Spatially Resolved Images of Dust Belt(s) Around the Planet-hosting Subgiant Kappa CrB

We present Herschel spatially resolved images of the debris disc orbiting the subgiant Kappa CrB. Not only are these the first resolved images of a debris disc orbiting a subgiant, but Kappa CrB is a rare example of an intermediate mass star where a detailed study of the structure of the planetary system can be made, including both planets and planetesimal belt(s). The only way to discover planets around such stars using the radial velocity technique is to observe 'retired' A stars, which are cooler and slower rotators compared to their main-sequence counterparts. A planetary companion has already been detected orbiting the subgiant Kappa CrB, with revised parameters of m sin i = 2.1MJ and apl = 2.8AU (Johnson et al. 2008a). We present additional Keck I HIRES radial velocity measurements that provide evidence for a second planetary companion, alongside Keck II AO imaging that places an upper limit on the mass of this companion. Modelling of our Herschel images shows that the dust is broadly distributed, but cannot distinguish between a single wide belt (from 20 to 220AU) or two narrow dust belts (at around 40 and 165AU). Given the existence of a second planetary companion beyond approximately 3AU it is possible that the absence of dust within approximately 20AU is caused by dynamical depletion, although the observations are not inconsistent with depletion of these regions by collisional erosion, which occurs at higher rates closer to the star.Comment: Updated abstrac

Randomised, controlled trial of alternating pressure mattresses compared with alternating pressure overlays for the prevention of pressure ulcers : PRESSURE (pressure relieving support surfaces) trial

Objective To compare whether differences exist between alternating pressure overlays and alternating pressure mattresses in the development of new pressure ulcers, healing of existing pressure ulcers, and patient acceptability. Design Pragmatic, open, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. Setting 11 hospitals in six NHS trusts. Participants 1972 people admitted to hospital as acute or elective patients. Interventions Participants were randomised to an alternating pressure mattress (n = 982) of- an alternating pressure overlay (n = 990). Main outcome measures The proportion of participants developing a new pressure ulcer of grade 2 or worse; time to development of new pressure ulcers; proportions of participants developing a new ulcer within 30 days; healing of existing pressure ulcers; and patient acceptability Results Intention to treat analysis found no difference in the proportions of participants developing a new pressure ulcer of grade 2 or worse (10.7% overlay patients, 10.3% mattress patients; difference 0.4%, 95% confidence interval - 23% to 3.1%, P = 0.75). More overlay patients requested change owing to dissatisfaction (23.3%) than mattress patients (18.9%, P = 0.02). Conclusion No difference was found between alternating pressure mattresses and alternating pressure overlays in the proportion of people who develop a pressure ulcer

Montage: a grid portal and software toolkit for science-grade astronomical image mosaicking

Montage is a portable software toolkit for constructing custom, science-grade mosaics by composing multiple astronomical images. The mosaics constructed by Montage preserve the astrometry (position) and photometry (intensity) of the sources in the input images. The mosaic to be constructed is specified by the user in terms of a set of parameters, including dataset and wavelength to be used, location and size on the sky, coordinate system and projection, and spatial sampling rate. Many astronomical datasets are massive, and are stored in distributed archives that are, in most cases, remote with respect to the available computational resources. Montage can be run on both single- and multi-processor computers, including clusters and grids. Standard grid tools are used to run Montage in the case where the data or computers used to construct a mosaic are located remotely on the Internet. This paper describes the architecture, algorithms, and usage of Montage as both a software toolkit and as a grid portal. Timing results are provided to show how Montage performance scales with number of processors on a cluster computer. In addition, we compare the performance of two methods of running Montage in parallel on a grid.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Synthesis and Characterization of Azole Isoflavone Inhibitors of Aromatase

The synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of 2-azole and 2-thioazole isoflavones as potential aromatase inhibitors are described. Differences in inhibitory activity of triazole and imidazole inhibitors are rationalized with density functional theory to expose a key difference in the electronic structure of these molecules. In addition, difference binding spectra of inhibitors to immunoaffinity-purified aromatase produces classical Type II spectra consistent with coordination of the nitrogen lone pair electrons to the aromatase P450 heme

Synthesis and Characterization of Azole Isoflavone Inhibitors of Aromatase

The synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of 2-azole and 2-thioazole isoflavones as potential aromatase inhibitors are described. Differences in inhibitory activity of triazole and imidazole inhibitors are rationalized with density functional theory to expose a key difference in the electronic structure of these molecules. In addition, difference binding spectra of inhibitors to immunoaffinity-purified aromatase produces classical Type II spectra consistent with coordination of the nitrogen lone pair electrons to the aromatase P450 heme

A microscopic model for d-wave charge carrier pairing and non-Fermi-liquid behavior in a purely repulsive 2D electron system

We investigate a microscopic model for strongly correlated electrons with both on-site and nearest neighbor Coulomb repulsion on a 2D square lattice. This exhibits a state in which electrons undergo a ``somersault'' in their internal spin-space (spin-flux) as they traverse a closed loop in external coordinate space. When this spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic (AFM) insulator is doped, the ground state is a liquid of charged, bosonic meron-vortices, which for topological reasons are created in vortex-antivortex pairs. The magnetic exchange energy of the distorted AFM background leads to a logarithmic vortex-antivortex attraction which overcomes the direct Coulomb repulsion between holes localized on the vortex cores. This leads to the appearance of pre-formed charged pairs. We use the Configuration Interaction (CI) Method to study the quantum translational and rotational motion of various charged magnetic solitons and soliton pairs. The CI method systematically describes fluctuation and quantum tunneling corrections to the Hartree-Fock Approximation (HFA). We find that the lowest energy charged meron-antimeron pairs exhibit d-wave rotational symmetry, consistent with the symmetry of the cuprate superconducting order parameter. For a single hole in the 2D AFM plane, we find a precursor to spin-charge separation in which a conventional charged spin-polaron dissociates into a singly charged meron-antimeron pair. This model provides a unified microscopic basis for (i) non-Fermi-liquid transport properties, (ii) d-wave preformed charged carrier pairs, (iii) mid-infrared optical absorption, (iv) destruction of AFM long range order with doping and other magnetic properties, and (v) certain aspects of angled resolved photo-emission spectroscopy (ARPES).Comment: 14 pages, 17 figure