The standard lore has it that supersymmetry breaking in the visible sector is always soft when mediated by gravity from a hidden sector of Supergravity.Correspondingly, the associated generic forms of the superpotential and Kahler potential have long been the basis for the construction of consistent low energy susy models. In this talk we report on the existence of a whole class of new forms, equally consistent for low energy susy model building, but exhibiting hard susy breaking on top of the usual soft one. Moreover, these new forms require Standard Model gauge singlet chiral superfields displaying specific structures and flat directions. We discuss briefly the possible phenomenological spin-offs regarding the 125GeV Higgs fine-tuning issues and the (so far) non-discovery of susy particles, as well as next-to-minimal susy inflationary model-building. (based on G. Moultaka, M.R. de Traubenberg & D. Tant, Int.J.Mod.Phys. A34 (2019) no.01, 1950004, and work in progress).

Chronic subjective tinnitus is a widespread disorder. This perceptual anomaly is assumed to result from a dysbalance of excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms on different levels of the auditory pathways. However, the brain areas involved are still under discussion. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigate differences in cerebral regional homogeneity (ReHo) between patients with unilateral chronic tinnitus and nontinnitus control subjects. To our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate the intraregional connectivity of patients with unilateral tinnitus in relation to hearing loss. Our analyses, based on strict recruitment and characterization of the participants, showed reduced ReHo in the primary auditory cortex contralateral to the side of the perceived tinnitus percept in patients. Reduced ReHo in this same region was also correlated with increased Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Visual Analogue Scale for loudness scores, reflecting an alteration of synchronization in this region related to the perceived loudness of the tinnitus and the related distress. Furthermore, increased ReHo in the supramarginal and angular gyri ipsilateral to the tinnitus side was correlated with increased tinnitus duration and hearing threshold at the tinnitus pitch. The correlations observed in these brain areas, which are normally related to the nontinnitus ear, could highlight compensatory mechanisms in these secondary auditory regions.

Few studies addressed the evolution of brain activity before and after brain tumor resection. Using a fMRI naming task, we evaluated possible underlying plasticity phenomena. Thirty-two patients with left low-grade gliomas (16 women; age = 38.6 ± 8.31 years) and 19 healthy controls (7 women; age = 42.4 ± 12.1) were included in the study. An overt picture-naming task (DO80) was performed pre and post (3 months) surgery, as well as within the MRI in a covert manner. Exams included an injected 3DT1, a T2FLAIR, a DTI and a GE-EPI (task) sequence. Activations maps were compared with picture naming score, FA and MD maps were estimated, a VLSM analysis was performed on tumor masks, and disconnectome maps were reconstructed. Pre-surgery, the left parahippocampal gyrus (LPH) was inversely associated with task performance. Increased pre-post surgery left lingual gyrus (LLG) activity was found related to decreased picture naming performance. The evolution of left lingual gyrus (LLG) activity was negatively associated with the evolution of picture naming performance. In controls, the LPH was functionally connected to the right precentral gyrus (RPCG) and slightly to the LLG. This was not clearly retrieved in the patient group. Preoperatively, the LLG was connected to the left planum temporale and to the right lingual gyrus. The same result was found for controls. Postoperatively, the LLG was only connected to the RPCG. No association was found between evolution of FA/MD and evolution of picture naming performance. There is not one unique pattern of pre- and postoperative plasticity concerning picture-naming performance in DLGG patients.