The lightest Higgs boson production at photon colliders in the 2HDM-III

The branching ratios of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson $h^0$, in the framework of the General Two Higgs Doublet Model are calculated. Different scenarios are presented taking into account constraints obtained in previous works on the flavor changing neutral currents factors. Plausible scenarios with flavour changing processes at tree level like $b \bar s$ and $t \bar c$ are analyzed for relevant region of parameters. The loop-induced Higgs couplings to photon pairs can be tested with a photon collider. The number of events of $h^0$ as a resonance in photon colliders are calculated taking into account its corresponding background signal in TESLA, CLIC and NLC.Comment: 1. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia. (2) Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain. 21 pages, 5 figures, RevTe

Valoración económica de bienes y servicios ambientales de la Laguna Conache, Laredo (La Libertad, Perú)

Los problemas ambientales llaman mucho el interés de la sociedad por sus consecuencias; sin embargo, en países como el nuestro la preocupación es menos acuciante y, a pesar de existir ciertas políticas relacionadas a la conservación, éstas no se vienen ejerciendo como se debe, por ello la valoración surge como un instrumento útil, que no solo evalúa los efectos de la contaminación ambiental sino también le atribuye un valor monetario que permita evaluarlo en el presente y en el futuro. Por ello, la investigación pretende identificar los bienes y servicios ambientales, encontrar un valor económico aproximado y determinar el valor del disfrute de las personas que visitan la laguna ubicada en el caserío de Conache, empleando el Método de Valoración Contingente. En el caso de los bienes y servicios se identificaron el abastecimiento de agua, su flora (Sauce, Molle, Algarrobos, ígnea, entre otras), su fauna (pollas de agua, tilapia, guppys, garzas, Martin pescador, charcoca, entre otros), abastecimiento de agua de riego, control de inundaciones, recreación y turismo, recambio del agua subterránea, apoyo a ecosistemas externos, estabilización micro climática y costera, belleza escénica, la navegación, toma de fotos, sustento de la productividad biológica y asiento de organismos migratorios. En el caso del valor anual, la cantidad promedio declarada de la disposición a pagar (DAP) por conservar la laguna fue de S/. 2 808 937.66 nuevos soles; y el valor anual que las personas cree que vale su disfrute fue de S/. 4 185 720.00 nuevos soles. La diferencia se debe a que a las personas se les está pidiendo que paguen por algo, y a nadie le agrada la idea de gastar; pero en cambio cuando se refieren al valor de su disfrute su valoración es mayor por lo que no se les está hablando de pago alguno. Palabras claves: Valoración Contingente, Valor del disfrute, Laguna, Bienes y servicios ambientales

The Charged Higgs Boson Decays in the 2HDM-III

Se considera el modelo THDM-III el cual genera cambios de sabor a nivel árbol. Se calculan todos los modos de decaimiento del Higgs cargado en dos cuerpos

Your Teammate Just Sent You a New Message! The Effects of Using Telegram on Individual Acquisition of Teamwork Competence

Students’ acquisition of teamwork competence has become a priority for educational institutions. The development of teamwork competence in education generally relies in project-based learning methodologies and challenges. The assessment of teamwork in project-based learning involves, among others, assessing students’ participation and the interactions between team members. Project-based learning can easily be handled in small-size courses, but course management and teamwork assessment become a burdensome task for instructors as the size of the class increases. Additionally, when project-based learning happens in a virtual space, such as online learning, interactions occur in a less natural way. This study explores the use of instant messaging apps (more precisely, the use of Telegram) as team communication space in project-based learning, using a learning analytics tool to extract and analyze student interactions. Further, the study compares student interactions (e.g., number of messages exchanged) and individual teamwork competence acquisition between traditional asynchronous (e.g., LMS message boards) and synchronous instant messaging communication environments. The results show a preference of students for IM tools and increased participation in the course. However, the analysis does not find significant improvement in the acquisition of individual teamwork competence

Actividad neurotóxica y cambios ultraestructurales en musculos causados por el veneno de la araña viuda marrón Latrodectus geometricus

Brown widow spider (Latrodectus geometricus) venom (BrWSV) produces few local lesions and intense systemic reactions such as cramps, harsh muscle pains, nausea, vomiting and hypertension. Approximately 16 protein bands under reducing conditions and ~ 14 bands under non-reducing conditions on a 12.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were observed. Neurotoxic clinical manifestations were confirmed in vivo, while proteolytic activity was demonstrated on gelatine film. Severe ultrastructural damages in mice skeletal muscles were observed at 3, 6, 12 and 24 h postinjection with at total of 45 µg of venom protein. Infiltration of eosinophils and ruptures of the cellular membranes were observed in the muscles along with swelling of the nuclear cover and interruption of the collagen periodicity. Altered mitochondrias and autophage vacuoles, nuclear indentation and mitochondria without cristae, slight increment of intermyofibrillar and subsarcolemic spaces and myelinic figures formation were also observed. In the capillary, endothelial membrane unfolding into the lumen was noticed; along with myelinic figures compatible with a toxic myopathy. Swollen sarcotubular systems with lysis of membrane, intense mitochondria autophagia and areas without pinocytic vesicles were observed. Swollen mitochondria surrounded by necrotic areas, myofibrillar disorganization and big vacuolas of the sarcotubular system, degenerated mitochondrium with formation of myelinic figure was seen. Glycogenosomes with small particulate, muscle type glycogen was noticed. Autophagic vacuole (autophagolysosomes) and necrotic areas were also noticed. These damages may be due to interactive effects of the multifactorial action of venom components. However, Latrodectus geometricus venom molecules may also be utilized as neuro therapeutic tools, as they affect neuronal activities with high affinity and selectivity. To our knowledge, the present study is the first ultrastructural report in the literature of muscle injuries and neurological and proteolytic activities caused by BrWSV.El veneno de la araña viuda marrón (Latrodectus geometricus) produce pocas lesiones locales pero intensas reacciones sistémicas, tales como calambres, dolores musculares severos, nauseas, vómitos e hipertensión arterial. Se observaron ~ 16 bandas de proteina bajo condiciones reducidas y ~14 bandas bajo condiciones no reducidas en electroforesis en geles de poliacrilamida al 12.5%. Las manifestaciones neurotóxicas clínicas fueron confirmadas in vivo, mientras que la actividad proteolítica fue demostrada en una placa de gelatina. Los músculos de ratón se estudiaron durante las 3, 6, 12 y 24 horas después de ser inyectados con 45 µg de proteina de veneno. Los músculos fueron seriamente dañados por este veneno. Se demostró una infiltracción de células eosinofílicas y rupturas de membranas celulares en tejido muscular, al mismo tiempo un fuerte incremento de la membrana nuclear y una interrupción de la periodicidad del colágeno. Se observaron daños en la mitocondria y sin cristaes, vacuolas autofágicas e indentación nuclear. Se notó un aumento de la luz de los espacios intermiofibrilares y subsarcolemicos. En los capilares fue visible un desdoblamiento de la membrana endotelial hacia el lúmen vascular. Del mismo modo, fue visto un hinchamiento del sistema sarcotubular con lisis de las membranas; intensa autofagia de mitocondrias y áreas sin vesículas pinocíticas. Fue además observado, glucogenosomas con glucogeno particulado. Se observaron vacuolas autofágicas (autofagolisosomas) y áreas de necrosis. Estos daños podrían ser atribuídos a los efectos interactivos de una acción multifactorial de los componentes del veneno

Characteristics of amnestic patients with hypometabolism patterns suggestive of Lewy body pathology

A clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease dementia encompasses considerable pathological and clinical heterogeneity. While Alzheimer's disease patients typically show a characteristic temporo-parietal pattern of glucose hypometabolism on FDG-PET imaging, previous studies identified a subset of patients showing a distinct posterior-occipital hypometabolism pattern associated with Lewy body pathology. Here, we aimed to improve the understanding of the clinical relevance of these posterior-occipital FDG-PET patterns suggestive of Lewy body pathology in patients with Alzheimer's disease-like amnestic presentations. Our study included 1214 patients with clinical diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD; N=305) or amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI, N=909) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, who had FDG-PET scans available. Individual FDG-PET scans were classified as suggestive of Alzheimer's (AD-like) or Lewy body (LB-like) pathology by using a logistic regression classifier previously trained on a separate set of patients with autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer's disease or Lewy body pathology. AD- and LB-like subgroups were compared on Aβ- and tau-PET, domain-specific cognitive profiles (memory vs executive function performance), as well as the presence of hallucinations and their evolution over follow-up (≈6y for aMCI, ≈3y for ADD). 13.7% of the aMCI patients and 12.5% of the ADD patients were classified as LB-like. For both aMCI and ADD patients, the LB-like group showed significantly lower regional tau-PET burden than AD-like, but Aβ load was only significantly lower in the aMCI LB-like subgroup. LB- and AD-like subgroups did not significantly differ in global cognition (aMCI: d=0.15, p=0.16; ADD: d=0.02, p=0.90), but LB-like patients exhibited a more dysexecutive cognitive profile relative to the memory deficit (aMCI: d=0.35, p=0.01; ADD: d=0.85 p<0.001), and had a significantly higher risk of developing hallucinations over follow-up (aMCI: HR=1.8, 95% CI = [1.29, 3.04], p=0.02; ADD: HR=2.2, 95% CI = [1.53, 4.06] p=0.01). In summary, a sizeable group of clinically diagnosed ADD and aMCI patients exhibit posterior-occipital FDG-PET patterns typically associated with Lewy body pathology, and these also show less abnormal Alzheimer's disease biomarkers as well as specific clinical features typically associated with dementia with Lewy bodies

Domestic dog and alien North American mink as reservoirs of infectious diseases in the endangered Southern river otter

Introduced alien carnivores are host to infectious diseases that may become an important threat for native carnivore species conservation. Canine distemper virus (CDV) is thought to be transmitted among individuals by direct contact and to present viral dynamics associated with a density-dependent multi-host carnivore community. In contrast, Canine Parvovirus (CPV) is mostly transmitted by indirect contact and does not depend only on the density, but also on the social behaviour of infected as well as susceptible hosts. The objective of this study was to assess how introduced American mink (Neovison vison) can act as a bridge-host between domestic dog (Canis familiaris) and Southern river otter (Lontra provocax) in different dog and mink population density scenarios. Our data show that otters are seropositive to both CDV and PV, as well as a molecular identity to Parvovirus in dogs and minks. Furthermore, a strong positive correlation between dog population density and observed seroprevalence of CDV in dogs, minks, and otters was recorded. For Parvovirus, the observed seroprevalence in mink and otters was not correlated to a higher dog population density, but instead a relationship between dog and mink population densities and social behaviour. Our results suggest that introduced American mink and domestic dogs are reservoirs of CDV and PV, both being diseases of major importance for the conservation of native endangered carnivores in Patagonia

Constraint of the magnetic moment of the top quark

We derive a bound on the magnetic dipole moment of the top quark in the context of the effective Lagrangian approach by using the values of the ratio $R_b = \Gamma_b/\Gamma_h$, $R_l = \Gamma_h/\Gamma_l$ and $\Gamma_Z$. We found that the oblique corrections are more sensible than the vertex ones for this moment.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Angiogenic response in an in vitro model of dog microvascular endothelial cells stimulated with antigenic extracts from Dirofilaria immitis adult worms

Background Angiogenesis can occur under pathological conditions when stimuli such as inflammation, vascular obstruction or hypoxia exist. These stimuli are present in cardiopulmonary dirofilariosis (Dirofilaria immitis). The aim of this study was to analyze the capacity of D. immitis antigens to modify the expression of angiogenic factors and trigger the formation of pseudocapillaries (tube-like structures) in an in vitro model of endothelial cells. Methods The expression of VEGF-A, sFlt, mEndoglin and sEndoglin in cultures of canine microvascular endothelial cells stimulated with extract of adult worms of D. immitis obtained from an untreated dog (DiSA) and from a dog treated for 15 days with doxycycline (tDiSA), was determined by using commercial kits. The capacity of pseudocapillary formation was evaluated analyzing cell connections and cell groups in Matrigel cell cultures stimulated with DiSA and tDiSA. In both cases non-stimulated cultures were used as controls. Results First, we demonstrated that worms obtained from the dog treated with doxycycline showed a significantly lower amount of Wolbachia (less than 60%) than worms removed from the untreated dog. Only DiSA was able to significantly increase the expression of the proangiogenic factor VEGF-A in the endotelial cells cultures. None of the D. immitis extracts modified the expression of sFlt. tDiSA extract was able to modify the expression of the endoglins, significantly decreasing the expression of the pro-angiogenic mEndoglin and increasing the anti-angiogenic sEndoglin. The formation of pseudocapillaries was negatively influenced by tDiSA, which reduced the organization and number of cellular connections. Conclusions The ability of antigens from adult D. immitis worms to modify the expression of pro and anti-angiogenic factors in endotelial cell cultures was demonstrated, as well as the trend to form pseudocapillaries in vitro. The capacity of stimulation may be linked to the amount of Wolbachia present in the antigenic extracts