New State Records of Immigrant Insects in the Hawaiian Islands for the Year 1999

Records are given for 43 species of insects and other small organisms not previously reported to be established in Hawaii. These species were first collected and identified during 1999 or earlier and are now believed to be established in the state. Known information on the taxonomy and biology is provide

Tissue Microenvironments Define and Get Reinforced by Macrophage Phenotypes in Homeostasis or during Inflammation, Repair and Fibrosis

Current macrophage phenotype classifications are based on distinct in vitro culture conditions that do not adequately mirror complex tissue environments. In vivo monocyte progenitors populate all tissues for immune surveillance which supports the maintenance of homeostasis as well as regaining homeostasis after injury. Here we propose to classify macrophage phenotypes according to prototypical tissue environments, e.g. as they occur during homeostasis as well as during the different phases of (dermal) wound healing. In tissue necrosis and/or infection, damage- and/or pathogen-associated molecular patterns induce proinflammatory macrophages by Toll-like receptors or inflammasomes. Such classically activated macrophages contribute to further tissue inflammation and damage. Apoptotic cells and antiinflammatory cytokines dominate in postinflammatory tissues which induce macrophages to produce more antiinflammatory mediators. Similarly, tumor-associated macrophages also confer immunosuppression in tumor stroma. Insufficient parenchymal healing despite abundant growth factors pushes macrophages to gain a profibrotic phenotype and promote fibrocyte recruitment which both enforce tissue scarring. Ischemic scars are largely devoid of cytokines and growth factors so that fibrolytic macrophages that predominantly secrete proteases digest the excess extracellular matrix. Together, macrophages stabilize their surrounding tissue microenvironments by adapting different phenotypes as feed-forward mechanisms to maintain tissue homeostasis or regain it following injury. Furthermore, macrophage heterogeneity in healthy or injured tissues mirrors spatial and temporal differences in microenvironments during the various stages of tissue injury and repair. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

Improved Measurements of Branching Fractions for B->Kpi, pipi and KK Decays

We report improved measurements of branching fractions for $B\to K\pi$, $\pi^+\pi^-$, $\pi^+\pi^0$ and $K\bar{K}$ decays based on a data sample of 85.0 million $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the $\Upsilon (4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+e^-$ storage ring. This data sample is almost three times larger than the sample previously used. We observe clear signals for $B\to K\pi$, $\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\pi^+\pi^0$ decays and set upper limits on $B\to K\bar{K}$ decays. The results can be used to give model-dependent constraints on the CKM angle $\phi_3$, as well as limits on the hadronic uncertainty in the time-dependent analysis of the angle $\phi_2$.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, 4 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. D Rapid Communications. Several corrections were mad

Charmless Hadronic Two-Body B Meson Decays

We report the results of a study of two-body B meson decays to the complete set of K pi, pi pi, and K K final states. The study is performed on a data sample of 31.7 +/- 0.3 million B B-bar events recorded on the Upsilon(4S) resonance by the Belle experiment at KEKB. We observe significant signals in all K pi final states and in the pi+ pi- and pi+ pi0 final states. We set limits on the pi0 pi0 and K K final states. A search is performed for partial-rate asymmetries between conjugate states for flavor-specific final states.Comment: Submitted to PR

Study of B meson decays to three-body charmless hadronic final states

We report results of a study of charmless B meson decays to three-body KPiPi, KKPi and KKK final states. Measurements of branching fractions for B decays to K+0Pi+Pi-, K+K+K-, K0K+K-, KsKsK+ and KsKsKs final states are presented. The decays B0=>K0K+K-, B+=>KsKsK+ and B0=>KsKsKs are observed for the first time. We also report evidence for B+=>K+K-Pi+ decay. For the three-body final states K0K+K-, KsKsPi+, K+K+Pi- and K-Pi+Pi+ 90% confidence level upper limits are reported. Finally, we discuss the possibility of using the three-body B0=>KsK+K- decay for CP violation studies. The results are obtained with a 78 fb^-1 data sample collected at the Y(4S) resonance by the Belle detector operating at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+e- collider.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. To be submitted to PR

Evidence of B0 --> rho0 pi0

We present the first evidence of the decay B0 --> rho0 pi0, using 140fb^-1 of data collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e+e- collider. We detect a signal with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations, and measure the branching fraction to be Br(B0 ->- rho0 pi0) = (5.1 +/- 1.6(stat) +/- 0.9(syst))*10^-6.Comment: RevTex4, 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Observation of the eta_c(2S) in exclusive B-->K KsK-pi+ decays

We report the observation of a narrow peak in the KsK-pi+ invariant mass distribution in a sample of exclusive B-->K KsK-pi+ decays collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+e- collider. The measured mass of the peak is M=3654+-6(stat)+-8(syst) MeV/c^2 and we place a 90% confidence level upper limit on the width of Gamma<55 MeV/c^2. The properties agree with heavy-quark potential model expectations for the eta_c(2S), the n=2 singlet S charmonium state.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Observation of the decay B^0->D+D*-

We report the first observation of the decay B^0->D+-D*-+ with the Belle detector at the KEKB e^+e^- collider operated at the Upsilon(4S) resonance. The sum of branching fractions B(B^0->D+D*-)+B(B^0->D-D*+) is measured to be (1.17+-0.26+0.22-0.25)x10^-3 using the full reconstruction method where both charmed mesons from B^0 decays are reconstructed. A consistent value ((1.48+-0.38+0.28-0.31)x10^-3) is obtained using a partial reconstruction technique that only uses the slow pion from the D*- ->bar D^0pi- decay and a fully reconstructed D+ to reconstruct the B^0.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Observation of Cabibbo suppressed B→D(∗)K−B \to D^{(*)}K^- decays at Belle

Cabibbo-suppressed decays $B \to D^{(*)} K^-$ using a 10.4 fb$^{-1}$ data sample accumulated at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+ e^-$ storage ring. The high-momentum particle identification system of Belle is used to isolate signals for $B\to D^0 K^-$, $D^+K^-$, $D^{*0}K^-$ and $D^{*+}K^-$ from the $B\to D^{(*)}\pi^-$ decay processes which have much larger branching fractions. We report ratios of Cabibbo-suppressed to Cabibbo-favored branching fractions of: ${\cal B}(B^- \to D^0 K^-)/{\cal B}(B^- \to D^0\pi^-) = 0.079\pm0.009\pm0.006$; ${\cal B}(\bar{B^0} \to D^+ K^-)/{\cal B}(\bar{B^0} \to D^+\pi^-) = 0.068\pm0.015\pm0.007$; ${\cal B}(B^-\to D^{*0}K^-)/{\cal B}(B^-\to D^{*0}\pi^-) = 0.078 \pm 0.019 \pm 0.009$; and ${\cal B}(\bar{B}^0\to D^{*+}K^-)/{\cal B}(\bar{B}^0\to D^{*+}\pi^-)= 0.074 \pm 0.015 \pm 0.006$. The first error is statistical and the second is systematic. These are the first reported observations of the $B\to D^+K^-$, $D^{*0}K^-$ and $D^{*+}K^-$ decay processes.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 2 figure