Revisiting T2KK and T2KO physics potential and νμ\nu_\mu - νˉμ\bar{\nu}_\mu beam ratio

We revisit the sensitivity study of the Tokai-to-Kamioka-and-Korea (T2KK) and Tokai-to-Kamioka-and-Oki (T2KO) proposals where a water Cerenkov detector with the 100 kton fiducial volume is placed in Korea ($L = 1000$ km) and Oki island ($L = 653$ km) in Japan, respectively, in addition to the Super-Kamiokande for determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy and leptonic CP phase ($\delta_{CP}$). We systematically study the running ratio of the $\nu_\mu$ and $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ focusing beams with dedicated background estimation for the $\nu_e$ appearance and $\nu_\mu$ disappearance signals, especially improving treatment of the neutral current $\pi^0$ backgrounds. Using a $\nu_\mu$ - $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ beam ratio between 3 : 2 and 2.5 : 2.5 (in unit of $10^{21}$POT with the proton energy of 40 GeV), the mass hierarchy determination with the median sensitivity of 3 - 5 $\sigma$ by the T2KK and 1 - 4 $\sigma$ by the T2KO experiment are expected when $\sin^2\theta_{23} = 0.5$, depending on the mass hierarchy pattern and CP phase. These sensitivities are enhanced (reduced) by $30\%$ - $40\%$ in $\Delta \chi^2$ when $\sin^2\theta_{23} = 0.6\, (0.4)$. The CP phase is measured with the uncertainty of $20^\circ$ - $50^\circ$ by the T2KK and T2KO using the $\nu_\mu$ - $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ focusing beam ratio between 3.5 : 1.5 and 1.5 : 3.5. These findings indicate that inclusion of the $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ focusing beam improves the sensitivities of the T2KK and T2KO experiments to both the mass hierarchy determination and leptonic CP phase measurement simultaneously with the preferred beam ratio being between 3 : 2 - 2.5 : 2.5 ($\times 10^{21}$POT).Comment: 33 pages, 16 figures, 5 table

Investigation of The Cause of Death in Inpatients with Dementia in Akitsu Konoike Hospital.

The mortality rate of patients with dementia is known to be higher than that of the general population. Pneumonia is one of the most common causes of death in patients with dementia, and proper intervention is important for clinical outcomes. To date, it remains unclear whether there are differences in the risk factors of pneumonia among different types of dementia. Here, we investigated the primary cause of death in patients with dementia admitted at Akitsu Konoike Hospital. Furthermore, Cox regression analyses were performed to evaluate the risk factors associated with death by pneumonia among patients with Alzheimer's dementia (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), and other conditions. We found that pneumonia was one of the most common causes of death in all of the current samples. Additionally, poor outcomes were associated with the Barthel index in AD and aging or short disease duration in VaD. These results suggest that considering the diagnostic differences in death by pneumonia is important for clinical treatment of patients with dementia

Cadherin activity is required for activity-induced spine remodeling

Neural activity induces the remodeling of pre- and postsynaptic membranes, which maintain their apposition through cell adhesion molecules. Among them, N-cadherin is redistributed, undergoes activity-dependent conformational changes, and is required for synaptic plasticity. Here, we show that depolarization induces the enlargement of the width of spine head, and that cadherin activity is essential for this synaptic rearrangement. Dendritic spines visualized with green fluorescent protein in hippocampal neurons showed an expansion by the activation of AMPA receptor, so that the synaptic apposition zone may be expanded. N-cadherin-venus fusion protein laterally dispersed along the expanding spine head. Overexpression of dominant-negative forms of N-cadherin resulted in the abrogation of the spine expansion. Inhibition of actin polymerization with cytochalasin D abolished the spine expansion. Together, our data suggest that cadherin-based adhesion machinery coupled with the actin-cytoskeleton is critical for the remodeling of synaptic apposition zone

Inference of Natural Selection from Interspersed Genomic Elements Based on Polymorphism and Divergence

Complete genome sequences contain valuable information about natural selection, but extracting this information for short, widely scattered noncoding elements remains a challenging problem. Here we introduce a new computational method for addressing this problem called Inference of Natural Selection from Interspersed Genomically coHerent elemenTs (INSIGHT). INSIGHT uses a generative probabilistic model to contrast patterns of polymorphism and divergence in the elements of interest with those in flanking neutral sites, pooling weak information from many short elements in a manner that accounts for variation among loci in mutation rates and genealogical backgrounds. The method is able to disentangle the contributions of weak negative, strong negative, and positive selection based on their distinct effects on patterns of polymorphism and divergence. Information about divergence is obtained from multiple outgroup genomes using a full phylogenetic model. The model is efficiently fitted to genome-wide data by decomposing the maximum likelihood estimation procedure into three straightforward stages. The key selection-related parameters are estimated by expectation maximization. Using simulations, we show that INSIGHT can accurately estimate several parameters of interest even in complex demographic scenarios. We apply our methods to noncoding RNAs, promoter regions, and transcription factor binding sites in the human genome, and find clear evidence of natural selection. We also present a detailed analysis of particular nucleotide positions within GATA2 binding sites and primary micro-RNA transcripts.Comment: 21 page manuscript, 4 figure, 4 tables + 3 supp figures + 3 supp tables + supp methods. V4: additional results on human noncoding RNAs annotated by GENCODE + refinement of previous versions + additional supplementary material included to main document. V5: some minor modifications. V6: this is an electronic version of an article published in Mol Biol Evol, 201

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for the neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is reported. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The data were recorded in 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1 to 4.8 fb-1. Higgs boson decays into oppositely-charged muon or τ lepton pairs are considered for final states requiring either the presence or absence of b-jets. No statistically significant excess over the expected background is observed and exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are derived. The exclusion limits are for the production cross-section of a generic neutral Higgs boson, φ, as a function of the Higgs boson mass and for h/A/H production in the MSSM as a function of the parameters mA and tan β in the mhmax scenario for mA in the range of 90GeV to 500 GeV. Copyright CERN

Search for R-parity-violating supersymmetry in events with four or more leptons in sqrt(s) =7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for new phenomena in final states with four or more leptons (electrons or muons) is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of $\sqrt{s}=7\;\mathrm{TeV}$ proton-proton collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in two signal regions: one that requires moderate values of missing transverse momentum and another that requires large effective mass. The results are interpreted in a simplified model of R-parity-violating supersymmetry in which a 95% CL exclusion region is set for charged wino masses up to 540 GeV. In an R-parity-violating MSUGRA/CMSSM model, values of m 1/2 up to 820 GeV are excluded for 10 < tan β < 40

Search for high-mass resonances decaying to dilepton final states in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is used to search for high-mass resonances decaying to an electron-positron pair or a muon-antimuon pair. The search is sensitive to heavy neutral Z′ gauge bosons, Randall-Sundrum gravitons, Z * bosons, techni-mesons, Kaluza-Klein Z/γ bosons, and bosons predicted by Torsion models. Results are presented based on an analysis of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb−1 in the e + e − channel and 5.0 fb−1 in the μ + μ −channel. A Z ′ boson with Standard Model-like couplings is excluded at 95 % confidence level for masses below 2.22 TeV. A Randall-Sundrum graviton with coupling k/MPl=0.1 is excluded at 95 % confidence level for masses below 2.16 TeV. Limits on the other models are also presented, including Technicolor and Minimal Z′ Models