Modeling the cost effectiveness of injury interventions in lower and middle income countries: opportunities and challenges

BACKGROUND: This paper estimates the cost-effectiveness of five interventions that could counter injuries in lower and middle income countries(LMICs): better traffic enforcement, erecting speed bumps, promoting helmets for bicycles, promoting helmets for motorcycles, and storing kerosene in child proof containers. METHODS: We adopt an ingredients based approach to form models of what each intervention would cost in 6 world regions over a 10 year period discounted at both 3% and 6% from both the governmental and societal perspectives. Costs are expressed in local currency converted into US $2001. Each of these interventions has been assessed for effectiveness in a LMIC in limited region, these effectiveness estimates have been used to form models of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) averted for various regions, taking account of regional differences in the baseline burden of injury. RESULTS: The interventions modeled in this paper have cost effectiveness ratios ranging from US$5 to $556 per DALY averted depending on region. Depending on local acceptability thresholds many of them could be judged cost-effective relative to interventions that are already adopted. Enhanced enforcement of traffic regulations is the most cost-effective interventions with an average cost per DALY of$64 CONCLUSION: Injury counter measures appear to be cost-effective based on models. More evaluations of real interventions will help to strengthen the evidence basis

Search for the decay B→D_(s1)^+ (2536)X

We have searched for the decay B⃗D_(s1)^+(2536)X and measured an upper limit for the inclusive branching fraction of B(B⃗D_(s1)^+X)<0.96% at the 90% confidence level. This limit is small compared with the total expected B⃗D^((*))D^((*))KX rate. Assuming factorization, the D_(s1)^+ decay constant is constrained to be fD_(s1)^+<114 MeV at the 90% confidence level, at least 2.5 times smaller than that of D_s^+

Selection rules in three-body B decay from factorization

Extending the dynamics underlying the factorization calculation of two-body decays, we propose simple selection rules for nonresonant three-body B decays. We predict, for instance, that in the Dalitz plot of B^0-->D^0-bar\pi^+\pi^-, practically no events should be found in the corner of E(\pi^+) < \Lambda_{QCD} as compared with the corner of E(\pi^-) < \Lambda_{QCD}. We also predict that there should be very few three-body decay events with a soft meson resonance and two energetic mesons or meson resonances. The selection rules are quite different from the soft pion theorem, since they apply to different kinematical regions. For B^0 -->D^0-bar\pi^+\pi^-, the latter predicts that the decay matrix element vanishes in the zero-four-momentum limit of \pi^+ instead of \pi^-. Since this marked difference from the soft pion theorem is directly related to the issue of short-distance QCD dominance in the FSI of two-body B decays, experimental test of the selection rules will shed light on strong interaction dynamics of B decay.Comment: 12 pages in REVTEX including 3 eps figure

Secondary Beam Monitors for the NuMI Facility at FNAL

The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) facility is a conventional neutrino beam which produces muon neutrinos by focusing a beam of mesons into a long evacuated decay volume. We have built four arrays of ionization chambers to monitor the position and intensity of the hadron and muon beams associated with neutrino production at locations downstream of the decay volume. This article describes the chambers' construction, calibration, and commissioning in the beam.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nucl. Instr. Meth.

Search for the disappearance of muon antineutrinos in the NuMI neutrino beam

We report constraints on muon antineutrino oscillation parameters that were obtained by using the two MINOS detectors to measure the 7% antineutrino component of the NuMI neutrino beam. In the Far Detector, we select 130 events in the charged-current muon antineutrino sample, compared to a prediction of 136.4 +/- 11.7(stat) ^{+10.2}_{-8.9}(syst) events under the assumption |dm2bar|=2.32x10^-3 eV^2, snthetabar=1.0. A fit to the two-flavor oscillation approximation constrains |dm2bar|&lt;3.37x10^-3 eV^2 at the 90% confidence level with snthetabar=1.0

Beam-Based Alignment of the NuMI Target Station Components at FNAL

The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) facility is a conventional horn-focused neutrino beam which produces muon neutrinos from a beam of mesons directed into a long evacuated decay volume. The relative alignment of the primary proton beam, target, and focusing horns affects the neutrino energy spectrum delivered to experiments. This paper describes a check of the alignment of these components using the proton beam.Comment: higher resolution figures available on Fermilab Preprint Server (see SPIRES entry), accepted for publication in Nucl. Instr. and Meth.