Z' mass limits and the naturalness of supersymmetry

The discovery of a 125 GeV Higgs boson and rising lower bounds on the masses of superpartners have lead to concerns that supersymmetric models are now fine tuned. Large stop masses, required for a 125 GeV Higgs, feed into the electroweak symmetry breaking conditions through renormalisation group equations forcing one to fine tune these parameters to obtain the correct electroweak vacuum expectation value. Nonetheless this fine tuning depends crucially on our assumptions about the supersymmetry breaking scale. At the same time $U(1)$ extensions provide the most compelling solution to the $\mu$-problem, which is also a naturalness issue, and allow the tree level Higgs mass to be raised substantially above $M_Z$. These very well motivated supersymmetric models predict a new $Z'$ boson which could be discovered at the LHC and the naturalness of the model requires that the $Z'$ boson mass should not be too far above the TeV scale. Moreover this fine tuning appears at the tree level, making it less dependent on assumptions about the supersymmetry breaking mechanism. Here we study this fine tuning for several $U(1)$ supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model and compare it to the situation in the MSSM where the most direct tree level fine tuning can be probed through chargino mass limits. We show that future LHC $Z'$ searches are extremely important for challenging the most natural scenarios in these models.Comment: 58 pages, 5 figures; typos corrected, references added; matches version to be published in Phys. Rev.

How health systems in sub-Saharan Africa can benefit from tuberculosis and other infectious disease programmes.

Weak and dysfunctional health systems in low-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, are recognised as major obstacles to attaining the health-related Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Some progress is being made towards achieving the targets of Millennium Development Goal 6 for tuberculosis (TB), HIV/AIDS and malaria, with the achievements largely resulting from clearly defined strategies and intervention delivery systems combined with large amounts of external funding. This article is divided into four main sections. The first highlights the crucial elements that are needed in low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa to deliver good quality health care through general health systems. The second discusses the main characteristics of infectious disease and TB control programmes. The third illustrates how TB control and other infectious disease programmes can help to strengthen these components, particularly in human resources; infrastructure; procurement and distribution; monitoring, evaluation and supervision; leadership and stewardship. The fourth and final section looks at progress made to date at the international level in terms of policy and guidelines, with some specific suggestions about this might be moved forward at the national level. For TB and other infectious disease programmes to drive broad improvements in health care systems and patient care, the lessons that have been learnt must be consciously applied to the broader health system, and sufficient financial input and the engagement of all players are essential

Detection and prevention of financial abuse against elders

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ The Authors. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 3.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/ by/3.0/legalcode.Purpose – This paper reports on banking and finance professionals' decision making in the context of elder financial abuse. The aim was to identify the case features that influence when abuse is identified and when action is taken. Design/methodology/approach – Banking and finance professionals (n=70) were shown 35 financial abuse case scenarios and were asked to judge how certain they were that the older person was being abused and the likelihood of taking action. Findings – Three case features significantly influenced certainty of financial abuse: the nature of the financial problem presented, the older person's level of mental capacity and who was in charge of the client's money. In cases where the older person was more confused and forgetful, there was increased suspicion that financial abuse was taking place. Finance professionals were less certain that financial abuse was occurring if the older person was in charge of his or her own finances. Originality/value – The research findings have been used to develop freely available online training resources to promote professionals' decision making capacity (www.elderfinancialabuse.co.uk). The resources have been advocated for use by Building Societies Association as well as CIFAS, the UK's Fraud Prevention Service.The research reported here was funded by the UK cross council New Dynamicsof Ageing Programme, ESRC Reference No. RES-352-25-0026, with Mary L.M. Gilhooly asPrincipal Investigator. Web-based training tools, developed from the research findings, weresubsequently funded by the ESRC follow-on fund ES/J001155/1 with Priscilla A. Harries asPrincipal Investigator

Risk Factors for High Early Mortality in Patients on Antiretroviral Treatment in a Rural District of Malawi.

OBJECTIVES: Among adults started on antiretroviral treatment (ART) in a rural district hospital (a) to determine the cumulative proportion of deaths that occur within 3 and 6 months of starting ART, and (b) to identify risk factors that may be associated with such mortality. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cross-sectional analytical study set in Thyolo district, Malawi. METHODS: Over a 2-year period (April 2003 to April 2005) mortality within the first 3 and 6 months of starting ART was determined and risk factors were examined. RESULTS: A total of 1507 individuals (517 men and 990 women), whose median age was 35 years were included in the study. There were a total of 190 (12.6%) deaths on ART of which 116 (61%) occurred within the first 3 months (very early mortality) and 150 (79%) during the first 6 months of initiating ART. Significant risk factors associated with such mortality included WHO stage IV disease, a baseline CD4 cell count under 50 cells/mul and increasing grades of malnutrition. A linear trend in mortality was observed with increasing grades of malnutrition (chi for trend = 96.1, P </= 0.001) and decreasing CD4 cell counts (chi for trend = 72.4, P </= 0.001). Individuals who were severely malnourished [body mass index (BMI) < 16.0 kg/m] had a six times higher risk of dying in the first 3 months than those with a normal nutritional status. CONCLUSIONS: Among individuals starting ART, the BMI and clinical staging could be important screening tools for use to identify and target individuals who, despite ART, are still at a high risk of early death

Voluntary Counselling, HIV Testing and Sexual Behaviour Among Patients with Tuberculosis in a Rural District of Malawi.

OBJECTIVES: A study was conducted in new patients registered with tuberculosis (TB) in a rural district of Malawi in order to 1) verify the acceptability of voluntary counselling and testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection; 2) describe sexual behaviour and condom use; and 3) identify socio-demographic and behavioural risk factors associated with 'no condom use'. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: Consecutive patients diagnosed with TB between January and December 2000 were offered voluntary counselling and HIV testing (VCT) and were subsequently interviewed. RESULTS: There were 1,049 new TB patients enrolled in the study. Of these, 1,007 (96%) were pre-test counselled, 955 (91%) underwent HIV testing and 912 (87%) were post-test counselled; 43 (4%) patients refused HIV testing. The overall HIV infection rate was 77%. Of all HIV-positive TB patients, 691 (94%) were put on cotrimoxazole. There were 479 (49%) TB patients who reported sexual encounters, of whom only 6% always used condoms. Unprotected sex was associated with having TB symptoms for over 1 month, having had less than 8 years of school education, being single, divorced or widowed or having sex with the same partner. CONCLUSIONS: Offering VCT to TB patients in this setting has a high acceptance rate and provides an opportunity to strengthen and integrate TB and HIV programmes