Is the Lightest Kaluza-Klein Particle a Viable Dark Matter Candidate?

In models with universal extra dimensions (i.e. in which all Standard Model fields, including fermions, propagate into compact extra dimensions) momentum conservation in the extra dimensions leads to the conservation of Kaluza--Klein (KK) number at each vertex. KK number is violated by loop effects because of the orbifold imposed to reproduce the chiral Standard Model with zero modes, however, a KK parity remains at any order in perturbation theory which leads to the existence of a stable lightest KK particle (LKP). In addition, the degeneracy in the KK spectrum is lifted by radiative corrections so that all other KK particles eventually decay into the LKP. We investigate cases where the Standard Model lives in five or six dimensions with compactification radius of TeV$^{-1}$ size and the LKP is the first massive state in the KK tower of either the photon or the neutrino. We derive the relic density of the LKP under a variety of assumptions about the spectrum of first tier KK modes. We find that both the KK photon and the KK neutrino, with masses at the TeV scale, may have appropriate annihilation cross sections to account for the dark matter, $\Omega_M \sim 0.3$.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures; v2: A couple of references added, a few minor clarifications (on KK parity and on the 6d case

Study of f_0(980) and f_0(1500) from B_s \to f_0(980)\pi, f_0(1500)\pi Decays

In this paper, we analyze the scalar mesons $f_0(980)$ and $f_0(1500)$ from the decays $\bar B^0_s \to f_0(980)\pi^0, f_0(1500)\pi^0$ within Perturbative QCD approach. From the leading order calculations, we find that (a) in the allowed mixing angle ranges, the branching ratio of $\bar B^0_s\to f_0(980)\pi^0$ is about $(1.0\sim1.6)\times 10^{-7}$, which is smaller than that of $\bar B^0_s\to f_0(980)K^0$ (the difference is a few times even one order); (b) the decay $\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0$ is better to distinguish between the lowest lying state or the first excited state for $f_0(1500)$, because the branching ratios for two scenarios have about one-order difference in most of the mixing angle ranges; and (c) the direct CP asymmetries of $\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0$ for two scenarios also exists great difference. In scenario II, the variation range of the value ${\cal A} ^{dir}_{CP}(\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0)$ according to the mixing angle is very small, except for the values corresponding to the mixing angles being near $90^\circ$ or $270^\circ$, while the variation range of ${\cal A} ^{dir}_{CP}(\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0)$ in scenario I is very large. Compared with the future data for the decay $\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0$, it is ease to determine the nature of the scalar meson $f_0(1500)$.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, Revte

Analysis of Two-Body Decays of Charmed Baryons Using the Quark-Diagram Scheme

We give a general formulation of the quark-diagram scheme for the nonleptonic weak decays of baryons. We apply it to all the decays of the antitriplet and sextet charmed baryons and express their decay amplitudes in terms of the quark-diagram amplitudes. We have also given parametrizations for the effects of final-state interactions. For SU(3) violation effects, we only parametrize those in the horizontal $W$-loop quark diagrams whose contributions are solely due to SU(3)-violation effects. In the absence of all these effects, there are many relations among various decay modes. Some of the relations are valid even in the presence of final-state interactions when each decay amplitude in the relation contains only a single phase shift. All these relations provide useful frameworks to compare with future experiments and to find out the effects of final-state interactions and SU(3) symmetry violations.Comment: 28 pages, 20 Tables in landscape form, 4 figures. Main changes are: (i) some errors in the Tables and in the relations between the quark-diagram amplitudes of this paper and those of Ref.[10] are corrected, (ii) improvements are made in the presentation so that comparisons with previous works and what have been done to include SU(3) breaking and final-state interactions are more clearly stated; to appear in the Physical Review

Tumor necrosis factor alpha gene expression and the response to interferon in chronic hepatitis C

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a cytokine with pleiotropic properties that is induced in a variety of pathological situations including viral infections. In this work, we analyzed the expression of TNF-alpha gene in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Serum TNF-alpha levels were found to be elevated in all chronic hepatitis C patients including those cases presenting sustained biochemical remission of the disease after interferon therapy. Untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C showed increased TNF-alpha messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in the liver and mononuclear cells as compared with healthy controls. After completion of treatment with interferon, patients experiencing sustained complete response showed values of TNF-alpha mRNA, both in the liver and in peripheral mononuclear cells, within the normal range, significantly lower than patients who did not respond to interferon and than those with complete response who relapsed after interferon withdrawal. Pretreatment values of TNF-alpha mRNA were lower in long-term responders to interferon than in cases who failed to respond to the treatment. Values of TNF-alpha mRNA in the liver or in mononuclear cells were higher in specimens with positive hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA than in those samples where the virus was undetectable. Neither the intensity of the liver damage nor the amount of HCV RNA in serum or in cells showed correlation with the levels of TNF-alpha transcripts in peripheral mononuclear cells but it was found that high TNF-alpha values were associated with genotype 1b. In conclusion, there is an enhanced expression of TNF-alpha in HCV infection. High levels of this cytokine may play a role in the resistance to interferon therapy

The evolution of cosmic string loops in Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes

The equation of cosmic string loops in Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes is derived. Having solved the equation numerically, we find that the loops can expand and exist except for too small ones.Comment: 8 page

Threshold criterion for wetting at the triple point

Grand canonical simulations are used to calculate adsorption isotherms of various classical gases on alkali metal and Mg surfaces. Ab initio adsorption potentials and Lennard-Jones gas-gas interactions are used. Depending on the system, the resulting behavior can be nonwetting for all temperatures studied, complete wetting, or (in the intermediate case) exhibit a wetting transition. An unusual variety of wetting transitions at the triple point is found in the case of a specific adsorption potential of intermediate strength. The general threshold for wetting near the triple point is found to be close to that predicted with a heuristic model of Cheng et al. This same conclusion was drawn in a recent experimental and simulation study of Ar on CO_2 by Mistura et al. These results imply that a dimensionless wetting parameter w is useful for predicting whether wetting behavior is present at and above the triple temperature. The nonwetting/wetting crossover value found here is w circa 3.3.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Evaluation of the Interplay between the ADAR Editome and Immunotherapy in Melanoma.

RNA editing is a highly conserved posttranscriptional mechanism that contributes to transcriptome diversity. In mammals, it includes nucleobase deaminations that convert cytidine (C) into uridine (U) and adenosine (A) into inosine (I). Evidence from cancer studies indicates that RNA-editing enzymes promote certain mechanisms of tumorigenesis. On the other hand, recoding editing in mRNA can generate mutations in proteins that can participate in the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) ligandome and can therefore be recognized by the adaptive immune system. Anti-cancer treatment based on the administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors enhance these natural anti-cancer immune responses. Based on RNA-Seq datasets, we evaluated the editome of melanoma cell lines generated from patients pre- and post-immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Our results reveal a differential editing in Arthrobacter luteus (Alu) sequences between samples pre-therapy and relapses during therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors. These data pave the way towards the development of new diagnostics and therapies targeted to editing that could help in preventing relapses during immunotherapies

A simplified qPCR method revealing tRNAome remodeling upon infection by genotype 3 hepatitis E virus

The landscape of tRNA–viral codons regulates viral adaption at the translational level, presumably through adapting to host codon usage or modulating the host tRNAome. We found that the major zoonotic genotype of hepatitis E virus (HEV) has not adapted to host codon usage, prompting exploration of the effects of HEV infection on the host tRNAome. However, tRNAome quantification is largely impeded by the extremely short sequences of tRNAs and redundancy of tRNA genes. Here, we present a length-extension and stepwise simplified qPCR method that utilizes a universal DNA/RNA hybrid tRNA adaptor and degenerate primers. Using this novel methodology, we observe that HEV infection dramatically reprograms the hepatic tRNAome, which is likely to facilitate translation of viral RNAs. This tRNAome quantification method bears broad implications for future tRNA research and possibly tRNA-based diagnostics