Duration of hospital participation in a nationwide stroke registry is associated with improved quality of care

BACKGROUND: There are several proven therapies for patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), including prophylaxis of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and initiation of antithrombotic medications within 48 h and at discharge. Stroke registries have been promoted as a means of increasing use of such interventions, which are currently underutilized. METHODS: From 1999 through 2003, 86 U.S. hospitals participated in Ethos, a voluntary web-based acute stroke treatment registry. Detailed data were collected on all patients admitted with a diagnosis of TIA or ischemic stroke. Rates of optimal treatment (defined as either receipt or a valid contraindication) were examined within each hospital as a function of its length of time in registry. Generalized estimating equations were used to adjust for patient and hospital characteristics. RESULTS: A total of 16,301 patients were discharged with a diagnosis of stroke or TIA from 50 hospitals that participated for more than 1 year. Rates of optimal treatment during the first 3 months of participation were as follows: 92.5% for antithrombotic medication within 48 h, 84.6% for antithrombotic medications at discharge, and 77.1% for DVT prophylaxis. Rates for all treatments improved with duration of participation in the registry (p < 0.05), with the most dramatic improvements in the first year. CONCLUSION: In a large cohort of patients with stroke or TIA, three targeted quality-improvement measures improved among hospitals participating in a disease-specific registry. Although the changes could be attributed to interventions other than the registry, these findings demonstrate the potential for hospital-level interventions to improve care for patients with stroke and TIA

Measurement of the WZWZ Cross Section and Triple Gauge Couplings in ppˉp \bar p Collisions at s=1.96\sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

This Letter describes the current most precise measurement of the $WZ$ production cross section as well as limits on anomalous $WWZ$ couplings at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV in proton-antiproton collisions for the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). $WZ$ candidates are reconstructed from decays containing three charged leptons and missing energy from a neutrino, where the charged leptons are either electrons or muons. Using data collected by the CDF II detector (7.1 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity), 63 candidate events are observed with the expected background contributing $8 \pm 1$ events. The measured total cross section $\sigma (p \bar p \to WZ) = 3.93_{-0.53}^{+0.60}(\text{stat})_{-0.46}^{+0.59}(\text{syst})$ pb is in good agreement with the standard model prediction of $3.50\pm 0.21$. The same sample is used to set limits on anomalous $WWZ$ couplings.Comment: Resubmission to PRD-RC after acceptance (27 July 2012

Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons in Events with Multiple Bottom Quarks at the Tevatron

The combination of searches performed by the CDF and D0 collaborations at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider for neutral Higgs bosons produced in association with b quarks is reported. The data, corresponding to 2.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity at CDF and 5.2 fb-1 at D0, have been collected in final states containing three or more b jets. Upper limits are set on the cross section multiplied by the branching ratio varying between 44 pb and 0.7 pb in the Higgs boson mass range 90 to 300 GeV, assuming production of a narrow scalar boson. Significant enhancements to the production of Higgs bosons can be found in theories beyond the standard model, for example in supersymmetry. The results are interpreted as upper limits in the parameter space of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in a benchmark scenario favoring this decay mode.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Measurement of sin2 θlept eff using eþe− pairs from γ=Z bosons produced in pp collisions at a center-of-momentum energy of 1.96 TeV

At the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton (pp¯) collider, Drell-Yan lepton pairs are produced in the process pp¯→e+e−+X through an intermediate γ∗/Z boson. The forward-backward asymmetry in the polar-angle distribution of the e− as a function of the e+e−-pair mass is used to obtain sin2θlepteff, the effective leptonic determination of the electroweak-mixing parameter sin2θW. The measurement sample, recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF), corresponds to 9.4  fb−1 of integrated luminosity from pp¯ collisions at a center-of-momentum energy of 1.96 TeV, and is the full CDF Run II data set. The value of sin2θlepteff is found to be 0.23248±0.00053. The combination with the previous CDF measurement based on μ+μ− pairs yields sin2θlepteff=0.23221±0.00046. This result, when interpreted within the specified context of the standard model assuming sin2θW=1−M2W/M2Z and that the W- and Z-boson masses are on-shell, yields sin2θW=0.22400±0.00045, or equivalently a W-boson mass of 80.328±0.024  GeV/c2

Third-Party Effects

Most theories about effects of social embeddedness on trust define mechanisms that assume someone’s decision to trust is based on the reputation of the person to be trusted or on other available information. However, there is little empirical evidence about how subjects use the information that is available to them. In this chapter, we derive hypotheses about the effects of reputation and other information on trust from a range of theories and we devise an experiment that allows for testing these hypotheses simultaneously. We focus on the following mechanisms: learning, imitation, social comparison, and control. The results show that actors learn particularly from their own past experiences. Considering third-party information, imitation seems to be especially important

Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry of top-quark and antiquark pairs using the full CDF Run II data set

Citation: Aaltonen, T., Amerio, S., Amidei, D., Anastassov, A., Annovi, A., Antos, J., . . . Zucchelli, S. (2016). Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry of top-quark and antiquark pairs using the full CDF Run II data set. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 93(11). doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.93.112005We measure the forward-backward asymmetry of the production of top-quark and antiquark pairs in proton-antiproton collisions at center-of-mass energy s=1.96 TeV using the full data set collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) in Tevatron Run II corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.1 fb-1. The asymmetry is characterized by the rapidity difference between top quarks and antiquarks (?y) and measured in the final state with two charged leptons (electrons and muons). The inclusive asymmetry, corrected to the entire phase space at parton level, is measured to be AFBtt=0.12±0.13, consistent with the expectations from the standard model (SM) and previous CDF results in the final state with a single charged lepton. The combination of the CDF measurements of the inclusive AFBtt in both final states yields AFBtt=0.160±0.045, which is consistent with the SM predictions. We also measure the differential asymmetry as a function of ?y. A linear fit to AFBtt(|?y|), assuming zero asymmetry at ?y=0, yields a slope of ?=0.14±0.15, consistent with the SM prediction and the previous CDF determination in the final state with a single charged lepton. The combined slope of AFBtt(|?y|) in the two final states is ?=0.227±0.057, which is 2.0? larger than the SM prediction. © 2016 American Physical Society

Measurement of the WW and WZ production cross section using final states with a charged lepton and heavy-flavor jets in the full CDF Run II data set

Citation: Aaltonen, T., Amerio, S., Amidei, D., Anastassov, A., Annovi, A., Antos, J., . . . Zucchelli, S. (2016). Measurement of the WW and WZ production cross section using final states with a charged lepton and heavy-flavor jets in the full CDF Run II data set. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 94(3). doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.94.032008We present a measurement of the total WW and WZ production cross sections in pp collision at s=1.96 TeV, in a final state consistent with leptonic W boson decay and jets originating from heavy-flavor quarks from either a W or a Z boson decay. This analysis uses the full data set collected with the CDF II detector during Run II of the Tevatron collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.4 fb-1. An analysis of the dijet mass spectrum provides 3.7? evidence of the summed production processes of either WW or WZ bosons with a measured total cross section of ?WW+WZ=13.7±3.9 pb. Independent measurements of the WW and WZ production cross sections are allowed by the different heavy-flavor decay patterns of the W and Z bosons and by the analysis of secondary-decay vertices reconstructed within heavy-flavor jets. The productions of WW and of WZ dibosons are independently seen with significances of 2.9? and 2.1?, respectively, with total cross sections of ?WW=9.4±4.2 pb and ?WZ=3.7-2.2+2.5 pb. The measurements are consistent with standard-model predictions. © 2016 American Physical Society

Structural change, land use and the state in China

Rapid economic growth involves significant changes in land use patterns. The paper uses the recent history of Chinese economic growth to highlight and interrogate the implication of such changes within the context of structural transformation. It argues that though land use change is an important underlying dimension of the massive structural transformation accompanying China’s explosive economic growth, the dominant theoreti

Measurement of sin2?lepteff using e+e? pairs from ??/Z bosons produced in p¯p collisions at a center-of-momentum energy of 1.96 TeV

Citation: Aaltonen, T., Amerio, S., Amidei, D., Anastassov, A., Annovi, A., Antos, J., . . . Zucchelli, S. (2016). Measurement of sin2 ?eff lept using e+e- pairs from ??/Z bosons produced in pp collisions at a center-of-momentum energy of 1.96 TeV. Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 93(11). doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.93.112016At the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton (pp) collider, Drell-Yan lepton pairs are produced in the process pp?e+e-+X through an intermediate ??/Z boson. The forward-backward asymmetry in the polar-angle distribution of the e- as a function of the e+e - pair mass is used to obtain sin2?efflept, the effective leptonic determination of the electroweak-mixing parameter sin2?W. The measurement sample, recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF), corresponds to 9.4 fb-1 of integrated luminosity from pp collisions at a center-of-momentum energy of 1.96 TeV, and is the full CDF Run II data set. The value of sin2?efflept is found to be 0.23248±0.00053. The combination with the previous CDF measurement based on ?+?- pairs yields sin2?efflept=0.23221±0.00046. This result, when interpreted within the specified context of the standard model assuming sin2?W=1-MW2/MZ2 and that the W- and Z-boson masses are on-shell, yields sin2?W=0.22400±0.00045, or equivalently a W-boson mass of 80.328±0.024 GeV/c2. © 2016 American Physical Society