Decision-making about the use of hormone therapy among perimenopausal women

Women reaching menopause must make a controversial decision about whether to use hormone therapy (HT). The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was the organizing framework. The objectives were to determine if (1) influence of different TPB constructs varied with stage of menopause and HT use, (2) women with diabetes were influenced in significantly different ways from women without, (3) the overall perceived behavioural control (PBC) and self-efficacy (SE) have independent effects on intention, and (4) physician influence was mediated by subjective norm (SN).Cross-sectional survey of women from a managed care organization.Multiple regression analysis was used to analyse 765 responses (230 from women with diabetes) and separately four main subgroups: (1) early menopause stage and never used HT, (2) late menopause stage and never used HT, (3) late menopause stage and previously used HT, and (4) late menopause stage currently using HT.For the entire sample, the model explains 68% of variance in intention, where SE, physicians' influence, self-identification with menopause as a natural part of ageing, self-identification as someone who wants to delay menopause, HT status, menopause status, and diabetes were added to the TPB. For the entire sample, SE added 2% to the explained variance and the physician determinant added 7%.An augmented TPB is useful for understanding women's HT use decisions. The theory explains more variance in intention before a behaviour is enacted than after, and decision structure changes over time. PBC and SE have independent effects on intention.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79377/1/135910709X457946.pd

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements