Higgs Mass and Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment in Supersymmetric Models with Vector-Like Matters

We study the muon anomalous magnetic moment (muon g-2) and the Higgs boson mass in a simple extension of the minimal supersymmetric (SUSY) Standard Model with extra vector-like matters, in the frameworks of gauge mediated SUSY breaking (GMSB) models and gravity mediation (mSUGRA) models. It is shown that the deviation of the muon g-2 and a relatively heavy Higgs boson can be simultaneously explained in large tan-beta region. (i) In GMSB models, the Higgs mass can be more than 135 GeV (130 GeV) in the region where muon g-2 is consistent with the experimental value at the 2 sigma (1 sigma) level, while maintaining the perturbative coupling unification. (ii) In the case of mSUGRA models with universal soft masses, the Higgs mass can be as large as about 130 GeV when muon g-2 is consistent with the experimental value at the 2 sigma level. In both cases, the Higgs mass can be above 140 GeV if the g-2 constraint is not imposed.Comment: 26 pages; 7 figures; corrected typos; minor change

Instanton Calculus of Lifshitz Tails

For noninteracting particles moving in a Gaussian random potential, there exists a disagreement in the literature on the asymptotic expression for the density of states in the tail of the band. We resolve this discrepancy. Further we illuminate the physical facet of instantons appearing in replica and supersymmetric derivations with another derivation employing a Lagrange multiplier field.Comment: 5 page

Extracellular vesicles synchronize cellular phenotypes of differentiating cells

細胞外小胞が細胞の分化を同調させる現象の発見. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-10-01.Cells act in unison when next to each other. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-10-01.During embryonic development, cells differentiate in a coordinated manner, aligning their fate decisions and differentiation stages with those of surrounding cells. However, little is known about the mechanisms that regulate this synchrony. Here we show that cells in close proximity synchronize their differentiation stages and cellular phenotypes with each other via extracellular vesicle (EV)-mediated cellular communication. We previously established a mouse embryonic stem cell (ESC) line harbouring an inducible constitutively active protein kinase A (CA-PKA) gene and found that the ESCs rapidly differentiated into mesoderm after PKA activation. In the present study, we performed a co-culture of Control-ESCs and PKA-ESCs, finding that both ESC types rapidly differentiated in synchrony even when PKA was activated only in PKA-ESCs, a phenomenon we named ‘Phenotypic Synchrony of Cells (PSyC)’. We further demonstrated PSyC was mediated by EVs containing miR-132. PKA-ESC-derived EVs and miR-132-containing artificial nano-vesicles similarly enhanced mesoderm and cardiomyocyte differentiation in ESCs and ex vivo embryos, respectively. PSyC is a new form of cell-cell communication mediated by the EV regulation of neighbouring cells and could be broadly involved in tissue development and homeostasis

Expression of MUC17 is regulated by HIF1α-mediated hypoxic responses and requires a methylation-free hypoxia responsible element in pancreatic cancer.

MUC17 is a type 1 membrane-bound glycoprotein that is mainly expressed in the digestive tract. Recent studies have demonstrated that the aberrant overexpression of MUC17 is correlated with the malignant potential of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDACs); however, the exact regulatory mechanism of MUC17 expression has yet to be identified. Here, we provide the first report of the MUC17 regulatory mechanism under hypoxia, an essential feature of the tumor microenvironment and a driving force of cancer progression. Our data revealed that MUC17 was significantly induced by hypoxic stimulation through a hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α)-dependent pathway in some pancreatic cancer cells (e.g., AsPC1), whereas other pancreatic cancer cells (e.g., BxPC3) exhibited little response to hypoxia. Interestingly, these low-responsive cells have highly methylated CpG motifs within the hypoxia responsive element (HRE, 5\u27-RCGTG-3\u27), a binding site for HIF1α. Thus, we investigated the demethylation effects of CpG at HRE on the hypoxic induction of MUC17. Treatment of low-responsive cells with 5-aza-2\u27-deoxycytidine followed by additional hypoxic incubation resulted in the restoration of hypoxic MUC17 induction. Furthermore, DNA methylation of HRE in pancreatic tissues from patients with PDACs showed higher hypomethylation status as compared to those from non-cancerous tissues, and hypomethylation was also correlated with MUC17 mRNA expression. Taken together, these findings suggested that the HIF1α-mediated hypoxic signal pathway contributes to MUC17 expression, and DNA methylation of HRE could be a determinant of the hypoxic inducibility of MUC17 in pancreatic cancer cells

Vacuum Stability Bound on Extended GMSB Models

Extensions of GMSB models were explored to explain the recent reports of the Higgs boson mass around 124-126 GeV. Some models predict a large mu term, which can spoil the vacuum stability of the universe. We study two GMSB extensions: i) the model with a large trilinear coupling of the top squark, and ii) that with extra vector-like matters. In both models, the vacuum stability condition provides upper bounds on the gluino mass if combined with the muon g-2. The whole parameter region is expected to be covered by LHC at sqrt{s} = 14 TeV. The analysis is also applied to the mSUGRA models with the vector-like matters.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure

MUC4 and MUC1 expression in adenocarcinoma of the stomach correlates with vessel invasion and lymph node metastasis: an immunohistochemical study of early gastric cancer.

We have previously reported that MUC4 expression is a poor prognostic factor in various carcinomas. Our previous study also showed that MUC1 expression in gastric cancers, including the early and advanced stages is a poor prognostic factor. In the present study, the expression profiles of MUC4 and MUC1 were examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) using two anti-MUC4 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), 8G7 and 1G8, and anti-MUC1 MAb DF3 in 104 gastrectomy specimens of early gastric adenocarcinoma with submucosal invasion (pT1b2), including 197 histological subtype lesions. Before the IHC study of the human specimens, we evaluated the specificity of the two MAbs by Western blotting and IHC of two MUC4 mRNA expressing gastric cancer cell lines. MAb 8G7 reacted clearly, whereas MAb 1G8 did not show any reactivity, in either Western blotting or IHC. In the IHC of the gastric cancers, the expression rates of MUC4/8G7 detected by MAb 8G7, MUC4/1G8 detected by MAb 1G8 and MUC1/DF3 detected by MAb DF3 in well differentiated types (70%, 38/54; 67%, 36/54; 52%, 28/54) were significantly higher than those in poorly differentiated types (18%, 10/55; 36%, 20/55; 13%, 7/55) (