Radiative Corrections to Chargino Production with Polarized Beams

We show that radiative corrections to chargino production in electron-positron annihilation with polarized beams can be large especially in the case of right handed electrons. In addition, there is some dependency on the squark masses that allows us to extract information about the squark spectrum from the chargino production.Comment: 4 pages, including 4 figures. Talk given at Linear Collider Workshop 2000--LCWS, Fermilab, Chicago, October 24-28, 200

Radiatively Corrected Chargino Pair Production at LEP2

One-loop radiative corrections to the production cross section of a pair of light charginos in e+e- colliders are calculated within the MSSM. Top and bottom quarks and squarks are considered in the loops, and they are renormalized using the MS-bar scheme. If the center of mass energy is equal to 192 GeV, positive corrections typically of 10% to 15% are found when the squark mass parameters are equal to 1 TeV.Comment: 6 pages, including 5 figures. Latex. Talk given by M.A.D. at the International Workshop "Beyond the Standard Model: From Theory to Experiment", 13--17 October 1997, Valencia, Spai

Selectron Pair Production in e+e- Colliders and the Supergravity Spectrum

Selectrons may be produced in pairs at LEPII if their mass is less than about 100 GeV. Preferably, they decay into the lightest neutralino plus an electron. In a scenario where selectrons are observed at LEPII, we show that: (i) in a first stage where experimental errors are large, the measurement of the total cross section of selectron pair production, the selectron mass, and the lightest neutralino mass, allow us to validate or rule out the Minimal Supergravity Model in its simplest form, and that (ii) in a second stage where precision measurements are available, the value of $\tan\beta$ can be determined together with the rest of the parameters that specify the Minimal Supergravity Model and, with them, the entire supersymmetric spectrum can be calculated. We include experimental constraints from sparticle searches, $Z$--pole physics, stability of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) and the decay $b\rightarrow s\gamma$. In these scenarios, small values of $\tan\beta$ and negative values of $\mu$ are preferred, and the lightest Higgs mass satisfies $m_h<110$ GeV, which makes it likely to be detected at LEPII.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 11 figures uufile

Minimal Supergravity with R-Parity Breaking

We show that the minimal R-parity breaking model characterized by an effective bilinear violation of R-parity in the superpotential is consistent with minimal N=1 supergravity unification with radiative breaking of the electroweak symmetry and universal scalar and gaugino masses. This one-parameter extension of the MSSM-SUGRA model provides therefore the simplest reference model for the breaking of R-parity and constitutes a consistent truncation of the complete dynamical models with spontaneous R-parity breaking proposed previously. We comment on the lowest-lying CP-even Higgs boson mass and discuss its minimal N=1 supergravity limit, determine the ranges of $\tan\beta$ and bottom quark Yukawa couplings allowed in the model, as well as the relation between the tau neutrino mass and the bilinear R-parity violating parameter.Comment: 22 pages including 4 figures, Latex. A numerical error is corrected which changes figure number 4. The rest of the paper stays the sam

Transgenerational Effects of pCO2-Driven Ocean Acidification on Adult Mussels Mytilus chilensis Modulate Physiological Response to Multiple Stressors in Larvae

The effect of CO2-driven ocean acidification (OA) on marine biota has been extensively studied mostly on a single stage of the life cycle. However, the cumulative and population-level response to this global stressor may be biased due to transgenerational effects and their impacts on physiological plasticity. In this study, we exposed adult mussels Mytilus chilensis undergoing gametogenesis to two pCO2 levels (550 and 1200 μatm) for 16 weeks, aiming to understand if prolonged exposure of reproductive individuals to OA can affect the performance of their offspring, which, in turn, were reared under multiple stressors (pCO2, temperature, and dissolved cadmium). Our results indicate dependence between the level of pCO2 of the broodstock (i.e., parental effect) and the performance of larval stages in terms of growth and physiological rates, as a single effect of temperature. While main effects of pCO2 and cadmium were observed for larval growth and ingestion rates, respectively, the combined exposure to stressors had antagonistic effects. Moreover, we found a suppression of feeding activity in post-spawning broodstock upon high pCO2 conditions. Nevertheless, this observation was not reflected in the final weight of the broodstock and oocyte diameter. Due to the ecological and socioeconomic importance of mussels’ species around the globe, the potential implications of maternal effects for the physiology, survival, and recruitment of larvae under combined global-change stressors warrant further investigation

The NALP3/Cryopyrin-Inflammasome Complex is Expressed in LPS-Induced Ocular Inflammation

In the inflammosome complex, NALP3 or NALP1 binds to ASC and activates caspase-1 which induces IL-1β. In murine LPS-induced ocular inflammation, the production of IL-1β is increased. We suggest that NALP3- or NALP1-inflammasome complex can be participating in the LPS-induced ocular inflammation. In this work, eye, brain, testis, heart, spleen, and lung were obtained from C3H/HeN mice treated with LPS for 3 to 48 hours, and the expression of NALP1b, NALP3, ASC, caspase-1, IL-1β, and IL-18 was determined. Infiltrated leukocytes producing IL-1β in the anterior chamber were found at 12-hour posttreatment. A high upregulated expression of NALP3, ASC, caspase-1, IL-1β, and IL-18 was found at the same time when infiltrated leukocytes were observed. NALP1b was not detected in the eye of treated mice. NALP3 was also overexpressed in heart and lung. These results suggest that NALP3-, but not NALP1-inflammosome complex, is participating in the murine LPS-induced ocular inflammation