A learning community approach to identifying interventions in health systems to reduce colorectal cancer screening disparities.

Although colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in the United States has been increasing, screening rates are not optimal, and there are persistent disparities in CRC screening and mortality, particularly among minority patients. As most CRC screening takes place in primary care, health systems are well-positioned to address this important population health problem. However, most health systems have not actively engaged in identifying and implementing effective evidence-based intervention strategies that can raise CRC screening rates and reduce disparities. Drawing on the Collective Impact Model and the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation, our project team applied a learning community strategy to help two health systems in southeastern Pennsylvania identify evidence-based CRC screening interventions for primary care patients. Initially, this approach involved activating a coordinating team, steering committee (health system leadership and stakeholder organizations), and patient and stakeholder advisory committee to identify candidate CRC screening intervention strategies. The coordinating team guided the steering committee through a scoping review to identify seven randomized trials that identified interventions that addressed CRC screening disparities. Subsequently, the coordinating team and steering committee applied a screening intervention classification typology to select an intervention strategy that involved using an outreach strategy to provide minority patients with access to both stool blood test and colonoscopy screening. Finally, the coordinating team and steering committee engaged the health system patient and stakeholder advisory committee in planning for intervention implementation, thus taking up the challenge of reducing and important health disparity in patient populations served by the two health systems

Millisecond spin-flip times of donor-bound electrons in GaAs

We observe millisecond spin-flip relaxation times of donor-bound electrons in high-purity n-GaAs . This is three orders of magnitude larger than previously reported lifetimes in n-GaAs . Spin-flip times are measured as a function of magnetic field and exhibit a strong power-law dependence for fields greater than 4 T . This result is in qualitative agreement with previously reported theory and measurements of electrons in quantum dots.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Acetic Acid Aldol Reactions in the Presence of Trimethylsilyl Trifluoromethanesulfonate

In the presence of TMSOTf and a trialkylamine base, acetic acid undergoes aldol addition to non-enolizable aldehydes under exceptionally mild conditions. Acidic workup yields the β-hydroxy carboxylic acid. The reaction appears to proceed via a three-step, one-pot process, including in situ trimethylsilyl ester formation, bis-silyl ketene acetal formation, and TMSOTf-catalyzed Mukaiyama aldol addition. Independently synthesized TMSOAc also undergoes aldol additions under similar conditions

Evaluation of recreational health risk in coastal waters based on enterococcus densities and bathing patterns.

We constructed a simulation model to compute the incidences of highly credible gastrointestinal illness (HCGI) in recreational bathers at two intermittently contaminated beaches of Orange County, California. Assumptions regarding spatial and temporal bathing patterns were used to determine exposure levels over a 31-month study period. Illness rates were calculated by applying previously reported relationships between enterococcus density and HCGI risk to the exposure data. Peak enterococcus concentrations occurred in late winter and early spring, but model results showed that most HCGI cases occurred during summer, attributable to elevated number of exposures. Approximately 99% of the 95,010 illness cases occurred when beaches were open. Model runs were insensitive to 0-10% swimming activity assumed during beach closure days. Comparable illness rates resulted under clustered and uniform bather distribution scenarios. HCGI attack rates were within federal guidelines of tolerable risk when averaged over the study period. However, tolerable risk thresholds were exceeded for 27 total days and periods of at least 6 consecutive days. Illness estimates were sensitive to the functional form and magnitude of the enterococcus density-HCGI relationships. The results of this study contribute to an understanding of recreational health risk in coastal waters

Mid-Infrared Time-Resolved Frequency Comb Spectroscopy of Transient Free Radicals

We demonstrate time-resolved frequency comb spectroscopy (TRFCS), a new broadband absorption spectroscopy technique for the study of trace free radicals on the microsecond timescale. We apply TRFCS to study the time-resolved, mid-infrared absorption of the deuterated hydroxyformyl radical trans-DOCO, an important short-lived intermediate along the OD + CO reaction path. Directly after photolysis of the chemical precursor acrylic acid-d_1, we measure absolute trans-DOCO product concentrations with a sensitivity of 5 × 10^(10) cm^(–3) and observe its subsequent loss with a time resolution of 25 μs. The multiplexed nature of TRFCS allows us to detect simultaneously the time-dependent concentration of several other photoproducts and thus unravel primary and secondary chemical reaction pathways

A New Supersymmetric CP Violating Contribution to Neutral Meson Mixing

We study the contribution to flavor changing neutral current processes from box diagrams with light higgsinos and squarks. Starting with just the Cabbibo Kobayashi Maskawa (CKM) phase, we find contributions to the $K^0$ and $B^0$ meson mass matrices that are out of phase with the Standard Model contributions in the case of substantial mixing between the up-type squarks. This difference in phase could be large enough to be detected at the proposed $B$ factories, with interesting implications for the unitarity triangle of CKM matrix elements.Comment: 1 reference added, 1 reference clarified, 2 typos corrected (QCD corrections to K meson mixing in Tables 1 and 3). To be published in Phys. Rev. D. 15 pages (Latex), 2 figures and epsfig.sty submitte