Radio Interferometric Planet Search II: Constraints on sub-Jupiter-Mass Companions to GJ 896A

We present results from the Radio Interferometric Planet (RIPL) search for compan- ions to the nearby star GJ 896A. We present 11 observations over 4.9 years. Fitting astrometric parameters to the data reveals a residual with peak-to-peak amplitude of ~ 3 mas in right ascension. This residual is well-fit by an acceleration term of 0.458 \pm 0.032 mas/y^2. The parallax is fit to an accuracy of 0.2 mas and the proper motion terms are fit to accuracies of 0.01 mas/y. After fitting astrometric and acceleration terms residuals are 0.26 mas in each coordinate, demonstrating that stellar jitter does not limit the ability to carry out radio astrometric planet detection and characterization. The acceleration term originates in part from the companion GJ 896B but the amplitude of the acceleration in declination is not accurately predicted by the orbital model. The acceleration sets a mass upper limit of 0.15 MJ at a semi-major axis of 2 AU for a planetary companion to GJ 896A. For semi-major axes between 0.3 and 2 AU upper limits are determined by the maximum angular separation; the upper limits scale from the minimum value in proportion to the inverse of the radius. Upper limits at larger radii are set by the acceleration and scale as the radius squared. An improved solution for the stellar binary system could improve the exoplanet mass sensitivity by an order of magnitude.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

The Lantern Vol. 51, No. 2, Spring 1985

• Electric Pink • Derby Day • Conversation • Seasons of Sonnets • Long After Killing Us • Haunting Memory • Sacrifice • Is This Positive Enough? • My Teddy Bear • A Gentleman of Ten • Hartman Center • Yesterday\u27s Child • Mors Pueris • Momentary Reflections • Children Sleeping • There\u27s No Place Like Home • I Set My Pleasures Adrift • The Beer Can • Fragments of an Epic • Actaeon • She Sleeps • Chicago • Death Light • Tea With Louise • Balance • The Rivers • Chapel • The Hour of Prayer • Une Fille / Une Femme • A One-Way Mirror • Nonconformity • Cada Noche, Lloro • Reflections on an Empty House Down the Street • Evening Melancholy • Abandoned Road • Big Boy • Baby Brothers • Metro Oscuro • Chuchoterhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1126/thumbnail.jp

Ancient Lowland Maya neighborhoods: Average Nearest Neighbor analysis and kernel density models, environments, and urban scale

Many humans live in large, complex political centers, composed of multi-scalar communities including neighborhoods and districts. Both today and in the past, neighborhoods form a fundamental part of cities and are defined by their spatial, architectural, and material elements. Neighborhoods existed in ancient centers of various scales, and multiple methods have been employed to identify ancient neighborhoods in archaeological contexts. However, the use of different methods for neighborhood identification within the same spatiotemporal setting results in challenges for comparisons within and between ancient societies. Here, we focus on using a single method—combining Average Nearest Neighbor (ANN) and Kernel Density (KD) analyses of household groups—to identify potential neighborhoods based on clusters of households at 23 ancient centers across the Maya Lowlands. While a one-size-fits all model does not work for neighborhood identification everywhere, the ANN/KD method provides quantifiable data on the clustering of ancient households, which can be linked to environmental zones and urban scale. We found that centers in river valleys exhibited greater household clustering compared to centers in upland and escarpment environments. Settlement patterns on flat plains were more dispersed, with little discrete spatial clustering of households. Furthermore, we categorized the ancient Maya centers into discrete urban scales, finding that larger centers had greater variation in household spacing compared to medium-sized and smaller centers. Many larger political centers possess heterogeneity in household clustering between their civic-ceremonial cores, immediate hinterlands, and far peripheries. Smaller centers exhibit greater household clustering compared to larger ones. This paper quantitatively assesses household clustering among nearly two dozen centers across the Maya Lowlands, linking environment and urban scale to settlement patterns. The findings are applicable to ancient societies and modern cities alike; understanding how humans form multi-scalar social groupings, such as neighborhoods, is fundamental to human experience and social organization

Attention Enhances the Retrieval and Stability of Visuospatial and Olfactory Representations in the Dorsal Hippocampus

Attention enhances the encoding and retrieval of olfactory and visuospatial representations by modulating place field stability, firing rate, and neuronal synchronization of pyramidal cells in the hippocampus

Comprehensive geriatric assessment, multifactorial interventions and nurse-led care coordination to prevent functional decline in community-dwelling older persons: protocol of a cluster randomized trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Functional decline in community-dwelling older persons is associated with the loss of independence, the need for hospital and nursing-home care and premature death. The effectiveness of multifactorial interventions in preventing functional decline remains controversial. The aim of this study is to investigate whether functional decline in community-dwelling older persons can be delayed or prevented by a comprehensive geriatric assessment, multifactorial interventions and nurse-led care coordination.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>In a cluster randomized controlled trial, with the general practice as the unit of randomization, 1281 participants from 25 general practices will be enrolled in each condition to compare the intervention with usual care. The intervention will focus on older persons who are at increased risk for functional decline, identified by an Identification of Seniors at Risk Primary Care (ISAR-PC) score (≥ 2). These older persons will receive a comprehensive geriatric assessment, an individually tailored care and treatment plan, consisting of multifactorial, evidence-based interventions and subsequent nurse-led care coordination. The control group will receive 'care as usual' by the general practitioner (GP). The main outcome after 12 months is the level of physical functioning on the modified Katz-15 index score. The secondary outcomes are health-related quality of life, psychological and social functioning, healthcare utilization and institutionalization. Furthermore, a process evaluation and cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study will provide new knowledge regarding the effectiveness and feasibility of a comprehensive geriatric assessment, multifactorial interventions and nurse-led elderly care in general practice.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p><a href="http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=2653">NTR2653</a></p> <p>Grant</p> <p>Unrestricted grant 'The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and development' no 313020201</p

Impacts of Poultry House Environment on Poultry Litter Bacterial Community Composition

Viral and bacterial pathogens are a significant economic concern to the US broiler industry and the ecological epicenter for poultry pathogens is the mixture of bedding material, chicken excrement and feathers that comprises the litter of a poultry house. This study used high-throughput sequencing to assess the richness and diversity of poultry litter bacterial communities, and to look for connections between these communities and the environmental characteristics of a poultry house including its history of gangrenous dermatitis (GD). Cluster analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed differences in the distribution of bacterial phylotypes between Wet and Dry litter samples and between houses. Wet litter contained greater diversity with 90% of total bacterial abundance occurring within the top 214 OTU clusters. In contrast, only 50 clusters accounted for 90% of Dry litter bacterial abundance. The sixth largest OTU cluster across all samples classified as an Arcobacter sp., an emerging human pathogen, occurring in only the Wet litter samples of a house with a modern evaporative cooling system. Ironically, the primary pathogenic clostridial and staphylococcal species associated with GD were not found in any house; however, there were thirteen 16S rRNA gene phylotypes of mostly Gram-positive phyla that were unique to GD-affected houses and primarily occurred in Wet litter samples. Overall, the poultry house environment appeared to substantially impact the composition of litter bacterial communities and may play a key role in the emergence of food-borne pathogens

Plasma irisin is elevated in type 2 diabetes and is associated with increased E-selectin levels

BACKGROUND: Irisin is a hormone released mainly from skeletal muscle after exercise which increases adipose tissue energy expenditure. Adipocytes can also release irisin after exercise, acting as a local adipokine to induce white adipose tissue to take on a brown adipose tissue-like phenotype, suggesting that irisin and its receptor may represent a novel molecular target for the treatment of obesity and obesity-related diabetes. Previous reports provide conflicting evidence regarding circulating irisin levels in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). METHODS: This study investigated plasma irisin concentrations in 79 T2DM individuals, assessing potential associations with measures of segmental body composition, markers of endothelial dysfunction and peripheral blood mononuclear cell telomere length (TL). RESULTS: Resting, overnight-fasted plasma irisin levels were significantly higher in this group of T2DM patients compared with levels we previously reported in healthy volunteers (p < 0.001). Moreover, plasma irisin displayed a positive correlation with body mass index (p = 0.04), body fat percentage (p = 0.03), HbA1c (p = 0.03) and soluble E-selectin (p < 0.001). A significant negative association was observed between plasma irisin and visceral adiposity (p = 0.006) in T2DM patients. Multiple regression analysis revealed that circulating soluble E-selectin levels could be predicted by plasma irisin (p = 0.004). Additionally, cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) exposed to 200 ng/ml irisin for 4 h showed a significant fourfold increase in E-selectin and 2.5-fold increase in ICAM-1 gene expression (p = 0.001 and p = 0.015 respectively), and there was a 1.8-fold increase in soluble E-selectin in conditioned media (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: These data suggest that elevated plasma irisin in T2DM is associated with indices of adiposity, and that irisin may be involved in pro-atherogenic endothelial disturbances that accompany obesity and T2DM. Accordingly, irisin may constitute a potentially novel therapeutic opportunity in the field of obesity and cardiovascular diabetology

Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Golimumab in Methotrexate-Naive Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Five-Year Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of golimumab through 5 years in adults with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had not previously received methotrexate (MTX). Methods: In the GO-BEFORE study, 637 MTX-naive adult patients with active RA were randomized (1:1:1:1) to placebo + MTX (group 1), golimumab 100 mg + placebo (group 2), golimumab 50 mg + MTX (group 3), or golimumab 100 mg + MTX (group 4). Inadequate responders in groups 1, 2, and 3 entered early escape at week 28 to golimumab 50 mg + MTX, golimumab 100 mg + MTX, or golimumab 100 mg + MTX, respectively; remaining patients in group 1 could cross over to golimumab 50 mg + MTX at week 52. Assessments included the American College of Rheumatology 20%/50%/70% improvement criteria (ACR20/50/70) response, the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28) using C-reactive protein (CRP) level, and the modified Sharp/van der Heijde score (SHS). Efficacy was analyzed using an intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis. Pharmacokinetics and immunogenicity were evaluated at selected visits. Results: A total of 422 patients completed golimumab treatment through week 256. At week 256, 72.8%, 54.6%, and 38.0% of all patients in the full ITT population (n = 637) had an ACR20/50/70 response, respectively; 84.1% had a good or moderate DAS28-CRP response; and 72.7% had a clinically meaningful improvement in physical function. Radiographic progression was minimal in all treatment groups through week 256, and the overall mean change from baseline in SHS was 1.36. Serum trough golimumab concentrations were approximately dose proportional and maintained through week 256. Antibodies to golimumab occurred in 9.6% of patients through week 256. Infections were the most common type of adverse event (AE); 204 of 616 patients (33.1%) had ≥1 serious AE. Conclusions: Clinical efficacy with golimumab treatment was maintained through week 256 of the GO-BEFORE trial of MTX-naive RA patients. No unexpected AEs occurred; safety results through 5 years are consistent with earlier reports