Vacuum Stability Bound on Extended GMSB Models

Extensions of GMSB models were explored to explain the recent reports of the Higgs boson mass around 124-126 GeV. Some models predict a large mu term, which can spoil the vacuum stability of the universe. We study two GMSB extensions: i) the model with a large trilinear coupling of the top squark, and ii) that with extra vector-like matters. In both models, the vacuum stability condition provides upper bounds on the gluino mass if combined with the muon g-2. The whole parameter region is expected to be covered by LHC at sqrt{s} = 14 TeV. The analysis is also applied to the mSUGRA models with the vector-like matters.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure

On crystallization at the inner core boundary

It is widely believed that a mushy layer develops at the ICB while the outer core material freezes onto the inner core. This view is obtained in reference to metallurgical or analog experiments on solidification carried out in the laboratory where morphological instability almost always follows constitutional supercooling. However, morphological instability is not an automatic consequence of supercooling: supercooling and stable solid-liquid interface may coexist under certain conditions such as might perhaps occur at the ICB. If these conditions are realized, there could be both solidification on the ICB and crystallization of small solid particles in the supercooled layer (slurry layer). We made a linear stability analysis of a unidirectionally advancing solid-liquid interface under the ICB conditions. Several values of liquidus slope against concentration of light material (mc) are used for the stability analysis. It was confirmed that supercooling and interstability may coexist if |mc| is low although this value of |mc| is believed to be too small as the liquidus slope at the ICB. The estimated amount of supercooling in the layer is of order 0.1K, and this provides an estimate of the size and population of solid particles in the slurry layer. However, even though the value of |mc| is small, to sustain such slurry layer at the ICB is unlikely due to (i) the difficulty of continuous supply of enough number of nuclei into the layer and (ii) the Rayleigh-Taylor instability by the compositional buoyancy. It is most probable that mushy layer exists at the ICB

Gastrointestinal symptoms and association with medication use patterns, adherence, treatment satisfaction, quality of life, and resource use in osteoporosis: baseline results of the MUSIC-OS study

Summary: The Medication Use Patterns, Treatment Satisfaction, and Inadequate Control of Osteoporosis Study (MUSIC-OS) is a prospective, observational study of women with osteoporosis in Europe and Canada. At baseline, patients with gastrointestinal symptoms reported lower adherence to osteoporosis treatment, treatment satisfaction, and health-related quality of life, than those without gastrointestinal symptoms. Introduction: The aim of the study was to examine gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and the association between GI symptoms and treatment adherence, treatment satisfaction, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among osteoporotic women in Europe and Canada. Methods: Baseline results are reported here for a prospective study which enrolled postmenopausal, osteoporotic women who were initiating (new users) or continuing (experienced users) osteoporosis treatment at study entry (baseline). A patient survey was administered at baseline and included the occurrence of GI symptoms during 6-month pre-enrolment, treatment adherence (adherence evaluation of osteoporosis (ADEOS), score 0–22), treatment satisfaction (Osteoporosis Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medications (OPSAT-Q), score 0–100) and HRQoL (EuroQol-5 dimension (EQ-5D) utility, score 0–1; OPAQ-SV, score 0–100). The association between GI symptoms and ADEOS (experienced users), OPSAT-Q (experienced users), and HRQoL (new and experienced users) was assessed by general linear models adjusted for patient characteristics. Results: A total of 2959 patients (2275 experienced and 684 new users) were included. Overall, 68.1 % of patients experienced GI symptoms in the past 6 months. Compared with patients without GI symptoms, patients with GI symptoms had lower mean baseline scores on most measures. The mean adjusted differences were ADEOS, −0.43; OPSAT-Q, −5.68; EQ-5D, −0.04 (new users) and −0.06 (experienced users), all P < 0.01. GI symptoms were also associated with lower OPAQ-SV domain scores: physical function, −4.17 (experienced users); emotional status, −4.28 (new users) and −5.68 (experienced users); back pain, −5.82 (new users) and −11.33 (experienced users), all P < 0.01. Conclusions: Patients with GI symptoms have lower treatment adherence and treatment satisfaction and worse HRQoL than patients without GI symptoms