New long-lived particle searches in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC

We show that heavy-ion collisions at the LHC provide a promising environment to search for signatures with displaced vertices in well-motivated new physics scenarios. Compared to proton collisions, they offer several advantages: (i) the number of parton level interactions per collision is larger, (ii) there is no pileup, (iii) the lower instantaneous luminosity compared to proton collisions allows one to operate the LHC experiments with very loose triggers, and (iv) there are new production mechanisms that are absent in proton collisions We focus on the third point and show that the modification of the triggers alone can increase the number of observable events by orders of magnitude if the long-lived particles are predominantly produced with low transverse momentum. Our results show that collisions of ions lighter than lead are well motivated from the viewpoint of searches for new physics. We illustrate this for the example of heavy neutrinos in the Neutrino Minimal Standard Model

Répression transcriptionnelle du gène TRH

Les hormones thyroïdiennes (HT : T3, T4) exerçant des effets pléiotropes chez les vertébrés, leur synthèse et leur sécrétion doivent être finement contrôlées. Elles agissent elles-mêmes sur leur production, par un système de rétrocontrôle négatif de l’expression des gènes hypothalamique TRH et hypophysaire TSH. Les fondements moléculaires de cette répression transcriptionnelle des gènes TRH et TSH par l’hormone T3, forme biologiquement la plus active des HT, restent méconnus. Certaines caractéristiques de cette régulation commencent toutefois à être identifiées, notamment le rôle spécifique des isoformes TRβ (versus TRα) des récepteurs des HT. La spécificité fonctionnelle de ces isoformes résiderait principalement dans leur extrémité aminoterminale, qui permettrait une interaction différentielle avec certains comodulateurs. L’objectif, aujourd’hui, est de caractériser ces comodulateurs et d’analyser leur contribution à la régulation transcriptionnelle du gène TRH par l’hormone T3.The synthesis and secretion of thyroid hormones (TH: T3, T4) must be strictly regulated. TH act on their own production via a negative feedback system. The synthesis of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), produced in the hypothalamus, and thyrotropin (TSH) in the pituitary is inhibited at the transcriptional level by TH. TRH and TSH stimulate production of TH. An outstanding, still open, question is the molecular basis of T3-dependent transcription repression of TRH and TSH genes. However, some regulatory components have been identified, with the β-TH receptor (TRβ) playing a specific regulatory role (versus TRα) in the negative feedback effects of T3 on production of TRH and TSH. Moreover, the N-terminus of TRβ is known to be a key element in this regulation. A hypothesis to explain this isoform specificity could be that TRβ and TRα interact differentially with transcriptional comodulators. Thus, it is critical to characterize these comodulators and to analyse their contribution to the transcription regulation of TRH

Problematizing Choice: Responsible consumers and sceptical citizens

About the book: Governance, Consumers and Citizens is the first book to bring together a study of governance with consumption, examining the changing place of the consumer as citizen in recent trends in governance, the tensions between competing ideas and practices of consumerism and the active role consumers play in the construction and practice of governance. Radically pushing forward the debate on consumers and governance, this collection outlines new conceptions and posits new policy agendas. Bringing together international experts from political science, history, geography, social policy and media studies, this study shows how governance and consumption are intertwined in crucial aspects of public policy and contemporary politics

lynx1 Supports Neuronal Health in the Mouse Dorsal Striatum During Aging: an Ultrastructural Investigation

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors have been shown to participate in neuroprotection in the aging brain. Lynx protein modulators dampen the activity of the cholinergic system through direct interaction with nicotinic receptors. Although lynx1 null mutant mice exhibit augmented learning and plasticity, they also exhibit macroscopic vacuolation in the dorsal striatum as they age, detectable at the optical microscope level. Despite the relevance of the lynx1 gene to brain function, little is known about the cellular ultrastructure of these age-related changes. In this study, we assessed degeneration in the dorsal striatum in 1-, 3-, 7-, and 13-month-old mice, using optical and transmission electron microscopy. We observed a loss of nerve fibers, a breakdown in nerve fiber bundles, and a loss of neuronal nuclei in the 13-month-old lynx1 null striatum. At higher magnification, these nerve fibers displayed intracellular vacuoles and disordered myelin sheaths. Few or none of these morphological alterations were present in younger lynx1 null mutant mice or in heterozygous lynx1 null mutant mice at any age. These data indicate that neuronal health can be maintained by titrating lynx1 dosage and that the lynx1 gene may participate in a trade-off between neuroprotection and augmented learning

Recycling bins, garbage cans or think tanks? Three myths regarding policy analysis institutes

The phrase 'think tank' has become ubiquitous – overworked and underspecified – in the political lexicon. It is entrenched in scholarly discussions of public policy as well as in the 'policy wonk' of journalists, lobbyists and spin-doctors. This does not mean that there is an agreed definition of think tank or consensual understanding of their roles and functions. Nevertheless, the majority of organizations with this label undertake policy research of some kind. The idea of think tanks as a research communication 'bridge' presupposes that there are discernible boundaries between (social) science and policy. This paper will investigate some of these boundaries. The frontiers are not only organizational and legal; they also exist in how the 'public interest' is conceived by these bodies and their financiers. Moreover, the social interactions and exchanges involved in 'bridging', themselves muddy the conception of 'boundary', allowing for analysis to go beyond the dualism imposed in seeing science on one side of the bridge, and the state on the other, to address the complex relations between experts and public policy

Sustainability appraisal: Jack of all trades, master of none?

Sustainable development is a commonly quoted goal for decision making and supports a large number of other discourses. Sustainability appraisal has a stated goal of supporting decision making for sustainable development. We suggest that the inherent flexibility of sustainability appraisal facilitates outcomes that often do not adhere to the three goals enshrined in most definitions of sustainable development: economic growth, environmental protection and enhancement, and the wellbeing of the human population. Current practice is for sustainable development to be disenfranchised through the interpretation of sustainability, whereby the best alternative is good enough even when unsustainable. Practitioners must carefully and transparently review the frameworks applied during sustainability appraisal to ensure that outcomes will meet the three goals, rather than focusing on a discourse that emphasises one or more goals at the expense of the other(s)

A general wavelet-based profile decomposition in the critical embedding of function spaces

We characterize the lack of compactness in the critical embedding of functions spaces $X\subset Y$ having similar scaling properties in the following terms : a sequence $(u_n)_{n\geq 0}$ bounded in $X$ has a subsequence that can be expressed as a finite sum of translations and dilations of functions $(\phi_l)_{l>0}$ such that the remainder converges to zero in $Y$ as the number of functions in the sum and $n$ tend to $+\infty$. Such a decomposition was established by G\'erard for the embedding of the homogeneous Sobolev space $X=\dot H^s$ into the $Y=L^p$ in $d$ dimensions with $0<s=d/2-d/p$, and then generalized by Jaffard to the case where $X$ is a Riesz potential space, using wavelet expansions. In this paper, we revisit the wavelet-based profile decomposition, in order to treat a larger range of examples of critical embedding in a hopefully simplified way. In particular we identify two generic properties on the spaces $X$ and $Y$ that are of key use in building the profile decomposition. These properties may then easily be checked for typical choices of $X$ and $Y$ satisfying critical embedding properties. These includes Sobolev, Besov, Triebel-Lizorkin, Lorentz, H\"older and BMO spaces.Comment: 24 page

Opening up animal research and science-society relations?: a thematic analysis of transparency discourses in the United Kingdom

The use of animals in scientific research represents an interesting case to consider in the context of the contemporary preoccupation with transparency and openness in science and governance. In the United Kingdom, organisations critical of animal research have long called for more openness. More recently, organisations involved in animal research also seem to be embracing transparency discourses. This article provides a detailed analysis of publically available documents from animal protection groups, the animal research community and government/research funders. Our aim is to explore the similarities and differences in the way transparency is constructed and to identify what more openness is expected to achieve. In contrast to the existing literature, we conclude that the slipperiness of transparency discourses may ultimately have transformative implications for the relationship between science and society and that contemporary openness initiatives might be sowing the seeds for change to the status quo

Antiproliferative effects of isoprenoids from Sarcophyton glaucum on breast cancer MCF-7 cells

Purpose: To evaluate the anticancer activity of isoprenoids of Sarcophyton glaucum on MCF-7 cells and to investigate the potential synergistic effect of doxorubicin.Methods: Isolation and purification of isoprenoids were performed by applying different planar chromatographic methods (CC and PTLC). Further analyses of the isoprenoids by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) carried out to identify the compounds. Sulforhodamine- B (SRB) assay was used to determine the cytotoxic activity of the compounds against the MCF-7 human cell line. Flow cytometric analysis was used to assess their impact on cell cycle of  MCF-7. Combination index (CI), when the compounds were combined with  doxorubicin, was calculated to determine possible synergism. The isoprenoid  compounds were also incubated at ¼ or ½ of their respective half-maximal  concentration (IC50) with equimolar concentrations of doxorubicin.Results: Four known isoprenoid derivatives (1-4) were identified as 10(14)-aromadendrene (1), sarcophinediol (2), ent-deoxysarcophine (3) and sarcotrocheliol acetate (4). It was observed that cells accumulated in pre-G phase as well. CI of compound 3 with doxorubicin was 0.67 and 0.79, respectively, at ¼ and ½ of IC50, indicating overt synergism. This was confirmed by re-assessing the cell cycle stages of MCF-7 cells.Conclusion: The results indicate that compound 3 exhibits promising cytotoxicity as well as synergism with doxorubicin in MCF-7 cells. This is attributed, at least partly, to its ability to generate intercellular apoptosis induction.Keywords: Sarcophyton glaucum, Combination index, Antiproliferation, Isoprenoidal derivatives, 10(14)-Aromadendrene,Sarcophinediol, Deoxysarcophine,  Sarcotrocheliol acetate, Doxorubici