CMB Signals of Neutrino Mass Generation

We propose signals in the cosmic microwave background to probe the type and spectrum of neutrino masses. In theories that have spontaneous breaking of approximate lepton flavor symmetries at or below the weak scale, light pseudo-Goldstone bosons recouple to the cosmic neutrinos after nucleosynthesis and affect the acoustic oscillations of the electron-photon fluid during the eV era. Deviations from the Standard Model are predicted for both the total energy density in radiation during this epoch, \Delta N_nu, and for the multipole of the n'th CMB peak at large n, \Delta l_n. The latter signal is difficult to reproduce other than by scattering of the known neutrinos, and is therefore an ideal test of our class of theories. In many models, the large shift, \Delta l_n \approx 8 n_S, depends on the number of neutrino species that scatter via the pseudo-Goldstone boson interaction. This interaction is proportional to the neutrino masses, so that the signal reflects the neutrino spectrum. The prediction for \Delta N_nu is highly model dependent, but can be accurately computed within any given model. It is very sensitive to the number of pseudo-Goldstone bosons, and therefore to the underlying symmetries of the leptons, and is typically in the region of 0.03 < \Delta N_nu < 1. This signal is significantly larger for Majorana neutrinos than for Dirac neutrinos, and, like the scattering signal, varies as the spectrum of neutrinos is changed from hierarchical to inverse hierarchical to degenerate.Comment: 40 pages, 4 figure

The rehydration transcriptome of the desiccation-tolerant bryophyte Tortula ruralis: transcript classification and analysis

BACKGROUND: The cellular response of plants to water-deficits has both economic and evolutionary importance directly affecting plant productivity in agriculture and plant survival in the natural environment. Genes induced by water-deficit stress have been successfully enumerated in plants that are relatively sensitive to cellular dehydration, however we have little knowledge as to the adaptive role of these genes in establishing tolerance to water loss at the cellular level. Our approach to address this problem has been to investigate the genetic responses of plants that are capable of tolerating extremes of dehydration, in particular the desiccation-tolerant bryophyte, Tortula ruralis. To establish a sound basis for characterizing the Tortula genome in regards to desiccation tolerance, we analyzed 10,368 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from rehydrated rapid-dried Tortula gametophytes, a stage previously determined to exhibit the maximum stress induced change in gene expression. RESULTS: The 10, 368 ESTs formed 5,563 EST clusters (contig groups representing individual genes) of which 3,321 (59.7%) exhibited similarity to genes present in the public databases and 2,242 were categorized as unknowns based on protein homology scores. The 3,321 clusters were classified by function using the Gene Ontology (GO) hierarchy and the KEGG database. The results indicate that the transcriptome contains a diverse population of transcripts that reflects, as expected, a period of metabolic upheaval in the gametophyte cells. Much of the emphasis within the transcriptome is centered on the protein synthetic machinery, ion and metabolite transport, and membrane biosynthesis and repair. Rehydrating gametophytes also have an abundance of transcripts that code for enzymes involved in oxidative stress metabolism and phosphorylating activities. The functional classifications reflect a remarkable consistency with what we have previously established with regards to the metabolic activities that are important in the recovery of the gametophytes from desiccation. A comparison of the GO distribution of Tortula clusters with an identical analysis of 9,981 clusters from the desiccation sensitive bryophyte species Physcomitrella patens, revealed, and accentuated, the differences between stressed and unstressed transcriptomes. Cross species sequence comparisons indicated that on the whole the Tortula clusters were more closely related to those from Physcomitrella than Arabidopsis (complete genome BLASTx comparison) although because of the differences in the databases there were more high scoring matches to the Arabidopsis sequences. The most abundant transcripts contained within the Tortula ESTs encode Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins that are normally associated with drying plant tissues. This suggests that LEAs may also play a role in recovery from desiccation when water is reintroduced into a dried tissue. CONCLUSION: The establishment of a rehydration EST collection for Tortula ruralis, an important plant model for plant stress responses and vegetative desiccation tolerance, is an important step in understanding the genome level response to cellular dehydration. The type of transcript analysis performed here has laid the foundation for more detailed functional and genome level analyses of the genes involved in desiccation tolerance in plants

Fermi surfaces in maximal gauged supergravity

We obtain fermion fluctuation equations around extremal charged black hole geometries in maximal gauged supergravity in four and five dimensions, and we demonstrate that their solutions display Fermi surface singularities for the dual conformal field theories at finite chemical potential. The four-dimensional case is a massless charged fermion, while in five dimensions we find a massive charged fermion with a Pauli coupling. In both cases, the corresponding scaling exponent is less than one half, leading to non-Fermi liquid behavior with no stable quasiparticles, although some excitations have widths more than ten times smaller than their excitation energy. In the five-dimensional case, both the Fermi momentum and the scaling exponent appear to have simple values, and a Luttinger calculation suggests that the gauginos may carry most of the charge of the black hole.Comment: 6 pages, REVTeX. v2: Introduction expanded, version to appear in Physical Review Letter

Risk of mature B-cell neoplasms and precursor conditions after joint replacement : a report from the Haematological Malignancy Research Network

Associations between previous joint replacement and B-cell lymphoid malignancies have been reported, but despite numerous reports, associations with the disease subtypes have received little attention. Using a UK-based register of haematological malignancies and a matched general population-based cohort, joint replacements from linked hospital inpatient records were examined. Cases diagnosed 2009-2015 who were aged 50 years or more were included; 8,013 mature B-cell neoplasms comprising myeloma (n=1,763), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL, n=1,676), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL, n=1,594), marginal zone lymphoma (MZL, n=957), follicular lymphoma (FL, n=725), and classical Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL, n=255), together with monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS, n=2,138) and monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL, n=632). Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated relative to 10 age- and sex-matched controls using conditional logistic regression. Having had a joint replacement before diagnosis was associated with myeloma (OR=1.3, 95%CI 1.1-1.5, p=0.008) and MGUS (OR=1.3, 95%CI 1.1-1.5, p<0.001). Excluding replacements in the year before diagnosis, the MGUS risk remained, elevated where two or more joints were replaced (OR=1.5, 95%CI 1.2-2.0, p=0.001), with hip (OR=1.2, 95%CI 1.0-1.5, p=0.06) or knee replacements (OR=1.5, 95%CI 1.2-1.8, p<0.001). Associations with CHL and two or more replacements (OR=2.7, 95%CI 1.3-5.6, p=0.005) or hip replacements (OR=1.9, 95%CI 1.0-3.4, p=0.04); and between DLBCL and knee replacements (OR=1.3, 95%CI 1.0-1.6, p=0.04) were also observed. This study reports for the first time a relationship between joint replacements and MGUS; while absolute risks of disease are low and not of major public health concern, these findings warrant further investigation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Experiences and Attitudes of Genome Investigators Regarding Return of Individual Genetic Test Results

Purpose Whether and how to return individual genetic results to study participants is among the most contentious policy issues in contemporary genomic research. Methods: We surveyed corresponding authors of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), identified through the National Human Genome Research Institute's Catalog of Published GWAS, to describe the experiences and attitudes of these stakeholders. Results: Of 357 corresponding authors, 200 (56%) responded. One hundred twenty-six (63%) had been responsible for primary data and sample collection, whereas 74 (37%) had performed secondary analyses. Only 7 (4%) had returned individual results within their index GWAS. Most (69%) believed that return of results to individual participants was warranted under at least some circumstances. Most respondents identified a desire to benefit participants's health (63%) and respect for participants's; desires for information (57%) as major motivations for returning results. Most also identified uncertain clinical utility (76%), the possibility that participants will misunderstand results (74%), the potential for emotional harm (61%), the need to ensure access to trained clinicians (59%), and the potential for loss of confidentiality (51%) as major barriers to return. Conclusion: Investigators have limited experience returning individual results from genome-scale research, yet most are motivated to do so in at least some circumstances