Mental training affects distribution of limited brain resources.

The information processing capacity of the human mind is limited, as is evidenced by the so-called "attentional-blink" deficit: When two targets (T1 and T2) embedded in a rapid stream of events are presented in close temporal proximity, the second target is often not seen. This deficit is believed to result from competition between the two targets for limited attentional resources. Here we show, using performance in an attentional-blink task and scalp-recorded brain potentials, that meditation, or mental training, affects the distribution of limited brain resources.

The effects of foods, beverages, and other factors on cigarette palatability.

While smokers commonly report that various foods and beverages worsen or enhance the taste of cigarettes, the prevalence and diversity of these phenomena have not been studied. We administered an open-ended questionnaire to 209 smokers asking for reports of foods or beverages that worsen or enhance the taste of cigarettes. Commonly reported categories that worsen the taste of cigarettes were fruits/vegetables, noncaffeinated beverages, and dairy products.

Increases in impulsivity following smoking abstinence are related to baseline nicotine intake and boredom susceptibility.

Trait impulsivity and response inhibition have been shown to be related to smoking behavior. One measure of response inhibition - antisaccade performance, or the ability to inhibit looking at a novel stimulus - has been shown to be worsened by smoking abstinence, improved by nicotine administration and predictive of smoking cessation outcomes. However, relations between antisaccade performance and measures of trait impulsivity have not been extensively evaluated in smokers.

Measurement of the B0-->pi(-l)(+nu) form-factor shape and branching fraction, and determination of /Vub/ with a loose neutrino reconstruction technique.

We report the results of a study of the exclusive charmless semileptonic decay, B0-->pi(-l)(+nu), undertaken with approximately 227 x 10(6) BB pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector. The analysis uses events in which the signal B decays are reconstructed with an innovative loose neutrino reconstruction technique. We obtain partial branching fractions in 12 bins of q2, the momentum transfer squared, from which we extract the f + (q2) form-factor shape and the total branching fraction B(B0-->pi(-l)(+nu))=(1.

Observation of decays B0-->Ds(*)+ pi- and B0-->Ds(*)- K+.

We report the observation of decays B{0}-->D{s}{(*)+}pi- and B{0}-->D{s}{(*)-}K+ in a sample of 230 x 10(6) Upsilon(4S)-->BB[over] events recorded with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+ e- storage ring. We measure the branching fractions B(B{0}-->D{s}{+}pi-)=(1.3+/-0.

Search for lepton flavor violating decays tau(+/-) --> l(+/-)pi0, l(+/-)eta, l(+/-)eta'.

A search for lepton flavor violating decays of the tau lepton to a lighter mass lepton and a pseudoscalar meson has been performed using 339 fb;{-1} of e;{+}e;{-} annihilation data collected at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV by the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II storage ring. No evidence of a signal has been found, and upper limits on the branching fractions are set at the 10;{-7} level.

Measurement of the CP asymmetry and branching fraction of B0-->rho0K0.

We present a measurement of the branching fraction and time-dependent CP asymmetry of B(0)-->rho0K0. The results are obtained from a data sample of 227x10(6) Upsilon(4S)-->BB decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. From a time-dependent maximum likelihood fit yielding 111+/-19 signal events, we find B(B(0)-->rho0K0)=(4.

Observation of B-->eta'K* and evidence for B+-->eta'rho+.

We present an observation of B-->eta'K*. The data sample corresponds to 232x10(6) BB[over ] pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. We measure the branching fractions (in units of 10(-6)) B(B(0)-->eta'K*0)=3.

Vector-tensor and vector-vector decay amplitude analysis of B0-->phiK*0.

We perform an amplitude analysis of the decays B(0)-->phiK*(2)(1430)(0), phiK*(892)(0), and phi(Kpi)(0)(S-wave) with a sample of about 384x10(6) BB[over ] pairs recorded with the BABAR detector. The fractions of longitudinal polarization f(L) of the vector-tensor and vector-vector decay modes are measured to be 0.853(-0.

Observation of CP violation in B --> eta'K0 decays.

We present measurements of the time-dependent CP-violation parameters S and C in B(0) --> eta(')K(0) decays. The data sample corresponds to 384 x 10(6) BB pairs produced by e(+)e(-) annihilation at the Upsilon(4S). The results are S=0.

Observation of a Charmed Baryon Decaying to D;{0}p at a Mass Near 2.94 GeV/c;{2}.

A search for charmed baryons decaying to D(0)p reveals two states: the Lambdac(2880)+ baryon and a previously unobserved state at a mass of [2939.8+/-1.3(stat)+/-1.

Observation of B(+)-->phiphiK(+) and evidence for B(0)-->phiphiK(0) below eta(c) threshold.

We report measurements of the decays B(+)-->phiphiK(+) and B(0)-->phiphiK(0) using a sample of 231 x 10(6) BB pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The branching fractions are measured to be B(B(+)-->phiphiK(+))=(7.5+/-1.

Measurements of branching fraction, polarization, and charge asymmetry of B(+/-)-->rho(+/-)rho(0) and a search for B(+/-)-->rho(+/-)f(0)(980).

We measure the branching fraction (B), polarization (f(L)), and CP asymmetry (A(CP)) of B(+/-)-->rho(+/-)rho(0) decays and search for the decay B(+/-)-->rho(+/-)f(0)(980) based on a data sample of 231.8 x 10(6) Upsilon(4S)-->BB decays collected with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory. In B(+/-)-->rho(+/-)rho(0) decays we measure B=(16.

Observation of an excited charm baryon Omega c* decaying to Omega c0gamma.

We report the first observation of an excited singly charmed baryon Omega c* (css) in the radiative decay Omega c0gamma, where the Omega c0 baryon is reconstructed in the decays to the final states Omega(-)pi+, Omega(-)pi+pi0, Omega(-)pi+pi(-)pi+, and Xi(-)K(-)pi+pi+. This analysis is performed using a data set of 230.7 fb(-1) collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

IFN-stimulated gene 15 functions as a critical antiviral molecule against influenza, herpes, and Sindbis viruses.

Type I interferons (IFNs) play an essential role in the host response to viral infection through the induction of numerous IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), including important antiviral molecules such as PKR, RNase L, Mx, and iNOS. Yet, additional antiviral ISGs likely exist. IFN-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) is a ubiquitin homolog that is rapidly up-regulated after viral infection, and it conjugates to a wide array of host proteins.

Observation of a new Ds meson decaying to DK at a mass of 2.86 GeV/c2.

We observe a new D_{s} meson with mass (2856.6+/-1.5_{stat}+/-5.

Search for D0-D0 mixing and branching-ratio measurement in the decay D0-->K+ pi- pi0.

We analyze 230.4 fb;{-1} of data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e;{+}e;{-} collider at SLAC to search for evidence of D0-D[over ];{0} mixing using regions of phase space in the decay D;{0}-->K;{+}pi;{-}pi;{0}. We measure the time-integrated mixing rate R_{M}=(0.

Measurement of the B-->pi l nu branching fraction and determination of absolute value of V(ub) with tagged B mesons.

We report a measurement of the B-->pi l nu branching fraction based on 211 fb(-1) of data collected with the BABAR detector. We use samples of B0 and B+ mesons tagged by a second B meson reconstructed in a semileptonic or hadronic decay and combine the results assuming isospin symmetry to obtain B(B(0)-->pi- l+ nu) = (1.33+/-0.

Measurement of branching fractions and charge asymmetries in B decays to an eta meson and a K* meson.

We present measurements of branching fractions and charge asymmetries for the decays B-->etaK*, where K* indicates a spin 0, 1, or 2 Kpi system. The data sample corresponds to 344x10(6) BB pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+ e- collider at SLAC. We measure the branching fractions (in units of 10(-6): B(B0-->etaK*0(892))=16.

Measurements of branching fractions, polarizations, and direct CP-violation asymmetries in B-->rhoK* and B-->f0(980)K* decays.

We report searches for B-meson decays to the charmless final states rhoK* and f0(980)K* with a sample of 232x10(6) BB pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider. We measure in units of 10(-6) the following branching fractions, where the first error quoted is statistical and the second systematic, or upper limits are given at the 90% confidence level: B(B+-->rho0K*+)<6.1, B(B+-->rho+K*0)=9.

Observation of B+ --> K0K+ and B0 --> K0K0.

We report observations of the b --> d penguin-dominated decays B+ --> K0K+ and B0 --> K0K0 in 316 fb(-1) of e+ e- collision data collected with the BABAR detector. We measure the branching fractions B(B+ --> K0K+) = (1.61+/-0.

Measurement of the branching fraction and photon energy moments of B-->Xs gamma and A(CP)(B --> X(s+d gamma)).

The photon spectrum in B-->Xs gamma decay, where Xs is any strange hadronic state, is studied using a data sample of 88.5 x 10(6) e+ e- --> Upsilon(4S) --> BB decays collected by the BABAR experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The partial branching fraction, DeltaB(B --> Xs gamma) = (3.

Observation of B0 meson decay to a 1 +/(1260)pi /+.

We present a measurement of the branching fraction of the decay B(0)-->a1 (+/)(1260)pi(/+) with a1 (+/)(1260)-->pi(/+)pi(+/)pi(+/). The data sample corresponds to 218 x 10(6) BB[over ] pairs produced in e+e- annihilation through the Upsilon(4S) resonance. We measure the branching fraction Beta(B(0)-->a1(+/)(1260)pi(/+))Beta(a1(+/)(1260)-->pi(/+)pi(+/)pi(+/)) = (16.

Observation of e(+)e(-) annihilation into the C = +1 hadronic final states rho(0)rho(0) and phirho(0).

We report the first observation of e(+)e(-) annihilation into states of positive C parity, namely, rho(0)rho(0) and phirho(0). The two states are observed in the pi(+)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) and K(+)K(-)pi(+)pi(-) final states, respectively, in a data sample of 225 fb(-1) collected by the BABAR experiment at the Positron-Electron Project II e(+)e(-) storage rings at energies near sqrt[s]=10.58 GeV.

Measurement of the spin of the omega(-) hyperon.

A measurement of the spin of the Omega(-) hyperon produced through the exclusive process Xi(c)(0)-->Omega(-)K(+) is presented using a total integrated luminosity of 116 fb(-1) recorded with the BABAR detector at the e(+)e(-) asymmetric-energy B factory at SLAC. Under the assumption that the Xi(c)(0) has spin 1/2, the angular distribution of the Lambda from Omega(-)-->LambdaK(-) decay is inconsistent with all half-integer Omega(-) spin values other than 3/2. Lower statistics data for the process Omega(c)(0)-->Omega(-)pi(+) from a 230 fb(-1) sample are also found to be consistent with Omega(-) spin 3/2.