Spontaneous CP Violation in a SUSY Model with a complex CKM

It is pointed out that the recent measurement of the angle $\gamma$ of the unitarity triangle, providing irrefutable evidence for a complex Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix, presents a great challenge for supersymmetric models with spontaneous CP violation. We construct a new minimal extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), with spontaneous CP breaking, which leads to a complex CKM matrix, thus conforming to present experimental data. This is achieved through the introduction of two singlet chiral superfields and a vector-like quark chiral superfield which mixes with the standard quarks. A $Z_3$ symmetry is introduced in order to have a potential solution to the strong CP problem.Comment: 12 pages. Uses the elsart.cls LaTeX class. Minor corrections and references adde

Application of Infrared Thermal Imaging in a Violinist with Temporomandibular Disorder

Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) consist of a group of pathologies that affect the masticatory muscles, temporomandibular joints (TMJ), and/or related structures. String instrumentalists, like many orchestra musicians, can spend hours with head postures that may influence the biomechanical behavior of the TMJ and the muscles of the craniocervicomandibular complex (CCMC). The adoption of abnormal postures acquired during performance by musicians can lead to muscular hyperactivity of the head and cervical muscles, with the possible appearance of TMD. Medical infrared thermography is a non-invasive procedure that can monitor the changes in the superficial tissue related to blood circulation and may serve as a complement to the clinical examination. The objective of this study was to use infrared thermography to evaluate, in one subject, the cutaneous thermal changes adjacent to the CCMC that occur before, during, and after playing a string instrument

Kairomonal response of the parasitoid Anagyrus spec. nov. near pseudococci to the sex pheromone of the vine mealybug

The occurrence of a kairomonal response of the parasitoid Anagyrus spec. nov. near pseudococci (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) to (+)-(1 R, 3 R )- cis -2,2-dimethyl-3-isopropenyl-cyclobutanemethanol acetate (PcA, namely, planococcyl acetate) and ( S )-(+)-lavandulyl senecioate (LS), the respective female sex pheromones of its hosts, the citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso) and the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus (Signoret) (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae) was investigated. Attraction to the pheromones was tested by employing pheromone traps in field trials and by static air olfactometer bioassays in the laboratory. Female wasps showed a significant response to LS, in both field and olfactometer experiments. No significant response was registered to the sex pheromone of P. citri. Despite the similarity between the structures of LS and its analogue ( S ) - (+)-lavandulyl isovalerate (LI), no significant response to the latter compound was observed. It seems that differences between the structures of the carboxylate moiety of the respective molecules (LS and LI) markedly affect the kairomonal attractiveness to the parasitoid. The kairomonal response of Anagyrus spec. nov. near pseudococci was neither influenced by the host habitat nor by the host species on which it developed. This suggested innate behaviour of Anagyrus spec. nov. near pseudococci , possibly derived from evolutionary relationships between the parasitoid and P. ficus . The practical implications of the results are discussed

Testing quark mass matrices with right-handed mixings

In the standard model, several forms of quark mass matrices which correspond to the choice of weak bases lead to the same left-handed mixings $V_L=V_{CKM}$, while the right-handed mixings $V_R$ are not observable quantities. Instead, in a left-right extension of the standard model, such forms are ansatze and give different right-handed mixings which are now observable quantities. We partially select the reliable forms of quark mass matrices by means of constraints on right-handed mixings in some left-right models, in particular on $V^R_{cb}$. Hermitian matrices are easily excluded.Comment: 12 pages RevTex, no figures. Minor corrections. Comment on SO(10) changed and one reference adde

Asas health index for patients with spondyloarthritis: translation into portuguese, validation, and reliability

Trabalho apresentado no Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2017), 14-17 junho de 2017, Madrid, EspanhaN/

Higgs Sector of the Minimal Left-Right Symmetric Model

We perform an exhaustive analysis of the most general Higgs sector of the minimal left-right symmetric model (MLRM). We find that the CP properties of the vacuum state are connected to the Higgs spectrum: if CP is broken spontaneously, the MLRM does not approach the Standard Model in the limit of a decoupling left-right symmetry breaking scale. Depending on the size of the CP phases scenarios with extra non-decoupling flavor-violating doublet Higgses or very light SU(2) triplet Higgses emerge, both of which are ruled out by phenomenology. For zero CP phases the non-standard Higgses decouple only if a very unnatural fine-tuning condition is fulfilled. We also discuss generalizations to a non-minimal Higgs sector.Comment: brief discussion of non-minimal Higgs sectors added, journal versio

Hierarchical Neutrino Mass Matrices, CP violation and Leptogenesis

In this work we study examples of hierarchical neutrino mass matrices inspired by family symmetries, compatible with experiments on neutrino oscillations, and for which there is a connection among the low energy CP violation phase associated to neutrino oscillations, the phases appearing in the amplitude of neutrinoless double beta decay, and the phases relevant for leptogenesis. In particular, we determine the predictions from a texture based on an underlying SU(3) family symmetry together with a GUT symmetry, and a strong hierarchy for the masses of the heavy right handed Majorana masses. We also give some examples of inverted hierarchies of neutrino masses, which may be motivated in the context of U(1) family symmetries.Comment: 34 pages. Replaced with published version -typos, corrections and references adde

Yet Another Extension of the Standard Model: Oases in the Desert?

We have searched for conceptually simple extensions of the standard model, and describe here a candidate model which we find attractive. Our starting point is the assumption that off-diagonal CKM mixing matrix elements are directly related by lowest order perturbation theory to the quark mass matrices. This appears to be most easily and naturally implemented by assuming that all off-diagonal elements reside in the down-quark mass matrix. This assumption is in turn naturally realized by introducing three generations of heavy, electroweak-singlet down quarks which couple to the Higgs sector diagonally in flavor, while mass-mixing off-diagonally with the light down-quarks. Anomaly cancellation then naturally leads to inclusion of electroweak vector-doublet leptons. It is then only a short step to completing the extension to three generations of fundamental representations of E(6). Assuming only that the third generation B couples to the Higgs sector at least as strongly as does the top quark, the mass of the B is roughly estimated to lie between 1.7 TeV and 10 TeV, with lower-generation quarks no heavier. The corresponding guess for the new leptons is a factor two lower. Within the validity of the model, flavor and CP violation are ``infrared'' in nature, induced by semi-soft mass mixing terms, not Yukawa couplings. If the Higgs couplings of the new quarks are flavor symmetric, then there necessarily must be at least one ``oasis'' in the desert, induced by new radiative corrections to the top quark and Higgs coupling constants, and roughly at 1000 TeV.Comment: LaTex, 40 page

β-Lactam antibiotics and vancomycin inhibit the growth of planktonic and biofilm Candida spp.: An additional benefit of antibiotic-lock therapy?

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of cefepime, meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam (TZP) and vancomycin on strains of Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis in planktonic and biofilm forms. Twenty azole-derivative-resistant strains of C. albicans (n=10) and C. tropicalis (n=10) were tested. The susceptibility of planktonic Candida spp. to the antibacterial agents was investigated by broth microdilution. The XTT reduction assay was performed to evaluate the viability of growing and mature biofilms following exposure to these drugs. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranged from 0.5mg/mL to 2mg/mL for cefepime, TZP and vancomycin and from 0.5mg/mL to 1mg/mL for meropenem and the drugs also caused statistically significant reductions in biofilm cellular activity both in growing and mature biofilm. Since all of the tested drugs are commonly used in patients with hospital-acquired infections and in those with catheter-related infections under antibiotic-lock therapy, it may be possible to obtain an additional benefit from antibiotic-lock therapy with these drugs, namely the control of Candida biofilm formation