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Aims. We study the dust content of a large optical input sample of 910 early-type galaxies (ETG) in the Virgo cluster, also extending to the dwarf ETG, and examine the results in relation to those on the other cold ISM components. Methods. We have searched for far-infrared emission in all galaxies in the input sample using the 250 μm image of the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey (HeViCS). This image covers a large fraction of the cluster with an area of ∼55 square degrees. For the detected ETG we measured fluxes in five bands from 100 to 500 μm, and estimated the dust mass and temperature with modified black-body fits. Results. Dust is detected above the completeness limit of 25.4 mJy at 250 μm in 46 ETG, 43 of which are in the optically complete part of the input sample. In addition, dust is present at fainter levels in another six ETG. We detect dust in the four ETG with synchrotron emission, including M 87. Dust appears to be much more concentrated than stars and more luminous ETG have higher dust temperatures. Considering only the optically complete input sample and correcting for the contamination by background galaxies, dust detection rates down to the 25.4 mJy limit are 17% for ellipticals, about 40% for lenticulars (S0 + S0a), and around 3% for dwarf ETG. Dust mass does not correlate clearly with stellar mass and is often much greater than expected for a passive galaxy in a closedbox model. The dust-to-stars mass ratio anticorrelates with galaxy luminosity, and for some dwarf ETG reaches values as high as for dusty late-type galaxies. In the Virgo cluster slow rotators appear more likely to contain dust than fast ones. Comparing the dust results with those on Hi there are only eight ETG detected both in dust and in Hi in the HeViCS area; 39 have dust but only an upper limit on Hi, and eight have Hi but only an upper limit on dust. The locations of these galaxies in the cluster are different, with the dusty ETG concentrated in the densest regions, while the Hi rich ETG are at the periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present Herschel Space Telescope observations of the nearby Fornax cluster at 100, 160, 250, 350 and 500 µm with a spatial resolution of 7-36 arcsec (10 arcsec 1 kpc at dFornax = 17.9Mpc). We define a sample of 11 bright galaxies, selected at 500 µm, that can be directly compared with our past work on the Virgo cluster. We check and compare our results with previous observations made by IRAS and Planck, finding good agreement. The far-infrared luminosity density is higher, by about a factor of 3, in Fornax compared toVirgo, consistent with the higher number density of galaxies. The 100 µm (42.5-122.5 µm) luminosity is two orders of magnitude larger in Fornax than in the local field as measured by IRAS.We calculate stellar (L0.4-2.5) and far-infrared (L100-500) luminosities for each galaxy and use these to estimate a mean optical depth of t = 0.4 ± 0.1 - the same value as we previously found for Virgo cluster galaxies. For 10 of the 11 galaxies (NGC 1399 excepted), we fit a modified blackbody curve (ß = 2.0) to our observed flux densities to derive dust masses and temperatures of 106.54-8.35 M... and T =14.6-24.2 K, respectively, values comparable to those found for Virgo. The derived stars-to-gas(atomic) and gas(atomic)-to-dust ratios vary from 1.1-67.6 to 9.8-436.5, respectively, again broadly consistent with values for Virgo. Fornax is a mass overdensity in stars and dust of about 120 when compared to the local field (30 for Virgo). Fornax and Virgo are both a factor of 6 lower overdensities in gas(atomic) than in stars and dust indicating loss of gas, but not dust and stars, in the cluster environment. We consider in more detail two of the sample galaxies. As the brightest source in either Fornax or Virgo, NGC 1365 is also detected by Planck. The Planck data fit the PACS/SPIRE spectral energy distribution out to 1382 µm with no evidence of other sources of emission ('spinning dust', free-free, synchrotron). At the opposite end of the scale, NGC 1399 is detected only at 500 µm with the emission probably arising from the nuclear radio source rather than interstellar dust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present 21-cm observations of a 5 × 1 deg² region in the Virgo cluster, obtained as part of the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey. 13 cluster members are detected, together with 36 objects in the background. We compare and contrast the results from this area with a larger 10 × 2 deg² region. We combine the two data sets to produce an HI mass function, which shows a higher detection rate at low masses (but finds fewer massive galaxies) than less sensitive wider area surveys, such as ALFALFA. We find that the HI-detected galaxies are distributed differently to the non-detections, both spatially and in velocity, providing further evidence that the cluster is still assembling. We use the Tully-Fisher relation to examine the possibility of morphological evolution. We find that highly deficient galaxies, as well as some early-type galaxies, have much lower velocity widths than the Tully-Fisher relation predicts, indicating gas loss via ram-pressure stripping. We also find that HI detections without optical counterparts do not fit the predictions of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, implying that they are not primordial objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present GALEX far-ultraviolet (FUV) and near-ultraviolet (NUV) as well as SDSS g, r, i photometry and structural parameters for the Herschel Reference Survey, a magnitude-, volume-limited sample of nearby galaxies in different environments. We use this unique dataset to investigate the ultraviolet (UV) structural scaling relations of nearby galaxies and to determine how the properties of the UV disk vary with atomic hydrogen content and environment. We find a clear change of slope in the stellar mass vs. effective surface brightness relation when moving from the optical to the UV, with more massive galaxies having brighter optical but fainter UV surface brightnesses than smaller systems. A similar change of slope is also seen in the radius vs. surface brightness relation. By comparing our observations with the predictions of a simple multi-zone chemical model of galaxy evolution, we show that these findings are a natural consequence of a much more efficient inside-out growth of the stellar disk in massive galaxies. We confirm that isophotal radii are always a better proxy for the size of the stellar/star-forming disk than effective quantities and we show that the extent of the UV disk (normalized to the optical size) is strongly correlated to the integrated Hi gas fraction. This relation still holds even when cluster spirals are considered, with Hi-deficient systems having less extended star-forming disks than Hi-normal galaxies. Interestingly, the star formation in the inner part of Hi-deficient galaxies is significantly less affected by the removal of the atomic hydrogen, as expected in a simple ram-pressure stripping scenario. These results suggest that it is the amount of Hi that regulates the growth of the star-forming disk in the outskirts of galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present Herschel observations of 62 early-type galaxies (ETGs), including 39 galaxies morphologically classified as S0+S0a and 23 galaxies classified as ellipticals using SPIRE at 250, 350, and 500µm as part of the volume-limited Herschel Reference Survey (HRS). We detect dust emission in 24% of the ellipticals and 62% of the S0s. The mean temperature of the dust is Td 23.9±0.8 K,warmer than that found for late-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. The mean dust mass for the entire detected early-type sample is logMd = 6.1 ± 0.1 Mʘ with a mean dust-to-stellar-mass ratio of log(Md / M*) = -4.3 ± 0.1. Including the non-detections, these parameters are logMd = 5.6 ± 0.1 and log(Md /M*) = -5.1 ± 0.1, respectively. The average dust-to-stellar-mass ratio for the early-type sample is fifty times lower, with larger dispersion, than the spiral galaxies observed as part of the HRS, and there is an order-of-magnitude decline in Md / M* between the S0s and ellipticals. We use UV and optical photometry to show that virtually all the galaxies lie close to the red sequence yet the large number of detections of cool dust, the gas-to-dust ratios, and the ratios of far-infrared to radio emission all suggest that many ETGs contain a cool interstellar medium similar to that in late-type galaxies. We show that the sizes of the dust sources in S0s are much smaller than those in early-type spirals and the decrease in the dust-to-stellar-mass ratio from early-type spirals to S0s cannot simply be explained by an increase in the bulge-to-disk ratio. These results suggest that the disks in S0s contain much less dust (and presumably gas) than the disks of early-type spirals and this cannot be explained simply by current environmental effects, such as ram-pressure stripping. The wide range in the dust-to-stellar-mass ratio for ETGs and the lack of a correlation between dust mass and optical luminosity suggest that much of the dust in the ETGs detected by Herschel has been acquired as the result of interactions, although we show these are unlikely to have had a major effect on the stellar masses of the ETGs. The Herschel observations tentatively suggest that in the most massive systems, the mass of interstellar medium is unconnected to the evolution of the stellar populations in these galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey is a blind neutral hydrogen survey using the ALFA multibeam receiver at Arecibo Observatory to reach unprecedented sensitivities in a number of selected fields in the local Universe. When completed the survey will cover 200 square degrees out to a distance of at least 270 Mpc. If a population of gas-rich dark galaxies exists, then this survey is in a prime position to uncover that population.So far 20 square degrees have been covered in the regions of Abell 1367, the Virgo Cluster, the NGC 7332/9 galaxy pair and the isolated galaxy NGC 1156. Over 200 sources have been found, including a number that have no obvious optical counterparts. We discuss here the potential of AGES for uncovering more such objects and the characteristics of the dark sources identified to date. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: To find out whether B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) detects silent myocardial ischaemia in patients with type 2 diabetes, since many of these patients have silent ischaemia leading to unexpected cardiac deaths. Design: Prospective cross-sectional study with consecutive recruitment of patients. Setting: Outpatient, single centre. Patients: 219 patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients were excluded if they had a history or evidence of cardiac failure. Outcome measures: BNP, echocardiography and exercise tolerance test (ETT). BNP was compared with the ETT result in all patients and specifically in those who had no apparent ischaemic heart disease (IHD). Results: 121 patients had no history of IHD or cardiac failure and of these patients 85 had a clearly abnormal or normal ETT result. BNP was higher in patients with an abnormal than with a normal El-I" (mean 58.2 (SD 46.3) v 24.4 (SD 15.7) pg/ml, p < 0.001). In univariate analysis BNP was an independent predictor of an abnormal ETT (p < 0.001 ). In multivariate analysis BNP remained an independent predictor of the ETT result. BNP concentration over 20 pg/ml predicted an abnormal ETT result with a sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 37%, and BNP over 40 pg/ml had a sensitivity of 63% and a specificity of 81%. Conclusion: BNP is of value in predicting silent ischaemia on exercise testing in asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-D flow cytometry is an accurate method for quantifying feto-maternal haemorrhage (FMH). However, weak D red cells with<1000 RhD sites are not detectable using this methodology but are immunogenic. As quantitation of RhD sites is not practical, an alternative approach is required to identify those weak D fetal red cells where anti-D flow cytometry is inappropriate. We describe a simple algorithm based on RhD agglutination and flow cytometry peak separation. All weak D (n = 34) gave weak agglutination with RUM-1 on immediate spin (grading≤2.5). In Diamed-ID Diaclon ABO/D or ABO/Rh for Newborn cards two subgroups of weak D were observed. In one subgroup, weak agglutination (grading 3) was observed and the red cells were undetectable by flow cytometry. In the second subgroup, agglutination was strong (grading 4) and the red cells were detectable by anti-D flow cytometry. The accuracy of the quantitation was dependent on adequate separation of the weak D and RhD-negative peaks as in seven of 11 samples<1.11% of an expected 2% red cells were detectable. Monitoring RhD agglutination and flow cytometric peak separation are pivotal if anti-D flow cytometry is to be maintained as the primary technique for FMH quantitation in the routine laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/hypothesis. Aldosterone blockade has followed in the footsteps of ACE inhibition in reducing mortality in patients with heart failure. This is associated with its beneficial effects on endothelial function and heart rate variability. Diabetes is another area, where angiotensin II withdrawal has proven to be of particular value. We postulated that aldosterone blockade with spironolactone might also have beneficial effects on the prognostic markers of endothelial function and heart rate variability in diabetic patients. Methods. We assessed endothelial function by forearm venous occlusion plethysmography in 42 patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus after 1 month of treatment with spironolactone or placebo allocated in a randomised double-blind trial. Of the 42 patients, 20 were on ACE inhibitor therapy. We also assessed heart rate variability, HbA1c and plasma angiotensin II levels at the end of each treatment period. Results. Compared to placebo, spironolactone decreased forearm blood how response to acetylcholine by 44.56±14.56% (p=0.003) in the group as a whole and by 57.61±15.56% (p<0.001) in the 20 patients on ACE inhibition. Spironolactone also worsened heart rate variability parameters, with root mean squared standard deviation decreased by 1.99±0.93 ms (p=0.03), low-frequency normalised power increased by 2.00±0.91 normalised units (nu) (p=0.03), high-frequency normalised power decreased by 1.98±0.94 flu (p=0.04) and the low frequency : high frequency ratio increased by 0.40±0.19 (p=0.04). HbA1c and angiotensin II increased during treatment with spironolactone by 0.26±0.07% (p=0.001) and 8.12±1.94 pg/mI p=0.001) respectively. Conclusions/interpretation. Spironolacto ne worsened endothelial function and heart rate variability in patients with Type 2 diabetes. These findings are possibly due to the worsening of glycaemic control and increase in plasma angiotensin II that were seen with spironolactone treatment. Thus the prescription of spironolactone to diabetic patients without heart failure does not seem to be justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]