Variability and the X-ray/UV ratio of Active Galactic Nuclei

The observed relation between the X-ray radiation from AGNs, originating in the corona, and the optical/UV radiation from the disk is usually described by the anticorrelation between the UV to X-ray slope alpha_ox and the UV luminosity. Many factors can affect this relation, including: enhanced X-ray emission associated with the jets of radio-loud AGNs; X-ray absorption associated with the UV Broad Absorption Line (BAL) outflows; other X-ray absorption not associated with BALs; intrinsic X-ray weakness; UV and X-ray variability, and non-simultaneity of UV and X-ray observations. The separation of these effects provides information about the intrinsic alpha_ox-L_UV relation and its dispersion, constraining models of disk-corona coupling. We extract simultaneous data from the second XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalogue and the XMM-Newton Optical Monitor Serendipitous UV Source Survey Catalog, and derive the single-epoch alpha_ox indices. We use ensemble structure functions to analyse multi-epoch data. We confirm the anticorrelation of alpha_ox with L_UV, and do not find any evidence of a dependence of alpha_ox on z. The dispersion in our simultaneous data (0.12) is not significantly smaller than in previous non-simultaneous studies, suggesting that "artificial alpha_ox variability" introduced by non-simultaneity is not the main cause of dispersion. "Intrinsic alpha_ox variability", i.e., the true variability of the X-ray to optical ratio, is instead important, and accounts for ~30% of the total variance, or more. "Inter-source dispersion", due to intrinsic differences in the average alpha_ox values from source to source, is also important. The dispersion introduced by variability is mostly caused by the long timescale variations, which are expected to be driven by the optical variations.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Final version equal to the published on

Are many radio-selected BL Lacs radio quasars in disguise?

We show that a blazar classification in BL Lacs and Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars may not be adequate when it relies solely on the equivalent widths (EWs) of optical lines. In fact, depending on redshift, some strong emission lines can fall in the infrared window and be missed. We selected a sample of BL Lacs with firm redshift identification and good visibility from Paranal. We targeted with the X-shooter spectrograph the five BL Lacs with z > 0.7, i.e., those for which the Halpha line, one of the strongest among blazars, falls outside the optical window and determined the EW of emission lines in both the infrared and optical bands. Two out of five sources show an observed Halpha EW > 5A (one has rest frame EW > 5A) and could be classified as FSRQs by one of the classification schemes used in the literature. A third object is border-line with an observed EW of 4.4 +/- 0.5A. In all these cases Halpha is the strongest emission line detected. The Halpha line of the other two blazars is not detected, but in one case it falls in a region strongly contaminated by sky lines and in the other one the spectrum is featureless. We conclude that a blazar classification based on EW width only can be inaccurate and may lead to an erroneous determination of blazar evolution. This effect is more severe for the BL Lac class, since FSRQs can be misclassified as BL Lacs especially at high redshifts (z > 0.7), where the latter are extremely rare.Comment: 6 pages, 4 ps figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Infectious agents in atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases through oxidative stress

Accumulating evidence demonstrates that vascular oxidative stress is a critical feature of atherosclerotic process, potentially triggered by several infectious agents that are considered as risk co-factors for the atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). C. pneumoniae has been shown to upregulate multiple enzymatic systems capable of producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as NADPH oxidase (NOX) and cyclooxygenase in vascular endothelial cells, NOX and cytochrome c oxidase in macrophages as well as nitric oxide synthase and lipoxygenase in platelets contributing to both early and late stages of atherosclerosis. P. gingivalis seems to be markedly involved in the atherosclerotic process as compared to A. actinomycetemcomitans contributing to LDL oxidation and foam cell formation. Particularly interesting is the evidence describing the NLRP3 inflammasome activation as a new molecular mechanism underlying P. gingivalis-induced oxidative stress and inflammation. Amongst viral agents, immunodeficiency virus-1 and hepatitis C virus seem to have a major role in promoting ROS production, contributing, hence, to the early stages of atherosclerosis including endothelial dysfunction and LDL oxidation. In conclusion, oxidative mechanisms activated by several infectious agents during the atherosclerotic process underlying CVDs are very complex and not well-known, remaining, thus, an attractive target for future research

A multi-epoch spectroscopic study of the BAL quasar APM 08279+5255: I. C IV absorption variability

Broad Absorption Lines indicate gas outflows with velocities from thousands km/s to about 0.2 the speed of light, which may be present in all quasars and may play a major role in the evolution of the host galaxy. The variability of absorption patterns can provide informations on changes of the density and velocity distributions of the absorbing gas and its ionization status. We collected 23 photometrical and spectro-photometrical observations at the 1.82m Telescope of the Asiago Observatory since 2003, plus other 5 spectra from the literature. We analysed the evolution in time of the equivalent width of the broad absorption feature and two narrow absorption systems, the correlation among them and with the R band magnitude. We performed a structure function analysis of the equivalent width variations. We present an unprecedented monitoring of a broad absorption line quasar based on 28 epochs in 14 years. The shape of broad absorption feature shows a relative stability, while its equivalent width slowly declines until it sharply increases during 2011. In the same time the R magnitude stays almost constant until it sharply increases during 2011. The equivalent width of the narrow absorption redwards of the systemic redshift only shows a decline. The broad absorption behaviour suggests changes of the ionisation status as the main cause of variability. We show for the first time a correlation of this variability with the R band flux. The different behaviour of the narrow absorption system might be due to recombination time delay. The structure function of the absorption variability has a slope comparable with typical optical variability of quasars. This is consistent with variations of the 200 A ionising flux originating in the inner part of the accretion disk.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, to appear on Astronomy & Astrophysic

Drug resistance in B and non-B subtypes amongst subjects recently diagnosed as primary/recent or chronic HIV-infected over the period 2013–2016: Impact on susceptibility to first-line strategies including integrase strand-transfer inhibitors

Objectives To characterize the prevalence of transmitted drug resistance mutations (TDRMs) by plasma analysis of 750 patients at the time of HIV diagnosis from January 1, 2013 to November 16, 2016 in the Veneto region (Italy), where all drugs included in the recommended first line therapies were prescribed, included integrase strand transfer inhibitors (InNSTI). Methods TDRMs were defined according to the Stanford HIV database algorithm. Results Subtype B was the most prevalent HIV clade (67.3%). A total of 92 patients (12.3%) were expected to be resistant to one drug at least, most with a single class mutation (60/68–88.2% in subtype B infected subjectsand 23/24–95.8% in non-B subjects) and affecting mainly NNRTIs. No significant differences were observed between the prevalence rates of TDRMs involving one or more drugs, except for the presence of E138A quite only in patients with B subtype and other NNRTI in subjects with non-B infection. The diagnosis of primary/recent infection was made in 73 patients (9.7%): they had almost only TDRMs involving a single class. Resistance to InSTI was studied in 484 subjects (53 with primary-recent infection), one patient had 143C in 2016, a total of thirteen 157Q mutations were detected (only one in primary/recent infection). Conclusions Only one major InSTI-TDRM was identified but monitoring of TDRMs should continue in the light of continuing presence of NNRTI-related mutation amongst newly diagnosed subjects, sometime impacting also to modern NNRTI drugs recommended in first-line therapy

ROXA: a new multi-frequency selected large sample of blazars with SDSS and 2dF optical spectroscopy

Context. Although Blazars are a small fraction of the overall AGN population they are expected to be the dominant population of extragalactic sources in the hard X-ray and gamma-ray bands and have been shown to be the largest contaminant of CMB fluctuation maps. So far the number of known blazars is of the order of several hundreds, but the forthcoming AGILE, GLAST and Planck space observatories will detect several thousand of objects of this type. Aims. In preparation for these missions it is necessary to identify new samples of blazars to study their multi-frequency characteristics and statistical properties. Methods. We compiled a sample of objects with blazar-like properties via a cross-correlation between large radio (NVSS, ATCAPMN) and X- ray surveys (RASS) using the SDSS-DR4 and 2dF survey data to spectroscopically identify our candidates and test the validity of the selection method. Results. We present the Radio - Optical - X-ray catalog built at ASDC (ROXA), a list of 816 objects among which 510 are confirmed blazars. Only 19% of the candidates turned out to be certainly non-blazars demonstrating the high efficiency of our selection method. Conclusions. Our catalog includes 173 new blazar identifications, or about 10% of all presently known blazars. The relatively high flux threshold in the X-ray energy band (given by the RASS survey) preferentially selects objects with high fx / fr ratio leading to the discovery of new High Energy Peaked BL Lac (HBLs). Our catalog therefore includes many new potential targets for GeV-TeV observations.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure, 2 table

Dynamical Black Hole Masses of BL Lac Objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We measure black hole masses for 71 BL Lac objects from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with redshifts out to z~0.4. We perform spectral decompositions of their nuclei from their host galaxies and measure their stellar velocity dispersions. Black hole masses are then derived from the black hole mass - stellar velocity dispersion relation. We find BL Lac objects host black holes of similar masses, ~10^{8.5} M_sun, with a dispersion of 0.4 dex, similar to the uncertainties on each black hole measurement. Therefore, all BL Lac objects in our sample have the same indistinguishable black hole mass. These 71 BL Lac objects follow the black hole mass - bulge luminosity relation, and their narrow range of host galaxy luminosities confirm previous claims that BL Lac host galaxies can be treated as standard candles. We conclude that the observed diversity in the shapes of BL Lac object spectral energy distributions is not strongly driven by black hole mass or host galaxy properties.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Characteristics of the case mix, organisation and delivery in cancer palliative care: a challenge for good-quality research

Objectives: Palliative care (PC) services and patients differ across countries. Data on PC delivery paired with medical and self-reported data are seldom reported. Aims were to describe (1) PC organisation and services in participating centres and (2) characteristics of patients in PC programmes. Methods: This was an international prospective multicentre study with a single web-based survey on PC organisation, services and academics and patients' self-reported symptoms collected at baseline and monthly thereafter, with concurrent registrations of medical data by healthcare providers. Participants were patients ≥18 enrolled in a PC programme. Results: 30 centres in 12 countries participated; 24 hospitals, 4 hospices, 1 nursing home, 1 home-care service. 22 centres (73%) had PC in-house teams and inpatient and outpatient services. 20 centres (67%) had integral chemotherapy/radiotherapy services, and most (28/30) had access to general medical or oncology inpatient units. Physicians or nurses were present 24 hours/7 days in 50% and 60% of centres, respectively. 50 centres (50%) had professorships, and 12 centres (40%) had full-time/part-time research staff. Data were available on 1698 patients: 50% females; median age 66 (range 21–97); median Karnofsky score 70 (10–100); 1409 patients (83%) had metastatic/disseminated disease; tiredness and pain in the past 24 hours were most prominent. During follow-up, 1060 patients (62%) died; 450 (44%) <3 months from inclusion and 701 (68%) within 6 months. ANOVA and χ2 tests showed that hospice/nursing home patients were significantly older, had poorer performance status and had shorter survival compared with hospital-patients (p<.0.001). Conclusions: There is a wide variation in PC services and patients across Europe. Detailed characterisation is the first step in improving PC services and research. Trial registration number: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01362816