716 research outputs found
Overexpression of Mcl-1 exacerbates lymphocyte accumulation and autoimmune kidney disease in lpr mice
Cell death by apoptosis has a critical role during embryonic development and in maintaining tissue homeostasis. In mammals,
there are two converging apoptosis pathways: the ‘extrinsic’ pathway, which is triggered by engagement of cell surface ‘death
receptors’ such as Fas/APO-1; and the ‘intrinsic’ pathway, which is triggered by diverse cellular stresses, and is regulated by prosurvival
and pro-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins. Pro-survival Mcl-1, which can block activation of the proapoptotic
proteins, Bax and Bak, appears critical for the survival and maintenance of multiple haemopoietic cell types. To
investigate the impact on haemopoiesis of simultaneously inhibiting both apoptosis pathways, we introduced the vavP-Mcl-1
transgene, which causes overexpression of Mcl-1 protein in all haemopoietic lineages, into Faslpr/lpr mice, which lack functional
Fas and are prone to autoimmunity. The combined mutations had a modest impact on myelopoiesis, primarily an increase in the
macrophage/monocyte population in Mcl-1tg/lpr mice compared with lpr or Mcl-1tg mice. The impact on lymphopoiesis was
striking, with a marked elevation in all major lymphoid subsets, including the non-conventional double-negative (DN) T cells
(TCRβ+
CD4–
CD8–
B220+
) characteristic of Faslpr/lpr mice. Of note, the onset of autoimmunity was markedly accelerated in Mcl-1tg/lpr
mice compared with lpr mice, and this was preceded by an increase in immunoglobulin (Ig)-producing cells and circulating
autoantibodies. This degree of impact was surprising, given the relatively mild phenotype conferred by the vavP-Mcl-1 transgene
by itself: a two- to threefold elevation of peripheral B and T cells, no significant increase in the non-conventional DN T-cell
population and no autoimmune disease. Comparison of the phenotype with that of other susceptible mice suggests that the
development of autoimmune disease in Mcl-1tg/lpr mice may be influenced not only by Ig-producing cells but also other
haemopoietic cell types
Search for the Electric Dipole Moment of the tau Lepton
We have searched for a CP violation signature arising from an electric dipole
moment (d_tau) of the tau lepton in the e+e- -> tau+tau- reaction. Using an
optimal observable method and 29.5 fb^{-1} of data collected with the Belle
detector at the KEKB collider at sqrt{s} = 10.58 GeV, we find Re(d_tau) = (1.15
+- 1.70) x 10^{-17} ecm and Im(d_tau) = (-0.83 +- 0.86) x 10^{-17} ecm and set
the 95% confidence level limits -2.2 < Re(d_tau) < 4.5 (10^{-17}ecm) and -2.5 <
Im(d_tau) < 0.8 (10^{-17}ecm).Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, 21 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.
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 B+- -> omega K+- Decay
We report the first observation of the charmless two-body mode decay, and a new measurement of the branching fraction for the
decay. The measured branching fractions are
and . %and we set 90% confidence
level upper limits of %.
We also measure the partial rate asymmetry of decays
and obtain . The results are based on
a data sample of 29.4 fb collected on the resonance by
the Belle detector at the KEKB collider.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, resubmitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Observation of B0bar --> D(*)0 p pbar
The B meson decay modes B --> D p pbar and B --> D* p pbar have been studied
using 29.4 fb^{-1} of data collected with the Belle detector at KEKB. The B0bar
--> D0 p pbar and B0bar --> D*0 p pbar decays have been observed for the first
time with branching fractions Br(B0bar --> D0 p pbar) =(1.18\pm 0.15\pm 0.16)
10^{-4} and Br(B0bar --> D*0 p pbar) =(1.20^{+0.33}_{-0.29}\pm 0.21) 10^{-4}.
No signal has been found for the B+ --> D+ p pbar and B+ --> D*+ p pbar decay
modes, and the corresponding upper limits at 90% C.L. are presented.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submited to Phys. Rev. Let
Observation of B+ -> p pbar pi+, B0 -> p pbar K0, and B+ -> p pbar K*+
We report the first observation of a b -> u type charmless baryonic B decay,
B+ -> p pbar pi+, as well as b -> s type B0 -> p pbar K0 and B+ -> p pbar K*+
decays. The analysis is based on a 78fb^{-1} data sample recorded on the
Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at KEKB. We find BF(B+ -> p pbar
pi+) = (3.06^{+0.73}_{-0.62} \pm 0.37)*10^{-6}, BF(B0 -> p pbar K0)
=(1.88^{+0.77}_{-0.60} \pm 0.23)*10^{-6}, and BF(B+ -> p pbar K*+) =
(10.3^{+3.6 + 1.3}_{-2.8 -1.7})*10^{-6}. We also update BF(B+ -> p pbar K+) =
(5.66^{+0.67}_{-0.57} \pm 0.62)* 10^{-6}, and present an upper limit on BF(B0
-> p pbar K*0) at the 90% confidence level. A common feature of the observed
decay modes is threshold peaking in baryon pair invariant mass.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure file
Observation of Double cc bar Production in e+ e- Annihilation at sqrt{s} ~ 10.6 GeV
We report the observation of prompt J/psi via double ccbar production from
the e+e- continuum. In this process one ccbar pair fragments into a J/psi meson
while the remaining pair either produces a bound charmonium state or fragments
into open charm. Both cases have been observed: the first by studying the mass
spectrum of the system recoiling against the J/psi, and the second by
reconstructing the J/psi together with a charmed meson. We find cross-sections
of \sigma(e+ e- -> J/psi eta_c (gamma)) * BR (eta_c -> >=4 charged) = 0.033
(+0.007 -0.006)(stat) \pm 0.009(syst)pb and \sigma(e+ e- -> J/psi D*+ X) = 0.53
(+0.19 -0.15)(stat) \pm 0.14(syst) pb, and infer \sigma(e+ e- -> J/psi c cbar)
/ \sigma(e+ e- -> J/psi X) = 0.59 (+0.15 -0.13)(stat) \pm 0.12(syst). These
results are obtained from a 46.2/fb data sample collected near the Upsilon(4S)
resonance, with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+ e-
collider.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to be submitted to Physical Review Letter
Observation of a narrow charmonium-like state in exclusive B+ -> K+ pi+pi- J/psi decays
We report the observation of a narrow charmonium-like state produced in the
exclusive decay process B+ -> K+ pi+pi- J/psi. This state, which decays into
pi+pi- J/psi, has a mass of 3872.0+-0.6(stat)+-0.5(syst) MeV, a value that is
very near the M_D + M_D* mass threshold. The results are based on an analysis
of 152M B-Bbar events collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance in the Belle
detector at the KEKB collider. The statistical significance of the signal is in
excess of 10 sigma.Comment: 10 pages 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Observation of Cabibbo-suppressed and W-exchange Lambda_c^+ baryon decays
We present measurements of the Cabibbo-suppressed decays Lambda_c^+ -->
Lambda0 K+ and Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma0 K+ (both first observations), Lambda_c^+
--> Sigma+ K+ pi- (seen with large statistics for the first time), Lambda_c^+
--> p K+ K- and Lambda_c^+ --> p phi (measured with improved accuracy).
Improved branching ratio measurements for the decays Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ K+
K- and Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ phi, which are attributed to W-exchange diagrams,
are shown. We also present the first evidence for Lambda_c^+ --> Xi(1690)^0 K+
and set an upper limit on the non-resonant decay Lambda_c^+ --> Sigma+ K+ K-.
This analysis was performed using 32.6 fb^{-1} of data collected by the Belle
detector at the asymmetric e+ e- collider KEKB.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Lett. B. v2: A small correction to the Authorlist
was made. An earlier version of this analysis was released as
BELLE-CONF-0130, hep-ex/010800
Measurement of K^+K^- production in two-photon collisions in the resonant-mass region
K^+K^- production in two-photon collisions has been studied using a large
data sample of 67 fb^{-1} accumulated with the Belle detector at the KEKB
asymmetric e^+e^- collider. We have measured the cross section for the process
gamma gamma -> K^+ K^- for center-of-mass energies between 1.4 and 2.4 GeV, and
found three new resonant structures in the energy region between 1.6 and 2.4
GeV. The angular differential cross sections have also been measured.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Euro. Phys. Jour.
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