1,010 research outputs found
A Strong Sector at the LHC: Top Partners in Same-Sign Dileptons
Heavy partners of the top quark are a common prediction of many models in
which a new strongly-coupled sector is responsible for the breaking of the EW
symmetry. In this paper we investigate their experimental signature at the LHC,
focusing on the particularly clean channel of same-sign dileptons.
We show that, thank to a strong interaction with the top quark which allows
them to be singly produced at a sizable rate, the top partners will be
discovered at the LHC if their mass is below 1.5 TeV, higher masses being
possible in particularly favorable (but plausible) situations. Being the
partners expected to be lighter in both the Higgsless and Composite-Higgs
scenarios, the one of same-sign dileptons is found to be a very promising
channel in which these models could be tested.
We also discuss several experimental signatures which would allow, after the
discovery of the excess, to uniquely attribute it to the top partners
production and to measure the relevant physical parameters, i.e. the top
partners masses and couplings. We believe that our results constitute a valid
starting point for a more detailed experimental study.Comment: Corrected some typos, added a reference, 23 page
The Other Natural Two Higgs Doublet Model
We characterize models where electroweak symmetry breaking is driven by two
light Higgs doublets arising as pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons of new dynamics
above the weak scale. They represent the simplest natural two Higgs doublet
alternative to supersymmetry. We construct their low-energy effective
Lagrangian making only few specific assumptions about the strong sector. These
concern their global symmetries, their patterns of spontaneous breaking and the
sources of explicit breaking. In particular we assume that all the explicit
breaking is associated with the couplings of the strong sector to the Standard
Model fields, that is gauge and (proto)-Yukawa interactions. Under those
assumptions the scalar potential is determined at lowest order by very few free
parameters associated to the top sector. Another crucial property of our
scenarios is the presence of a discrete symmetry, in addition to custodial
SO(4), that controls the -parameter. That can either be simple CP or a
that distinguishes the two Higgs doublets. Among various possibilities we study
in detail models based on SO(6)/SO(4) SO(2), focussing on their
predictions for the structure of the scalar spectrum and the deviations of
their couplings from those of a generic renormalizable two Higgs doublet model.Comment: 54 page
Pharmacogenomic testing and outcome among depressed patients in a tertiary care outpatient psychiatric consultation practice
The authors tested the hypothesis that pharmacogenomic genotype knowledge is associated with better clinical and cost outcomes in depressed patients, after controlling for other factors that might differentiate tested and non-tested patients. Medical records of 251 patients, seen in the Mayo Clinic Rochester outpatient psychiatric practice, who had patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores before and after consultation, were reviewed. Comparisons of differences in pre-consultation and post-consultation depression scores and slopes between tested and non-tested patients and between genotype categories of tested patients, were evaluated, along with healthcare cost and utilization comparisons between tested and non-tested patients, using Kruskal–Wallis tests, Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and group mean comparisons, controlling for significant univariate demographic and clinical differences. Tested patients had significantly higher depression diagnosis frequency, baseline PHQ-9 scores, family history of depression, psychiatric hospitalization history, and higher numbers of antidepressant, mood stabilizer and antipsychotic medication trials. After controlling for these differences, there were no differences between tested and non-tested patients in post-baseline depression scores or slopes for CYP genotype categories. For patients with 5-HTTLPR testing, there was significantly more depression score improvement for patients with the long/long genotype at time 4 (N=55, χ2-value=8.0492, P=0.018) and at time 5 (N=44, χ2-value=6.1492, P=0.046). For a subgroup (n=46) with ⩾two pre- and ⩾two post-baseline PHQ-9 scores, the mean difference between pre-baseline and post-baseline PHQ-9 score slopes for tested patients was −0.08 (median −0.01; range −1.20 to 0.15) compared with 0.13 (median 0.02; range −0.18 to 2.16) for non-tested patients (P=0.03). Among genotype categories, mean differences between pre-consultation and post-consultation slopes were significantly better for poor CYP2D6 metabolizers than intermediate or extensive metabolizers (P=0.04); there was a trend for slope differences to be better for 5-HTTLPR long/long genotype patients (P=0.06). Subsets of local tested and consultant-adjusted non-tested controls (n=19), who had 8 years of longitudinal care within the health system, had similar overall mean healthcare costs before and after testing; however, tested patients on average had significantly fewer time-adjusted post-baseline psychiatric admissions (0.8 vs 3.8, P=0.04) and fewer time-adjusted psychiatric consultations and comprehensive mental health-specialty evaluations (4.2 vs 9.9, P=0.03). Prospective study is indicated as to whether and how pharmacogenomic testing in a psychiatric consultation practice may improve clinical and cost outcomes
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Human Vault Nanoparticle Targeted Delivery of Antiretroviral Drugs to Inhibit Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection.
"Vaults" are ubiquitously expressed endogenous ribonucleoprotein nanoparticles with potential utility for targeted drug delivery. Here, we show that recombinant human vault nanoparticles are readily engulfed by certain key human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), predominately dendritic cells, monocytes/macrophages, and activated T cells. As these cell types are the primary targets for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, we examined the utility of recombinant human vaults for targeted delivery of antiretroviral drugs. We chemically modified three different antiretroviral drugs, zidovudine, tenofovir, and elvitegravir, for direct conjugation to vaults. Tested in infection assays, drug-conjugated vaults inhibited HIV-1 infection of PBMC with equivalent activity to free drugs, indicating vault delivery and drug release in the cytoplasm of HIV-1-susceptible cells. The ability to deliver functional drugs via vault nanoparticle conjugates suggests their potential utility for targeted drug delivery against HIV-1
Clinical and service implications of a cognitive analytic therapy model of psychosis
Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is an integrative, interpersonal model of therapy predicated on a radically social concept of self, developed over recent years in the UK by Anthony Ryle. A CAT-based model of psychotic disorder has been developed much more recently based on encouraging early experience in this area. The model describes and accounts for many psychotic experiences and symptoms in terms of distorted, amplified or muddled enactments of normal or ‘neurotic’ reciprocal role procedures (RRPs) and of damage at a meta-procedural level to the structures of the self.
Reciprocal role procedures are understood in CAT to represent the outcome of the process of internalization of early, sign-mediated, interpersonal experience and to constitute the basis for all mental activity, normal or otherwise. Enactments of maladaptive RRPs generated by early interpersonal stress are seen in this model to constitute a form of ‘internal expressed emotion’. Joint description of these RRPs and their enactments (both internally and externally) and their subsequent revision is central to the practice of CAT during which they are mapped out through written and diagrammatic reformulations.
This model may usefully complement and extend existing approaches, notably recent CBT-based interventions, particularly with ‘difficult’ patients, and generate meaningful and helpful understandings of these disorders for both patients and their treating teams. We suggest that use of a coherent and robust model such as CAT could have important clinical and service implications in terms of developing and researching models of these disorders as well as for the training of multidisciplinary teams in their effective treatment
Conspiracy in bacterial genomes
The rank ordered distribution of the codon usage frequencies for 123
bacteriae is best fitted by a three parameters function that is the sum of a
constant, an exponential and a linear term in the rank n. The parameters depend
(two parabolically) from the total GC content. The rank ordered distribution of
the amino acids is fitted by a straight line. The Shannon entropy computed over
all the codons is well fitted by a parabola in the GC content, while the
partial entropies computed over subsets of the codons show peculiar different
behavior, exhibiting therefore a first conspiracy effect. Moreover the sum of
the codon usage frequencies over particular sets, e.g. with C and A
(respectively G and U) as i-th nucleotide, shows a clear linear dependence from
the GC content, exhibiting another conspiracy effect.Comment: revised version: introduction and conclusion enhanced, references
added, figures added, some tables remove
Measurement of the 20 and 90 keV resonances in the N reaction via THM
The reaction is of primary importance in
several astrophysical scenarios, including fluorine nucleosynthesis inside AGB
stars as well as oxygen and nitrogen isotopic ratios in meteorite grains. Thus
the indirect measurement of the low energy region of the reaction has been performed to reduce the nuclear
uncertainty on theoretical predictions. In particular the strength of the 20
and 90 keV resonances have been deduced and the change in the reaction rate
evaluated.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
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