Neutral proteases of human polymorphonuclear granulocytes: putative mediators of pulmonary damage.

Tissue proteolytic enzymes are currently believed to be critical to the pathogenesis of panacinar emphysema. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (Polys) have several enzymes including elastase and cathepsin G in their azurophil granules. They have collagenase in their specific granules. We have found that this collagenase is doubly latent. It has the lysosomal type of latency that depends on the impermeability of the unit membrane that surrounds each specific granule. In addition it has a latency that is converted to activity by proteolytic enzymes. The cathepsin G of the azurophil granule is a potent activator of this latent collagenase once the collagenase is released from its membrane dependent latency. Thus latency of enzymes, the nature of the latency and accessibility of the latent enzymes to activating mechanisms must all be taken into account in any analysis of their contribution to pathogenesis of local lung disease. Equally important is that fact that polys are not a prominent cellular component of normal lung. Polys must be attracted to the lung by chemotactic peptides. These peptides must be released by the interaction of inflammatory stimuli, such as smoke particles, with complement components or they must be provided by other sources. The hypothesis that lung damage in panacinar emphysema is mediated by polys and their proteases is attractive and suggestive evidence supporting this is available. However, more evidence that takes into full account the cell biology of the proteases any poly turnover in the lung are needed to extend the hypothesis and to form a rational basis for therapeutic and prophylactic measures

Gonococci with mutations to low-level penicillin resistance exhibit increased sensitivity to the oxygen-independent bactericidal activity of human polymorphonuclear leukocyte granule extracts.

Gonococci which cause disseminated gonococcal infection are nearly always highly penicillin sensitive, in contrast to many isolates causing uncomplicated gonorrhea. We questioned whether any of the known chromosomal mutations to low-level penicillin resistance might adversely affect virulence. The penA2 locus is known to result in low-level resistance to penicillins, whereas mtr-2 results in nonspecific resistance to a variety of antimicrobial agents. We found that the penA2 and mtr-2 mutations each markedly increased sensitivity of strain FA19 to oxygen-independent killing by human polymorphonuclear leukocyte mixed or isolated azurophilic granule extracts. The penA2 and mtr-2 mutations had no effect on sensitivity to serum antibody and complement. Isogenic opaque or transparent variants of several strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae were equally resistant to human polymorphonuclear leukocyte mixed granule extract bactericidal systems. There were also no differences in susceptibility of piliated type 1 and nonpiliated type 4 variants to human polymorphonuclear leukocyte mixed granule extracts. Since the penA2 and mtr-2 loci are known to increase the degree of cross-linking of cell wall peptidoglycan, the structure of peptidoglycan apparently affects sensitivity to killing by one or more polymorphonuclear leukocyte azurophilic granule extract bactericidal systems. These observations might explain why gonococci with mutations similar to penA2 and mtr-2 are almost never isolated from patients with disseminated gonococcal infection

Evidence for the η_b(1S) Meson in Radiative Υ(2S) Decay

We have performed a search for the η_b(1S) meson in the radiative decay of the Υ(2S) resonance using a sample of 91.6 × 10^6 Υ(2S) events recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We observe a peak in the photon energy spectrum at E_γ = 609.3^(+4.6)_(-4.5)(stat)±1.9(syst) MeV, corresponding to an η_b(1S) mass of 9394.2^(+4.8)_(-4.9)(stat) ± 2.0(syst) MeV/c^2. The branching fraction for the decay Υ(2S) → γη_b(1S) is determined to be [3.9 ± 1.1(stat)^(+1.1)_(-0.9)(syst)] × 10^(-4). We find the ratio of branching fractions B[Υ(2S) → γη_b(1S)]/B[Υ(3S) → γη_b(1S)]= 0.82 ± 0.24(stat)^(+0.20)_(-0.19)(syst)

Measurement of the quasi-elastic axial vector mass in neutrino-oxygen interactions

The weak nucleon axial-vector form factor for quasi-elastic interactions is determined using neutrino interaction data from the K2K Scintillating Fiber detector in the neutrino beam at KEK. More than 12,000 events are analyzed, of which half are charged-current quasi-elastic interactions nu-mu n to mu- p occurring primarily in oxygen nuclei. We use a relativistic Fermi gas model for oxygen and assume the form factor is approximately a dipole with one parameter, the axial vector mass M_A, and fit to the shape of the distribution of the square of the momentum transfer from the nucleon to the nucleus. Our best fit result for M_A = 1.20 \pm 0.12 GeV. Furthermore, this analysis includes updated vector form factors from recent electron scattering experiments and a discussion of the effects of the nucleon momentum on the shape of the fitted distributions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table

Search for the W-exchange decays B0 --> Ds(*)- Ds(*)+

We report a search for the decays $B^{0} \to D_{s}^{-} D_{s}^{+}$, $B^{0} \to D_{s}^{*-} D_{s}^{+}$, $B^{0} \to D_{s}^{*-} D_{s}^{*+}$ in a sample of 232 million $\Upsilon(4S)$ decays to \BBb ~pairs collected with the \babar detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ storage ring. We find no significant signal and set upper bounds for the branching fractions: ${\cal B}(B^{0} \to D_{s}^{-} D_{s}^{+}) < 1.0 \times 10^{-4}, {\cal B}(B^{0} \to D_{s}^{*-} D_{s}^{+}) < 1.3 \times 10^{-4}$ and ${\cal B}(B^{0} \to D_{s}^{*-} D_{s}^{*+}) < 2.4 \times 10^{-4}$ at 90% confidence level.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PRD-R

Measurement of the B+ --> p pbar K+ Branching Fraction and Study of the Decay Dynamics

With a sample of 232x10^6 Upsilon(4S) --> BBbar events collected with the BaBar detector, we study the decay B+ --> p pbar K+ excluding charmonium decays to ppbar. We measure a branching fraction Br(B+ --> p pbar K+)=(6.7+/-0.5+/-0.4)x10^{-6}. An enhancement at low ppbar mass is observed and the Dalitz plot asymmetry suggests dominance of the penguin amplitude in this B decay. We search for a pentaquark candidate Theta*++ decaying into pK+ in the mass range 1.43 to 2.00 GeV/c2 and set limits on Br(B+ --> Theta*++pbar)xBr(Theta*++ --> pK+) at the 10^{-7} level.Comment: 8 pages, 7 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid Communications