ABSTRACT
The Θ(+) pentaquark baryon was searched for via the π(-)pâK(-)X reaction with a missing mass resolution of 1.4 MeV/c(2) (FWHM) at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). π(-) meson beams were incident on the liquid hydrogen target with a beam momentum of 1.92 GeV/c. No peak structure corresponding to the Θ(+) mass was observed. The upper limit of the production cross section averaged over the scattering angle of 2° to 15° in the laboratory frame is obtained to be 0.26 µb/sr in the mass region of 1.51-1.55 GeV/c(2). The upper limit of the Θ(+) decay width is obtained to be 0.72 and 3.1 MeV for J(Θ)(P)=1/2(+) and J(Θ)(P)=1/2(-), respectively, using the effective Lagrangian approach.
ABSTRACT
We made gene therapeutics for X-chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) by transducing murine bone marrow-derived stem cells with MT-gp91 retrovirus and evaluated possible toxicity in mice as a prerequisite for human clinical trials. Male C57BL/6 mice were injected intravenously with gene therapeutics for X-CGD twice at an interval of two weeks at 5 x 10(7) cells/kg and sacrificed 2 weeks after the last administration. Significant changes noted in gene therapeutics for X-CGD-treated animals were an increase in white blood cell counts and a slight decrease in albumin/globulin ratio. The red pulp hyperplasia in the spleen accompanied with an increase in organ weight was considered to result from the accumulation of gene therapeutics for X-CGD, bone marrow-derived stem cells, in the spleen. No anti-gp91 antibody was detected in the sera collected from the animals treated with gene therapeutics for X-CGD. No integration of gp91 DNA from retroviral vector was detected in chromosomal DNA of gonads in animals dosed with the test substance, indicating no potential of genomic integration. In conclusion, the repeated dose of gene therapeutics for X-CGD exerted no toxicity. The splenic red pulp hyperplasia and the increase observed in white blood cell counts and in spleen weights were considered as pharmacological changes induced by the treatment.
