HCV activates somatic L1 retrotransposition–A potential hepatocarcinogenesis pathway

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a common cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The activation and mutagenic consequences of L1 retrotransposons in virus-associated-HCC have been documented. However, the direct influence of HCV upon L1 elements is unclear, and is the focus of the present study. L1 transcript expression was evaluated in a publicly available liver tissue RNA-seq dataset from patients with chronic HCV hepatitis (CHC), as well as healthy controls. L1 transcript expression was significantly higher in CHC than in controls. L1orf1p (a L1 encoded protein) expression was observed in six out of 11 CHC livers by immunohistochemistry. To evaluate the influence of HCV on retrotransposition efficiency, in vitro engineered-L1 retrotransposition assays were employed in Huh7 cells in the presence and absence of an HCV replicon. An increased retrotransposition rate was observed in the presence of replicating HCV RNA, and persisted in cells after viral clearance due to sofosbuvir (PSI7977) treatment. Increased retrotransposition could be due to dysregulation of the DNA-damage repair response, including homologous recombination, due to HCV infection. Altogether these data suggest that L1 expression can be activated before oncogenic transformation in CHC patients, with HCV-upregulated retrotransposition potentially contributing to HCC genomic instability and a risk of transformation that persists post-viral clearance

Abstracts of 1st International Conference on Machine Intelligence and System Sciences

This book contains the abstracts of the papers presented at the International Conference on Machine Intelligence and System Sciences (MISS-2021) Organized by the Techno College of Engineering, Agartala, Tripura, India & Tongmyong University, Busan, South Korea, held on 1–2 November 2021. This conference was intended to enable researchers to build connections between different digital technologies based on Machine Intelligence, Image Processing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Conference Title: 1st International Conference on Machine Intelligence and System SciencesConference Acronym: MISS-2021Conference Date: 1–2 November 2021Conference Location: Techno College of Engineering Agartala, Tripura(w), IndiaConference Organizer: Techno College of Engineering, Agartala, Tripura, India & Tongmyong University, Busan, South Korea

Pseudorapidity densities of charged particles with transverse momentum thresholds in pp collisions at √ s = 5.02 and 13 TeV

The pseudorapidity density of charged particles with minimum transverse momentum (pT) thresholds of 0.15, 0.5, 1, and 2 GeV/c is measured in pp collisions at the center of mass energies of √s=5.02 and 13 TeV with the ALICE detector. The study is carried out for inelastic collisions with at least one primary charged particle having a pseudorapidity (η) within 0.8pT larger than the corresponding threshold. In addition, measurements without pT-thresholds are performed for inelastic and nonsingle-diffractive events as well as for inelastic events with at least one charged particle having |η|2GeV/c), highlighting the importance of such measurements for tuning event generators. The new measurements agree within uncertainties with results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments obtained at √s=13TeV.

Energy dependence of coherent photonuclear production of J/ψ mesons in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at sNN \sqrt{{\textrm{s}}_{\textrm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

The cross section for coherent photonuclear production of J/ψ is presented as a function of the electromagnetic dissociation (EMD) of Pb. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector in ultra-peripheral Pb-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of $\sqrt{{\textrm{s}}_{\textrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. Cross sections are presented in five different J/ψ rapidity ranges within |y| < 4, with the J/ψ reconstructed via its dilepton decay channels. In some events the J/ψ is not accompanied by EMD, while other events do produce neutrons from EMD at beam rapidities either in one or the other beam direction, or in both. The cross sections in a given rapidity range and for different configurations of neutrons from EMD allow for the extraction of the energy dependence of this process in the range 17 < W$_{γ Pb,n}$ < 920 GeV, where W$_{γ Pb,n}$ is the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon of the γPb system. This range corresponds to a Bjorken-x interval spanning about three orders of magnitude: 1.1 × 10$^{−5}$ < x < 3.3 × 10$^{−2}$. In addition to the ultra-peripheral and photonuclear cross sections, the nuclear suppression factor is obtained. These measurements point to a strong depletion of the gluon distribution in Pb nuclei over a broad, previously unexplored, energy range. These results, together with previous ALICE measurements, provide unprecedented information to probe quantum chromodynamics at high energies

Search for Higgs Boson and Observation of Z Boson through their Decay into a Charm Quark-Antiquark Pair in Boosted Topologies in Proton-Proton Collisions at s\sqrt{s} =13 TeV

A search for the standard model (SM) Higgs boson (H) produced with transverse momentum greater than 450 GeV and decaying to a charm quark-antiquark ($\mathrm{c\bar{c}}$) pair is presented. The search is performed using proton-proton collision data collected at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. Boosted H $\to$$\mathrm{c\bar{c}}$ decay products are reconstructed as a single large-radius jet and identified using a deep neural network charm tagging technique. The method is validated by measuring the Z $\to$$\mathrm{c\bar{c}}$ decay process, which is observed in association with jets at high $p_\mathrm{T}$ for the first time with a signal strength of 1.00 $_{-0.14}^{+0.17}$ (syst) $\pm$ 0.08 (theo) $\pm$ 0.06 (stat), defined as the ratio of the observed process rate to the standard model expectation. The observed (expected) upper limit on $\sigma$(H) $\mathcal{B}$(H $\to$$\mathrm{c\bar{c}}$) is set at 47 (39) times the SM prediction at 95% confidence level

Neutron emission in ultraperipheral Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt {s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

In ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) of relativistic nuclei without overlap of nuclear densities, the two nuclei are excited by the Lorentz-contracted Coulomb fields of their collision partners. In these UPCs, the typical nuclear excitation energy is below a few tens of MeV, and a small number of nucleons are emitted in electromagnetic dissociation (EMD) of primary nuclei, in contrast to complete nuclear fragmentation in hadronic interactions. The cross sections of emission of given numbers of neutrons in UPCs of $^{208}$Pb nuclei at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$~TeV were measured with the neutron zero degree calorimeters (ZDCs) of the ALICE detector at the LHC, exploiting a similar technique to that used in previous studies performed at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$~TeV. In addition, the cross sections for the exclusive emission of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 forward neutrons in the EMD, not accompanied by the emission of forward protons, and thus mostly corresponding to the production of $^{207,206,205,204,203}$Pb, respectively, were measured for the first time. The predictions from the available models describe the measured cross sections well. These cross sections can be used for evaluating the impact of secondary nuclei on the LHC components, in particular, on superconducting magnets, and also provide useful input for the design of the Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh).In ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) of relativistic nuclei without overlap of nuclear densities, the two nuclei are excited by the Lorentz-contracted Coulomb fields of their collision partners. In these UPCs, the typical nuclear excitation energy is below a few tens of MeV, and a small number of nucleons are emitted in electromagnetic dissociation (EMD) of primary nuclei, in contrast to complete nuclear fragmentation in hadronic interactions. The cross sections of emission of given numbers of neutrons in UPCs of Pb208 nuclei at sNN=5.02 TeV were measured with the neutron zero degree calorimeters (ZDCs) of the ALICE detector at the LHC, exploiting a similar technique to that used in previous studies performed at sNN=2.76 TeV. In addition, the cross sections for the exclusive emission of one, two, three, four, and five forward neutrons in the EMD, not accompanied by the emission of forward protons, and thus mostly corresponding to the production of Pb207,206,205,204,203, respectively, were measured for the first time. The predictions from the available models describe the measured cross sections well. These cross sections can be used for evaluating the impact of secondary nuclei on the LHC components, in particular, on superconducting magnets, and also provide useful input for the design of the Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh).In ultraperipheral collisions (UPCs) of relativistic nuclei without overlap of nuclear densities, the two nuclei are excited by the Lorentz-contracted Coulomb fields of their collision partners. In these UPCs, the typical nuclear excitation energy is below a few tens of MeV, and a small number of nucleons are emitted in electromagnetic dissociation (EMD) of primary nuclei, in contrast to complete nuclear fragmentation in hadronic interactions. The cross sections of emission of given numbers of neutrons in UPCs of $^{208}$Pb nuclei at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV were measured with the neutron zero degree calorimeters (ZDCs) of the ALICE detector at the LHC, exploiting a similar technique to that used in previous studies performed at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV. In addition, the cross sections for the exclusive emission of one, two, three, four, and five forward neutrons in the EMD, not accompanied by the emission of forward protons, and thus mostly corresponding to the production of $^{207,206,205,204,203}$Pb, respectively, were measured for the first time. The predictions from the available models describe the measured cross sections well. These cross sections can be used for evaluating the impact of secondary nuclei on the LHC components, in particular, on superconducting magnets, and also provide useful input for the design of the Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh)