How Valuable is Polarization at a Muon Collider? A Test Case: Determining the CP Nature of a Higgs Boson

We study the use of polarization asymmetries at a muon collider to determine the CP-even and CP-odd couplings of a Higgs boson to $\mu^+mu^-$. We determine achievable accuracy as a function of beam polarization and luminosity. The appropriate techniques for dealing with the polarization precession are outlined. Strategies especially appropriate for a two-Higgs-doublet model (including the MSSM) are given. Our general conclusion is that polarization will be very useful, especially if the proton source is such that full luminosity in the storage ring can be retained even after imposing cuts on the originally accepted muons necessary for P\gsim 0.4 for each beam.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, equations.st

Cognitive-behavioural therapy in medication-treated adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and co-morbid psychopathology:a randomized controlled trial using multi-level analysis

Background. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by high rates of co-morbid psychopathology. Randomized controlled trials of multimodal interventions, combining pharmacological and psychological treatments, have shown a robust treatment effect for ADHD symptoms but outcomes for co-morbid symptoms have been mixed. This may be accounted for by the type of intervention selected and/or by methodological problems including lack of follow-up and low power. The current study addressed these limitations in a parallel-group randomized controlled trial conducted in Iceland.  Method. A total of 95 adult ADHD patients who were already being treated with medication (MED) were randomly assigned to receive treatment as usual (TAU/MED) or 15 sessions of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT/MED) using the R&R2ADHD intervention which employs both group and individual modalities. Primary measures of ADHD symptoms and severity of illness, and secondary measures of anxiety, depression and quality of life were given at baseline, end of treatment and 3-month follow-up. Primary outcomes were rated by clinicians blind to treatment condition assignment.  Results. CBT/MED showed overall (combined outcome at end of treatment and 3-month follow-up) significantly greater reduction in primary outcomes for clinician-rated and self-rated ADHD symptoms. Treatment effect of primary outcomes was maintained at follow-up, which suggests robust and lasting findings. In contrast to the primary outcomes, the secondary outcomes showed significant improvement over time.  Conclusions. The study provides evidence for the effectiveness of R&R2ADHD and demonstrates that there are differential effects over time for ADHD symptoms versus co-morbid problems, the latter taking longer to show positive effects

Higgs-Boson Mass Limits and Precise Measurements beyond the Standard Model

The triviality and vacuum stability bounds on the Higgs-boson mass (\mh) were revisited in presence of weakly-coupled new interactions parameterized in a model-independent way by effective operators of dimension 6. The constraints from precision tests of the Standard Model were taken into account. It was shown that for the scale of new physics in the region \Lambda \simeq 2 \div 50 \tev the Standard Model triviality upper bound remains unmodified whereas it is natural to expect that the lower bound derived from the requirement of vacuum stability is substantially modified depending on the scale \La and strength of coefficients of effective operators. A natural generalization of the standard triviality condition leads also to a substantial reduction of the allowed region in the (\Lambda,\mh) space.Comment: 18 pages 3 eps figures. The discussion in the appendix was modified slightly and some typographical errors were correcte

Establishing the phenotypic spectrum of ZTTK syndrome by analysis of 52 individuals with variants in SON

Zhu-Tokita-Takenouchi-Kim (ZTTK) syndrome, an intellectual disability syndrome first described in 2016, is caused by heterozygous loss-of-function variants in SON. Its encoded protein promotes pre-mRNA splicing of many genes essential for development. Whereas individual phenotypic traits have previously been linked to erroneous splicing of SON target genes, the phenotypic spectrum and the pathogenicity of missense variants have not been further evaluated. We present the phenotypic abnormalities in 52 individuals, including 17 individuals who have not been reported before. In total, loss-of-function variants were detected in 49 individuals (de novo in 47, inheritance unknown in 2), and in 3, a missense variant was observed (2 de novo, 1 inheritance unknown). Phenotypic abnormalities, systematically collected and analyzed in Human Phenotype Ontology, were found in all organ systems. Significant inter-individual phenotypic variability was observed, even in individuals with the same recurrent variant (n = 13). SON haploinsufficiency was previously shown to lead to downregulation of downstream genes, contributing to specific phenotypic features. Similar functional analysis for one missense variant, however, suggests a different mechanism than for heterozygous loss-of-function. Although small in numbers and while pathogenicity of these variants is not certain, these data allow for speculation whether de novo missense variants cause ZTTK syndrome via another mechanism, or a separate overlapping syndrome. In conclusion, heterozygous loss-of-function variants in SON define a recognizable syndrome, ZTTK, associated with a broad, severe phenotypic spectrum, characterized by a large inter-individual variability. These observations provide essential information for affected individuals, parents, and healthcare professionals to ensure appropriate clinical management