Minimal Seesaw as an Ultraviolet Insensitive Cure for the Problems of Anomaly Mediation

We show that an intermediate scale supersymmetric left-right seesaw scenario with automatic R-parity conservation can cure the problem of tachyonic slepton masses that arises when supersymmetry is broken by anomaly mediation, while preserving ultraviolet insensitivity. The reason for this is the existence of light B - L = 2 higgses with yukawa couplings to the charged leptons. We find these theories to have distinct predictions compared to the usual mSUGRA and gauge mediated models as well as the minimal AMSB models. Such predictions include a condensed gaugino mass spectrum and possibly a correspondingly condensed sfermion spectrum.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur

Seesaw Extended MSSM and Anomaly Mediation without Tachyonic Sleptons

Superconformal anomalies provide an elegant and economical way to understand the soft breaking parameters in SUSY models; however, implementing them leads to the several undesirable features including: tachyonic sleptons and electroweak symmetry breaking problems in both the MSSM and the NMSSM. Since these two theories also have the additonal problem of massless neutrinos, we have reconsidered the AMSB problems in a class of models that extends the NMSSM to explain small neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism. In a recent paper, we showed that for a class of minimal left-right extensions, a built-in mechanism exists which naturally solves the tachyonic slepton problem and provides new alternatives to the MSSM that also have automatic R-parity conservation. In this paper, we discuss how electroweak symmetry breaking arises in this model through an NMSSM-like low energy theory with a singlet VEV, induced by the structure of the left-right extension and of the right magnitude. We then study the phenomenological issues and find: the LSP is an Higgsino-wino mix, new phenomenology for chargino decays to the LSP, degenerate same generation sleptons and a potential for a mild squark-slepton degeneracy. We also discuss possible collider signatures and the feasibility of dark matter in this model.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables; v3: Added addendum and three new references; v4: Added reference that was inadvertently omitte

Considering Intra-individual Genetic Heterogeneity to Understand Biodiversity

In this chapter, I am concerned with the concept of Intra-individual Genetic Hetereogeneity (IGH) and its potential influence on biodiversity estimates. Definitions of biological individuality are often indirectly dependent on genetic sampling -and vice versa. Genetic sampling typically focuses on a particular locus or set of loci, found in the the mitochondrial, chloroplast or nuclear genome. If ecological function or evolutionary individuality can be defined on the level of multiple divergent genomes, as I shall argue is the case in IGH, our current genetic sampling strategies and analytic approaches may miss out on relevant biodiversity. Now that more and more examples of IGH are available, it is becoming possible to investigate the positive and negative effects of IGH on the functioning and evolution of multicellular individuals more systematically. I consider some examples and argue that studying diversity through the lens of IGH facilitates thinking not in terms of units, but in terms of interactions between biological entities. This, in turn, enables a fresh take on the ecological and evolutionary significance of biological diversity

Lepton Number Violation from Colored States at the LHC

The possibility to search for lepton number violating signals at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the colored seesaw scenario is investigated. In this context the fields that generate neutrino masses at the one-loop level are scalar and Majorana fermionic color-octets of SU(3). Due to the QCD strong interaction these states may be produced at the LHC with a favorable rate. We study the production mechanisms and decays relevant to search for lepton number violation signals in the channels with same-sign dileptons. In the simplest case when the two fermionic color-octets are degenerate in mass, one could use their decays to distinguish between the neutrino spectra. We find that for fermionic octets with mass up to about 1 TeV the number of same-sign dilepton events is larger than the standard model background indicating a promising signal for new physics.Comment: minor corrections, added reference

When Anomaly Mediation is UV Sensitive

Despite its successes---such as solving the supersymmetric flavor problem---anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking is untenable because of its prediction of tachyonic sleptons. An appealing solution to this problem was proposed by Pomarol and Rattazzi where a threshold controlled by a light field deflects the anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking trajectory, thus evading tachyonic sleptons. In this paper we examine an alternate class of deflection models where the non-supersymmetric threshold is accompanied by a heavy, instead of light, singlet. The low energy form of this model is the so-called extended anomaly mediation proposed by Nelson and Weiner, but with potential for a much higher deflection threshold. The existence of this high deflection threshold implies that the space of anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking deflecting models is larger than previously thought.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure (version to appear in JHEP

Wilson Lines and a Canonical Basis of SU(4) Heterotic Standard Models

The spontaneous breaking of SU(4) heterotic standard models by Z_3 x Z_3 Wilson lines to the MSSM with three right-handed neutrino supermultiplets and gauge group SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1) x U(1) is explored. The two-dimensional subspace of the Spin(10) Lie algebra that commutes with su(3)_C + su(2)_L is analyzed. It is shown that there is a unique basis for which the initial soft supersymmetry breaking parameters are uncorrelated and for which the U(1) x U(1) field strengths have no kinetic mixing at any scale. If the Wilson lines "turn on" at different scales, there is an intermediate regime with either a left-right or a Pati-Salam type model. We compute their spectra directly from string theory, and adjust the associated mass parameter so that all gauge parameters exactly unify. A detailed analysis of the running gauge couplings and soft gaugino masses is presented.Comment: 59 pages, 9 figure

The clinical features of the piriformis syndrome: a systematic review

Piriformis syndrome, sciatica caused by compression of the sciatic nerve by the piriformis muscle, has been described for over 70 years; yet, it remains controversial. The literature consists mainly of case series and narrative reviews. The objectives of the study were: first, to make the best use of existing evidence to estimate the frequencies of clinical features in patients reported to have PS; second, to identify future research questions. A systematic review was conducted of any study type that reported extractable data relevant to diagnosis. The search included all studies up to 1 March 2008 in four databases: AMED, CINAHL, Embase and Medline. Screening, data extraction and analysis were all performed independently by two reviewers. A total of 55 studies were included: 51 individual and 3 aggregated data studies, and 1 combined study. The most common features found were: buttock pain, external tenderness over the greater sciatic notch, aggravation of the pain through sitting and augmentation of the pain with manoeuvres that increase piriformis muscle tension. Future research could start with comparing the frequencies of these features in sciatica patients with and without disc herniation or spinal stenosis

Identification of PKD1L1 Gene Variants in Children with the Biliary Atresia Splenic Malformation Syndrome

Biliary atresia (BA) is the most common cause of end‐stage liver disease in children and the primary indication for pediatric liver transplantation, yet underlying etiologies remain unknown. Approximately 10% of infants affected by BA exhibit various laterality defects (heterotaxy) including splenic abnormalities and complex cardiac malformations — a distinctive subgroup commonly referred to as the biliary atresia splenic malformation (BASM) syndrome. We hypothesized that genetic factors linking laterality features with the etiopathogenesis of BA in BASM patients could be identified through whole exome sequencing (WES) of an affected cohort. DNA specimens from 67 BASM subjects, including 58 patient‐parent trios, from the NIDDK‐supported Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN) underwent WES. Candidate gene variants derived from a pre‐specified set of 2,016 genes associated with ciliary dysgenesis and/or dysfunction or cholestasis were prioritized according to pathogenicity, population frequency, and mode of inheritance. Five BASM subjects harbored rare and potentially deleterious bi‐allelic variants in polycystin 1‐like 1, PKD1L1, a gene associated with ciliary calcium signaling and embryonic laterality determination in fish, mice and humans. Heterozygous PKD1L1 variants were found in 3 additional subjects. Immunohistochemical analysis of liver from the one BASM subject available revealed decreased PKD1L1 expression in bile duct epithelium when compared to normal livers and livers affected by other non‐cholestatic diseases. Conclusion WES identified bi‐allelic and heterozygous PKD1L1 variants of interest in 8 BASM subjects from the ChiLDReN dataset. The dual roles for PKD1L1 in laterality determination and ciliary function suggest that PKD1L1 is a new, biologically plausible, cholangiocyte‐expressed candidate gene for the BASM syndrome

Negotiating agency: Amish and ultra-Orthodox women’s responses to the Internet

This study explores how women in two devout religious communities cope with the Internet and its apparent incompatibility with their communities’ values and practices. Questionnaires containing both closed and open-ended questions were completed by 82 participants, approximately half from each community. While their discourses included similar framings of danger and threat, the two groups manifested different patterns of Internet use (and nonuse). Rigorous adherence to religious dictates is greatly admired in these communities, and the women take pride in manipulating their status in them. Their agency is reflected in how they negotiate the tension inherent in their roles as both gatekeepers and agents-of-change, which are analyzed as valuable currencies in their cultural and religious markets

PrP(Sc)-specific antibodies with the ability to immunodetect prion oligomers.

The development of antibodies with binding capacity towards soluble oligomeric forms of PrPSc recognised in the aggregation process in early stage of the disease would be of paramount importance in diagnosing prion diseases before extensive neuropathology has ensued. As blood transfusion appears to be efficient in the transmission of the infectious prion agent, there is an urgent need to develop reagents that would specifically recognize oligomeric forms of the abnormally folded prion protein, PrPSc.To that end, we show that anti-PrP monoclonal antibodies (called PRIOC mAbs) derived from mice immunised with native PrP-coated microbeads are able to immunodetect oligomers/multimers of PrPSc. Oligomer-specific immunoreactivity displayed by these PRIOC mAbs was demonstrated as large aggregates of immunoreactive deposits in prion-permissive neuroblastoma cell lines but not in equivalent non-infected or prn-p(0/0) cell lines. In contrast, an anti-monomer PrP antibody displayed diffuse immunoreactivity restricted to the cell membrane. Furthermore, our PRIOC mAbs did not display any binding with monomeric recombinant and cellular prion proteins but strongly detected PrPSc oligomers as shown by a newly developed sensitive and specific ELISA. Finally, PrioC antibodies were also able to bind soluble oligomers formed of Aβ and α-synuclein. These findings demonstrate the potential use of anti-prion antibodies that bind PrPSc oligomers, recognised in early stage of the disease, for the diagnosis of prion diseases in blood and other body fluids