45 research outputs found
Gamma oscillatory activity in vitro: a model system to assess pathophysiological mechanisms of comorbidity between autism and epilepsy.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and temporal lobe epilepsy exhibit remarkable comorbidity, but for reasons not clearly understood. To reveal a common pathophysiological mechanism, we here describe and characterize an in vitro epileptiform activity in the rat hippocampus that exhibits common features with in vivo activity in rodent ASD models. We discovered the development of this activity in the CA1 region of horizontal slices after prolonged interictal-like epileptiform activity in the CA3 region that was provoked by incubation in high potassium artificial cerebrospinal fluid. The CA1 epileptiform bursts were insensitive to blockers of glutamatergic transmission, and were carried by synaptic as well as extrasynaptic, tonically activated gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptors. The bursts bear resemblance to in vivo gamma-oscillatory activity found in rat ASD models with respect to their gamma frequency spectrum, their origin (in the CA1), and their sensitivity to blockers of cation-chloride pumps (NKCC1 and KCC2), as well as to oxytocin. Considering this bursting activity as an in vitro model for studying comorbidity between epilepsy and ASD may help to disentangle the intricate interactions that underlie the comorbidity between both diseases and suggests that extrasynaptic tonic GABAergic transmission could represent a potential target for ASD
Neutrinos in 5D SO(10) Unification
We study neutrino physics in a 5D supersymmetric SO(10) GUT. We analyze
several different choices for realizing the See-Saw mechanism. We find that the
"natural" scale for the Majorana mass of right-handed neutrinos depends
critically on whether the right-handed neutrinos are located in the bulk or
localized on a brane. In the former case, the effective Majorana mass is
"naturally" of order the compactification scale, about 10^{14} GeV. Note, this
is the value necessary for obtaining a light tau neutrino mass approximately
10^{-2} eV which, within the context of hierarchical neutrino masses, is the
right order of magnitude to explain atmospheric neutrino oscillations. On the
other-hand when the right-handed neutrino is localized on the brane, the
effective Majorana mass is typically larger than the compactification scale.
Nevertheless with small parameters of order 1/10 - 1/30, an effective Majorana
mass of order 10^{14} GeV can be accommodated. We also discuss the constraints
on model building resulting from the different scenarios for locating the
right-handed neutrinos.Comment: 24 page
Seesaw Extended MSSM and Anomaly Mediation without Tachyonic Sleptons
Superconformal anomalies provide an elegant and economical way to understand
the soft breaking parameters in SUSY models; however, implementing them leads
to the several undesirable features including: tachyonic sleptons and
electroweak symmetry breaking problems in both the MSSM and the NMSSM. Since
these two theories also have the additonal problem of massless neutrinos, we
have reconsidered the AMSB problems in a class of models that extends the NMSSM
to explain small neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism. In a recent paper,
we showed that for a class of minimal left-right extensions, a built-in
mechanism exists which naturally solves the tachyonic slepton problem and
provides new alternatives to the MSSM that also have automatic R-parity
conservation. In this paper, we discuss how electroweak symmetry breaking
arises in this model through an NMSSM-like low energy theory with a singlet
VEV, induced by the structure of the left-right extension and of the right
magnitude. We then study the phenomenological issues and find: the LSP is an
Higgsino-wino mix, new phenomenology for chargino decays to the LSP, degenerate
same generation sleptons and a potential for a mild squark-slepton degeneracy.
We also discuss possible collider signatures and the feasibility of dark matter
in this model.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables; v3: Added addendum and three new
references; v4: Added reference that was inadvertently omitte
Can multi-TeV (top and other) squarks be natural in gauge mediation?
We investigate whether multi-TeV (1-3 TeV) squarks can be natural in models
of gauge mediated SUSY breaking. The idea is that for some boundary condition
of the scalar (Higgs and stop) masses, the Higgs (mass), evaluated at the
renormalization scale GeV, is not very sensitive to (boundary
values of) the scalar masses (this has been called ``focussing'' in recent
literature). Then, the stop masses can be multi-TeV without leading to
fine-tuning in electroweak symmetry breaking. {\em Minimal} gauge mediation
does {\em not} lead to this focussing (for all values of and the
messenger scale): the (boundary value of) the Higgs mass is too small compared
to the stop masses. Also, in minimal gauge mediation, the gaugino masses are of
the same order as the scalar masses so that multi-TeV scalars implies multi-TeV
gauginos (especially gluino) leading to fine-tuning. We discuss ideas to {\em
increase} the Higgs mass relative to the stop masses (so that focussing can be
achieved) and also to {\em suppress} gaugino masses relative to scalar masses
(or to modify the gaugino mass relations) in {\em non-minimal} models of gauge
mediation -- then multi-TeV (top and other) squarks can be natural. Specific
models of gauge mediation which incorporate these ideas and thus have squarks
(and in some cases, the gluino) heavier than a TeV without resulting in
fine-tuning are also studied and their collider signals are contrasted with
those of other models which have multi-TeV squarks.Comment: LaTeX, 29 pages, 9 eps figures. Replacing an earlier version. In
version 3, some references and a minor comment have been added and typos have
been correcte
The Superpartner Spectrum of Gaugino Mediation
We compute the superpartner masses in a class of models with gaugino
mediation (or no-scale) boundary conditions at a scale between the GUT and
Planck scales. These models are compelling because they are simple, solve the
supersymmetric flavor and CP problems, satisfy all constraints from colliders
and cosmology, and predict the superpartner masses in terms of very few
parameters. Our analysis includes the renormalization group evolution of the
soft-breaking terms above the GUT scale. We show that the running above the GUT
scale is largely model independent and find that a phenomenologically viable
spectrum is obtained.Comment: 15 page
Quintessence from Shape Moduli
We show that shape moduli in sub-millimeter extra dimensional scenarios,
addressing the gauge hierarchy problem, can dominate the energy density of the
universe today. In our scenario, the volume of the extra dimensions is
stabilized at a sufficiently high scale to avoid conflicts with nucleosynthesis
and solar-system precision gravity experiments, while the shape moduli remain
light but couple extremely weakly to brane-localized matter and easily avoid
these bounds. Nonlocal effects in the bulk of the extra dimension generate a
potential for the shape moduli. The potential has the right form and order of
magnitude to account for the present day cosmic acceleration, in a way
analogous to models of quintessence as a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
The Gaugino Code
Gauginos might play a crucial role in the search for supersymmetry at the
Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Mass predictions for gauginos are rather robust
and often related to the values of the gauge couplings. We analyse the ratios
of gaugino masses in the LHC energy range for various schemes of supersymmetry
breakdown and mediation. Three distinct mass patterns emerge.Comment: 42 pages, Latex; a discussion of deflected anomaly mediation added,
references adde
Precision Electroweak Data and Unification of Couplings in Warped Extra Dimensions
Warped extra dimensions allow a novel way of solving the hierarchy problem,
with all fundamental mass parameters of the theory naturally of the order of
the Planck scale. The observable value of the Higgs vacuum expectation value is
red-shifted, due to the localization of the Higgs field in the extra dimension.
It has been recently observed that, when the gauge fields propagate in the
bulk, unification of the gauge couplings may be achieved. Moreover, the
propagation of fermions in the bulk allows for a simple solution to potentially
dangerous proton decay problems. However, bulk gauge fields and fermions pose a
phenomenological challenge, since they tend to induce large corrections to the
precision electroweak observables. In this article, we study in detail the
effect of gauge and fermion fields propagating in the bulk in the presence of
gauge brane kinetic terms compatible with gauge coupling unification, and we
present ways of obtaining a consistent description of experimental data, while
allowing values of the first Kaluza Klein mode masses of the order of a few
TeV.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures. References adde
Surgical management of giant pituitary neuroendocrine tumors: Meta-analysis and consensus statement on behalf of the EANS skull base section.
The optimal surgical treatment for giant pituitary neuroendocrine tumors(GPitNETs) is debated.
The aim of this paper is to optimize the surgical management of these patients and to provide a consensus statement on behalf of the EANS Skull Base Section.
We constituted a task force belonging to the EANS skull base committee to define some principles for the management of GPitNETs. A systematic review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines to perform a meta-analysis on surgical series of GPitNETs. Weighted summary rates were obtained for the pooled extent of resection and according to the surgical technique. These data were discussed to obtain recommendations after evaluation of the selected articles and discussion among the experts.
20articles were included in our meta-analysis, for a total of 1263 patients. The endoscopic endonasal technique was used in 40.3% of cases, the microscopic endonasal approach in 34% of cases, transcranial approaches in 18.7% and combined approaches in 7% of cases. No difference in terms of gross total resection (GTR) rate was observed among the different techniques. Pooled GTR rate was 36.6%, while a near total resection (NTR) was possible in 45.2% of cases. Cavernous sinus invasion was associated with a lower GTR rate (OR: 0.061). After surgery, 35% of patients had endocrinological improvement and 75.6% had visual improvement. Recurrent tumors were reported in 10% of cases.
After formal discussion in the working group, we recommend the treatment of G-PitNETs tumors with a more complex and multilobular structure in tertiary care centers. The endoscopic endonasal approach is the first option of treatment and extended approaches should be planned according to extension, morphology and consistency of the lesion. Transcranial approaches play a role in selected cases, with a multicompartmental morphology, subarachnoid invasion and extension lateral to the internal carotid artery and in the management of residual tumor apoplexy
Stable, Time-Dependent, Exact Solutions for Brane Models with a Bulk Scalar Field
We derive two classes of brane-world solutions arising in the presence of a
bulk scalar field. For static field configurations, we adopt a time-dependent,
factorizable metric ansatz that allows for radion stabilization. The solutions
are characterized by a non-trivial warping along the extra dimension, even in
the case of a vanishing bulk cosmological constant, and lead to a variety of
inflationary, time-dependent solutions of the 3D scale factor on the brane. We
also derive the constraints necessary for the stability of these solutions
under time-dependent perturbations of the radion field, and we demonstrate the
existence of phenomenologically interesting, stable solutions with a positive
cosmological constant on the brane.Comment: 24 pages, latex, 4 eps figur