Gravity-mediated (or composite) dark matter

Dark matter could have an electroweak origin, yet it could communicate with the visible sector exclusively through gravitational interactions. In a setup addressing the hierarchy problem, we propose a new dark-matter scenario where gravitational mediators, arising from the compactification of extra dimensions, are responsible for dark-matter interactions and its relic abundance in the Universe. We write an explicit example of this mechanism in warped extra dimensions and work out its constraints. We also develop a dual picture of the model, based on a four-dimensional scenario with partial compositeness. We show that gravity-mediated dark matter is equivalent to a mechanism of generating viable dark matter scenarios in a strongly coupled, near-conformal theory, such as in composite Higgs models

Understanding the Perceptions of Low-Income Mothers and Childcare Givers: Exploratory Analysis of Relative Care

Employing in-depth interview-based exploratory study, the project will examine to understand low-income working mothers using relative care overall, and locate their distinctive perceptions on asking for childcare to relatives by race/ethnicity. The outcome will draw recommendations to social workers in low-income rural areas who need to help increase the self-sufficiency of low-income and ethnic-minority families. At the same time, this study will offer insight to policy-makers who are interested in improving childcare issues and job efficiency of low-income families in rural areas

Chávez’ Wahlsieg : Ein Mandat für die sozialistische Revolution?

©2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Radio-frequency interference (RFI) seriously affects the retrieval of geophysical parameters from the measurements of microwave radiometers. An accurate geolocation of the RFI is crucial to effectively switch off illegal transmitters. In this letter, a new RFI localization method is proposed to improve the achievable angular resolution by using beamforming and direction-of- arrival (DOA) estimation techniques. The proposed RFI localization techniques can be employed in synthetic aperture interferometric radiometers, such as the European Space Agency (ESA) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission. Two DOA estimation techniques are tested for the RFI localization: Capon and MUSIC. The feasibility of these methods is demonstrated with SMOS data. In the test results, the MUSIC beamforming shows a better performance of RFI localization than the SMOS Fourier imaging and the Capon, in terms of accuracy and resolution.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Predictors of Women’s Emergency Contraception Use and Men’s Support of Partner’s Use among College Students

Background: The unintended pregnancy rate in the United States is high, and emergency contraception (EC) is a birth control method that prevents unintended pregnancies. Despite the fact that many college campuses provide access to EC, undergraduate college students have relatively high rates of unintended pregnancies. Purpose: This study examined whether perceptions and knowledge regarding EC use were associated with women’s intentions to use EC, and men’s intentions to support their partner’s EC use. Methods: This study utilized a convenience sample of 96 female and 118 male southern California community college undergraduate students. Results: Women had stronger intentions to use EC if they thought they could successfully obtain it at a pharmacy, while men reported they were more likely to support a partner’s use if they thought that EC use is morally acceptable. Conclusions: The findings suggest that increasing women’s knowledge about the accessibility of EC may lead to increased use of EC if needed. Men’s moral stance regarding EC use may impact the degree to which they will support their female partners using EC. Further implications are discussed

Smoking and pancreatic cancer: a sex-specific analysis in the Multiethnic Cohort study

Purpose To examine whether the detrimental smoking-related association with pancreatic cancer (PC) is the same for women as for men. Methods We analyzed data from 192,035 participants aged 45–75 years, enrolled in the Multiethnic Cohort study (MEC) in 1993–1996. We identifed PC cases via linkage to the Hawaii and California Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program cancer registries through December 2017. Results During a mean follow-up of 19.2 years, we identifed 1,936 incident PC cases. Women smokers smoked on average less than men smokers. In multivariate Cox regression models, as compared with sex-specifc never smokers, current smokers had a similar elevated risk of PC for women, hazard ratio (HR) 1.49 (95% CI 1.24, 1.79) and as for men, HR 1.48 (95% CI 1.22, 1.79) (pheterogeneity: 0.79). Former smokers showed a decrease in risk of PC for men within 5 years, HR 0.74 (95% CI 0.57, 0.97) and for women within 10 years after quitting, HR 0.70 (95% CI 0.50, 0.96), compared with their sex-specifc current smokers. Both sexes showed a consistent, strong, positive dose–response association with PC for the four measures (age at initiation, duration, number of cigarettes per day, number of pack-years) of smoking exposure among current smokers and an inverse association for years of quitting and age at smoking cessation among former smokers (all ptrend’s<0.001). Conclusion Although MEC women smoke on average less than their men counterparts, the smoking-related increase in PC risk and the benefts of cessation seem to be of similar magnitudes for women as for men

Loss of the Desmosomal Component Perp Impairs Wound Healing In Vivo

Epithelial wound closure is a complex biological process that relies on the concerted action of activated keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts to resurface and close the exposed wound. Modulation of cell-cell adhesion junctions is thought to facilitate cellular proliferation and migration of keratinocytes across the wound. In particular, desmosomes, adhesion complexes critical for maintaining epithelial integrity, are downregulated at the wound edge. It is unclear, however, how compromised desmosomal adhesion would affect wound reepithelialization, given the need for a delicate balance between downmodulating adhesive strength to permit changes in cellular morphology and maintaining adhesion to allow coordinated migration of keratinocyte sheets. Here, we explore the contribution of desmosomal adhesion to wound healing using mice deficient for the desmosomal component Perp. We find that Perp conditional knockout mice display delayed wound healing relative to controls. Furthermore, we determine that while loss of Perp compromises cell-cell adhesion, it does not impair keratinocyte proliferation and actually enhances keratinocyte migration in in vitro assays. Thus, Perp's role in promoting cell adhesion is essential for wound closure. Together, these studies suggest a role for desmosomal adhesion in efficient wound healing

Loss of the p53/p63 Regulated Desmosomal Protein Perp Promotes Tumorigenesis

Dysregulated cell–cell adhesion plays a critical role in epithelial cancer development. Studies of human and mouse cancers have indicated that loss of adhesion complexes known as adherens junctions contributes to tumor progression and metastasis. In contrast, little is known regarding the role of the related cell–cell adhesion junction, the desmosome, during cancer development. Studies analyzing expression of desmosome components during human cancer progression have yielded conflicting results, and therefore genetic studies using knockout mice to examine the functional consequence of desmosome inactivation for tumorigenesis are essential for elucidating the role of desmosomes in cancer development. Here, we investigate the consequences of desmosome loss for carcinogenesis by analyzing conditional knockout mice lacking Perp, a p53/p63 regulated gene that encodes an important component of desmosomes. Analysis of Perp-deficient mice in a UVB-induced squamous cell skin carcinoma model reveals that Perp ablation promotes both tumor initiation and progression. Tumor development is associated with inactivation of both of Perp's known functions, in apoptosis and cell–cell adhesion. Interestingly, Perp-deficient tumors exhibit widespread downregulation of desmosomal constituents while adherens junctions remain intact, suggesting that desmosome loss is a specific event important for tumorigenesis rather than a reflection of a general change in differentiation status. Similarly, human squamous cell carcinomas display loss of PERP expression with retention of adherens junctions components, indicating that this is a relevant stage of human cancer development. Using gene expression profiling, we show further that Perp loss induces a set of inflammation-related genes that could stimulate tumorigenesis. Together, these studies suggest that Perp-deficiency promotes cancer by enhancing cell survival, desmosome loss, and inflammation, and they highlight a fundamental role for Perp and desmosomes in tumor suppression. An understanding of the factors affecting cancer progression is important for ultimately improving the diagnosis, prognostication, and treatment of cancer

Dark matter direct detection from new interactions in models with spin-two mediators

We consider models where a massive spin-two resonance acts as the mediator between Dark Matter (DM) and the SM particles through the energy-momentum tensor. We examine the effective theory for fermion, vector and scalar DM generated in these models and find novel types of DM-SM interaction never considered before. We identify the effective interactions between DM and the SM quarks when the mediator is integrated out, and match them to the gravitational form factors relevant for spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering. We also discuss the interplay between DM relic density conditions, direct detection bounds and collider searches for the spin-two mediator