Theoretical aspects of high--Q^2 deep inelastic scattering

We present an overview of the theory of high--Q^2 deep inelastic scattering. We focus in particular on the theoretical uncertainties in the predictions for neutral and charged current cross sections obtained by extrapolating from lower Q^2.Comment: 10 (Latex) pages, including 6 embedded figures, uses epsfig.sty, ioplppt.sty and iopl12.sty; Plenary talk presented at the 3rd UK Phenomenology Workshop on HERA Physics, Durham, September 1998, to be published in the Proceeding

A systematic review of biomarkers for disease progression in Parkinson's disease

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Trial protocol OPPTIMUM : does progesterone prophylaxis for the prevention of preterm labour improve outcome?

Background Preterm birth is a global problem, with a prevalence of 8 to 12% depending on location. Several large trials and systematic reviews have shown progestogens to be effective in preventing or delaying preterm birth in selected high risk women with a singleton pregnancy (including those with a short cervix or previous preterm birth). Although an improvement in short term neonatal outcomes has been shown in some trials these have not consistently been confirmed in meta-analyses. Additionally data on longer term outcomes is limited to a single trial where no difference in outcomes was demonstrated at four years of age of the child, despite those in the “progesterone” group having a lower incidence of preterm birth. Methods/Design The OPPTIMUM study is a double blind randomized placebo controlled trial to determine whether progesterone prophylaxis to prevent preterm birth has long term neonatal or infant benefit. Specifically it will study whether, in women with singleton pregnancy and at high risk of preterm labour, prophylactic vaginal natural progesterone, 200 mg daily from 22 – 34 weeks gestation, compared to placebo, improves obstetric outcome by lengthening pregnancy thus reducing the incidence of preterm delivery (before 34 weeks), improves neonatal outcome by reducing a composite of death and major morbidity, and leads to improved childhood cognitive and neurosensory outcomes at two years of age. Recruitment began in 2009 and is scheduled to close in Spring 2013. As of May 2012, over 800 women had been randomized in 60 sites. Discussion OPPTIMUM will provide further evidence on the effectiveness of vaginal progesterone for prevention of preterm birth and improvement of neonatal outcomes in selected groups of women with singleton pregnancy at high risk of preterm birth. Additionally it will determine whether any reduction in the incidence of preterm birth is accompanied by improved childhood outcome

Psychoactive prescribing for older people-what difference does 15 years make?

Objective: The objective of the study was to review prescribing of psychoactive medications for older residents of the Tayside region of Scotland. Methods: The analysis used community prescribing data in 1995 and 2010 for all older residents in Tayside. For each psychoactive drug class, the name of the most recently prescribed drug and the date prescribed were extracted. The relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for patients receiving psychoactive medication in 2010 were compared with those for patients in 1995. Psychoactive prescribing was analyzed by year, age, gender, and deprivation classification. The chi-squared test was used to calculate statistical significance. Results: Total psychoactive prescribing in people over the age of 65years has increased comparing 1995 with 2010. Antidepressant [RR=2.5 (95% CI 2.41-2.59) p&lt;0.001] and opioid analgesia [RR=1.21 (1.19-1.24) p&lt;0.001] prescriptions increased between 1995 and 2010. Hypnotics/anxiolytic [RR=0.69 (0.66-0.71) p&lt;0.001] and antipsychotic [RR=0.83 (0.77-0.88) p&lt;0.001] prescriptions decreased between 1995 and 2010. An increase in psychoactive prescribing is particularly marked in lower socioeconomic groups. Patients in the least affluent fifth of the population had RR=1.25 (1.20-1.29) [p&lt;0.001] of being prescribed one to two psychoactive medications and RR=1.81 (1.56-2.10) [p&lt;0.001] of being prescribed three or more psychoactive medications in 2010 compared with those in 1995. The RRs for the most affluent fifth were RR=1.14 (1.1-1.19) [p&lt;0.001] and RR=1.2 (1.01-1.42) [p&lt;0.001] for one to two, and three or more medications, respectively. Conclusion: Psychoactive medication prescribing has increased comparing 1995 with 2010, with increases disproportionately affecting patients in lower socioeconomic groups. The availability of new psychoactive drugs, safety concerns, and economic factors may explain these increases.</p

Teachers’ knowledge and experiences of Information Advice and Guidance: some implications for the current policy context in England

Good information and career guidance about what post-compulsory educational routes are available and where these routes lead is important in ensuring that young people make choices that are most appropriate to their needs and aspirations. Yet the Association of School and College Leaders (2011) express fears that future provision will be inadequate. This paper reports the findings from an on-line survey of 300 secondary school teachers, and follow up telephone interviews with 18 in the South East of England which explored teachers’ experiences of delivering post-compulsory educational and career guidance and their knowledge and confidence in doing so. Results suggest that teachers lack confidence in delivering information, advice and guidance outside their own area of specialism and experience. In particular, teachers knew little in relation to alternative local provision of post-16 education and lacked knowledge of more non-traditional, vocational routes. This paper will therefore raises important policy considerations with respect to supporting teachers’ knowledge, ability and confidence in delivering information in relation to future pathways and career guidance

Accurate QCD predictions for heavy-quark jets at the Tevatron and LHC

Heavy-quark jets are important in many of today's collider studies and searches, yet predictions for them are subject to much larger uncertainties than for light jets. This is because of strong enhancements in higher orders from large logarithms, ln(p_t/m_Q). We propose a new definition of heavy-quark jets, which is free of final-state logarithms to all orders and such that all initial-state collinear logarithms can be resummed into the heavy-quark parton distributions. Heavy-jet spectra can then be calculated in the massless approximation, which is simpler than a massive calculation and reduces the theoretical uncertainties by a factor of three. This provides the first ever accurate predictions for inclusive b- and c-jets, and the latter have significant discriminatory power for the intrinsic charm content of the proton. The techniques introduced here could be used to obtain heavy-flavour jet results from existing massless next-to-leading order calculations for a wide range of processes. We also discuss the experimental applicability of our flavoured jet definition

Social inequalities and health inequity in Morocco

BACKGROUND: According to the last census, Morocco has a population approaching 30 million people. The country has made good progress in the control of preventable childhood diseases but social inequalities and health inequities remain major problems for the third millennium. Despite the progress achieved during the last decade, the country still ranks at the 125(th )place according to the Human Development Index. This unpleasant position is mainly explained by illiteracy, education and health indicators. METHOD: Our study was based mainly on annual reports and regular publications released by the United Nations (UN), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organisation (WHO), The Moroccan Health Ministry and related papers published in international journals. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: As indicated by the last Arab Human Development Reports (AHDR 2002, AHDR 2003, AHDR 2004) and implicitly confirmed by the "National Initiative for Human Development" (NIHD) launched in May 2005 by the King of Morocco, many districts and shanty towns, urban or peri-urban, and a multitude of rural communes live in situations characterized by difficult access to basic social services of which education and health are examples. CONCLUSION: Recent evidence showed that improved health is more than a consequence of development. It is a central input into economic and social development and poverty reduction. Serious initiatives for human development should consider the reduction of social inequalities and health inequities as a first priority. Otherwise, the eventual development achieved cannot be sustained

Medicines information and adherence in HIV/AIDS patients

Background: Providing written medicines information is being legislated in an increasing number of countries worldwide, with the patient information leaflet (PIL) being the most widely used method for conveying health information. The impact of providing such information on adherence to therapy is reportedly unpredictable. Therapy for human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and related opportunistic infections usually involves polytherapy and complex regimens, both of which are risk factors for non-adherence. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of medicines information on adherence to chronic co-trimoxazole therapy in low-literate HIV/AIDS patients. Methods: Two different PILs were designed for co-trimoxazole tablets and were available in both English and isiXhosa. Participants were randomly allocated to a control group (receiving no PIL), group A (receiving a 'complex PIL') and group B (receiving a 'simple PIL' incorporating pictograms). At the first interview, demographic data were collected and the time, date and day that the participant would take his/her first tablet of the month's course was also documented. In a follow-up interview adherence to therapy was assessed using two methods; self-report and tablet count. Results: The medicines information materials incorporating simple text and pictograms resulted in significantly improved adherence to therapy in the short term, whereas a non-significant increase in adherence was associated with the availability of the more complex information. This was shown by both the self-reported assessment as well as the tablet count. Conclusion: This research suggests that appropriately designed written material can have a positive impact in improving adherence and, together with verbal consultation, are essential for enabling patients to make appropriate decisions about their medicine taking