Selective Deamidation and Enzymatic Methylation of Seminal Ribonuclease

Isoenzymatic forms alfa2, alfa-beta, and beta2 of bovine seminal ribonuclease are generated by the transformation of beta-type into alfa-type subunit through deamidation of a single amide group. The residue involved in this selective deamidation has been identified as Asn67 . Deamidation occurs by formation of a cyclic imide intermediate involving the Gly at position 68. Opening of the cyclic imide may occur on either side of the nitrogen, generating both the normal alfa-aspartyl and an isoaspartyl residue at position 67. The alfa-carboxyl of the isoaspartyl residue is effectively methylated by bovine brain protein carboxylmethyltransferase

Fertility preservation in ovarian tumours

A considerable number of patients with a cancer diagnosis are of childbearing age and have not satisfied their desire for a family. Despite ovarian cancer (OC) usually occurring in older patients, 3%–14% are diagnosed at a fertile age with the overall 5-year survival rate being 91.2% in women ≤44 years of age when it is found at 1A–B stage. In this scenario, testing the safety and the efficacy of fertility sparing strategies in OC patients is very important overall in terms of quality of life. Unfortunately, the lack of randomised trials to validate conservative approaches does not guarantee the safety of fertility preservation strategies. However, evidence-based data from descriptive series suggest that in selected cases, the preservation of the uterus and at least one part of the ovary does not lead to a high risk of relapse. This conservative surgery helps to maintain organ function, giving patients of childbearing age the possibility to preserve their fertility. We hereby analysed the main evidence from the international literature on this topic in order to highlight the selected criteria for conservative management of OC patients, including healthy BRCA mutations carriers

A global fit to determine the pseudoscalar mixing angle and the gluonium content of the eta' meson

We update the values of the eta-eta' mixing angle and of the eta' gluonium content by fitting our measurement R_phi = BR(phi to eta' gamma)/ BR(phi to eta gamma) together with several vector meson radiative decays to pseudoscalars (V to P gamma), pseudoscalar mesons radiative decays to vectors (P to V gamma) and the eta' to gamma gamma, pi^0 to gamma gamma widths. From the fit we extract a gluonium fraction of Z^2_G = 0.12 +- 0.04, the pseudoscalar mixing angle psi_P = (40.4 +- 0.6) degree and the phi-omega mixing angle psi_V = (3.32 +- 0.09) degree. Z^2_G and psi_P are fairly consistent with those previously published. We also evaluate the impact on the eta' gluonium content determination of future experimental improvements of the eta' branching ratios and decay width.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures to submit to JHE

Measurement of the pseudoscalar mixing angle and η′\eta^{\prime} gluonium content with KLOE detector

We have measured the ratio $R_{\phi}=BR(\phi \to \eta^{\prime} \gamma)/BR(\phi \to \eta \gamma)$ by looking for the radiative decays $\phi \to \eta^{\prime} \gamma$ and $\phi \to \eta \gamma$ in the final states $\pi^+\pi^-$ 7 $\gamma$'s and 7 $\gamma$'s respectively, in a sample of $\sim 1.3\cdot 10^{9}$ $\phi$ mesons produced at the Frascati $\phi$-factory. We obtain $R_{\phi}=(4.77\pm0.09_{stat}\pm0.19_{sys})\cdot 10^{-3}$ from which we derive $BR(\phi \to \eta^{\prime} \gamma)=(6.20\pm0.11_{stat}\pm0.25_{sys})\cdot 10^{-5}$. In the hypothesis of no gluonium content we extract the pseudoscalar mixing angle in the quark-flavor basis $\phi_P=(41.4\pm0.3_{stat}\pm0.7_{sys}\pm0.6_{th})^{\circ}$. Combining the value of $R_{\phi}$ with other constraints, we estimate the gluonium fractional content of $\eta^{\prime}$ meson as $Z^2 = 0.14\pm0.04$ and the mixing angle $\phi_P = (39.7\pm0.7)^{\circ}$.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Charged kaon lifetime at KLOE

Preliminary result on the charged kaon lifetime, obtained by the KLOE experiment operating at DA$\Phi$NE, the Frascati $\phi$-factory, is presentedComment: 3 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of 42nd Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy, 10-17 Mar 200

Measurement of the η→3π0\eta\to 3\pi^{0} slope parameter α\alpha with the KLOE detector

We present a measurement of the slope parameter $\alpha$ for the $\eta\to 3\pi^{0}$ decay, with the KLOE experiment at the DA$\Phi$NE $\phi$-factory, based on a background free sample of $\sim$ 17 millions $\eta$ mesons produced in $\phi$ radiative decays. By fitting the event density in the Dalitz plot we determine $\alpha = -0.0301 \pm 0.0035\,stat\;_{-0.0035}^{+0.0022}\,syst\,$. The result is in agreement with recent measurements from hadro- and photo-production experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure