2,747 research outputs found
p38 Mapk signal pathway involved in anti-inflammatory effect of chaihu-shugan-san and shen-ling-bai-zhu-san on hepatocyte in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis rats
Background: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), has over thousands-of-years history of use. Chaihu-Shugan-San (CSS), and Shen-ling-bai-zhu-San (SLBZS), are famous traditional Chinese herbal medicine formulas, which have been used in China, for the treatment of many chronic diseases.Materials and Methods:This study investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of CSS and SLBZS on signaling molecules involved in p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), pathway on hepatocytes of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), rats induced by high fat diet. SD male rats were randomly divided into 8 groups: negative control group, model control group, high (9.6g/kg/day)/low (3.2g/kg/day)-dose CSS group, high (30g/kg/day)/low (10g/kg/day)-dose SLBZS group, high (39.6g/kg/day)/low (13.2g/kg/day)-dose integrated group. The rats of NASH model were induced by feeding a high-fat diet. After 16, wks, Hepatocytes were isolated from 6, rats in each group by collagenase perfusion. The liver histopathological changes and serum inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6 were determined. The proteins of TLR4, phosphor-p38 MAPK and p38 MAPK involved in p38 MAPK signal pathway were assayed.Results: The statistical data indicated the NASH model rats reproduced typical histopathological features of NASH in human. CSS and SLBZS ameliorated lipid metabolic disturbance, attenuated NASH progression, decreased the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in serum, as well as inhibited TLR4 protein expression, p38 MAPK phosphorylation, and activation of p38 MAPK. In conclusion, CSS and SLBZS might work as a significant anti-inflammatory effect on hepatocyte of NASH by inhibiting the activation of TLR4, p-p38 MAPK and p38 MAPK involved in p38 MAPK signal pathway.Conclusion: To some extent, CSS and SLBZS may be a potential alternative and complementary medicine to protect against liver injury, alleviate the inflammation reaction, moderate NASH progression.Key words: p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase; Toll like receptor 4; Hepatocytes; Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis; Traditional Chinese medicine
Gluino Decay as a Probe of High Scale Supersymmetry Breaking
A supersymmetric standard model with heavier scalar supersymmetric particles
has many attractive features. If the scalar mass scale is O(10 - 10^4) TeV, the
standard model like Higgs boson with mass around 125 GeV, which is strongly
favored by the LHC experiment, can be realized. However, in this scenario the
scalar particles are too heavy to be produced at the LHC. In addition, if the
scalar mass is much less than O(10^4) TeV, the lifetime of the gluino is too
short to be measured. Therefore, it is hard to probe the scalar particles at a
collider. However, a detailed study of the gluino decay reveals that two body
decay of the gluino carries important information on the scalar scale. In this
paper, we propose a test of this scenario by measuring the decay pattern of the
gluino at the LHC.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures; version published in JHE
Bigger, Better, Faster, More at the LHC
Multijet plus missing energy searches provide universal coverage for theories
that have new colored particles that decay into a dark matter candidate and
jets. These signals appear at the LHC further out on the missing energy tail
than two-to-two scattering indicates. The simplicity of the searches at the LHC
contrasts sharply with the Tevatron where more elaborate searches are necessary
to separate signal from background. The searches presented in this article
effectively distinguish signal from background for any theory where the LSP is
a daughter or granddaughter of the pair-produced colored parent particle
without ever having to consider missing energies less than 400 GeV.Comment: 26 pages, 8 Figures. Minor textual changes, typos fixed and
references adde
Warped Radion Dark Matter
Warped scenarios offer an appealing solution to the hierarchy problem. We
consider a non-trivial deformation of the basic Randall-Sundrum framework that
has a KK-parity symmetry. This leads to a stable particle beyond the Standard
Model, that is generically expected to be the first KK-parity odd excitation of
the radion field. We consider the viability of the KK-radion as a DM candidate
in the context of thermal and non-thermal production in the early universe. In
the thermal case, the KK-radion can account for the observed DM density when
the radion decay constant is in the natural multi-TeV range. We also explore
the effects of coannihilations with the first KK excitation of the RH top, as
well as the effects of radion-Higgs mixing, which imply mixing between the
KK-radion and a KK-Higgs (both being KK-parity odd). The non-thermal scenario,
with a high radion decay constant, can also lead to a viable scenario provided
the reheat temperature and the radion decay constant take appropriate values,
although the reheat temperature should not be much higher than the TeV scale.
Direct detection is found to be feasible if the DM has a small (KK-parity odd)
Higgs admixture. Indirect detection via a photon signal from the galactic
center is an interesting possibility, while the positron and neutrino fluxes
from KK-radion annihilations are expected to be rather small. Colliders can
probe characteristic aspects of the DM sector of warped scenarios with
KK-parity, such as the degeneracy between the radion and the KK-radion (DM)
modes.Comment: 43 pages, 16 figures; added reference
A consistent picture for large penguins in D -> pi+ pi-, K+ K-
A long-standing puzzle in charm physics is the large difference between the
D0 -> K+ K- and D0 -> pi+ pi- decay rates. Recently, the LHCb and CDF
collaborations reported a surprisingly large difference between the direct CP
asymmetries, Delta A_CP, in these two modes. We show that the two puzzles are
naturally related in the Standard Model via s- and d-quark "penguin
contractions". Their sum gives rise to Delta A_CP, while their difference
contributes to the two branching ratios with opposite sign. Assuming nominal
SU(3) breaking, a U-spin fit to the D0 -> K+ pi-, pi+ K-, pi+ pi-, K+ K- decay
rates yields large penguin contractions that naturally explain Delta A_CP.
Expectations for the individual CP asymmetries are also discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure
The Spectrum of Goldstini and Modulini
When supersymmetry is broken in multiple sectors via independent dynamics,
the theory furnishes a corresponding multiplicity of "goldstini" degrees of
freedom which may play a substantial role in collider phenomenology and
cosmology. In this paper, we explore the tree-level mass spectrum of goldstini
arising from a general admixture of F-term, D-term, and almost no-scale
supersymmetry breaking, employing non-linear superfields and a novel gauge
fixing for supergravity discussed in a companion paper. In theories of F-term
and D-term breaking, goldstini acquire a mass which is precisely twice the
gravitino mass, while the inclusion of no-scale breaking renders one of these
modes, the modulino, massless. We argue that the vanishing modulino mass can be
explained in terms of an accidental and spontaneously broken "global"
supersymmetry.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; v2: typo corrected, references updated; v3:
version to appear in JHE
Aspects of Non-minimal Gauge Mediation
A large class of non-minimal gauge mediation models, such as (semi-)direct
gauge mediation, predict a hierarchy between the masses of the supersymmetric
standard model gauginos and those of scalar particles. We perform a
comprehensive study of these non-minimal gauge mediation models, including mass
calculations in semi-direct gauge mediation, to illustrate these features, and
discuss the phenomenology of the models. We point out that the cosmological
gravitino problem places stringent constraints on mass splittings, when the
Bino is the NLSP. However, the GUT relation of the gaugino masses is broken
unlike the case of minimal gauge mediation, and an NLSP other than the Bino
(especially the gluino NLSP) becomes possible, relaxing the cosmological
constraints. We also discuss the collider signals of the models.Comment: 56 pages, 8 figures; v2:minor corrections, references added; v3:minor
correction
Theoretical Constraints on the Higgs Effective Couplings
We derive constraints on the sign of couplings in an effective Higgs
Lagrangian using prime principles such as the naturalness principle, global
symmetries, and unitarity. Specifically, we study four dimension-six operators,
O_H, O_y, O_g, and O_gamma, which contribute to the production and decay of the
Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), among other things. Assuming
the Higgs is a fundamental scalar, we find: 1) the coefficient of O_H is
positive except when there are triplet scalars, resulting in a reduction in the
Higgs on-shell coupling from their standard model (SM) expectations if no other
operators contribute, 2) the linear combination of O_H and O_y controlling the
overall Higgs coupling to fermion is always reduced, 3) the sign of O_g induced
by a new colored fermion is such that it interferes destructively with the SM
top contribution in the gluon fusion production of the Higgs, if the new
fermion cancels the top quadratic divergence in the Higgs mass, and 4) the
correlation between naturalness and the sign of O_gamma is similar to that of
O_g, when there is a new set of heavy electroweak gauge bosons. Next
considering a composite scalar for the Higgs, we find the reduction in the
on-shell Higgs couplings persists. If further assuming a collective breaking
mechanism as in little Higgs theories, the coefficient of O_H remains positive
even in the presence of triplet scalars. In the end, we conclude that the gluon
fusion production of the Higgs boson is reduced from the SM rate in all
composite Higgs models. Our study suggests a wealth of information could be
revealed by precise measurements of the Higgs couplings, providing strong
motivations for both improving on measurements at the LHC and building a
precision machine such as the linear collider.Comment: 37 pages, one figure; v2: improved discussion on dispersion relation
and other minor modifications; version accepted for publication
Examining leptogenesis with lepton flavor violation and the dark matter abundance
Within a supersymmetric (SUSY) type-I seesaw framework with flavor-blind
universal boundary conditions, we study the consequences of requiring that the
observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe be explained by either thermal or
non-thermal leptogenesis. In the former case, we find that the parameter space
is very constrained. In the bulk and stop-coannihilation regions of mSUGRA
parameter space (that are consistent with the measured dark matter abundance),
lepton flavor-violating (LFV) processes are accessible at MEG and future
experiments. However, the very high reheat temperature of the Universe needed
after inflation (of about 10^{12} GeV) leads to a severe gravitino problem,
which disfavors either thermal leptogenesis or neutralino dark matter.
Non-thermal leptogenesis in the preheating phase from SUSY flat directions
relaxes the gravitino problem by lowering the required reheat temperature. The
baryon asymmetry can then be explained while preserving neutralino dark matter,
and for the bulk or stop-coannihilation regions LFV processes should be
observed in current or future experiments.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
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Risk measures for direct real estate investments with non-normal or unknown return distributions
The volatility of returns is probably the most widely used risk measure for real estate. This is rather surprising since a number of studies have cast doubts on the view that volatility can capture the manifold risks attached to properties and corresponds to the risk attitude of investors. A central issue in this discussion is the statistical properties of real estate returns—in contrast to neoclassical capital market theory they are mostly non-normal and often unknown, which render many statistical measures useless. Based on a literature review and an analysis of data from Germany we provide evidence that volatility alone is inappropriate for measuring the risk of direct real estate.
We use a unique data sample by IPD, which includes the total returns of 939 properties across different usage types (56% office, 20% retail, 8% others and 16% residential properties) from 1996 to 2009, the German IPD Index, and the German Property Index. The analysis of the distributional characteristics shows that German real estate returns in this period were not normally distributed and that a logistic distribution would have been a better fit. This is in line with most of the current literature on this subject and leads to the question which indicators are more appropriate to measure real estate risks. We suggest that a combination of quantitative and qualitative risk measures more adequately captures real estate risks and conforms better with investor attitudes to risk. Furthermore, we present criteria for the purpose of risk classification
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