DNA methylation loss promotes immune evasion of tumours with high mutation and copy number load

Mitotic cell division increases tumour mutation burden and copy number load, predictive markers of the clinical benefit of immunotherapy. Cell division correlates also with genomic demethylation involving methylation loss in late-replicating partial methylation domains. Here we find that immunomodulatory pathway genes are concentrated in these domains and transcriptionally repressed in demethylated tumours with CpG island promoter hypermethylation. Global methylation loss correlated with immune evasion signatures independently of mutation burden and aneuploidy. Methylome data of our cohort (n = 60) and a published cohort (n = 81) in lung cancer and a melanoma cohort (n = 40) consistently demonstrated that genomic methylation alterations counteract the contribution of high mutation burden and increase immunotherapeutic resistance. Higher predictive power was observed for methylation loss than mutation burden. We also found that genomic hypomethylation correlates with the immune escape signatures of aneuploid tumours. Hence, DNA methylation alterations implicate epigenetic modulation in precision immunotherapy

Measurement of the Xi-p Scattering Cross Sections at Low Energy

In this paper we report cross-section measurements for $\Xi^-p$ elastic and inelastic scatterings at low energy using a scintillating fiber active target. Upper limit on the total cross-section for the elastic scattering was found to be 24 mb at 90% confidence level, and the total cross section for the $\Xi^-p\to\Lambda\Lambda$ reaction was found to be $4.3^{+6.3}_{-2.7}$ mb. We compare the results with currently competing theoretical estimates.Comment: 9 page

Correlator of Fundamental and Anti-symmetric Wilson Loops in AdS/CFT Correspondence

We study the two circular Wilson loop correlator in which one is of anti-symmetric representation, while the other is of fundamental representation in 4-dimensional ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. This correlator has a good AdS dual, which is a system of a D5-brane and a fundamental string. We calculated the on-shell action of the string, and clarified the Gross-Ooguri transition in this correlator. Some limiting cases are also examined.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, v2: typos corrected, v3: final version in JHE

H-dibaryons and Primordial Nucleosynthesis

The apparent discrepancy between abundances of light nuclides predicted by the standard Big-Bang and observational data is explained, by assuming the presence of metastable H dibaryons at the nucleosynthesis era. These dibaryons could be formed out of a small fraction of strange quarks at the moment of the confinement transition. For a primordial deuterium abundance of the order of 3 10^{-5}, the measured differences in the 4He abundances requires a relative abundance of H dibaryons of the order of n_H/n_B = 0.07, decaying in a timescale of the order of 10^5 s.Comment: Latex, 5 pages, to appear in PR

Nuclear and nucleon transitions of the H di-baryon

We consider 3 types of processes pertinent to the phenomenology of an H di-baryon: conversion of two $\Lambda$'s in a doubly-strange hypernucleus to an H, decay of the H to two baryons, and -- if the H is light enough -- conversion of two nucleons in a nucleus to an H. We compute the spatial wavefunction overlap using the Isgur-Karl and Bethe-Goldstone wavefunctions, and treat the weak interactions phenomenologically. The observation of $\Lambda$ decays from doubly-strange hypernuclei puts a constraint on the H wavefunction which is plausibly satisfied. In this case the H is very long-lived as we calculate. An absolutely stable H is not excluded at present. SuperK can provide valuable limits

Time and Amplitude of Afterpulse Measured with a Large Size Photomultiplier Tube

We have studied the afterpulse of a hemispherical photomultiplier tube for an upcoming reactor neutrino experiment. The timing, the amplitude, and the rate of the afterpulse for a 10 inch photomultiplier tube were measured with a 400 MHz FADC up to 16 \ms time window after the initial signal generated by an LED light pulse. The time and amplitude correlation of the afterpulse shows several distinctive groups. We describe the dependencies of the afterpulse on the applied high voltage and the amplitude of the main light pulse. The present data could shed light upon the general mechanism of the afterpulse.Comment: 11 figure

Large θ13ν\theta_{13}^\nu and Unified Description of Quark and Lepton Mixing Matrices

We present a revised version of the so-called "yukawaon model", which was proposed for the purpose of a unified description of the lepton mixing matrix $U_{PMNS}$ and the quark mixing matrix $V_{CKM}$. It is assumed from a phenomenological point of view that the neutrino Dirac mass matrix $M_D$ is given with a somewhat different structure from the charged lepton mass matrix $M_e$, although $M_D=M_e$ was assumed in the previous model. As a result, the revised model predicts a reasonable value $\sin^2 2\theta_{13} \sim 0.07$ with keeping successful results for other parameters in $U_{PMNS}$ as well as $V_{CKM}$ and quark and lepton mass ratios.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, version accepted by EPJ

Faddeev calculations for the A=5,6 Lambda-Lambda hypernuclei

Faddev calculations are reported for Lambda-Lambda-5H, Lambda-Lambda-5He and Lambda-Lambda-6He in terms of two Lambda hyperons plus the respective nuclear clusters, using Lambda-Lambda central potentials considered in past non-Faddeev calculations of Lambda-Lambda-6He. The convergence with respect to the partial-wave expansion is studied, and comparison is made with some of these Lambda-Lambda hypernuclear calculations. The Lambda-Lambda Xi-N mixing effect is briefly discussed.Comment: submitted for publicatio

The hyperon-nucleon interaction: conventional versus effective field theory approach

Hyperon-nucleon interactions are presented that are derived either in the conventional meson-exchange picture or within leading order chiral effective field theory. The chiral potential consists of one-pseudoscalar-meson exchanges and non-derivative four-baryon contact terms. With regard to meson-exchange hyperon-nucleon models we focus on the new potential of the Juelich group, whose most salient feature is that the contributions in the scalar--isoscalar (\sigma) and vector--isovector (\rho) exchange channels are constrained by a microscopic model of correlated \pi\pi and KKbar exchange.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Lecture Notes in Physic

Light Lambda-Lambda Hypernuclei and the Onset of Stability for Lambda-Xi Hypernuclei

New Faddeev-Yakubovsky calculations for light Lambda-Lambda hypernuclei are presented in order to assess the self consistency of the Lambda-Lambda hypernuclear binding-energy world data and the implied strength of the Lambda-Lambda interaction, in the wake of recent experimental reports on Lambda-Lambda-4H and Lambda-Lambda-6He. Using Gaussian soft-core simulations of Nijmegen one-boson-exchange model interactions, the Nijmegen soft-core model NSC97 simulations are found close to reproducing the recently reported binding energy of Lambda-Lambda-6He, but not those of other species. For stranger systems, Faddeev calculations of light Lambda-Xi hypernuclei, using a simulation of the strongly attractive Lambda-Xi interactions due to the same model, suggest that Lambda-Xi-6He marks the onset of nuclear stability for Xi hyperons.Comment: 5 pages, 3 postscript figures; fig.2 replaced, minor changes, accepted as Rapid Communication in PR