Impact of LSP Character on Slepton Reach at the LHC

Searches for supersymmetry at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have significantly constrained the parameter space associated with colored superpartners, whereas the constraints on color-singlet superpartners are considerably less severe. In this study, we investigate the dependence of slepton decay branching fractions on the nature of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). In particular, in the Higgsino-like LSP scenarios, both decay branching fractions of $\tilde\ell_L$ and $\tilde\nu_\ell$ depend strongly on the sign and value of $M_1/M_2$, which has strong implications for the reach of dilepton plus MET searches for slepton pair production. We extend the experimental results for same flavor, opposite sign dilepton plus MET searches at the 8 TeV LHC to various LSP scenarios. We find that the LHC bounds on sleptons are strongly enhanced for a non-Bino-like LSP: the 95% C.L. limit for $m_{\tilde\ell_L}$ extends from 300 GeV for a Bino-like LSP to about 370 GeV for a Wino-like LSP. The bound for $\tilde\ell_L$ with a Higgsino-like LSP is the strongest (~ 490 GeV) for $M_1/M_2$ ~ $-\tan^2\theta_W$ and is the weakest (~ 220 GeV) for $M_1/M_2$ ~ $\tan^2\theta_W$. We also calculate prospective slepton search reaches at the 14 TeV LHC. With 100 fb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity, the projected 95% C.L. mass reach for the left-handed slepton varies from 550 (670) GeV for a Bino-like (Wino-like) LSP to 900 (390) GeV for a Higgsino-like LSP under the most optimistic (pessimistic) scenario. The reach for the right-handed slepton is about 440 GeV. The corresponding 5$\sigma$ discovery sensitivity is about 100 GeV smaller. For 300 fb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity, the reach is about 50 - 100 GeV higher.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure

Patient-reported outcomes in clinical trials of inhaled asthma medications: systematic review and research needs

Numerous validated PRO instruments are available but it is unclear why few are used in asthma clinical trials. Problems include poor reporting, and uncritical analysis and interpretation of PRO scores. Research needs include identifying and recommending a set of PROs for use in asthma clinical research and providing guidance for researchers on the application, analysis and interpretation of PRO measures in clinical trials

Effectiveness of anonymised information sharing and use in health service, police, and local government partnership for preventing violence related injury: experimental study and time series analysis

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of anonymised information sharing to prevent injury related to violence. Design: Experimental study and time series analysis of a prototype community partnership between the health service, police, and local government partners designed to prevent violence. Setting: Cardiff, Wales, and 14 comparison cities designated "most similar" by the Home Office in England and Wales. Intervention After a 33 month development period, anonymised data relevant to violence prevention (precise violence location, time, days, and weapons) from patients attending emergency departments in Cardiff and reporting injury from violence were shared over 51 months with police and local authority partners and used to target resources for violence prevention. Main outcome measures: Health service records of hospital admissions related to violence and police records of woundings and less serious assaults in Cardiff and other cities after adjustment for potential confounders. Results: Information sharing and use were associated with a substantial and significant reduction in hospital admissions related to violence. In the intervention city (Cardiff) rates fell from seven to five a month per 100 000 population compared with an increase from five to eight in comparison cities (adjusted incidence rate ratio 0.58, 95% confidence interval 0.49 to 0.69). Average rate of woundings recorded by the police changed from 54 to 82 a month per 100 000 population in Cardiff compared with an increase from 54 to 114 in comparison cities (adjusted incidence rate ratio 0.68, 0.61 to 0.75). There was a significant increase in less serious assaults recorded by the police, from 15 to 20 a month per 100 000 population in Cardiff compared with a decrease from 42 to 33 in comparison cities (adjusted incidence rate ratio 1.38, 1.13 to 1.70). Conclusion: An information sharing partnership between health services, police, and local government in Cardiff, Wales, altered policing and other strategies to prevent violence based on information collected from patients treated in emergency departments after injury sustained in violence. This intervention led to a significant reduction in violent injury and was associated with an increase in police recording of minor assaults in Cardiff compared with similar cities in England and Wales where this intervention was not implemented

Dark Matter in Minimal Universal Extra Dimensions with a Stable Vacuum and the "Right" Higgs

The recent discovery of a Higgs boson with mass of about 125 GeV, along with its striking similarity to the prediction from the Standard Model, informs and constrains many models of new physics. The Higgs mass exhausts one out of three input parameters of the minimal, five-dimensional version of universal extra dimension models, the other two parameters being the Kaluza-Klein (KK) scale and the cut-off scale of the theory. The presence of KK fermions with large coupling to the Higgs implies a short-lived electro-weak vacuum, unless the cut-off scale is at most a few times higher than the KK mass scale, providing an additional tight constraint to the theory parameter space. Here, we focus on the lightest KK particle as a dark matter candidate, and investigate the regions of parameter space where such particle has a thermal relic density in accord with the cosmological dark matter density. We find the paradoxical result that, for low enough cutoff scales consistent with vacuum stability, larger than previously thought KK mass scales become preferred to explain the dark matter abundance in the universe. We explain this phenomenon by pinpointing the additional particles which, at such low cutoffs, become close enough in mass to the dark matter candidate to coannihilate with it. We make predictions for both collider and direct dark matter searches that might soon close in on all viable theory parameter space.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, references added, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Consumer Response to Food Safety Events: An Interaction Between Risk Perception and Trust of Information in the Chicken and Beef Markets

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

Do fluid inclusions preserve δ18O values of hydrothermal fluids in epithermal systems over geological time? : evidence from paleo- and modern geothermal systems, Milos island, Aegean Sea

Stable isotope compositions of quartz (δ18Oquartz) and fluid inclusion waters (δ18OFI and δDFI) were analysed from Profitis Ilias, a low-sulphidation epithermal gold mineralisation deposit on Milos island Greece, to establish if δ18OFI preserve a record of paleo-geothermal processes. Previous studies show that mineralisation at Profitis Ilias resulted from extreme boiling and vaporisation and a zone located at approximately 430 m asl represents the transition between a liquid- and vapour-dominated system [Mineral. Dep. 36 (2001) 43]. The deposit is also closely associated with an active geothermal system, whose waters have a well-characterised stable isotope geochemistry [Pagel and Leroy (1991) Source, transport and deposition of metals. Balkema, Rotterdam, 107–112]. The samples were collected over an elevation interval of 440 m (210 to 650 m asl) to give information on the liquid- and vapour-segments of the paleo-system. The data show systematic variations with sample elevation. Samples from the highest elevations (c. 650 m asl) have the lightest δ18OFI (–7.3 ‰) and δDFI (–68.0 ‰) whilst the deepest (c. 210 m asl) are isotopically heavier (δ18OFI –3.7 ‰; δDFI –19.0 ‰). Relative changes in δ18OFI closely parallel those in δDFI. δ18Oquartz shows an opposite trend, from the lightest values (+13.9 ‰) at the lowest elevations to the heaviest (+15.1 ‰) at the highest. δ18OFI show correlations with other parameters. For example, variable fluid inclusion homogenisation temperatures in the vapour-dominated part of the system, correlate with a rapid shift in δDFI (–33.3 to –50.5 ‰) and δ18OFI (–4.1 to –6.2 ‰) and gold contents also increase in the same zone (up to 50 ppm). Comparable correlations in δ18Oquartz or δ18Ocalculated (estimated geothermal fluid from fluid inclusion homogenisation data) are absent. δ18Ocalculated are always 5 to 10 ‰ heavier than δ18OFI. Comparison with the modern geothermal system shows that δDFI–δ18OFI are similar. Isotope data for the modern system and fluid inclusion waters fall on linear trends sub-paralleling the meteoric water line and project towards seawater values. Numerical modelling favours kinetically controlled fractionation to explain differences in δ18Ocalculated and δ18Ofluid rather than diffusive post-trapping equilibration. The evidence suggests, that in low-temperature epithermal systems, δ18OFI may represent a better record of fluid process and the isotopic composition of the geothermal fluid than temperature-corrected quartz data

Violence-related injury and the price of beer in England and Wales

This paper examines the influence of the real price of beer on violence-related injuries across the economic regions in England and Wales. The data are monthly frequency of violent-injury collected from a stratified sample of 58 National Health Service Emergency Departments 1995-2000. An econometric model based on economic, socio-demographic and environmental factors was estimated using panel techniques. We show that the rate of violence-related injury is negatively related to the real price beer, as well as economic, sporting and socio-demographic factors. The principal conclusion of the paper is that the regional distribution of the incidence of violent injury is related to the regional distribution of the price of beer. The major policy conclusion is that increased alcohol prices would result in substantially fewer violent injuries and reduced demand on trauma services

The SOX11 transcription factor is a critical regulator of basal-like breast cancer growth, invasion, and basal-like gene expression.

Basal-like breast cancers (BLBCs) are aggressive breast cancers associated with poor survival. Defining the key drivers of BLBC growth will allow identification of molecules for targeted therapy. In this study, we performed a primary screen integrating multiple assays that compare transcription factor expression and activity in BLBC and non-BLBC at the RNA, DNA, and protein levels. This integrated screen identified 33 transcription factors that were elevated in BLBC in multiple assays comparing mRNA expression, DNA cis-element sequences, or protein DNA-binding activity. In a secondary screen to identify transcription factors critical for BLBC cell growth, 8 of the 33 candidate transcription factors (TFs) were found to be necessary for growth in at least two of three BLBC cell lines. Of these 8 transcription factors, SOX11 was the only transcription factor required for BLBC growth, but not for growth of non-BLBC cells. Our studies demonstrate that SOX11 is a critical regulator of multiple BLBC phenotypes, including growth, migration, invasion, and expression of signature BLBC genes. High SOX11 expression was also found to be an independent prognostic indicator of poor survival in women with breast cancer. These results identify SOX11 as a potential target for the treatment of BLBC, the most aggressive form of breast cancer