Anomalous Higgs Yukawa Couplings

In the standard model, the Higgs boson $h$ couples to the quarks and charged leptons according to the well-known formula $(m_\psi/v) h \bar{\psi}\psi$, where $\psi$ = quark (q) or lepton (l) and $v$ = 246 GeV is its vacuum expectation value. Suppose $m_\psi$ is of radiative origin instead, then the effective $h \bar{\psi}\psi$ Yukawa coupling will not be exactly $m_\psi/v$. We show for the first time quantitatively how this may shift the observed branching fraction of $h \to \bar{b}b$ and $h \to \tau^+ \tau^-$ upward or downward. Thus the precision measurements of Higgs decay to fermions at the Large Hadron Collider, due to resume operation in 2015, could be the key to possible new physics.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, version to appear in EP

Scotogenic Inverse Seesaw Model of Neutrino Mass

A variation of the original 2006 radiative seesaw model of neutrino mass through dark matter is shown to realize the notion of inverse seesaw naturally. The dark-matter candidate here is the lightest of three real singlet scalars which may also carry flavor.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, version to appear in PL

Novel pharmacological actions of Trequinsin Hydrochloride improve human sperm cell motility and function

Background and purposeAsthenozoospermia is a leading cause of male infertility, but the development of pharmaceuticals to improve sperm motility has been hindered by the lack of effective screening platforms and knowledge of suitable molecular targets. We have demonstrated that a high throughput screening (HTS) strategy in conjunction with established in vitro tests can identify and characterise the action of compounds that improve sperm motility. The study aimed to apply HTS to identify new compounds from a novel small molecule library that increase intracellular calcium, [Ca2+]I, promote human sperm cell motility and systemically determine the mechanism of action. Experimental approach A validated HTS fluorometric [Ca2+]i assay was used to screen an in-house library of compounds. Trequinsin hydrochloride (a phosphodiesterase 3 inhibitor) was selected for detailed molecular (plate reader assays, electrophysiology and cyclic nucleotide measurement) and functional (motility and acrosome reaction) testing in sperm from healthy volunteer donors and, where possible, patients.   Key resultsThe fluorometric analysis identified Trequinsin as an efficacious agonist of [Ca2+]i, although less potent than progesterone (P4). Functionally, Trequinsin significantly increased cell hyperactivation and penetration into viscous medium in all donor sperm samples and cell hyperactivation in 22/25 (88%) patient sperm samples. The Trequinsin-induced [Ca2+]i response was cross-desensitised consistently by prostaglandin E1 but not with P4. Whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology confirmed that Trequinsin activates CatSper and partially inhibits potassium channel activity. Trequinsin also increases intracellular cGMP.   Conclusion and Implications Trequinsin exhibits a novel pharmacological profile in human sperm and may be a suitable lead compound for the development of new pharmaceuticals to improve patient sperm function and fertilisation potential