Multiple and plastic receptors mediate tonic GABAA receptor currents in the hippocampus

Persistent activation of GABAA receptors by extracellular GABA (tonic inhibition) plays a critical role in signal processing and network excitability in the brain. In hippocampal principal cells, tonic inhibition has been reported to be mediated by {alpha}5-subunit-containing GABAA receptors ({alpha}5GABAARs). Pharmacological or genetic disruption of these receptors improves cognitive performance, suggesting that tonic inhibition has an adverse effect on information processing. Here, we show that {alpha}5GABAARs contribute to tonic currents in pyramidal cells only when ambient GABA concentrations increase (as may occur during increased brain activity). At low ambient GABA concentrations, activation of {delta}-subunit-containing GABAA receptors predominates. In epileptic tissue, {alpha}5GABAARs are downregulated and no longer contribute to tonic currents under conditions of raised extracellular GABA concentrations. Under these conditions, however, the tonic current is greater in pyramidal cells from epileptic tissue than in pyramidal cells from nonepileptic tissue, implying substitution of {alpha}5GABAARs by other GABAA receptor subtypes. These results reveal multiple components of tonic GABAA receptor-mediated conductance that are activated by low GABA concentrations. The relative contribution of these components changes after the induction of epilepsy, implying an adaptive plasticity of the tonic current in the presence of spontaneous seizures

The role of final state interactions in epsilon'/epsilon

The Standard Model prediction for epsilon'/epsilon is updated, taking into account the chiral loop corrections induced by final state interactions. The resulting value, epsilon'/epsilon = (17\pm 6)\times 10^{-4}, is in good agreement with present measurements.Comment: 3 pages. Invited talk at the 2000 Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society --DPF2000-- (Columbus, Ohio, August 2000

The Standard Model prediction for eps'/eps

We review fundamental aspects of a new Standard Model analysis of eps'/eps which takes into account the strong enhancement induced by final state interactions.Comment: 3 pages, LaTex, uses ws-p10x7.cls. Talk given by E.P. at ICHEP2000, Osaka, July 27-August 2, 200

epsilon'/eps in the Standard Model

We overview the detailed analysis of epsilon'/epsilon within the Standard Model, presented in ref. 1. When all sources of large logarithms are considered, both at short and long distances, it is possible to perform a reliable Standard Model estimate of epsilon'/epsilon. The strong S-wave rescattering of the final pions has an important impact on this observable. The Standard Model prediction is found to be Re(epsilon'/epsilon) =(1.7 +- 0.9)*10^{-3}, in good agreement with the most recent experimental measurements. A better estimate of the strange quark mass would reduce the uncertainty to about 30%.Comment: Talk presented at the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, July 12-18, 2001,Budapest, Hungar

Heterogeneous structures studied by interphase elasto-damaging model.

For all structures that are constituted by heterogeneous materials, the meso-modelling approach is the most rigorous since it analyzes such structures as an assembly of distinct elements connected by joints, the latter commonly simulated by apposite interface models. In particular, the zero-thickness interface (ZTI) models are extensively used in those cases where the joint thickness is small if compared to the other dimensions of the heterogeneosu material. In ZTI models the constitutive laws relate the contact tractions to the displacement discontinuities at the interface, but in many cases the joint response depends also on internal stresses and strains within the bulkmaterial. In this sense the interphase model represents an enhancement of the ZTI because is able to introduce the effect of internal stresses into the analysis. Particular attention is spent to the definition of a damage model in order to describe the propagation of a fracture inside the interphase element. The damage model is developed in a thermodinamically context for plane stress applications

GTMDs and the factorization of exclusive double Drell-Yan

Different exclusive processes have been proposed to access the generalized transverse momentum dependent distributions (GTMDs) with no proof of factorization, which allows to rigorously define the GTMDs. Using Soft Collinear Effective Theory we derive for the first time the factorization of the differential cross section for the exclusive double Drell-Yan process for the exclusive double Drell-Yan process pion N to N' gamma* gamma* to N' (l^+l^-)(l^+l^-), for small transverse momenta of the photons in terms of a perturbatively calculable hard factor, GTMDs and light-cone wave functions (LCWFs). We find that the hard factor of the process can be obtained from single inclusive Drell-Yan production so that one can resum logarithms at high orders in QCD. We also discuss the evolution of the GTMDs and the LCWFs.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure. Version accepted for publicatio

Delta M_K and epsilon_K in SUSY at the Next-to-Leading order

We perform a Next-to-Leading order analysis of Delta S=2 processes beyond the Standard Model. Combining the recently computed NLO anomalous dimensions and the B parameters of the most general Delta S=2 effective Hamiltonian, we give an analytic formula for Delta M_K and epsilon_K in terms of the Wilson coefficients at the high energy scale. This expression can be used for any extension of the Standard Model with new heavy particles. Using this result, we consider gluino-mediated contributions to Delta S=2 transitions in general SUSY models and provide an improved analysis of the constraints on off-diagonal mass terms between the first two generations of down-type squarks. Finally, we improve the constraints on R-violating couplings from Delta M_K and epsilon_K.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure, uses JHEP.cls; the magic numbers in eq. (2.7), previously given in the basis (13) of hep-ph/9711402, are now given in the basis (2.3) of this work. All numerical results are unchange

CP violation in K±→π0π0π±K^{\pm}\to\pi^0\pi^0\pi^{\pm} decay

CP violation leads to a difference between the parameters $g^+$ and $g^-$ describing the energy distributions of the charged pions produced in the $K^+ \to\pi^0 \pi^0 \pi^+$ and $K^- \to \pi^0\pi^0 \pi^-$ decays. We study the difference $(g^+ - g^-)$ as a function of the relative contributions from the QCD-penguin and the electroweak-penguin diagrams. We find that the combination of these contributions in $(g^+ - g^-)$ is very similar to the corresponding one defining the parameter $\epsilon'$ in the $K_L \to 2\pi$ decays. This observation allows a determination of the value of $(g^+ - g^-)$, using data on $\epsilon'$

OPA1-related auditory neuropathy: site of lesion and outcome of cochlear implantation.

Hearing impairment is the second most prevalent clinical feature after optic atrophy in Dominant Optic Atrophy associated with mutations in the OPA1 gene. In this study we characterized the hearing dysfunction in OPA1-linked disorders and provided effective rehabilitative options to improve speech perception. We studied two groups of OPA1 subjects, one comprising 11 patients (7 males; age range 13-79 years) carrying OPA1 mutations inducing haploinsufficiency, the other, 10 subjects (3 males; age range 5-58 years) carrying OPA1 missense mutations. Both groups underwent audiometric assessment with pure tone and speech perception evaluation, and otoacoustic emissions and auditory brainstem response recording. Cochlear potentials were recorded through transtympanic electrocochleography from the group of patients harboring OPA1 missense mutations and were compared to recordings obtained from 20 normally-hearing controls and from 19 subjects with cochlear hearing loss. Eight patients carrying OPA1 missense mutations underwent cochlear implantation. Speech perception measures and electrically-evoked auditory nerve and brainstem responses were obtained after one year of cochlear implant use. Nine out of 11 patients carrying OPA1 mutations inducing haploinsufficiency had normal hearing function. In contrast, all but one subject harboring OPA1 missense mutations displayed impaired speech perception, abnormal brainstem responses and presence of otoacoustic emissions consistent with auditory neuropathy. In electrocochleography recordings, cochlear microphonic had enhanced amplitudes while summating potential showed normal latency and peak amplitude consistent with preservation of both outer and inner hair cell activities. After cancelling the cochlear microphonic, the synchronized neural response seen in both normally-hearing controls and subjects with cochlear hearing loss was replaced by a prolonged, low-amplitude negative potential that decreased in both amplitude and duration during rapid stimulation consistent with neural generation. The use of cochlear implant improved speech perception in all but one patient. Brainstem potentials were recorded in response to electrical stimulation in five subjects out of six, whereas no compound action potential was evoked from the auditory nerve through the cochlear implant. These findings indicate that underlying the hearing impairment in patients carrying OPA1 missense mutations is a disordered synchrony in auditory nerve fiber activity resulting from neural degeneration affecting the terminal dendrites. Cochlear implantation improves speech perception and synchronous activation of auditory pathways by by-passing the site of lesion

Electromagnetic corrections in hadronic processes

In quantum field theory, the splitting of the Hamiltonian into a strong and an electromagnetic part cannot be performed in a unique manner. We propose a convention for disentangling these two effects: one matches the parameters of two theories -- with and without electromagnetic interactions -- at a given scale mu_1, referred to as the matching scale. This procedure enables one to analyze the separation of strong and electromagnetic contributions in a transparent manner. We illustrate the method -- in the framework of the loop expansion -- in a Yukawa model, as well as in the linear sigma model, where we also investigate the corresponding low-energy effective theory.Comment: 19 pages (LaTex), 5 figures, published version. References in the introduction added, discussion shortened, 1 figure removed, conclusions unchange