We observe a signal for the doubly charmed baryon Xi(+)(cc) in the charged decay mode Xi(+)(cc)-->Lambda(+)(c)K-pi(+) in data from SELEX, the charm hadroproduction experiment at Fermilab. We observe an excess of 15.9 events over an expected background of 6.1+/-0.5 events, a statistical significance of 6.3sigma. The observed mass of this state is 3519+/-1 MeV/c(2). The Gaussian mass width of this state is 3 MeV/c(2), consistent with resolution; its lifetime is less than 33 fs at 90% confidence.

We observe a signal for the doubly charmed baryon Ξ + cc in the decay mode Ξ + cc → pD + K − to complement the previous reported decay Ξ + cc → Λ + c K − π + in data from SELEX, the charm hadroproduction experiment at Fermilab. In this new decay mode we observe an excess of 5.62 events over a combinatoric background estimated by event mixing to be 1.38 ± 0.13 events. The mixed background has Gaussian statistics, giving a signal significance of 4.8σ. The Poisson probability that a background fluctuation can produce the apparent signal is less than 6.4 × 10 −4. The observed mass of this state is 3518 ± 3 MeV/c 2 , consistent with the published result. Averaging the two results gives a mass of 3518.7 ± 1.7 MeV/c 2. The observation of this new weak decay mode confirms the previous SELEX suggestion that this state is a double charm baryon. The relative branching ratio for these two modes is 0.36 ± 0.21.

The Σ − mean squared charge radius has been measured in the space-like Q 2 range 0.035-0.105 GeV 2 /c 2 by elastic scattering of a Σ − beam off atomic electrons. The measurement was performed with the SELEX (E781) spectrometer using the Fermilab hyperon beam at a mean energy of 610 GeV/c. We obtain r 2 ch Σ − = (0.61 ± 0.12 (stat.) ± 0.09 (syst.)) fm 2 . The proton and π − charge radii were measured as well and are consistent with results of other experiments. Our result agrees with the recently measured strong interaction radius of the Σ − .

Total cross sections for Σ − and π − on beryllium, carbon, polyethylene and copper as well as total cross sections for protons on beryllium and carbon have been measured in a broad momentum range around 600 GeV/c. These measurements were performed with a transmission technique adapted to the SELEX hyperon-beam experiment at Fermilab. We report on results obtained for hadron-nucleus cross sections and on results for σ tot (Σ − N) and σ tot (π − N), which were deduced from nuclear cross sections.

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Toxocariasis is a common worldwide infection. Asthma, considered to be one of the most common chronic diseases, is a serious global health problem. Toxocara may be a possible etiologic agent of asthma. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between adult asthma and Toxocara seroprevalence. Fifty three adult patients with asthma participated in the study. All patients had an age of disease onset of 20 years or older. Blood samples were tested for the presence of Toxocara antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We found a 13.2% Toxocara seropositivity for asthma. There was a significant difference in the Toxocara seropositivity between adult asthma patients and our healthy cohort populations. There was no significant difference between Toxocara seropositive asthma and Toxocara seronegative asthma in terms of the risk factors for Toxocara infection. We believe that further research with a large number of asthma patients is warranted and preventive strategies in this patient population are needed.

We report new precision measurements of the lifetimes of the L