Prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity have dramatically increased worldwide in the last decades. Overweight and obesity are the result of a complex interaction between genetic and ...environmental factors. The aim of our longitudinal study was to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in a population of Italian schoolchildren followed for 2 years and to identify main risk factors for obesity onset and persistence in childhood. We enrolled 632 children (males /females=345/287), aged 3 to 8 yr. Weight and height were measured at time 0, 1 (1 yr later), and 2 (2 yr later). Overweight and obesity were defined using body mass index (BMI) (Italian growth charts). Data collected included: birth weight, gestational age, maternal weight gain during pregnancy, breastfeeding, parents’ BMI, educational level, and occupation type. At time 0, 1, and 2 the prevalence of overweight was 22%, 22%, and 25%, respectively, and the prevalence of obesity was 7%, 8%, and 8%, respectively. During follow-up 62% of children remained normal weight, 24% was always overweight or obese, 9% became overweight, while only 5% of overweight subjects became normal weight. Male gender, maternal weight gain during pregnancy >10 kg, parental overweight/obesity were positively associated with the presence of overweight during the entire follow-up. On the contrary, being small for gestational1 age at birth was negatively related to persistence of overweight. No influence was found for being breastfed, for parental low educational level, and manual occupation. A large prevalence of overweight/obesity was observed in Italian schoolchildren. Gender, maternal weight gain during pregnancy, and parents’ BMI were the strongest predictors of the persistence of child overweight and obesity.
We report a fully inclusive measurement of the flavor changing neutral current decay B'Xsg in the energy range 1.7 GeV'E''2.8 GeV, covering 97% of the total spectrum, where c.m.s is the center of ...mass system. Using 605 fb-1 of data, we obtain in the rest frame of the B-meson '(B'Xsg:E' > 1.7 GeV) = (3.31+/-0.19+/-0.37+/-0.01)X10-4, where the errors are statistical, systematic and from the boost correction needed to transform from the rest frame of the U(4S) (c.m.s) to that of the B-meson, respectively. We also measure the first and second moments of the photon energy spectrum as functions of various energy thresholds, which extend down to 1.7 GeV. The results are preliminary.
We report measurements of the branching fraction and CP violation parameters in B{sup 0}{yields}D{sup +}D{sup -} decays. The results are based on a data sample that contains 535x10{sup 6} BB pairs ...collected at the {upsilon}(4S) resonance, with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider. We obtain 1.97{+-}0.20(stat){+-}0.20(syst)x10{sup -4} for the branching fraction of B{sup 0}{yields}D{sup +}D{sup -}. The measured values of the CP violation parameters are S=-1.13{+-}0.37{+-}0.09, A=0.91{+-}0.23{+-}0.06, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. We find evidence of CP violation in B{sup 0}{yields}D{sup +}D{sup -} at the 4.1{sigma} confidence level. While the value of S is consistent with expectations from other measurements, the value of the parameter A favors large direct CP violation at the 3.2{sigma} confidence level, in contradiction to standard model expectations.
We report a new measurement of the time-dependent CP-violating parameters in B{sup 0}{yields}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} decays with 535x10{sup 6} BB pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB ...asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider operating at the {upsilon}(4S) resonance. We find 1464{+-}65 B{sup 0}{yields}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} events and measure the CP-violating parameters S{sub {pi}}{sub {pi}}=-0.61{+-}0.10(stat){+-}0.04(syst) and A{sub {pi}}{sub {pi}}=+0.55{+-}0.08(stat){+-}0.05(syst). We observe large direct CP violation with a significance greater than 5 standard deviations for any S{sub {pi}}{sub {pi}} value. Using isospin relations, we measure the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark-mixing matrix angle {phi}{sub 2}=(97{+-}11) deg. for the solution consistent with the standard model and exclude the range 11 deg. <{phi}{sub 2}<79 deg. at the 95% confidence level.
We report the first observation of B{sup 0}{yields}J/{psi}{eta} decay. These results are obtained from a data sample that contains 449x10{sup 6} BB pairs accumulated at the {upsilon}(4S) resonance ...with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider. We observe a signal with a significance of 8.1{sigma} and obtain a branching fraction of (9.5{+-}1.7(stat){+-}0.8(syst))x10{sup -6}.
We report results of a search for the invisible decay of the {upsilon}(1S) via the {upsilon}(3S){yields}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{upsilon}(1S) transition using a data sample of 2.9 fb{sup -1} at the ...{upsilon}(3S) resonance. The data were collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider. No signal is found, and an upper limit for the branching fraction at the 90% confidence level is determined to be B({upsilon}(1S){yields}invisible)<2.5x10{sup -3}.
We report the first observation of a charmoniumlike state recoiling from the J/{psi} in the inclusive process e{sup +}e{sup -}{yields}J/{psi}+anything at a mass of (3.943{+-}0.006{+-}0.006) GeV/c{sup ...2}. We also observe the decay of this state into D*D and determine its intrinsic width to be less than 52 MeV/c{sup 2} at the 90% C.L. These results are obtained from a 357 fb{sup -1} data sample collected with the Belle detector near the {upsilon}(4S) resonance, at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider.
The inclusive production of D{sub s}, D{sup 0}, and J/{psi} mesons is studied using a 1.86 fb{sup -1} data sample collected on the {upsilon}(5S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB ...asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider. The number of bb events in this {upsilon}(5S) data sample is determined. We measure the branching fractions B({upsilon}(5S){yields}D{sub s}X)/2=(23.6{+-}1.2{+-}3.6)%, B({upsilon}(5S){yields}D{sup 0}X)/2=(53.8{+-}2.0{+-}3.4)%, and B({upsilon}(5S){yields}J/{psi}X)/2=(1.030{+-}0.080{+-}0.067)%. From the D{sub s} and D{sup 0} inclusive branching fractions the ratio f{sub s}=(18.0{+-}1.3{+-}3.2)% of B{sub s}{sup (*)}B{sub s}{sup (*)} to the total bb quark pair production at the {upsilon}(5S) energy is obtained in a model-dependent way.
We present the partial branching fraction for inclusive charmless semileptonic B decays and the corresponding value of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |V{ub}|, using a multivariate ...analysis method to access approximately 90% of the B-->X{u}lnu phase space. This approach dramatically reduces the theoretical uncertainties from the b-quark mass and nonperturbative QCD compared to all previous inclusive measurements. The results are based on a sample of 657x10{6} BBover pairs collected with the Belle detector. We find that DeltaB(B-->X{u}lnu;p(l){*B}>1.0 GeV/c)=1.963x(1+/-0.088{stat}+/-0.081{syst})x10{-3}. Corresponding values of |V{ub}| are extracted using several theoretical calculations.
Using a 282 fb{sup -1} data sample collected by the Belle experiment at the KEKB e{sup +}e{sup -} collider, we study D{sup 0} decays to K{sup -}l{sup +}{nu} and {pi}{sup -}l{sup +}{nu} final states. ...The D{sup 0} flavor and momentum are tagged through a full reconstruction of the recoiling charm meson and additional mesons from fragmentation. The reconstruction method provides very good resolution in neutrino momentum and in q{sup 2}=(p{sub l}+p{sub {nu}}){sup 2}. Normalizing to the total number of D{sup 0} tags, we measure the absolute branching fractions to be B(D{sup 0}{yields}Kl{nu})=(3.45{+-}0.07{sub stat}{+-}0.20{sub syst})% and B(D{sup 0}{yields}{pi}l{nu})=(0.255{+-}0.019{sub stat}{+-}0.016{sub syst})% and the semileptonic form factors (within the modified pole model) f{sub +}{sup K}(0)=0.695{+-}0.007{sub stat}{+-}0.022{sub syst} and f{sub +}{sup {pi}}(0)=0.624{+-}0.020{sub stat}{+-}0.030{sub syst}.
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