We present the design of an ${}^{90}$Y calibration source and its manufacturing procedure, that has been implemented in the University of Sussex radioactive laboratory. The radioactive source was first tested at the University of Sussex using a small scintillator cocktail sample. Further measurements were performed at the University of Pennsylvania using a larger volume of the scintillator cocktail. The results of both studies are presented and discussed.

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Solar neutrinos have been the subject of experimental study for almost half a century. The initial aim was '...to see into the interior of a star and thus verify directly the hypothesis of nuclear energy generation in stars'. Since then the field has advanced a long way. This article reviews what we have learnt from solar neutrinos to date, the current experimental status of the field, and the finer details of solar models and precision measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters that could be probed with this free source of extra-terrestrial particles.

IMPORTANCE:Screening mammography rates vary considerably by location in the United States, providing a natural opportunity to investigate the associations of screening with breast cancer incidence and mortality, which are subjects of debate. OBJECTIVE:To examine the associations between rates of modern screening mammography and the incidence of breast cancer, mortality from breast cancer, and tumor size. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:An ecological study of 16 million women 40 years or older who resided in 547 counties reporting to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registries during the year 2000. Of these women, 53,207 were diagnosed with breast cancer that year and followed up for the next 10 years. The study covered the period January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2010, and the analysis was performed between April 2013 and March 2015. EXPOSURES:Extent of screening in each county, assessed as the percentage of included women who received a screening mammogram in the prior 2 years. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:Breast cancer incidence in 2000 and incidence-based breast cancer mortality during the 10-year follow-up. Incidence and mortality were calculated for each county and age adjusted to the US population. RESULTS:Across US counties, there was a positive correlation between the extent of screening and breast cancer incidence (weighted r = 0.54; P < .001) but not with breast cancer mortality (weighted r = 0.00; P = .98). An absolute increase of 10 percentage points in the extent of screening was accompanied by 16% more breast cancer diagnoses (relative rate [RR], 1.16; 95% CI, 1.13-1.19) but no significant change in breast cancer deaths (RR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.96-1.06). In an analysis stratified by tumor size, we found that more screening was strongly associated with an increased incidence of small breast cancers (≤2 cm) but not with a decreased incidence of larger breast cancers (>2 cm). An increase of 10 percentage points in screening was associated with a 25% increase in the incidence of small breast cancers (RR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.18-1.32) and a 7% increase in the incidence of larger breast cancers (RR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.12). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:When analyzed at the county level, the clearest result of mammography screening is the diagnosis of additional small cancers. Furthermore, there is no concomitant decline in the detection of larger cancers, which might explain the absence of any significant difference in the overall rate of death from the disease. Together, these findings suggest widespread overdiagnosis.

This article reflects on my experiences observing and participating in the development of risk analysis for environmental and health hazards since the 1970s with emphasis on its critical role in informing decisions with potentially high consequences, even for very low probability events once ignored or simply viewed as "acts of God." I discuss how modern society wants to protect itself from hazards with limited or no immediate historical precedent such that prediction and protective actions must depend on models that offer varying degrees of reliability. I believe that we must invest in understanding risks and risk models to ensure health in the future and protect ourselves from large challenges, including climate change, whether anthropogenic or otherwise, terrorism, and perhaps even cosmic change.

BACKGROUND: Cancer incidence and mortality increase with age through much of adulthood, but earlier work has found that these rates decline among the very elderly. To compare incidence and mortality at the oldest ages, the authors investigated both in the same large population, which comprised 9.5% of the United States in 2000. The authors also report age-specific prevalence among the elderly, which has received little attention. METHODS: Twenty-three cancer types were studied in men, and 24 cancer types were studied in women. Patient records were obtained from the SEER 9 cancer registries, and population figures were taken from the 2000 US Census. The authors explored the reliability of census data on the oldest old, which has been questioned. RESULTS: Age-specific incidence, prevalence, and mortality results are presented for the years 1998 to 2002. Incidence and mortality usually decreased or plateaued at very old ages. Prevalence usually decreased swiftly at ages > 90 years. When there was statistical power, incidence normally peaked between ages 75 years and 90 years, dropping abruptly afterward. With several large exceptions, peak incidence and mortality coincided within >= 5 years. Both rates often trended toward zero among centenarians, who may be asymptomatic or insusceptible. CONCLUSIONS: The current results were found to be consistent with autopsy and survival studies. Most age-specific models of carcinogenesis are based on cancer rate data for ages < 85 years. The authors argue that these models could not fit the current results without fundamental modification and outline biologic mechanisms for such modification, mostly cellular and tissue senescence. They also recommend caution to researchers who use census data on the very elderly. Cancer 2012; 118: 137186. (C) 2011 American Cancer Society.

The prompt photon decay g (3095) — y&+z &+7| has been studied with the Mark II detec- tor at SPEAR. This channel is found to contain a yp p component with p p masses concentrated between 1, 4 and 2. 0 GeV/c~. The branching fraction for the p — @popo decay with masses less than 2. 0 GeV/c2 is measured to be (1. 25+0. 25 +0. 40) x10 3.

Background: Recent research suggested that cancer survival has improved in recent cohorts. Improvement in cancer survival is considered a valid indicator of the quality of care introduced to the patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the changes in the survival profile over age for patients with the most incident cancers. Methods: Survival data of 3.94 million patients diagnosed with 23 primary-site cancers within the periods of 1979–1983, 1989–1993, and 1999–2003 were adopted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database. Gender and cause-specific survival probabilities were estimated at one, three, and five years after diagnosis using the Kaplan–Meier survival estimate. Survival was presented for each of the studied cancers, cohorts, and sexes in the form of line graphs as a function of age at diagnosis. Error bars demonstrated the probability of error at 95% confidence level. Results: The graphs demonstrated that cancer survival was improved over the successive cohorts for most cancers, with several exceptions such as brain and lung cancers. The relation between survival and the age at diagnosis was generally described in the form of a gradual decline phase and a rapid fall-off phase at 70–80 years of age, with few exceptions as in leukemia and Hodgkin lymphoma. Patients who survived for three years were more likely to live for five years after diagnosis, but this prediction could not be extrapolated to the one-year survivors. Conclusion: Further studies on tumor-specific characteristics and treatment modalities of these patients are suggested for clarification of the possible causes of variations in patient's survival profile over age.

We present results from an analysis of B0→ρ+ρ- decays using (383.6±4.2)×106 BB pairs collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory at SLAC. The measurements of the B0→ρ+ρ- branching fraction, longitudinal polarization fraction fL, and the CP-violating parameters Slong and Clong are as follows: B(B0→ρ+ρ-)=(25.5±2.1(stat)-3.9+3.6(syst))×10-6, fL=0.992±0.024(stat)-0.013+0.026(syst), Slong=-0.17±0.20(stat)-0. 06+0.05(syst), Clong=0.01±0.15(stat)±0.06(syst). We determine the unitarity triangle angle α, using an isospin analysis of B→ρρ decays. One of the two solutions, α=[73.1,117.0]° at 68% confidence level, is compatible with standard model-based fits of existing data. Constraints on the unitarity triangle are also evaluated using an SU(3) symmetry-based approach. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

We report new measurements of the parity-violating asymmetry A(PV) in elastic scattering of 3 GeV electrons off hydrogen and He-4 targets with approximate to 6.0 degrees. The He-4 result is A(PV) = (+6.40 +/- 0.23(stat) +/- 0.12(syst)) x 10(-6). The hydrogen result is A(PV) = (-1.58 +/- 0.12(stat) +/- 0.04(syst)) x 10(-6). These results significantly improve constraints on the electric and magnetic strange form factors G(E)(s) and G(M)(s). We extract G(E)(s) = 0.002 +/- 0.014 +/- 0.007 at = 0.077 GeV2, and G(E)(s) + 0.09G(M)(s) = 0.007 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.006 at = 0.109 GeV2, providing new limits on the role of strange quarks in the nucleon charge and magnetization distributions.

The authors present results of a search for the rare flavor-changing neutral-current decay B {yields} {pi}{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}, based on a data sample corresponding to 209 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B Factory. They reconstruct the four exclusive B decay modes B{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -} and B{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}, where {ell} is either an e or {mu}. They find no evidence for a signal, and they obtain the upper limit at 90% confidence level on the lepton-flavor-averaged branching fraction to be {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +}{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}) = 2 x {tau}B{sup +}/{tau}B{sup 0} {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {pi}{sup 0}{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}) < 7.9 x 10{sup -8}. The authors also obtain an upper limit at 90% confidence level on the lepton-flavor-violating decay B {yields} {pi}e{mu} of {Beta}(B {yields} {pi}e{mu}) < 9.8 x 10{sup -8}.

We study ${B}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ and ${B}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{K}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ decays in a sample of about $89\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric $B$ factory at SLAC. We observe a signal of $244\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}20$ ${B}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ events and determine the ratio $\mathcal{B}({B}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}})/\mathcal{B}({B}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{K}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}})$ to be $[5.37\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.45(\mathrm{stat})\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.11(\mathrm{syst})]%$. The charge asymmetries for the ${B}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ and ${B}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}J/\ensuremath{\psi}{K}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ decays are determined to be ${\mathcal{A}}_{\ensuremath{\pi}}=0.123\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.085(\mathrm{stat})\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.004(\mathrm{syst})$ and ${\mathcal{A}}_{K}=0.030\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.015(\mathrm{stat})\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.006(\mathrm{syst})$, respectively.

We present measurements of branching fractions and charge asymmetries for seven $B$-meson decays with an $\ensuremath{\eta}$, ${\ensuremath{\eta}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, or $\ensuremath{\omega}$ meson in the final state. The data sample corresponds to $89\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs produced from ${e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ annihilation at the $\ensuremath{\Upsilon}(4S)$ resonance. We measure the following branching fractions in units of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}6}$: $\mathcal{B}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\eta}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+})=5.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3$, $\mathcal{B}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\eta}{K}^{+})=3.4\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2$, $\mathcal{B}({B}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\eta}{K}^{0})=2.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.2$ ($<5.2$, 90% C.L.), $\mathcal{B}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\eta}}^{\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+})=2.7\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.2\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3$ ($<4.5$, 90% C.L.), $\mathcal{B}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\omega}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+})=5.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5$, $\mathcal{B}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\omega}{K}^{+})=4.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.4$, and $\mathcal{B}({B}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\omega}{K}^{0})={5.9}_{\ensuremath{-}1.3}^{+1.6}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5$. The charge asymmetries are ${\mathcal{A}}_{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{h}}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\eta}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+})=\ensuremath{-}0.44\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.18\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01$, ${\mathcal{A}}_{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{h}}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\eta}{K}^{+})=\ensuremath{-}0.52\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.24\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01$, ${\mathcal{A}}_{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{h}}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\omega}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+})=0.03\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.16\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01$, and ${\mathcal{A}}_{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{h}}({B}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\omega}{K}^{+})=\ensuremath{-}0.09\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.17\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01$.

We present a measurement of the time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in B0-->K(*0)gamma(K(*0)-->K(0)(S)pi(0)) decays based on 124 x 10(6) Upsilon(4S)-->BB decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. In a sample containing 105+/-14 signal decays, we measure S(K(*)gamma)=0.25+/-0.63+/-0.14 and C(K(*)gamma)=-0.57+/-0.32+/-0.09, where the first error is statistical and the second, systematic.

We present a measurement of time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in decays of neutral B mesons to the final states D(*-/+)pi(+/-), using approximately 82x10(6) BBmacr; events recorded by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II e(+)e(-) storage ring. Events containing these decays are selected with a partial reconstruction technique, in which only the high-momentum pi(+/-) from the B decay and the low-momentum pi(-/+) from the D(*-/+) decay are used. We measure the amplitude of the asymmetry to be -0.063+/-0.024(stat)+/-0.014(syst) and compute bounds on |sin((2beta+gamma)|.

We present evidence for the flavor-changing neutral current decay B-->K*l+l- and a measurement of the branching fraction for the related process B-->K l+l-, where l+l- is either an epsilon+epsilon- or a mu+mu- pair. These decays are highly suppressed in the standard model, and they are sensitive to contributions from new particles in the intermediate state. The data sample comprises 123 x 10(6) Upsilon(4S)-->B(-)B decays collected with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II epsilon+epsilon- storage ring. Averaging over K(*) isospin and lepton flavor, we obtain the branching fractions B(B-->Kl+l-)=(0.65(+0.14)(-0.13)+/-0.04)x10(-6) and B(B-->K*l+l-)=(0.88(+0.33)(-0.29)+/-0.10)x10(-6), where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The significance of the B-->Kl+l- signal is over 8sigma, while for B-->K*l+l- it is 3.3sigma.

The multistage model, introduced by Armitage and Doll, was very successful at describing many features of cancer development. Doll and Peto noted a significant departure below the prediction of the model and suggested that this could be due to undercounting of cases at older ages, or to the ‘biology of extreme old age.’ Moolgavkar pointed out that it could also be due to the approximation used. The recent observation that cancer incidence falls rapidly above age 80 has stimulated new modelling investigations, such as the Pompei-Wilson beta model (which does reproduce the rapid fall). In the present paper, we argue that Moolgavkar’s criticisms, while mathematically correct, do not affect the conclusions, particularly the constancy of the number of stages across different cancer registries (Cook, Doll and Fellingham. 1969: A mathematical model for the age distribution of cancer in man. International Journal of Cancer 4, 93-112). We discuss several exact solutions, compare them with the most recent data, and prove rigorously that the standard Armitage-Doll multistage model can never reproduce the sharp turnaround in cancer incidence at old age seen in the data. We discuss in detail multistage processes which have a property observed in many laboratory studies, namely that some stages progress much faster than the others. We verify mathematically the intuition that sufficiently fast stages do not appreciably affect the incidence rate of cancer, and discuss implications of this fact for cancer treatment strategies. We also show that the simplest possible modification of the Armitage-Doll model to incorporate cellular senescence just leads to the Pompei-Wilson beta model.