Signals of CP Violation Beyond the MSSM in Higgs and Flavor Physics

We study an extension of the Higgs sector of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), considering the effects of new degrees of freedom at the TeV scale, and allowing for sources of CP violation beyond the MSSM (BMSSM). We analyze the impact of the BMSSM sources of CP violation on the Higgs collider phenomenology and on low energy flavor and CP violating observables. We identify distinct Higgs collider signatures that cannot be realized, either in the case without CP violating phases or in the CP violating MSSM, and investigate the prospects to probe them at the Tevatron and the LHC. The most striking benchmark scenario has three neutral Higgs bosons that all decay dominantly into W boson pairs and that are well within the reach of the 7 TeV LHC run. On the other hand, we also present scenarios with three Higgs bosons that have masses M_Hi > 150 GeV and decay dominantly into b bbar. Such scenarios are much more challenging to probe and can even lie completely outside the reach of the 7 TeV LHC run. We explore complementary scenarios with standard MSSM Higgs signals that allow to accommodate a sizable B_s mixing phase as indicated by D0, as well as the excess in B_s --> mu+ mu- candidates recently reported by CDF. We find that, in contrast to the MSSM, a minimal flavor violating soft sector is sufficient to generate significant corrections to CP violating observables in meson mixing, compatible with EDM constraints. In particular, a sizable B_s mixing phase, S_psiphi < 0.4, can be achieved for specific regions of parameter space. Such a large B_s mixing phase would unambiguously imply a sizable suppression of S_psiKs with respect to the SM prediction and a BR(B_s --> mu+ mu-) close to the 95% C.L. upper bound reported by CDF.Comment: 58 pages, 15 figures, 2 tables, v2 matches published versio

Tratamiento de la columna vertebral en la educación secundaria obligatoria: parte I - prevención y ejercicios poco recomendables

El dolor de espalda es uno de los motivos más frecuentes por los cuales se acude a la consulta médica y es preocupante la cada vez más temprana edad en la cual se presentan estos problemas. Ello impone la necesidad de dar a conocer a los alumnos de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria unos mínimos conocimientos acerca de la anatomía de la columna vertebral y ciertos recursos ergonómicos para adoptar actitudes posturales correctas. Por otro lado, el profesor de Educación Física ha de conocer cuáles son los ejercicios, de forma general, menos recomendables en la prevención de determinados problemas de espalda

Tratamiento de la columna vertebral en la educación secundaria obligatoria: parte II - ejercicios recomendables

El dolor de espalda en personas adultas es producido, en numerosas ocasiones, por una inadecuada educación postural y una deficiente condición física. Esta situación provoca un desequilibrio muscular en aquellos grupos musculares responsables de mantener la postura. En la E.S.O, también se producen tales desequilibrios por lo que, como actitud preventiva y educadora, es recomendable tener en cuenta el tratamiento corporal que sufren los alumnos a lo largo del día y durante las clases de Educación Física. Entre los ejercicios que favorecen la reeducación postural así como su desarrollo y mantenimiento, se ha realizado una selección de los que se consideran no debería faltar en una programación de E.F para la ESO

Evaluation of the VISAGE Basic Tool for Appearance and Ancestry Prediction Using PowerSeq Chemistry on the MiSeq FGx System

The study of DNA to predict externally visible characteristics (EVCs) and the biogeographical ancestry (BGA) from unknown samples is gaining relevance in forensic genetics. Technical developments in Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS) enable the simultaneous analysis of hundreds of DNA markers, which improves successful Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP). The EU-funded VISAGE (VISible Attributes through GEnomics) Consortium has developed various targeted MPS-based lab tools to apply FDP in routine forensic analyses. Here, we present an evaluation of the VISAGE Basic tool for appearance and ancestry prediction based on PowerSeq chemistry (Promega) on a MiSeq FGx System (Illumina). The panel consists of 153 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that provide information about EVCs (41 SNPs for eye, hair and skin color from HIrisPlex-S) and continental BGA (115 SNPs; three overlap with the EVCs SNP set). The assay was evaluated for sensitivity, repeatability and genotyping concordance, as well as its performance with casework-type samples. This targeted MPS assay provided complete genotypes at all 153 SNPs down to 125 pg of input DNA and 99.67% correct genotypes at 50 pg. It was robust in terms of repeatability and concordance and provided useful results with casework-type samples. The results suggest that this MPS assay is a useful tool for basic appearance and ancestry prediction in forensic genetics for users interested in applying PowerSeq chemistry and MiSeq for this purpose

Effect of surface chemistry and associated protein corona on the long-term biodegradation of iron oxide nanoparticles in Vivo

The protein corona formed on the surface of a nanoparticle in a biological medium determines its behavior in vivo. Herein, iron oxide nanoparticles containing the same core and shell, but bearing two different surface coatings, either glucose or poly(ethylene glycol), were evaluated. The nanoparticles' protein adsorption, in vitro degradation, and in vivo biodistribution and biotransformation over four months were investigated. Although both types of nanoparticles bound similar amounts of proteins in vitro, the differences in the protein corona composition correlated to the nanoparticles biodistribution in vivo. Interestingly, in vitro degradation studies demonstrated faster degradation for nanoparticles functionalized with glucose, whereas the in vivo results were opposite with accelerated biodegradation and clearance of the nanoparticles functionalized with poly(ethylene glycol). Therefore, the variation in the degradation rate observed in vivo could be related not only to the molecules attached to the surface, but also with the associated protein corona, as the key role of the adsorbed proteins on the magnetic core degradation has been demonstrated in vitro

OPTIMIZATION OF TISSUE SAMPLES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF DISEASE BIOMARKERS: THE OPTIMARK PROJECT

Europe Biobank Week, Sept 13-16, 2016. Vienna, AustriaS

Chikungunya virus infections among travellers returning to Spain, 2008 to 2014

Since the first documented autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus in the Caribbean island of Saint Martin in 2013, the infection has been reported within the Caribbean region as well as North, Central and South America. The risk of autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus becoming established in Spain may be elevated due to the large numbers of travellers returning to Spain from countries affected by the 2013 epidemic in the Caribbean and South America, as well as the existence of the Aedes albopictus vector in certain parts of Spain. We retrospectively analysed the laboratory diagnostic database of the National Centre for Microbiology, Institute of Health Carlos III (CNM-ISCIII) from 2008 to 2014. During the study period, 264 confirmed cases, of 1,371 suspected cases, were diagnosed at the CNM-ISCIII. In 2014 alone, there were 234 confirmed cases. The highest number of confirmed cases were reported from the Dominican Republic (n = 136), Venezuela (n = 30) and Haiti (n = 11). Six cases were viraemic in areas of Spain where the vector is present. This report highlights the need for integrated active case and vector surveillance in Spain and other parts of Europe where chikungunya virus may be introduced by returning travellers

Assessment of low-dose cisplatin as a model of nausea and emesis in beagle dogs, potential for repeated administration

Cisplatin is a highly emetogenic cancer chemotherapy agent, which is often used to induce nausea and emesis in animal models. The cytotoxic properties of cisplatin also cause adverse events that negatively impact on animal welfare preventing repeated administration of cisplatin. In this study, we assessed whether a low (subclinical) dose of cisplatin could be utilized as a model of nausea and emesis in the dog while decreasing the severity of adverse events to allow repeated administration. The emetic, nausea-like behavior and potential biomarker response to both the clinical dose (70 mg/m2) and low dose (15 mg/m2) of cisplatin was assessed. Plasma creatinine concentrations and granulocyte counts were used to assess adverse effects on the kidneys and bone marrow, respectively. Nausea-like behavior and emesis was induced by both doses of cisplatin, but the latency to onset was greater in the low-dose group. No significant change in plasma creatinine was detected for either dose groups. Granulocytes were significantly reduced compared with baseline (P = 0.000) following the clinical, but not the low-dose cisplatin group. Tolerability of repeated administration was assessed with 4 administrations of an 18 mg/m2 dose cisplatin. Plasma creatinine did not change significantly. Cumulative effects on the granulocytes occurred, they were significantly decreased (P = 0.03) from baseline at 3 weeks following cisplatin for the 4th administration only. Our results suggest that subclinical doses (15 and 18 mg/m2) of cisplatin induce nausea-like behavior and emesis but have reduced adverse effects compared with the clinical dose allowing for repeated administration in crossover studies

MAPlex: A massively parallel sequencing ancestry analysis multiplex for Asia-Pacific populations

© 2019 The Authors Current forensic ancestry-informative panels are limited in their ability to differentiate populations in the Asia-Pacific region. MAPlex (Multiplex for the Asia-Pacific), a massively parallel sequencing (MPS) assay, was developed to improve differentiation of East Asian, South Asian and Near Oceanian populations found in the extensive cross-continental Asian region that shows complex patterns of admixture at its margins. This study reports the development of MAPlex; the selection of SNPs in combination with microhaplotype markers; assay design considerations for reducing the lengths of microhaplotypes while preserving their ancestry-informativeness; adoption of new population-informative multiple-allele SNPs; compilation of South Asian-informative SNPs suitable for forensic AIMs panels; and the compilation of extensive reference and test population genotypes from online whole-genome-sequence data for MAPlex markers. STRUCTURE genetic clustering software was used to gauge the ability of MAPlex to differentiate a broad set of populations from South and East Asia, the West Pacific regions of Near Oceania, as well as the other globally distributed population groups. Preliminary assessment of MAPlex indicates enhanced South Asian differentiation with increased divergence between West Eurasian, South Asian and East Asian populations, compared to previous forensic SNP panels of comparable scale. In addition, MAPlex shows efficient differentiation of Middle Eastern individuals from Europeans. MAPlex is the first forensic AIM assay to combine binary and multiple-allele SNPs with microhaplotypes, adding the potential to detect and analyze mixed source forensic DNA