Untimely Applause Was a Distraction; Comment on “Shanghai Rising: Health Improvements as Measured by Avoidable Mortality since 2000”

The paper published in the January 2015 issue of this journal by Gusmano and colleagues entitled “Shanghai rising: health improvements as measured by avoidable mortality since 2000” has spurred this commentary. We discuss controversial issues surrounding the concept of avoidable mortality in health service research in general and Gusmano’s study in particular. The impact of overall social development on mortality may be underappreciated in Gusmano’s report; the innovative efforts of healthcare professionals to use cutting-edge technology and evidenceapproved preventive strategies to reduce healthcare cost and improve the life quality of community members may not necessarily come to fruition in death reduction, and might be undervalued, too. More critically, the shape and magnitude of emerging health issues in Shanghai, such as accidents and injuries, pollution-related cancers, may be camouflaged in Gusmano’s report. We conclude this commentary by suggesting the most urgent questions to be addressed in the future studies

QCD corrections to Upsilon production via color-octet states at the Tevatron and LHC

The NLO QCD corrections to Upsilon production via S-wave color-octet states Upsilon(^1S_0^8,^3S_1^8) at the Tevatron and LHC is calculated. The K factors of total cross section (ratio of NLO to LO) are 1.313 and 1.379 for Upsilon(^1S_0^8) and Upsilon(^3S_1^8) at the Tevatron, while at the LHC they are 1.044 and 1.182, respectively. By fitting the experimental data from the D0, the matrix elements for S-wave color-octet states are obtained. And new predictions for Upsilon production are presented. The prediction for the polarization of inclusive Upsilon contains large uncertainty rising from the polarization of Upsilon from feed-down of chi_b. To further clarify the situation, new measurements on the production and polarization for direct Upsilon are expected.Comment: 13 pages, 10 Figure

Untimely applause was a distraction Comment on “Shanghai rising: health improvements as measured by avoidable mortality since 2000”

The paper published in the January 2015 issue of this journal by Gusmano and colleagues entitled “ Shanghai rising: health improvements as measured by avoidable mortality since 2000 ” has spurred this commentary. We discuss controversial issues surrounding the concept of avoidable mortality in health service research in general and Gusmano’s study in particular. The impact of overall social development on mortality may be underappreciated in Gusmano’s report; the innovative efforts of healthcare professionals to use cutting-edge technology and evidence- approved preventive strategies to reduce healthcare cost and improve the life quality of community members may not necessarily come to fruition in death reduction, and might be undervalued, too. More critically, the shape and magnitude of emerging health issues in Shanghai, such as accidents and injuries, pollution-related cancers, may be camouflaged in Gusmano’s report. We conclude this commentary by suggesting the most urgent questions to be addressed in the future studies