Cell and gene therapies at the forefront of innovative medical care: Implications for South Africa

The fields of cell and gene therapy are moving rapidly towards providing  innovative cures for incurable diseases. A current and highly topical  example is immunotherapies involving T-cells that express chimeric antigen receptors (CAR T-cells), which have shown promise in the treatment of leukaemia and lymphoma. These new medicines are indicative of the changes we can anticipate in the practice of medicine in the near future. Despite their promise, they pose challenges for introduction into the healthcare sector in South Africa (SA), including: (i) that they are  technologically demanding and their manufacture is resource intensive; (ii) that the regulatory system is underdeveloped and likely to be challenged by ethical, legal and social requirements that accompany these new therapies; and (iii) that costs are likely to be prohibitive, at least initially, and before economies of scale take effect. Investment should be made into finding novel and innovative ways to introduce these therapies into SA sooner rather than later to ensure that SA patients are not excluded from these exciting new opportunitie

Resonant transmission through an open quantum dot

We have measured the low-temperature transport properties of a quantum dot formed in a one-dimensional channel. In zero magnetic field this device shows quantized ballistic conductance plateaus with resonant tunneling peaks in each transition region between plateaus. Studies of this structure as a function of applied perpendicular magnetic field and source-drain bias indicate that resonant structure deriving from tightly bound states is split by Coulomb charging at zero magnetic field.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. B (1997). 8 LaTex pages with 5 figure

Long-term stability of planets in and around binary stars

Planets are observed to orbit the component star(s) of stellar binary systems on so-called circumprimary or circumsecondary orbits, as well as around the entire binary system on so-called circumbinary orbits. Depending on the orbital parameters of the binary system a planet will be dynamically stable if it orbits within some critical separation of the semimajor axis in the circumprimary case, or beyond some critical separation for the circumbinary case. We present N-body simulations of star-forming regions that contain populations of primordial binaries to determine the fraction of binary systems that can host stable planets at various semimajor axes, and how this fraction of stable systems evolves over time. Dynamical encounters in star-forming regions can alter the orbits of some binary systems, which can induce long-term dynamical instabilities in the planetary system and can even change the size of the habitable zone(s) of the component stars. However, the overall fraction of binaries that can host stable planetary systems is not greatly affected by either the assumed binary population, or the density of the star-forming region. Instead, the critical factor in determining how many stable planetary systems exist in the Galaxy is the stellar binary fraction – the more stars that are born as singles in stellar nurseries, the higher the fraction of stable planetary systems

Management and treatment of children, young people and adults with systemic lupus erythematosus: British Society for Rheumatology guideline scope

The objective of this guideline is to provide up-to-date, evidence-based recommendations for the management of SLE that builds upon the existing treatment guideline for adults living with SLE published in 2017. This will incorporate advances in the assessment, diagnosis, monitoring, non-pharmacological and pharmacological management of SLE. General approaches to management as well as organ-specific treatment, including lupus nephritis and cutaneous lupus, will be covered. This will be the first guideline in SLE using a whole life course approach from childhood through adolescence and adulthood. The guideline will be developed with people with SLE as an important target audience in addition to healthcare professionals. It will include guidance related to emerging approved therapies and account for National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Technology Appraisals, National Health Service England clinical commissioning policies and national guidance relevant to SLE. The guideline will be developed using the methods and rigorous processes outlined in ‘Creating Clinical Guidelines: Our Protocol’ by the British Society for Rheumatology

TESS Reveals HD 118203 b to be a Transiting Planet

The exoplanet HD 118203 b, orbiting a bright (V = 8.05) host star, was discovered using the radial velocity method by da Silva et al., but was not previously known to transit. Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry has revealed that this planet transits its host star. Nine planetary transits were observed by TESS, allowing us to measure the radius of the planet to be 1.136-0.028 +0.029 R J, and to calculate the planet mass to be 2.166-0.079 +0.074 M J. The host star is slightly evolved with an effective temperature of T eff=5683-85 +84 K and a surface gravity of log\,g=3.889 0.018-0.017. With an orbital period of 6.134985-0.000030 +0.000029 days and an eccentricity of 0.314 ± 0.017, the planet occupies a transitional regime between circularized hot Jupiters and more dynamically active planets at longer orbital periods. The host star is among the 10 brightest known to have transiting giant planets, providing opportunities for both planetary atmospheric and asteroseismic studies

The Revised TESS Input Catalog and Candidate Target List

We describe the catalogs assembled and the algorithms used to populate the revised TESS Input Catalog (TIC), based on the incorporation of the Gaia second data release. We also describe a revised ranking system for prioritizing stars for 2 minute cadence observations, and we assemble a revised Candidate Target List (CTL) using that ranking. The TIC is available on the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes server, and an enhanced CTL is available through the Filtergraph data visualization portal system at http://filtergraph.vanderbilt.edu/tess_ctl

An Eccentric Massive Jupiter Orbiting a Subgiant on a 9.5-day Period Discovered in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Full Frame Images

We report the discovery of TOI-172 b from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, a massive hot Jupiter transiting a slightly evolved G star with a 9.48-day orbital period. This is the first planet to be confirmed from analysis of only the TESS full frame images, because the host star was not chosen as a two-minute cadence target. From a global analysis of the TESS photometry and follow-up observations carried out by the TESS Follow-up Observing Program Working Group, TOI-172 (TIC 29857954) is a slightly evolved star with an effective temperature of T eff = 5645 ± 50 K, a mass of M ∗ = 1.128-0.061 +0.065 M o, radius of R ∗ = 1.777-0.044 +0.047 R o, a surface gravity of log g ∗ = 3.993-0.028 +0.027, and an age of 7.4-1.5 +1.6. Its planetary companion (TOI-172 b) has a radius of R P = 0.965-0.029 +0.032 R J, a mass of M P = 5.42-0.20 +0.22 M J, and is on an eccentric orbit (e = 0.3806-0.0090 +0.0093 ). TOI-172 b is one of the few known massive giant planets on a highly eccentric short-period orbit. Future study of the atmosphere of this planet and its system architecture offer opportunities to understand the formation and evolution of similar systems

TESS Delivers Five New Hot Giant Planets Orbiting Bright Stars from the Full-frame Images

We present the discovery and characterization of five hot and warm Jupiters - TOI-628 b (TIC 281408474; HD 288842), TOI-640 b (TIC 147977348), TOI-1333 b (TIC 395171208, BD+47 3521A), TOI-1478 b (TIC 409794137), and TOI-1601 b (TIC 139375960) - based on data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The five planets were identified from the full-frame images and were confirmed through a series of photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations by the TESS Follow-up Observing Program Working Group. The planets are all Jovian size (R P = 1.01-1.77 R J) and have masses that range from 0.85 to 6.33 M J. The host stars of these systems have F and G spectral types (5595 ≤ T eff ≤ 6460 K) and are all relatively bright (9.5 1.7 R J, possibly a result of its host star's evolution) and resides on an orbit with a period longer than 5 days. TOI-628 b is the most massive, hot Jupiter discovered to date by TESS with a measured mass of 6.31-0.30+0.28 M J and a statistically significant, nonzero orbital eccentricity of e = 0.074-0.022+0.021. This planet would not have had enough time to circularize through tidal forces from our analysis, suggesting that it might be remnant eccentricity from its migration. The longest-period planet in this sample, TOI-1478 b (P = 10.18 days), is a warm Jupiter in a circular orbit around a near-solar analog. NASA's TESS mission is continuing to increase the sample of well-characterized hot and warm Jupiters, complementing its primary mission goals

KELT-25 b and KELT-26 b: A Hot Jupiter and a Substellar Companion Transiting Young A Stars Observed by TESS

We present the discoveries of KELT-25 b (TIC 65412605, TOI-626.01) and KELT-26 b (TIC 160708862, TOI-1337.01), two transiting companions orbiting relatively bright, early A stars. The transit signals were initially detected by the KELT survey and subsequently confirmed by Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry. KELT-25 b is on a 4.40 day orbit around the V = 9.66 star CD-24 5016 (Teff=8280-180+440 K, M ∗ = 2.18-0.11+0.12 M o˙), while KELT-26 b is on a 3.34 day orbit around the V = 9.95 star HD 134004 (Teff = 8640-240+500 K, M ∗ = 1.93-0.16+0.14 M o˙), which is likely an Am star. We have confirmed the substellar nature of both companions through detailed characterization of each system using ground-based and TESS photometry, radial velocity measurements, Doppler tomography, and high-resolution imaging. For KELT-25, we determine a companion radius of R P = 1.64-0.043+0.039 R J and a 3σ upper limit on the companion's mass of ∼64 M J. For KELT-26 b, we infer a planetary mass and radius of M P = 1.41-0.51+0.43MJ and R P = 1.94-0.058+0.060 R J. From Doppler tomographic observations, we find KELT-26 b to reside in a highly misaligned orbit. This conclusion is weakly corroborated by a subtle asymmetry in the transit light curve from the TESS data. KELT-25 b appears to be in a well-aligned, prograde orbit, and the system is likely a member of the cluster Theia 449

The criminal justice voluntary sector: concepts and an agenda for an emerging field

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Tomczak, P. & Buck, G. (2019). The criminal justice voluntary sector: concepts and an agenda for an emerging field. Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 58(3), which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12326. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.Volunteers and voluntary organisations play significant roles pervading criminal justice. They are key actors, with unrecognised potential to shore up criminal justice and/or collaboratively reshape social justice. Unlike public and for-profit agents, criminal justice volunteers and voluntary organisations (CJVVOs) have been neglected by scholars. We call for analyses of diverse CJVVOs, in national and comparative contexts. We provide three categories to highlight distinctive organising auspices, which hold across criminal justice: statutory volunteers, quasi-statutory volunteers and voluntary organisations. The unknown implications of these different forms of non-state, non-profit justice involvement deserve far greater attention from academics, policymakers and practitioners