Neutral Higgs-pair production at Linear Colliders within the general 2HDM: quantum effects and triple Higgs boson self-interactions

The pairwise production of neutral Higgs bosons is analyzed in the context of the future linear colliders, such as the ILC and CLIC, within the general Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM). The corresponding cross-sections are computed at the one-loop level in full compliance with the current phenomenological bounds and the stringent theoretical constraints inherent to the consistency of the model. We uncover regions across the 2HDM parameter space, mainly for low tan\beta near 1 and moderate values of the relevant lambda_5 parameter, wherein the radiative corrections to the Higgs-pair production cross sections can comfortably reach 50% This behavior can be traced back to the enhancement capabilities of the trilinear Higgs self-interactions -- a trademark feature of the 2HDM, with no counterpart in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. Interestingly enough, the quantum effects are positive for energies around 500 GeV, thereby producing a significant enhancement in the expected number of events precisely around the fiducial startup energy of the ILC. The Higgs-pair production rates can be substantial, typically amounting to a few thousand events per 500 inverse femtobarn of integrated luminosity. In contrast, the corrections are negative in the highest energy range (1 TeV). We also compare the exclusive pairwise production of Higgs bosons with the inclusive gauge boson fusion channels leading to 2H+X finals states, and also with the exclusive triple Higgs boson production. We find that these multiparticle final states can be highly complementary in the overall Higgs bosons search strategy.Comment: 42 pages, 23 figures, 10 tables. Accepted in Phys. Rev. D (the published version is shorter

Single top-quark production by strong and electroweak supersymmetric flavor-changing interactions at the LHC

(Abridged) We report on a complete study of the single top-quark production by direct supersymmetric flavor-changing neutral-current (FCNC) processes at the LHC. The total cross section for pp(gg)->t\bar{c}+\bar{t}c is computed at the 1-loop order within the unconstrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The present study extends the results of the supersymmetric strong effects (SUSY-QCD), which were advanced by some of us in a previous work, and includes the computation of the full supersymmetric electroweak corrections (SUSY-EW). Our analysis of pp(gg)->t\bar{c}+\bar{t}c in the MSSM has been performed in correspondence with the stringent low-energy constraints from b->s gamma. In the most favorable scenarios, the SUSY-QCD contribution can give rise to production rates of around 10^5 events per 100 fb^{-1} of integrated luminosity. Furthermore, we show that there exist regions of the MSSM parameter space where the SUSY-EW correction becomes sizeable. In the SUSY-EW favored regions, one obtains lower, but still appreciable, event production rates that can reach the 10^3 level for the same range of integrated luminosity. We study also the possible reduction in the maximum event rate obtained from the full MSSM contribution if we additionally include the constraints from B^0_s-\bar{B}^0_s. In view of the fact that the FCNC production of heavy quark pairs of different flavors is extremely suppressed in the SM, the detection of a significant number of these events could lead to evidence of new physics -- of likely supersymmetric origin.Comment: LaTex, 35 pages, typos corrected. Version accepted in JHE

Management and Feeding Strategies in Early Life to Increase Piglet Performance and Welfare around Weaning : a review

The performance of piglets in nurseries may vary depending on body weight, age at weaning, management, and pathogenic load in the pig facilities. The early events in a pig's life are very important and may have long lasting consequences, since growth lag involves a significant cost to the system due to reduced market weights and increased barn occupancy. The present review evidences that there are several strategies that can be used to improve the performance and welfare of pigs at weaning. A complex set of early management and dietary strategies have been explored in sows and suckling piglets for achieving optimum and efficient growth of piglets after weaning. The management strategies studied to improve development and animal welfare include: (1) improving sow housing during gestation, (2) reducing pain during farrowing, (3) facilitating an early and sufficient colostrum intake, (4) promoting an early social interaction between litters, and (5) providing complementary feed during lactation. Dietary strategies for sows and suckling piglets aim to: (1) enhance fetal growth (arginine, folate, betaine, vitamin B12, carnitine, chromium, and zinc), (2) increase colostrum and milk production (DL-methionine, DL-2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutanoic acid, arginine, L-carnitine, tryptophan, valine, vitamin E, and phytogenic actives), (3) modulate sows' oxidative and inflammation status (polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, selenium, phytogenic actives, and spray dried plasma), (4) allow early microbial colonization (probiotics), or (5) supply conditionally essential nutrients (nucleotides, glutamate, glutamine, threonine, and tryptophan)

Evolutionary Analysis of Mitogenomes from Parasitic and Free-Living Flatworms

Copyright: © 2015 Solà et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Pleural cancer mortality in Spain: time-trends and updating of predictions up to 2020

Background A total of 2,514,346 metric tons (Mt) of asbestos were imported into Spain from 1906 until the ban on asbestos in 2002. Our objective was to study pleural cancer mortality trends as an indicator of mesothelioma mortality and update mortality predictions for the periods 2011–2015 and 2016–2020 in Spain.Methods Log-linear Poisson models were fitted to study the effect of age, period of death and birth cohort (APC) on mortality trends. Change points in cohort- and period-effect curvatures were assessed using segmented regression. Fractional power-link APC models were used to predict mortality until 2020. In addition, an alternative model based on national asbestos consumption figures was also used to perform long-term predictions.Results Pleural cancer deaths increased across the study period, rising from 491 in 1976–1980 to 1,249 in 2006–2010. Predictions for the five-year period 2016–2020 indicated a total of 1,319 pleural cancer deaths (264 deaths/year). Forecasts up to 2020 indicated that this increase would continue, though the age-adjusted rates showed a levelling-off in male mortality from 2001 to 2005, corresponding to the lower risk in post-1960 generations. Among women, rates were lower and the mortality trend was also different, indicating that occupational exposure was possibly the single factor having most influence on pleural cancer mortality.Conclusion The cancer mortality-related consequences of human exposure to asbestos are set to persist and remain in evidence until the last surviving members of the exposed cohorts have disappeared. It can thus be assumed that occupationally-related deaths due to pleural mesothelioma will continue to occur in Spain until at least 2040.The study was partially supported by a research grant from the Spanish Health Research Fund (FIS PI11/00871) and the HAR2009-07543 project of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. The Department of Labour of the Government of Catalonia provided the asbestos consumption data

Mapping Brain Response to Pain in Fibromyalgia Patients Using Temporal Analysis of fMRI

Background: Nociceptive stimuli may evoke brain responses longer than the stimulus duration often partially detected by conventional neuroimaging. Fibromyalgia patients typically complain of severe pain from gentle stimuli. We aimed to characterize brain response to painful pressure in fibromyalgia patients by generating activation maps adjusted for the duration of brain responses. Methodology/Principal Findings: Twenty-seven women (mean age: 47.8 years) were assessed with fMRI. The sample included nine fibromyalgia patients and nine healthy subjects who received 4 kg/cm2 of pressure on the thumb. Nine additional control subjects received 6.8 kg/cm2 to match the patients for the severity of perceived pain. Independent Component Analysis characterized the temporal dynamics of the actual brain response to pressure. Statistical parametric maps were estimated using the obtained time courses. Brain response to pressure (18 seconds) consistently exceeded the stimulus application (9 seconds) in somatosensory regions in all groups. fMRI maps following such temporal dynamics showed a complete pain network response (sensory-motor cortices, operculo-insula, cingulate cortex, and basal ganglia) to 4 kg/cm2 of pressure in fibromyalgia patients. In healthy subjects, response to this low intensity pressure involved mainly somatosensory cortices. When matched for perceived pain (6.8 kg/cm2), control subjects showed also comprehensive activation of pain-related regions, but fibromyalgia patients showed significantly larger activation in the anterior insula-basal ganglia complex and the cingulate cortex. Conclusions/Significance: The results suggest that data-driven fMRI assessments may complement conventional neuroimaging for characterizing pain responses and that enhancement of brain activation in fibromyalgia patients may be particularly relevant in emotion-related regions

Wax worm saliva and the enzymes therein are the key to polyethylene degradation by Galleria mellonella

11 p.-6 fig.Plastic degradation by biological systems with re-utilization of the by-products can be the future solution to the global threat of plastic waste accumulation. We report that the saliva of Galleria mellonella larvae (wax worms) is capable of oxidizing and depolymerizing polyethylene (PE), one of the most produced and sturdy polyolefin-derived plastics. This effect is achieved after a few hours’ exposure at room temperature and physiological conditions (neutral pH). The wax worm saliva can indeed overcome the bottleneck step in PE biodegradation, that is the initial oxidation step. Within the saliva, we identified two enzymes that can reproduce the same effect. This is the first report of enzymes with this capability, opening up the way to new ground-breaking solutions for plastic waste management through bio-recycling/up-cycling.Roechling Stiftung to FB Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) to FB NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme (Grant SPS G5536) to TT Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura y Fondo Social Europeo (Grant BU263P18) to TT Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant PID2019-111215RB-100) to TT The Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 1192) to MS Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant BFU2017-89143-P) to EA-PN