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Objective. Evaluate enthesitis, physical function, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) who are naive to anti-tumor necrosis factor agents. Methods. In PSUMMIT 1 and 2, patients with PsA were randomized to placebo or ustekinumab 45 mg or 90 mg. Enthesitis was assessed at weeks 0 and 24 (Maastricht Ankylosing Spondylitis Enthesitis Score). Assessments included Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ-DI), Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36) physical component summary/mental component summary (PCS/MCS), and American College of Rheumatology 20 (ACR20). Results. At Week 24, 21 had worsened enthesitis, 158 had improved enthesitis, and 412 had unchanged enthesitis. Improved enthesitis was associated with improvements in HAQ-DI and SF-36 MCS. Results were similar for ACR20 responders and nonresponders. Conclusion. Improvement in enthesitis at Week 24 was associated with improvements in physical function/HRQOL regardless of ACR20 response.

We present a photometric detection of the first brightness dips of the unique variable star KIC 8462852 since the end of the Kepler space mission in 2013 May. Our regular photometric surveillance started in October 2015, and a sequence of dipping began in 2017 May continuing on through the end of 2017, when the star was no longer visible from Earth. We distinguish four main 1-2.5% dips, named "Elsie," "Celeste," "Skara Brae," and "Angkor", which persist on timescales from several days to weeks. Our main results so far are: (i) there are no apparent changes of the stellar spectrum or polarization during the dips; (ii) the multiband photometry of the dips shows differential reddening favoring non-grey extinction. Therefore, our data are inconsistent with dip models that invoke optically thick material, but rather they are in-line with predictions for an occulter consisting primarily of ordinary dust, where much of the material must be optically thin with a size scale <

© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Japan. All rights reserved. Continuing the project described by Kato et al. (2009, PASJ, 61, S395), we collected times of superhump maxima for 102 SU UMa-type dwarf novae, observed mainly during the 2014-2015 season, and characterized these objects. Our project has greatly improved the statistics of the distribution of orbital periods, which is a good approximation of the distribution of cataclysmic variables at the terminal evolutionary stage, and has confirmed the presence of a period minimum at a period of 0.053 d and a period spike just above this period. The number density monotonically decreased toward the longer period and there was no strong indication of a period gap. We detected possible negative superhumps in Z Cha. It is possible that normal outbursts are also suppressed by the presence of a disk tilt in this system. There was no indication of enhanced orbital humps just preceding the superoutburst, and this result favors the thermal-tidal disk instability as the origin of superoutbursts. We detected superhumps in three AM CVn-type dwarf novae. Our observations and recent other detections suggest that 8% of objects showing dwarf nova-type outbursts are AM CVn-type objects. AM CVn-type objects and EI Psc-type objects may be more abundant than previously recognized. OT J213806, a WZ Sge-type object, exhibited remarkably different features between the 2010 and 2014 superoutbursts. Although the 2014 superoutburst was much fainter, the plateau phase was shorter than the 2010 one, and the course of the rebrightening phase was similar. This object indicates that the O - C diagrams of superhumps can indeed be variable, at least in WZ Sge-type objects. Four deeply eclipsing SU UMa-type dwarf novae (ASASSN-13cx, ASASSN-14ag, ASASSN-15bu, and NSV 4618) were identified. We studied long-term trends in supercycles in MM Hya and CY UMa and found systematic variations of supercycles of ∼20%.

A time-resolved optical spectroscopic study of the long-period (P=10.08h) old nova Q Cyg has revealed persistent yet erratic absorption features indicating the presence of a wind, while the system was rising to one of its stunded outbursts. Data taken with the WIYN 3.5m telescope show P Cygni profiles in the He I triplet lines at 5876Å and 7065Å, which are absent in the He I singlet emission line at 6678Å, despite the fact that the relevant energy levels of those three lines are at very similar excitation levels. The Hα line often has a red ward emission tail, characteristic of a receding outflow, and it possess a blueward absorption profile during only one wind event. Kafka et al. (2003) argued that this behavior is due to the strongly metastable 2 3S effective ground state of the He I triplets, which becomes over-populated in conditions of low density and a dilute radiation field, over-populating in turn the 23P common lower level of He I 5876Å and 7065Å, leading to absorption from a low density wind. Therefore, the triplet/singlet lines trace two different parts of the system: the wind and the disk respectively.

Over 300 extrasolar planets (exoplanets) have been detected orbiting nearby stars. We now hope to conduct a census of all planets around nearby stars and to characterize their atmospheres and surfaces with spectroscopy. Rocky planets within their star's habitable zones have the highest priority, as these have the potential to harbor life. Our science goal is to find and characterize all nearby exoplanets; this requires that we measure the mass, orbit, and spectroscopic signature of each one at visible and infrared wavelengths. The techniques for doing this are at hand today. Within the decade we could answer long-standing questions about the evolution and nature of other planetary systems, and we could search for clues as to whether life exists elsewhere in our galactic neighborhood., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Astro2010 Decadal Review