Identification of targets for quality improvement in antimicrobial prescribing : the web-based ESAC Point Prevalence Survey 2009

Objectives: Since electronic prescribing is limited to few hospitals, point prevalence surveys, such as the standardized European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption point prevalence survey (ESAC PPS), are an alternative tool for monitoring prescribing and helping to identify performance indicators and prescribing trends. The main objective of this study was to identify and assess targets for quality improvement. Methods: Each hospital had to carry out the survey within 2 weeks. Each department had to be surveyed in 1 day. Data collected, for all inpatients, included age and gender. For patients on systemic antimicrobial treatment, the antimicrobial/s, infection/prophylaxis site, reason in medical notes and guideline compliance were also collected. A central database using a web-based tool (WebPPS) developed in-house was used for data entry. Results: Combination of two or more antimicrobials accounted for 30% of use. Surgical prophylaxis was prolonged (>1 day) in 53% of cases. 'Intensive care' had higher proportions of treated patients (53% versus 29%), combination therapy (49% versus 31%), hospital-acquired infections (49% versus 31%) and parenteral administration (91% versus 61%). 'Reason in notes' was documented in 76%, and 'guideline compliance' occurred in 62% of patients. Conclusions: The ESAC PPS provided useful information on the quality of prescribing, which identified a number of targets for quality improvement. These could apply to specific departments or whole hospitals. Intensive care, which has different characteristics, should not be compared with general wards with respect to combination therapy, hospital-acquired infections or parenteral proportion. The study confirmed that the ESAC PPS methodology can be used on a large number of hospitals at regional, national, continental or global level.The ESAC project was supported by a grant from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC; Grant Agreement 2007/001).peer-reviewe

Charmonium Suppression by Comover Scattering in Pb+Pb Collisions

The first reports of $\psi$ and $\psi'$ production from experiment NA50 at the CERN SPS are compared to predictions based on a hadronic model of charmonium suppression. Data on centrality dependence and total cross sections are in good accord with these predictions.Comment: 9 pages, latex, 6 figures, epsf, figure added and text modified to clarify result

Charm and leptons

The present knowledge on charm and leptons is reviewed including the topics discussed at this conference and the progress made since the last Quark Matter conference. Special emphasis is placed on Jpsi production at the SPS which is one of the highlights in the field.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, survey talk at Quark Matter 2002, Nantes, France, July 18-24 2002, one reference adde

Production of π0 and η mesons in Cu+Au collisions at sNN =200 GeV

Production of π0 and η mesons has been measured at midrapidity in Cu+Au collisions at sNN=200GeV. Measurements were performed in π0(η)→γγ decay channel in the 1(2)-20GeV/c transverse momentum range. A strong suppression is observed for π0 and η meson production at high transverse momentum in central Cu+Au collisions relative to the p+p results scaled by the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions. In central collisions the suppression is similar to Au+Au with comparable nuclear overlap. The η/π0 ratio measured as a function of transverse momentum is consistent with mT-scaling parametrization down to pT=2GeV/c, its asymptotic value is constant and consistent with Au+Au and p+p and does not show any significant dependence on collision centrality. Similar results were obtained in hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions as well as in e+e- collisions in a range of collision energies sNN=3-1800 GeV. This suggests that the quark-gluon-plasma medium produced in Cu+Cu collisions either does not affect the jet fragmentation into light mesons or it affects the π0 and η the same way

Signatures of Quark-Gluon-Plasma formation in high energy heavy-ion collisions: A critical review

A critical review on signatures of Quark-Gluon-Plasma formation is given and the current (1998) experimental status is discussed. After giving an introduction to the properties of QCD matter in both, equilibrium- and non-equilibrium theories, we focus on observables which may yield experimental evidence for QGP formation. For each individual observable the discussion is divided into three sections: first the connection between the respective observable and QGP formation in terms of the underlying theoretical concepts is given, then the relevant experimental results are reviewed and finally the current status concerning the interpretation of both, theory and experiment, is discussed. A comprehensive summary including an outlook towards RHIC is given in the final section.Comment: Topical review, submitted to Journal of Physics G: 68 pages, including 39 figures (revised version: only minor modifications, some references added

Inclusive cross section and double helicity asymmetry for pi^0 production in p+p collisions at sqrt(s) = 62.4 GeV

The PHENIX experiment presents results from the RHIC 2006 run with polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 62.4 GeV for inclusive pi^0 production at mid-rapidity. Unpolarized cross section results are measured for transverse momenta p_T = 0.5 to 7 GeV/c. Next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations are compared with the data, and while the calculations are consistent with the measurements, next-to-leading logarithmic corrections improve the agreement. Double helicity asymmetries A_LL are presented for p_T = 1 to 4 GeV/c and probe the higher range of Bjorken_x of the gluon (x_g) with better statistical precision than our previous measurements at sqrt(s)=200 GeV. These measurements are sensitive to the gluon polarization in the proton for 0.06 < x_g < 0.4.Comment: 387 authors from 63 institutions, 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Submitted to Physical Review D. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

A new measurement of J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

We present a new measurement of J/psi production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon, from the data sample collected in year 2000 by the NA50 Collaboration, under improved experimental conditions with respect to previous years. With the target system placed in vacuum, the setup was better adapted to study, in particular, the most peripheral nuclear collisions with unprecedented accuracy. The analysis of this data sample shows that the (J/psi)/Drell-Yan cross-sections ratio measured in the most peripheral Pb-Pb interactions is in good agreement with the nuclear absorption pattern extrapolated from the studies of proton-nucleus collisions. Furthermore, this new measurement confirms our previous observation that the (J/psi)/Drell-Yan cross-sections ratio departs from the normal nuclear absorption pattern for semi-central Pb-Pb collisions and that this ratio persistently decreases up to the most central collisions.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Nuclear Modification Factors for Hadrons At Forward and Backward Rapidities in Deuteron-Gold Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

We report on charged hadron production in deuteron-gold reactions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. Our measurements in the deuteron-direction cover 1.4 < eta < 2.2, referred to as forward rapidity, and in the gold-direction -2.0 < eta < -1.4, referred to as backward rapidity, and a transverse momentum range p_T = 0.5-4.0 GeV/c. We compare the relative yields for different deuteron-gold collision centrality classes. We observe a suppression relative to binary collision scaling at forward rapidity, sensitive to low momentum fraction (x) partons in the gold nucleus, and an enhancement at backward rapidity, sensitive to high momentum fraction partons in the gold nucleus.Comment: 330 authors, 6 pages text, 4 figures, REVTeX4. Published in Physical Review Letters. Minor changes over previous version in response to referee and editor comments, plus updating of references. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Centrality dependence of charged hadron production in deuteron+gold and nucleon+gold collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV

We present transverse momentum (p_T) spectra of charged hadrons measured in deuteron-gold and nucleon-gold collisions at \sqrts = 200 GeV for four centrality classes. Nucleon-gold collisions were selected by tagging events in which a spectator nucleon was observed in one of two forward rapidity detectors. The spectra and yields were investigated as a function of the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions, \nu, suffered by deuteron nucleons. A comparison of charged particle yields to those in p+p collisions show that the yield per nucleon-nucleon collision saturates with \nu for high momentum particles. We also present the charged hadron to neutral pion ratios as a function of p_T.Comment: 330 authors, 15 pages text, 16 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. v2 has minor changes to reflect revisions during review process. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Upsilon (1S+2S+3S) production in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV and cold-nuclear matter effects

The three Upsilon states, Upsilon(1S+2S+3S), are measured in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV and rapidities 1.2<|y|<2.2 by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider. Cross sections for the inclusive Upsilon(1S+2S+3S) production are obtained. The inclusive yields per binary collision for d+Au collisions relative to those in p+p collisions (R_dAu) are found to be 0.62 +/- 0.26 (stat) +/- 0.13 (syst) in the gold-going direction and 0.91 +/- 0.33 (stat) +/- 0.16 (syst) in the deuteron-going direction. The measured results are compared to a nuclear-shadowing model, EPS09 [JHEP 04, 065 (2009)], combined with a final-state breakup cross section, sigma_br, and compared to lower energy p+A results. We also compare the results to the PHENIX J/psi results [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 142301 (2011)]. The rapidity dependence of the observed Upsilon suppression is consistent with lower energy p+A measurements.Comment: 495 authors, 11 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. C. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm