Effective Lagrangians for Orientifold Theories

We construct effective Lagrangians of the Veneziano-Yankielowicz (VY) type for two non-supersymmetric theories which are orientifold daughters of supersymmetric gluodynamics (containing one Dirac fermion in the two-index antisymmetric or symmetric representation of the gauge group). Since the parent and daughter theories are planar equivalent, at N\to\infty the effective Lagrangians in the orientifold theories basically coincide with the bosonic part of the VY Lagrangian. We depart from the supersymmetric limit in two ways. First, we consider finite (albeit large) values of N. Then 1/N effects break supersymmetry. We suggest seemingly the simplest modification of the VY Lagrangian which incorporates these 1/N effects, leading to a non-vanishing vacuum energy density. We analyze the spectrum of the finite-N non-supersymmetric daughters. For N=3 the two-index antisymmetric representation (one flavor) is equivalent to one-flavor QCD. We show that in this case the scalar quark-antiquark state is heavier than the corresponding pseudoscalar state, `` eta' ''. Second, we add a small fermion mass term. The fermion mass term breaks supersymmetry explicitly. The vacuum degeneracy is lifted. The parity doublets split. We evaluate the splitting. Finally, we include the theta-angle and study its implications.Comment: LaTeX, 21 page

Why does fertilization reduce plant species diversity? Testing three competition-based hypotheses

1 Plant species diversity drops when fertilizer is added or productivity increases. To explain this, the total competition hypothesis predicts that competition above ground and below ground both become more important, leading to more competitive exclusion, whereas the light competition hypothesis predicts that a shift from below-ground to above-ground competition has a similar effect. The density hypothesis predicts that more above-ground competition leads to mortality of small individuals of all species, and thus a random loss of species from plots. 2 Fertilizer was added to old field plots to manipulate both below-ground and above-ground resources, while shadecloth was used to manipulate above-ground resources alone in tests of these hypotheses. 3 Fertilizer decreased both ramet density and species diversity, and the effect remained significant when density was added as a covariate. Density effects explained only a small part of the drop in diversity with fertilizer. 4 Shadecloth and fertilizer reduced light by the same amount, but only fertilizer reduced diversity. Light alone did not control diversity, as the light competition hypothesis would have predicted, but the combination of above-ground and below-ground competition caused competitive exclusion, consistent with the total competition hypothesis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75695/1/j.1365-2745.2001.00662.x.pd

Species abundance distributions: moving beyond single prediction theories to integration within an ecological framework

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75247/1/j.1461-0248.2007.01094.x.pd

EXTL3 mutations cause skeletal dysplasia, immune deficiency, and developmental delay.

We studied three patients with severe skeletal dysplasia, T cell immunodeficiency, and developmental delay. Whole-exome sequencing revealed homozygous missense mutations affecting exostosin-like 3 (EXTL3), a glycosyltransferase involved in heparan sulfate (HS) biosynthesis. Patient-derived fibroblasts showed abnormal HS composition and altered fibroblast growth factor 2 signaling, which was rescued by overexpression of wild-type EXTL3 cDNA. Interleukin-2-mediated STAT5 phosphorylation in patients' lymphocytes was markedly reduced. Interbreeding of the extl3-mutant zebrafish (box) with Tg(rag2:green fluorescent protein) transgenic zebrafish revealed defective thymopoiesis, which was rescued by injection of wild-type human EXTL3 RNA. Targeted differentiation of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells showed a reduced expansion of lymphohematopoietic progenitor cells and defects of thymic epithelial progenitor cell differentiation. These data identify EXTL3 mutations as a novel cause of severe immune deficiency with skeletal dysplasia and developmental delay and underline a crucial role of HS in thymopoiesis and skeletal and brain development

Early- Onset Stroke and Vasculopathy Associated with Mutations in ADA2

Adenosine deaminase 2 (ADA2) is an enzyme involved in purine metabolism and a growth factor that influences the development of endothelial cells and leukocytes. This study shows that defects in ADA2 cause recurrent fevers, vascular pathologic features, and mild immunodeficiency. Patients with autoinflammatory disease sometimes present with clinical findings that encompass multiple organ systems.(1) Three unrelated children presented to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center with intermittent fevers, recurrent lacunar strokes, elevated levels of acute-phase reactants, livedoid rash, hepatosplenomegaly, and hypogammaglobulinemia. Collectively, these findings do not easily fit with any of the known inherited autoinflammatory diseases. Hereditary or acquired vascular disorders can have protean manifestations yet be caused by mutations in a single gene. Diseases such as the Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome,(2),(3) polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy,(4) sickle cell anemia,(5) livedoid vasculopathy,(6) and the small-vessel vasculitides(7),(8) are examples of systemic ...</p

Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases and Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-Vaccine�Derived Complications: A Systematic Review

Background: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is a live attenuated bacterial vaccine derived from Mycobacterium bovis, which is mostly administered to neonates in regions where tuberculosis is endemic. Adverse reactions after BCG vaccination are rare; however, immunocompromised individuals and in particular patients with primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) are prone to develop vaccine-derived complications. Objective: To systematically review demographic, clinical, immunologic, and genetic data of PIDs that present with BCG vaccine complications. Moreover, we performed a meta-analysis aiming to determine the BCG-vaccine complications rate for patients with PID. Methods: We conducted electronic searches on Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus (1966 to September 2018) introducing terms related to PIDs, BCG vaccination, and BCG vaccine complications. Studies with human subjects with confirmed PID, BCG vaccination history, and vaccine-associated complications (VACs) were included. Results: A total of 46 PIDs associated with BCG-VAC were identified. Severe combined immunodeficiency was the most common (466 cases) and also showed the highest BCG-related mortality. Most BCG infection cases in patients with PID were reported from Iran (n = 219 18.8%). The overall frequency of BCG-VAC in the included 1691 PID cases was 41.5% (95% CI, 29.9-53.2; I2 = 98.3%), based on the results of the random-effect method used in this meta-analysis. Patients with Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial diseases had the highest frequency of BCG-VACs with a pooled frequency of 90.6% (95% CI, 79.7-1.0; I2 = 81.1%). Conclusions: Several PID entities are susceptible to BCG-VACs. Systemic neonatal PID screening programs may help to prevent a substantial amount of BCG vaccination complications. © 2020 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunolog

Efeito das mudanças climáticas na disponibilidade hídrica da bacia hidrográfica do Rio Paracatu Effect of the climate change on the water availability in the Paracatu river basin

O aumento da demanda pelo uso da água na bacia do Rio Paracatu vem ocasionando sérios problemas ambientais e conflitos entre os usuários. Para a gestão mais eficiente dos recursos hídricos, é importante o conhecimento do comportamento hidrológico da bacia hidrográfica, no presente e no futuro, devido às fortes evidências de mudanças climáticas no planeta. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estimar a tendência de variação da disponibilidade hídrica na bacia hidrográfica do Rio Paracatu, até o final deste século, considerando dois cenários contrastantes de mudanças climáticas, um para altas emissões de CO2 (A2) e outro para baixas (B2). Para atingir esse objetivo, foi realizado o downscaling das precipitações mensais para os anos de 2001 a 2099, simulados pelo modelo de circulação geral do Hadley Centre (HadCM3). As precipitações interpoladas serviram como entrada em modelo do tipo precipitação-vazão, que possibilitou a estimativa das vazões mínimas em 21 estações fluviométricas distribuídas na bacia. Para o cenário A2, verificou-se tendência de aumento na disponibilidade hídrica em todas as estações fluviométricas, variando de 31 a 131% até 2099. Para o cenário B2, não foi verificada nenhuma tendência significativa.<br>The increase of water use in the Paracatu basin is leading to deep environmental problems and conflicts among the users. For a more efficient water resources management, the knowledge of the basin's hydrologic behavior is important, in the present and in the future, due to the strong climatic changes evidences in the planet. The aim of this work is to estimate the water availability variation trends in the Paracatu river basin, from the beginning until the end of this century, considering two contrasting climate change scenarios, the first one to take account of high CO2 emissions (A2) and the other one for low emissions (B2). To achieve this objective, the monthly precipitation downscaling was accomplished, using data from 2001 to 2099 simulated by the Hadley Centre´s global circulation model (HadCM3). The precipitations were used as data input in a precipitation-flow model, which made possible the estimate of the minimum discharges in 21 gauged stations distributed in the basin. For the A2 scenario, an increase trend was verified in the water availability in all of the stations from 2001 to 2099, varying from 31 to 131%. For the B2 scenario no significant trend was verified