Three loop gauge beta-function for the most general single gauge-coupling theory

We calculate the three loop contribution to the beta-function of the gauge coupling constant in a general, anomaly-free, renormalisable gauge field theory involving a single gauge coupling using the background field method in the MSbar scheme.Comment: 10 latex page

The SUSY-QCD beta function to three loops

A number of DR-bar renormalization constants in softly broken SUSY-QCD are evaluated to three-loop level: the wave function renormalization constants for quarks, squarks, gluons, gluinos, ghosts, and epsilon-scalars, and the renormalization constants for the quark and gluino mass as well as for all cubic vertices. The latter allow us to derive the corresponding beta functions through three loops, all of which we find to be identical to the expression for the gauge beta function obtained by Jack, Jones, and North [Jack:1996vg] (see also Ref. [Pickering:2001aq]). This explicitely demonstrates the consistency of DRED with SUSY and gauge invariance, an important pre-requisite for precision calculations in supersymmetric theories.Comment: Latex, 16 pages, reference added; v2: matches published version in Eur.Phys.J.

The effective potential and conformal invariance in supersymmetric quantum field theories

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Relation between cognitive dysfunction and pseudobulbar palsy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relation between cognitive dysfunction and pseudobulbar features in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). METHODS: The performance of two patient groups, ALS with pseudobulbar palsy (n = 24) and ALS without pseudobulbar palsy (n = 28), was compared with 28 healthy age matched controls on an extensive neuropsychological battery. Tests used were the national adult reading test, short form of the WAIS-R, recognition memory test, Kendrick object learning test, paired associate learning, Wisconsin card sorting test, verbal fluency, Stroop and negative priming tests, a random movement joystick test, and a computerised Tower of Hanoi test. RESULTS: Tests of executive function showed a pronounced deficit on written verbal fluency in both ALS groups in comparison to controls, which tended to be more prominent in patients with ALS with pseudobulbar palsy. The random movement joystick test (a non-verbal test of intrinsic movement generation) showed an impairment in the generation of random sequences in patients with pseudobulbar palsy only. The computerised Tower of Hanoi showed a subtle planning impairment (shorter planning times) in all the patients with ALS compared with controls on trials requiring more complex solutions. In addition the pseudobulbar patients displayed shorter planning times on complex trials, and tended to solve these trials less accurately. There was also evidence of a deficit for all patients with ALS in comparison with controls on total errors and number of categories achieved on the Wisconsin card sorting test and a strong tendency towards an impairment on a task of selective attention and cognitive inhibition (negative priming). A word recognition memory deficit was showed across both ALS groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study elicited cognitive deficits (involving predominantly executive processes, with some evidence of memory impairment) in patients with ALS and further strengthened the link between ALS and frontal lobe dysfunction, this being more prominent in patients with pseudobulbar palsy. However, cognitive impairments suggestive of extramotor cortical involvement were not exclusive to this subgroup