Search for the Higgs Boson H20H_2^0 at LHC in 3-3-1 Model

We present an analysis of production and signature of neutral Higgs boson ($H_{2}^{0}$) on the version of the 3-3-1 model containing heavy leptons at the Large Hadron Collider. We studied the possibility to identify it using the respective branching ratios. Cross section are given for the collider energy, $\sqrt{s} =$ 14 TeV. Event rates and significances are discussed for two possible values of integrated luminosity, 300 fb$^{-1}$ and 3000 fb$^{-1}$.Comment: 17 pages 7 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1205.404

Research Ethics Training in Peru: A Case Study

With the rapidly increasing number of health care professionals seeking international research experience, comes an urgent need for enhanced capacity of host country institutional review boards (IRB) to review research proposals and ensure research activities are both ethical and relevant to the host country customs and needs. A successful combination of distance learning, interactive courses and expert course instructors has been applied in Peru since 2004 through collaborations between the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center Detachment, the University of Washington and the Department of Clinical Bioethics of the National Institutes of Health to provide training in ethical conduct of research to IRB members and researchers from Peru and other Latin American countries. All training activities were conducted under the auspices of the Peruvian National Institute of Health (INS), Ministry of Health. To date, 927 people from 12 different Latin American countries have participated in several of these training activities. In this article we describe our training model

Genomic insertion of a heterologous acetyltransferase generates a new lipopolysaccharide antigenic structure in brucella abortus and brucella melitensis

Brucellosis is a bacterial zoonosis of worldwide distribution caused by bacteria of the genus Brucella. In Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis, the major species infecting domestic ruminants, the smooth lipopolysaccharide (S-LPS) is a virulence factor. This S-LPS carries a N-formyl-perosamine homopolymer O-polysaccharide that is the major antigen in serodiagnostic tests and is required for virulence. We report that the Brucella O-PS can be structurally and antigenically modified using wbdR, the acetyl-transferase gene involved in N-acetyl-perosamine synthesis in Escherichia coli O157:H7. Brucella constructs carrying plasmidic wbdR expressed a modified O-polysaccharide but were unstable, a problem circumvented by inserting wbdR into a neutral site of chromosome II. As compared to wild-type bacteria, both kinds of wbdR constructs expressed shorter O-polysaccharides and NMR analyses showed that they contained both N-formyl and N-acetyl-perosamine. Moreover, deletion of the Brucella formyltransferase gene wbkC in wbdR constructs generated bacteria producing only N-acetyl-perosamine homopolymers, proving that wbdR can replace for wbkC. Absorption experiments with immune sera revealed that the wbdR constructs triggered antibodies to new immunogenic epitope(s) and the use of monoclonal antibodies proved that B. abortus and B. melitensis wbdR constructs respectively lacked the A or M epitopes, and the absence of the C epitope in both backgrounds. The wbdR constructs showed resistance to polycations similar to that of the wild-type strains but displayed increased sensitivity to normal serum similar to that of a per R mutant. In mice, the wbdR constructs produced chronic infections and triggered antibody responses that can be differentiated from those evoked by the wild-type strain in S-LPS ELISAs. These results open the possibilities of developing brucellosis vaccines that are both antigenically tagged and lack the diagnostic epitopes of virulent field strains, thereby solving the diagnostic interference created by current vaccines against Brucella

Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets

No evidence of brown adipose tissue activation after 24 weeks of supervised exercise training in young sedentary adults in the ACTIBATE randomized controlled trial

Exercise modulates both brown adipose tissue (BAT)metabolismand white adipose tissue (WAT) browning in murine models. Whether this is true in humans, however, has remained unknown. An unblinded randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02365129) was therefore conducted to study the effects of a 24-week supervised exercise intervention, combining endurance and resistance training, on BAT volume and activity (primary outcome). The study was carried out in the Sport and Health University Research Institute and the Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital of the University of Granada (Spain). One hundred and forty-five young sedentary adults were assigned to either (i) a control group (no exercise, n = 54), (ii) a moderate intensity exercise group (MOD-EX, n = 48), or (iii) a vigorous intensity exercise group (VIG-EX n = 43) by unrestricted randomization. No relevant adverse events were recorded. 97 participants (34 men, 63 women) were included in the final analysis (Control; n = 35, MOD-EX; n=31, and VIG-EX; n=31).We observed no changes in BAT volume (Δ Control: −22.2 ± 52.6ml; Δ MOD-EX: −15.5 ± 62.1ml, Δ VIG-EX: −6.8 ± 66.4 ml; P = 0.771) or 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake (SUVpeak Δ Control: −2.6 ± 3.1ml; Δ MOD-EX: −1.2 ± 4.8, Δ VIG-EX: −2.2 ± 5.1; p = 0.476) in either the control or the exercise groups. Thus, we did not find any evidence of an exercise-induced change on BAT volume or activity in young sedentary adults.Spanish Government PI13/01393Retos de la Sociedad DEP2016-79512-R PTA-12264IEuropean CommissionSpanish Government FPU13/04365 FPU14/04172 FPU15/04059 FPU16/03653 FPU19/01609Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) 440575Fundacion Iberoamericana de Nutricion (FINUT)Redes Tematicas de Investigacion Cooperativa RETIC Red SAMID RD16/0022AstraZenecaUniversity of Granada Plan Propio de Investigacion 2016 -Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES)Plan Propio de Investigacion 2018 -Programa Contratos-PuentePrograma Perfecionamiento de DoctoresJunta de Andalucia Consejeria de Conocimiento, Investigacion y Universidades (ERDF) SOMM17/6107/UGRJunta de Andalucia P18-RT-4455Fundacion Alfonso Martin EscuderoMaria Zambrano fellowship by the Ministerio de Universidades y la Union Europea-NextGenerationEU RR_C_2021_04Novo Nordisk FoundationNovocure Limited NNF18OC003239

Therapeutic implications of selecting the SCORE (European) versus the D'AGOSTINO (American) risk charts for cardiovascular risk assessment in hypertensive patients

Background: No comparisons have been made of scales estimating cardiovascular mortality and overall cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The study objectives were to assess the agreement between the Framingham-D'Agostino cardiovascular risk (CVR) scale and the chart currently recommended in Europe (SCORE) with regard to identification of patients with high CVR, and to describe the discrepancies between them and the attendant implications for the treatment of hypertension and hyperlipidaemia. Methods: A total of 474 hypertensive patients aged 40-65 years monitored in primary care were enrolled into the study. CVR was assessed using the Framingham-D'Agostino scale, which estimates the overall cardiovascular morbidity and mortality risk, and the SCORE chart, which estimates the cardiovascular mortality risk. Cardiovascular risk was considered to be high for values ≥ 20% and ≥ 5% according to the Framingham-D'Agostino and SCORE charts respectively. Kappa statistics was estimated for agreement in classification of patients with high CVR. The therapeutic recommendations in the 2007 European Guidelines on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention were followed. Results

Physical Links: Defining and detecting inter-chain entanglement

Fluctuating filaments, from densely-packed biopolymers to defect lines in structured fluids, are prone to become interlaced and form intricate architectures. Understanding the ensuing mechanical and relaxation properties depends critically on being able to capture such entanglement in quantitative terms. So far, this has been an elusive challenge. Here we introduce the first general characterization of non-ephemeral forms of entanglement in linear curves by introducing novel descriptors that extend topological measures of linking from close to open curves. We thus establish the concept of physical links. This general method is applied to diverse contexts: equilibrated ring polymers, mechanically-stretched links and concentrated solutions of linear chains. The abundance, complexity and space distribution of their physical links gives access to a whole new layer of understanding of such systems and open new perspectives for others, such as reconnection events and topological simplification in dissipative fields and defect lines

Effects of Topically Administered Neuroprotective Drugs in Early Stages of Diabetic Retinopathy:Results of the EUROCONDOR Clinical Trial

The primary objective of this study was to assess whether the topical administration of two neuroprotective drugs (brimonidine and somatostatin) could prevent or arrest retinal neurodysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes. For this purpose, adults aged between 45 and 75 years with a diabetes duration ≥5 years and an Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) level of ≤35 were randomly assigned to one of three arms: placebo, somatostatin, or brimonidine. The primary outcome was the change in implicit time (IT) assessed by multifocal electroretinography between baseline and at the end of follow-up (96 weeks). There were 449 eligible patients allocated to brimonidine (n = 152), somatostatin (n = 145), or placebo (n = 152). When the primary end point was evaluated in the whole population, we did not find any neuroprotective effect of brimonidine or somatostatin. However, in the subset of patients (34.7%) with preexisting retinal neurodysfunction, IT worsened in the placebo group (P < 0.001) but remained unchanged in the brimonidine and somatostatin groups. In conclusion, the topical administration of the selected neuroprotective agents appears useful in preventing the worsening of preexisting retinal neurodysfunction. This finding points to screening retinal neurodysfunction as a critical issue to identify a subset of patients in whom neuroprotective treatment might be of benefit