Suppressing star formation in quiescent galaxies with supermassive black hole winds.

Quiescent galaxies with little or no ongoing star formation dominate the population of galaxies with masses above 2 × 10(10) times that of the Sun; the number of quiescent galaxies has increased by a factor of about 25 over the past ten billion years (refs 1-4). Once star formation has been shut down, perhaps during the quasar phase of rapid accretion onto a supermassive black hole, an unknown mechanism must remove or heat the gas that is subsequently accreted from either stellar mass loss or mergers and that would otherwise cool to form stars. Energy output from a black hole accreting at a low rate has been proposed, but observational evidence for this in the form of expanding hot gas shells is indirect and limited to radio galaxies at the centres of clusters, which are too rare to explain the vast majority of the quiescent population. Here we report bisymmetric emission features co-aligned with strong ionized-gas velocity gradients from which we infer the presence of centrally driven winds in typical quiescent galaxies that host low-luminosity active nuclei. These galaxies are surprisingly common, accounting for as much as ten per cent of the quiescent population with masses around 2 × 10(10) times that of the Sun. In a prototypical example, we calculate that the energy input from the galaxy's low-level active supermassive black hole is capable of driving the observed wind, which contains sufficient mechanical energy to heat ambient, cooler gas (also detected) and thereby suppress star formation.

Safe transition to surgery: working differently to make blood transfusion process safer for elective surgery.

BACKGROUND: Our institutional policy allows patients who are scheduled for elective surgery with no history of a pregnancy or blood transfusion in the preceding 3 months to have a presurgical sample (PSS) collected and tested up to 56 days before their scheduled surgery; however, our PSS TS completion rate in eligible patients before the morning of surgery was 83%. In 2011, a team was charged to develop a standardized process along with other process improvements while ensuring no increase in transfusion-related events. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The team followed the DMAIC framework in appraising the effectiveness and efficiency of the current state process including baseline data collection such as PSS TS completion rate, number of eligible patients needing a PSS TS on the day of surgery, benchmarking, SSBO utilization, and future state mapping. RESULTS: First quarter (Q1) 2011 versus Q1 2012 postimplementation results showed significant improvements of the process including a 53% decrease in PSS TS on the day of surgery; a 13% increase in PSS TS completion before the morning of surgery; a 26% reduction in total XM RBCs; and a 58.8% reduction in XM RBCs not issued, plus a 47% decrease in RBC wastage. Q1 2011 versus Q1 2013 showed a 41% reduction in total XM RBCs and an 88.4% reduction in XM RBCs not issued but overall RBCs issued versus returned increased slightly and represents a future opportunity for improvement. CONCLUSIONS: The redesigned, transformational process eliminated SSBO and improved ordering process and PSS TS completion rate as well as blood product ordering and utilization.

The growth of the central region by acquisition of counterrotating gas in star-forming galaxies.

Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations and more intense, ongoing star formation than their outer parts, indicating ongoing growth of the central regions. The result offers observational evidence that the acquisition of external gas in blue galaxies is possible; the interaction with pre-existing gas funnels the gas into nuclear regions (<1 kpc) to form new stars.

Re-infused autologous graft natural killer cells correlates with absolute lymphocyte count recovery after autologous stem cell transplantation.

Early absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) has been reported to be a powerful prognostic indicator of survival after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). One possible source affecting ALC recovery includes the re-infused autologous graft lymphocytes (AGL). To assess if the re-infused AGL correlate with ALC recovery post-ASCT, we conducted a pilot study to identify which of the re-infused AGL subsets is most associated with day 15 ALC recovery in three patients with multiple myeloma and four patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient analysis (r), we compared absolute numbers of CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, and CD16+/CD56+ cells/kg of body weight from the apheresis product with ALC (cells/microl) at day 15 post-ASCT. The main lymphocyte subsets identified in the apheresis product were T cells and NK cells. There was no strong correlation between T or B cells from the apheresis product compared with the ALC at day 15 post-ASCT (CD3, r = 0.21; CD4, r = 0.32; CD8, r = 0.39; and CD19, r = 0.14). However, there was good correlation between NK cells from the apheresis product compared with ALC at day 15 post-ASCT (CD16+/CD56+/CD3-, r = 0.77). These data provide preliminary evidence that the number of re-infused autologous graft NK cells in the apheresis product significantly affect ALC recovery early post-ASCT. However, given the small sample size, our results are primarily hypothesis generating and subject of further research.