Prospects for Higgs Searches via VBF at the LHC with the ATLAS Detector

We report on the potential for the discovery of a Standard Model Higgs boson with the vector boson fusion mechanism in the mass range 115 with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Feasibility studies at hadron level followed by a fast detector simulation have been performed for H\to W^{(*)}W^{(*)}\to l^+l^-\sla{p_T}, $H\to\gamma\gamma$ and $H\to ZZ\to l^+l^-q\bar{q}$. The results obtained show a large discovery potential in the range 115. Results obtained with multivariate techniques are reported for a number of channels.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, contributed to 2003 Les Houches Workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders. Incorporated comments from ATLAS referee

Ground state properties of one-dimensional Bose-Fermi mixtures

Bose-Fermi mixtures in one dimension are studied in detail on the basis of an exact solution. Corresponding to three possible choices of the referecce state in the quantum inverse scattering method, three sets of Bethe-ansatz equations are derived explicitly. The features of the ground state and low-lying excitations are investigated. The ground state phase diagram caused by the external field and chemical potential is obtained

Study of color connections in e+e−e^+ e^- annihilation

We replace in the event generator JETSET the color singlet chain connection with the color separate state one as the interface between the hard and soft sectors of hadronic processes. The modified generator is applied to produce the hadronic events in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation. It describes the experimental data at the same level as the original JETSET with default parameters. This should be understood as a demonstration that color singlet chain is not the unique color connection. We also search for the difference in special sets of three-jet events arising from different color connections, which could subject to further experimental test.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, Revtex

Polo-like kinase 1 siRNA-607 induces mitotic arrest and apoptosis in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells

Polo-like kinase (Plk) 1 is overexpressed in many human malignancies including nasopharyngeal carcinoma, indicating its potential as a therapeutic target. Recently, using a simple cellular morphologybased strategy, we have identified several novel effective siRNAs against Plk1 including Plk1 siRNA- 607. In this study, we further investigated the effects of Plk1 siRNA-607 in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line, HNE-1. Real time RT-PCR and Western blot indicated that Plk1 siRNA-607 transfection resulted in a significant inhibition in Plk1 expression in the HNE-1 cells. Furthermore, cell cycle, cell growth and apoptosis analysis clearly indicated that Plk1 siRNA-607 caused a dramatic mitotic cell cycle arrest followed by massive apoptotic cell death, and eventually resulted in a significant decrease in growth and viability of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. Given that Plk1 has been widely accepted as a novel efficient target for cancer therapy, these results suggested that Plk1 siRNA-607 could be further developed for the treatment of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Key words: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, Plk1, RNA silencing, cell cycle, apoptosis

Effect of high molecular weight glutenin subunit Dy10 on wheat dough properties and end-use quality

High-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GSs) are the most critical grain storage proteins that determine the unique processing quality of wheat. Although it is part of the superior HMW-GS pair (Dx5+Dy10), the contribution of the Dy10 subunit to wheat processing quality remains unclear. In this study, we elucidated the effect of Dy10 on wheat processing quality by generating and analyzing a deletion mutant (with the Dy10-null allele) and by elucidating the changes to wheat flour following the incorporation of purified Dy10. The Dy10-null allele was transcribed normally, but there was a lack of the Dy10 subunit. These findings implied that the Dy10-null allele decreased the glutenin:gliadin ratio and negatively affected dough strength (i.e., Zeleny sedimentation value, gluten index, and dough development and stability times) and the bread-making quality; however, it positively affected the biscuit-making quality. The incorporation of various amounts of purified Dy10 into wheat flour had a detrimental effect on biscuit-making quality. The results of this study demonstrate that the Dy10 subunit is essential for maintaining wheat dough strength. Furthermore, the Dy10-null allele may be exploited by soft wheat breeding programs