Inclusive CP Asymmetries in Semileptonic Decays of B Mesons

We estimate the sensitivity of single lepton CP violation measurements with respect to that of traditional di-lepton measurements. We find that the sensitivity of the single lepton method is better than that of the di-lepton method. The achievable sensitivity with the currently available data is already in the range relevant to standard model predictions. We also give general expressions for inclusive decay time distributions on $\Upsilon 4S$ where the other $B$ is not measured, which will be used to obtain time dependent asymmetries. The expression is of general use whenever one deals with inclusive time-dependent as well as time-integrated measurements in $\Upsilon(4S)\to B^0\bar B^0$ where the final state of the other $B$ is not reconstructed or when only the time difference is measured.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure. Two references added, and a few typos correcte

Effects of Lateral Diffusion on the Dynamics of Desorption

The adsorbate dynamics during simultaneous action of desorption and lateral adsorbate diffusion is studied in a simple lattice-gas model by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. It is found that the action of the coverage-conserving diffusion process during the course of the desorption has two distinct, competing effects: a general acceleration of the desorption process, and a coarsening of the adsorbate configuration through Ostwald ripening. The balance between these two effects is governed by the structure of the adsorbate layer at the beginning of the desorption process

A Prospective Longitudinal Cohort to Investigate the Effects of Early Life Giardiasis on Growth and All Cause Diarrhea

Background. Growth stunting in children under 2 years of age in low-income countries is common. Giardia is a ubiquitous pathogen in this age group but studies investigating Giardia's effect on both growth and diarrhea have produced conflicting results

Cryptosporidium Priming Is More Effective than Vaccine for Protection against Cryptosporidiosis in a Murine Protein Malnutrition Model

Cryptosporidium is a major cause of severe diarrhea, especially in malnourished children. Using a murine model of C. parvum oocyst challenge that recapitulates clinical features of severe cryptosporidiosis during malnutrition, we interrogated the effect of protein malnutrition (PM) on primary and secondary responses to C. parvum challenge, and tested the differential ability of mucosal priming strategies to overcome the PM-induced susceptibility. We determined that while PM fundamentally alters systemic and mucosal primary immune responses to Cryptosporidium, priming with C. parvum (106 oocysts) provides robust protective immunity against re-challenge despite ongoing PM. C. parvum priming restores mucosal Th1-type effectors (CD3+CD8+CD103+ T-cells) and cytokines (IFNγ, and IL12p40) that otherwise decrease with ongoing PM. Vaccination strategies with Cryptosporidium antigens expressed in the S. Typhi vector 908htr, however, do not enhance Th1-type responses to C. parvum challenge during PM, even though vaccination strongly boosts immunity in challenged fully nourished hosts. Remote non-specific exposures to the attenuated S. Typhi vector alone or the TLR9 agonist CpG ODN-1668 can partially attenuate C. parvum severity during PM, but neither as effectively as viable C. parvum priming. We conclude that although PM interferes with basal and vaccine-boosted immune responses to C. parvum, sustained reductions in disease severity are possible through mucosal activators of host defenses, and specifically C. parvum priming can elicit impressively robust Th1-type protective immunity despite ongoing protein malnutrition. These findings add insight into potential correlates of Cryptosporidium immunity and future vaccine strategies in malnourished children

Phenomenology of models with more than two Higgs doublets

We study the most general Multi-Higgs-Doublet Model (MHDM) with Natural Flavor Conservation (NFC). The couplings of a charged scalar $H_i^{\pm}$ to up quarks, down quarks and charged leptons depend on three new complex parameters, $X_i$, $Y_i$ and $Z_i$, respectively. We prove relations among these parameters. We carry out a comprehensive analysis of phenomenological constraints on the couplings of the lightest charged scalar: $X$, $Y$ and $Z$. We find that the general MHDM may differ significantly from its minimal version, the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM).Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures available upon request, LaTeX, WIS-94/3/Jan-P

Lepton CP Asymmetries in B Decays

In the decay of Upsilon(4S, the decay time distribution of Upsilon(4S) -> f + X, where f is a final state that B^0 or B^0bar can decay to, is the sum of the decay time distributions of B^0 -> f and B^0bar -> f. Using this general rule, we estimate the sensitivity of single lepton CP violation measurements with respect to that of traditional di-lepton measurements. We find that the sensitivity of the single lepton method is comparable to or better than that of the di-lepton method. The two data samples are largely statistically independent, so that they can be combined to improve sensitivity. The advantage of the single lepton measurement increases for large mixings, which suggests that the single lepton method holds promise for B_s. We also discuss lepton asymmetry measurements on the Z^0 peak and in hadron colliders. The achievable sensitivity with the currently available data is already in the range relevant to standard model predictions. PACS numbers: 11.30.Er, 13.20.Gd, 13.20.He, 03.65.BxComment: 13 pages, no figures, Latex. References update

Influence of soil properties and test conditions on sorption and desorption of testosterone

In this study, batch sorption and desorption experiments were conducted for testosterone using four agricultural soils and five clay minerals. Significant differences in sorption behavior were observed between abiotic and biotic systems. The Freundlich sorption coefficient Kf (µg per g)/(µg per mL) ranged from 8.53 to 74.46 for soils and from 35.28 to 1243 for clays. The maximum sorption capacity (µg per g) of soils ranged from 25.25 to 440.61 for soils and 168.46 to 499.84 for clays. Correlation of sorption model parameters with soil properties indicated that both clay content and soil organic matter are important variables in predicting testosterone sorption behavior. Observed testosterone desorption from agricultural soils ranged from approximately 14 to 100 percent after 3 desorption cycles, and the desorption percentage decreased as the initial testosterone concentration decreased. Temperature, ionic strength, the water/soil ratio and soil depth were determined to influence sorption and desorption of testosterone. Desorption significantly increase with the soil depth and with the increase in the water to soil ratio. Temperature had an inverse effect on the sorption capacity of the soils tested. Thermodynamic calculations showed that the enthalpy change of the soils tested were the range of 12.9-20.7 kJ per mol, indicating weak interaction between testosterone and soil. Our results suggest that additional studies on how soil particles with different size fractions affect hormones fate and transport are needed in order to determine the potential risk of testosterone leaching or runoff

BCAA catabolism in brown fat controls energy homeostasis through SLC25A44.

Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA; valine, leucine and isoleucine) supplementation is often beneficial to energy expenditure; however, increased circulating levels of BCAA are linked to obesity and diabetes. The mechanisms of this paradox remain unclear. Here we report that, on cold exposure, brown adipose tissue (BAT) actively utilizes BCAA in the mitochondria for thermogenesis and promotes systemic BCAA clearance in mice and humans. In turn, a BAT-specific defect in BCAA catabolism attenuates systemic BCAA clearance, BAT fuel oxidation and thermogenesis, leading to diet-induced obesity and glucose intolerance. Mechanistically, active BCAA catabolism in BAT is mediated by SLC25A44, which transports BCAAs into mitochondria. Our results suggest that BAT serves as a key metabolic filter that controls BCAA clearance via SLC25A44, thereby contributing to the improvement of metabolic health

Study of a QCM Dimethyl Methylphosphonate Sensor Based on a ZnO-Modified Nanowire-Structured Manganese Dioxide Film

Sensitive, selective and fast detection of chemical warfare agents is necessary for anti-terrorism purposes. In our search for functional materials sensitive to dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), a simulant of sarin and other toxic organophosphorus compounds, we found that zinc oxide (ZnO) modification potentially enhances the absorption of DMMP on a manganese dioxide (MnO2) surface. The adsorption behavior of DMMP was evaluated through the detection of tiny organophosphonate compounds with quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors coated with ZnO-modified MnO2 nanofibers and pure MnO2 nanofibers. Experimental results indicated that the QCM sensor coated with ZnO-modified nanostructured MnO2 film exhibited much higher sensitivity and better selectivity in comparison with the one coated with pure MnO2 nanofiber film. Therefore, the DMMP sensor developed with this composite nanostructured material should possess excellent selectivity and reasonable sensitivity towards the tiny gaseous DMMP species

Improved Measurement of the Pseudoscalar Decay Constant fDsf_{D_{s}}

We present a new determination of the Ds decay constant, f_{Ds} using 5 million continuum charm events obtained with the CLEO II detector. Our value is derived from our new measured ratio of widths for Ds -> mu nu/Ds -> phi pi of 0.173+/- 0.021 +/- 0.031. Taking the branching ratio for Ds -> phi pi as (3.6 +/- 0.9)% from the PDG, we extract f_{Ds} = (280 +/- 17 +/- 25 +/- 34){MeV}. We compare this result with various model calculations.Comment: 23 page postscript file, postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN