Dijet production and multiscale QCD at HERA.

This thesis describes the analysis of dijet production in photoproduction and DIS, using the ZEUS detector at HERA. At ZEUS, positrons and protons were collided with a centre of mass energy of /i = 300 GeV during the 1996-1997 running period and y/s = 318 GeV thereafter. Dijet production is studied for the all-flavours case and for the case when a charm quark is demanded. In the all-flavours analysis, the dependence of dijet production on the virtuality of the exchanged photon, Q2, was studied by measuring dijet cross sections in the range 0.0 7.5 and 6.5 GeV and pseudorapidity in the range 3.0 D0tts > (Kit)its with pr{lcub}D*) > 3.0 GeV and t7(D*) < 1.5. The charm data were collected from the running period 1996-2000, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 120.4 pb-1, and cover the range of photon virtualities 0.0 < Q2 < 5000 GeV2. The measurements were compared to next-to-leading-order QCD predictions which were generally found to give a good description of the data. Leading order pQCD models with parton shower simulation which include a parameterisation of the virtual photon were found to give a good description of the DIS data. Such models were found to be consistent with the photoproduction data only when the non-perturbative vector meson like component of the resolved photon is removed. When no parameterisation of the hadronic component of the virtual photon was used DGLAP evolution was found to lie below the data, and CCFM evolution generally closer to the data

Tobacco Control Yields Clear Dividends for Health and Wealth

Kelley Lee discusses a research article by Stanton Glantz and colleagues reporting that investment in tobacco control programs leads to substantial savings in health care expenditures

Estimating the healthcare costs of children born to pregnant smokers in England: cohort study using primary and secondary healthcare data

Background and aims: Little is known about the long term economic consequences of smoking during pregnancy. We estimated the association between smoking in pregnancy and the costs of delivering healthcare to infants and children in England, and investigated which aspects of care are the key drivers of these costs. Methods: We used Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) linked with Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) data in England from January 2003 until January 2015 in children with longitudinal data for at least one, five and ten years after birth. Poisson regression provided rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing healthcare episode rates between those exposed and not exposed to smoking during pregnancy. Linear regression was used to compare estimated costs between groups (£ sterling, 2015 prices) and generalized linear multivariable (GLM) models adjusted for potentially moderating factors. Results: A total of 93,152 singleton pregnancies with the required data were identified. Maternal smoking in pregnancy was associated with higher primary care, prescription and hospital inpatient episode rates, but lower outpatient visit and diagnostic test rates. Adjusting for year of birth, socio-economic deprivation, parity, sex of child and delivery method showed that maternal smoking in pregnancy was associated with increased child healthcare costs at 1 year (average cost difference for children of smokers, f3: £91.18, 95%CI: £47.52-£134.83) and 5 years of age (f3: £221.80, 95%CI: £17.78-£425.83), but not at 10 years of age (f3: £365.94, 95%CI: -£192.72-£924.60). Conclusion: In England, maternal smoking in pregnancy is associated with increased child healthcare costs over the first five years of life; these costs are primarily driven by greater hospital inpatient care

Search for lepton lavour violation in e+p collisions at HERA

A search for the lepton flavour violating processes ep->mu X and ep -> tau X is performed with the H1 experiment at HERA. Final states with a muon or tau and a hadronic jet are searched for in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 66.5 pb-1 for e^+ p collisions and 13.7 pb^-1 for e^- p collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 319 GeV. No evidence for lepton flavour violation is found. Limits are derived on the mass and the couplings of leptoquarks inducing lepton flavour violation in an extension of the Buchm"uller-R"uckl-Wyler effective model. Leptoquarks produced in ep collisions with a coupling strength of lambda=0.3 and decaying with the same coupling strength to a muon-quark pair or a tau-quark pair are excluded at 95% confidence level up to masses of 459 GeV and 379 GeV, respectively

Health Benefits of Reducing Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake in High Risk Populations of California: Results from the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Policy Model

Background Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) has risen over the past two decades, with over 10 million Californians drinking one or more SSB per day. High SSB intake is associated with risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and coronary heart disease (CHD). Reduction of SSB intake and the potential impact on health outcomes in California and among racial, ethnic, and low-income sub-groups has not been quantified. Methods We projected the impact of reduced SSB consumption on health outcomes among all Californians and California subpopulations from 2013 to 2022. We used the CVD Policy Model – CA, an established computer simulation of diabetes and heart disease adapted to California. We modeled a reduction in SSB intake by 10–20% as has been projected to result from proposed penny-per-ounce excise tax on SSB and modeled varying effects of this reduction on health parameters including body mass index, blood pressure, and diabetes risk. We projected avoided cases of diabetes and CHD, and associated health care cost savings in 2012 US dollars. Results Over the next decade, a 10–20% SSB consumption reduction is projected to result in a 1.8–3.4% decline in the new cases of diabetes and an additional drop of 0.5–1% in incident CHD cases and 0.5–0.9% in total myocardial infarctions. The greatest reductions are expected in African Americans, Mexican Americans, and those with limited income regardless of race and ethnicity. This reduction in SSB consumption is projected to yield $320–620 million in medical cost savings associated with diabetes cases averted and an additional savings of$14–27 million in diabetes-related CHD costs avoided. Conclusions A reduction of SSB consumption could yield substantial population health benefits and cost savings for California. In particular, racial, ethnic, and low-income subgroups of California could reap the greatest health benefits

Policy Coherence in US Tobacco Control: Beyond FDA Regulation

Joshua Yang and Thomas Novotny explore whether the US government can develop and implement a coherent policy agenda to reduce tobacco-related morbidity and mortality

Experiences of young adults growing up with innate or early acquired HIV infection--a qualitative study

Aim. To explore the experience of young adults growing up and living with HIV in urban Sweden. Background. HIV has become a widespread pandemic. Effective antiretroviral treatment has dramatically increased the survival rate of infected individuals such that HIV-infection is currently considered a chronic disease where treatment is available. Data concerning the experience of living with HIV since early childhood is scarce and more empirical knowledge is needed in order to direct the development of adequate care and interventions for this growing demographic. Design. Exploratory qualitative study. Method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten HIV-infected young adults over the period from January to August 2008. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings. The analysis revealed five categories illustrating the experiences of growing up and living with HIV in Sweden: 1) to protect oneself from the risk of being stigmatised, 2) to be in control, 3) losses in life but HIV is not a big deal, 4) health care/health care providers, and 5) belief in the future. Conclusion. It is essential to offer a safe, trustworthy and professional health-care environment during the upbringing of HIV-infected children. Evidence-based interventions are needed to improve care and support, particularly regarding the handling of stigma and discrimination

Restaurant and Bar Owners’ Exposure to Secondhand Smoke and Attitudes Regarding Smoking Bans in Five Chinese Cities

Despite the great progress made towards smoke-free environments, only 9% of countries worldwide mandate smoke-free restaurants and bars. Smoking was generally not regulated in restaurants and bars in China before 2008. This study was designed to examine the public attitudes towards banning smoking in these places in China. A convenience sample of 814 restaurants and bars was selected in five Chinese cities and all owners of these venues were interviewed in person by questionnaire in 2007. Eighty six percent of current nonsmoking subjects had at least one-day exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) at work in the past week. Only 51% of subjects knew SHS could cause heart disease. Only 17% and 11% of subjects supported prohibiting smoking completely in restaurants and in bars, respectively, while their support for restricting smoking to designated areas was much higher. Fifty three percent of subjects were willing to prohibit or restrict smoking in their own venues. Of those unwilling to do so, 82% thought smoking bans would reduce revenue, and 63% thought indoor air quality depended on ventilation rather than smoking bans. These results showed that there was support for smoking bans among restaurant or bar owners in China despite some knowledge gaps. To facilitate smoking bans in restaurants and bars, it is important to promote health education on specific hazards of SHS, provide country-specific evidence on smoking bans and hospitality revenues, and disseminate information that restricting smoking and ventilation alone cannot eliminate SHS hazards

Effects of Italian Smoking Regulation on Rates of Hospital Admission for Acute Coronary Events: A Country-Wide Study

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported a reduction in acute coronary events (ACEs) in the general population after the enforcement of smoking regulations, although there is uncertainty concerning the magnitude of the effect of such interventions. We conducted a country-wide evaluation of the health effects of the introduction of a smoking ban in public places, using data on hospital admissions for ACEs from the Italian population after the implementation of a national smoking regulation in January 2005. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Rates of admission for ACEs in the 20 Italian regions from January 2002 to November 2006 were analysed using mixed-effect regression models that allowed for long-term trends and seasonality. Standard methods for interrupted time-series were adopted to assess the immediate and gradual effects of the smoking ban. Effect modification by age was investigated, with the assumption that exposure to passive smoking in public places would be greater among young people. In total, 936,519 hospital admissions for ACEs occurred in the Italian population during the study period. A 4% reduction in hospital admissions for ACEs among persons aged less than 70 years was evident after the introduction of the ban (Rate Ratio [RR], 0.96; 95% Confidence Interval [CI], 0.95-0.98). No effect was found among persons aged at least 70 years (RR 1.00; 95% CI 0.99-1.02). Effect modification by age was further suggested by analyses using narrower age categories. CONCLUSIONS: Smoke-free policies can constitute a simple and inexpensive intervention for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases and thus should be included in prevention programmes