Study of Constrained Minimal Supersymmetry

Taking seriously phenomenological indications for supersymmetry, we have made a detailed study of unified minimal SUSY, including effects at the few percent level in a consistent fashion. We report here a general analysis without choosing a particular unification gauge group. We find that the encouraging SUSY unification results of recent years do survive the challenge of a more complete and accurate analysis. Taking into account effects at the 5-10% level leads to several improvements of previous results, and allows us to sharpen our predictions for SUSY in the light of unification. We perform a thorough study of the parameter space. The results form a well-defined basis for comparing the physics potential of different facilities. Very little of the acceptable parameter space has been excluded by LEP or FNAL so far, but a significant fraction can be covered when these accelerators are upgraded. A number of initial applications to the understanding of the SUSY spectrum, detectability of SUSY at LEP II or FNAL, BR($b\to s\gamma$), Width($Z\to b\bar b$), dark matter, etc, are included in a separate section. We formulate an approach to extracting SUSY parameters from data when superpartners are detected. For small tan(beta) or large $m_top$ both $M_half$ and $M_0$ are entirely bounded from above at O(1 tev) without having to use a fine-tuning constraint.Comment: Michigan preprint UM-TH-93-24, LaTeX, 60 pages without figures. Complete paper with inline figures available by anonymous ftp to williams.physics.lsa.umich.edu in /pub/preprints/UM-TH-93-24.ps.Z (uncompresses to 10MB / 77 pages), or by e-mailing reques

Type 1 Autoimmune Pancreatitis in Europe: Clinical Profile and Response to Treatment.

Background and aimsAutoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is an immune-mediated disease of the pancreas with distinct pathophysiology and manifestations. Our aims were to characterize type 1 AIP in a large pan-European cohort and study the effectiveness of current treatment regimens.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed adults diagnosed since 2005 with type 1 or not-otherwise-specified AIP in 42 European university hospitals. Type 1 AIP was uniformly diagnosed using specific diagnostic criteria. Patients with type 2 AIP and those who had undergone pancreatic surgery were excluded. The primary endpoint was complete remission, defined as the absence of clinical symptoms and resolution of the index radiological pancreatic abnormalities attributed to AIP.ResultsWe included 735 individuals with AIP (69% male; median age 57 years; 85% White). Steroid treatment was started in 634 patients, of whom 9 (1%) were lost to follow-up. The remaining 625 had a 79% (496/625) complete, 18% (111/625) partial, and 97% (607/625) cumulative remission rate, while 3% (18/625) did not achieve remission. No treatment was given in 95 patients, who had a 61% complete (58/95), 19% partial (18/95), and 80% cumulative (76/95) spontaneous remission rate. Higher (≥0.4 mg/kg/day) corticosteroid doses were no more effective than lower ( 2 weeks (OR 0.908; 95%CI 0.818-1.009). Elevated IgG4 levels were independently associated with a decreased chance of complete remission (OR 0.639; 95%CI 0.427-0.955). Relapse occurred in 30% of patients. Relapses within 6 months of remission induction were independent of the steroid tapering duration, induction treatment duration, and total cumulative dose.ConclusionPatients with type 1 AIP and elevated IgG4 level may need closer monitoring. For remission induction, a starting dose of 0.4 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks followed by a short taper period seems effective. This study provides no evidence to support more aggressive regimens

A Comparison of Four Electrical Stimulation Types on \u3cem\u3eStaphylococcus aureus\u3c/em\u3e Growth In Vitro

We evaluated the efficacy of common electrical stimulation (ES) types on bacterial growth in vitro using clinically relevant conditions. Four types of ES-continuous microamperage direct current (µADC), high-voltage pulsed current (HVPC), low-voltage monophasic milliamperage pulsed current (LVMmAPC), and low-voltage biphasic milliamperage pulsed current (LVBmAPC)-were each applied to a separate set of culture plates containing Staphylococcus aureus for 1 h at 37 °C on 3 consecutive days. After ES treatment, the zone of inhibition surrounding each electrode was measured. Zone of inhibition measurements showed a significant inhibitory effect for continuous µADC and HVPC (p \u3c 0.05), but not for LVMmAPC and LVBmAPC. Differences in bacterial growth inhibition were not found for polarity and time. These data suggest that for infected wounds, HVPC and continuous µADC treatments may have an initial bacterial inhibitory effect, which does not significantly change with subsequent treatments

A Comparison of Four Electrical Stimulation Types on \u3cem\u3eStaphylococcus aureus\u3c/em\u3e Growth In Vitro

We evaluated the efficacy of common electrical stimulation (ES) types on bacterial growth in vitro using clinically relevant conditions. Four types of ES-continuous microamperage direct current (µADC), high-voltage pulsed current (HVPC), low-voltage monophasic milliamperage pulsed current (LVMmAPC), and low-voltage biphasic milliamperage pulsed current (LVBmAPC)-were each applied to a separate set of culture plates containing Staphylococcus aureus for 1 h at 37 °C on 3 consecutive days. After ES treatment, the zone of inhibition surrounding each electrode was measured. Zone of inhibition measurements showed a significant inhibitory effect for continuous µADC and HVPC (p \u3c 0.05), but not for LVMmAPC and LVBmAPC. Differences in bacterial growth inhibition were not found for polarity and time. These data suggest that for infected wounds, HVPC and continuous µADC treatments may have an initial bacterial inhibitory effect, which does not significantly change with subsequent treatments

A Comparison of Four Electrical Stimulation Types on Staphylococcus Aureus Growth in Vitro

We evaluated the efficacy of common electrical stimulation (ES) types on bacterial growth in vitro using clinically relevant conditions. Four types of ES-continuous micro-amperage direct current (μADC), high-voltage pulsed current (HVPC), low-voltage monophasic milliamperage pulsed current (LVMmAPC), and low-voltage biphasic milliamperage pulsed current (LVBmAPC)-were each applied to a separate set of culture plates containing Staphylococcus aureus for 1 h at 37°C on 3 consecutive days. After ES treatment, the zone of inhibition surrounding each electrode was measured. Zone of inhibition measurements showed a significant inhibitory effect for continuous μADC and HVPC (p \u3c 0.05), but not for LVM-mAPC and LVBmAPC. Differences in bacterial growth inhibition were not found for polarity and time. These data suggest that for infected wounds, HVPC and continuous μADC treatments may have an initial bacterial inhibitory effect, which does not significantly change with subsequent treatments