Rare Kaon Decays

Recent results in and future prospects for the study of rare kaon decays are reviewed.Comment: 34 pages, 21 Postscript figures, submitted to the proceedings of the 2005 International School of Physics "E. Fermi", full resolution version at http://pubweb.bnl.gov/users/litt/www/LL_Varenna_05.ps.g

BNL Future Plans

I discuss the prospects for a fixed target physics program at the AGS in the RHIC era.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 12 Postscript figures. To be published in the proceedings of the Workshop on Kaon, Muon, Neutrino Physics and Future, KEK, 31 Oct. - 1 Nov 199

Effect of a Clinical Evidence Technology on Patient Skin Disease Outcomes in Primary Care: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Providers’ use of clinical evidence technologies (CETs) improves their diagnosis and treatment decisions. Despite these benefits, few studies have evaluated the impact of CETs on patient outcomes. Investigators evaluated the effect of one CET, VisualDx, on skin problem outcomes in primary care. Methods: The cluster-randomized controlled pragmatic trial was set in outpatient clinics at an academic medical center in the Northeast. Participants were Primary Care Providers (PCPs) and adult patients seen for skin problems. The intervention was VisualDx as used by PCPs. Outcomes were patient-reported time from index clinic visit to problem resolution, and the number of follow-up visits to any provider for the same problem. PCPs assigned to intervention agreed to use VisualDx as their primary evidence source for skin problems. Control group PCPs agreed not to use VisualDx. Investigators collected outcome data from patients by phone at 30 day intervals. Cox proportional hazards models assessed time to resolution. Wilcoxon-rank sum tests and logistic regression compared return appointments. Results: Thirty-two PCPs and 433 patients participated. In proportional hazards modelling adjusted for provider clusters, the days from index visit to skin problem resolution were similar in both groups (HR 0.92; CI 0.70, 1.21 P= 0.54). Patient follow-up appointments did not differ significantly between groups (OR 1.26 95% CI 0.94, 1.70 P =0.29). Conclusion: This pragmatic trial tested the effectiveness of VisualDx on patient reported skin disease outcomes in a generalizable clinical setting. There was no difference in skin problem resolution or number of follow-up visits when PCPs used VisualDx

Rare K decay: results and prospects

Recent results on rare kaon decays are reviewed and prospects for future experiments are discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, submitted to the Proc. 9th Intl. Symp. on Heavy Flavor Physic

Rare Kaon and Pion Decays

Recent results on rare kaon and pion decays are reviewed and prospects for future experiments are discussedComment: Lectures given at the PSI Summer School on Particle Physics 18-24 Aug 2002 32 pages Latex, 25 figure

Automated Identification of Unhealthy Drinking Using Routinely Collected Data: A Machine Learning Approach

Background: Unhealthy drinking is prevalent in the United States and can lead to serious health and social consequences, yet it is under-diagnosed and under-treated. Identifying unhealthy drinkers can be time-consuming for primary care providers. An automated tool for identification would allow attention to be focused on patients most likely to need care and therefore increase efficiency and effectiveness. Objectives: To build a clinical prediction tool for unhealthy drinking based solely on routinely collected demographic and laboratory data. Methods: We obtained demographic and laboratory data on 89,325 adults seen at the University of Vermont Medical Center from 2011-2017. Logistic regression, support vector machines (SVM), k-nearest neighbor, and random forests were each used to build clinical prediction models. The model with the largest area under the receiver operator curve (AUC) was selected. Results: SVM with polynomials of degree 3 produced the largest AUC. The most influential predictors were alkaline phosphatase, gender, glucose, and serum bicarbonate. The optimum operating point had sensitivity 31.1%, specificity 91.2%, positive predictive value 50.4%, and negative predictive value 82.1%. Application of the tool increased the prevalence of unhealthy drinking from 18.3% to 32.4%, while reducing the target population by 22%. Limitations: Universal screening was not used during the time data was collected. The prevalence of unhealthy drinking among those screened was 60% suggesting the AUDIT-C was administered to confirm rather than screen for unhealthy drinking. Conclusion: An automated tool, using commonly available data, can identify a subset of patients who appear to warrant clinical attention for unhealthy drinking

sin⁡2β\sin 2\beta from K→πννˉK\to\pi\nu\bar\nu

We point out that the measurement of just the two branching fractions \linebreak $B(K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar\nu)$ and $B(K_L\to\pi^0\nu\bar\nu)$ can in a theoretically clean manner determine $\sin 2\beta$ almost independently of $m_t$ and $V_{cb}$. This allows to obtain an interesting relation between the CP asymmetry $A_{CP}(\psi K_S)$ in B physics and the branching ratios for these two rare K decays. The recently calculated next-to-leading order QCD corrections improve the accuracy of this analysis. We find typically $\Delta\sin 2\beta=\pm 0.11$ provided B(\kpn) and B(\klpn) are measured within $\pm 10\%$ accuracy. With decreasing uncertainty in $\Lambda_{\overline{MS}}$ and $m_c$ this error could be reduced to $\Delta\sin 2\beta < \pm 0.10$. The determination of $\sin 2\alpha$ and $\sin 2\gamma$ on the other hand is rather poor. However respectable determinations of the Wolfenstein parameter $\eta$ and of $\mid V_{td}\mid$ can be obtained.Comment: 9 pages, MPI-PhT/94-1