1,655 research outputs found
Unidentified undescended testes in teenage boys with severe learning disabilities
ABSTRACT Nine boys of secondary school age were referred with undescended testes (UDT) to paediatric surgeons over a period of 8 years. All were referred from the same community paediatric clinic for children with severe learning disabilities. UDT cause concern because of a threefold increase in the incidence of cancer. Cosmesis and reduced fertility were seen as less relevant issues for these boys. The late identification and incidence of UDT are discussed. It is suggested that awareness of this issue should be raised and screening introduced. Advice is needed on the appropriate management of UDT in this group of boys
Economic and other barriers to adopting recommendations to prevent childhood obesity: results of a focus group study with parents
Abstract Background Parents are integral to the implementation of obesity prevention and management recommendations for children. Exploration of barriers to and facilitators of parental decisions to adopt obesity prevention recommendations will inform future efforts to reduce childhood obesity. Methods We conducted 4 focus groups (2 English, 2 Spanish) among a total of 19 parents of overweight (BMI ≥ 85th percentile) children aged 5-17 years. The main discussion focused on 7 common obesity prevention recommendations: reducing television (TV) watching, removing TV from child's bedroom, increasing physically active games, participating in community or school-based athletics, walking to school, walking more in general, and eating less fast food. Parents were asked to discuss what factors would make each recommendation more difficult (barriers) or easier (facilitators) to follow. Participants were also asked about the relative importance of economic (time and dollar costs/savings) barriers and facilitators if these were not brought into the discussion unprompted. Results Parents identified many barriers but few facilitators to adopting obesity prevention recommendations for their children. Members of all groups identified economic barriers (time and dollar costs) among a variety of pertinent barriers, although the discussion of dollar costs often required prompting. Parents cited other barriers including child preference, difficulty with changing habits, lack of information, lack of transportation, difficulty with monitoring child behavior, need for assistance from family members, parity with other family members, and neighborhood walking safety. Facilitators identified included access to physical activity programs, availability of alternatives to fast food and TV which are acceptable to the child, enlisting outside support, dietary information, involving the child, setting limits, making behavior changes gradually, and parental change in shopping behaviors and own eating behaviors. Conclusions Parents identify numerous barriers to adopting obesity prevention recommendations, most notably child and family preferences and resistance to change, but also economic barriers. Intervention programs should consider the context of family priorities and how to overcome barriers and make use of relevant facilitators during program development.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78270/1/1471-2431-9-81.xmlhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78270/2/1471-2431-9-81.pdfPeer Reviewe
Hadroproduction of the Chi1 and Chi2 States of Charmonium in 800 GeV/c Proton-Silicon Interactions
The cross sections for the hadroproduction of the Chi1 and Chi2 states of
charmonium in proton-silicon collisions at sqrt{s}=38.8 GeV have been measured
in Fermilab fixed target Experiment 771. The Chi states were observed via their
radiative decay to J/psi+gamma, where the photon converted to e+e- in the
material of the spectrometer. The measured values for the Chi1 and Chi2 cross
sections for x_F>0 are 263+-69(stat)+-32(syst) and 498+-143(stat)+-67(syst) nb
per nucleon respectively. The resulting sigma(Chi1}/sigma(Chi2) ratio of
0.53+-0.20(stat)+-0.07(syst), although somewhat larger than most theoretical
expectations, can be accomodated by the latest theoretical estimates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Recommended from our members
Final Report for Plutonium and Quantum Criticality LDRD 03-ERD-077
Plutonium possesses the most complicated phase diagram in the periodic table, driven by the complexities of overlapping 5f electron orbitals. Despite the importance of the 5f electrons in defining the structure and physical properties, there is no experimental evidence that these electrons localize to form magnetic moments in pure Pu and the {sup +}{mu}SR measurements included here place an upper limit of <0.001{micro}{sub B} for the magnetic moment on Pu. Instead, a large temperature independent Pauli susceptibility indicates they form narrow conduction bands. Radiation damage from the {alpha}-particle decay of Pu creates numerous defects in the crystal structure which produce a significant temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility {chi}(T), in {alpha}-Pu, {delta}-Pu(4.3at%Ga), and Pu{sub 1-x}Am{sub x} alloys ({delta}-Pu phase). This effect can be removed by thermal annealing above room temperature. By contrast, below 35K the radiation damage is frozen in place permitting the evolution in {chi}(T) with increasing damage to be studied systematically. This leads to a two component model consisting of a Curie-Weiss term and a short-ranged interaction term consistent with disorder induced local moment models. Thus it is shown that self-damage creates localized magnetic moments in previously nonmagnetic plutonium. This effect is greatly magnified in some Pu{sub 1-x}Am{sub x} alloys where an apparent damage-induced phase transition occurs at low temperatures near Stage I annealing which results local moments on the order of 1 {micro}{sub B}/Pu. The phase is metastable, and anneals away at higher temperatures
A Study of Time-Dependent CP-Violating Asymmetries and Flavor Oscillations in Neutral B Decays at the Upsilon(4S)
We present a measurement of time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in
neutral B meson decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II
asymmetric-energy B Factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The data
sample consists of 29.7 recorded at the
resonance and 3.9 off-resonance. One of the neutral B mesons,
which are produced in pairs at the , is fully reconstructed in
the CP decay modes , , , () and , or in flavor-eigenstate
modes involving and (). The flavor of the other neutral B meson is tagged at the time of
its decay, mainly with the charge of identified leptons and kaons. The proper
time elapsed between the decays is determined by measuring the distance between
the decay vertices. A maximum-likelihood fit to this flavor eigenstate sample
finds . The value of the asymmetry amplitude is determined from
a simultaneous maximum-likelihood fit to the time-difference distribution of
the flavor-eigenstate sample and about 642 tagged decays in the
CP-eigenstate modes. We find , demonstrating that CP violation exists in the neutral B meson
system. (abridged)Comment: 58 pages, 35 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Measurement of the Branching Fraction for B- --> D0 K*-
We present a measurement of the branching fraction for the decay B- --> D0
K*- using a sample of approximately 86 million BBbar pairs collected by the
BaBar detector from e+e- collisions near the Y(4S) resonance. The D0 is
detected through its decays to K- pi+, K- pi+ pi0 and K- pi+ pi- pi+, and the
K*- through its decay to K0S pi-. We measure the branching fraction to be
B.F.(B- --> D0 K*-)= (6.3 +/- 0.7(stat.) +/- 0.5(syst.)) x 10^{-4}.Comment: 7 pages, 1 postscript figure, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid
Communications
Measurement of the quasi-elastic axial vector mass in neutrino-oxygen interactions
The weak nucleon axial-vector form factor for quasi-elastic interactions is
determined using neutrino interaction data from the K2K Scintillating Fiber
detector in the neutrino beam at KEK. More than 12,000 events are analyzed, of
which half are charged-current quasi-elastic interactions nu-mu n to mu- p
occurring primarily in oxygen nuclei. We use a relativistic Fermi gas model for
oxygen and assume the form factor is approximately a dipole with one parameter,
the axial vector mass M_A, and fit to the shape of the distribution of the
square of the momentum transfer from the nucleon to the nucleus. Our best fit
result for M_A = 1.20 \pm 0.12 GeV. Furthermore, this analysis includes updated
vector form factors from recent electron scattering experiments and a
discussion of the effects of the nucleon momentum on the shape of the fitted
distributions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table
Evidence for the Rare Decay B -> K*ll and Measurement of the B -> Kll Branching Fraction
We present evidence for the flavor-changing neutral current decay and a measurement of the branching fraction for the related
process , where is either an or
pair. These decays are highly suppressed in the Standard Model,
and they are sensitive to contributions from new particles in the intermediate
state. The data sample comprises
decays collected with the Babar detector at the PEP-II storage ring.
Averaging over isospin and lepton flavor, we obtain the branching
fractions and , where the
uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The significance of
the signal is over , while for it is .Comment: 7 pages, 2 postscript figues, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Search for the W-exchange decays B0 --> Ds(*)- Ds(*)+
We report a search for the decays , , in a sample of 232
million decays to \BBb ~pairs collected with the \babar detector
at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy storage ring. We find no significant
signal and set upper bounds for the branching fractions: and at 90% confidence level.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PRD-R
- …