Electrophysical properties of nanoporous cerium dioxide–water system

The impedance of nanoporous cerium dioxide with adsorbed water is investigated in the frequency range 103–104 Hz at temperatures near the water–ice phase transition. Here we show that the manifestation of impedance peculiarities at phase transition is caused by the dielectric constant of the matrix

Phospholipase iPLA2β averts ferroptosis by eliminating a redox lipid death signal

Ferroptosis, triggered by discoordination of iron, thiols and lipids, leads to the accumulation of 15-hydroperoxy (Hp)-arachidonoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (15-HpETE-PE), generated by complexes of 15-lipoxygenase (15-LOX) and a scaffold protein, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE)-binding protein (PEBP)1. As the Ca^{2+} -independent phospholipase A2β (iPLA2β, PLA2G6 or PNPLA9 gene) can preferentially hydrolyze peroxidized phospholipids, it may eliminate the ferroptotic 15-HpETE-PE death signal. Here, we demonstrate that by hydrolyzing 15-HpETE-PE, iPLA_{2}β averts ferroptosis, whereas its genetic or pharmacological inactivation sensitizes cells to ferroptosis. Given that PLA2G6 mutations relate to neurodegeneration, we examined fibroblasts from a patient with a Parkinson’s disease (PD)-associated mutation (fPD^{R747W}) and found selectively decreased 15-HpETE-PE-hydrolyzing activity, 15-HpETE-PE accumulation and elevated sensitivity to ferroptosis. CRISPR-Cas9-engineered Pnpla9^{R748W/R748W} mice exhibited progressive parkinsonian motor deficits and 15-HpETE-PE accumulation. Elevated 15-HpETE-PE levels were also detected in midbrains of rotenone-infused parkinsonian rats and α-synuclein-mutant Snca^{A53T} mice, with decreased iPLA2β expression and a PD-relevant phenotype. Thus, iPLA_{2}β is a new ferroptosis regulator, and its mutations may be implicated in PD pathogenesis

Chromatin and epigenetics: current biophysical views

Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing experiments and their theoretical descriptions have determined fast dynamics of the "chromatin and epigenetics" field, with new concepts appearing at high rate. This field includes but is not limited to the study of DNA-protein-RNA interactions, chromatin packing properties at different scales, regulation of gene expression and protein trafficking in the cell nucleus, binding site search in the crowded chromatin environment and modulation of physical interactions by covalent chemical modifications of the binding partners. The current special issue does not pretend for the full coverage of the field, but it rather aims to capture its development and provide a snapshot of the most recent concepts and approaches. Eighteen open-access articles comprising this issue provide a delicate balance between current theoretical and experimental biophysical approaches to uncover chromatin structure and understand epigenetic regulation, allowing free flow of new ideas and preliminary results

Study of eta-eta ' mixing from measurement of B-(s)(0) -> J/psi eta((')) decay rates

A study of B and Bs meson decays into J/ψ η and J/ψ η′ final states is performed using a data set of proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, collected by the LCHb experiment and corresponding to 3.0 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The decay B0 → J/ψ η′ is observed for the first time. The following ratios of branching fractions are measured: B(B0→J/ψη′)B(B0s→ J/ψη′)=(2.28±0.65 (stat)±0.10 (syst)±0.13 (fs/fd))×10−2,B(B0→ J/ψη)B(B0s→ J/ψη)=(1.85±0.61 (stat)±0.09 (syst)±0.11 (fs/fd))×10−2, where the third uncertainty is related to the present knowledge of fs/fd, the ratio between the probabilities for a b quark to form a Bs or a B0 meson. The branching fraction ratios are used to determine the parameters of η − η′ meson mixing. In addition, the first evidence for the decay Bs → ψ(2S)η′ is reported, and the relative branching fraction is measured, B(B0s→ ψ(2S)η′)B(B0s→ J/ψη′)=(38.7±9.0 (stat)±1.3 (syst)±0.9(B))×10−2, where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fractions of J/ψ and ψ(2S) mesons

Mod-ϕ Convergence, II: Estimates on the Speed of Convergence

In this paper, we give estimates for the speed of convergence towards a limiting stable law in the recently introduced setting of mod-ϕ convergence. Namely, we define a notion of zone of control, closely related to mod-ϕ convergence, and we prove estimates of Berry–Esseen type under this hypothesis. Applications include: - the winding number of a planar Brownian motion; - classical approximations of stable laws by compound Poisson laws; - examples stemming from determinantal point processes (characteristic polynomials of random matrices and zeroes of random analytic functions); - sums of variables with an underlying dependency graph (for which we recover a result of Rinott, obtained by Stein’s method); - the magnetization in the d-dimensional Ising model; - and functionals of Markov chains