The Boston University-Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory Galactic Ring Survey is a new survey of Galactic 13 CO J ¼ 1 ! 0 emission. The survey used the SEQUOIA multipixel array on the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory 14 m telescope to cover a longitude range of l ¼ 18 55N7 and a latitude range of jbj < 1 , a total of 75.4 deg 2 . Using both position-switching and On-The-Fly mapping modes, we achieved an angular sampling of 22 00 , better than half of the telescope's 46 00 angular resolution. The survey's velocity coverage is À5 to 135 km s À1 for Galactic longitudes l 40 and À5 to 85 km s À1 for Galactic longitudes l > 40 . At the velocity resolution of 0.21 km s À1 , the typical rms sensitivity is (T Ã A ) $ 0:13 K. The survey comprises a total of 1,993,522 spectra. We show integrated intensity images (zeroth moment maps), channel maps, position-velocity diagrams, and an average spectrum of the completed survey data set. We also discuss the telescope and instrumental parameters, the observing modes, the data reduction processes, and the emission and noise characteristics of the data set. The Galactic Ring Survey data are available to the community online or in DVD form by request.

The development of clinically viable delivery methods presents one of the greatest challenges in the therapeutic application of CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome editing. Here, we report the development of a lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-mediated delivery system that, with a single administration, enabled significant editing of the mouse transthyretin (Ttr) gene in the liver, with a >97% reduction in serum protein levels that persisted for at least 12 months. These results were achieved with an LNP delivery system that was biodegradable and well tolerated. The LNP delivery system was combined with a sgRNA having a chemical modification pattern that was important for high levels of in vivo activity. The formulation was similarly effective in a rat model. Our work demonstrates that this LNP system can deliver CRISPR/Cas9 components to achieve clinically relevant levels of in vivo genome editing with a concomitant reduction of TTR serum protein, highlighting the potential of this system as an effective genome editing platform.

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Kinematic distances to 750 molecular clouds identified in the 13 CO J = 1 → 0 Boston University-Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory Galactic Ring Survey (BU-FCRAO GRS) are derived assuming the Clemens rotation curve of the Galaxy. The kinematic distance ambiguity is resolved by examining the presence of HI self-absorption toward the 13 CO emission peak of each cloud using the Very Large Array Galactic Plane Survey (VGPS). We also identify 21 cm continuum sources embedded in the GRS clouds in order to use absorption features in the HI 21 cm continuum to distinguish between near and far kinematic distances. The Galactic distribution of GRS clouds is consistent with a four-arm model of the Milky Way. The locations of the Scutum-Crux and Perseus arms traced by GRS clouds match star count data from the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) star-count data. We conclude that molecular clouds must form in spiral arms and be short-lived (lifetimes < 10 7 yr) in order to explain the absence of massive, 13 CO bright molecular clouds in the inter-arm space.

We present the initial results from the Spitzer Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud (S 3 MC), which imaged the star-forming body of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) in all seven MIPS and IRAC wavebands. We find that the F 8 /F 24 ratio (an estimate of PAH abundance) has large spatial variations and takes a wide range of values that are unrelated to metallicity but anticorrelated with 24 µm brightness and F 24 /F 70 ratio. This suggests that photodestruction is primarily responsible for the low abundance of PAHs observed in star-forming low-metallicity galaxies. We use the S 3 MC images to compile a photometric catalog of ∼ 400, 000 mid-and far-infrared point sources in the SMC. The sources detected at the longest wavelengths fall into four main categories: 1) bright 5.8 µm sources with very faint optical counterparts and very red mid-infrared colors ([5.8] − [8.0] > 1.2), which we identify as YSOs. 2) Bright mid-infrared sources with mildly red colors (0.16 [5.8] − [8.0] < 0.6), identified as carbon stars. 3) Bright mid-infrared sources with neutral colors and bright optical counterparts, corresponding to oxygen-rich evolved stars. And, 4) unreddened early B stars (B3 to O9) with a large 24 µm excess. This excess is reminiscent of debris disks, and is detected in only a small fraction of these stars ( 5%). The majority of the brightest infrared point sources in the SMC fall into groups one to three. We use this photometric information to produce a catalog of 282 bright YSOs in the SMC with a very low level of contamination (∼ 7%).