Probing Free Nucleons With (Anti)Neutrinos

We discuss a method to study free protons and neutrons using ν(⊽)-hydrogen (H) Charged Current (CC) inelastic interactions, together with various precision tests of the isospin (charge) symmetry using ν and ⊽ CC interactions on both H and nuclear targets. Probing free nucleons with (anti)neutrinos provides information about their partonic structure, as well as a crucial input for the modeling of ν(⊽)-nucleus (A) interactions. Such measurements concurrently represent a valuable tool to address the main limitations of accelerator-based neutrino scattering experiments on nuclear targets, originating from the combined effect of the unknown (anti)neutrino energy and of the nuclear smearing. To this end, we present a method to impose constraints on nuclear effects and calibrate the (anti)neutrino energy scale in ν(⊽)- A interactions, which are two outstanding systematic uncertainties affecting present and future longbaseline neutrino oscillation experiments

Nucleon axial-vector radius and form factor from future neutrino experiments

Precision measurements of antineutrino elastic scattering on hydrogen from future neutrino experiments offer a unique opportunity to access the low-energy structure of protons and neutrons. We discuss the determination of the nucleon axial-vector form factor and radius from antineutrino interactions on hydrogen which can be collected at the future Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF), and study the sources of theoretical and experimental uncertainties. The projected accuracy would improve existing measurements by one order of magnitude and be competitive with contemporary lattice-QCD determinations, potentially helping to resolve the corresponding tension with measurements from (anti)neutrino elastic scattering on deuterium. We find that the current knowledge of the nucleon vector form factors could be one of the dominant sources of uncertainty. We also evaluate the constraints which can be simultaneously obtained on the absolute $\bar \nu_\mu$ flux normalization.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Possible Studies on Generalized Parton Distributions and Gravitational Form Factors in Neutrino Reactions

Spacelike and timelike generalized parton distributions (GPDs) have been investigated in charged-lepton scattering and electron-positron collisions via deeply virtual Compton scattering and two-photon processes, respectively. Furthermore, we expect that hadron-accelerator-facility measurements will be performed in future. The GPDs will play a crucial role in clarifying the origins of hadron spins and masses in terms of quarks and gluons. It is also possible to probe internal pressure within hadrons for understanding their stability. Gravitational form factors of hadrons used to be considered as a purely academic subject because gravitational interactions are too weak to be measured in microscopic systems. However, due to the development of hadron-tomography field, it became possible to extract the gravitational form factors from the actual GPD measurements without relying on direct gravitational interactions. Neutrino reactions can also be used for GPD studies in future, for example, by using the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility at Fermilab. The neutrino GPD measurements are valuable especially for finding the flavor dependence of the GPDs in a complementary way to the charged-lepton experiments. We give an overview of the GPDs and discuss possible neutrino GPD measurements using the single-pion production processes v + N → ℓ + N\u27 + π and ⊽ + N → ℓ+ N\u27 + π

HELP Nuclear Parton Distributions and the Drell-Yan Reaction

We discuss the nuclear parton distribution functions on the basis of our recently developed semi-microscopic model, which takes into account a number of nuclear effects including Fermi motion and nuclear binding, nuclear meson-exchange currents and off-shell corrections to bound nucleon distributions as well as nuclear shadowing effect. We also discuss application to the nuclear Drell-Yan process and compare our predictions with data from the E772 and E866 experiments

A Precise Determination of (Anti)Neutrino Fluxes With (Anti)Neutrino-Hydrogen Interactions

We present a novel method to accurately determine the flux of neutrinos and antineutrinos, one of the dominant systematic uncertainty affecting current and future long-baseline neutrino experiments, as well as precision neutrino scattering experiment. Using exclusive topologies in v(⊽)-hydrogen interactions, vµp→µpπ +, ⊽ µp → µ +pπ, and ⊽µp → µ + n with small hadronic energy, we achieve an overall accuracy on the relative fluxes better than 1% in the energy range covering most of the available flux. Since we cannot rely on simulations nor model corrections at this level of precision, we present techniques to constrain all relevant systematic uncertainties using data themselves. The method can be implemented using the approach we recently proposed to collect high statistics samples of v(⊽)-hydrogen interactions in a low-density and high-resolution detector, which could serve as part of the near detector complex in a long-baseline neutrino experiment, as well as a dedicated beam monitoring detector

Altered telomere homeostasis and resistance to skin carcinogenesis in Suv39h1 transgenic mice

The Suv39h1 and Suv39h2 H3K9 histone methyltransferases (HMTs) have a conserved role in the formation of constitutive heterochromatin and gene silencing. Using a transgenic mouse model system we demonstrate that elevated expression of Suv39h1 increases global H3K9me3 levels in vivo. More specifically, Suv39h1 overexpression enhances the imposition of H3K9me3 levels at constitutive heterochromatin at telomeric and major satellite repeats in primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Chromatin compaction is paralleled by telomere shortening, indicating that telomere length is controlled by H3K9me3 density at telomeres. We further show that increased Suv39h1 levels result in an impaired clonogenic potential of transgenic epidermal stem cells and Ras/E1A transduced transgenic primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Importantly, Suv39h1 overexpression in mice confers resistance to a DMBA/TPA induced skin carcinogenesis protocol that is characterized by the accumulation of activating H-ras mutations. Our results provide genetic evidence that Suv39h1 controls telomere homeostasis and mediates resistance to oncogenic stress in vivo. This identifies Suv39h1 as an interesting target to improve oncogene induced senescence in premalignant lesions

Nuclear Effects in the Deuteron and Global PDF Fits

We present a detailed study of nuclear corrections in the deuteron (D) from an analysis of data from charged-lepton deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) off proton and D, as well as from dimuon pair production in pp and pD collisions and W± and the Z boson production at pp (p¯p) colliders. In particular, we discuss the determination of the off-shell function describing the modification of parton distributions (PDF) in bound nucleons in the context of global PDF fits. Our results are consistent with the ones obtained earlier from the study of the ratios of DIS structure functions A 2 / F D 2 in nuclei with A ≥ 4, confirming the universality of the off-shell function. We also discuss the sensitivity to various models of the deuteron wave function and the impact of nuclear corrections on the determination of the d quark distribution

MiR-182-3p targets TRF2 and impairs tumor growth of triple-negative breast cancer

Target therapy; Telomeres; Triple-negative breast cancerTerapia dirigida; Telómeros; Cáncer de mama triple negativoTeràpia dirigida; Telòmers; Càncer de mama triple negatiuThe telomeric repeat-binding factor 2 (TRF2) is a telomere-capping protein that plays a key role in the maintenance of telomere structure and function. It is highly expressed in different cancer types, and it contributes to cancer progression. To date, anti-cancer strategies to target TRF2 remain a challenge. Here, we developed a miRNA-based approach to reduce TRF2 expression. By performing a high-throughput luciferase screening of 54 candidate miRNAs, we identified miR-182-3p as a specific and efficient post-transcriptional regulator of TRF2. Ectopic expression of miR-182-3p drastically reduced TRF2 protein levels in a panel of telomerase- or alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT)-positive cancer cell lines. Moreover, miR-182-3p induced DNA damage at telomeric and pericentromeric sites, eventually leading to strong apoptosis activation. We also observed that treatment with lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) containing miR-182-3p impaired tumor growth in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) models, including patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDTXs), without affecting mouse survival or tissue function. Finally, LNPs-miR-182-3p were able to cross the blood–brain barrier and reduce intracranial tumors representing a possible therapeutic option for metastatic brain lesions.The research leading to these results has been funded by Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC # 21579) and Ministry of Health (CO-2019-12369662) to AB. This work was financially supported by Ministry of Health Ricerca Corrente 2022 and intramural grant-in-aid to EP. RD, LP and EP were supported by AIRC fellowships

From Rigid to Flexible: Solution-Processed Carbon Nanotube Deposition on Polymeric Substrates for the Fabrication of Transistor-Based Ion Sensors

Electrolyte-gated field-effect transistors (EG-FETs) are widely used in the growing field of biochemical sensing applications, due to their manifold advantages, such as large specific capacitance, low operating voltage, and intrinsic signal amplification. In this work, carbon nanotube (CNT) EG-FET (EG-CNTFET)-based sensors for ammonium ( NH+4 ) detection are reported. The active semiconducting single-walled CNTs layer was manufactured through a cost-effective and scalable spray deposition technique. To achieve high-quality semiconducting networks, the CNT ink was optimized. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis was used to optimize the CNT concentration and significantly reduce the posttreatment time from the previously reported 12 to 1 h. The optimized ink was then used to fabricate EG-CNTFETs first on standard rigid Si/SiO2 substrate and then on flexible polyimide (PI) foils. Both devices showed typical p-type behavior with an on–off ratio in the order of magnitude of 1×103 A/A. Furthermore, as proof of concept, we demonstrated the detection of the NH+4 ions with EG-CNTFETs fabricated on a flexible substrate and functionalized with nonactin ion-selective membrane. The calibration curve of the fabricated sensors showed a linear detection range for ammonium from 0.01 to 10 mM, covering the entire range of physiological concentrations of interest, with an average sensitivity of 0.346 μA /decade and a 94.35% coefficient of determination