265 research outputs found
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
Children with cerebral malaria or severe malarial anaemia lack immunity to distinct variant surface antigen subsets
Abstract Variant surface antigens (VSAs) play a critical role in severe malaria pathogenesis. Defining gaps, or âlacunaeâ, in immunity to these Plasmodium falciparum antigens in children with severe malaria would improve our understanding of vulnerability to severe malaria and how protective immunity develops. Using a protein microarray with 179 antigen variants from three VSA families as well as more than 300 variants of three other blood stage P. falciparum antigens, reactivity was measured in sera from Malian children with cerebral malaria or severe malarial anaemia and age-matched controls. Sera from children with severe malaria recognized fewer extracellular PfEMP1 fragments and were less reactive to specific fragments compared to controls. Following recovery from severe malaria, convalescent sera had increased reactivity to certain non-CD36 binding PfEMP1s, but not other malaria antigens. Sera from children with severe malarial anaemia reacted to fewer VSAs than did sera from children with cerebral malaria, and both of these groups had lacunae in their seroreactivity profiles in common with children who had both cerebral malaria and severe malarial anaemia. This microarray-based approach may identify a subset of VSAs that could inform the development of a vaccine to prevent severe disease or a diagnostic test to predict at-risk children
The contributions of muscarinic receptors and changes in plasma aldosterone levels to the anti-hypertensive effect of Tulbaghia violacea
Background: Tulbaghia violacea Harv. (Alliaceae) is used to treat various ailments, including hypertension (HTN) in
South Africa. This study aims to evaluate the contributions of muscarinic receptors and changes in plasma
aldosterone levels to its anti-hypertensive effect.
Methods: In the acute experiments, methanol leaf extracts (MLE) of T. violacea (30â120 mg/kg), muscarine (0.16
-10 ÎŒg/kg), and atropine (0.02 - 20.48 mg/kg), and/or the vehicle (dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and normal saline (NS))
were respectively and randomly administered intravenously in a group of spontaneously hypertensive (SHR)
weighing 300 to 350 g and aged less than 5 months. Subsequently, T. violacea (60 mg/kg) or muscarine (2.5 ÎŒg/kg)
was infused into eight SHRs, 20 min after atropine (5.12 mg/kg) pre-treatment. In the chronic (21 days) experiments,
the SHRs were randomly divided into three groups, and given the vehicle (0.2 ml/day of DMSO and NS), T. violacea
(60 mg/kg/day) and captopril (10 mg/kg/day) respectively into the peritoneum, to investigate their effects on blood
pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and plasma aldosterone levels. Systolic BP and HR were measured using tail-cuff
plethysmography during the intervention. BP and HR were measured via a pressure transducer connecting the
femoral artery and the Powerlab at the end of each intervention in the acute experiment; and on day 22 in the
chronic experiment.
Results: In the acute experiments, T. violacea, muscarine, and atropine significantly (p < 0.05) reduced BP
dose-dependently. T. violacea and muscarine produced dose-dependent decreases in HR, while the effect of
atropine on HR varied. After atropine pre-treatment, dose-dependent increases in BP and HR were observed with
T. violacea; while the BP and HR effects of muscarine were nullified. In the chronic experiments, the T. violaceatreated
and captropril-treated groups had signicantly lower levels of aldosterone in plasma when compared to
vehicle-treated group. Compared to the vehicle-treated group, significant reduction in BP was only seen in the
captopril-treated group; while no difference in HR was observed among the groups.
Conclusion: The results obtained in this study suggest that stimulation of the muscarinic receptors and a reduction
in plasma aldosterone levels contribute to the anti-hypertesive effect of T. violacea.IS
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