5,455 research outputs found
Direct photon production with effective field theory
The production of hard photons in hadronic collisions is studied using
Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET). This is the first application of SCET
to a physical, observable cross section involving energetic partons in more
than two directions. A factorization formula is derived which involves a
non-trivial interplay of the angular dependence in the hard and soft functions,
both quark and gluon jet functions, and multiple partonic channels. The
relevant hard, jet and soft functions are computed to one loop and their
anomalous dimensions are determined to three loops. The final resummed
inclusive direct photon distribution is valid to next-to-next-to-leading
logarithmic order (NNLL), one order beyond previous work. The result is
improved by including non-logarithmic terms and photon isolation cuts through
matching, and compared to Tevatron data and to fixed order results at the
Tevatron and the LHC. The resummed cross section has a significantly smaller
theoretical uncertainty than the next-to-leading fixed-order result,
particularly at high transverse momentum.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figures; v2: references added, minor changes; v3: typos;
v4: typos, corrections in (16), (47), (72
Change in hematologic indices over time in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease treated with azathioprine
Azathioprine leads to changes in mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and white blood cell (WBC) indices reflecting efficacy or toxicity. Understanding the interactions between bone marrow stem cells and azathioprine could highlight abnormal response patterns as forerunners for hematologic malig-nancies. This study gives a statistical description of factors influencing the relationship between MCV and WBC in children with inflammatory bowel disease treated with azathioprine. We found that leukopenia preceded macro¬cytosis. Macrocytosis is therefore not a good predictor of leukopenia. Further studies will be necessary to determine the subgroup of patients at increased risk of malignancies based on bone marrow response
Bridging the data gaps in the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection in Malaysia using multi-parameter evidence synthesis
BACKGROUND: Collecting adequate information on key epidemiological indicators is a prerequisite to informing a public health response to reduce the impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Malaysia. Our goal was to overcome the acute data shortage typical of low/middle income countries using statistical modelling to estimate the national HCV prevalence and the distribution over transmission pathways as of the end of 2009. METHODS: Multi-parameter evidence synthesis methods were applied to combine all available relevant data sources - both direct and indirect - that inform the epidemiological parameters of interest. RESULTS: An estimated 454,000 (95% credible interval [CrI]: 392,000 to 535,000) HCV antibody-positive individuals were living in Malaysia in 2009; this represents 2.5% (95% CrI: 2.2-3.0%) of the population aged 15-64 years. Among males of Malay ethnicity, for 77% (95% CrI: 69-85%) the route of probable transmission was active or a previous history of injecting drugs. The corresponding proportions were smaller for male Chinese and Indian/other ethnic groups (40% and 71%, respectively). The estimated prevalence in females of all ethnicities was 1% (95% CrI: 0.6 to 1.4%); 92% (95% CrI: 88 to 95%) of infections were attributable to non-drug injecting routes of transmission. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalent number of persons living with HCV infection in Malaysia is estimated to be very high. Low/middle income countries often lack a comprehensive evidence base; however, evidence synthesis methods can assist in filling the data gaps required for the development of effective policy to address the future public health and economic burden due to HCV. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-014-0564-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
Factorization and NNLL Resummation for Higgs Production with a Jet Veto
Using methods of effective field theory, we derive the first all-order
factorization theorem for the Higgs-boson production cross section with a jet
veto, imposed by means of a standard sequential recombination jet algorithm.
Like in the case of small-q_T resummation in Drell-Yan and Higgs production,
the factorization is affected by a collinear anomaly. Our analysis provides the
basis for a systematic resummation of large logarithms log(m_H/p_T^veto) beyond
leading-logarithmic order. Specifically, we present predictions for the
resummed jet-veto cross section and efficiency at next-to-next-to-leading
logarithmic order. Our results have important implications for Higgs-boson
searches at the LHC, where a jet veto is required to suppress background
events.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures; v2: published version; note added in proo
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