A new family of AdS4AdS_4 S-folds in type IIB string theory

We construct infinite new classes of $AdS_4\times S^1\times S^5$ solutions of type IIB string theory which have non-trivial $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ monodromy along the $S^1$ direction. The solutions are supersymmetric and holographically dual, generically, to $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFTs in $d=3$. The solutions are first constructed as $AdS_4\times \mathbb{R}$ solutions in $D=5$ $SO(6)$ gauged supergravity and then uplifted to $D=10$. The solutions all arise as limiting cases of Janus solutions of $d=4$, $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM theory which are supported both by a different value of the coupling constant on either side of the interface, as well as by fermion and boson mass deformations. As special cases, the construction recovers three known S-fold constructions, which preserve $\mathcal{N}=1,2$ and 4 supersymmetry, as well as a recently constructed $\mathcal{N}=1$ $AdS_4\times S^1\times S^5$ solution (not S-folded). We also present some novel "one-sided Janus" solutions that are non-singular.Comment: 54 pages, 13 figure

Tetraquark operators in lattice QCD and exotic flavour states in the charm sector

We present a general class of operators resembling compact tetraquarks which have a range of colour-flavour-spin structures, transform irreducibly under the symmetries of the lattice and respect other relevant symmetries. These constructions are demonstrated in lattice QCD calculations with light quarks corresponding to $m_\pi =$ 391 MeV. Using the distillation framework, correlation functions involving large bases of meson-meson and tetraquark operators are computed in the isospin-1 hidden-charm and doubly-charmed sectors, and finite-volume spectra are extracted with the variational method. We find the spectra are insensitive to the addition of tetraquark operators to the bases of meson-meson operators. For the first time, through using diverse bases of meson-meson operators, the multiple energy levels associated with meson-meson levels which would be degenerate in the non-interacting limit are extracted reliably. The number of energy levels in each spectrum is found to be equal to the number of expected non-interacting meson-meson levels in the energy region considered and the majority of energies lie close to the non-interacting levels. Therefore, there is no strong indication for any bound state or narrow resonance in the channels we study

A newly-developed community microarray resource for transcriptome profiling in Brassica species enables the confirmation of Brassica-specific expressed sequences

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The <it>Brassica </it>species include an important group of crops and provide opportunities for studying the evolutionary consequences of polyploidy. They are related to <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>, for which the first complete plant genome sequence was obtained and their genomes show extensive, although imperfect, conserved synteny with that of <it>A. thaliana</it>. A large number of EST sequences, derived from a range of different <it>Brassica </it>species, are available in the public database, but no public microarray resource has so far been developed for these species.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We assembled unigenes using ~800,000 EST sequences, mainly from three species: <it>B. napus</it>, <it>B. rapa </it>and <it>B. oleracea</it>. The assembly was conducted with the aim of co-assembling ESTs of orthologous genes (including homoeologous pairs of genes in <it>B. napus </it>from each of the A and C genomes), but resolving assemblies of paralogous, or paleo-homoeologous, genes (<it>i.e</it>. the genes related by the ancestral genome triplication observed in diploid <it>Brassica </it>species). 90,864 unique sequence assemblies were developed. These were incorporated into the BAC sequence annotation for the <it>Brassica rapa </it>Genome Sequencing Project, enabling the identification of cognate genomic sequences for a proportion of them. A 60-mer oligo microarray comprising 94,558 probes was developed using the unigene sequences. Gene expression was analysed in reciprocal resynthesised <it>B. napus </it>lines and the <it>B. oleracea </it>and <it>B. rapa </it>lines used to produce them. The analysis showed that significant expression could consistently be detected in leaf tissue for 35,386 unigenes. Expression was detected across all four genotypes for 27,355 unigenes, genome-specific expression patterns were observed for 7,851 unigenes and 180 unigenes displayed other classes of expression pattern. Principal component analysis (PCA) clearly resolved the individual microarray datasets for <it>B. rapa</it>, <it>B. oleracea </it>and resynthesised <it>B. napus</it>. Quantitative differences in expression were observed between the resynthesised <it>B. napus </it>lines for 98 unigenes, most of which could be classified into non-additive expression patterns, including 17 that showed cytoplasm-specific patterns. We further characterized the unigenes for which A genome-specific expression was observed and cognate genomic sequences could be identified. Ten of these unigenes were found to be <it>Brassica</it>-specific sequences, including two that originate from complex loci comprising gene clusters.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We succeeded in developing a <it>Brassica </it>community microarray resource. Although expression can be measured for the majority of unigenes across species, there were numerous probes that reported in a genome-specific manner. We anticipate that some proportion of these will represent species-specific transcripts and the remainder will be the consequence of variation of sequences within the regions represented by the array probes. Our studies demonstrated that the datasets obtained from the arrays can be used for typical analyses, including PCA and the analysis of differential expression. We have also demonstrated that <it>Brassica</it>-specific transcripts identified <it>in silico </it>in the sequence assembly of public EST database accessions are indeed reported by the array. These would not be detectable using arrays designed using <it>A. thaliana </it>sequences.</p

Consistent Factorization of Jet Observables in Exclusive Multijet Cross-Sections

We demonstrate the consistency at the next-to-leading-logarithmic (NLL) level of a factorization theorem based on Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) for jet shapes in e+e- collisions. We consider measuring jet observables in exclusive multijet final states defined with cone and k_T-type jet algorithms. Consistency of the factorization theorem requires that the renormalization group evolution of hard, jet, and soft functions is such that the physical cross-section is independent of the factorization scale mu. The anomalous dimensions of the various factorized pieces, however, depend on the color representation of jets, choice of jet observable, the number of jets whose shapes are measured, and the jet algorithm, making it highly nontrivial to satisfy the consistency condition. We demonstrate the intricate cancellations between anomalous dimensions that occur at the NLL level, so that, up to power corrections that we identify, our factorization of the jet shape distributions is consistent for any number of quark and gluon jets, for any number of jets whose shapes are measured or unmeasured, for any angular size R of the jets, and for any of the algorithms we consider. Corrections to these results are suppressed by the SCET expansion parameter lambda (the ratio of soft to collinear or collinear to hard scales) and in the jet separation measure 1/t^2 = tan^2(R/2)/tan^2(psi/2), where psi is the angular separation between jets. Our results can be used to calculate a wide variety of jet observables in multijet final states to NLL accuracy.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, uses elsarticle.cls; v2: minor edits, added reference

The Multifunctional Protein BAG3: A Novel Therapeutic Target in Cardiovascular Disease

The B-cell lymphoma 2–associated anthanogene (BAG3) protein is expressed most prominently in the heart, the skeletal muscle, and in many forms of cancer. In the heart, it serves as a co-chaperone with heat shock proteins in facilitating autophagy; binds to B-cell lymphoma 2, resulting in inhibition of apoptosis; attaches actin to the Z disk, providing structural support for the sarcomere; and links the α-adrenergic receptor with the L-type Ca2+ channel. When BAG3 is overexpressed in cancer cells, it facilitates prosurvival pathways that lead to insensitivity to chemotherapy, metastasis, cell migration, and invasiveness. In contrast, in the heart, mutations in BAG3 have been associated with a variety of phenotypes, including both hypertrophic/restrictive and dilated cardiomyopathy. In murine skeletal muscle and vasculature, a mutation in BAG3 leads to critical limb ischemia after femoral artery ligation. An understanding of the biology of BAG3 is relevant because it may provide a therapeutic target in patients with both cardiac and skeletal muscle disease

Implications of the Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment for Supersymmetry

We re-examine the bounds on supersymmetric particle masses in light of the E821 data on the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We confirm, extend and supersede previous bounds. In particular we find (at one sigma) no lower limit on tan(beta) or upper limit on the chargino mass implied by the data at present, but at least 4 sparticles must be lighter than 700 to 820 GeV and at least one sparticle must be lighter than 345 to 440 GeV. However, the E821 central value bounds tan(beta) > 4.7 and the lighter chargino mass by 690 GeV. For tan(beta) < 10, the data indicates a high probability for direct discovery of SUSY at Run II or III of the Tevatron.Comment: 20 pages LaTeX, 14 figures; references adde

DK I = 0, D K ¯ I = 0, 1 scattering and the D s 0 ∗ (2317) from lattice QCD

Abstract: Elastic scattering amplitudes for I = 0 DK and I = 0, 1 DK¯ are computed in S, P and D partial waves using lattice QCD with light-quark masses corresponding to mπ = 239 MeV and mπ = 391 MeV. The S-waves contain interesting features including a near-threshold JP = 0+ bound state in I = 0 DK, corresponding to the Ds0∗(2317), with an effect that is clearly visible above threshold, and suggestions of a 0+ virtual bound state in I = 0 DK¯. The S-wave I = 1 DK¯ amplitude is found to be weakly repulsive. The computed finite-volume spectra also contain a deeply-bound D* vector resonance, but negligibly small P -wave DK interactions are observed in the energy region considered; the P and D-wave DK¯ amplitudes are also small. There is some evidence of 1+ and 2+ resonances in I = 0 DK at higher energies