A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

DYNAMO - I. A sample of H alpha-luminous galaxies with resolved kinematics

DYNAMO is a multiwavelength, spatially resolved survey of local (z ∼ 0.1) star-forming galaxies designed to study evolution through comparison with samples at z _ 2. Half of the sample has integrated Hα luminosities of >1042 erg s−1, the typical lower limit for resolved spectroscopy at z _ 2. The sample covers a range in stellar mass (109–1011M_) and star formation rate (0.2–100M_ yr−1). In this first paper of a series, we present integral-field spectroscopy of Hα emission for the sample of 67 galaxies. We infer gas fractions in our sample as high as _0.8, higher than typical for local galaxies. Gas fraction correlates with stellarmass in galaxies with star formation rates below 10M_ yr−1, as found by COLDGASS, but galaxies with higher star formation rates have higher than expected gas fractions. There is only a weak correlation, if any, between gas fraction and gas velocity dispersion. Galaxies in the sample visually classified as disc-like are offset from the local stellar mass Tully–Fisher relation to higher circular velocities, but this offset vanishes when both gas and stars are included in the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation. The mean gas velocity dispersion of the sample is_50 km s−1, and V/σ ranges from 2 to 10 for most of the discs, similar to ‘turbulent’ galaxies at high redshift. Half of our sample show disc-like rotation, while ∼20 per cent show no signs of rotation. The division between rotating and non-rotating is approximately equal for the sub-samples with either star formation rates >10M_ yr−1, or specific star formation rates typical of the star formation ‘main sequence’ at z _ 2. Across our whole sample, we find good correlation between the dominance of ‘turbulence’ in galaxy discs (as expressed by V/σ ) and gas fraction as has been predicted for marginally stable Toomre discs. Comparing our sample with many others at low- and high-redshift reveals a correlation between gas velocity dispersion and star formation rate. These findings suggest the DYNAMO discs are excellent candidates for local galaxies similar to turbulent z _ 2 disc galaxies

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

The effect of triple therapy on the mortality of catastrophic anti-phospholipid syndrome patients

Objectives. The objective of this study was to assess the effect that triple therapy (anticoagulation plus CS plus plasma exchange and/or IVIGs) has on the mortality risk of patients with catastrophic APS (CAPS) included in the CAPS Registry. Methods. Patients from the CAPS Registry were grouped based on their treatments: triple therapy; drugs included in the triple therapy but in different combinations; and none of the treatments included in the triple therapy. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to compare mortality risk between groups. Results. The CAPS Registry cohort included 525 episodes of CAPS accounting for 502 patients. After excluding 54 episodes (10.3%), a total of 471 patients with CAPS were included [mean (S.D.) age 38.5 years (17); 68.2% female primary APS patients 62%]. Overall, 174 (36.9%) patients died. Triple therapy was prescribed in 189 episodes (40.1%), other combinations in 270 (57.3%) and none of those treatments in 12 episodes (2.5%); the mortality rate in the three groups was 28.6, 41.1 and 75%, respectively. Triple therapy was positively associated with a higher chance of survival when compared with non-treatment [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 9.7, 95% CI: 2.3, 40.6] or treatment with other combinations of drugs included in the triple therapy (adjusted OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.2, 2.6). No statistical differences were found between patients that received triple therapy with plasma exchange or IVIGs (P = 0.92). Conclusion. Triple therapy is independently associated with a higher survival rate among patients with CAPS. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology

Functional impairment of systemic scleroderma patients with digital ulcerations: results from the DUO Registry

Objective. Digital ulcers (DUs) are frequent manifestations of systemic scleroderma (SSc). This study assessed functional limitations due to DUs among patients enrolled in the Digital Ulcer Outcome (DUO) Registry, an international, multicentre, observational registry of SSc patients with DU disease. Methods. Patients completed at enrolment a DU-specific functional assessment questionnaire with a 1-month recall period, measuring impairment in work and daily activities, and hours of help needed from others. Physician-reported clinical parameters were used to describe the population. For patients who completed at least part of the questionnaire, descriptive analyses were performed for overall results, and stratified by number of DUs at enrolment. Results. This study included 2327 patients who completed at least part of the questionnaire. For patients with 0, 1-2, and DUs at enrolment, mean overall work impairment during the prior month among employed/self-employed patients was 28\%, 42\%, and 48\%, respectively. Across all included patients, ability to perform daily activities was impaired on average by 35\%, 54\%, and 63\%, respectively. Patients required a mean of 2.0, 8.7, and 8.8 hours of paid help and 17.0, 35.9, and 63.7 hours of unpaid help, respectively, due to DUs in the prior month. Patients with DUs had more complications and medication use than patients with no DUs. Conclusion. With increasing number of DUs, SSc patients reported more impairment in work and daily activities and required more support from others