to provide datasets for the evaluation and improvement of large-scale numerical models. VOCALS-REx involved five research aircraft, two ships and two surface sites in northern Chile. We describe the instrument pay-loads and key mission strategies for these platforms and give a summary of the missions conducted.
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| 10. |
- Morgan, W. T., et al.
(författare)
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Airborne measurements of the spatial distribution of aerosol chemical composition across Europe and evolution of the organic fraction
- 2010
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 10:8, s. 4065-4083
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The spatial distribution of aerosol chemical composition and the evolution of the Organic Aerosol (OA) fraction is investigated based upon airborne measurements of aerosol chemical composition in the planetary boundary layer across Europe. Sub-micron aerosol chemical composition was measured using a compact Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (cToF-AMS). A range of sampling conditions were evaluated, including relatively clean background conditions, polluted conditions in North-Western Europe and the near-field to far-field outflow from such conditions. Ammonium nitrate and OA were found to be the dominant chemical components of the sub-micron aerosol burden, with mass fractions ranging from 20-50% each. Ammonium nitrate was found to dominate in North-Western Europe during episodes of high pollution, reflecting the enhanced NOx and ammonia sources in this region. OA was ubiquitous across Europe and concentrations generally exceeded sulphate by 30-160%. A factor analysis of the OA burden was performed in order to probe the evolution across this large range of spatial and temporal scales. Two separate Oxygenated Organic Aerosol (OOA) components were identified; one representing an aged-OOA, termed Low Volatility-OOA and another representing fresher-OOA, termed Semi Volatile-OOA on the basis of their mass spectral similarity to previous studies. The factors derived from different flights were not chemically the same but rather reflect the range of OA composition sampled during a particular flight. Significant chemical processing of the OA was observed downwind of major sources in North-Western Europe, with the LV-OOA component becoming increasingly dominant as the distance from source and photochemical processing increased. The measurements suggest that the aging of OA can be viewed as a continuum, with a progression from a less oxidised, semi-volatile component to a highly oxidised, less-volatile component. Substantial amounts of pollution were observed far downwind of continental Europe, with OA and ammonium nitrate being the major constituents of the sub-micron aerosol burden. Such anthropogenically perturbed air masses can significantly perturb regional climate far downwind of major source regions.
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