The Scalar Sector of 3-3-1 Models

We study the mass spectrum and the eigenstates of the scalar sectors in 3-3-1 models. We show that, in one of the models, the physical scalar masses lead to theoretical constraints to the vacuum expectation values. The models allow very light Higgs bosons. One of the neutral scalars can be identified with the standard model one.Comment: 14 pages, Revtex 3.0, four figures available upon reques

Treatment Response of Opium Smoking Hmong Refugees to Methadone Maintenance

Objective: To examine the outcome of methadone maintenance in opium dependent Hmong refugees. Methods: Medical records were searched for Hmong patients in methadone treatment between 01/1995 and 09/1997. Patient\u27s progress was assessed over nine months. Results: 44 Hmong patients were found. Data was available on 40 patients, mean age of 47.7 years, 33 males/7 females. At admission 100% met the DSM-IV criteria for Opium Dependence, 75% Major Depressive Disorder and 68% PTSD. Patients showed marked improvement by having mostly negative urine drug screens, improvement on Addiction Severity Index and 70% being highly successful on outcome criteria modified by Drug Abuse Research Project over 9 months. Conclusions: These findings suggest that opium dependent Hmong patients can show marked improvement while in methadone maintenance program. Prospective controlled studies are warranted

Further characterization of complex chromosomal rearrangements in myeloid malignancies: spectral karyotyping adds precision in defining abnormalities associated with poor prognosis

The mixed lineage leukemia gene (MLL, also known as HRX, ALL-1 and Htrx) located at 11q23 is involved in translocations with over 40 different chromosomal bands in a variety of leukemia subtypes. Here we report our analysis of a rare but recurring translocation, t(11;15)(q23;q14). This translocation has been described in a small subset of cases with both acute myeloblastic leukemia and ALL. Recent studies have shown that MLL is fused to AF15q14 in the t(11;15). Here we analyse a sample from another patient with this translocation and confirm the presence of an MLL-AF15q14 fusion. However, we have also identified and cloned another fusion transcript from the same patient sample. In this fusion transcript, MLL is fused to a novel gene, MLL partner containing FYVE domain (MPFYVE). Both MLL-AF15q14 and MLL-MPFYVE are in-frame fusion transcripts with the potential to code for novel fusion proteins. MPFYVE is also located on chromosome 15, approximately 170 kb telomeric to AF15q14. MPFYVE contains a highly conserved motif, the FYVE domain which, in other proteins, has been shown to bind to phosphotidyl-inositol-3 phosphate (PtdIns(3)P). The MLL-MPFYVE fusion may be functionally important in the leukemia process in at least some patients containing this translocation

Molecular cytogenetic characterization of breakpoints in 19 patients with hematologic malignancies and 12p unbalanced translocations

Structural rearrangements of the short arm of chromosome 12 are frequent cytogenetic findings in various hematologic malignancies. The ETV6 gene is the most common target for rearrangements in 12p13. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) investigations have shown that translocations of 12p other than t(12;21) are frequently accompanied by small interstitial deletions that include ETV6. Unbalanced translocations involving ETV6 have rarely been described, and breakpoints outside ETV6 appear to be strongly associated with complex karyotypes. We studied bone marrow samples from 19 patients known to have 12p unbalanced translocations and complex karyotypes, using FISH and spectral karyotyping. FISH analysis confirmed the hemizygous deletion of the ETV6 and CDKN1B genes in 74% of cases. We found four cases with interstitial deletions. In these four cases and in two others (6/19, 31.5%), the fusion with the partner chromosome was in the subtelomeric region of 12p13.3, confirming that there is a recurrent breakpoint in this region

Identification of new translocations involving ETV6 in hematologic malignancies by fluorescence in situ hybridization and spectral karyotyping

TEL/ETV6 is the first transcription factor identified that is specifically required for hematopoiesis within the bone marrow. This gene has been found to have multiple fusion partners; 35 different chromosome bands have been involved in ETV6 translocations, of which 13 have been cloned. To identify additional ETV6 partner genes and to characterize the chromosomal abnormalities more fully, we studied bone marrow samples from patients known to have rearrangements of 12p, using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and spectral karyotyping (SKY). FISH analysis was done with 14 probes located on 12p12.1 to 12p13.3. Nine ETV6 rearrangements were identified using FISH. The aberrations include t(1;12)(p36;p13), t(4;12)(q12;p13) (two patients), t(4;12)(q22;p13), t(6;12)(p21;p13), der(6)t(6;21)(q15;q?)t(12;21)(p13;q22), t(6;12)(q25;p13), inv(12)(p13q24), and t(2;2;5;12;17)(p25;q23;q31;p13;q12). Six new ETV6 partner bands were identified: 1p36, 4q22, 6p21, 6q25, 12q24, and 17q12. Our present data as well previous data from us and from other researchers suggest that ETV6 is involved in 41 translocations. The breakpoints in ETV6 were upstream from the exons coding for the HLH (helix-loop-helix) domain in six cases. Although cytogenetic analysis identified 12p abnormalities in all cases, FISH and SKY detected new and unexpected chromosomal rearrangements in many of them. Thus, complete characterization of the samples was achieved by using all three techniques in combination

Constraining mean-field models of the nuclear matter equation of state at low densities

An extension of the generalized relativistic mean-field (gRMF) model with density dependent couplings is introduced in order to describe thermodynamical properties and the composition of dense nuclear matter for astrophysical applications. Bound states of light nuclei and two-nucleon scattering correlations are considered as explicit degrees of freedom in the thermodynamical potential. They are represented by quasiparticles with medium-dependent properties. The model describes the correct low-density limit given by the virial equation of state (VEoS) and reproduces RMF results around nuclear saturation density where clusters are dissolved. A comparison between the fugacity expansions of the VEoS and the gRMF model provides consistency relations between the quasiparticles properties, the nucleon-nucleon scattering phase shifts and the meson-nucleon couplings of the gRMF model at zero density. Relativistic effects are found to be important at temperatures that are typical in astrophysical applications. Neutron matter and symmetric matter are studied in detail.Comment: 50 pages, 21 figure

Self-organized criticality in deterministic systems with disorder

Using the Bak-Sneppen model of biological evolution as our paradigm, we investigate in which cases noise can be substituted with a deterministic signal without destroying Self-Organized Criticality (SOC). If the deterministic signal is chaotic the universality class is preserved; some non-universal features, such as the threshold, depend on the time correlation of the signal. We also show that, if the signal introduced is periodic, SOC is preserved but in a different universality class, as long as the spectrum of frequencies is broad enough.Comment: RevTex, 8 pages, 8 figure

Radiative Scalar Meson Decays in the Light-Front Quark Model

We construct a relativistic $^3P_0$ wavefunction for scalar mesons within the framework of light-front quark model(LFQM). This scalar wavefunction is used to perform relativistic calculations of absolute widths for the radiative decay processes$(0^{++})\to\gamma\gamma,(0^{++})\to\phi\gamma$, and $(0^{++})\to\rho\gamma$ which incorporate the effects of glueball-$q\bar{q}$ mixing. The mixed physical states are assumed to be $f_0(1370),f_0(1500)$,and $f_0(1710)$ for which the flavor-glue content is taken from the mixing calculations of other works. Since experimental data for these processes are poor, our results are compared with those of a recent non-relativistic model calculation. We find that while the relativistic corrections introduced by the LFQM reduce the magnitudes of the decay widths by 50-70%, the relative strengths between different decay processes are fairly well preserved. We also calculate decay widths for the processes $\phi\to(0^{++})\gamma$ and (0^{++})\to\gamma\gamm involving the light scalars $f_0(980)$ and $a_0(980)$ to test the simple $q\bar{q}$ model of these mesons. Our results of $q\bar{q}$ model for these processes are not quite consistent with well-established data, further supporting the idea that $f_0(980)$ and $a_0(980)$ are not conventional $q\bar{q}$ states.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Dirichlet fundamental domains and complex-projective varieties

We prove that for every finitely-presented group G there exists a 2-dimensional irreducible complex-projective variety W with the fundamental group G, so that all singularities of W are normal crossings and Whitney umbrellas.Comment: 1 figur