Capacity of English NHS hospitals to monitor quality in infection prevention and control using a new European framework: a multilevel qualitative analysis

Objective:(1) To assess the extent to which current English national regulations/policies/guidelines and local hospital practices align with indicators suggested by a European review of effective strategies for infection prevention and control (IPC); (2) to examine the capacity of local hospitals to report on the indicators and current use of data to inform IPC management and practice. Design A national and local-level analysis of the 27 indicators was conducted. At the national level, documentary review of regulations/policies/guidelines was conducted. At the local level data collection comprised: (a) review of documentary sources from 14 hospitals, to determine the capacity to report performance against these indicators; (b) qualitative interviews with 3 senior managers from 5 hospitals and direct observation of hospital wards to find out if these indicators are used to improve IPC management and practice. Setting 2 acute English National Health Service (NHS) trusts and 1 NHS foundation trust (14 hospitals). Participants 3 senior managers from 5 hospitals for qualitative interviews. Primary and secondary outcome measures As primary outcome measures, a ‘Red-Amber-Green’ (RAG) rating was developed reflecting how well the indicators were included in national documents or their availability at the local organisational level. The current use of the indicators to inform IPC management and practice was also assessed. The main secondary outcome measure is any inconsistency between national and local RAG rating results. Results National regulations/policies/guidelines largely cover the suggested European indicators. The ability of individual hospitals to report some of the indicators at ward level varies across staff groups, which may mask required improvements. A reactive use of staffing-related indicators was observed rather than the suggested prospective strategic approach for IPC management. Conclusions For effective patient safety and infection prevention in English hospitals, routine and proactive approaches need to be developed. Our approach to evaluation can be extended to other country settings

Radiative two-pion decay of the tau lepton

We consider the bremsstrahlung and model-dependent contributions to the radiative decay $\tau^- \to \pi^-\pi^0\nu_{\tau}\gamma$ in the context of a meson dominance model. We focus on several observables related to this decay, including the branching ratio and the photon and di-pion spectra. Particular attention is paid to the sensitivity of different observables upon the effects of model-dependent contributions and of the magnetic dipole moment of the $\rho^-(770)$ vector meson. Important numerical differences are found with respect to results obtained in the framework of chiral perturbation theory.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, submitted for publicatio

The production process in basketball: Empirical evidence from Spanish league

The main objective of this paper is to provide an empirical assessment of the production process in a basketball team. We estimate a logit model in which the output produced by a team is the game outcome (win or loss) and the inputs are those play characteristics that impact on that outcome. From the results obtained it is clear that, on average, there is a substantial difference between the impact of each play characteristic on a basketball team’s winning probability and that probability varies as the quality/quantity of the inputs used changes, albeit not proportionally.sports economics, team sport, professional basketball, productive process, logit model

The economic geography of football success: empirical evidence from european cities

Introduction. – 1. The geography of successful football teams: an analytical framework – 2. Empirical analysis – 2.1. Data, model estimation and results – 2.2. Cities and teams: some remarks about market size and teams’ performance – 3. Conclusions – 4. Annex

High resolution observations of Cen A: Yellow and red supergiants in a region of jet-induced star formation?

We present the analysis of near infrared (NIR), adaptive optics (AO) Subaru and archived HST imaging data of a region near the northern middle lobe (NML) of the Centaurus A (Cen A) jet, at a distance of $\sim15$ kpc north-east (NE) from the center of NGC5128. Low-pass filtering of the NIR images reveals strong -- $>3\sigma$ above the background mean -- signal at the expected position of the brightest star in the equivalent HST field. Statistical analysis of the NIR background noise suggests that the probability to observe $>3\sigma$ signal at the same position, in three independent measurements due to stochastic background fluctuations alone is negligible ($\leq10^{-7}\%$) and, therefore, that this signal should reflect the detection of the NIR counterparts of the brightest HST star. An extensive photometric analysis of this star yields $V-I$, visual-NIR, and NIR colors expected from a yellow supergiant (YSG) with an estimated age $\sim10^{+4}_{-3}$ Myr. Furthermore, the second and third brighter HST stars are, likely, also supergiants in Cen A, with estimated ages $\sim16^{+6}_{-3}$ Myr and $\sim25^{+15}_{-9}$ Myr, respectively. The ages of these three supergiants are in good agreement with the ages of the young massive stars that were previously found in the vicinity and are thought to have formed during the later phases of the jet-HI cloud interaction that appears to drive the star formation (SF) in the region for the past $\sim100$ Myr.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

Long-distance radiative corrections to the di-pion tau lepton decay

We evaluate the model-dependent piece of O(alpha) long-distance radiative corrections to tau^- \to \pi^- \pi^0\nu_{\tau} decays by using a meson dominance model. We find that these corrections to the di-pion invariant mass spectrum are smaller than in previous calculations based on chiral perturbation theory. The corresponding correction to the photon inclusive rate is tiny (-0.15%) but it can be of relevance when new measurements reach better precision.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. An estimate of the shift produced in the evaluation of the h.v.p. contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment is added. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of G272.2-3.2. Evidence of stellar ejecta in the central region

We aim to study the spatial distribution of the physical and chemical properties of the X-ray emitting plasma of the supernova remnant G272.2-3.2, in order to get important constraints on its ionization stage, on the progenitor supernova explosion, and the age of the remnant. We report combined XMM-Newton and Chandra images, median photon energy map, silicon and sulfur equivalent width maps, and a spatially resolved spectral analysis for a set of regions of the remnant. Complementary radio and H{\alpha} observations, available in the literature, are also used to study the multi-wavelength connection of all detected emissions. The X-ray morphology of the remnant displays an overall structure with an almost circular appearance, a centrally brightened hard region, with a peculiar elongated hard structure oriented along the northwest-southeast direction of the central part. The X-ray spectral study of the regions shows distinct K{\alpha} emission-line features of metal elements, confirming the thermal origin of the emission. The X-ray spectra are well represented by an absorbed VNEI thermal plasma model, which produces elevated abundances of Si, S, and Fe in the circular central region, typical of ejecta material. The values of abundances found in the central region of the SNR favor a Type Ia progenitor for this remnant. The outer region shows abundances below the solar value, as expected if the emission arises from the shocked ISM. The relatively low ionization timescales suggests non-equilibrium ionization. We identify the location of the contact discontinuity. Its distance to the outer shock is higher than expected for expansion in a uniform media, what suggests that the remnant spent most of its time in a more dense medium.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Comparison of a Lightweight Experimental Shaker and an Orchard Tractor Mounted Trunk Shaker for Fresh Market Citrus Harvesting

[EN] A designed lightweight experimental shaker successfully used to collect ornamental oranges has been tested to harvest fresh market citrus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the removal efficiency and operational times of this experimental device compared to an orchard trunk shaker. Three different collecting systems were studied. 'Caracara' citrus trees were tested. Removal efficiency, vibration parameters, fruit and tree damages, and fruit quality were measured. A high-speed camera was used to record operational times and determine cumulative removal percentage over vibration time. The canvases on the ground reduced the severe fruit damages but were not useful to protect against light damages. The experimental shaker produced a higher percentage of slightly damaged oranges. No significant differences in removal efficiency were found between the two harvesting systems. However, removal efficiency using the experimental device could be reduced by 40 percent and working time increase by more than 50 percent when access to the main branches was difficult. In agreement with previous results, the curve representing the branch cumulative removal percentage in time followed a sigmoidal pattern. A model was built showing that during the first 5 s more than 50 percent of the fruits were detachedThis research has been fund by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and cofounded by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion (project GO "Avances tecnologicos para la modernizacion y la sostenibilidad en la produccion de citricos CITRUSTECH").Ortiz Sánchez, MC.; Torregrosa, A.; Castro-García, S. (2021). Comparison of a Lightweight Experimental Shaker and an Orchard Tractor Mounted Trunk Shaker for Fresh Market Citrus Harvesting. Agriculture. 11(11):1-10. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11111092110111