Induced pseudoscalar coupling of the proton weak interaction

The induced pseudoscalar coupling $g_p$ is the least well known of the weak coupling constants of the proton's charged--current interaction. Its size is dictated by chiral symmetry arguments, and its measurement represents an important test of quantum chromodynamics at low energies. During the past decade a large body of new data relevant to the coupling $g_p$ has been accumulated. This data includes measurements of radiative and non radiative muon capture on targets ranging from hydrogen and few--nucleon systems to complex nuclei. Herein the authors review the theoretical underpinnings of $g_p$, the experimental studies of $g_p$, and the procedures and uncertainties in extracting the coupling from data. Current puzzles are highlighted and future opportunities are discussed.Comment: 58 pages, Latex, Revtex4, prepared for Reviews of Modern Physic

Evaluation of a Salt-Reduction Consumer Awareness Campaign Targeted at Parents Residing in the State of Victoria, Australia

From 2015 to 2020 a state-wide salt-reduction initiative was launched in Victoria, Australia, including an awareness campaign focused on parents with children <18 years of age. To evaluate the impact of the campaign on salt-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors (KABs) we have assessed trends in salt-related KAB pre- and post-delivery of the campaign in parents, as well as within the wider adult population. Cross-sectional surveys of adults aged 18–65 years were undertaken pre- (2015: n = 821 parents; n = 1527 general sample) and post-campaign (2019: n = 935 parents; n = 1747 general sample). KABs were assessed via an online survey. Data were analyzed with regression models and adjusted for covariates. Among parents, around one-quarter of salt-related KABs shifted in a positive direction, but changes were small: there was a 6% (95% CI 2, 11%) increase in the percentage who knew the main source of salt in the diet and reductions in the percentage who reported placing a salt shaker on the table (−8% (95%CI −12, −3)) and that their child added salt at the table (−5% (95% −9, −0.2)). Among the wider adult sample, even fewer shifts in KAB were observed, with some behaviors worsening at follow-up. These findings indicate that this consumer awareness campaign had minimum impact

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Bordetella pertussis FbpA Binds Both Unchelated Iron and Iron Siderophore Complexes

Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of whooping cough. This pathogenic bacterium can obtain the essential nutrient iron using its native alcaligin siderophore and by utilizing xeno-siderophores such as desferrioxamine B, ferrichrome, and enterobactin. Previous genome-wide expression profiling identified an iron repressible B. pertussis gene encoding a periplasmic protein (FbpA_Bp). A previously reported crystal structure shows significant similarity between FbpA_Bp and previously characterized bacterial iron binding proteins, and established its iron-binding ability. Bordetella growth studies determined that FbpA_Bp was required for utilization of not only unchelated iron, but also utilization of iron bound to both native and xeno-siderophores. In this <i>in vitro</i> solution study, we quantified the binding of unchelated ferric iron to FbpA_Bp in the presence of various anions and importantly, we demonstrated that FbpA_Bp binds all the ferric siderophores tested (native and xeno) with μM affinity. <i>In silico</i> modeling augmented solution data. FbpA_Bp was incapable of iron removal from ferric xeno-siderophores <i>in vitro</i>. However, when FbpA_Bp was reacted with native ferric-alcaligin, it elicited a pronounced change in the iron coordination environment, which may signify an early step in FbpA_Bp-mediated iron removal from the native siderophore. To our knowledge, this is the first time the periplasmic component of an iron uptake system has been shown to bind iron directly as Fe³⁺ and indirectly as a ferric siderophore complex