Boosting Higgs discovery - the forgotten channel

Searches for a heavy Standard Model Higgs boson focus on the 'gold plated mode' where the Higgs decays to two leptonic Z bosons. This channel provides a clean signature, in spite of the small leptonic branching ratios. We show that using fat jets the semi-leptonic ZZ mode significantly increases the number of signal events with a similar statistical significance as the leptonic mode.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

PIP3-dependent macropinocytosis is incompatible with chemotaxis

In eukaryotic chemotaxis, the mechanisms connecting external signals to the motile apparatus remain unclear. The role of the lipid phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP3) has been particularly controversial. PIP3 has many cellular roles, notably in growth control and macropinocytosis as well as cell motility. Here we show that PIP3 is not only unnecessary for Dictyostelium discoideum to migrate toward folate, but actively inhibits chemotaxis. We find that macropinosomes, but not pseudopods, in growing cells are dependent on PIP3. PIP3 patches in these cells show no directional bias, and overall only PIP3-free pseudopods orient up-gradient. The pseudopod driver suppressor of cAR mutations (SCAR)/WASP and verprolin homologue (WAVE) is not recruited to the center of PIP3 patches, just the edges, where it causes macropinosome formation. Wild-type cells, unlike the widely used axenic mutants, show little macropinocytosis and few large PIP3 patches, but migrate more efficiently toward folate. Tellingly, folate chemotaxis in axenic cells is rescued by knocking out phosphatidylinositide 3-kinases (PI 3-kinases). Thus PIP3 promotes macropinocytosis and interferes with pseudopod orientation during chemotaxis of growing cells

Strong WW scattering in unitary gauge

A method to embed models of strong $WW$ scattering in unitary gauge amplitudes is presented that eliminates the need for the effective $W$ approximation (EWA) in the computation of cross sections at high energy colliders.The cross sections obtained from the U-gauge amplitudes include the distributions of the final state fermions in $ff \rightarrow ffWW$, which cannot be obtained from the EWA. Since the U-gauge method preserves the interference of the signal and the gauge sector background amplitudes, which is neglected in the EWA, it is more accurate, especially if the latter is comparable to or bigger than the signal, as occurs for instance at small angles because of Coulomb singularities. The method is illustrated for on-shell $W^+W^+ \rightarrow W^+W^+$ scattering and for $qq \rightarrow qqW^+W^+$.Comment: 14 pages, Latex with 2 epsf-embedded postscript figure

Gauge invariant formulation of strong WW scattering

Models of strong $WW$ scattering in the $s$-wave can be represented in a gauge invariant fashion by defining an effective scalar propagator that represents the strong scattering dynamics. The \sigma(qq \ra qqWW) signal may then be computed in U-gauge from the complete set of tree amplitudes, just as in the standard model, without using the effective $W$ approximation (EWA). The U-gauge ``transcription'' has a wider domain of validity than the EWA, and it provides complete distributions for the final state quanta, including experimentally important jet distributions that cannot be obtained from the EWA. Starting from the usual formulation in terms of unphysical Goldstone boson scattering amplitudes, the U-gauge transcription is verified by using BRS invariance to construct the complete set of gauge and Goldstone boson amplitudes in $R_{\xi}$ gauge.Comment: single LaTeX file, no figures, 12 page

Similar risk of complete revision for infection with single-dose versus multiple-dose antibiotic prophylaxis in primary arthroplasty of the hip and knee:results of an observational cohort study in the Dutch Arthroplasty Register in 242,179 patients

Background and purpose - The optimal type and duration of antibiotic prophylaxis for primary arthroplasty of the hip and knee are subject to debate. We compared the risk of complete revision (obtained by a 1- or 2-stage procedure) for periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) after primary total hip or knee arthroplasty between patients receiving a single dose of prophylactic antibiotics and patients receiving multiple doses of antibiotics for prevention of PJI. Patients and methods - A cohort of 130,712 primary total hip and 111,467 knee arthroplasties performed between 2011 and 2015 in the Netherlands was analyzed. We linked data from the Dutch arthroplasty register to a survey collected across all Dutch institutions on hospital-level antibiotic prophylaxis policy. We used restricted cubic spline Poisson models adjusted for hospital clustering to compare the risk of revision for infection according to type and duration of antibiotic prophylaxis received. Results - For total hip arthroplasties, the rates of revision for infection were 31/10,000 person-years (95% CI 28-35), 39 (25-59), and 23 (15-34) in the groups that received multiple doses of cefazolin, multiple doses of cefuroxime, and a single dose of cefazolin, respectively. The rates for knee arthroplasties were 27/10,000 person-years (95% CI 24-31), 40 (24-62), and 24 (16-36). Similar risk of complete revision for infection among antibiotic prophylaxis regimens was found when adjusting for confounders. Interpretation - In a large observational cohort we found no apparent association between the type or duration of antibiotic prophylaxis and the risk of complete revision for infection. This does question whether there is any advantage to the use of prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis beyond a single dose.Orthopaedics, Trauma Surgery and Rehabilitatio

Probing for Ultraheavy Quanta at LHC

Experiments at the LHC are sensitive to the presence or absence of matter quanta at mass scales far beyond the scales they can probe directly. The production of $Z$ boson pairs by gluon-gluon fusion is greatly enhanced if there are ultraheavy quanta that carry $SU(3)_{\rm Color}$ and get their mass from electroweak symmetry breaking. For example, a fourth generation quark doublet with an arbitrarily heavy mass would induce a large excess in the $ZZ$ yield that could be detected at the LHC with only $\simeq 10\%$ of the design luminosity.Comment: 12 pages plain LATEX plus 2 postscript figures in separate uuencoded file or by request. Complete manuscript available as a postscript file at http://theor1.lbl.gov/www/theorygroup/papers/36949.p

Quantum gauge models without classical Higgs mechanism

We examine the status of massive gauge theories, such as those usually obtained by spontaneous symmetry breakdown, from the viewpoint of causal (Epstein-Glaser) renormalization. The BRS formulation of gauge invariance in this framework, starting from canonical quantization of massive (as well as massless) vector bosons as fundamental entities, and proceeding perturbatively, allows one to rederive the reductive group symmetry of interactions, the need for scalar fields in gauge theory, and the covariant derivative. Thus the presence of higgs particles is explained without recourse to a Higgs(-Englert-Brout-Guralnik-Hagen-Kibble) mechanism. Along the way, we dispel doubts about the compatibility of causal gauge invariance with grand unified theories.Comment: 20 pages in two-column EPJC format, shortened version accepted for publication. For more details, consult version

Complementarity of Resonant and Nonresonant Strong WWWW Scattering at the LHC

We exhibit a complementary relationship between resonant $WZ$ and nonresonant $W^+W^+$ scattering in a chiral Lagrangian model of the electroweak symmetry breaking sector with a dominant ``$\rho$'' meson. We use the model to estimate the minimum luminosity for the LHC to ensure a ``no-lose'' capability to observe the symmetry breaking sector.Comment: 13 pages, LateX with uuencoded postcript figures (figures available by mail to the technologically challenged), LBL-3484

Early intervention for obsessive compulsive disorder : An expert consensus statement

© 2019 Elsevier B.V.and ECNP. All rights reserved.Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is common, emerges early in life and tends to run a chronic, impairing course. Despite the availability of effective treatments, the duration of untreated illness (DUI) is high (up to around 10 years in adults) and is associated with considerable suffering for the individual and their families. This consensus statement represents the views of an international group of expert clinicians, including child and adult psychiatrists, psychologists and neuroscientists, working both in high and low and middle income countries, as well as those with the experience of living with OCD. The statement draws together evidence from epidemiological, clinical, health economic and brain imaging studies documenting the negative impact associated with treatment delay on clinical outcomes, and supporting the importance of early clinical intervention. It draws parallels between OCD and other disorders for which early intervention is recognized as beneficial, such as psychotic disorders and impulsive-compulsive disorders associated with problematic usage of the Internet, for which early intervention may prevent the development of later addictive disorders. It also generates new heuristics for exploring the brain-based mechanisms moderating the ‘toxic’ effect of an extended DUI in OCD. The statement concludes that there is a global unmet need for early intervention services for OC related disorders to reduce the unnecessary suffering and costly disability associated with under-treatment. New clinical staging models for OCD that may be used to facilitate primary, secondary and tertiary prevention within this context are proposed.Peer reviewe

Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons to study the microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract of carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)

The microbes in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract are of high importance for the health of the host. In this study, Roche 454 pyrosequencing was applied to a pooled set of different 16S rRNA gene amplicons obtained from GI content of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) to make an inventory of the diversity of the microbiota in the GI tract. Compared to other studies, our culture-independent investigation reveals an impressive diversity of the microbial flora of the carp GI tract. The major group of obtained sequences belonged to the phylum Fusobacteria. Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes and Gammaproteobacteria were other well represented groups of micro-organisms. Verrucomicrobiae, Clostridia and Bacilli (the latter two belonging to the phylum Firmicutes) had fewer representatives among the analyzed sequences. Many of these bacteria might be of high physiological relevance for carp as these groups have been implicated in vitamin production, nitrogen cycling and (cellulose) fermentation