707 research outputs found
Search for rare quark-annihilation decays, B --> Ds(*) Phi
We report on searches for B- --> Ds- Phi and B- --> Ds*- Phi. In the context
of the Standard Model, these decays are expected to be highly suppressed since
they proceed through annihilation of the b and u-bar quarks in the B- meson.
Our results are based on 234 million Upsilon(4S) --> B Bbar decays collected
with the BABAR detector at SLAC. We find no evidence for these decays, and we
set Bayesian 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions BF(B-
--> Ds- Phi) Ds*- Phi)<1.2x10^(-5). These results
are consistent with Standard Model expectations.Comment: 8 pages, 3 postscript figues, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid
Communications
Increased dynamics in the 40-57 Ω-loop of the G41S variant of human cytochrome c promote its pro-apoptotic conformation
Thrombocytopenia 4 is an inherited autosomal dominant thrombocytopenia, which occurs due to mutations in the human gene for cytochrome c that results in enhanced mitochondrial apoptotic activity. The Gly41Ser mutation was the first to be reported. Here we report stopped-flow kinetic studies of azide binding to human ferricytochrome c and its Gly41Ser variant, together with backbone amide H/D exchange and 15N-relaxation dynamics using NMR spectroscopy, to show that alternative conformations are kinetically and thermodynamically more readily accessible for the Gly41Ser variant than for the wild-type protein. Our work reveals a direct conformational link between the 40-57 Ω-loop in which residue 41 resides and the dynamical properties of the axial ligand to the heme iron, Met80, such that the replacement of glycine by serine promotes the dissociation of the Met80 ligand, thereby increasing the population of a peroxidase active state, which is a key non-native conformational state in apoptosis
Burn injury leads to increased long-term susceptibility to respiratory infection in both mouse models and population studies
Background: Burn injury initiates an acute inflammatory response that subsequently drives wound repair. However, acute disruption to the immune response is also common, leading to susceptibility to sepsis and increased morbidity and mortality. Despite increased understanding of the impact of burn injury on the immune system in the acute phase, little is known about longterm consequences of burn injury on immune function. This study was established to determine whether burn injury has long-term clinical impacts on patients' immune responses. Methods: Using a population-based retrospective longitudinal study and linked hospital morbidity and death data from Western Australia, comparative rates of hospitalisation for respiratory infections in burn patients and a non-injured comparator cohort were assessed. In addition, a mouse model of non-severe burn injury was also used in which viral respiratory infection was induced at 4 weeks post-injury using a mouse modified version of the Influenza A virus (H3NN; A/mem/71-a). Results and conclusions: The burn injured cohort contained 14893 adult patients from 1980-2012 after removal of those patients with evidence of smoke inhalation or injury to the respiratory tract. During the study follow-up study a total of 2,884 and 2,625 respiratory infection hospital admissions for the burn and uninjured cohorts, respectively, were identified. After adjusting for covariates, the burn cohort experienced significantly elevated admission rates for influenza and viral pneumonia (IRR, 95%CI: 1.73, 1.27-2.36), bacterial pneumonia (IRR, 95%CI: 2.05, 1.85-2.27) and for other types of upper and lower respiratory infections (IRR, 95% CI: 2.38, 2.09-2.71). In the mouse study an increased viral titre was observed after burn injury, accompanied by a reduced CD8 response and increased NK and NKT cells in the draining lymph nodes. This data suggests burn patients are at long-term increased risk of infection due to sustained modulation of the immune response
A Role for TLR4 in Clostridium difficile Infection and the Recognition of Surface Layer Proteins
Clostridium difficile is the etiological agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) and pseudomembranous colitis in humans. The role of the surface layer proteins (SLPs) in this disease has not yet been fully explored. The aim of this study was to investigate a role for SLPs in the recognition of C. difficile and the subsequent activation of the immune system. Bone marrow derived dendritic cells (DCs) exposed to SLPs were assessed for production of inflammatory cytokines, expression of cell surface markers and their ability to generate T helper (Th) cell responses. DCs isolated from C3H/HeN and C3H/HeJ mice were used in order to examine whether SLPs are recognised by TLR4. The role of TLR4 in infection was examined in TLR4-deficient mice. SLPs induced maturation of DCs characterised by production of IL-12, TNFα and IL-10 and expression of MHC class II, CD40, CD80 and CD86. Furthermore, SLP-activated DCs generated Th cells producing IFNÎł and IL-17. SLPs were unable to activate DCs isolated from TLR4-mutant C3H/HeJ mice and failed to induce a subsequent Th cell response. TLR4â/â and Myd88â/â, but not TRIFâ/â mice were more susceptible than wild-type mice to C. difficile infection. Furthermore, SLPs activated NFÎșB, but not IRF3, downstream of TLR4. Our results indicate that SLPs isolated from C. difficile can activate innate and adaptive immunity and that these effects are mediated by TLR4, with TLR4 having a functional role in experimental C. difficile infection. This suggests an important role for SLPs in the recognition of C. difficile by the immune system
The Role of Repetitive Negative Thoughts in the Vulnerability for Emotional Problems in Non-Clinical Children
The current study examined the role of repetitive negative thoughts in the vulnerability for emotional problems in non-clinical children aged 8â13Â years (NÂ =Â 158). Children completed self-report questionnaires for assessing (1) neuroticism and behavioral inhibition as indicators of general vulnerability (2) worry and rumination which are two important manifestations of repetitive negative thoughts, and (3) emotional problems (i.e., anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties). Results demonstrated that there were positive correlations between measures of general vulnerability, repetitive negative thoughts, and emotional problems. Further, support was found for a model in which worry and rumination acted as partial mediators in the relation between neuroticism and symptoms of anxiety and depression. In the case of sleep difficulties, no evidence was obtained for such a mediation model. In fact, data suggested that sleeping difficulties are better conceived as an epiphenomenon of high symptom levels of anxiety and depression or as a risk factor for the development of other types of psychopathology. Finally, besides neuroticism, the temperamental trait of behavioral inhibition appeared to play a unique direct role in the model predicting anxiety symptoms but not in the models predicting depressive symptoms or sleep difficulties. To conclude, the current findings seem to indicate that worry and rumination contribute to childrenâs vulnerability for anxiety and depression
Measurement of the branching fraction for
We present a measurement of the branching fraction for the decay B- --> D0 K*- using a sample of approximately 86 million BBbar pairs collected by the BaBar detector from e+e- collisions near the Y(4S) resonance. The D0 is detected through its decays to K- pi+, K- pi+ pi0 and K- pi+ pi- pi+, and the K*- through its decay to K0S pi-. We measure the branching fraction to be B.F.(B- --> D0 K*-)= (6.3 +/- 0.7(stat.) +/- 0.5(syst.)) x 10^{-4}
Observation of a significant excess of events in B meson decays
We present an observation of the decay based on a sample of 124 million pairs recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy Factory at SLAC. We observe events, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic, corresponding to a significance of 4.2 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties. We measure the branching fraction \BR(B^{0} \to \pi^{0} \pi^{0}) = (2.1 \pm 0.6 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{-6}, averaged over and decays
A Precision Measurement of the Lambda_c Baryon Mass
The baryon mass is measured using and decays reconstructed in 232
fb of data collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II
asymmetric-energy storage ring. The mass is measured to
be . The dominant systematic uncertainties
arise from the amount of material in the tracking volume and from the magnetic
field strength.Comment: 14 pages, 8 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Measurement of the ttÌW and ttÌZ production cross sections in pp collisions at âs = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
The production cross sections of top-quark pairs in association with massive vector bosons have been measured using data from pp collisions at sâ = 8 TeV. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fbâÂč collected by the ATLAS detector in 2012 at the LHC. Final states with two, three or four leptons are considered. A fit to the data considering the ttÌW and ttÌZ processes simultaneously yields a significance of 5.0Ï (4.2Ï) over the background-only hypothesis for ttÂŻWttÂŻW (ttÌZ) production. The measured cross sections are ÏttÌW = 369 + 100â91 fb and ÏttÌZ = 176 + 58â52 fb. The background-only hypothesis with neither ttÌW nor ttÌZ production is excluded at 7.1Ï. All measurements are consistent with next-to-leading-order calculations for the ttÌW and ttÌZ processes
Observation of the Decay B=> J/psi eta K and Search for X(3872)=> J/psi eta
We report the observation of the meson decay
and evidence for the decay , using {90} million
events collected at the \ensuremath{\Upsilon{(4S)}}\xspace resonance
with the detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy storage
ring. We obtain branching fractions of )= and
)=. We search for the new narrow mass state, the
X(3872), recently reported by the Belle Collaboration, in the decay B^\pm\to
X(3872)K^\pm, X(3872)\to \jpsi \eta and determine an upper limit of
(B^\pm \to X(3872) K^\pm \to \jpsi \eta K^\pm)
at 90% C.L.Comment: 7 pages and two figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett
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