Extended-release guanfacine hydrochloride in 6-17-year olds with ADHD: a randomised-withdrawal maintenance of efficacy study.

Background Extended-release guanfacine hydrochloride (GXR), a selective α2A-adrenergic agonist, is a nonstimulant medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This phase 3, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised-withdrawal study evaluated the long-term maintenance of GXR efficacy in children/adolescents with ADHD. Methods Children/adolescents (6–17 years) with ADHD received open-label GXR (1–7 mg/day). After 13 weeks, responders were randomised to GXR or placebo in the 26-week, double-blind, randomised-withdrawal phase (RWP). The primary endpoint was the percentage of treatment failure (≥50% increase in ADHD Rating Scale version IV total score and ≥2-point increase …

Millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae

An eclipsing millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster Terzan 5

WE HAVE discovered an eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster Terzan 5. This, the second known eclipsing binary pulsar after PSR1957 + 20, has a pulse period of 11.56 ms and a very short orbital period of 1.8 hours. In contrast to PSR1957 + 20, where the eclipses occupy about 10 per cent of the orbital period1, the eclipse duration in this pulsar is very variable and never less than one-third of the orbital period. The pulsar is in a circular orbit of radius 0.11 light seconds, which implies a minimum companion mass of 0.089 solar masses, about four times the companion mass of PSR1957 + 20. Timing observations suggest an identification of the pulsar with a variable conti…

EPA-0666 – Long-term maintenance of efficacy of extended-release guanfacine hydrochloride (GXR) in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre, phase 3 randomized withdrawal study

Introduction GXR, a selective α2A-adrenergic agonist, is a non-stimulant ADHD treatment approved in the USA for children and adolescents, and in Canada for children. Objectives To evaluate long-term maintenance of efficacy of GXR in children and adolescents with ADHD who respond to an initial open-label, short-term trial. Aims To determine if there is a higher rate of treatment failure for placebo vs GXR during the double-blind randomised-withdrawal phase (RWP) (NCT01081145). Methods Patients (6–17 years) meeting DSM-IV-TR criteria for ADHD, baseline ADHD Rating Scale-IV (ADHD-RS-IV) ≥32 and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S) ratings ≥4 were enrolled. Following 7-week dose optimiz…

PSR 1758 – 24 and G5.4 – 1.2, a remarkable pulsar–supernova remnant association

Τiming observations made over an 18-month period using the Parkes radiotelescope show that the pulsar PSR 1758-24 is young and is located at the extreme western edge of the compact nebula G5.27-0.90 which is associated with supernova remnant G5.4-1.2. These results confirm the association of this pulsar with the supernova remnant. They also imply that the pulsar was born with such a high velocity that is has overtaken the supernova remnant shell and now lies outside the shell

Efficacy and safety of extended-release guanfacine hydrochloride in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A randomized, controlled, Phase III trial

AbstractGuanfacine extended-release (GXR), a selective α2A-adrenergic agonist, is a non-stimulant treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study assessed the efficacy (symptoms and function) and safety of dose-optimized GXR compared with placebo in children and adolescents with ADHD. An atomoxetine (ATX) arm was included to provide reference data against placebo. Patients (6–17 years) were randomized at baseline to dose-optimized GXR (0.05–0.12mg/kg/day – 6–12 years: 1–4mg/day; 13–17 years: 1–7mg/day), ATX (10–100mg/day) or placebo for 4 or 7 weeks. The primary efficacy measure was change from baseline in ADHD Rating Scale version IV (ADHD-RS-IV). Key secondary me…

The parkes Southern pulsar Survey -- I. Observing and data analysis systems and initial results

'Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, PO Box 76, Epping NSW 2121, Australia Wuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, University of Manchester, lodrell Bank, Macclesfield, Cheshire SKII 9DL 3Istituto di Radioastronomia del CNR, Via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy 4Istituto di Fisica dell'Universita, Via Archirafi 36, 90123 Palermo, Italy 'Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia 6Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Private Bag, Weston ACT 2611, Australia

Gamma-Ray and Radio Observations of PSR B1509-58

Abstract : We report concurrent radio and gamma-ray observations of PSR B1509-58 carried out by the Parkes Radio Telescope and by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) and the Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO-Gamma-ray light curves fitted at several energies between ~ 20-500 keV yield a phase offset with respect to the radio pulse that is independent of energy, with an average value 0.32 plus or minus 0.02. Although this value is larger by 0.07 than that reported by Kawai et al., the difference is not statistically significant (only~2 sigma) when account is taken of the uncertainty associated with their result. We b…

Discovery of ten millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae

IN the past four years a total of 13 millisecond pulsars have been found in 12 different globular clusters. These pulsars are believed to be old neutron stars that have been spun up ('recycled') in low-mass X-ray binary systems1 although some may have been formed by the accretion-induced collapse of white dwarfs in binaries2. The globular cluster 47 Tucanae has an especially dense core, and is therefore a likely site for millisecond pulsar formation. Using the Parkes radiotelescope, we have now detected ten addi-tional millisecond pulsars in 47 Tuc, more than half of which are members of binary systems. Almost half of the known millisecond pulsars and more than a quarter of the known binary…

Gravitational-wave Constraints on the Equatorial Ellipticity of Millisecond Pulsars

We present a search for continuous gravitational waves from five radio pulsars, comprising three recycled pulsars (PSR J0437-4715, PSR J0711-6830, and PSR J0737-3039A) and two young pulsars: the Crab pulsar (J0534+2200) and the Vela pulsar (J0835-4510). We use data from the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo combined with data from their first and second observing runs. For the first time, we are able to match (for PSR J0437-4715) or surpass (for PSR J0711-6830) the indirect limits on gravitational-wave emission from recycled pulsars inferred from their observed spin-downs, and constrain their equatorial ellipticities to be less than 10-8. For each of the five pulsars, we perfor…

A high-frequency survey of the southern Galactic plane for pulsars

Results of an HF survey designed to detect young, distant, and short-period pulsars are presented. The survey detected a total of 100 pulsars, 46 of which were previously unknown. The periods of the newly discovered pulsars range between 47 ms and 2.5 ms. One of the new discoveries, PSR 1259-63, is a member of a long-period binary system. At least three of the pulsars have ages less than 30,000 yr, bringing the total number of such pulsars to 12. The majority of the new discoveries are distant objects with high dispersion measures, which are difficult to detect at low frequencies. This demonstrates that the survey has reduced the severe selection effects of pulse scattering, high Galactic b…

EPA-0685 – Guanfacine XR (GXR) for children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): phase 3, randomized, double-blind, multicenter, placebo- and active-reference study

Introduction GXR, a selective α2A-adrenergic agonist, is a non-stimulant treatment for ADHD (approved in the USA for children and adolescents and in Canada for children). Objectives To assess the efficacy (symptoms and function) and safety of dose-optimized GXR compared with placebo in children and adolescents with ADHD. Aims To evaluate the efficacy (symptom and function) and safety of GXR for the treatment of ADHD. An atomoxetine (ATX) arm was included to provide reference data against placebo (NCT01244490). Methods Patients (6–17 years) were randomly assigned at baseline to dose-optimized GXR (6–12 years, 1–4 mg/day; 13–17 years, 1–7 mg/day), ATX (10–100mg/day) or placebo for 4 or 7 week…