Search for: All records

Abstract Successful behavioral adaptation requires an ongoing assessment of rewarding outcomes based on one’s current state. A frontocentral ERP associated with reward feedback, the reward positivity (RewP), has been linked to reflect information about reward value and motivational states. It is, however, unclear if changes in the RewP are influenced by changes in reward value as a function of motivational state. To examine this, hungry participants (n= 31) completed two rounds of a modified Doors Task incorporating Pavlovian conditioning during EEG recordings and obtained feedback associated with sweet and savory food reinforcers equally matched in pleasantness and desirability. Participants underwent reinforcer devaluation, a paradigm designed to isolate inference-based behavior based on decreasing reward value, in between rounds by eating one of the foods to satiety. Prior to devaluation, participants were hungry and rated both food reinforcers equally pleasant. After devaluation, participants were sated and rated the devalued food, but not the non-devalued food, significantly less pleasant, suggesting a sensory-specific change in reward value. Logistic regression of win-stay/lose-switch behavior during the Doors Task shows participants made sensory-specific adjustments in food preferences during postdevaluation. Nonparametric permutation tests based on the tmax statistic performed revealed no significant differences in RewP amplitudes, suggesting the RewP is insensitive to reinforcer devaluation. This could not be explained by differences in perceived pleasantness or desirability. These findings suggest that affective and motivational factors such as tracking inferences based on decreases in reward value did not modulate the RewP. 

Bacterial chemotaxis is the directed movement of motile bacteria in gradients of chemoeffectors. This behavior is mediated by dedicated signal transduction pathways that couple environment sensing with changes in the direction of rotation of flagellar motors to ultimately affect the motility pattern. Azospirillum brasilense uses two distinct chemotaxis pathways, named Che1 and Che4, and four different response regulators (CheY1, CheY4, CheY6, and CheY7) to control the swimming pattern during chemotaxis. Each of the CheY homologs was shown to differentially affect the rotational bias of the polar flagellum and chemotaxis. The role, if any, of these CheY homologs in swarming, which depends on a distinct lateral flagella system or in attachment is not known. Here, we characterize CheY homologs’ roles in swimming, swarming, and attachment to abiotic and biotic (wheat roots) surfaces and biofilm formation. We show that while strains lacking CheY1 and CheY6 are still able to navigate air gradients, strains lacking CheY4 and CheY7 are chemotaxis null. Expansion of swarming colonies in the presence of gradients requires chemotaxis. The induction of swarming depends on CheY4 and CheY7, but the cells’ organization as dense clusters in productive swarms appear to depend on functional CheYs but not chemotaxis per se . Similarly, functional CheY homologs but not chemotaxis, contribute to attachment to both abiotic and root surfaces as well as to biofilm formation, although these effects are likely dependent on additional cell surface properties such as adhesiveness. Collectively, our data highlight distinct roles for multiple CheY homologs and for chemotaxis on swarming and attachment to surfaces. 

ABSTRACT Bacterial chemotaxis affords motile bacteria the ability to navigate the environment to locate niches for growth and survival. At the molecular level, chemotaxis depends on chemoreceptor signaling arrays that interact with cytoplasmic proteins to control the direction of movement. In Azospirillum brasilense , chemotaxis is mediated by two distinct chemotaxis pathways: Che1 and Che4. Both Che1 and Che4 are critical in the A. brasilense free-living and plant-associated lifestyles. Here, we use whole-cell proteomics and metabolomics to characterize the role of chemotaxis in A. brasilense physiology. We found that mutants lacking CheA1 or CheA4 or both are affected in nonchemotaxis functions, including major changes in transcription, signaling transport, and cell metabolism. We identify specific effects of CheA1 and CheA4 on nitrogen metabolism, including nitrate assimilation and nitrogen fixation, that may depend, at least, on the transcriptional control of rpoN , which encodes RpoN, a global regulator of metabolism, including nitrogen. Consistent with proteomics, the abundance of several nitrogenous compounds (purines, pyrimidines, and amino acids) changed in the metabolomes of the chemotaxis mutants relative to the parental strain. Further, we uncover novel, and yet uncharacterized, layers of transcriptional and posttranscriptional control of nitrogen metabolism regulators. Together, our data reveal roles for CheA1 and CheA4 in linking chemotaxis and nitrogen metabolism, likely through control of global regulatory networks. IMPORTANCE Bacterial chemotaxis is widespread in bacteria, increasing competitiveness in diverse environments and mediating associations with eukaryotic hosts ranging from commensal to beneficial and pathogenic. In most bacteria, chemotaxis signaling is tightly linked to energy metabolism, with this coupling occurring through the sensory input of several energy-sensing chemoreceptors. Here, we show that in A. brasilense the chemotaxis proteins have key roles in modulating nitrogen metabolism, including nitrate assimilation and nitrogen fixation, through novel and yet unknown regulations. These results are significant given that A. brasilense is a model bacterium for plant growth promotion and free-living nitrogen fixation and is used as a bio-inoculant for cereal crops. Chemotaxis signaling in A. brasilense thus links locomotor behaviors to nitrogen metabolism, allowing cells to continuously and reciprocally adjust metabolism and chemotaxis signaling as they navigate gradients. 

We report measurements of production cross sections for ${\rho }^{+}$, ${\rho }^0$, $\omega$, $K^{*+}$, $K^{*0}$, $\varphi$, $\eta$, $K_S^0$, $f_0\left(980\right)$, $D^{+}$, $D^0$, $D_s^{+}$, $D^{*+}$, $D^{*0}$, and $D_s^{*+}$in $e^{+}{e}^{-}$collisions at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV. The data were recorded by the Belle experiment, consisting of $571{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$at 10.58 GeV and $74{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$at 10.52 GeV. Production cross sections are extracted as a function of the fractional hadron momentum $x_p$. The measurements are compared to Monte Carlo generator predictions with various fragmentation settings, including those that have increased fragmentation into vector mesons over pseudoscalar mesons. The cross sections measured for light hadrons are consistent with no additional increase of vector over pseudoscalar mesons. The charmed-meson cross sections are compared to earlier measurements—when available—including older Belle results, which they supersede. They are in agreement before application of an improved initial-state radiation correction procedure that causes slight changes in their $x_p$shapes. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

In the bottomonium sector, the hindered magnetic dipole transitions between P-wave states $h_b\left(2P\right)\to {\chi }_{bJ}\left(1P\right)\gamma$, $J=0$, 1, 2, are expected to be severely suppressed according to the relativized quark model, due to the spin flip of the $b$quark. Nevertheless, a recent model following the coupled-channel approach predicts the corresponding branching fractions to be enhanced by orders of magnitude. In this Letter, we report the first search for such transitions. We find no significant signals and set upper limits at 90% confidence level on the corresponding branching fractions: $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(2P)\to \gamma {\chi }_{b0}(1P\left)\right]<2.7\times {10}^{-1}$, $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(2P)\to \gamma {\chi }_{b1}(1P\left)\right]<5.4\times {10}^{-3}$and $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(2P)\to \gamma {\chi }_{b2}(1P\left)\right]<1.3\times {10}^{-2}$. These values help to constrain the parameters of the coupled-channel models. The results are obtained using a $121.4{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$data sample taken around $\sqrt{s}=10.860\mathrm{GeV}$with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+}{e}^{-}$collider. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

We report the first evidence for the $h_b\left(2\mathrm{P}\right)\to \mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(1\mathrm{S}\right)\eta$transition with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations. The decay branching fraction is measured to be $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(2\mathrm{P})\to \mathrm{\Upsilon }(1\mathrm{S}\left)\eta \right]=({7.1}_{-3.2}^{+3.7}\pm 0.8)\times {10}^{-3}$, which is noticeably smaller than expected. We also set upper limits on ${\pi }^0$transitions of $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(2\mathrm{P})\to \mathrm{\Upsilon }(1\mathrm{S}\left){\pi }^0\right]<1.8\times {10}^{-3}$, and $\mathcal{B}\left[h_b\right(1\mathrm{P})\to \mathrm{\Upsilon }(1\mathrm{S}\left){\pi }^0\right]<1.8\times {10}^{-3}$, at the 90% confidence level. These results are obtained with a $131.4{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$data sample collected near the $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(5\mathrm{S}\right)$resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+}{e}^{-}$collider. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

We perform an angular analysis of the $B\to K^{*}{e}^{+}{e}^{-}$decay for the dielectron mass squared, $q^2$, range of $0.0008–1.1200{\mathrm{GeV}}^2/c^4$using the full Belle dataset in the $K^{*0}\to K^{+}{\pi }^{-}$and $K^{*+}\to K_S^0{\pi }^{+}$channels, incorporating new methods of electron identification to improve the statistical power of the dataset. This analysis is sensitive to contributions from right-handed currents from physics beyond the Standard Model by constraining the Wilson coefficients ${\mathcal{C}}_7^{(\prime )}$. We perform a fit to the $B\to K^{*}{e}^{+}{e}^{-}$differential decay rate and measure the imaginary component of the transversality amplitude to be $A_T^{\mathrm{Im}}=-1.27\pm 0.52\pm 0.12$, and the $K^{*}$transverse asymmetry to be $A_T^{\left(2\right)}=0.52\pm 0.53\pm 0.11$, with $F_L$and $A_T^{\mathrm{Re}}$fixed to the Standard Model values. The resulting constraints on the value of ${\mathcal{C}}_7^{\prime }$are consistent with the Standard Model within a $2\sigma$confidence interval. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

Abstract Despite the f₀(980) hadron having been discovered half a century ago, the question about its quark content has not been settled: it might be an ordinary quark-antiquark ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}$) meson, a tetraquark ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}q\overline{q}$) exotic state, a kaon-antikaon ($${{\rm{K}}}\overline{{{\rm{K}}}}$$ $K\overline{K}$) molecule, or a quark-antiquark-gluon ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{g}}}$$ $q\overline{q}g$) hybrid. This paper reports strong evidence that the f₀(980) state is an ordinary$${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}$meson, inferred from the scaling of elliptic anisotropies (v₂) with the number of constituent quarks (n_q), as empirically established using conventional hadrons in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The f₀(980) state is reconstructed via its dominant decay channel f₀(980) →π⁺π⁻, in proton-lead collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, and itsv₂is measured as a function of transverse momentum (p_T). It is found that then_q= 2 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}$state) hypothesis is favored overn_q= 4 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}$$ $q\overline{q}q\overline{q}$or$${{\rm{K}}}\overline{{{\rm{K}}}}$$ $K\overline{K}$states) by 7.7, 6.3, or 3.1 standard deviations in thep_T< 10, 8, or 6 GeV/cranges, respectively, and overn_q= 3 ($${{\rm{q}}}\overline{{{\rm{q}}}}{{\rm{g}}}$$ $q\overline{q}g$hybrid state) by 3.5 standard deviations in thep_T< 8 GeV/crange. This result represents the first determination of the quark content of the f₀(980) state, made possible by using a novel approach, and paves the way for similar studies of other exotic hadron candidates. 

A first search for beyond the standard model physics in jet multiplicity patterns of multilepton events is presented, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions recorded by the CMS detector at the LHC. The search uses observed jet multiplicity distributions in one-, two-, and four-lepton events to explore possible enhancements in jet production rate in three-lepton events with and without bottom quarks. The data are found to be consistent with the standard model expectation. The results are interpreted in terms of supersymmetric production of electroweak chargino-neutralino superpartners with cascade decays terminating in prompt hadronic $R$-parity violating interactions.