Chiral Symmetry and N*(1440) -> N pi pi Decay

The N*(1440) -> N pi pi decay is studied by making use of the chiral reduction formula. This formula suggests a scalar-isoscalar pion-baryon contact interaction which is absent in the recent study of Hern{\'a}ndez et al. The contact interaction is introduced into their model, and is found to be necessary for the simultaneous description of g_{RN pi pi} and the pi-pi and pi-N invariant mass distributions.Comment: 12 page

Pion-Exchange and Fermi-Motion Effects on the Proton-Deuteron Drell-Yan Process

Within a nuclear model that the deuteron has NN and \pi NN components, we derive convolution formula for investigating the Drell-Yan process in proton-deuteron (pd) reactions. The contribution from the \pi NN component is expressed in terms of a pion momentum distribution that depends sensitively on the \pi NN form factor. With a \pi NN form factor determined by fitting the \pi N scattering data up to invariant mass W = 1.3 GeV, we find that the pion-exchange and nucleon Fermi-motion effects can change significantly the ratios between the proton-deuteron and proton-proton Drell-Yan cross sections, R_{pd/pp} = \sigma^{pd}/(2\sigma^{pp}), in the region where the partons emitted from the target deuteron are in the Bjorken x_2 > 0.4 region. The calculated ratios R_{pd/pp} at 800 GeV agree with the available data. Predictions at 120 GeV for analyzing the forthcoming data from Fermilab are presented.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures. A couple of new numerical results are added. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1106.556

Signature of strange dibaryon in kaon-induced reaction

We examine how the signature of the strange-dibaryon resonances in the barKNN-piSigmaN system shows up in the scattering amplitude on the physical real energy axis within the framework of Alt-Grassberger-Sandhas (AGS) equations. The so-called point method is applied to handle the three-body unitarity cut in the amplitudes. We also discuss the possibility that the strange-dibaryon production reactions can be used for discriminating between existing models of the two-body barKN-piSigma system with Lambda(1405).Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, talk given at The Fifth Asia-Pacific Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics 2011 (APFB2011), held in Seoul, Korea, August 22-26, 201

Hypertension management in rural western Kenya: a needs-based health workforce estimation model

Background: Elevated blood pressure is the leading risk for mortality in the world. Task redistribution has been shown to be efficacious for hypertension management in low- and middle-income countries. However, the workforce requirements for such a task redistribution strategy are largely unknown. Therefore, we developed a needs-based workforce estimation model for hypertension management in western Kenya, using need and capacity as inputs. Methods: Key informant interviews, focus group discussions, a Delphi exercise, and time-motion studies were conducted among administrative leadership, clinicians, patients, community leaders, and experts in hypertension management. These results were triangulated to generate the best estimates for the inputs into the health workforce model. The local hypertension clinical protocol was used to derive a schedule of encounters with different levels of clinician and health facility staff. A Microsoft Excel-based spreadsheet was developed to enter the inputs and generate the full-time equivalent workforce requirement estimates over 3 years. Results: Two different scenarios were modeled: (1) “ramp-up” (increasing growth of patients each year) and (2) “steady state” (constant rate of patient enrollment each month). The ramp-up scenario estimated cumulative enrollment of 7000 patients by year 3, and an average clinical encounter time of 8.9 min, yielding nurse full-time equivalent requirements of 4.8, 13.5, and 30.2 in years 1, 2, and 3, respectively. In contrast, the steady-state scenario assumed a constant monthly enrollment of 100 patients and yielded nurse full-time equivalent requirements of 5.8, 10.5, and 14.3 over the same time period. Conclusions: A needs-based workforce estimation model yielded health worker full-time equivalent estimates required for hypertension management in western Kenya. The model is able to provide workforce projections that are useful for program planning, human resource allocation, and policy formulation. This approach can serve as a benchmark for chronic disease management programs in low-resource settings worldwideResearch reported in this publication was supported by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health under award number K01 TW 009218- 05

Chiral perturbation theory calculation for pn -> dpipi at threshold

We investigate the reaction pn -> dpipi in the framework of Chiral Perturbation Theory. For the first time a complete calculation of the leading order contributions is presented. We identify various diagrams that are of equal importance as compared to those recognized in earlier works. The diagrams at leading order behave as expected by the power counting. Also for the first time the nucleon-nucleon interaction in the initial, intermediate and final state is included consistently and found to be very important. This study provides a theoretical basis for a controlled evaluation of the non-resonant contributions in two-pion production reactions in nucleon-nucleon collisions.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, 3 table

Nurse Management of Hypertension in Rural Western Kenya: Implementation Research to Optimize Delivery

Background: Hypertension is the leading global risk factor for mortality. Hypertension treatment and control rates are low worldwide, and insufficient human resource capacity is among the contributing factors. Thus, a critical component of hypertension management is to develop novel and effective solutions to the human resources challenge. One potential solution is task redistribution and nurse management of hypertension in these settings. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate whether nurses can effectively reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients in rural western Kenya and, by extension, throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: An initial phase of qualitative inquiry will assess facilitators and barriers of nurse management of hypertension. In addition, we will perform usability and feasibility testing of a novel, electronic tablet-based integrated decision-support and record-keeping tool for the nurses. An impact evaluation of a pilot program for nurse-based management of hypertension will be performed. Finally, a needs-based workforce estimation model will be used to estimate the nurse workforce requirements for stable, long-term treatment of hypertension throughout western Kenya. Findings: The primary outcome measure of the impact evaluation will be the change in systolic blood pressure of hypertensive individuals assigned to nurse-based management after 1 year of follow-up. The workforce estimation modeling output will be the full-time equivalents of nurses. Conclusions: This study will provide evidence regarding the effectiveness of strategies to optimize task redistribution and nurse-based management of hypertension that can be applicable to noncommunicable disease management in low- and middle-income countries