OVERVIEW OF TICK-ASSOCIATED RICKETTSIALES BACTERIA IN JAPAN

Rickettsiales bacteria are obligatory intracellular parasites in vertebrates and/or invertebrates, and some cause severe febrile illness in humans as well as livestock. In Japan, "Rickettsia japonica" and "Orientia tsutsugamushi" are well known as causative agents for "Japanese spotted fever" transmitted by ticks and. "Tsutsugamushi disease" transmitted by mites, respectively. In recent years, many researchers have reported the presence of several tick-associated. Rickettsiales bacteria in Japan, mostly by molecular-based analyses. Some of these might be public health or veterinary significance. Such. Rickettsiales bacteria include spotted fever group rickettsiae other than R. japonica, Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp., and. Neoehrlichia sp. We will summarize and. introduce the representatives of these Rickettsiales bacteria present in Japan

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ANAPLASMA IN JAPAN AND OTHER COUNTRIES

To determine the reservoir animals and vector ticks for Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Far East Asia, which causes human granulocytic anaplasmosis, we analyzed tissue samples from deer and boars in Japan rodents in Taiwan and. Ixodes persulcatus in Russia by PCR-targeted. to 16S rDNA. Anaplasma species including Anaplasma bovis and. Anaplasma centrale-infected wild deer and boars were detected. The detection rates for A. phagocytophilum, A. bovis and. A. centrale in deer were 15,6 %, 21,9 % and. 37,5 %, respectively. These infection rates in wild boar were 3,6 %, 17,9 % and. 3,6 %, respectively. Wild rodents captured in Taiwan were positive for A. phagocytophilum. and. A. bovis. Prevalence rate of A. phagocytophilum. on I. persulcatus ticks in Irkutsk and. in Khabarovsk were 6,3 % and. 11,3 %, respectively. The 16SrDNA sequences detected from Russian ticks were identical to those of A. phagocytophilum. detected, in US and. Europe, and. from tick Ixodes ovatus and. Ixodes persulcatus in Japan. However the sequence detected from deer and boars in Japan were identical to sequences previously detected from deer and cattle in Japan, and. showed. less similarity (98,6 %) with typical A. phagocytophilum.. Sequences detected from wild rodents collected in Taiwan showed higher similarity (99,7 %) with typical A. phagocytophilum but formed the branch from those of A. phagocytophilum. detected in US and Europe. The finding suggests that the A. phagocytophilum-related sequence detected from deer and boars in Japan, and. wild rodents in Taiwan were different from those of typical A. phagocytophilum. found in Ixodid ticks

Observation of the DsJ(2317) and DsJ(2457) in B decays

We report the first observation of the B --> Dbar DsJ(2317) and B --> Dbar DsJ(2457) decays based on 123.8 10^6 BBar events collected with the Belle detector at KEKB. We observe the DsJ(2317) decay to Ds pi0 and DsJ(2457) decay to the Ds* pi0 and Ds gamma final states. We also set 90% CL upper limits for the decays DsJ(2317) --> Ds* gamma, DsJ(2457) --> Ds* gamma, DsJ(2457) --> Ds pi0 and DsJ(2457) --> Ds pi+ pi-.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. A few minor corrections. Replaced by version accepted to publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Evidence for B0->pi0pi0

We report evidence for the decay B0->pi0pi0. The analysis is based on a data sample of 152million BBbar pairs collected at the Upsilon(4s) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e- storage ring. We find 25.6+9.3/-8.4(stat)+1.6/-1.4(syst) B0->pi0pi0 signal events with a significance of 3.4 standard deviations. We measure the branching fraction to be (1.7+-0.6(stat)+-0.2(syst))*10^{-6}.Comment: Submitted to PR

Observation of B→K∗ℓ+ℓ−B \to K^* \ell^+ \ell^-

We report the first observation of the flavor-changing neutral current decay $B \to K^* \ell^+ \ell^-$ and an improved measurement of the decay $B \to K \ell^+ \ell^-$, where $\ell$ represents an electron or a muon, with a data sample of 140 fb${}^{-1}$ accumulated at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at KEKB. The results for the branching fractions are ${\cal B}(B \to K^* \ell^+ \ell^-)=(11.5^{+2.6}_{-2.4} \pm 0.8 \pm 0.2) \times 10^{-7}$ and ${\cal B}(B \to K \ell^+ \ell^-)=(4.8^{+1.0}_{-0.9} \pm 0.3 \pm 0.1) \times 10^{-7}$, where the first error is statistical, the second is systematic and the third is from model dependence.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR

Evidence for Direct CP Violation in B0 -> K+- pi-+ Decays

We report evidence for direct CP violation in the decay B0 -> K+-pi-+ with 253/fb of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e- collider. Using 275 million B B_bar pairs we observe a B -> K+-pi-+ signal with 2140+-53 events. The measured CP violating asymmetry is Acp(K+-pi-+) = -0.101+-0.025 (stat)+-0.005 (syst), corresponding to a significance of 3.9 sigma including systematics. We also search for CP violation in the decays B+- -> K+-pi0 and B+- -> pi+-pi0. The measured CP violating asymmetries are Acp(K+-pi0) = 0.04+-0.05(stat)+-0.02(syst) and Acp(pi+-pi0) = -0.02+-0.10(stat)+-0.01(syst), corresponding to the intervals -0.05 < Acp(K+-pi0) < 0.13 and -0.18<Acp(pi+-pi0)<0.14 at 90% confidence level.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. submitted to Physical Review Letter

Measurements of the DsJD_{sJ} resonance properties

We report measurements of the properties of the $D_{sJ}^+(2317)$ and $D_{sJ}^+(2457)$ resonances produced in continuum $e^+ e^-$ annihilation near $\sqrt{s}=10.6 \mathrm{GeV}$. The analysis is based on an $86.9 \mathrm{fb^{-1}}$ data sample collected %at and 60 MeV below the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with with the Belle detector at KEKB. We determine the masses to be $M(D_{sJ}^+(2317)) = 2317.2 \pm 0.5(\mathrm{stat}) \pm 0.9(\mathrm{syst}) \mathrm{MeV}/c^2$ and $M(D_{sJ}^+(2457))=2456.5 \pm 1.3(\mathrm{stat}) \pm 1.3(\mathrm{syst}) \mathrm{MeV}/c^2$. We observe the radiative decay mode $D_{sJ}^+(2457) \to D_s^+ \gamma$ and the dipion decay mode $D_{sJ}^+(2457) \to D_s^+ \pi^+ \pi^-$, and determine their branching fractions. No corresponding decays are observed for the $D_{sJ}(2317)$ state. These results are consistent with the spin-parity assignments of $0^+$ for the $D_{sJ}(2317)$ and $1^+$ for the $D_{sJ}(2457)$.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures; Added content, updated and paper submitted to PR

Measurement of Time-Dependent CP-Violating Asymmetries in B0 --> phi Ks0, K+ K- Ks0, and eta' Ks0 Decays

We present an improved measurement of CP-violation parameters in B0 --> phi Ks0, K+ K- Ks0, and eta' Ks0 decays based on a 140 fb-1 data sample collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB energy-asymmetric e+e- collider. One neutral B meson is fully reconstructed in one of the specified decay channels, and the flavor of the accompanying B meson is identified from its decay products. CP-violation parameters for each of the three modes are obtained from the asymmetries in the distributions of the proper-time intervals between the two B decays. We find that the observed CP asymmetry in the B0 --> phi Ks0 decay differs from the standard model (SM) expectation by 3.5 standard deviations, while the other cases are consistent with the SM.Comment: 10 pages, 4 postscript figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters, also contributed to the XXI International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Aug 11-16, 2003, Fermilab, Illinois US