With the full data sample of 772×106 BB¯ pairs recorded by the Belle detector at the KEKB electron-positron collider, the decay B¯→D*τ−ν¯τ is studied with the hadronic τ decays τ−→π−ντ and τ−→ρ−ντ. ...The τ polarization Pτ(D*) in two-body hadronic τ decays is measured, as well as the ratio of the branching fractions R(D*)=B(B¯→D*τ−ν¯τ)/B(B¯→D*ℓ−ν¯ℓ), where ℓ− denotes an electron or a muon. Our results, Pτ(D*)=−0.38±0.51(stat)−0.16+0.21(syst) and R(D*)=0.270±0.035(stat)−0.025+0.028(syst), are consistent with the theoretical predictions of the standard model. The polarization values of Pτ(D*)>+0.5 are excluded at the 90% confidence level.
Nutritional status affects well-being and survival in patients who are undergoing hemodialysis. It was examined how maintenance hemodialysis altered body fat mass. In 72 patients with chronic renal ...failure (age, 62 +/- 12 yr; 42 men, 30 women), body fat was measured by dual x-ray absorptiometry 1 mo after initiation of maintenance hemodialysis and approximately 1 yr later (mean +/- SD, 11 +/- 2 mo). The second measurement showed significantly greater body fat mass than the first (11.38 +/- 3.84 versus 10.09 +/- 4.12 kg; P < 0.0001). After calculation of the change in body fat mass per month, no significant differences were evident in relation to gender or to presence of diabetes. Changes in body fat mass per month correlated negatively with baseline serum albumin concentration (r = -0.449, P < 0.0001) and baseline body fat mass (r = -0.423, P < 0.001). These factors independently influenced the change according to multiple regression analysis (R(2) = 0.323, P < 0.0001). In conclusion, body fat mass increases significantly in the first year of maintenance hemodialysis, especially in patients with poor nutritional status. More general, dual x-ray absorptiometry assessment of body fat mass was found to be useful for evaluating the nutritional status of hemodialysis patients.
In this paper, we present the analysis and results of a direct measurement of the cosmic-ray proton spectrum with the CALET instrument onboard the International Space Station, including the detailed ...assessment of systematic uncertainties. The observation period used in this analysis is from October 13, 2015 to August 31, 2018 (1054 days). We have achieved the very wide energy range necessary to carry out measurements of the spectrum from 50 GeV to 10 TeV covering, for the first time in space, with a single instrument the whole energy interval previously investigated in most cases in separate subranges by magnetic spectrometers (BESS-TeV, PAMELA, and AMS-02) and calorimetric instruments (ATIC, CREAM, and NUCLEON). The observed spectrum is consistent with AMS-02 but extends to nearly an order of magnitude higher energy, showing a very smooth transition of the power-law spectral index from -2.81±0.03 (50-500 GeV) neglecting solar modulation effects (or -2.87±0.06 including solar modulation effects in the lower energy region) to -2.56±0.04 (1-10 TeV), thereby confirming the existence of spectral hardening and providing evidence of a deviation from a single power law by more than 3σ.
Extended results on the cosmic-ray electron + positron spectrum from 11 GeV to 4.8 TeV are presented based on observations with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) on the International Space ...Station utilizing the data up to November 2017. The analysis uses the full detector acceptance at high energies, approximately doubling the statistics compared to the previous result. CALET is an all-calorimetric instrument with a total thickness of 30 X_{0} at normal incidence and fine imaging capability, designed to achieve large proton rejection and excellent energy resolution well into the TeV energy region. The observed energy spectrum in the region below 1 TeV shows good agreement with Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) data. In the energy region below ∼300 GeV, CALET's spectral index is found to be consistent with the AMS-02, Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT), and Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), while from 300 to 600 GeV the spectrum is significantly softer than the spectra from the latter two experiments. The absolute flux of CALET is consistent with other experiments at around a few tens of GeV. However, it is lower than those of DAMPE and Fermi-LAT with the difference increasing up to several hundred GeV. The observed energy spectrum above ∼1 TeV suggests a flux suppression consistent within the errors with the results of DAMPE, while CALET does not observe any significant evidence for a narrow spectral feature in the energy region around 1.4 TeV. Our measured all-electron flux, including statistical errors and a detailed breakdown of the systematic errors, is tabulated in the Supplemental Material in order to allow more refined spectral analyses based on our data.
We observed the distribution pattern of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV in rat brain and spinal cord using an immunohistochemical method by light and electron microscopy. Particularly ...strong immunoreactivity was detected in the telencephalic structures such as the olfactory bulb, cerebral cortex, hippocampal formation, caudate-putamen, most nuclei of the dorsal thalamus and the granule cell layer of the cerebellum. Relatively weak staining was observed in the amygdaloid body, some neuron groups of the brainstem reticular formation, the inferior olivary nucleus and the posterior horn of the spinal cord. Immunohistochemical reactivity was not detected in the globus pallidus, substantia nigra, sensory and motor nuclei of the cranial nerves, or in the spinal cord anterior horn. Overall, the distribution of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV-like immunoreactivity broadly paralleled the sites of expression of signals for messenger RNA of this enzyme. At the subcellular level, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV-like immunoreactivity appeared exclusively in the nuclei of neurons in the various brain regions, and immunopositive reactivity, although less strong, was also observed in dendritic processes, as well as on the granular endoplasmic reticulum in neuronal somata in these areas. Axon terminals, however, did not show immunoreactivity. These studies demonstrate that Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV-like immunoreactivity is distributed widely in the central nervous system. The significance of the localization of this enzyme in nuclei is discussed in relation to gene expression.
Background. βsub2-Microglobulin (βsub2-M) is recognized as a surrogate marker of middle-molecule uraemic toxins and is a key component in the genesis of dialysis-associated amyloidosis. Few studies ...have evaluated the association of βsub2-M levels with clinical outcome in dialyzed patients. Methods. The prognostic implication of serum βsub2-M levels for the survival of haemodialysis patients was examined in 490 prevalent haemodialysis patients (60.1 ± 11.8 years, haemodialysis duration of 87.4 ± 75.7 months, 288 males and 202 females; 24% diabetics). The patients were divided into two groups according to their serum βsub2-M levels: lower βsub2-M group (n = 245) with serum βsub2-M <32.2 mg/L (the median serum βsub2-M) and higher βsub2-M group (n = 245) with that ≥32.2 mg/L. Results. During the follow-up period of 40 ± 15 months, there were 91 all-cause deaths, and out of them, 36 were from cardiovascular diseases. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that all-cause mortality in the higher βsub2-M group was significantly higher compared to that in the lower βsub2-M group (P < 0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses showed that serum βsub2-M level was a significant predictor for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01-1.08; P = 0.005), and for non-cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.02-1.10; P = 0.006), after adjustment for age, gender, haemodialysis duration, the presence of diabetes, serum albumin and serum C-reactive protein. Conclusion. These results demonstrate that the serum βsub2-M level is a significant predictor of mortality in haemodialysis patients, independent of haemodialysis duration, diabetes, malnutrition and chronic inflammation, suggesting the clinical importance of lowering serum βsub2-M in these patients.
We present a determination of the magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |Vcb| using the decay B → Dℓνℓ (ℓ = e,μ) based on 711 fb–1 of e+e– → Υ(4S) data recorded by the Belle ...detector and containing 772 × 106 BB¯ pairs. Here, one B meson in the event is fully reconstructed in a hadronic decay mode, while the other, on the signal side, is partially reconstructed from a charged lepton and either a D+ or D0 meson in a total of 23 hadronic decay modes. The isospin-averaged branching fraction of the decay B → Dℓνℓ is found to be B(B0 → D–ℓ+νℓ) = (2.31 ± 0.03(stat) ± 0.11(syst))%. Analyzing the differential decay rate as a function of the hadronic recoil with the parametrization of Caprini, Lellouch, and Neubert and using the form-factor prediction G(1) = 1.0541 ± 0.0083 calculated by FNAL/MILC, we obtain ηEW|Vcb| = (40.12 ± 1.34) × 10–3, where ηEW is the electroweak correction factor. Alternatively, assuming the model-independent form-factor parametrization of Boyd, Grinstein, and Lebed and using lattice QCD data from the FNAL/MILC and HPQCD collaborations, we find ηEW|Vcb| = (41.10 ± 1.14) × 10–3.
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