Search

Background: Sepsis remains a common condition with high mortality when multiple organ failure develops. The evidence for therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in this setting is promising but inconclusive. Our study aims to evaluate the efficacy of adjunct TPE for septic shock with multiple organ failure compared to standard therapy alone. Methods: A retrospective, observational chart review was performed, evaluating outcomes of patients with catecholamine resistant septic shock and multiple organ failure in Intensive Care Units at a tertiary care hospital in Winston Salem, North Carolina from August 2015- March 2019. Adult patients with catecholamine resistant septic shock (≥ 2 vasopressors) and evidence of multiple organ failure were included. Patients who received adjunct TPE were identified and compared to patients who received standard care alone. A propensity score using age, gender, chronic co-morbidities (HTN, DM, CKD, COPD), APACHE II score, SOFA score, lactate level, and number of vasopressors was used to match patients, resulting in 40 patients in each arm. Results: Mean baseline APACHE II and SOFA scores were 32.5 and 14.3 in TPE patients versus 32.7 and 13.8 in control patients. The 28-day mortality rate was 40% in the TPE group versus 65% in the standard care group (p=0.043). Improvements in baseline SOFA scores at 48 hours were greater in the TPE group compared to standard care alone (p=0.001), and patients receiving adjunct TPE had a more favorable fluid balance at 48 hours (p=0.01). Patients receiving adjunct TPE had longer ICU and hospital lengths of stay (p=0.003 and p=0.006). Conclusions: Our retrospective, observational study in adult patients with septic shock and multiple organ failure demonstrated improved 28-day survival with adjunct TPE compared to standard care alone. Hemodynamics, organ dysfunction, and fluid balance all improved with adjunct TPE, while lengths of stay were increased in survivors. The study design does not allow for a generalized statement of support for TPE in all cases of sepsis with multiple organ failure but offers valuable information for a prospective, randomized clinical trial.

Background Sepsis remains a common condition with high mortality when multiple organ failure develops. The evidence for therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in this setting is promising but inconclusive. Our study aims to evaluate the efficacy of adjunct TPE for septic shock with multiple organ failure compared to standard therapy alone. Methods A retrospective, observational chart review was performed, evaluating outcomes of patients with catecholamine-resistant septic shock and multiple organ failure in intensive care units at a tertiary care hospital in Winston-Salem, NC, from August 2015 to March 2019. Adult patients with catecholamine-resistant septic shock (≥ 2 vasopressors) and evidence of multiple organ failure were included. Patients who received adjunct TPE were identified and compared to patients who received standard care alone. A propensity score using age, gender, chronic co-morbidities (HTN, DM, CKD, COPD), APACHE II score, SOFA score, lactate level, and number of vasopressors was used to match patients, resulting in 40 patients in each arm. Results The mean baseline APACHE II and SOFA scores were 32.5 and 14.3 in TPE patients versus 32.7 and 13.8 in control patients, respectively. The 28-day mortality rate was 40% in the TPE group versus 65% in the standard care group (p = 0.043). Improvements in baseline SOFA scores at 48 h were greater in the TPE group compared to standard care alone (p = 0.001), and patients receiving adjunct TPE had a more favorable fluid balance at 48 h (p = 0.01). Patients receiving adjunct TPE had longer ICU and hospital lengths of stay (p = 0.003 and p = 0.006, respectively). Conclusions Our retrospective, observational study in adult patients with septic shock and multiple organ failure demonstrated improved 28-day survival with adjunct TPE compared to standard care alone. Hemodynamics, organ dysfunction, and fluid balance all improved with adjunct TPE, while lengths of stay were increased in survivors. The study design does not allow for a generalized statement of support for TPE in all cases of sepsis with multiple organ failure but offers valuable information for a prospective, randomized clinical trial.

This paper presents a long-term set of total column densities of N2O, CH4, HF, COF2, HCl, ClONO2, O3, NO, NO2 and HNO3, measured with an ABB Bomem DA8 Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer and a consistent methodology, during fall and spring at Eureka (80°N), Nunavut, Canada. The instrumentation, observations and retrievals of the column densities from infrared atmospheric solar absorption spectra are described in detail, including an estimate of the uncertainties in our retrieved column densities. This description also applies to the column data that we have archived on the Data Host Facility of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). The work presented here serves as an introduction to the entire dataset of atmospheric spectra recorded with the DA8 spectrometer at Eureka from 1993 to 2008. A few highlights from the results of our column retrievals for the years 1997 to 2006 are briefly discussed. One of these is the exceptionally low O3, HCl and HNO3 column amou...

The 2006 Canadian Arctic ACE (Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment) Validation Campaign collected measurements at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL, 86.42° W, 80.05° N, 610 m a.s.l.) at Eureka, Canada from 17 February to 31 March 2006. Two of the ten instruments involved in the campaign, both Fourier transform spectrometers (FTSs), were operated simultaneously, recording atmospheric solar absorption spectra. The first instrument was an ABB Bomem DA8 high-resolution infrared FTS. The second instrument was the Portable Atmospheric Research Interferometric Spectrometer for the Infrared (PARIS-IR), the ground-based version of the satellite-borne FTS on the ACE satellite (ACE-FTS). From the measurements collected by these two ground-based instruments, total column densities of seven stratospheric trace gases (O3, HCl, ClONO2, HF, HNO3, NO2, and NO) were retrieved using the optimal estimation method and these results were compared. Since the two instruments sampled the same portions of atmosphere by synchronizing observations during the campaign and used consistent retrieval parameters, the biases in retrieved columns from the two spectrometers represent the instrumental differences. Mean differences in total column densities of O3, HCl, ClONO2, HF, HNO3, and NO2 from the observations between PARIS-IR and the DA8 FTS are 2.8 %, −3.2 %, −4.3 %, −1.5 %, −1.9 %, and −0.1 %, respectively. Partial column results from the ground-based spectrometers were also compared with partial columns derived from ACE-FTS version 2.2 (including updates for O3) profiles. Mean differences in partial column densities of O3, HCl, ClONO2, HF, HNO3, NO2, and NO from the measurements between ACE-FTS and the DA8 FTS are −5.9 %, −8.5 %, −11.8 %, −0.9 %, −6.6 %, −21.6 % and −7.6 % respectively. Mean differences in partial column densities of O3, HCl, ClONO2, HF, HNO3, NO2 from the measurements between ACE-FTS and the PARIS-IR are −5.2 %, −4.6 %, −2.3 %, −4.7 %, 5.7 % and −11.9 %, respectively. This work provides further evidence of the reliability of ACE-FTS measurements from the first three years of on-orbit observations. Column densities of O3, HCl, ClONO2, and HNO3 from the three FTSs were normalized with respect to HF and used to compare the time evolution of the chemical constituents in the atmosphere over Eureka during spring 2006.

An extension of chemometric theory was experimentally explored to explain the physiochemical basis of the very high efficiency of soft modelling of data from nature. Soft modelling in self-organisation was interpreted by studying the unique chemical patterns of mutants in an isogenic barley model on endosperm development. Extremely reproducible, differential Near Infrared (NIR) spectral patterns specifically overviewed the effect on cell composition of each mutant cause. Extended Canonical Variates Analysis (ECVA) classified spectra in wild type, starch and protein mutants. The spectra were interpreted by chemometric data analysis and by pattern inspection to morphological, genetic, molecular and chemical information. Deterministic chemical reactions were defined in the glucan pathway. A drastic mutation in a gene controlling the starch/β-glucan composition changed water activity that introduced a diffusive, stochastic effect on the catalysis of all active enzymes. 'Decision making' in self-organisation is autonomous and performed by the soft modelling of the chemical deterministic and stochastic reactions in the endosperm cell as a whole. Uncertainty in the analysis of endosperm emergence was experimentally delimited as the 'indeterminacy' in local molecular path modelling 'bottom up' and the 'irreducibility' of the phenomenological NIR spectra 'top down'. The experiment confirmed Ilya Prigogine's interpretation of self-organisation by his dynamic computer model programmed with a self-modeled non-local extension of quantum mechanics (QM). The significance of self-organisation explained by Prigogine here interpreted as physiochemical soft modelling introduces a paradigm shift in macroscopic science that forwards a major argument for soft mathematical modelling and chemometrics to obtain full scientific legitimacy.

International audience; A Bruker 125HR Fourier transform spectrometer was installed at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Eureka, Nunavut, Canada in the summer of 2006 to study atmospheric composition. Using the optimal estimation method, typically over a limited spectral region called a microwindow, information about the vertical distribution of trace gas species that have absorption bands in the mid-infrared spectral range can be retrieved. Total and partial columns can also be determined to show the temporal evolution of the target gas. For ozone in particular, retrievals have been performed using several of its many mid-infrared absorption features, resulting in a lack of consistency in the literature in the microwindows chosen for retrievals. This work focuses on the optimization of the ozone retrieval, assessing a set of 22 microwindows between 780 and 3052 cm−1 to determine which is best suited to conditions at Eureka. The 1000-1004.5 cm−1 spectral interval is shown to be the most sensitive to both the stratosphere and troposphere. This microwindow gives the highest number of degrees of freedom for signal (&#126 7 for total column), and the smallest total error (4.3%) compared with 21 other spectral regions. Retrievals performed with this microwindow agree well with results obtained from other instruments on-site. Total column ozone measured by the Bruker 125HR in this microwindow agreed to 2% with two other Fourier transform spectrometers, to 0.7% with a Brewer spectrophotometer, to 8% with a SAOZ UV-VIS spectrometer, and to 7% with ozone sondes.

The Canadian Arctic Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Validation Campaigns have been carried out at Eureka, Nunavut (80.05° N, 86.42° W) during the polar sunrise period since 2004. During the International Polar Year (IPY) springs of 2007 and 2008, three ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers were operated simultaneously. This paper presents a comparison of trace gas measurements of stratospherically important species involved in ozone depletion, namely O3, HCl, ClONO2, HNO3 and HF, recorded with these three spectrometers. Total column densities of the gases measured with the new Canadian Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Change (CANDAC) Bruker 125HR are shown to agree to within 3.5% with the existing Environment Canada Bomem DA8 measurements. After smoothing both of these sets of measurements to account for the lower spectral resolution of the University of Waterloo Portable Atmospheric Research Interferometric Spectrometer for the Infrared (PARIS-IR), the measurements were likewise shown to agree with PARIS-IR to within 7%. Concurrent measurements of these gases were also made with the satellite-based Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) during overpasses of Eureka during these time periods. While one of the mandates of the ACE satellite mission is to study ozone depletion in the polar spring, previous validation exercises have identified the highly variable polar vortex conditions of the spring period to be a challenge for validation efforts. In this work, comparisons between the CANDAC Bruker 125HR and ACE-FTS have been used to develop strict criteria that allow the ground- and satellite-based instruments to be confidently compared. When these criteria are taken into consideration, the observed biases between the ACE-FTS and ground-based FTIR spectrometer are not persistent for both years and are generally insignificant, though small positive biases of ~5%, comparable in magnitude to those seen in previous validation exercises, are observed for HCl and HF in 2007, and negative biases of −15.3%, −4.8% and −1.5% are seen for ClONO2, HNO3 and O3 in 2008.

A new Bruker IFS 125HR Fourier transform spectrometer has been installed at the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory at Eureka, Nunavut, Canada (80.05°N, 86.42°W). This instrument will become the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change’s (NDACC’s) primary instrument at Eureka, replacing the existing Bomem DA8 Fourier transform spectrometer, and will operate throughout the sunlit parts of the year. This paper introduces the new instrument and describes the retrieval procedure, including a comprehensive error analysis. Total columns of O3, HCl, HF, HNO3, N2O, CH4, and CO are presented for the first full year of measurements (2007). Perturbations in the total column resulting from the presence of the Arctic polar vortex over Eureka and the chemical processes within it are visible, as are annual cycles driven by photochemistry and dynamics. Enhancements in the CO total column resulting from specific biomass burning smoke events can also be seen. An intercomparison between the existing Bomem DA8 and the new Bruker IFS 125HR was carried out in July 2007 and is presented here. The total columns derived from the two instruments are shown to be in excellent agreement, with mean differences for all gases of less than 2.3%.

The authors report the results of an intercomparison of vertical column amounts of hydrogen chloride (HCl), hydrogen fluoride (HF), nitrous oxide (N2O), nitric acid (HNO3), methane (CH4), ozone (O3), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrogen (N2) derived from the spectra recorded by two ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers operated side-by-side using the sun as a source. The procedure used to record spectra and derive vertical column amounts follows the format of previous instrument intercomparisons organized by the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), formerly known as the Network for Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC). For most gases the differences were typically around 3%, and in about half of the results the error bars given by the standard deviation of the measurements from each instrument did not overlap. The worst level of agreement was for HF where differences of over 5% were typical. The level of agreement achieved during this intercomparison is a little worse than that achieved in previous intercomparisons between ground-based FTIR spectrometers.

We present a 39-year-old male patient with Down syndrome who was evaluated for fatigue, palpitations and bouts of cyanosis. Physical examination showed features of trisomy-21(Down syndrome), with a slow pulse rate, distant cardiac sounds and absent apex beat. He had normal jugular venous pressure without pulsus paradoxus. The ECG showed QRS microvoltage and flattened P and T segments. The 48-hour ambulatory ECG depicted normal sinus rhythm with intermittent short PR interval without tachyarrhythmias. The chest Xray revealed cardiomegaly without pulmonary venous congestion. Although serial transthoracic echocardiographic examination demonstrated pericardial effusion with features of tamponade, there were no overt signs of clinical cardiac tamponade. Biochemically, the serum thyroxine of 3 pmol/l (normal 10 to 25) and thyroid-stimulating hormone of 160 mU/l (normal 0.20 to 4.20)) were compatible with hypothyroidism. The patient was treated with L-thyroxine sodium daily, which was gradually increased to 0.125 mg daily. Within a few months he lost weight and became more alert; furthermore, the symptoms of hypothyroidism and the pericardial effusion resolved. It can be concluded that Down syndrome may be associated with hypothyroidism and pericardial effusion. These were alleviated following hormone replacement. Regular evaluation of thyroid function tests is important in Down syndrome. (Neth Heart J 2007;15:67-70.17612663)

Total column amounts of CO, CH4, CO2 and N2O retrieved from SCIAMACHY nadir observations in its near-infrared channels have been compared to data from a ground-based quasi-global network of Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers. The SCIAMACHY data considered here have been produced by three different retrieval algorithms, WFM-DOAS (version 0.5 for CO and CH4 and version 0.4 for CO2 and N2O), IMAP-DOAS (version 1.1 and 0.9 (for CO)) and IMLM (version 6.3) and cover the January to December 2003 time period. Comparisons have been made for individual data, as well as for monthly averages. To maximize the number of reliable coincidences that satisfy the temporal and spatial collocation criteria, the SCIAMACHY data have been compared with a temporal 3rd order polynomial interpolation of the ground-based data. Particular attention has been given to the question whether SCIAMACHY observes correctly the seasonal and latitudinal variability of the target species. The present results indicate that the individual SCIAMACHY data obtained with the actual versions of the algorithms have been significantly improved, but that the quality requirements, for estimating emissions on regional scales, are not yet met. Nevertheless, possible directions for further algorithm upgrades have been identified which should result in more reliable data products in a near future.

The Match technique was used to determine chemically induced ozone loss inside the stratospheric vortex during the Arctic winter 2002/2003. From end of November 2002, which is the earliest start of a Match campaign ever, until end of March 2003 approximately 800 ozonesondes were launched from 34 stations in the Arctic and mid latitudes. Ozone loss rates were quantified from the beginning of December until mid-March in the vertical region of 400–550 K potential temperature. In accordance with the occurrence of a large area of conditions favourable for the formation of polar stratospheric clouds in December ozone destruction rates varied between 10–15 ppbv/day depending on height. Maximum loss rates around 35 ppbv/day were reached during late January. Afterwards ozone loss rates decreased until mid-March when the final warming of the vortex began. In the period from 2 December 2002 to 16 March 2003 the accumulated ozone loss reduced the partial ozone column of 400–500 K potential temperature by 56±4 DU. This value is in good agreement with that inferred from the empirical relation of ozone loss against the volume of potential polar stratospheric clouds within the northern hemisphere. The sensitivity of the results on recent improvements of the approach has been tested.

A female patient, 36 years of age, with a metastasised left breast cancer received several courses of chemotherapy for aggressive local tumour growth and multiple metastatic activity. In the current patient, surgical ablation of the left breast was carried out. Also loco-regional radio-therapy was conducted. To facilitate the administration of chemotherapy courses and prevent thrombophlebitis a vascular access port (port-a-cath) was surgically inserted via the right subclavian vein. After a few successful administrations of chemotherapeutic drugs the vascular port stopped functioning. It was demonstrated that a detached catheter fragment had dislodged into the right ventricle. Successful percutaneous, transvenous removal of the entrapped catheter fragment by the Gooseneck retrieval loop snare from the right ventricle was performed via the right femoral vein access. The procedure was uncomplicated and the patient tolerated the procedure well.

For a not empty perfect subset of the unit circle C there is a perfect subset of C measure zero which being rotated to every position intersects the first set on a nonempty perfect set. This result may be stated in terms of set of distances between pairs of points from these two sets. A generalization of this result to a product of tori is suggested.

A 40-year-old woman presented with dyspnoea, chest pain and fatigue. Her medical history was unremarkable. An early systolic ejection murmur was heard in the 3D left inter-costal space. Chest X-ray revealed normal cardiothoracic ratio with an anomalous vessel adjacent to the left pulmonary hilum. Echocardiography and exercise tolerance test were normal. Right heart catheterisation revealed normal pulmonary pressures with normal cardiac output. CT scan and MRI of the thorax were diagnostic for an aberrant pulmonary venous connection between the left lower lobe pulmonary vein and the left brachiocephalic vein without atrial septal defect. She was treated conservatively and remained well.

The objective of this sub-project was the development and validation of simulation methods for the tribological characterisation of the effect of hydrodynamic microdimples with respect to improved friction wear and oil consumption in the system piston ring/cylinder liner.

This paper examines the marine conservation efforts in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of Canada's northwestern Arctic. Lessons learned through the establishment process are discussed, as well as their relevance to future conservation in the context of the Canada Oceans Act (1997). Principles of the Oceans Act parallel the direction of northern efforts. The Act contains provisions that can enhance and strengthen the current land use plans. The act is in accordance with the Inuvialuit Final Agreement and is consistent with past conservation efforts in the region.

The chemically induced ozone loss inside the Arctic vortex during the winter 1994/95 has been quantified by coordinated launches of over 1000 ozonesondes from 35 stations within the Match 94/95 campaign. Trajectory calculations, which allow diabatic heating or cooling, were used to trigger the balloon launches so that the ozone concentrations in a large number of air parcels are each measured twice a few days apart. The difference in ozone concentration is calculated for each pair and is interpreted as a change caused by chemistry. The data analysis has been carried out for January to March between 370 K and 600 K potential temperature. Ozone loss along these trajectories occurred exclusively during sunlit periods, and the periods of ozone loss coincided with, but slightly lagged, periods where stratospheric temperatures were low enough for polar stratospheric clouds to exist. Two clearly separated periods of ozone loss show up. Ozone loss rates first peaked in late January with a maximum value of 53 ppbv per day (1.6 % per day) at 475 K and faster losses higher up. Then, in mid-March ozone loss rates at 475 K reached 34 ppbv per day (1.3 % per day), faster losses were observed lower down and no ozone loss was found above 480 K during that period. The ozone loss in hypothetical air parcels with average diabetic descent rates has been integrated to give an accumulated loss through the winter. The most severe depletion of 2.0 ppmv (60 %) took place in air that was at 515 K on 1 January and at 450 K on 20 March. Vertical integration over the levels from 370 K to 600 K gives a column loss rate, which reached a maximum value of 2.7 Dobson Units per day in mid-March. The accumulated column loss between 1 January and 31 March was found to be 127 DU (∼36 %).

Results of the comparison of carbon monoxide ground-based infrared solar spectroscopic measurements with data obtained during 1994 Measurement of Air Pollution From Space (MAPS) flights are presented. Spectroscopic measurements were performed correlatively with April and October MAPS flights by nine research groups from Belgium, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, and the United States. Characterization of the techniques and error analysis were performed. The role of the CO a priori profile used in the retrieval was estimated. In most cases an agreement between spectroscopic and MAPS data is within estimated MAPS accuracy of _+ 10%.

The winter 1996/97 was quite unusual with late vortex formation and polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) development and subsequent record low temperatures in March. Ozone depletion in the Arctic vortex is determined using ozonesondes. The diabatic cooling is calculated with PV-theta mapped ozone mixing ratios and the large ozone depletions, especially at the center of the vortex where most PSC existence was predicted, enhances the diabatic cooling by up to 80%. The average vortex chemical ozone depletion from January 6 to April 6 is 33, 46, 46, 43, 35, 33, 32 and 21 % in air masses ending at 375, 400, 425, 450, 475, 500, 525, and 550 K (about 14–22 km). This depletion is corrected for transport of ozone across the vortex edge calculated with reverse domain-filling trajectories. 375 K is in fact below the vortex, but the calculation method is applicable at this level with small changes. The column integrated chemical ozone depletion amounts to about 92 DU (21%), which is comparable to the depletions observed during the previous four winters.

In this paper, we show that the rate of ozone loss in both polar and mid-latitudes, derived from ozonesonde and satellite data, has almost the same vertical distribution (although opposite sense) to that of ozone laminae abundance. Ozone laminae appear in the lower stratosphere soon after the polar vortex is established in autumn, increase in number throughout the winter and reach a maximum abundance in late winter or spring. We indicate a possible coupling between mid-winter, sudden stratospheric warmings (when the vortex is weakened or disrupted) and the abundance of ozone laminae using a 23-year record of ozonesonde data from the World Ozone Data Center in Canada combined with monthly-mean January polar temperatures at 30 hPa. Results are presented from an experiment conducted during the winter of 1994/95, in phase II of the Second European Stratospheric And Mid-latitude Experiment (SESAME), in which 93 ozone-enhanced laminae of polar origin observed by ozonesondes at different time and locations are linked by diabatic trajectories, enabling them to be probed twice or more. It is shown that, in general, ozone concentrations inside laminae fall progressively with time, mixing irreversibly with mid-latitude air on time-scales of a few weeks. A particular set of laminae which advected across Europe during mid February 1995 are examined in detail. These laminae were observed almost simultaneously at seven ozonesonde stations, providing information on their spatial scales. The development of these laminae has been modelled using the Contour Advection algorithm of Norton (1994), adding support to the concept that many laminae are extrusions of vortex air. Finally, a photochemical trajectory model is used to show that, if the air in the laminae is chemically activated, it will impact on mid-latitude ozone concentrations. An estimate is made of the potential number of ozone molecules lost each winter via this mechanism.

The e+e-??+?-?0?bJ (J=0,1,2) processes are studied using a 118fb-1 data sample acquired with the Belle detector at a center-of-mass energy of 10.867 GeV. Unambiguous ?+?-?0?bJ (J=1,2), ??b1 signals are observed, and indication for ??b2 is seen, both for the first time, and the corresponding cross section measurements are presented. No significant ?+?-?0?b0 or ??b0 signals are observed, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the cross sections for these two processes are obtained. In the ?+?-?0 invariant mass spectrum, significant non-? signals are also observed. We search for the X(3872)-like state (named Xb) decaying into ??(1S); no significant signal is observed with a mass between 10.55 and 10.65GeV/c2. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We observe D0-D? 0 mixing in the decay D0?K+? - using a data sample of integrated luminosity 976 fb-1 collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e +e- asymmetric-energy collider. We measure the mixing parameters x? 2=(0.09�0.22)�10-3 and y?=(4.6�3.4)�10-3 and the ratio of doubly Cabibbo-suppressed to Cabibbo-favored decay rates RD=(3.53�0.13)�10-3, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic combined. Our measurement excludes the no-mixing hypothesis at the 5.1 standard deviation level. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We present measurements of the masses and decay widths of the baryonic states ?c(2455)0/++ and ?c(2520)0/++ using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 711fb-1 collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e- asymmetric-energy collider operating at the (4S) resonance. We report the mass differences with respect to the ?c+ baryon M(?c(2455)0)-M(?c+)=167.29�0.01�0.02MeV/c2, M(?c(2455)++)-M(?c+)=167.51�0.01�0.02MeV/c2, M(?c(2520)0)-M(?c+)=231.98�0.11�0.04MeV/c2, M(?c(2520)++)-M(?c+)=231.99�0.10�0.02MeV/c2,and the decay widths ?(?c(2455)0)=1.76�0.04-0.21+0.09MeV/c2, ?(?c(2455)++)=1.84�0.04-0.20+0.07MeV/c2,?(? c(2520)0)=15.41�0.41-0.32+0.20MeV/c2,?(?c(2520)++)=14. 77�0.25-0.30+0.18MeV/c2,where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The isospin mass splittings are measured to be M(?c(2455)++)-M(?c(2455)0)=0.22�0.01�0.01MeV/c2 and M(?c(2520)++)-M(?c(2520)0)=0.01�0.15�0.03MeV/c2. These results are the most precise to date. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We report a measurement of D0-D?0 mixing parameters and a search for indirect CP violation through a time-dependent amplitude analysis of D0?KS0?+?- decays. The results are based on 921fb-1 of data accumulated with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. Assuming CP conservation, we measure the mixing parameters x=(0.56�0.19- 0.09-0.09+0.03+0.06)% and y=(0.30�0.15-0.05-0.06+0.04+0.03)%, where the errors are statistical, experimental systematic, and systematic due to the amplitude model, respectively. With CP violation allowed, the parameters |q/p|=0.90-0.15-0.04-0.05+0.16+0.05+0.06 and arg(q/p)=(-6�11�3- 4+3)� are found to be consistent with conservation of CP symmetry in mixing and in the interference between mixing and decay, respectively. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We present a measurement of the branching fractions and charge-parity-(CP-)violating parameters in B??K decays. The results are obtained from the final data sample containing 772�106 BB? pairs collected at the ?(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. We obtain the branching fractions B(B0??K0)=(4.5�0.4(stat)�0.3(syst))�10-6, B(B+??K+)=(6.8�0.4(stat)�0.4(syst))�10-6 which are in agreement with their respective current world averages. For the CP-violating parameters, we obtain A?KS0=-0.36�0.19(stat)�0. 05(syst),S?KS0=+0.91�0.32(stat)�0.05(syst),A?K+=-0. 03�0.04(stat)�0.01(syst), where A and S represent the direct and mixing-induced CP asymmetry, respectively. We find no evidence of CP violation in the decay channel B+??K+; however, we obtain the first evidence of CP violation in the B0??KS0 decay channel at the level of 3.1 standard deviations. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We report measurements of branching fractions of ? lepton decays to final states with a KS0 meson using a 669fb-1 data sample accumulated with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. The inclusive branching fraction is measured to be B(?-?KS0X-??)=(9. 15�0.01�0.15)�10-3, where X- can be anything; the exclusive branching fractions are B(?-??-KS0??)=(4.16�0. 01�0.08)�10-3, B(?-?K-KS0??)=(7.40�0. 07�0.27)�10-4, B(?-??-KS0?0??)=(1. 93�0.02�0.07)�10-3, B(?-?K-KS0?0??)=(7. 48�0.10�0.37)�10-4, B(?-??-KS0KS0??)=(2. 33�0.03�0.09)�10-4, B(?-??-KS0KS0?0??) =(2.00�0.22�0.20)�10-5, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. For each mode, the accuracy is improved over that of pre-B-factory measurements by a factor ranging from five to ten. In ?-??-KS0KS0?0?? decays, clear signals for the intermediate states ?-??-f1(1285)?? and ?-?K*- KS0?0?? are observed. � 2014 American Physical Society.

Using data samples of 102�106 (1S) and 158�106 (2S) events collected with the Belle detector, a first experimental search has been made for double-charmonium production in the exclusive decays (1S,2S)?J/?(??)+X, where X=?c, ?cJ(J=0,1,2), ?c(2S), X(3940), and X(4160). No significant signal is observed in the spectra of the mass recoiling against the reconstructed J/? or ?? except for the evidence of ?c1 production with a significance of 4.6? for (1S)?J/?+?c1. The measured branching fraction B((1S)?J/?+?c1) is [3.90�1.21(stat)�0.23(syst)]�10-6. The 90% C.L. upper limits on the branching fractions of the other modes having a significance of less than 3? are determined. These results are consistent with theoretical calculations using the nonrelativistic QCD factorization approach. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We report the results of a search for the X(1835) state in the process e+e-?J/?X(1835) using a data sample of 672 fb-1 collected with the Belle detector at and near the � (4S) resonance at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. No significant evidence is found for this process, and an upper limit is set on its cross section times the branching fraction: ?Born(e+e-?J/?X(1835))�B(X(1835)??3 charged tracks)

We present a study of the branching fraction of the decay B0??0?0 and the fraction of longitudinally polarized ?0 mesons in this decay. The results are obtained from the final data sample containing 772�106 BB? pairs collected at the (4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. We find 166�59 B0??0?0 events (including systematic uncertainties), corresponding to a branching fraction of B(B0??0?0)=(1.02�0.30(stat) �0.15(syst))�10-6 with a significance of 3.4 standard deviations and a longitudinal polarization fraction fL=0.21-0.22+0.18(stat)�0. 15(syst). We use the longitudinal polarization fraction to determine the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix angle ?2=(84.9�13.5)� through an isospin analysis in the B??? system. We furthermore find 125�41 B0?f0?0 events, corresponding to B(B0?f0?0) �B(f0??+?-)=(0.78�0.22(stat)�0.11(syst)) �10-6, with a significance of 3.1 standard deviations. We find no other significant contribution with the same final state, and set upper limits at 90% confidence level on the (product) branching fractions, B(B0??+?- ?+?-)

The cross sections of the processes e+e-?K+K-J/? and KS0KS0J/? are measured via initial state radiation at center-of-mass energies between the threshold and 6.0 GeV using a data sample of 980fb-1 collected with the Belle detector on or near the ?(nS) resonances, where n=1,2,...,5. The cross sections for e+e-?K+K-J/? are at a few pb level and the average cross section for e+e-?KS0KS0J/? is 1.8�0.6(stat)�0.3(syst)pb between 4.4 and 5.2 GeV. All of them are consistent with previously published results with improved precision. A search for resonant structures and associated intermediate states in the cross section of the process e+e-?K+K-J/? is performed. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We report a search for charmless hadronic decays of neutral B mesons to ??K?(892)0. The results are based on a 711fb-1 data sample that contains 772�106BB� pairs, collected at the (4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+e- collider. We observe the decay for the first time with a significance of 5.0 standard deviations and obtain its branching fraction B[B0???K?(892)0]=[2.6�0.7(stat)�0.2(syst)]�10-6. We also measure the CP-violating asymmetry as ACP[B0???K?(892)0]=-0.22�0.29(stat)�0.07(syst). � 2014 American Physical Society.

We search for the charmless B0 decay with final state particles p???-? using the full data sample that contains 772�106BB? pairs collected at the ?(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. This decay is predicted to proceed predominantly via the b?s? radiative penguin process with a high energy photon. No significant signal is found. We set an upper limit of 6.5�10-7 for the branching fraction of B0?p???-? at the 90% confidence level. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We present the results of an amplitude analysis of B�0?J/?K-?+ decays. A new charged charmoniumlike state Zc(4200)+ decaying to J/??+ is observed with a significance of 6.2?. The mass and width of the Zc(4200)+ are 4196-29-13+31+17MeV/c2 and 370-70-132+70+70MeV, respectively; the preferred assignment of the quantum numbers is JP=1+. In addition, we find evidence for Zc(4430)+?J/??+. The analysis is based on a 711fb-1 data sample collected by the Belle detector at the asymmetric-energy e+e- collider KEKB. � 2014 American Physical Society.

We search for CP violation in neutral charm meson decays using a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 966 fb-1 collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e- asymmetric-energy collider. The asymmetry obtained in the rate of D0 and D?0 decays to the ?0?0 final state, [-0.03�0.64(stat)�0.10(syst)]%, is consistent with no CP violation. This constitutes an order of magnitude improvement over the existing result. We also present an updated measurement of the CP asymmetry in the D0?KS0?0 decay: ACP(D0?KS0?0)=[-0.21�0.16(stat)�0. 07(syst)]%. � 2014 American Physical Society.

It is well established that extensive depletion of ozone, initiated by heterogenous reactions on polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) can occur in both the Arctic and Antarctic lower stratosphere1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Moreover, it has been shown that ozone loss rates in the Arctic region in recent years reached values comparable to those over the Antarctic8,9. But until now the accumulated ozone losses over the Arctic have been the smaller, mainly because the period of Arctic ozone loss has not—unlike over the Antarctic—persisted well into springtime8,9,10. Here we report the occurrence—during the unusually cold 1995–96 Arctic winter—of the highest recorded chemical ozone loss over the Arctic region. Two new kinds of behaviour were observed. First, ozone loss at some altitudes was observed long after the last exposure to PSCs. This continued loss appears to be due to a removal of the nitrogen species that slow down chemical ozone depletion. Second, in another altitude range ozone loss rates decreased while PSCs were still present, apparently because of an early transformation of the ozone-destroying chlorine species into less active chlorinenitrate. The balance between these two counteracting mechanisms is probably a fine one, determined by small differences in wintertime stratospheric temperatures. If the apparent cooling trend in the Arctic stratosphere11 is real, more dramatic ozone losses may occur in the future.

LONG-TERM depletion of ozone has been observed since the early 1980s in the Antarctic polar vortex, and more recently at mid-latitudes in both hemispheres, with most of the ozone loss occurring in the lower stratosphere1. Insufficient measurements of ozone exist, however, to determine decadal trends in ozone concentration in the Arctic winter. Several studies of ozone concentrations in the Arctic vortex have inferred that chemical ozone loss has occurred2–11; but because natural variations in ozone concentration at any given location can be large, deducing long-term trends from time series is fraught with difficulties. The approaches used previously have often been indirect, typically relying on relationships between ozone and long-lived tracers. Most recently Manney et al.11used such an approach, based on satellite measurements, to conclude that the observed ozone decrease of about 20% in the lower stratosphere in February and March 1993 was caused by chemical, rather than dynamical, processes. Here we report the results of a new approach to calculate chemical ozone destruction rates that allows us to compare ozone concentrations in specific air parcels at different times, thus avoiding the need to make assumptions about ozone/tracer ratios. For the Arctic vortex of the 1991-92 winter we find that, at 20 km altitude, chemical ozone loss occurred only between early January and mid February and that the loss is proportional to the exposure to sunlight. The timing and magnitude are broadly consistent with existing understanding of photochemical ozone-depletion processes.

In 1980, J. C. Smith asked for examples which would demonstrate the relationships between the properties B ( D , λ ) B(D,\lambda ) -refinability, B ( D , ω 0 ) B(D,{\omega _0}) -refinability, and weak θ ¯ \bar \theta -refinability. This paper gives such examples in the class of T 4 {T_4} spaces.