Long life stau in the minimal supersymmetric standard model

We study the stau lifetime in a scenario with the LSP taken to be a neutralino and the NLSP being a stau, based on the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model. The mass difference between the LSP and NLSP, $\delta m$, must satisfy $\delta m/m_{\tilde{\chi}} \sim$ a few % or less for coannihilation to occur, where $m_{\tilde{\chi}}$ is the neutralino mass. We calculate the stau lifetime from the decay modes $\tilde{\tau}\to \tilde{\chi}\tau$, $\tilde{\chi}\nu_\tau\pi$, and $\tilde{\chi}\nu_\tau\mu(e)\nu_{\mu(e)}$ and discuss its dependence on various parameters. We find that the lifetime is in the range $10^{-22}$--$10^{16}$ sec for $10^{-2} \le \delta m \le 10$ GeV. We also discuss the connection with lepton flavor violation if there is mixing between sleptons.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Effect of low-dose human atrial natriuretic peptide on postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing pulmonary resection for lung cancer: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study

ObjectivesWe previously reported that patients with preoperative B-type natriuretic peptide levels of 30 pg/mL or more have increased risk of postoperative atrial fibrillation after pulmonary resection. This study evaluated the effects of human atrial natriuretic peptide on postoperative atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing pulmonary resection for lung cancer.MethodsA prospective, randomized study was conducted with 40 patients who had preoperative elevated B-type natriuretic peptide (≥30 pg/mL) and underwent a scheduled pulmonary resection for lung cancer. Results were compared between patients who received low-dose human atrial natriuretic peptide and those who received a placebo. The primary end point was the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation during the first 4 days after surgery.ResultsThe incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation was significantly lower in the human atrial natriuretic peptide group than in the placebo group (10% vs 60%; P < .001). Patients in the human atrial natriuretic peptide group also showed significantly lower white blood cell counts and C-reactive protein levels after surgery.ConclusionsContinuous infusion of low-dose human atrial natriuretic peptide during lung cancer surgery had a prophylactic effect against postoperative atrial fibrillation after pulmonary resection in patients with preoperative elevation of B-type natriuretic peptide levels. A larger sample size is needed to establish the safety and efficacy of this intervention

Compensation strategy of shoulder synergist muscles is not stereotypical in patients with rotator cuff repair

Rotator cuff tear is a common shoulder injury that causes shoulder dysfunction and pain. Although surgical repair is the primary treatment for rotator cuff tear, it is well recognized that impaired force exertion of muscles connecting to the involved tendon and subsequent complemental change in the force exertion of synergist muscles persist even after repair. This study aimed to identify the compensation strategy of shoulder abductors by examining how synergist muscles respond to supraspinatus (SSP) muscle force deficit in patients with rotator cuff repair. Muscle shear modulus, an index of muscle force, was assessed for SSP, infraspinatus, upper trapezius, and middle deltoid muscles in repaired and contralateral control shoulders of 15 patients with unilateral tendon repair of the SSP muscle using ultrasound shear wave elastography while the patients passively or actively held their arm in shoulder abduction. In the repaired shoulder, the shear modulus of the SSP muscle declined, whereas that of other synergist muscles did not differ relative to that of the control. To find the association between the affected SSP and each of the synergist muscles, a regression analysis was used to assess the shear moduli at the population level. However, no association was observed between them. At the individual level, there was a tendency of variation among patients with regard to a specific muscle whose shear modulus complementarily increased. These results suggest that the compensation strategy for SSP muscle force deficit varies among individuals, being nonstereotypical in patients with rotator cuff injury

Cosmological constant and gravitational theory on D-brane

In a toy model we derive the gravitational equation on a self-gravitating curved D-brane. The effective theory on the brane is drastically changed from the ordinal Einstein equation. The net cosmological constant on the brane depends on a tuning between the brane tension and the brane charges. Moreover, non-zero matter stress tensor exists if the net cosmological constant is not zero. This fact indicates a direct connection between matters on the brane and the dark energy.Comment: 6 pages, minor corrections, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Laboratory diagnosis of toxigenic Clostridium difficile by polymerase chain reaction: Presence of toxin genes and their stable expression in toxigenic isolates from Japanese individuals.

Clostridium difficile causes pseudomembranous colitis and antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection is finally accomplished by the isolation of toxigenic C. difficile. However, only a small number of Japanese clinical laboratories are able to reach a definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection, probably because simple reliable assays for toxins in the isolates are not available. In this study, we examined the compatibility of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and tissue culture assay to identify toxigenic C. difficile, in toxigenic and nontoxigenic C. difficile isolates from Japanese patients and healthy carriers. The specificity of PCR primers was demonstrated by restriction endonuclease digestion and seminested PCR in C. difficile VPI 10463 strain. No PCR product was amplified in the eight other clostridial species used to check the specifiecty of the PCR assay. The detection limit was 103 cells. Both toxin A and toxin B genes (the genes encoding the major virulence factors of C. difficile) were detected in 58 toxigenic C. difficile isolates, which showed a wide range of cytotoxic activity in tissue culture assays. Neither of the toxin genes was carried by 40 nontoxigenic strains of C. difficile. The results of this study strongly suggest that a definitive diagnosis of C. difficile infection can be accomplished by PCR detection of the toxin genes rather than by tissue culture assay of isolates

Can we live on a D-brane? -- Effective theory on a self-gravitating D-brane --

We consider a D-brane coupled with gravity in type IIB supergravity on S^5 and derive the effective theory on the D-brane in two different ways, that is, holographic and geometrical projection methods. We find that the effective equations on the brane obtained by these methods coincide. The theory on the D-brane described by the Born-Infeld action is not like Einstein-Maxwell theory in the lower order of the gradient expansion, i.e., the Maxwell field does not appear in the theory. Thus the careful analysis and statement for cosmology on self-gravitating D-brane should be demanded in realistic models.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Brane-World and Holography

We consider the brane-world in the holographic point of view. Bearing the realistic models in mind, the bulk massless scalar field is introduced. First of all, we find the constraint on the coupling of the scalar fields with the matter(not holographic CFT) on the brane. We show that the traceless part of the energy-momentum tensor of holographic CFT is a part of the bulk Weyl tensor. The trace part which comes from the trace-anomaly is corresponding to the $\rho^2$-term appeared in the generalized FRW equation in the brane-world.Comment: 4 pages, minor change

Effective Gravitational Equations on Brane World with Induced Gravity

We present the effective equations to describe the four-dimensional gravity of a brane world, assuming that a five-dimensional bulk spacetime satisfies the Einstein equations and gravity is confined on the $Z_2$ symmetric brane. Applying this formalism, we study the induced-gravity brane model first proposed by Dvali, Gabadadze and Porrati. In a generalization of their model, we show that an effective cosmological constant on the brane can be extremely reduced in contrast to the case of the Randall-Sundrum model even if a bulk cosmological constant and a brane tension are not fine-tuned.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, final version to appear in Physical Review