Evidence of Antineutrinos from Distant Reactors Using Pure Water at SNO.

The SNO+ Collaboration reports the first evidence of reactor antineutrinos in a Cherenkov detector. The nearest nuclear reactors are located 240 km away in Ontario, Canada. This analysis uses events with energies lower than in any previous analysis with a large water Cherenkov detector. Two analytical methods are used to distinguish reactor antineutrinos from background events in 190 days of data and yield consistent evidence for antineutrinos with a combined significance of 3.5σ.

Consensus Guidelines for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Neuropsychopharmacology: Update 2017.

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is the quantification and interpretation of drug concentrations in blood to optimize pharmacotherapy. It considers the interindividual variability of pharmacokinetics and thus enables personalized pharmacotherapy. In psychiatry and neurology, patient populations that may particularly benefit from TDM are children and adolescents, pregnant women, elderly patients, individuals with intellectual disabilities, patients with substance abuse disorders, forensic psychiatric patients or patients with known or suspected pharmacokinetic abnormalities. Non-response at therapeutic doses, uncertain drug adherence, suboptimal tolerability, or pharmacokinetic drug-drug interactions are typical indications for TDM. However, the potential benefits of TDM to optimize pharmacotherapy can only be obtained if the method is adequately integrated in the clinical treatment process. To supply treating physicians and laboratories with valid information on TDM, the TDM task force of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Neuropsychopharmakologie und Pharmakopsychiatrie (AGNP) issued their first guidelines for TDM in psychiatry in 2004. After an update in 2011, it was time for the next update. Following the new guidelines holds the potential to improve neuropsychopharmacotherapy, accelerate the recovery of many patients, and reduce health care costs.

Improved search for nu(mu) --> nu(e) oscillation in a long-baseline accelerator experiment.

We performed an improved search for nu(mu) --> nu(e) oscillation with the KEK to Kamioka (K2K) long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment, using the full data sample of 9.2 x 10(19) protons on target. No evidence for a nu(e) appearance signal was found, and we set bounds on the nu(mu) --> nu(e) oscillation parameters. At Deltam(2)=2.8 x 10(-3) eV(2), the best-fit value of the K2Knu(mu) disappearance analysis, we set an upper limit of sin(2)2theta(mue) < 0.13 at a 90% confidence level.

Test of internal-conversion theory with precise gamma- and X-ray spectroscopy.

Precise measurements of K-shell internal conversion coefficients (ICCs) are being used to determine the best method for calculating these coefficients. A recent result for the M4 transition from 193Irm has been refined, demonstrating conclusively that the atomic vacancy created by the ejected electron must be properly accounted for in the calculation of ICCs. Measurements of additional cases are discussed.

Search for coherent charged pion production in neutrino-carbon interactions.

We report the result from a search for charged-current coherent pion production induced by muon neutrinos with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV. The data are collected with a fully active scintillator detector in the K2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. No evidence for coherent pion production is observed, and an upper limit of is set on the cross section ratio of coherent pion production to the total charged-current interaction at 90% confidence level. This is the first experimental limit for coherent charged pion production in the energy region of a few GeV.

Evidence for muon neutrino oscillation in an accelerator-based experiment.

We present results for nu(mu) oscillation in the KEK to Kamioka (K2K) long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. K2K uses an accelerator-produced nu(mu) beam with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV directed at the Super-Kamiokande detector. We observed the energy-dependent disappearance of nu(mu), which we presume have oscillated to nu(tau). The probability that we would observe these results if there is no neutrino oscillation is 0.0050% (4.0 sigma).

New half-life measurement of 182Hf: improved chronometer for the early solar system.

The decay of 182Hf, now extinct, into stable 182W has developed into an important chronometer for studying early solar system processes such as the accretion and differentiation of planetesimals and the formation of the Earth and the Moon. The only 182Hf half-life measurements available were performed 40 years ago and resulted in an imprecise half-life of (9+/-2)x10(6) yr. We redetermined the half-life by measuring the specific activity of 182Hf based on two independent methods, resulting in a value of t(1/2)(182Hf)=(8.90+/-0.09)x10(6) yr, in good agreement with the previous value, but with a 20 times smaller uncertainty. The greatly improved precision of this half-life now permits very precise intercalibration of the 182Hf-182W isotopic system with other chronometers.

Precise efficiency calibration of an HPGe detector up to 3.5 MeV, with measurements and Monte Carlo calculations.

Previously we used relative and absolute efficiency measurements combined with Monte Carlo calculations to define the efficiency of an HPGe gamma-ray detector with 0.2% accuracy from 50 to 1400 keV. This work has been extended to 4.8 MeV with measurements of relative efficiencies from 24Na, 56Co, and 66Ga sources. The combined results of experiment and calculation yield an efficiency curve up to 3.5 MeV with 0.4% accuracy. Single- and double-escape peak contributions also agree with calculation if positron annihilation-in-flight is incorporated.

Precise efficiency calibration of an HPGe detector: source measurements and Monte Carlo calculations with sub-percent precision.

With the goal of measuring precise gamma-ray intensities for short-lived (< 5 s) accelerator-produced activities, we have calibrated the efficiency of an HPGe detector between 53 and 1836keV to sub-percent precision with a combination of source measurements and Monte Carlo calculations. Using known or independently measured detector dimensions, we have achieved both relative and absolute agreement (the latter, to 0.1%) between the calculated and measured efficiencies with only two adjustable detector parameters, the thicknesses of the contact dead layers.

Parity violation in proton-proton scattering at 221 MeV.

The parity-violating longitudinal analyzing power, A(z), has been measured in pvectorp elastic scattering at an incident proton energy of 221 MeV. The result obtained is A(z) = [0.84+/-0.29(stat)+/-0.17(syst)]x10(-7). This experiment is unique in that it selects a single parity violating transition amplitude (3P2 - 1D2) and consequently directly constrains the weak meson-nucleon coupling constant h(pp)(rho). When this result is taken together with the existing pvectorp parity violation data, the weak meson-nucleon coupling constants h(pp)(rho) and h(pp)(omega) can, for the first time, both be determined.

Bactericidal activity of alveolar macrophages is suppressed by V-ATPase inhibition.

Bafilomycin A(1), a selective inhibitor of V-type H(+)-translocating ATPase (V-ATPase), may be a useful adjunct in cancer chemotherapy (Altan et al. [1998] J Exp Med 187:1583-1598). Therapeutic uses of the enzyme inhibitor need to consider the agent's potential effects on normal (nontumor) cells. This study determined the effects of bafilomycin A(1) on resident alveolar macrophages (mphi). Treatment of alveolar mphi with bafilomycin A(1) (10 microM, 1 h) caused a significant decrement in cytosolic pH. This was accompanied by marked alteration of mphi bactericidal capabilities. The enzyme inhibitor caused a marginal reduction in the phagocytosis of opsonized Staphylococcus aureus and significantly suppressed intracellular killing of the phagocytosed bacteria. In keeping with the effects on intracellular killing, bafilomycin A(1) significantly reduced the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). On the other hand, cell spreading was enhanced significantly by bafilomycin A(1). Comparable changes in ROS generation and mphi spreading were produced by altering cytosolic pH through changes in extracellular pH (pH(o)) in the absence of bafilomycin A(1). These findings suggest that the agent's effects on ROS production and mphi spreading were related to the accompanying changes in cytosolic pH. The enzyme inhibitor also altered mphi morphology, leading to the shortening of microvilli and focal loss of surface ruffles. These morphologic effects differed from those produced by altering cytosolic pH by changes in pH(o). The results demonstrate that V-ATPase activity is an important determinant of mphi functioning and structure. Therapeutic use of V-ATPase inhibitors might be expected to compromise the bactericidal activity of alveolar mphi.