Atmospheric Neutrinos and the Oscillations Bonanza

New observations with atmospheric neutrinos from the underground experiments SuperKamiokande, Soudan 2, and MACRO, together with earlier results from Kamiokande and IMB, are reviewed. The most recent observations reconfirm aspects of atmospheric flavor content and of zenith angle distributions which appear anomalous in the context of null oscillations. The anomalous trends, exhibited with high statistics in both sub-GeV and multi-GeV data of the SuperKamiokande water Cherenkov experiment, occur also in event samples recorded by the tracking calorimeters. The data are well-described by disappearence of nu_mu flavor neutrinos arising in oscillations with dominant two-state mixing, for which there exists a parameter region allowed by all experiments. In a new analysis by SuperKamiokande, nu_mu -> nu_tau is favored over nu_mu -> nu_s as the dominant oscillation based upon absence of oscillation suppression from matter effects at high energies. The possibility for sub-dominant nu_mu -> nu_e oscillations in atmospheric neutrinos which arises with three-flavor mixing, is reviewed, and intriguing possibilities for amplification of this oscillation by terrestrial matter-induced resonances are discussed. Developments and future measurements which will enhance our knowledge of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes are briefly noted.Comment: Plenary talk at the XIX Int. Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies, Stanford, Aug. 1999, 28 pages, 16 figures; added a reference for section 1

Depression in primary care patients with coronary heart disease: baseline findings from the UPBEAT UK study

BACKGROUND: An association between depression and coronary heart disease is now accepted but there has been little primary care research on this topic. The UPBEAT-UK studies are centred on a cohort of primary patients with coronary heart disease assessed every six months for up to four years. The aim of this research was to determine the prevalence and associations of depression in this cohort at baseline. METHOD: Participants with coronary heart disease were recruited from general practice registers and assessed for cardiac symptoms, depression, quality of life and social problems. RESULTS: 803 people participated. 42% had a documented history of myocardial infarction, 54% a diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease or angina. 44% still experienced chest pain. 7% had an ICD-10 defined depressive disorder. Factors independently associated with this diagnosis were problems living alone (OR 5.49, 95% CI 2.11-13.30), problems carrying out usual activities (OR 3.71, 95% CI 1.93-7.14), experiencing chest pain (OR 3.27, 95% CI 1.58-6.76), other pains or discomfort (OR 3.39, 95% CI 1.42-8.10), younger age (OR 0.95 per year 95% CI 0.92-0.98). CONCLUSION: Problems living alone, chest pain and disability are important predictors of depression in this population

Quality of care: testing some measures in homes for elderly people

In this national study of 17 residential homes, 309 residents were interviewed, 264 members of staff completed an anonymous survey, and 228 relatives responded to a postal questionnaire. The data were collected between January andSeptember 1995. The aim of the study was to suggest promising measures of quality of care, looking particularly at depression as a possible indicator. It also served as a follow-up study of the Caring in Homes Initiative, although its timing ruled out evaluation of the impact of this development programme, because changes occurred in the homes before this study began. No strict definition of quality was adopted a priori, but a pragmatic approach was taken, addressing the perspectives of residents, health and social care professionals, home staff, managers, and relatives

Apparent multiple Delta m^2_32 in muon anti-neutrino and muon neutrino survival oscillations from non-standard interaction matter effect

Neutrinos propagating through matter may participate in forward coherent neutral-current-like scattering arising from non-standard interactions as well as from the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein matter potential $V_e$. We show that at fixed long baselines through matter of constant density, the non-standard interaction potential $\epsilon_{\mu\tau} V_e$ can contribute an additional term to the oscillation phase whose sign differs for \anumu versus \numu propagation in matter. Its presence can cause different apparent $\Delta m^2$ to be erroneously inferred on the basis of oscillations in vacuum, with values lying above (for \anumu) or below (for \numu) the actual $\Delta m^2_{32}$ for the case where $\epsilon_{\mu\tau}$ is predominantly real-valued and of sign opposite to $\Delta m_{32}^2$. An NSI scenario invoking only $\Re(\epsilon_{\mu\tau})$ is shown to be capable of accounting for a disparity recently reported between oscillation survival for \anumu and \numu fluxes measured at $735~\mathrm{km}$ by the MINOS experiment. Implications for mantle traversal by atmospheric neutrinos are examined. The NSI matter potential with non-maximal mixing could evade conventional atmospheric neutrino analyses which do not distinguish \numu from \anumu on an event-by-event basis.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Depression and anxiety symptom trajectories in coronary heart disease: Associations with measures of disability and impact on 3-year health care costs

Background: As mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) falls, years lived with disability increase. Depression and anxiety are known indicators of poor outcomes in CHD, but most research has measured distress symptoms at one time point, often following acute events. Here we consider the long-term trajectories of these symptoms in established CHD, and examine their association to distinct measures of disability and impact on costs. Methods and results: 803 patients with diagnosis of CHD were recruited from primary care, and completed detailed assessments every 6 months for 3 years. Latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was used to identify 5 distinct symptom trajectories based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire (HADS): ‘stable low’, ‘chronic high’, ‘improving’, ‘worsening’, and ‘fluctuating’. The ‘chronic high’ group had highest association with reporting of chest pain (RRR 5.8, CI 2.9 to 11.7), smoking (2.9, 1.1 to 6.3), and poorer physical (0.88, 0.83–0.93) and mental (0.78, 0.73–0.84) quality of life. The ‘chronic high’ and ‘worsening’ trajectories had significantly higher health-care costs over the ‘stable low’ trajectory (107.2% and 95.5% increase, respectively). In addition, our trajectories were the only significant variable associated with increased health-care costs across the 3 years. Conclusions: Symptoms of depression and anxiety are highly prevalent in stable CHD patients, and their long-term trajectories are the single biggest driver of health care costs. Managing morbidity in these patients, in which depression and anxiety play a key role in, should become the primary focus of policy makers and future clinical trials

Residential care for elderly people: policy implications from an exploratory study

The Association of Directors of Social Services, in response to the Burgner review, has called for joint health and local-authority inspection of residential homes (Community Care, 8.1.97, p. 1). Yet there is little agreement about what constitutes good residential care (Gibbs and Sinclair, 1992). Without such information, we cannot make valid comparisons between homes or set meaningful standards. The study described below tested a wide range of possible measures of quality of care. It adopted an eclectic approach, including the perspectives of residents, health and social care professionals, home staff, managers, and relatives. Full details of the instruments used are given in the final report, which is available from the Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent at Canterbury, CT2 7NF, as Discussion Paper 1245