Sanjuan, R., Nebot, M., Chirico, N., Mansky, L. M., & Belshaw, R. (2010). Viral Mutation Rates. J. Virol., 84(19), 9733–9748.
Abstract: Accurate estimates of virus mutation rates are important to understand the evolution of the viruses and to combat them. However, methods of estimation are varied and often complex. Here, we critically review over 40 original studies and establish criteria to facilitate comparative analyses. The mutation rates of 23 viruses are presented as substitutions per nucleotide per cell infection (s/n/c) and corrected for selection bias where necessary, using a new statistical method. The resulting rates range from 10(-8) to 10(-6) s/n/c for DNA viruses and from 10(-6) to 10(-4) s/n/c for RNA viruses. Similar to what has been shown previously for DNA viruses, there appears to be a negative correlation between mutation rate and genome size among RNA viruses, but this result requires further experimental testing. Contrary to some suggestions, the mutation rate of retroviruses is not lower than that of other RNA viruses. We also show that nucleotide substitutions are on average four times more common than insertions/deletions (indels). Finally, we provide estimates of the mutation rate per nucleotide per strand copying, which tends to be lower than that per cell infection because some viruses undergo several rounds of copying per cell, particularly double-stranded DNA viruses. A regularly updated virus mutation rate data set will be available at www.uv.es/rsanjuan/virmut.
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MiniBooNE Collaboration(Aguilar-Arevalo, A. A. et al), & Sorel, M. (2010). Event Excess in the MiniBooNE Search for (nu)over-bar(mu) -> (nu)over-bar(e) Oscillations. Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(18), 181801–5pp.
Abstract: The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from a search for (nu) over bar (mu) -> (nu) over bar (e) oscillations, using a data sample corresponding to 5.66 x 10(20) protons on target. An excess of 20.9 +/- 14.0 events is observed in the energy range 475 < E-nu(QE) < 1250 MeV, which, when constrained by the observed <(nu)over bar>(mu) events, has a probability for consistency with the background-only hypothesis of 0.5%. On the other hand, fitting for (nu) over bar (mu) -> (nu) over bar (e) oscillations, the best-fit point has chi(2) probability of 8.7%. The data are consistent with (nu) over bar (mu) -> (nu) over bar (e) oscillations in the 0.1 to 1.0 eV(2) Delta m(2) range and with the evidence for antineutrino oscillations from the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
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CDF Collaboration(Aaltonen, T. et al), & Cabrera, S. (2010). Search for R-Parity Violating Decays of Sneutrinos to e mu, μtau, and e tau Pairs in p(p)over-bar Collisions at root s=1.96 TeV. Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(19), 191801–7pp.
Abstract: We present a search for supersymmetric neutrino (nu) over tilde production using the Tevatron p (p) over bar collision data collected with the CDF II detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb(-1). We focus on the scenarios predicted by the R-parity violating (RPV) supersymmetric models in which sneutrinos decay to two charged leptons of different flavor. With the data consistent with the standard model expectations, we set upper limits on sigma(p (p) over bar -> (nu) over tilde) BR((nu) over tilde -> e mu, μtau, e tau) and use these results to constrain the RPV couplings as a function of the sneutrino mass.
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Wu, J. J., Molina, R., Oset, E., & Zou, B. S. (2010). Prediction of Narrow N* and Lambda* Resonances with Hidden Charm above 4 GeV. Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(23), 232001–4pp.
Abstract: The interaction between various charmed mesons and charmed baryons is studied within the framework of the coupled-channel unitary approach with the local hidden gauge formalism. Several meson-baryon dynamically generated narrow N* and Lambda* resonances with hidden charm are predicted with mass above 4 GeV and width smaller than 100 MeV. The predicted new resonances definitely cannot be accommodated by quark models with three constituent quarks and can be looked for in the forthcoming PANDA/FAIR experiments.
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BABAR Collaboration(del Amo Sanchez, P. et al), Lopez-March, N., Martinez-Vidal, F., Milanes, D. A., & Oyanguren, A. (2010). Measurement of D-0-(D)over-bar(0) Mixing Parameters Using D-0 -> K-S(0)pi(+) pi(-) and D-0 -> (KSK+K-)-K-0 Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(8), 081803–7pp.
Abstract: We report a direct measurement of D-0-(D) over bar (0) mixing parameters through a time-dependent amplitude analysis of the Dalitz plots of D-0 -> K-S(0)pi(+)pi(-) and, for the first time, D-0 -> (KSK+K-)-K-0 decays. The low-momentum pion pi(+)(s) in the decay D*(+) -> D-0 pi(+)(s) identifies the flavor of the neutral D meson at its production. Using 468.5 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) colliding-beam data recorded near root s = 10.6 by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy collider at SLAC, we measure the mixing parameters x = [1.6 + 2.3(stat) +/- 1.2(syst) +/- 0.8(model)] X 10(-3), and y = [5.7 +/- 2.0(stat) +/- 1.3(syst) +/- 0.7(model)] X 10(-3). These results provide the best measurement to date of x and y. The knowledge of the value of x, in particular, is crucial for understanding the origin of mixing.
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