8,649 research outputs found
Intrinsic Deviation from the Tri-bimaximal Neutrino Mixing in a Class of A_4 Flavor Models
It is well known that the tri-bimaximal neutrino mixing pattern V_0 can be
derived from a class of flavor models with the non-Abelian A_4 symmetry. We
point out that small corrections to V_0, which are inherent in the A_4 models
and arise from both the charged-lepton and neutrino sectors, have been omitted
in the previous works. We show that such corrections may lead the 3 \times 3
neutrino mixing matrix V to a non-unitary deviation from V_0, but they cannot
result in a nonzero value of \theta_13 or any new CP-violating phases. Current
experimental constraints on the unitarity of V allow us to constrain the model
parameters to some extent.Comment: 11 pages, no figures; a reference added, accepted for publication in
Phys. Lett.
Association of VAV2 and VAV3 polymorphisms with cardiovascular risk factors
Hypertension, diabetes and obesity are cardiovascular risk factors closely associated to the development of renal and cardiovascular target organ damage. VAV2 and VAV3, members of the VAV family proto-oncogenes, are guanosine nucleotide exchange factors for the Rho and Rac GTPase family, which is related with cardiovascular homeostasis. We have analyzed the relationship between the presence of VAV2 rs602990 and VAV3 rs7528153 polymorphisms with cardiovascular risk factors and target organ damage (heart, vessels and kidney) in 411 subjects. Our results show that being carrier of the T allele in VAV2 rs602990 polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of obesity, reduced levels of ankle-brachial index and diastolic blood pressure and reduced retinal artery caliber. In addition, being carrier of T allele is associated with increased risk of target organ damage in males. On the other hand, being carrier of the T allele in VAV3 rs7528153 polymorphism is associated with a decreased susceptibility of developing a pathologic state composed by the presence of hypertension, diabetes, obesity or cardiovascular damage, and with an increased risk of developing altered basal glycaemia. This is the first report showing an association between VAV2 and VAV3 polymorphisms with cardiovascular risk factors and target organ damage
Non-standard interactions versus non-unitary lepton flavor mixing at a neutrino factory
The impact of heavy mediators on neutrino oscillations is typically described
by non-standard four-fermion interactions (NSIs) or non-unitarity (NU). We
focus on leptonic dimension-six effective operators which do not produce
charged lepton flavor violation. These operators lead to particular
correlations among neutrino production, propagation, and detection non-standard
effects. We point out that these NSIs and NU phenomenologically lead, in fact,
to very similar effects for a neutrino factory, for completely different
fundamental reasons. We discuss how the parameters and probabilities are
related in this case, and compare the sensitivities. We demonstrate that the
NSIs and NU can, in principle, be distinguished for large enough effects at the
example of non-standard effects in the --sector, which basically
corresponds to differentiating between scalars and fermions as heavy mediators
as leading order effect. However, we find that a near detector at superbeams
could provide very synergistic information, since the correlation between
source and matter NSIs is broken for hadronic neutrino production, while NU is
a fundamental effect present at any experiment.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures. Final version published in JHEP. v3: Typo in Eq.
(27) correcte
MiniBooNE and LSND data: non-standard neutrino interactions in a (3+1) scheme versus (3+2) oscillations
The recently observed event excess in MiniBooNE anti-neutrino data is in
agreement with the LSND evidence for electron anti-neutrino appearance. We
propose an explanation of these data in terms of a (3+1) scheme with a sterile
neutrino including non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) at neutrino
production and detection. The interference between oscillations and NSI
provides a source for CP violation which we use to reconcile different results
from neutrino and anti-neutrino data. Our best fit results imply NSI at the
level of a few percent relative to the standard weak interaction, in agreement
with current bounds. We compare the quality of the NSI fit to the one obtained
within the (3+1) and (3+2) pure oscillation frameworks. We also briefly comment
on using NSI (in an effective two-flavour framework) to address a possible
difference in neutrino and anti-neutrino results from the MINOS experiment.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, discussion improved, new appendix added,
conclusions unchange
New physics searches at near detectors of neutrino oscillation experiments
We systematically investigate the prospects of testing new physics with tau
sensitive near detectors at neutrino oscillation facilities. For neutrino beams
from pion decay, from the decay of radiative ions, as well as from the decays
of muons in a storage ring at a neutrino factory, we discuss which effective
operators can lead to new physics effects. Furthermore, we discuss the present
bounds on such operators set by other experimental data currently available.
For operators with two leptons and two quarks we present the first complete
analysis including all relevant operators simultaneously and performing a
Markov Chain Monte Carlo fit to the data. We find that these effects can induce
tau neutrino appearance probabilities as large as O(10^{-4}), which are within
reach of forthcoming experiments. We highlight to which kind of new physics a
tau sensitive near detector would be most sensitive.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX
Intensive care unit discharge to the ward with a tracheostomy cannula as a risk factor for mortality: A prospective, multicenter propensity analysis*
A Risk Score to Predict Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in an Elderly Spanish Mediterranean Population at High Cardiovascular Risk
Abstract
Introduction: To develop and test a diabetes risk score to predict incident diabetes in an elderly Spanish Mediterranean
population at high cardiovascular risk.
Materials and Methods: A diabetes risk score was derived from a subset of 1381 nondiabetic individuals from three centres
of the PREDIMED study (derivation sample). Multivariate Cox regression model ß-coefficients were used to weigh each risk
factor. PREDIMED-personal Score included body-mass-index, smoking status, family history of type 2 diabetes, alcohol
consumption and hypertension as categorical variables; PREDIMED-clinical Score included also high blood glucose. We
tested the predictive capability of these scores in the DE-PLAN-CAT cohort (validation sample). The discrimination of Finnish
Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC), German Diabetes Risk Score (GDRS) and our scores was assessed with the area under curve
(AUC).
Results: The PREDIMED-clinical Score varied from 0 to 14 points. In the subset of the PREDIMED study, 155 individuals
developed diabetes during the 4.75-years follow-up. The PREDIMED-clinical score at a cutoff of $6 had sensitivity of 72.2%,
and specificity of 72.5%, whereas AUC was 0.78. The AUC of the PREDIMED-clinical Score was 0.66 in the validation sample
(sensitivity = 85.4%; specificity = 26.6%), and was significantly higher than the FINDRISC and the GDRS in both the derivation
and validation samples.
Discussion: We identified classical risk factors for diabetes and developed the PREDIMED-clinical Score to determine those
individuals at high risk of developing diabetes in elderly individuals at high cardiovascular risk. The predictive capability of
the PREDIMED-clinical Score was significantly higher than the FINDRISC and GDRS, and also used fewer items in the
questionnaire
A Generic Diagonalization of the 3X3 Neutrino Mass Matrix and Its Implications on the mu-tau Flavor Symmetry and Maximal CP Violation
In the flavor basis where the mass eigenstates of three charged leptons are
identified with their flavor eigenstates, one may diagonalize a 3 X 3 Majorana
neutrino mass matrix M_nu by means of the standard parametrization of the 3 X 3
neutrino mixing matrix V. In this treatment the unphysical phases of M_nu have
to be carefully factored out, unless a special phase convention for neutrino
fields is chosen so as to simplify M_nu to M'_nu without any unphysical phases.
We choose this special flavor basis and establish some exact analytical
relations between the matrix elements of M'_nu M'_nu^dag and seven physical
parameters --- three neutrino masses (m_1, m_2, m_3), three flavor mixing
angles (theta_12, theta_13, theta_23) and the Dirac CP-violating phase (delta).
Such results allow us to derive the conditions for the mu-tau flavor symmetry
with theta_23 = pi/4 and maximal CP violation with delta = +/- pi/2, which
should be useful for discussing specific neutrino mass models. In particular,
we show that theta_23 = pi/4 and delta = +/- pi/2 keep unchanged when constant
matter effects are taken into account for a long-baseline neutrino oscillation
experiment.Comment: 11 pages. More discussions and references added. To appear in PL
Neutrinoless double beta decay in seesaw models
We study the general phenomenology of neutrinoless double beta decay in
seesaw models. In particular, we focus on the dependence of the neutrinoless
double beta decay rate on the mass of the extra states introduced to account
for the Majorana masses of light neutrinos. For this purpose, we compute the
nuclear matrix elements as functions of the mass of the mediating fermions and
estimate the associated uncertainties. We then discuss what can be inferred on
the seesaw model parameters in the different mass regimes and clarify how the
contribution of the light neutrinos should always be taken into account when
deriving bounds on the extra parameters. Conversely, the extra states can also
have a significant impact, cancelling the Standard Model neutrino contribution
for masses lighter than the nuclear scale and leading to vanishing neutrinoless
double beta decay amplitudes even if neutrinos are Majorana particles. We also
discuss how seesaw models could reconcile large rates of neutrinoless double
beta decay with more stringent cosmological bounds on neutrino masses.Comment: 34 pages, 5 eps figures and 1 axodraw figure. Final version published
in JHEP. NME results available in Appendi
Effectiveness of rotavirus vaccination in Spain
With the aim of determining rotavirus vaccine effectiveness (RVVE) in Spain, from Oct-2008/Jun-2009, 467 consecutive children below 2 years old with acute gastroenteritis (AGE) were recruited using a pediatric research network (ReGALIP-www.regalip.org) that includes primary, emergency and hospital care settings. Of 467 enrolled children, 32.3% were rotavirus positive and 35.0% had received at least one dose of any rotavirus vaccine. RRVE to prevent any episode of rotavirus AGE was 91.5% (95% CI: 83.7%-95.6%). RVVE to prevent hospitalization by rotavirus AGE was 95.6% (85.6-98.6%). No differences in RVVE were found regarding the vaccine used. Rotavirus vaccines have showed an outstanding effectiveness in Spain
- …