Context. The NASA mission TESS is currently doing an all-sky survey from space to detect transiting planets around bright stars. As part of the validation process, the most promising planet ...candidates need to be confirmed and characterized using follow-up observations.
Aims. In this article, our aim is to confirm the planetary nature of the transiting planet candidate TOI-674b using spectroscopic and photometric observations.
Methods. We use TESS, Spitzer, ground-based light curves, and HARPS spectrograph radial velocity measurements to establish the physical properties of the transiting exoplanet candidate TOI-674b. We perform a joint fit of the light curves and radial velocity time series to measure the mass, radius, and orbital parameters of the candidate.
Results. We confirm and characterize TOI-674b, a low-density super-Neptune transiting a nearby M dwarf. The host star (TIC 158588995, V = 14.2 mag, J = 10.3 mag) is characterized by its M2V spectral type with M⋆ = 0.420 ± 0.010 Mꙩ, R⋆ = 0.420 ± 0.013 Rꙩ, and T(eff) = 3514 ± 57 K; it is located at a distance d = 46.16 ± 0.03 pc. Combining the available transit light curves plus radial velocity measurements and jointly fitting a circular orbit model, we find an orbital period of 1.977143 ± 3 × 10^(−6) days, a planetary radius of 5.25 ± 0.17 Rꚛ, and a mass of 23.6 ± 3.3 Mꚛ implying a mean density of ρp =0.91 ± 0.15 g/cu. cm. A non-circular orbit model fit delivers similar planetary mass and radius values within the uncertainties. Given the measured planetary radius and mass, TOI-674b is one of the largest and most massive super-Neptune class planets discovered around an M-type star to date. It is found in the Neptunian desert, and is a promising candidate for atmospheric characterization using the James Webb Space Telescope.
Abstract The purpose of this study was to compare the mechanical resistance of three different plates used to treat fractures of the mandibular angle: a regular 4-hole plate, a longer 4-hole plate ...(both positioned using the Champy technique), and a 3-dimensional plate positioned over the oblique line. Three equal groups of replicas of human dentate mandibles made out of polyurethane resin were used (n = 21 in each group). The force was applied perpendicular to the occlusal plane at a rate of 2 mm/minute at three different points: the first molar on the sectioned side; the first molar on the contralateral side; and between the central incisors. This was followed by a resistance-to-load test. The two varying factors (type of plate and site-of-load application) were tested by analysis of variance, and probabilities of less than 0.05 were accepted as significant. There were no significant differences between the subgroups, or between the mean values of the different types of plates (p = 0.925). The three types of plates showed similar mechanical behaviour, which showed that the 3-dimensional plates positioned over the oblique line can produce mechanical scores similar to those of conventional plates.
Abstract
Urbanization has spread throughout the globe. Accompanied by rapid population growth, urbanization has resulted in the change of land use/land cover manifested by conversion of forests to ...impervious areas and subsequent alteration of the hydrology in the area. This study sheds light on the impacts of such land cover changes to peak discharges in the Davao River Basin as a result of the watershed alterations. Land cover from 2010 and 2018 were used to represent two (2) levels of urbanization (increasing with year). These were generated from spatial analysis of MODIS imagery data in ArcGIS. This was used in the hydrologic simulation in HEC-HMS to gather the peak discharges for the two events. An increase in peak discharge is observed along with an increase in urbanization. Furthermore, the additional 1.12% of land converted to an impervious area of the basin lead to an increase in peak discharge of 105.85% in the simulations. Moreover, the conversion of areas to impermeable surfaces led to a 52.23% decrease in the infiltration capacity of the sub basins.
Abstract
The study investigated the effects of a novel biochar-biofertilizer-vermicompost formulation on the rhizosphere soil microbial community and growth of mature
T. cacao
trees planted in three ...farms in the provinces of Batangas (Lipa) and Laguna (Liliw and Magdalena), Philippines. Cacao trees were amended with MYKORICH® (MR) without or with 15% bamboo biochar (15% BB) and vermicompost. In the three years span of the experiment, stem diameter increments of BB-treated cacao in Magdalena and Lipa were 5% and 19% higher than the control (56.09 mm and 49.08 mm), respectively, whereas MR and MR + BB-treated trees in Liliw were 34-35% higher relative to control. Soil microbial analysis showed that mycorrhizal spore counts in BB-amended soils were 133% (Liliw), 262% (Magdalena) and 109% (Lipa) higher than the control. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria obtained from MR + BB-amended soils in Liliw were 216% higher than control, and 81% higher relative to control in BB-treated soils in Lipa. Soil nitrogen and potassium contents of the three cacao farms also improved by 26-85%. With the significant effect of bamboo biochar and mycorrhizal fertilizer, alone or in combination, on the growth of cacao, the microbial community and nutrient status of the cacao rhizosphere soil, this technology would be beneficial to cacao farmers and to almost all crops in an agroforest ecosystem.
Abstract
Coffee (
Coffea
spp.) is considered as one of the high-value commercial crops of the world. The study assessed the growth of mature and fruiting coffee in an already-established agroforestry ...ecosystems amended with biofertilizer, biochar, and vermicompost mixture. Field experiments were conducted on three coffee farms within the provinces of Laguna and Batangas, Luzon Island, Philippines (coded as Sta. Maria (Laguna), Lipa1 and Lipa2 (Batangas) with treatments: control, MYKORICH® biofertilizer (MRICH), 15% bamboo biochar (BB) and MRICH+BB. All trees were applied with one kg vermicompost per tree during the start of the experiment applied at 3-4 in below the soil surface, half m away from the base of the tree. MRICH+BB consistently gave a high significant increase of 221% stem diameter increment in Sta. Maria and 214% in Lipa2 after six months to three years. In Lipa1, BB treatment gave the highest increment (20.75 mm). Soil in Sta. Maria gave the highest spore count (136 per 50 g soil) when treated with MRICH. MRICH also promoted the highest nitrogen-fixing bacterial count (15.43 CFU x 10
6
) in Lipa2. Highest fruit yield was gathered from MRICH+BB in Sta. Maria (2,010 g per tree) and Lipa1 (1,640 g per tree) while MRICH in Lipa2 (1,390 g tree). Positive effect was also observed on soil physico-chemical characteristics (OM, N, P, K, CEC) when inoculated with either MRICH or MRICH+BB treatments. These findings can be of significance to develop a low-input sustainable system on agroforestry soils using combined biofertilizers, biochar and vermicompost.
Abstract
We present observations of two bright M dwarfs (TOI-1634 and TOI-1685:
J
= 9.5–9.6) hosting ultra-short-period (USP) planets identified by the TESS mission. The two stars are similar in ...temperature, mass, and radius (
T
eff
≈ 3500 K,
M
⋆
≈ 0.45–0.46
M
⊙
, and
R
⋆
≈ 0.45–0.46
R
⊙
), and the planets are both super-Earth size (1.25
R
⊕
<
R
p
< 2.0
R
⊕
). For both systems, light curves from ground-based photometry exhibit planetary transits, whose depths are consistent with those from the TESS photometry. We also refine the transit ephemerides based on the ground-based photometry, finding the orbital periods of
P
= 0.9893436 ± 0.0000020 days and
P
= 0.6691416 ± 0.0000019 days for TOI-1634b and TOI-1685b, respectively. Through intensive radial velocity (RV) observations using the InfraRed Doppler (IRD) instrument on the Subaru 8.2 m telescope, we confirm the planetary nature of the TOIs and measure their masses: 10.14 ± 0.95
M
⊕
and 3.43 ± 0.93
M
⊕
for TOI-1634b and TOI-1685b, respectively, when the observed RVs are fitted with a single-planet circular-orbit model. Combining those with the planet radii of
R
p
= 1.749 ± 0.079
R
⊕
(TOI-1634b) and 1.459 ± 0.065
R
⊕
(TOI-1685b), we find that both USP planets have mean densities consistent with an Earth-like internal composition, which is typical for small USP planets. TOI-1634b is currently the most massive USP planet in this category, and it resides near the radius valley, which makes it a benchmark planet in the context of discussing the size limit of rocky planet cores as well as testing the formation scenarios for USP planets. Excess scatter in the RV residuals for TOI-1685 suggests the presence of a possible secondary planet or unknown activity/instrumental noise in the RV data, but further observations are required to check those possibilities.
Abstract Dopamine increases in the nucleus accumbens after ethanol administration in rats, but the contributions of the core and shell subregions to this response are unclear. The goal of this study ...was to determine the effect of various doses of i.v. ethanol infusions on dopamine in these two subregions of the nucleus accumbens. Male Long-Evans rats were infused with either acute i.v. ethanol (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 g/kg), repeated i.v. ethanol (four 1.0 g/kg infusions resulting in a cumulative dose of 4.0 g/kg), or saline as a control for each condition. Dopamine and ethanol were measured in dialysate samples from each experiment. The in vivo extraction fraction for ethanol of probes was determined using i.v. 4-methylpyrazole, and was used to estimate peak brain ethanol concentrations after the infusions. The peak brain ethanol concentrations after the 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g/kg ethanol infusions were estimated to be 20, 49 and 57 mM, respectively. A significant dopamine increase was observed for the 0.5 g/kg ethanol group when collapsed across subregions. However, both the 1.0 g/kg and 1.5 g/kg ethanol infusions produced significant increases in dopamine levels in the shell that were significantly higher than those in the core. An ethanol dose-response effect on dopamine in the shell was observed when saline controls, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 g/kg groups were compared. For the cumulative-dosing study, the first, second, and fourth infusions resulted in significant increases in dopamine in the shell. However, these responses were not significantly different from one another. The results of this study show that the shell has a stronger response than the core to i.v. ethanol, that dopamine in the shell increases in a dose-dependent manner between 0.5–1.0 g/kg doses, but that the response to higher ethanol doses reaches a plateau.
ABSTRACT
Spatially resolved images of debris discs are necessary to determine disc morphological properties and the scattering phase function (SPF) thatantifies the brightness of scattered light as a ...function of phase angle. Current high-contrast imaging instruments have successfully resolved several dozens of debris discs around other stars, but few studies have investigated trends in the scattered-light, resolved population of debris discs in a uniform and consistent manner. We have combined Karhunen-Loeve Image Projection (KLIP) with radiative-transfer disc forward modelling in order to obtain the highest-quality image reductions and constrain disc morphological properties of eight debris discs imaged by the Gemini Planet Imager at H-band with a consistent and uniformly applied approach. In describing the scattering properties of our models, we assume a common SPF informed from solar system dust scattering measurements and apply it to all systems. We identify a diverse range of dust density properties among the sample, including critical radius, radial width, and vertical width. We also identify radially narrow and vertically extended discs that may have resulted from substellar companion perturbations, along with a tentative positive trend in disc eccentricity with relative disc width. We also find that using a common SPF can achieve reasonable model fits for discs that are axisymmetric and asymmetric when fitting models to each side of the disc independently, suggesting that scattering behaviour from debris discs may be similar to Solar system dust.
The prognosis for primary CNS lymphoma has improved with the use of high-dose methotrexate-based chemotherapy, but patient outcomes remain poor. Rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody that targets ...the CD20 cell surface protein, has substantial activity in systemic CD20-positive diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, but its efficacy in primary CNS lymphoma is unknown and low penetration of the large rituximab molecule through the blood–brain barrier could limit its effect. We aimed to investigate the addition of rituximab to a high-dose methotrexate-based chemotherapy regimen in patients with newly diagnosed primary CNS lymphoma.
This intergroup, multicentre, open-label, randomised phase 3 study was done at 23 hospitals in the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand. Non-immunocompromised patients aged 18–70 years with newly diagnosed primary CNS lymphoma were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive methotrexate-based chemotherapy with or without intravenous rituximab. We used a web-based randomisation system with stratification by centre, age, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group–WHO performance status, and a minimisation procedure. All group assignment was open label and neither investigators nor patients were masked to allocation. All patients were treated with two 28-day cycles of induction chemotherapy, consisting of intravenous methotrexate 3 g per m2 on days 1 and 15, intravenous carmustine 100 mg per m2 on day 4, intravenous teniposide 100 mg per m2 on days 2 and 3, and oral prednisone 60 mg per m2 on days 1–5, with (R-MBVP) or without (MBVP) intravenous rituximab 375 mg per m2 on days 0, 7, 14, and 21 in cycle one and days 0 and 14 in cycle two. Patients with response at the end of induction subsequently received high-dose cytarabine and, in patients aged 60 years or younger, low-dose whole-brain radiotherapy. The primary endpoint was event-free survival, with events defined as not reaching complete response or complete response unconfirmed at the end of treatment, or progression or death after response; analysis was adjusted for age and performance score. Patients were analysed on a modified intention-to-treat basis. This trial is registered with the Nederlands Trial Register, number NTR2427, and the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number ACTRN12610000908033. The trial was closed on May 27, 2016, after achieving complete accrual, and follow-up is ongoing.
Between Aug 3, 2010, and May 27, 2016, we recruited 200 patients (109 men and 91 women; median age was 61 years IQR 55–67). We randomly assigned 100 patients to MBVP and 99 patients to R-MBVP. One patient was randomly assigned to the R-MBVP group but found to be ineligible because of an incorrect diagnosis and was excluded from all analyses. After a median follow-up of 32·9 months (IQR 23·9–51·5), 98 patients had had an event (51 in the MBVP group and 47 in the R-MBVP group), of whom 79 had died (41 in the MBVP group and 38 in the R-MBVP group). Event-free survival at 1 year was 49% (95% CI 39–58) in the MBVP group (no rituximab) and 52% (42–61) in the R-MBVP group (with rituximab; hazard ratio 1·00, 95% CI 0·70–1·43, p=0·99). Grade 3 or 4 adverse events occurred in 58 (58%) patients in the MBVP group and 63 (64%) patients in the R-MBVP group, with infections (24 24% patients receiving MBVP vs 21 21% patients receiving R-MBVP), haematological toxicity (15 15% vs 12 12%), and nervous system disorders (ten 10% vs 15 15%) being the most common. Life-threatening or fatal serious adverse events occurred in 12 (12%) patients in the MBVP group and ten (10%) patients in the R-MBVP group, and five (5%) patients in the MBVP group and three (3%) in the R-MBVP group died from treatment-related causes.
We found no clear benefit of addition of rituximab to methotrexate, carmustine, teniposide, and prednisone chemotherapy in primary CNS lymphoma. Therefore, the results of this study do not support the use of rituximab as a component of standard treatment in primary CNS lymphoma.
Roche, the Dutch Cancer Society, and Stichting STOPhersentumoren.
We present the discovery and characterization of two sub-Neptunes in close orbits, as well as a tentative outer planet of a similar size, orbiting TOI-1260 – a low metallicity K6 V dwarf star. ...Photometry from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS) yields radii of R(b) = 2.33 ± 0.10 and R(c) = 2.82 ± 0.15 Rꚛ, and periods of 3.13 and 7.49 d for TOI-1260 b and TOI-1260 c, respectively. We combined the TESS data with a series of ground-based follow-up observations to characterize the planetary system. From HARPS-N high-precision radial velocities we obtain M(b) = 8.6(+1.4,−1.5) and M(c) = 11.8(+3.4,−3.2) Mꚛ. The star is moderately active with a complex activity pattern, which necessitated the use of Gaussian process regression for both the light-curve detrending and the radial velocity modelling, in the latter case guided by suitable activity indicators. We successfully disentangle the stellar-induced signal from the planetary signals, underlining the importance and usefulness of the Gaussian process approach. We test the system’s stability against atmospheric photoevaporation and find that the TOI-1260 planets are classic examples of the structure and composition ambiguity typical for the 2–3 Rꚛ range.
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