Heavy flavor in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and RHIC II

In the initial years of operation, experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have identified a new form of matter formed in nuclei-nuclei collisions at energy densities more than 100 times that of a cold atomic nucleus. Measurements and comparison with relativistic hydrodynamic models indicate that the matter thermalizes in an unexpectedly short time, has an energy density at least 15 times larger than needed for color deconfinement, has a temperature about twice the critical temperature predicted by lattice QCD, and appears to exhibit collective motion with ideal hydrodynamic properties - a "perfect liquid" that appears to flow with a near-zero viscosity to entropy ratio - lower than any previously observed fluid and perhaps close to a universal lower bound. However, a fundamental understanding of the medium seen in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC does not yet exist. The most important scientific challenge for the field in the next decade is the quantitative exploration of the new state of nuclear matter. That will require new data that will, in turn, require enhanced capabilities of the RHIC detectors and accelerator. In this report we discuss the scientific opportunities for an upgraded RHIC facility - RHIC II - in conjunction with improved capabilities of the two large RHIC detectors, PHENIX and STAR. We focus solely on heavy flavor probes. Their production rates are calculable using the well-established techniques of perturbative QCD and their sizable interactions with the hot QCD medium provide unique and sensitive measurements of its crucial properties making them one of the key diagnostic tools available to us.Comment: 96 pages, 53 figures. Accepted for publication in Physics Reports. Fixed typo in Fig. 15 captio

Narrowing the uncertainty on the total charm cross section and its effect on the J/\psi\ cross section

We explore the available parameter space that gives reasonable fits to the total charm cross section to make a better estimate of its true uncertainty. We study the effect of the parameter choices on the energy dependence of the J/\psi\ cross section.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure

Improving the J/psi Production Baseline at RHIC and the LHC

We assess the theoretical uncertainties on the inclusive J/psi production cross section in the Color Evaporation Model (CEM) using values for the charm quark mass, renormalization and factorization scales obtained from a fit to the charm production data. We use our new results to provide improved baseline comparison calculations at RHIC and the LHC. We also study cold matter effects on J/psi production at leading relative to next-to-leading order in the CEM within this approach.Comment: Proceedings for Hard Probes 2012, Cagliari, Ital

Impact parameter dependence of the nuclear modification of J/psi production in d+Au collisions at sqrt(S_NN) = 200 GeV

The centrality dependence of sqrt(s_NN)= 200 GeV d+Au {J/\psi} data, measured in 12 rapidity bins that span -2.2 < y < 2.4, has been fitted using a model containing an effective absorption cross section combined with EPS09 NLO shadowing. The centrality dependence of the shadowing contribution was allowed to vary nonlinearly, employing a variety of assumptions, in an effort to explore the limits of what can be determined from the data. The impact parameter dependencies of the effective absorption cross section and the shadowing parameterization are sufficiently distinct to be determined separately. It is found that the onset of shadowing is a highly nonlinear function of impact parameter. The mid and backward rapidity absorption cross sections are compared with lower energy data and, for times of 0.05 fm/c or greater, data over a broad range of collision energies and rapidities are well described by a model in which the absorption cross section depends only on time spent in the nucleus.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Expanded discussion of methods, and added extensive comparison of effective absorption cross sections with lower energy data, and with theory. Corrected minor typos in table 1, corrected typos in best fit parameters for Fig.

Substantial out-of-pocket expenditure on maternity care practitioner consultations and treatments during pregnancy: Estimates from a nationally-representative sample of pregnant women in Australia

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: A wide range of health care options are utilised by pregnant women in Australia. The out-of-pocket costs of maternity care in Australia vary depending on many factors including model of care utilised, health insurance coverage, and women's decision to access health services outside of conventional maternity care provision. Methods: Women from the 1973-78 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) who identified as pregnant or as recently having given birth in 2009 were invited to complete a sub-study questionnaire investigating health service utilisation during their most recent pregnancy. Results: A total of 1,835 women agreed to participate in the sub-study. The majority of women (99.8%) consulted with a conventional health care practitioner during pregnancy, 49.4% consulted with a complementary and alternative medicine practitioner at least once during pregnancy and 89.6% of the women used a complementary and alternative medicine product. Women reported an average of AUD$781.10 in out-of-pocket expenses for consultations with conventional health care practitioners, AUD$185.40 in out-of-pocket expenses for consultations with complementary and alternative medicine practitioners and AUD$179.60 in out-of-pocket expenses for complementary and alternative medicine products. From the study data we estimate Australian pregnant women spend over AUD$337 M on out-of-pocket health services. Conclusion: While the majority of pregnant women in Australia may obtain health services via the publically-funded health care system and/or private health insurance coverage, our analysis identifies substantial out-of-pocket expenditure for health care by pregnant women - a trend in public spending for maternity care of importance to policy makers, health administrators, and health professionals

The Association between women’s choice of birth setting and their use of CAM during labor and birth.

Purpose: Contemporary maternity care often means women are able to choose a number of settings for their birth including hospitals, birth centers, and community settings. There is also evidence that many women utilised complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) during pregnancy and birth. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between women’s choice of birth setting and their use of CAM during labor and birth. Methods: Longitudinal data from a sub-study of women (n = 2445) from the nationally-representative Australian Longitudinal Study of Women’s Health (ALSWH) was analyzed for relationships between women’s birth setting (hospital, birth center, or community) and their demographics, attitudes towards maternity care (including CAM), and use of CAM during pregnancy and birth. Results: The characteristics associated with women’s choice of birth setting include some demographic features such as employment status, health care subsidy, and level of education. Women’s birth setting choice was also linked to a preference for CAM practitioner by women birthing in birth centers and community settings. In contrast, women birthing in hospitals held more positive views towards obstetric care. There was a higher use of CAM during pregnancy by women birthing in birth centers and community but this was not consistent across all CAMs investigated. Naturopaths, herbal medicines, homeopathy and flower essences were more commonly used by women birthing in community compared with those in a birth center. There was also a higher rate of CAM use for intrapartum pain management for women birthing outside of a hospital setting, although women attending a birth center were more likely than those birthing in community to use pharmacological pain management techniques. Conclusion: There are characteristic differences between women birthing in different birth settings which seems to be influenced as much by preference for maternity care and interest in CAM use as it is by demographics

Sport participation legacy and the olympic games: The case of sydney 2000, london 2012, and rio 2016

© 2017 Cognizant, LLC. Sport participation as a legacy of the Olympic Games (OG) has frequently featured as a component of the "legacy package" that government bodies and organizing committees promote to the local communities to gain support for the hosting of these mega-events. However, only recently increased sport participation has been explicitly included as part of a legacy plan in OG candidature files. This article examines the changes and development of sport legacy planning and implementation from Sydney 2000, London 2012, and Rio 2016. The three case studies confirm that sport participation legacies are only achieved if host governments engage the community, develop long-term strategies, and coordinate efforts between different government portfolios and with a range of relevant stakeholders. So far, there is limited evidence available to demonstrate that relevant government bodies have attempted to strategically leverage the Games with the purpose of developing a sport participation legacy for the wider population

Characteristics of women who practice yoga in different locations during pregnancy

Objectives: Yoga practice during pregnancy is gaining increasing popularity. This study examined the characteristics of pregnant women who practiced yoga in regard to the different locations (at home, in yoga classes, or both). Design: The study sample was drawn from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH), a national longitudinal study of women to investigate multiple factors affecting health and wellbeing of women over a 20-year period. Setting: Postal survey. Participants: Women born between 1973 and 1978, who were randomly selected from the national Medicare database and identified as being pregnant or having recently given birth (n=2316). Outcome measures: Relationships between yoga use (attending yoga classes and/or practising yoga at home) and women's characteristics (demographic measures, pregnancy-related health concerns, health service utilisation, attitudes to complementary and alternative medicine). Results: Practising yoga both at home and in classes was associated with perceiving complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as preventative (odds ratio (OR)=1.62); perceiving CAM as affording health control (OR=1.50); experiencing sadness (OR=1.72); preparing for labour (OR=2.31); birthing in a birth centre (OR=7.97); and experiencing less vomiting (OR=0.38). Practising at home only was associated with perceiving CAM as affording health control (OR=1.76); perceiving CAM as promoting a holistic health approach (OR=1.65); and birthing in a birth centre (OR=3.54). Practising in classes only was associated with experiencing stress (OR=1.97); and birthing in a birth centre (OR=4.85) (all p<0.05). Conclusions: The findings suggest that the location in which a woman practices yoga is associated with attitudinal, health-related and birth environmental factors

Associations between complementary medicine utilization and influenza/pneumococcal vaccination: Results of a national cross-sectional survey of 9151 Australian women

© 2017 Elsevier Inc. Influenza and pneumococcal vaccination is recommended for all adults, with older adults considered a high-risk group for targeted intervention. As such it is important for factors affecting vaccine uptake in this group to be examined. Complementary medicine (CM) use has been suggested as a possible factor associated with lower vaccination uptake. To determine if associations exist between influenza and pneumococcal vaccine uptake in older Australian women and the use of CM, data from women aged 62–67 years surveyed as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) were analyzed in 2013 regarding their health and health care utilization. Associations between the uptake of influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations and the use of CM were analyzed in 2016 using chi-squared tests and multiple logistic regression modelling. Of the 9151 women, 65.6% and 17.7% reported that they had influenza and pneumococcal vaccination within the past 3 years respectively. Regression analyses show that women who consulted naturopaths/herbalists (OR = 0.64) and other CM practitioners (OR = 0.64) were less likely to have vaccination (influenza only), as were women who used yoga (OR = 0.77–0.80) and herbal medicines (OR = 0.78–0.83) (influenza and pneumococcal). Conversely, women using vitamin supplements were more likely to receive either vaccination (OR = 1.17–1.24) than those not using vitamin supplements. The interface between CM use and influenza and pneumococcal vaccination uptake in older women appears complex, multi-factorial and often highly individualized and there is a need for further research to provide a rich examination of the decision-making and motivations of stakeholders around this important public health topic