Cognitive Dysfunction in Huntington's Disease: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies Beyond BDNF

One of the main focuses in Huntington's disease (HD) research, as well as in most of the neurodegenerative diseases, is the development of new therapeutic strategies, as currently there is no treatment to delay or prevent the progression of the disease. Neuronal dysfunction and neuronal death in HD are caused by a combination of interrelated pathogenic processes that lead to motor, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. Understanding how mutant huntingtin impacts on a plethora of cellular functions could help to identify new molecular targets. Although HD has been classically classified as a neurodegenerative disease affecting voluntary movement, lately cognitive dysfunction is receiving increased attention as it is very invalidating for patients. Thus, an ambitious goal in HD research is to find altered molecular mechanisms that contribute to cognitive decline. In this review we have focused on those findings related to corticostriatal and hippocampal cognitive dysfunction in HD, as well as on the underlying molecular mechanisms, which constitute potential therapeutic targets. These include alterations in synaptic plasticity, transcriptional machinery, and neurotrophic and neurotransmitter signaling. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Search for single production of a heavy vector-like T quark decaying to a Higgs boson and a top quark with a lepton and jets in the final state

Peer reviewe

Combination of the W boson polarization measurements in top quark decays using ATLAS and CMS data at s = 8 TeV

Abstract: The combination of measurements of the W boson polarization in top quark decays performed by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations is presented. The measurements are based on proton-proton collision data produced at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 20 fb−1 for each experiment. The measurements used events containing one lepton and having different jet multiplicities in the final state. The results are quoted as fractions of W bosons with longitudinal (F0), left-handed (FL), or right-handed (FR) polarizations. The resulting combined measurements of the polarization fractions are F0 = 0.693 ± 0.014 and FL = 0.315 ± 0.011. The fraction FR is calculated from the unitarity constraint to be FR = −0.008 ± 0.007. These results are in agreement with the standard model predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics and represent an improvement in precision of 25 (29)% for F0 (FL) with respect to the most precise single measurement. A limit on anomalous right-handed vector (VR), and left- and right-handed tensor (gL, gR) tWb couplings is set while fixing all others to their standard model values. The allowed regions are [−0.11, 0.16] for VR, [−0.08, 0.05] for gL, and [−0.04, 0.02] for gR, at 95% confidence level. Limits on the corresponding Wilson coefficients are also derived

La normalidad como excepción: la banalidad del mal, la conciencia y el juicio en la obra de Hannah Arendt

En este artículo, el autor expone la relevancia de las cuestiones morales en la obra de Hannah Arendt. Con este fin, se establece el significado de la fórmula la banalidad del mal para explicar las complejas conexiones entre el pensamiento, la conciencia y el juicio y cómo este circuito es destruido en el totalitarismo mediante la ideología, el terror y el aniquilamiento de la política

¿Autonomía o hegemonía? Un análisis de la junta de buen gobierno hacia la Esperanza en las Cañadas tojolabales de la Selva Lacandona

La creación de las Juntas de Buen Gobierno supone un esfuerzo por reorganizar las bases de apoyo en una situación de crisis y desarticulación del neozapatismo. Esto implica dos cosas: 1) la voluntad de llevar a cabo una estrategia política interna para cohesionar y coordinar al zapatismo regional bajo una autoridad civil común supra-comunitaria en vista a mantener la resistencia de una manera más disciplinada y 2) la redefinición de las relaciones del zapatismo con comunidades, organizaciones campesinas y políticas y el gobierno del estado