Stationary configurations of the Standard Model Higgs potential: electroweak stability and rising inflection point

We study the gauge-independent observables associated with two interesting stationary configurations of the Standard Model Higgs potential (extrapolated to high energy according to the present state of the art, namely the NNLO): i) the value of the top mass ensuring stability of the SM electroweak minimum, and ii) the value of the Higgs potential at a rising inflection point. We examine in detail and reappraise the experimental and theoretical uncertainties which plague their determination, finding that: i) stability of the SM is compatible with the present data at the 1.5 sigma level; ii) despite the large theoretical error plaguing the value of the Higgs potential at a rising inflection point, application of such configuration to models of primordial inflation displays a 3 sigma tension with the recent bounds on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of cosmological perturbations.Comment: v1: 21 pages, 6 figures; v2: 22 pages, 7 figures, text improved, figure and references added, matches published versio

Targeting the organ-specific adiposity.

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Adipose Tissue and Adrenal Glands: Novel Pathophysiological Mechanisms and Clinical Applications

Hormones produced by the adrenal glands and adipose tissues have important roles in normal physiology and are altered in many disease states. Obesity is associated with changes in adrenal function, including increase in adrenal medullary catecholamine output, alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, elevations in circulating aldosterone together with changes in adipose tissue glucocorticoid metabolism, and enhanced adipocyte mineralocorticoid receptor activity. It is unknown whether these changes in adrenal endocrine function are in part responsible for the pathogenesis of obesity and related comorbidities or represent an adaptive response. In turn, adipose tissue hormones or “adipokines” have direct effects on the adrenal glands and interact with adrenal hormones at several levels. Here we review the emerging evidence supporting the existence of “cross talk” between the adrenal gland and adipose tissue, focusing on the relevance and roles of their respective hormones in health and disease states including obesity, metabolic syndrome, and primary disorders of the adrenals

Pericardial Adipose Tissue, Atherosclerosis, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: The Jackson Heart Study Comment on Liu et al.

We read the article by Liu et al. (1) with great interest. The investigators carefully stated that because it is difficult to distinguish pericardial from epicardial fat with computed tomography (CT), they measured pericardial adipose tissue by the combination of pericardial fat and epicardial fat. While they recognized this important misclassification, we also noted that they not only technically but conceptually discussed pericardial and epicardial fat as identical to adipose tissue. This appears to be incorrect and misleading. Epicardial and pericardial adipose tissue are clearly different anatomically, embriologically, physiologically, biomolecularly, and clinically (2,3). Epicardial adipose tissue is the fat located between

Analysis of soil and vegetation patterns in semi-arid Mediterranean landscapes by way of a conceptual water balance model

International audienceThis paper investigates the impact of various vegetation types on water balance variability in semi-arid Mediterranean landscapes, and the different strategies they may have developed to succeed in such water-limited environments. Water balance constraints are assumed to dominate the organization of landscapes and a conceptual bucket approach is adopted to model the temporal water balance dynamics, with vegetation water use efficiency being parameterized through the use of empirically obtained crop coefficients as surrogates of vegetation behavior in various developmental stages. Sensitivity analyses with respect to the root zone depth and soil water holding capacity are carried out with the aim of investigating the existence of preferential soil-vegetation associations and, hence, the spatial distribution of vegetation types within the study region. Based on these sensitivity analyses the degrees of suitability and adaptability of each vegetation type to parts of the study region are explored with respect of the soil water holding capacity, and the model results were found to be able to explain the observed affinity patterns. Finally, the existence of such preferential association between soil water holding capacity and vegetation species is verified through an extensive soil survey available in the study region

Climatic control on the variability of flood distribution

International audienceThe variability of the second order moments of flood peaks with respect to geomorphoclimatic basin characteristics was investigated. In particular, the behaviour of the coefficient of variation (Cv) of the series of annual maximum floods was analysed with respect to its dependence on physically consistent quantities. The results achieved were in fairly good agreement with real world observed characteristics and interesting insights on the relationship between Cv and basin size were found. It appears that Cv is controlled mainly by the climate and by some water loss features. Many observations reported in the literature show a decrease of Cv with basin area A, usually ascribed to the limited spatial extent of extreme events, which leads to a decrease with area of the Cv of areal rainfall intensity. An increase of Cv with the area is also sometimes observed for small basins. Such different behaviours were accounted for by the concurrent effect on two parameters that affect the Cv (A) relationship, representative of the way rainfall losses and effective rainfall intensity scale with the basin area.</p

Medium-Long-Term Radiographic and Clinical Outcomes after Surgical Treatment of Intra-Articular Tibial Pilon Fractures by Three Different Techniques

The goal of this retrospective, observational, case series study was to evaluate the medium-long-term clinical and radiographic results of the three most common surgical osteosynthesis techniques used for the treatment of articular tibial pilon fractures: ORIF, MIPO, and EF. Materials and Methods. A consecutive series of patients with articular pilon fractures who underwent surgery at our institution were enrolled in this study. Fractures were classified according to the M\ufcller AO classification system. Overall outcomes took the following into account: radiographic quality of reduction, evaluated using Ovadia and Beals\u2019 criteria; clinical assessment, evaluated using the AOFAS questionnaire; and general health, evaluated with the SF36-v2 Health Survey. Results. A total of 94 articular pilon fractures (34 type 43-B and 60 43-C) were evaluated with a mean follow-up of 56.34 months (range 33\u2013101). The techniques used were ORIF, MIPO, and EF in 63 (67%), 17 (18.9%), and 14 cases (14.1%), respectively. According to Ovadia and Beals\u2019 criteria, good, fair, and poor results were reported in 61 (64.89%), 26 (27.66%), and 7 (7.45%) cases, respectively. The mean AOFAS score was 82.41 for MIPO, 79.83 for ORIF, and 50.57 for EF, respectively. Thirty-nine patients (41.49%) presented early and/or late complications. Conclusion. Satisfactory outcomes using the three different techniques were reported. In particular, the radiographic outcomes were inversely proportional to the fracture comminutions and statistically different between internal and external osteosynthesis, but comparable between ORIF and MIPO techniques. On the other hand, the clinical outcomes were closely related to the soft tissue conditions and the anatomical reconstruction of the joint

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic data for the augmenter of liver regeneration

A new cellular growth factor termed augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) has been crystallized. ALR has been shown to have a proliferative effect on liver cells while at the same time producing an immunosuppressive effect on liver-resident natural killer cells and liver-resident mononuclear leukocytes. In addition, ALR appears to play an important role in the synthesis and stabilization of mitochondrial gene transcripts inactively regenerating cells. ALR crystals diffract to beyond 2 Å resolution and belong to space group P21212, with a = 125.1, b = 108.1 and c = 38.5 Å. Based on four molecules per asymmetric unit, the Matthews coefficient is calculated to be 2.16 Å3 Da-1 which corresponds to a solvent content of 43%