Measurement of the e;{+}e;{-}-->bb[over ] Cross Section between sqrt[s]=10.54 and 11.20 GeV

We report e;{+}e;{-}-->bb[over ] cross section measurements by the BABAR experiment performed during an energy scan in the range of 10.54 to 11.20 GeV at the SLAC PEP-II e;{+}e;{-} collider. A total relative error of about 5% is reached in more than 300 center-of-mass energy steps, separated by about 5 MeV. These measurements can be used to derive precise information on the parameters of the Upsilon(10860) and Upsilon(11020) resonances. In particular we show that their widths may be smaller than previously measured.

Anti H.pylori IgM in symptomatic and asymptomatic population

To evaluate the usefulness of specific IgM in the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection, a cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of Microbiology, Mymensingh Medical College between July 2006 to June 2007. A total of 45 patients having upper gastrointestinal symptoms underwent endoscopy and were subsequently diagnosed as patients with gastritis, peptic ulcer (PU) and non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD) and another 45 asymptomatic individuals aged 18-65 years, were included in the study. The serum samples of participants were tested for presence of anti-H pylori IgM by using ELISA method. The ELISA for anti H. pylori IgM provided sensitivity and specificity of 73.33%, 93.33% respectively.

PCR for mecA gene of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus

The study was under taken to detect mecA gene of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by PCR. It was carried out in the department of Microbiology, Mymensingh Medical College in collaboration with the Department of Medicine under the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh between the periods from July 2006 to June 2007. A total of 40 S. aureus strains were used in this study. Isolates of S. aureus were identified by standard microbiology technique and their antimicrobial susceptibility test was done by disk diffusion method according to NCCLS. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of oxacillin was determined for all isolates by standard agar plate dilution method. All strains were tested for mecA gene by PCR. Out of 40 S. aureus strains 15(37.5%) were detected as MRSA by disk diffusion and agar dilution method but 10(25%) yielded mecA gene by PCR. Detection rate of MRSA by disk diffusion and agar dilution test showed significant difference to that by PCR (p<0.001).

Comparison between DOT EIA IgM and Widal Test as early diagnosis of typhoid fever

A recently developed DOT enzyme immunoassay known as "Typhidot" for detecting IgM antibody against 50 KDa OMP antigen of Salmonella typhi, was evaluated on 100 clinically suspected typhoid fever cases and 40 age-sex matched controls, in the Department of Microbiology, Mymensingh Medical College during, the period from June 2006 to July 2007. Blood culture, Widal test, and DOT EIA for IgM test were performed in all patients. Among 100 clinically suspected typhoid fever cases, 35 were subsequently confirmed on the basis of positive blood culture for S. typhi and/or significant rising titre of Widal test. The DOT EIA IgM test could produce results within 1 hour. The result of the DOT EIA IgM test showed a good diagnostic value for typhoid fever. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of the test was found as 91.42%, 90.00%, 88.88% and 92.30% respectively. On the other hand corresponding values for Widal test were of 42.85%, 85.00%, 71.42% and 62.96% respectively. Thus, The DOT EIA IgM seems to be a practical alternative to Widal test for early diagnosis of typhoid fever.

Measurement of the branching fractions of B-->D**(l) nu(l) decays in events tagged by a fully reconstructed B meson

We report a measurement of the branching fractions of B-->D**(l) nu(l), decays based on 417 fb(-1) of data collected at the Y(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- storage rings. Events are selected by full reconstructing one of the B mesons in a hadronic decay mode. A fit to the invariant mass differences m(D(*) pi)- m(D(*)) is performed to extract the signal yields of the different D** states. We observe the B-->D**l(-1)nu(l) decay modes corresponding to the four D states predicted by heavy quark symmetry with a significance greater than 5 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties.

Searches for B meson decays to phiphi, phirho, phif_{0}(980), and f_{0}(980)f_{0}(980) final states

We present the results of searches for B decays to charmless final states involving varphi, f_{0}(980), and charged or neutral rho mesons. The data sample corresponds to 384x10;{6} BB[over ] pairs collected with the BABAR detector operating at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e;{+}e;{-} collider at SLAC. We find no significant signals and determine the following 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions, including systematic uncertainties: B(B;{0}-->varphivarphi)<2.0x10;{-7}, B(B;{+}-->varphirho;{+})<30x10;{-7}, B(B;{0}-->varphirho;{0})<3.3x10;{-7}, B[B;{0}-->varphif_{0}(980)]xB[f_{0}(980)-->pi;{+}pi;{-}]<3.8x10;{-7}, and B[B;{0}-->f_{0}(980)f_{0}(980)]xB[f_{0}(980)-->pi;{+}pi;{-}]xB[f_{0}(980)-->K;{+}K;{-}]<2.3x10;{-7}.

Retrieving quantum yield of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence near surface from hyperspectral in-situ measurement in productive water

Magnitude and quantum yield (eta) of sun induced chlorophyll fluorescence are determined in widely varying productive waters with chlorophyll concentrations from 2- 200 mg/m(3). Fluorescence was estimated using linear fitting of in-situ measured surface reflectance with elastic and inelastic reflectance spectra. Elastic reflectance spectra were obtained from Hydrolight simulations with measured absorption and attenuation spectra as inputs. Eta is then computed based on a depth integrated fluorescence model and compared with Hydrolight calculation results. Despite the large variability of coastal environments examined the ? values are found to vary over a relatively narrow range 0.1%-1% with mean values of 0.33%+/-0.17%.

Measurement of the CP asymmetry in b-->sgamma using a sum of exclusive final states

We perform a measurement of the CP asymmetry in b-->sgamma decays using a sample of 383 x 10(6) B[over] B events collected by the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric B factory. We reconstruct 16 flavor-specific B decay modes containing a high-energy photon and a hadronic system X_(s) containing an s quark. We measure the CP asymmetry to be -0.011+/-0.030(stat)+/-0.014(syst) for a hadronic system mass between 0.6 and 2.8 GeV/c(2).

Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases (ESBLs): Characterization, Epidemiology and Detection

Beta-lactamases of Enterobacteriaceae are the most important mechanism of resistance against beta-lactam drugs. Two types of beta-lactamases can confer resistance against 3rd generation cephalosporins. Chromosomally mediated beta-lactamases are inducible and are not inhibited by clavulanic acid. Resistance due to these enzymes is non-transferable. The 2nd type of enzyme is plasmid-mediated beta-lactamases, which are inhibited by clavulanic acid. These enzymes are more important clinically as these can be transferred between various species of Enterobacteriaceae. These enzymes are called extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs). ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae have been responsible for numerous outbreaks of infection throughout the world and pose challenging infection control issues. Antibacterial choice is often complicated by multi-resistance. ESBLs can confer resistance against all beta-lactam drugs except carbapenems and cephamycins. Nursing home patients may be an important reservoir of ESBL-containing multiple antibiotic-resistant organisms. Use of broad-spectrum oral antibiotics and probably poor infection control practices may facilitate spread of this plasmid-mediated resistance. In addition to known populations at risk, ambulatory patients with chronic conditions represent another patient population that may harbor ESBL-producing organisms. Various methods can be used for detection of ESBLs in the laboratory. These tests include double disc diffusion test, Vitek ESBL test, E Tests, MIC Determination, genetic method, and isoelectric focusing (IEF).

Observation and polarization measurements of B+/- -->phiK1 +/- and B +/- -->phiK2 *+/-

With the full BABAR data sample of 465 x 10(6) B(over)B pairs, we observe the decays B+/- -->phiK_(1)(1270) +/- and B +/- -->phiK*_(2)(1430)+/-. We measure the branching fractions (6.1+/-1.6+/-1.1) x 10(-6) and (8.4+/-1.8+/-1.0) x 10(-6) and the fractions of longitudinal polarization 0.46 (+0.12+0.06) _(-0.13-0.07) and 0.80(+0.09)_(-0.10)+/-0.03, respectively. We also report on the B+/- -->phiK*_(0)(1430)+/- decay branching fraction of (7.0+/-1.3+/-0.9) x 10(-6) and several parameters sensitive to CP violation and interference in the above three decays. Upper limits are placed on the B+/- decay rates to final states with phi and K_1(1400)+/-, K*(1410)+/-, K2(1770)+/-, or K_2(1820)+/-. Understanding the observed polarization pattern requires amplitude contributions from an uncertain source.

Study of B meson decays with excited eta and eta' mesons

Using 383 x 10(6) BBover pairs from the BABAR data sample, we report results for branching fractions of six charged B-meson decay modes, where a charged kaon recoils against a charmless resonance decaying to KKover* or etapipi final states with mass in the range (1.2-1.8) GeV/c2. We observe a significant enhancement at the low KKover* invariant mass which is interpreted as B+-->eta(1475)K+, find evidence for the decay B+-->eta(1295)K+, and place upper limits on the decays B+-->eta(1405)K+, B+-->f1(1285)K+, B+-->f1(1420)K+, and B+-->phi(1680)K+.

Observation of Y(3940) --> J/psiomega in B --> J/psiomegaK at BABAR

We present a study of the decays B;{0,+}-->J/psiomegaK;{0,+} using 383x10;{6} BB[over ] events obtained with the BABAR detector at PEP-II. We observe Y(3940)-->J/psiomega, with mass 3914.6_{-3.4};{+3.8}(stat)+/-2.0(syst) MeV/c;{2}, and width 34_{-8};{+12}(stat)+/-5(syst) MeV. The ratio of B0 and B+ decay to YK is 0.27_{-0.23};{+0.28}(stat)-0.01+0.04(syst), and the relevant B0 and B+ branching fractions are reported.

Measurements of B --> {pi,eta,eta;{'}}lnu_{l} branching fractions and determination of |V_{ub}| with semileptonically tagged B mesons

We report measurements of branching fractions for the decays B-->Plnu_{l}, where P are the pseudoscalar charmless mesons pi;{-}, pi;{0}, eta and eta;{'}, based on 348 fb;{-1} of data collected with the BABAR detector, using B0 and B+ mesons found in the recoil of a second B meson decaying as B-->D;{(*)}lnu_{l}. Assuming isospin symmetry, we combine pionic branching fractions to obtain B(B;{0}-->pi;{-}l;{+}nu_{l})=(1.54+/-0.17_{(stat)}+/-0.09_{(syst)})x10;{-4}; we find 3.2sigma evidence of the decay B;{+}-->etal;{+}nu_{l} and measure its branching fraction to be (0.64+/-0.20_{(stat)}+/-0.03_{(syst)})x10;{-4}, and determine B(B;{+}-->eta;{'}l;{+}nu_{l})<0.47x10;{-4} to 90% confidence level. Using partial branching fractions for the pionic decays in ranges of the momentum transfer and a variety of form factor calculation, we obtain values of the magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |V_{ub}| in ranging from 3.6x10;{-3} to 4.1x10;{-3}.

Observation of the bottomonium ground state in the decay Upsilon(3S)-->gammaetab

We report the results of a search for the bottomonium ground state etab(1S) in the photon energy spectrum with a sample of (109+/-1) million of Upsilon(3S) recorded at the Upsilon(3S) energy with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B factory at SLAC. We observe a peak in the photon energy spectrum at Egamma=921.2(-2.8)+2.1(stat)+/-2.4(syst) MeV with a significance of 10 standard deviations. We interpret the observed peak as being due to monochromatic photons from the radiative transition Upsilon(3S)-->gammaetab(1S). This photon energy corresponds to an etab(1S) mass of 9388.9(-2.3)+3.1(stat)+/-2.7(syst) MeV/c2. The hyperfine Upsilon(1S)-etab(1S) mass splitting is 71.4(-3.1)+2.3(stat)+/-2.7(syst) MeV/c2. The branching fraction for this radiative Upsilon(3S) decay is estimated to be [4.8+/-0.5(stat)+/-1.2(syst)]x10(-4).