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Atrazine (ATR) is one of the herbicides widely used worldwide. Meanwhile, it is an environmental endocrine disruptor that can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause damage to the endocrine-nervous system, especially by affecting the normal secretion of dopamine (DA). Regrettably, effector markers and cascade response mechanisms in damaged dopaminergic neurons induced by ATR exposure remain elusive. In this paper, we focus on investigating aggregation and position change of transactive response DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43) after ATR exposure, and illustrating whether TDP-43 can serve as a potential marker of mitochondrial dysfunction which causes damage to dopaminergic neurons. In our study, we used rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cell line 12 (PC12) to establish an in vitro model of dopaminergic neurons. After PC12 was intervened by ATR, we found reduced DA cycling and DA levels, and that TDP-43 aggregated continuously in the cytoplasm and then translocated to mitochondria. Furthermore, the studies we have performed showed that the translocation can cause mitochondrial dysfunction through activating the unfolded mitochondrial protein response (UPRmt), ultimately causing damage to dopaminergic neuron. The research we have done suggests that TDP-43 can serve as a potential effector marker of dopaminergic neuron damaged caused by ATR exposure.

In this article we present an updated spectrum-shape analysis of the 113Cd fourfold forbidden non-unique β-decay transition in order to address the quenching of the weak axial-vector coupling gA in low-momentum exchange nuclear processes. The experimental data were collected in a dedicated low-threshold run with the COBRA demonstrator at the LNGS and resulted in 44 individual 113Cd spectra. These data are evaluated in the context of three nuclear model frameworks based on a revised version of the spectrum-shape method and the conserved vector current hypothesis. The novel idea devised in the present work is to fit the value of the small relativistic nuclear matrix element (s-NME) driving the nuclear model calculations, which remained essentially as a free parameter in previous studies. This is done by tuning the nuclear structure calculations and making use of the interplay of gA and the s-NME such that the experimentally known 113Cd half-life gets reproducible by the different frameworks. In this way, a best fit s-NME value can be derived for each of the considered nuclear models, which finally enters the template calculations used to perform the spectrum-shape analysis for each of the obtained 113Cd spectra. The primary analysis strategy results in significantly quenched values of the axial-vector coupling for all three nuclear models: g‾A(ISM)=0.907±0.064, g‾A(MQPM)=0.993±0.063 and g‾A(IBFM-2)=0.828±0.140. Moreover, with our data-driven approach one of the main shortcomings of the spectrum-shape method has been resolved. This achievement is a milestone in the description of strongly forbidden β-decays and adds to the indications for the existence of a quenching of gA in low-momentum exchange nuclear processes.

A laboratory measurement of the α-decay half-life of 190Pt has been performed using a low background Frisch grid ionisation chamber. A total amount of 216.60(17) mg of natural platinum has been measured for 75.9 days. The resulting half-life is (4.97±0.16)×1011 years, with a total uncertainty of 3.2%. This number is in good agreement with the half-life obtained using the geological comparison method.

A dedicated study of the quenching of the weak axial-vector coupling strength gA in nuclear processes has been performed by the COBRA collaboration. This investigation is driven by nuclear model calculations which show that the β-spectrum shape of the fourfold forbidden non-unique decay of 113Cd strongly depends on the effective value of gA. Using an array of CdZnTe semiconductor detectors, 45 independent 113Cd spectra were obtained and interpreted in the context of three nuclear models. The resulting effective mean values are g‾A(ISM)=0.915±0.007, g‾A(MQPM)=0.911±0.013 and g‾A(IBFM-2)=0.955±0.022. These values agree well within the determined uncertainties and deviate significantly from the free value of gA. This can be seen as a first step towards answering the long-standing question regarding quenching effects related to gA in low-energy nuclear processes. Keywords: 113Cd beta-decay, Axial-vector coupling, gA quenching, Spectrum-shape method, CdZnTe, COBRA

We present an illustrative discussion of the physics potential of μ−–e+ conversion. We point out that this process, although much less frequently studied than the related but much more popular processes of μ−–e− conversion and neutrinoless double beta decay, may in fact be a promising alternative to detect both lepton flavour and number violation. However, for this goal to be reached, a combined effort of experiments and theory, both in nuclear and particle physics, is necessary to advance. The aim of this paper is to be an “appetiser” to trigger such an initiative.