144 research outputs found
Std fimbriae-fucose interaction increases Salmonella-induced intestinal inflammation and prolongs colonization
Author summary The intestinal epithelium is a crucial biological interface, interacting with both commensal and pathogenic microorganisms. It’s lined with heavily glycosylated proteins and glycolipids which can act as both attachment sites and energy sources for intestinal bacteria. Fut2, the enzyme governing epithelial α1,2-fucosylation, has been implicated in the interaction between microbes and intestinal epithelial cells. Salmonella is one of the most important bacterial gastrointestinal pathogens affecting millions of people worldwide. Salmonella possesses fimbrial and non-fimbrial adhesins which can be used to adhere to host cells. Here we show that Salmonella expresses Std fimbriae in the gastrointestinal tract in vivo and exploit Std fimbriae to bind fucosylated structures in the mucus and on the intestinal epithelium. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the Std fimbriae-fucose interaction is necessary for bacterial colonization of the intestine and for triggering intestinal inflammation. These data lend new insights into bacterial adhesion-epithelial interactions which are essential for bacterial pathogenesis and key factors in determining tissue tropism and host susceptibility to infectious disease
Search for eta-mesic 4He in the dd->3He n pi0 and dd->3He p pi- reactions with the WASA-at-COSY facility
The search for 4He-eta bound states was performed with the WASA-at-COSY
facility via the measurement of the excitation function for the dd->3He n pi0
and dd->3He p pi- processes. The beam momentum was varied continuously between
2.127 GeV/c and 2.422 GeV/c, corresponding to the excess energy for the dd->4He
eta reaction ranging from Q=-70 MeV to Q=30 MeV. The luminosity was determined
based on the dd->3He n reaction and quasi-free proton-proton scattering via
dd->pp n_spectator n_spectator reactions. The excitation functions determined
independently for the measured reactions do not reveal a structure which could
be interpreted as a narrow mesic nucleus. Therefore, the upper limits of the
total cross sections for the bound state production and decay in
dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He n pi0 and dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He p pi- processes
were determined taking into account the isospin relation between both the
channels considered. The results of the analysis depend on the assumptions of
the N* momentum distribution in the anticipated mesic-4He. Assuming as in the
previous works, that this is identical with the distribution of nucleons bound
with 20 MeV in 4He, we determined that (for the mesic bound state width in the
range from 5 MeV to 50 MeV) the upper limits at 90% confidence level are about
3 nb and about 6 nb for npi0 and ppi- channels, respectively. However, based on
the recent theoretical findings of the N*(1535) momentum distribution in the
N*-3He nucleus bound by 3.6 MeV, we find that the WASA-at-COSY detector
acceptance decreases and hence the corresponding upper limits are 5 nb and 10
nb for npi0 and ppi- channels respectively.Comment: This article will be submitted to JHE
Search for the eta-mesic 4He with WASA-at-COSY detector
An exclusive measurement of the excitation function for the dd->3Heppi-
reaction was performed at the Cooler Synchrotron COSY-Juelich with the
WASA-at-COSY detection system. The data were taken during a slow acceleration
of the beam from 2.185 GeV/c to 2.400 GeV/c crossing the kinematic threshold
for the eta meson production in the dd->4He-eta reaction at 2.336 GeV/c. The
corresponding excess energy with respect to the 4He-eta system varied from
-51.4MeV to 22MeV. The integrated luminosity in the experiment was determined
using the dd->3Hen reaction. The shape of the excitation function for the
dd->3Heppi- was examined. No signal of the 4He-eta bound state was observed. An
upper limit for the cross-section for the bound state formation and decay in
the process dd->(4He-eta)bound->3Heppi- was determined on the 90% confidence
level and it varies from 20nb to 27nb for the bound state width ranging from
5MeV to 35MeV, respectively.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure
ABC Effect in Basic Double-Pionic Fusion --- Observation of a new resonance?
We report on a high-statistics measurement of the basic double pionic fusion
reaction over the energy region of the so-called ABC
effect, a pronounced low-mass enhancement in the -invariant mass
spectrum. The measurements were performed with the WASA detector setup at COSY.
The data reveal the ABC effect to be associated with a Lorentzian shaped energy
dependence in the integral cross section. The observables are consistent with a
resonance with in both and systems.
Necessary further tests of the resonance interpretation are discussed
Measurement of the Reaction in Search for the Recently Observed Resonance Structure in and systems
Exclusive measurements of the quasi-free reaction have
been performed by means of collisions at = 1.2 GeV using the WASA
detector setup at COSY. Total and differential cross sections have been
obtained covering the energy region = (2.35 - 2.46) GeV, which
includes the region of the ABC effect and its associated resonance structure.
No ABC effect, {\it i.e.} low-mass enhancement is found in the
-invariant mass spectrum -- in agreement with the constraint from
Bose statistics that the isovector pion pair can not be in relative s-wave. At
the upper end of the covered energy region -channel processes for Roper,
and excitations provide a reasonable description
of the data, but at low energies the measured cross sections are much larger
than predicted by such processes. Adding a resonance amplitude for the
resonance at =~2.37 GeV with =~70 MeV and observed
recently in and reactions leads to an
agreement with the data also at low energies
Charge Symmetry Breaking in dd->4He{\pi}0 with WASA-at-COSY
Charge symmetry breaking (CSB) observables are a suitable experimental tool
to examine effects induced by quark masses on the nuclear level. Previous high
precision data from TRIUMF and IUCF are currently used to develop a consistent
description of CSB within the framework of chiral perturbation theory. In this
work the experimental studies on the reaction dd->4He{\pi}0 have been extended
towards higher excess energies in order to provide information on the
contribution of p-waves in the final state. For this, an exclusive measurement
has been carried out at a beam momentum of p=1.2 GeV/c using the WASA-at-COSY
facility. The total cross section amounts to sigma(tot) = (118 +- 18(stat) +-
13(sys) +- 8(ext)) pb and first data on the differential cross section are
consistent with s-wave pion production.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
ABC Effect and Resonance Structure in the Double-Pionic Fusion to He
Exclusive and kinematically complete measurements of the double pionic fusion
to He have been performed in the energy region of the so-called ABC effect,
which denotes a pronounced low-mass enhancement in the -invariant mass
spectrum. The experiments were carried out with the WASA detector setup at
COSY. Similar to the observations in the basic reaction
and in the He reaction, the data reveal a correlation
between the ABC effect and a resonance-like energy dependence in the total
cross section. Differential cross sections are well described by the hypothesis
of resonance formation during the reaction process in addition to the
conventional -channel mechanism. The deduced resonance
width can be understood from collision broadening due to Fermi motion of the
nucleons in initial and final nuclei
Cross section ratio and angular distributions of the reaction p + d -> 3He + eta at 48.8 MeV and 59.8 MeV excess energy
We present new data for angular distributions and on the cross section ratio
of the p + d -> 3He + eta reaction at excess energies of Q = 48.8 MeV and Q =
59.8 MeV. The data have been obtained at the WASA-at-COSY experiment
(Forschungszentrum J\"ulich) using a proton beam and a deuterium pellet target.
While the shape of obtained angular distributions show only a slow variation
with the energy, the new results indicate a distinct and unexpected total cross
section fluctuation between Q = 20 MeV and Q = 60 MeV, which might indicate the
variation of the production mechanism within this energy interval.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Search for a dark photon in the decay
The presently world largest data sample of pi0 --> gamma e+e- decays
containing nearly 5E5 events was collected using the WASA detector at COSY. A
search for a dark photon U produced in the pi0 --> gamma U --> gamma e+e- decay
from the pp-->pp\pi^0 reaction was carried out. An upper limit on the square of
the U-gamma mixing strength parameter epsilon^2 of 5e-6 at 90% CL was obtained
for the mass range 20 MeV <M_U< 100 MeV. This result together with other recent
experimental limits significantly reduces the M_U vs. \epsilon^2 parameter
space preferred by the measured value of the muon anomalous magnetic moment.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures; improved analysis extending the exclusion region
to 20 MeV<M_U< 100 MeV; implemented changes requested by referee
- …