Electroweak constraints on warped models with custodial symmetry

It has been recently argued that realistic models with warped extra dimensions can have Kaluza-Klein particles accessible at the Large Hadron Collider if a custodial symmetry, SU(2)_V \times P_{LR}, is used to protect the T parameter and the coupling of the left-handed bottom quark to the Z gauge boson. In this article we emphasize that such a symmetry implies that the loop corrections to both the T parameter and the Z b_L \bar{b}_L coupling are calculable. In general, these corrections are correlated, can be sizable, and should be considered to determine the allowed parameter space region in models with warped extra dimensions and custodial symmetry, including Randall-Sundrum models with a fundamental Higgs, models of gauge-Higgs unification and Higgsless models. As an example, we derive the constraints that arise on a representative model of gauge-Higgs unification from a global fit to the precision electroweak observables. A scan over the parameter space typically leads to a lower bound on the Kaluza-Klein excitations of the gauge bosons of about 2-3 TeV, depending on the configuration. In the fermionic sector one can have Kaluza-Klein excitations with masses of a few hundred GeV. We present the constraints on these light fermions from recent Tevatron searches, and explore interesting discovery channels at the LHC.Comment: 38 pages, 8 figure

Heavy Quarks Above the Top at the Tevatron

Recent developments in models with warped extra dimensions have opened new possibilities for vector-like quark studies at hadron colliders. These new vector-like quarks can mix sizably with light Standard Model quarks without violating low energy constraints. We perform a model-independent analysis to determine the Tevatron reach in the search for new quarks. We find that the Tevatron has great potential to observe such quarks via their electroweak single production due to their mixing with valence quarks. With 4 (8) fb-1 integrated luminosity, one may reach a 5\sigma statistical significance for a heavy quark of mass 580 (630) GeV if the heavy quark-Standard Model quark mixing parameter is order one.Comment: Version published in Phys. Rev. D; 19 pages, 4 figures; extended version including model building example; added Table

Hypothalamic Integration of Metabolic, Endocrine, and Circadian Signals in Fish: Involvement in the Control of Food Intake

The regulation of food intake in fish is a complex process carried out through several different mechanisms in the central nervous system (CNS) with hypothalamus being the main regulatory center. As in mammals, a complex hypothalamic circuit including two populations of neurons: one co-expressing neuropeptide Y (NPY) and Agouti-related peptide (AgRP) and the second one population co-expressing pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) and cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) is involved in the integration of information relating to food intake control. The production and release of these peptides control food intake, and the production results from the integration of information of different nature such as levels of nutrients and hormones as well as circadian signals. The present review summarizes the knowledge and recent findings about the presence and functioning of these mechanisms in fish and their differences vs. the known mammalian model

State of the art of financial research in Mexico

El objetivo de esta investigación consiste en presentar el estado que guarda la investigación en el área financiera, a partir de los trabajos académicos presentados en los tres principales foros que agrupan a una gran parte del sector académico en Ciencias Administrativas en México: Academia de Ciencias Administrativas, Foro de Investigación UNAM-FCA y Congreso de Análisis Organizacional UAM, por un período de 5 años 2003 a 2007. Los hallazgos permiten determinar que ha sido incipiente el alcance de la investigación financiera que se ha desarrollado en México en comparación con los países de Europa y Estados Unidos, el desafío para los investigadores en México es el desarrollo de temáticas como: Finanzas personales, Finanzas del comportamiento e innovación financiera, ya que han sido temas poco estudiados y contextualizados en nuestro medio.The objective of this research is to present the state of research in the financial area, from the scholarly papers presented at the three main forums which bring together much of the academic sector in Mexico Administrative Sciences: Academy of Administrative Sciences , Research Forum FCA-UNAM and UAM Congress Organizational Analysis, for a period of 5 years 2003 to 2007. The findings help determine which was the extent of incipient financial investigation that has developed in Mexico in comparison with the countries of Europe and the United States, the challenge for researchers in Mexico is the development of themes such as: Personal Finance, Finance behavior and financial innovation, as they have been little studied and contextualized issues in our environment

BioRePortAP, an electronic clinical record coupled with a database : an example of its use in a single

Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists in the Rheumatology Department of Hospital de Santa Maria using the BioRePortAP. Methods: The Portuguese Society of Rheumatology (SPR) developed an electronic medical chart coupled with a database for the follow up of PsA patients, the BioRePortAP, which was launched in May 2009. This evaluation was based on all the PsA patients that were on active treatment with TNF antagonists in September 2009 and were registered in the BioRePortAP. All the previous data on these patients were introduced in BioRePortAP using the prospective paper based follow up protocol that this Department was using since 1999. Only patients with more than 9 months of treatment were analyzed. Results: Forty-two patients with PsA, actively treated with anti-TNF agents in September 2009, for at least 9 months, were analyzed in BioRePortAP. Twenty-three patients were male (55%) and nineteen were female (45%). The average age of these patients was 49.8±10.9 years old, the average disease duration was of 10.7±5.6 years and the mean duration of biological therapy was of 37.8±27.8 months. For the 81% of patients with peripheral joint disease there was a mean reduction of more than 80% in the swollen and tender joint counts, and almost 50% in the health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) value. In the 19% of the patients with axial involvement the reduction of BASDAI and BASFI was not statistically significative. On top of that, PASI score suffered a reduction of 64%. Fourteen patients (33.3%) had to switch their TNF antagonist treatment. 58.8% of the switches were due to adverse effects and 41.2% due to therapy failure. Regarding the 56 adverse reactions registered, only one was a severe reaction. The remaining adverse reactions were not severe and 67% of them were due to infections. Discussion: The results of this first report of the use of the BioRePortAP in clinical practice confirm the efficacy and safety of TNF antagonist treatment in PsA. The results shown here elucidate the potential applications of BioRePortAP as a tool for efficacy and safety assessment of PsA patients treated with biotechnological drugs

Optimized EDXRF system for simultaneous detection of gold and silver nanoparticles in tumor phantom

An energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence system (EDXRF) was optimized for simultaneous detection of gold and silver nanoparticles inside water-equivalent phantoms applied to theranostics. The optimization process was carried out in order to maximize the fluorescence detection, keeping dose levels as low as possible. Gold and silver fluorescent emissions were simultaneously detected emerging from phantom's volume, allowing the future development of multi-parametric imaging associated to specific tumor characteristics. For fluorescence detection, gold LIII-edge and silver K-edge emission lines were used, exited with a conventional X-ray source with a tungsten target. Several combinations of filters of different thickness were used to hardening the Bremsstrahlung spectrum, thus producing energetically narrow beams with central energy according to both excitation edges. In the case of gold, incident spectrum was optimized by means of strontium (Sr) and yttrium (Y) filters to relatively incrementing photons capable of exciting gold LIII-edge, while silver K-edge excitation was improved using a tin (Sn) filter. Filtering combinations made of 212.0 μm Sr with 94.5 μm Sn, and 130.2 μm Y with 94.5 μm Sn maximized fluorescence detection sensitivity and minimized delivered dose, resulting in doses 2.24 and 2.36 times lower than individual gold or silver fluorescent detection. Furthermore, when dual gold and silver fluorescent detection was performed, the minimum detectable concentration was lower than single element detection: 0.042 ± 0.002 mg/mL of Au and 0.024 ± 0.005 mg/mL of Ag in dual detection against 0.058 ± 0.003 mg/mL of Au and 0.124 ± 0.007 mg/mL of Ag when measured independently.Fil: Santibáñez, M.. Universidad de La Frontera; ChileFil: Saavedra, R.. Universidad de La Frontera; ChileFil: Vedelago, José Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Malano, Francisco Mauricio. Universidad de La Frontera; ChileFil: Valente, Mauro Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Universidad de La Frontera; Chil

Planar cell polarity: the Dachsous/Fat system contributes differently to the embryonic and larval stages of Drosophila.

The epidermal patterns of all three larval instars (L1-L3) ofDrosophilaare made by one unchanging set of cells. The seven rows of cuticular denticles of all larval stages are consistently planar polarised, some pointing forwards, others backwards. In L1 all the predenticles originate at the back of the cells but, in L2 and L3, they form at the front or the back of the cell depending on the polarity of the forthcoming denticles. We find that, to polarise all rows, the Dachsous/Fat system is differentially utilised; in L1 it is active in the placement of the actin-based predenticles but is not crucial for the final orientation of the cuticular denticles, in L2 and L3 it is needed for placement and polarity. We find Four-jointed to be strongly expressed in the tendon cells and show how this might explain the orientation of all seven rows. Unexpectedly, we find that L3 that lack Dachsous differ from larvae lacking Fat and we present evidence that this is due to differently mislocalised Dachs. We make some progress in understanding how Dachs contributes to phenotypes of wildtype and mutant larvae and adults.This work was generously supported by the Wellcome Trust: a Project Grant [086986] and, later, two successive Investigator Awards, [096645 and 107060] awarded to P.A.L., as well as [100986] to D.S. P.S. thanks Fundaçã o para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and the Cambridge Philosophical Society for research studentships.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from The Company of Biologists via https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.01715

Comparative antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of Lentinula edodes Donko and Koshin varieties against priority multidrug-resistant pathogens

The problematic increase in multidrug-resistant bacteria translates into the urgent need to discover novel and effective antimicrobial substances. Herein, mushrooms could be a promising alternative of natural source of new antimicrobials. The present work aimed to compare the phytochemical composition and antimicrobial activity of methanol and aqueous crude extracts of Lentinula edodes var. Koshin and Donko. Disk diffusion method was used to screen the antimicrobial activity and to assess the synergistic effect of the mushroom extracts. Microdilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). Phytochemical characterization of mushrooms extracts was achieved by analysis of total phenols, ortho-diphenols content and its antioxidant activity. The results noticed a positive relation between phenolic compounds content, antioxidant activity, and antimicrobial capacity of the mushroom's extracts. The L. edodes var. Koshin aqueous extracts, which contained the highest amount of total phenolic compounds, exhibited the highest scavenging capacity of ABTS which, in turns, exhibited the highest antimicrobial efficacy in inhibiting the growth of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Moreover, the combination between mushrooms extracts and commercial antibiotics showed favorable synergistic effects against tested bacteria. These results suggest that L. edodes var. Koshin may represent an important and valuable therapeutic source of compounds to be used against multidrug-resistant bacteria.This work was supported by the project I&T Companies in Co- Promotion FungiTech, Norte-01-0247-FEDER-033788; National Funds by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UIDB/04033/2020 (CITAB-Center for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences), Centro de Química – Vila Real (UIDB/00616/2020) and UIDB/00690/2020 (CIMO-Centro de Investigaç˜ao de Montanha).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Aplicación de un programa de aquaeróbic de muy corta duración (4 semanas) para la mejora de la condición física saludable en mujeres jóvenes sanas

El objetivo de este estudio fue conocer la influencia sobre la condición física saludable de un programa de aquaerobic de muy corta duración en mujeres jóvenes sanas. Participaron en este trabajo 22 mujeres sin patologías aparentes (20,560,98 años), estudiantes de la licenciatura de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y el Deporte, que no practicaban ningún deporte. Los sujetos llevaron a cabo un programa de acondicionamiento físico en el medio acuático basado en el aquaerobic de muy corta duración (8 sesiones de 30 minutos). Se valoró la condición física saludable, inmediatamente antes y después de la actividad. Los resultados muestran una disminución del peso graso estimado y una mejora de la flexibilidad de tronco, fuerza de prensión manual, fuerza-resistencia abdominal, equilibrio y potencia aeróbica máxima estimada. Las conclusiones del presente trabajo fueron: a) un programa de acondicionamiento físico de muy corta duración en el medio acuático se muestra eficaz en la reducción de la masa grasa corporal y b) mediante dicho programa se consiguen mejoras en la mayoría de los parámetros de la condición física saludable en mujeres jóvenes sanas, en especial en los relacionados con la fuerza, la flexibilidad y el equilibrio

CP-violating Majorana phases, lepton-conserving processes and final state interactions

The CP-violating phases associated with Majorana neutrinos can give rise to CP-violating effects even in processes that conserve total Lepton number, such as \mu -> eee+, \mu + e -> e + e and others. After explaining the reasons that make this happen, we consider the calculation of the rates for the process of the form \ell_a + \ell_b -> \ell_a + \ell_c, and its conjugate \bar\ell_a + \bar\ell_b -> \bar\ell_a + \bar\ell_c, where \ell_a, \ell_b and \ell_c denote charged leptons of different flavors. In the context of the Standard Model with Majorana neutrinos, we show that the difference in the rates depends on such phases. Our calculations illustrate in detail the mechanics that operate behind the scene, and set the stage for carrying out the analogous, more complicated (as we explain), calculations for other processes such as \mu -> eee+ and its conjugate.Comment: Latex, axodraw, 24 page