Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the HD 202628 Debris Disk

A ring-shaped debris disk around the G2V star HD 202628 (d = 24.4 pc) was imaged in scattered light at visible wavelengths using the coronagraphic mode of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope. The ring is inclined by approx.64deg from face-on, based on the apparent major/minor axis ratio, with the major axis aligned along PA = 130deg. It has inner and outer radii (> 50% maximum surface brightness) of 139 AU and 193 AU in the northwest ansae and 161 AU and 223 AU in the southeast ((Delta)r/r approx. = 0.4). The maximum visible radial extent is approx. 254 AU. With a mean surface brightnesses of V approx. = 24 mag arcsec.(sup -2), this is the faintest debris disk observed to date in reflected light. The center of the ring appears offset from the star by approx.28 AU (deprojected). An ellipse fit to the inner edge has an eccentricity of 0.18 and a = 158 AU. This offset, along with the relatively sharp inner edge of the ring, suggests the influence of a planetary-mass companion. There is a strong similarity with the debris ring around Fomalhaut, though HD 202628 is a more mature star with an estimated age of about 2 Gyr. We also provide surface brightness limits for nine other stars in our study with strong Spitzer excesses around which no debris disks were detected in scattered light (HD 377, HD 7590, HD 38858, HD 45184, HD 73350, HD 135599, HD 145229, HD 187897, and HD 201219)

Cost-Effectiveness of Eltrombopag versus Romiplostim for the Treatment of Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia in England and Wales

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of eltrombopag compared with romiplostim as a treatment for chronic immune thrombocytopenia (cITP) in patients who are splenectomized or ineligible for splenectomy and are treatment refractory in England and Wales. Methods: A Markov cohort model in which patients were administered a sequence of treatments was used to predict long-term outcomes associated with each treatment. The model was informed by data from the eltrombopag clinical trial program and the available literature. The analysis was conducted from the perspective of the United Kingdom National Health Service, and a lifetime time horizon was used. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: Eltrombopag dominated romiplostim (i.e., eltrombopag was as effective as but less costly than romiplostim) in both splenectomized and non-splenectomized patients, assuming a class effect for the two treatments. Eltrombopag also dominated romiplostim in the majority of deterministic sensitivity analyses with the exception of when indirect efficacy estimates were incorporated into the model. In this analysis, eltrombopag no longer dominated romiplostim but remained cost-effective versus romiplostim at a willingness-to-pay threshold of £20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY). Probabilistic sensitivity analysis demonstrated that there was a 99% and 92% chance of eltrombopag being cost-effective at a cost-effectiveness threshold of £20,000/QALY in splenectomized and non-splenectomized patients, respectively. Conclusions: Results of this study demonstrate that eltrombopag is cost-effective when compared to romiplostim as a treatment for cITP, representing good value for the United Kingdom National Health Service

Characterizing the Variability of Stars with Early-release Kepler Data

We present a variability analysis of the early-release first quarter of data publicly released by the Kepler project. Using the stellar parameters from the Kepler Input Catalog, we have separated the sample into 129,000 dwarfs and 17,000 giants and further sub-divided the luminosity classes into temperature bins corresponding approximately to the spectral classes A, F, G, K, and M. Utilizing the inherent sampling and time baseline of the public data set (30 minute sampling and 33.5 day baseline), we have explored the variability of the stellar sample. The overall variability rate of the dwarfs is 25% for the entire sample, but can reach 100% for the brightest groups of stars in the sample. G dwarfs are found to be the most stable with a dispersion floor of σ ~ 0.04 mmag. At the precision of Kepler, >95% of the giant stars are variable with a noise floor of ~0.1 mmag, 0.3 mmag, and 10 mmag for the G giants, K giants, and M giants, respectively. The photometric dispersion of the giants is consistent with acoustic variations of the photosphere; the photometrically derived predicted radial velocity distribution for the K giants is in agreement with the measured radial velocity distribution. We have also briefly explored the variability fraction as a function of data set baseline (1-33 days), at the native 30 minute sampling of the public Kepler data. To within the limitations of the data, we find that the overall variability fractions increase as the data set baseline is increased from 1 day to 33 days, in particular for the most variable stars. The lower mass M dwarf, K dwarf, and G dwarf stars increase their variability more significantly than the higher mass F dwarf and A dwarf stars as the time baseline is increased, indicating that the variability of the lower mass stars is mostly characterized by timescales of weeks while the variability of the higher mass stars is mostly characterized by timescales of days. A study of the distribution of the variability as a function of galactic latitude suggests that sources closer to the galactic plane are more variable. This may be the result of sampling differing populations (i.e., ages) as a function of latitude or may be the result of higher background contamination that is inflating the variability fractions at lower latitudes. A comparison of the M dwarf statistics to the variability of 29 known bright M dwarfs indicates that the M dwarfs are primarily variable on timescales of weeks or longer presumably dominated by spots and binarity. On shorter timescales of hours, which are relevant for planetary transit detection, the stars are significantly less variable, with ~80% having 12 hr dispersions of 0.5 mmag or less

Physioacoustic therapy: placebo effect on recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage

We evaluated claims that physioacoustic therapy can enhance muscle healing following damaging exercise. Untrained subjects were randomly assigned to control (C), placebo (P) or treatment (T) groups. All groups performed 70 eccentric triceps contractions followed by; no treatment (C), sham physioacoustic treatment (P), or actual physioacoustic therapy (T) on days 1–4 post-exercise. Muscle soreness and isometric and concentric triceps peak torque were determined pre-exerciseand on days 1–4 and 7 post-exercise. The T group received physioacoustic therapy for 30 min/day on the treatment days. The P group believed they received physioacoustic therapy, although the chairs were turned off. Peak torques were depressed (P < 0.05) on days 1–3 in all groups and returned to pre-exercise values by days 4–7 in both P and T groups. C group peak torques remained depressed (P < 0.05) through day 7. Soreness was elevated (P < 0.05) in all groups on days 1–2 post-exercise. P and T groups reported no soreness by day 3 while the C group remained sore (P < 0.05) through days 3–4. The T group recovered soreness and force faster than C but at a similar rate to the P group. The effectiveness of physioacoustic therapy in enhancing post-exercise muscle healing may be attributable to a placebo effect

Physioacoustic Therapy: Placebo Effect on Recovery From Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage

We evaluated claims that physioacoustic therapy can enhance muscle healing following damaging exercise. Untrained subjects were randomly assigned to control (C), placebo (P) or treatment (T) groups. All groups performed 70 eccentric triceps contractions followed by; no treatment (C), sham physioacoustic treatment (P), or actual physioacoustic therapy (T) on days 1–4 post-exercise. Muscle soreness and isometric and concentric triceps peak torque were determined preexercise and on days 1–4 and 7 post-exercise. The T group received physioacoustic therapy for 30 min/day on the treatment days. The P group believed they received physioacoustic therapy, although the chairs were turned off. Peak torques were depressed (P \u3c 0.05) on days 1–3 in all groups and returned to pre-exercise values by days 4–7 in both P and T groups. C group peak torques remained depressed (P \u3c 0.05) through day 7. Soreness was elevated (P \u3c 0.05) in all groups on days 1–2 post-exercise. P and T groups reported no soreness by day 3 while the C group remained sore (P \u3c 0.05) through days 3–4. The T group recovered soreness and force faster than C but at a similar rate to the P group. The effectiveness of physioacoustic therapy in enhancing post-exercise muscle healing may be attributable to a placebo effect

Physioacoustic Therapy: Placebo Effect on Recovery From Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage

We evaluated claims that physioacoustic therapy can enhance muscle healing following damaging exercise. Untrained subjects were randomly assigned to control (C), placebo (P) or treatment (T) groups. All groups performed 70 eccentric triceps contractions followed by; no treatment (C), sham physioacoustic treatment (P), or actual physioacoustic therapy (T) on days 1–4 post-exercise. Muscle soreness and isometric and concentric triceps peak torque were determined preexercise and on days 1–4 and 7 post-exercise. The T group received physioacoustic therapy for 30 min/day on the treatment days. The P group believed they received physioacoustic therapy, although the chairs were turned off. Peak torques were depressed (P \u3c 0.05) on days 1–3 in all groups and returned to pre-exercise values by days 4–7 in both P and T groups. C group peak torques remained depressed (P \u3c 0.05) through day 7. Soreness was elevated (P \u3c 0.05) in all groups on days 1–2 post-exercise. P and T groups reported no soreness by day 3 while the C group remained sore (P \u3c 0.05) through days 3–4. The T group recovered soreness and force faster than C but at a similar rate to the P group. The effectiveness of physioacoustic therapy in enhancing post-exercise muscle healing may be attributable to a placebo effect

Accurate Coordinates and 2MASS Cross-IDs for (Almost) All Gliese Catalog Stars

We provide precise J2000, epoch 2000 coordinates and cross-identifications to sources in the 2MASS point source catalog for nearly all stars in the Gliese, Gliese and Jahreiss, and Woolley catalogs of nearby stars. The only Gliese objects where we were not successful are two Gliese sources that are actually QSOs, two proposed companions to brighter stars which we believe do not exist, four stars included in one of the catalogs but identified there as only optical companions, one probable plate flaw, and two stars which simply remain un-recovered. For the 4251 recovered stars, 2693 have coordinates based on Hipparcos positions, 1549 have coordinates based on 2MASS data, and 9 have positions from other astrometric sources. All positions have been calculated at epoch 2000 using proper motions from the literature, which are also given here.Comment: accepted to PASP, Full version of Table 1 available electronicall

The Lick-Carnegie Survey: Four New Exoplanet Candidates

We present new precise HIRES radial velocity (RV) data sets of five nearby stars obtained at Keck Observatory. HD 31253, HD 218566, HD 177830, HD 99492 and HD 74156 are host stars of spectral classes F through K and show radial velocity variations consistent with new or additional planetary companions in Keplerian motion. The orbital parameters of the candidate planets in the five planetary systems span minimum masses of M sin i = 27.43 M_{earth} to M sin i = 8.28 M_{jup}, periods of 17.05 to 4696.95 days and eccentricities ranging from circular to extremely eccentric (e ~ 0.63). The 5th star, HD 74156, was known to have both a 52-day and a 2500-day planet, and was claimed to also harbor a 3rd planet at 336d, in apparent support of the "Packed Planetary System" hypothesis. Our greatly expanded data set for HD 74156 provides strong confirmation of both the 52-day and 2500-d planets, but strongly contradicts the existence of a 336-day planet, and offers no significant evidence for any other planets in the system.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Fixed typos in Table 2. Additional material at http://www.ucolick.org/~smeschia/4planet.ph