Intermediate Charge-Breaking Phases and Symmetry Non-Restoration in the 2-Higgs-Doublet Model

The Higgs potentials of extended Higgs sectors exhibit a complex and interesting vacuum structure. When travelling back in time, i.e. going to higher temperatures, the structure may change and exhibit interesting phase patterns and sequences of phases related to the respective minima of the potential. The investigation of the vacuum structure can give us indirect insights in beyond-Standard-Model physics and the evolution of the Universe. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of an intermediate charge-breaking (CB) phase in the 2-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) type I. The existence has been reported previously by using a simple potential setup. We here confirm that the intermediate CB phase can still exist when using the one-loop corrected effective potential including thermal masses. We discuss its features and the relation with SU(2) symmetry (non-)restoration as well as its consistency with the current experimental data. Lastly, we show for some selected benchmark points the rich and interesting phase patterns and sequences that the 2HDM can undergo during its evolution from the early Universe to today's electroweak vacuum.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures, 3 table

A Forward Genetic Screen for Molecules Involved in Pheromone-Induced Dauer Formation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Animals must constantly assess their surroundings and integrate sensory cues to make appropriate behavioral and developmental decisions. Pheromones produced by conspecific individuals provide critical information regarding environmental conditions. Ascaroside pheromone concentration and composition are instructive in the decision of Caenorhabditis elegans to either develop into a reproductive adult or enter into the stress-resistant alternate dauer developmental stage. Pheromones are sensed by a small set of sensory neurons, and integrated with additional environmental cues, to regulate neuroendocrine signaling and dauer formation. To identify molecules required for pheromone-induced dauer formation, we performed an unbiased forward genetic screen and identified phd (pheromone response-defective dauer) mutants. Here, we describe new roles in dauer formation for previously identified neuronal molecules such as the WD40 domain protein QUI-1 and MACO-1 Macoilin, report new roles for nociceptive neurons in modulating pheromone-induced dauer formation, and identify tau tubulin kinases as new genes involved in dauer formation. Thus, phd mutants define loci required for the detection, transmission, or integration of pheromone signals in the regulation of dauer formation. © 2016 Neal et al.1

Suppression of Sproutys Has a Therapeutic Effect for a Mouse Model of Ischemia by Enhancing Angiogenesis

Sprouty proteins (Sproutys) inhibit receptor tyrosine kinase signaling and control various aspects of branching morphogenesis. In this study, we examined the physiological function of Sproutys in angiogenesis, using gene targeting and short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) knockdown strategies. Sprouty2 and Sprouty4 double knockout (KO) (DKO) mice were embryonic-lethal around E12.5 due to cardiovascular defects. The number of peripheral blood vessels, but not that of lymphatic vessels, was increased in Sprouty4 KO mice compared with wild-type (WT) mice. Sprouty4 KO mice were more resistant to hind limb ischemia and soft tissue ischemia than WT mice were, because Sprouty4 deficiency causes accelerated neovascularization. Moreover, suppression of Sprouty2 and Sprouty4 expression in vivo by shRNA targeting accelerated angiogenesis and has a therapeutic effect in a mouse model of hind limb ischemia. These data suggest that Sproutys are physiologically important negative regulators of angiogenesis in vivo and novel therapeutic targets for treating peripheral ischemic diseases

Electroweak baryogenesis between broken phases in multi-step phase transition

Possibility of electroweak baryogenesis (EWBG) via multi-step phase transition (PT) is considered. We investigate the EWBG between SU(2) broken phases in the second step PT of the two-step PT. The produced baryon number asymmetry is evaluated using a prototypical model with a SU(2) charged CP-odd scalar field. We show that the second step PTs where the sphaleron rate is possible to be un-suppressed before the PTs, which can reproduce the sufficient baryon number asymmetry. Our studies can be adapted to models with extra SU(2) scalar fields. We discuss specific models suitable for our scenario

Possibility of multi-step electroweak phase transition in the two Higgs doublet models

We discuss whether a multi-step electroweak phase transition (EWPT) occurs in two Higgs doublet models (2HDMs). The EWPT is related to interesting phenomena such as baryogenesis and a gravitational wave from it. We examine parameter regions in CP-conserving 2HDMs and find certain areas where the multi-step EWPTs occur. The parameter search shows the multi-step EWPT prefers the scalar potential with the approximate $Z_2$ symmetry and a mass hierarchy between the neutral CP-odd and CP-even extra scalar bosons $m_A<m_H$. By contrast, the multi-step EWPT whose first step is strongly first order favors a mass hierarchy $m_A>m_H$. In addition, we compute the Higgs trilinear coupling in the parameter region where the multi-step EWPTs occur, which can be observed at future colliders. We also discuss a multi-peaked gravitational wave from a multi-step EWPT.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures, 5 tables; Published versio

Prediction of Lymphatic Metastasis Based on Gene Expression Profile Analysis after Brachytherapy for Early-Stage Oral Tongue Carcinoma

Background and purposeThe management of lymphatic metastasis of early-stage oral tongue carcinoma patients is crucial for its prognosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictive ability of lymphatic metastasis after brachytherapy (BRT) for early-stage tongue carcinoma based on gene expression profiling.\nPatients and methodsPre-therapeutic biopsies from 39 patients with T1 or T2 tongue cancer were analyzed for gene expression signatures using Codelink Uniset Human 20K Bioarray. All patients were treated with low dose-rate BRT for their primary lesions and underwent strict follow-up under a wait-and-see policy for cervical lymphatic metastasis. Candidate genes were selected for predicting lymph-node status in the reference group by the permutation test. Predictive accuracy was further evaluated by the prediction strength (PS) scoring system using an independent validation group.\nResultsWe selected a set of 19 genes whose expression differed significantly between classes with or without lymphatic metastasis in the reference group. The lymph-node status in the validation group was predicted by the PS scoring system with an accuracy of 76%.\nConclusionsGene expression profiling using 19 genes in primary tumor tissues may allow prediction of lymphatic metastasis after BRT for early-stage oral tongue carcinoma

Correlation between single nucleotide polymorphisms and jejunal crypt cell apoptosis after whole body irradiation

PURPOSE: To identify loci concerned with radiosensitivity in a mouse model using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We subjected 276 second filial generation (F2) mice descended from two inbred mouse strains, radiation-induced apoptosis sensitive C57BL/6JNrs (B6) and radiation-induced apoptosis resistant C3H/HeNrs (C3H), to 2.5 Gy whole-body irradiation. We quantified jejunal crypt apoptosis, performed a genome-wide survey, and identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with radiation sensitivity. We expressed apoptosis levels as an apoptotic score (AS), which was equal to the number of apoptotic bodies divided by the number of crypts. We genotyped the mice for 109 SNP markers. RESULTS: AS values were 97.7+/-32.9 in B6 mice and 49.0+/-24.9 in C3H mice (p < 0.01). Genome-wide analysis revealed 8 markers (2 on chromosome 9, 4 on 15, 1 on 17, and 1 on 18) affecting radiation-induced jejunal apoptosis with log odds (LOD) scores ranging from 2.11+/-3.91. We found a significant locus on chromosome 15, which was previously reported by Weil and colleagues. CONCLUSION: These findings support the view that the radiosensitivity of clinically normal tissue depends on variations in several genes

Preliminary study on potential of the jPET-D4 human brain scanner for small animal imaging

OBJECTIVE: One trend in positron emission tomography (PET) instrumentation over the last decade has been the development of scanners dedicated to small animals such as rats and mice. Thicker crystals, which are necessary to obtain higher sensitivity, result in degraded spatial resolution in the peripheral field-of-view (FOV) owing to the parallax error. On the other hand, we are developing the jPET-D4, which is a dedicated human brain PET scanner that has a capability for depth-of-interaction (DOI) measurement. Although its crystal width is about twice that of commercially available small animal PET scanners, we expect the jPET-D4 to have a potential for small animal imaging by making full use of the DOI information. In this article, we investigate the jPET-D4\u27s potential for small animal imaging by comparing it with the microPET Focus220, a state-of-the-art PET scanner dedicated to small animals. \nMETHODS: The jPET-D4 uses four-layered GSO crystals measuring 2.9 mm x 2.9 mm x 7.5 mm, whereas the microPET Focus220 uses a single layer of LSO crystals measuring 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm x 10.0 mm. First, the absolute sensitivity, counting rate performance and spatial resolution of both scanners were measured. Next a small hot-rod phantom was used to compare their imaging performance. Finally, a rat model with breast tumors was imaged using the jPET-D4. \nRESULTS: Thanks to the thicker crystals and the longer axial FOV, the jPET-D4 had more than four times higher sensitivity than the microPET Focus220. The noise equivalent counting-rate performance of the jPETD4 reached 1,024 kcps for a rat-size phantom, whereas that of the microPET Focus220 reached only 165 kcps. At the center of the FOV, the resolution was 1.7 mm for the microPET Focus220, whereas it was 3.2 mm for the jPET-D4. On the other hand, the difference of resolution became smaller at the off-center position because the radial resolution degraded faster for the microPET Focus220. The results of phantom imaging showed that the jPET-D4 was comparable to the microPET Focus220 at the off-center position even as the microPET Focus220 outperformed the jPET-D4 except for the peripheral FOV. \nCONCLUSIONS: The jPET-D4 human brain PET scanner, which was designed to achieve not only high resolution but also high sensitivity by measuring DOI information, was proven to have a potential for small animal imaging