Generalized Contact Formalism Analysis of the ⁴He(e,e′pN) Reaction

Measurements of short-range correlations in exclusive 4He (e , e ′ p N) reactions are analyzed using the Generalized Contact Formalism (GCF). We consider both instant-form and light-cone formulations with both the AV18 and local N2LO(1.0) nucleon-nucleon (NN) potentials. We find that kinematic distributions, such as the reconstructed pair opening angle, recoil neutron momentum distribution, and pair center of mass motion, as well as the measured missing energy, missing mass distributions, are all well reproduced by GCF calculations. The missing momentum dependence of the measured 4He (e , e ′ p N) /4He (e , e ′ p) cross-section ratios, sensitive to nature of the NN interaction at short-distacnes, are also well reproduced by GCF calculations using either interaction and formulation. This gives credence to the GCF scale-separated factorized description of the short-distance many-body nuclear wave-function

Generalized Contact Formalism Analysis of the 4^4He(e,e′pN)(e,e'pN) Reaction

Measurements of short-range correlations in exclusive $^4$He$(e,e'pN)$ reactions are analyzed using the Generalized Contact Formalism (GCF). We consider both instant-form and light-cone formulations with both the AV18 and local N2LO(1.0) nucleon-nucleon ($NN$) potentials. We find that kinematic distributions, such as the reconstructed pair opening angle, recoil neutron momentum distribution, and pair center of mass motion, as well as the measured missing energy, missing mass distributions, are all well reproduced by GCF calculations. The missing momentum dependence of the measured $^4$He$(e,e'pN)$ / $^4$He$(e,e'p)$ cross-section ratios, sensitive to nature of the $NN$ interaction at short-distacnes, are also well reproduced by GCF calculations using either interaction and formulation. This gives credence to the GCF scale-separated factorized description of the short-distance many-body nuclear wave-function.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physics Letters B. 8 pages, 4 figures and online supplementary material

RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three available genomic nomenclature systems for SARS-CoV-2 to all sequence data from the WHO European Region available during the COVID-19 pandemic until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation. We provide a comparison of the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.Peer reviewe

Population genetic modeling of viruses

Population genetic models provide a powerful approach to the study of the evolutionary dynamics of viruses. The application of population genetic approaches to viruses has grown in recent years and has been facilitated by advances in sequencing technologies that make it feasible to obtain multiple 'genetic' snapshots of evolving viral populations through time. Populations of viruses are often shaped by a combination of high mutation rates, strong selection, large population sizes, and recurrent bottlenecks, and thus inhabit a different region of population genetic "parameter space" to cellular organisms. In this chapter, we discuss how traditional and novel population genetic models have provided insights into virus evolutionary processes and the means by which pathogenic viruses may be combatted. In particular, we illustrate how population genetics can be used to understand adaptive evolution in viruses and review recent work on whether viral evolution can be predicted

Role of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells in pediatric HIV cure strategies after widespread early viral escape

Recent studies have suggested greater HIV cure potential among infected children than adults. A major obstacle to HIV eradication in adults is that the viral reservoir is largely comprised of HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) escape variants. We here evaluate the potential for CTL in HIV-infected slow-progressor children to play an effective role in “shock-and-kill” cure strategies. Two distinct subgroups of children were identified on the basis of viral load. Unexpectedly, in both groups, as in adults, HIV-specific CTL drove the selection of escape variants across a range of epitopes within the first weeks of infection. However, in HIV-infected children, but not adults, de novo autologous variant-specific CTL responses were generated, enabling the pediatric immune system to “corner” the virus. Thus, even when escape variants are selected in early infection, the capacity in children to generate variant-specific anti-HIV CTL responses maintains the potential for CTL to contribute to effective shock-and-kill cure strategies in pediatric HIV infection