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The relationships between phantom limb pain and both the etiology of amputation (blood clots, nonclot diabetes, and miscellaneous) and the occurrence of gangrene and/or infection were investigated in 92 unilateral lower extremity (LE) amputees who were seen sequentially. There were 55 above-knee (AK) and 37 below-knee (BK) amputations in 61 men and 31 women. The mean age was 51.4 years. The blood-clot etiology had the highest levels of phantom pain both pre- and postrehabilitation, the longest time interval between amputation and prosthetic fitting, and the greatest number of medical conditions. The nonclot diabetes and miscellaneous etiologies followed in order. A history of gangrene and/or infection was associated with higher levels of pain and longer time interval between amputation and prosthetic fitting.

We report 370 measures of 170 components of binary and multiple star systems, obtained from speckle imaging observations made with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument at Lowell Observatory's Discovery Channel Telescope in 2015 through 2017. Of the systems studied, 147 are binary stars, 10 are seen as triple systems, and 1 quadruple system is measured. Seventy-six high-quality non-detections and fifteen newly resolved components are presented in our observations. The uncertainty in relative astrometry appears to be similar to our previous work at Lowell, namely linear measurement uncertainties of approximately 2 mas, and the relative photometry appears to be uncertain at the 0.1 to 0.15 magnitude level. Using these measures and those in the literature, we calculate six new visual orbits, including one for the Be star 66 Oph, and two combined spectroscopic-visual orbits. The latter two orbits, which are for HD 22451 (YSC 127) and HD 185501 (YSC 135), yield individual masses of the components at the level of 2 percent or better, and independent distance measures that in one case agrees with the value found in the Gaia DR2, and in the other disagrees at the 2-σ level. We find that HD 22451 consists of an F6V+F7V pair with orbital period of 2401.1 ± 3.2 days and masses of 1.342 ± 0.029 and 1.236 ± 0.026 M ⊙ . For HD 185501, both stars are G5 dwarfs that orbit one another with a period of 433.94 ± 0.15 days, and the masses are 0.898 ± 0.012 and 0.876 ± 0.012 M ⊙ . We discuss the details of both the new discoveries and the orbit objects.

Context. Optical nova lightcurves often have structures, such as rapid declines and recoveries, due to nebular or dusty phases of the ejecta. Nova Cygni 2006 (V2362 Cyg) underwent an unusual brightening after an early rapid decline. The shape of the lightcurve can be compared to that of V1493 Aql, but in that case the whole event was not as bright and only lasted a couple of weeks. V2362 Cyg had a moderately fast decline of t 2 = 9.0 ± 0.5 days before rebrightening, which lasted 250 days after maximum. Aims. We present an analysis of our own spectroscopic investigations in combination with American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) photometric data covering the whole rebrightening phase until the return to the final decline. Methods. We used medium resolution spectroscopy obtained in ten observing nights in the course of 79 nights to investigate the change of the velocity structure of the ejecta. The publicly available AAVSO photometry was used to analyze the overall properties and the energy of the brightening. Results. Although the behavior of the main outburst (velocity, outburst magnitude, and decline timescales) resembles a "normal" classical nova, the shell clearly underwent a second fast mass ejecting phase, causing the unusual properties. The integrated flux during this event contributes ≈40% to the total radiation energy of the outburst. The evolution of the H α profile during the bump event is obtained by subtracting the emission of the detached shells of the main eruption by a simple optically-thin model. A distance of D ≈ 7.5 +3.0 −2.5 kpc and an interstellar extinction E(B − V) = 0. m 6 ± 0. m 1 was also derived.

Today's commercial X-ray micro computed tomography (CT) specimen systems are based on microfocus sources, 2D pixel array cameras and short source-to-detector distances (i.e. cone-beam configurations). High resolution is achieved by means of geometric magnification. The further development of such devices to acquire phase and scattering contrast images can dramatically enhance their range of applications. Due to the compact geometries, which imply a highly diverging beam, the gratings must be curved to maintain highest imaging performance over a large field of view. We report about the implementation of extremely compact Talbot and Talbot-Lau type grating interferometers which are compatible to the geometry of typical micro CT systems. For the analytical description of the imaging system, formulas are presented describing the dependency of the sensitivity on geometric parameters, camera and source parameters. Further, the imaging pipeline consisting of the data acquisition protocol, radiographic phase retrieval and tomographic image reconstruction is illustrated. The reported methods open the way for an immediate integration of phase and scattering contrast imaging on table top X-ray micro CT scanners.