3,183 research outputs found
Prolactin delays hair regrowth in mice
Mammalian hair growth is cyclic, with hair-producing follicles alternating between active (anagen) and quiescent (telogen) phases. The timing of hair cycles is advanced in prolactin receptor (PRLR) knockout mice, suggesting that prolactin has a role in regulating follicle cycling. In this study, the relationship between profiles of circulating prolactin and the first post-natal hair growth cycle was examined in female Balb/c mice. Prolactin was found to increase at 3 weeks of age, prior to the onset of anagen 1 week later. Expression of PRLR mRNA in skin increased fourfold during early anagen. This was followed by upregulation of prolactin mRNA, also expressed in the skin. Pharmacological suppression of pituitary prolactin advanced dorsal hair growth by 3.5 days. Normal hair cycling was restored by replacement with exogenous prolactin for 3 days. Increasing the duration of prolactin treatment further retarded entry into anagen. However, prolactin treatments, which began after follicles had entered anagen at 26 days of age, did not alter the subsequent progression of the hair cycle. Skin from PRLR-deficient mice grafted onto endocrine-normal hosts underwent more rapid hair cycling than comparable wild-type grafts, with reduced duration of the telogen phase. These experiments demonstrate that prolactin regulates the timing of hair growth cycles in mice via a direct effect on the skin, rather than solely via the modulation of other endocrine factors
Neutrino Oscillations in an SO(10) SUSY GUT with Family Symmetry
In a previous paper we analyzed fermion masses (focusing on neutrino masses and mixing angles) in an SO(10) SUSY GUT with U(2)\timesU(1)^n family symmetry. The model is "natural" containing all operators in the Lagrangian consistent with the states and their charges. With minimal family symmetry breaking vevs the model is also predictive giving a unique solution to atmospheric (with maximal mixing) and solar (with SMA MSW mixing) neutrino oscillations. In this paper we analyze the case of general family breaking vevs. We now find several new solutions for three, four and five neutrinos. For three neutrinos we now obtain SMA MSW, LMA MSW or vacuum oscillation solutions for solar neutrinos. In all three cases the atmospheric data is described by maximal mixing. In the four and five neutrino cases, in addition to fitting atmospheric and solar data as before, we are now able to fit LSND data. All this is obtained with the additional parameters coming from the family symmetry breaking vevs; providing only minor changes in the charged fermion fits
Optimising the location of tsunami detection buoys and sea-level monitors in the Indian Ocean
In the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami disaster, a global response to implement a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean became imperative. Steps in this direction were initiated in 2005 with plans for the deployment of up to 24 tsunami detection buoys. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the optimal placement of tsunami detection buoys and sea-level monitors, in order to provide warning to the greatest population potentially affected. We adopt a mathematical programming approach to examine this problem. It is determined that 10 sites are essential in ensuring that the maximum population can be warned. This has implications for construction and maintenance of the tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Lepton Flavor Violating Processes and Muon g-2 in Minimal Supersymmetric SO(10) Model
In the recently proposed minimal supersymmetric SO(10) model, the neutrino
Dirac Yukawa coupling matrix, together with all the other fermion mass
matrices, is completely determined once free parameters in the model are
appropriately fixed so as to accommodate the recent neutrino oscillation data.
Using this unambiguous neutrino Dirac Yukawa couplings, we calculate the lepton
flavor violating (LFV) processes and the muon g-2 assuming the minimal
supergravity scenario. The resultant rates of the LFV processes are found to be
large enough to well exceed the proposed future experimental bound, while the
magnitude of the muon g-2 can be within the recent result by Brookhaven E821
experiment. Furthermore, we find that there exists a parameter region which can
simultaneously realize the neutralino cold dark matter abundance consistent
with the recent WMAP data.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. The version to be published in Phys. Rev.
Analyzing Femorotibial Cartilage Thickness Using Anatomically Standardized Maps: Reproducibility and Reference Data.
Alterations in cartilage thickness (CTh) are a hallmark of knee osteoarthritis, which remain difficult to characterize at high resolution, even with modern magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), due to a paucity of standardization tools. This study aimed to assess a computational anatomy method producing standardized two-dimensional femorotibial CTh maps. The method was assessed with twenty knees, processed following three common experimental scenarios. Cartilage thickness maps were obtained for the femorotibial cartilages by reconstructing bone and cartilage mesh models in tree-dimension, calculating three-dimensional CTh maps, and anatomically standardizing the maps. The intra-operator accuracy (median (interquartile range, IQR) of -0.006 (0.045) mm), precision (0.152 (0.070) mm), entropy (7.02 (0.71) and agreement (0.975 (0.020))) results suggested that the method is adequate to capture the spatial variations in CTh and compare knees at varying osteoarthritis stages. The lower inter-operator precision (0.496 (0.132) mm) and agreement (0.808 (0.108)) indicate a possible loss of sensitivity to detect differences in a setting with multiple operators. The results confirmed the promising potential of anatomically standardized maps, with the lower inter-operator reproducibility stressing the need to coordinate operators. This study also provided essential reference data and indications for future research using CTh maps
Symmetric Textures in SO(10) and LMA Solution for Solar Neutrinos
We analyze a model based on SUSY SO(10) combined with SU(2) family symmetry
and symmetric mass matrices constructed by the authors recently. Previously,
only the parameter space for the LOW and vacuum oscillation (VO) solutions was
investigated. We indicate in this note the parameter space which leads to large
mixing angle (LMA) solution to the solar neutrino problem with a slightly
modified effective neutrino mass matrix. The symmetric mass textures arising
from the left-right symmetry breaking and the SU(2) symmetry breaking give rise
to very good predictions for the quark and lepton masses and mixing angles. The
prediction of our model for the |U_{e\nu_{3}}| element in the
Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (MNS) matrix is close to the sensitivity of current
experiments; thus the validity of our model can be tested in the near future.
We also investigate the correlation between the |U_{e\nu_{3}}| element and
\tan^{2}\theta_{\odot} in a general two-zero neutrino mass texture.Comment: RevTeX4; 9 pages; 1 figur
Testing Yukawa-unified SUSY during year 1 of LHC: the role of multiple b-jets, dileptons and missing E_T
We examine the prospects for testing SO(10) Yukawa-unified supersymmetric
models during the first year of LHC running at \sqrt{s}= 7 TeV, assuming
integrated luminosity values of 0.1 to 1 fb^-1. We consider two cases: the
Higgs splitting (HS) and the D-term splitting (DR3) models. Each generically
predicts light gluinos and heavy squarks, with an inverted scalar mass
hierarchy. We hence expect large rates for gluino pair production followed by
decays to final states with large b-jet multiplicity. For 0.2 fb^-1 of
integrated luminosity, we find a 5 sigma discovery reach of m(gluino) ~ 400 GeV
even if missing transverse energy, E_T^miss, is not a viable cut variable, by
examining the multi-b-jet final state. A corroborating signal should stand out
in the opposite-sign (OS) dimuon channel in the case of the HS model; the DR3
model will require higher integrated luminosity to yield a signal in the OS
dimuon channel. This region may also be probed by the Tevatron with 5-10 fb^-1
of data, if a corresponding search in the multi-b+ E_T^miss channel is
performed. With higher integrated luminosities of ~1 fb^-1, using E_T^miss plus
a large multiplicity of b-jets, LHC should be able to discover Yukawa-unified
SUSY with m(gluino) up to about 630 GeV. Thus, the year 1 LHC reach for
Yukawa-unified SUSY should be enough to either claim a discovery of the gluino,
or to very nearly rule out this class of models, since higher values of
m(gluino) lead to rather poor Yukawa unification.Comment: 32 pages including 31 EPS figure
Reconstruction of the optical potential from scattering data
We propose a method for reconstruction of the optical potential from
scattering data. The algorithm is a two-step procedure. In the first step the
real part of the potential is determined analytically via solution of the
Marchenko equation. At this point we use a diagonal Pad\'{e} approximant of the
corresponding unitary -matrix. In the second step the imaginary part of the
potential is determined via the phase equation of the variable phase approach.
We assume that the real and the imaginary parts of the optical potential are
proportional. We use the phase equation to calculate the proportionality
coefficient. A numerical algorithm is developed for a single and for coupled
partial waves. The developed procedure is applied to analysis of
, , and data.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, results of nucl-th/0410092 are refined, some new
results are presente
Bi-large Neutrino Mixing and Mass of the Lightest Neutrino from Third Generation Dominance in a Democratic Approach
We show that both small mixing in the quark sector and large mixing in the
lepton sector can be obtained from a simple assumption of universality of
Yukawa couplings and the right-handed neutrino Majorana mass matrix in leading
order. We discuss conditions under which bi-large mixing in the lepton sector
is achieved with a minimal amount of fine-tuning requirements for possible
models. From knowledge of the solar and atmospheric mixing angles we determine
the allowed values of sin \theta_{13}. If embedded into grand unified theories,
the third generation Yukawa coupling unification is a generic feature while
masses of the first two generations of charged fermions depend on small
perturbations. In the neutrino sector, the heavier two neutrinos are model
dependent, while the mass of the lightest neutrino in this approach does not
depend on perturbations in the leading order. The right-handed neutrino mass
scale can be identified with the GUT scale in which case the mass of the
lightest neutrino is given as (m_{top}^2/M_{GUT}) sin^2 \theta_{23} sin^2
\theta_{12} in the limit sin \theta_{13} = 0. Discussing symmetries we make a
connection with hierarchical models and show that the basis independent
characteristic of this scenario is a strong dominance of the third generation
right-handed neutrino, M_1, M_2 < 10^{-4} M_3, M_3 = M_{GUT}.Comment: typos correcte
An Alternative Yukawa Unified SUSY Scenario
Supersymmetric SO(10) Grand Unified Theories with Yukawa unification
represent an appealing possibility for physics beyond the Standard Model.
However Yukawa unification is made difficult by large threshold corrections to
the bottom mass. Generally one is led to consider models where the sfermion
masses are large in order to suppress these corrections. Here we present
another possibility, in which the top and bottom GUT scale Yukawa couplings are
equal to a component of the charged lepton Yukawa matrix at the GUT scale in a
basis where this matrix is not diagonal. Physically, this weak eigenstate
Yukawa unification scenario corresponds to the case where the charged leptons
that are in the 16 of SO(10) containing the top and bottom quarks mix with
their counterparts in another SO(10) multiplet. Diagonalizing the resulting
Yukawa matrix introduces mixings in the neutrino sector. Specifically we find
that for a large region of parameter space with relatively light sparticles,
and which has not been ruled out by current LHC or other data, the mixing
induced in the neutrino sector is such that , in
agreement with data. The phenomenological implications are analyzed in some
detail.Comment: 32 pages, 22 Figure
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