Background:The most common hospital-acquired pathogen is Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It is a multidrug resistant bacterium causing systemic infections.Objectives:The present study was carried out in order to investigate the distribution of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance properties of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from various types of hospital infections in Iran.Patients and Methods:Two-hundred and seventeen human infection specimens were collected from Baqiyatallah and Payambaran hospitals in Tehran, Iran. The clinical samples were cultured immediately and samples positive for P. aeruginosa were analyzed for the presence of antibiotic resistance and bacterial virulence genes using PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using disk diffusion methodology with Müeller–Hinton agar.Results:Fifty-eight out of 127 (45.66%) male infection specimens and 44 out of 90 (48.88%) female infection specimens harbored P. aeruginosa. Also, 65% (in male specimens) and 21% (in female specimens) of respiratory system infections were positive for P. aeruginosa, which was a high rate. The genes encoding exoenzyme S (67.64%) and phospholipases C (45.09%) were the most common virulence genes found among the strains. The incidences of various β-lactams encoding genes, including blaTEM, blaSHV, blaOXA, blaCTX-M, blaDHA, and blaVEB were 94.11%, 16.66%, 15.68%, 18.62%, 21.56%, and 17.64%, respectively. The most commonly detected fluoroquinolones encoding gene was gyrA (15. 68%). High resistance levels to penicillin (100%), tetracycline (90.19%), streptomycin (64.70%), and erythromycin (43.13%) were observed too.Conclusions:Our findings should raise awareness about antibiotic resistance in hospitalized patients in Iran. Clinicians should exercise caution in prescribing antibiotics, especially in cases of human infections.

NGC 1808 is a nearby barred spiral galaxy which hosts young stellar clusters in a patchy circumnuclear ring with a radius of ∼240 pc. In order to study the gaseous and stellar kinematics and the star formation properties of the clusters, we perform seeing-limited H + Kband near-infrared integral-field spectroscopy with SINFONI of the inner ∼600 pc. From the M BH − σ * relation, we find a black hole mass of a few 10 7 M. We estimate the age of the young stellar clusters in the circumnuclear ring to be 10 Myr. No age gradient along the ring is visible. However, the starburst age is comparable to the travel time along the ring, indicating that the clusters almost completed a full orbit along the ring during their lifetime. In the central ∼600 pc, we find a hot molecular gas mass of ∼730 M which, with standard conversion factors, corresponds to a large cold molecular gas reservoir of several 10 8 M , in agreement with CO measurements from the literature. The gaseous and stellar kinematics show several deviations from pure disc motion, including a circumnuclear disc and signs of a nuclear bar potential. In addition, we confirm streaming motions on the ∼200 pc scale that have recently been detected in CO(1-0) emission. Thanks to the enhanced angular resolution of <1 , we find further streaming motion within the inner arcsecond that had not been detected until now. Despite the flow of gas towards the centre, no signs of significant AGN activity are found. This raises the question: will the infalling gas fuel an AGN or star formation?

Context. The empirical relations between supermassive black holes and their host spheroids point towards the crucial role of galactic nuclei in affecting the properties of their hosts. A detailed understanding of how the activity of a galactic nucleus regulates the growth of its host is still missing. Aims. To understand the activity and the types of accretion of supermassive black holes in different hosts, it is essential to study the radio-optical properties of a large sample of extragalactic sources. In particular, we aim to study the radio spectral index trends across the optical emission line diagnostic diagrams to search for potential (anti)correlations. Methods. To this goal, we combined flux densities from the radio FIRST survey at 1.4 GHz (with the flux density range 10 mJy ≤ F 1.4 ≤ 100 mJy) for 396 SDSS sources at intermediate redshift (0.04 ≤ z ≤ 0.4) with the Effelsberg radiotelescope measurements at 4.85 GHz and 10.45 GHz. The information about the optical emission-line ratios is obtained from the SDSS-DR7 catalogue. Results. Using the Effelsberg data, we were able to infer the two-point radio spectral index distributions for star-forming galaxies, composite galaxies (with a combined contribution to the line emission from the star formation and AGN activity), Seyferts, and low ionization narrow emission region (LINER) galaxies. Conclusions. While studying the distribution of steep, flat, and inverted sources across optical diagnostic diagrams, we found three distinct classes of radio emitters for our sample: (i) sources with a steep radio index, high ionization ratio, and high radio loudness, (ii) sources with a flat radio index, lower ionization ratio, and intermediate radio loudness, (iii) sources with an inverted radio index, low ionization ratio, and low radio loudness. The classes (i), (ii), and (iii) cluster mainly along the transition from Seyfert to LINER sources in the optical diagnostic (Baldwin, Phillips & Telervich; BPT) diagram. We interpret these groups as a result of the recurrent nuclear-jet activity.A&A proofs: manuscript no. zajacek_index different sections of the diagnostic diagrams have been traced back to systematic changes in the ionization parameter, the shape of the ionizing continuum, the fraction of matter-bound clouds, and/or the role of metal abundances.According to a given set of ratios, four spectral classes of galaxies are commonly distinguished. In star-forming galaxies (SF), the ionizing flux is provided mostly by hot, massive, young stars and associated supernovae that are surrounded by HII regions. They have lower [OIII]/Hβ and [NII]/Hα ratios than pure AGN sources (see also Figs. 1 and 2). In between SF and AGN sources are composite (COMP) galaxies, with a mixed contribution from star formation (HII regions) and AGN. The AGN spectral class was further subdivided into Seyfert 2 sources (Sy) and low-ionization nuclear emission regions (LINERs). LINERs are characterized by a lower [OIII]/Hβ ratio in comparison with Seyfert 2 AGN sources and a higher [NII]/Hα ratio wi...

In the framework of understanding the gas and stellar kinematics and their relations to AGNs and galaxy evolution scenarios, we present spatially resolved distributions and kinematics of the stars and gas in the central ∼ 800-pc radius of the nearby Seyfert galaxy NGC 1365. We obtained H + K-and K-band near-infrared (NIR) integral-field observations from VLT/SINFONI. Our results reveal strong broad and narrow emission-line components of ionized gas (hydrogen recombination lines Paα and Brγ) in the nuclear region, as well as hot dust with a temperature of ∼ 1300 K, both typical for type-1 AGNs. From M BH − σ * and the broad components of hydrogen recombination lines, we find a black-hole mass of (5 − 10) × 10 6 M . In the central ∼ 800 pc, we find a hot molecular gas mass of ∼ 615 M , which corresponds to a cold molecular gas reservoir of (2 − 8) × 10 8 M . However, there is a molecular gas deficiency in the nuclear region. The gas and stellar-velocity maps both show rotation patterns consistent with the large-scale rotation of the galaxy. However, the gaseous and stellar kinematics show deviations from pure disk rotation, which suggest streaming motions in the central < 200 pc and a velocity twist at the location of the ring which indicates deviations in disk and ring rotation velocities in accordance with published CO kinematics. We detect a blueshifted emission line split in Paα, associated with the nuclear region only. We investigate the star-formation properties of the hot spots in the circumnuclear ring which have starburst ages of 10 Myr and find indications for an age gradient on the western side of the ring. In addition, our high-resolution data reveal further substructure within this ring which also shows enhanced star forming activity close to the nucleus.

We present near-infrared (NIR) H + K-band long-slit spectra of eleven galaxies that were obtained with SOFI at the NTT (ESO). The galaxies are chosen from the low-luminosity type-1 quasi-stellar object (LLQSO) sample, which comprises the 99 closest (z ≤ 0.06) QSOs from the Hamburg/ESO survey for bright UV-excess QSOs. These objects are ideal targets to study the gap between local Seyfert galaxies and high-redshift quasars because they show much stronger AGN activity than local objects, but are still close enough for a detailed structural analysis. We fit hydrogen recombination, molecular hydrogen, and [Fe ii] lines after carefully subtracting the continuum emission. From the broad Paα components, we estimated black hole masses and enlarged the sample of LLQSOs that deviate from the M BH −L bulge relations of inactive galaxies from 12 to 16 objects. All objects show emission from hot dust (T ∼ 1200 K) as well as stellar contribution. However, the respective fractions vary strongly among the objects. More than half of the objects show H 2 emission lines, which indicate a large reservoir of molecular gas that is needed to feed the AGN and star formation. In the NIR diagnostic diagram all objects lie in the location of AGN-dominated objects. However, most of the objects show indications of star formation activity, suggesting that their offset location with respect to M BH -L bulge relations of inactive galaxies may be a consequence of overluminous bulges.