A method based on orthogonal function series interpolation of the square root probability density to analyze higher dimensional scattered data is presented. The method is targeted for the use-case ...when the model and/or data are available only as discrete events. While fast and efficient algorithms are well known for pseudo-spectral (grid node based) methods, this work focuses on a spectral (non grid based) approach. A typical application is the extraction of physics model parameters from events detected in high energy particle collisions. Several examples are provided and the performance is compared to existing conventional procedures. In some cases the method can be shown to behave as an optimal observable of the data, exemplified by the ability to approach the Cramer-Rao bound.
Background
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men and could occur without symptoms. Screening has been debated but remains controversial and, in most countries, organized ...population‐based screening does not exist. The aim of this study was to describe men's experiences of receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis after opportunistic screening.
Methods
This study is a secondary analysis from interviews with 17 men (aged 56–80 years) who had undergone curative treatment for prostate cancer. Data were collected in an urban region of Sweden through interviews conducted face to face or by telephone. An inductive content analysis was used with Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative research as a reporting checklist.
Results
Two main categories were identified. Screening is a lifesaver enclosed by ethical dilemmas reflects how men considered screening as a lifesaving test. Testing was surrounded by injustice and an eagerness to encourage other men to undergo screening. Facing challenges during diagnosis reflects the men's experiences of being in an unknown field yet expected to engage in decision‐making concerning appropriate treatment. Receiving the diagnosis rendered mixed emotions about having a cancer disease, that the treatment could cause lifelong symptom distress and the men described being hesitant to talk about their diagnosis.
Conclusions
The findings highlight men's opinions about screening and that the lack of routine screening represents injustice. The men considered this as an ethical question of lifesaving justice, while stakeholders may argue that screening could lead to unnecessary suffering and overtreatment. Men do not always talk openly about their diagnosis, linked to the fact that it concerns intimate areas. It is important to balance the information in relation to shared decision‐making regarding treatment. Health care professionals have an ethical responsibility to support and coach the patient in their decision.
Patient or Public Contribution
This study was based on interviews with men who had experienced a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Background
The survival rate among patients with breast cancer is high. It is well described that after primary treatment patients may experience symptoms and concerns but the needs and resources ...during the first year to manage everyday life are not well described.
Aim
To describe experiences of symptom distress, needs and support during the first year after primary treatment for breast cancer from the perspectives of patients and healthcare professionals.
Design
Qualitative descriptive.
Methods
Data collection through individual interviews with patients (n = 17) and a focus group interview with healthcare professionals (n = 7). Data was analysed using thematic analysis and resulted in three themes.
Results
The first theme, ‘Struggling with symptoms and changes in everyday life’ shows how symptoms and concerns interfered with the everyday life of patients and in some situations even impeded them. Patients try to adapt to their new situation by creating new routines and managing symptoms through self‐care. The second theme, ‘Adaption in a period of uncertainty’ describes thoughts about cancer recurrence and doubts about continuing with the endocrine therapy if symptoms prolong. In the third theme, ‘Support and need for individualized follow‐up care’ healthcare professionals described that they provide support by being available and by giving both verbal and written information. Patients expressed that the information could be too general and voiced a need for more individually tailored support.
Conclusion
During the first year after primary treatment, patients with breast cancer describe how they try to manage by themselves, but express both unmet needs and a wish for extended and more individually tailored support. The healthcare professionals recognised that patients lack a structured plan for the first year and the need for continued support. This stresses a need for development of care models with special consideration towards individualised support after breast cancer treatment.
No Patient or Public Contribution
There was no patient or public involvement in the design or conduct of the study. The interview study was not considered to benefit from involving patients or healthcare professionals when designing the interview guides as they were developed through literature and previous research of patients treated for breast cancer.
Factors as age, sex, smoking, duration of leg pain, working status, type/level of disc herniation and psychosocial factors have been demonstrated to be of importance for short-term results after ...lumbar discectomy. There are few studies with long-term follow-up. In this prospective study of lumbar disc herniation patients undergoing surgery, the result was evaluated at 2 and 5–10 (mean 7.3) years after surgery. Predictive factors for satisfaction with treatment and objective outcome were investigated. Out of the included 171 patients undergoing lumbar discectomy, 154 (90%) patients completed the 2-year follow-up and 140 (81%) completed the long-term follow-up. Baseline data and questionnaires about leg- and back pain intensity (VAS), duration of leg pain, disability (Oswestry Disability Index), depression (Zung Depression Scale), sick leave and employment status were obtained preoperatively, at 2-year- and long-term follow-up. Primary outcome included patient satisfaction with treatment (at both time points) and assessment of an independent observer at the 2-year follow-up. Secondary outcomes at 2-year follow-up were improvement of leg and back pain, working capacity and the need for analgesics or sleeping pills. In about 70% of the patients excellent or good overall result was reported at both follow-ups, with subjective outcome measurements. The objective evaluation after 2 years was in agreement with this result. Time on sick leave was found to be a clinically important predictor of the primary outcomes, with a potential of changing the probability of a satisfactory outcome (both objective and subjective) from around 50% (sick leave >3 months) to 80% (sick leave <2 months). Time on sick leave was also an important predictor for several of the secondary outcomes; e.g. working capacity and the need for analgesics.
A prospective randomised 2-year follow-up study on patients undergoing lumbar disc herniation surgery. The objective was to investigate the relationship between peridural scarring and clinical ...outcome, the scar development 6 and 24 months postoperatively by using MRI, and if ADCON-L (a bioresorbable carbohydrate polymer gel) has an effect on scar size and/or improve patients’ outcome after lumbar disc herniation surgery. The association between peridural scarring and recurrent pain after lumbar disc herniation surgery is debated. Numerous materials have been used in attempts to prevent or reduce postoperative peridural scarring; however, there are conflicting data regarding the clinical effects. The study included 119 patients whose mean age was 39 years (18–66); 51 (47%) were women. Sixty patients (56%) were perioperatively randomised to receive ADCON-L, and 48 (44%) served as controls. All patients underwent MRI at 6 and 24 months postoperatively, and an independent radiologist graded the size, location and development of the scar, by using a previously described scoring system. Pre- and 2-year postoperatively patients graded their leg pain on a visual analogue scale (VAS). At the 2-year follow-up patients rated their satisfaction with treatment (subjective outcome) and were evaluated by an independent neurologist (objective outcome), using MacNab score. There was no relationship between size or localisation of the scar and any of the clinical outcomes (VAS, subjective and objective outcome). The scar size decreased between 6 and 24 months in 49%, was unchanged in 42% and increased in 9% of the patients. Patients treated with ADCON-L did not demonstrate any adverse effects, nor did they demonstrate less scarring or better clinical outcome than control patients. No significant association between the presence of extensive peridural scar or localisation of scar formation and clinical outcome could be detected in the present study. Further, no positive or negative effects of ADCON-L used in disc herniation surgery could be seen.
Jet energy scale measurements and their systematic uncertainties are reported for jets measured with the ATLAS detector using proton-proton collision data with a center-of-mass energy of root s = 13 ...TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1) collected during 2015 at the LHC. Jets are reconstructed from energy deposits forming topological clusters of calorimeter cells, using the anti-k(t) algorithm with radius parameter R = 0.4. Jets are calibrated with a series of simulation-based corrections and in situ techniques. In situ techniques exploit the transverse momentum balance between a jet and a reference object such as a photon, Z boson, or multijet system for jets with 20 < p(T) < 2000 GeV and pseudorapidities of vertical bar eta vertical bar < 4.5, using both data and simulation. An uncertainty in the jet energy scale of less than 1% is found in the central calorimeter region (vertical bar eta vertical bar < 1.2) for jets with 100 < p(T) < 500 GeV. An uncertainty of about 4.5% is found for low-p(T) jets with p(T) = 20 GeV in the central region, dominated by uncertainties in the corrections for multiple proton-proton interactions. The calibration of forward jets (vertical bar eta vertical bar > 0.8) is derived from dijet p(T) balance measurements. For jets of p(T) = 80 GeV, the additional uncertainty for the forward jet calibration reaches its largest value of about 2% in the range vertical bar eta vertical bar > 3.5 and in a narrow slice of 2.2 < vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.4.
The production of a Z boson and a photon in association with a high-mass dijet system is studied using 20.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8TeV recorded ...with the ATLAS detector in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider. Final states with a photon and a Z boson decaying into a pair of either electrons, muons, or neutrinos are analysed. Electroweak and total pp -> Z gamma jj cross-sections are extracted in two fiducial regions with different sensitivities to electroweak production processes. Quartic couplings of vector bosons are studied in regions of phase space with an enhanced contribution from pure electroweak production, sensitive to vector-boson scattering processes VV -> Z gamma. No deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed and constraints are placed on anomalous couplings parameterized by higher-dimensional operators using effective field theory.
A search for the production of single-top-quarks in association with missing energy is performed in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at ...the large hadron collider using data collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1). In this search, the W boson from the top quark is required to decay into an electron or a muon and a neutrino. No deviation from the standard model prediction is observed, and upper limits are set on the production cross-section for resonant and non-resonant production of an invisible exotic state in association with a right-handed top quark. In the case of resonant production, for a spin-0 resonance with amass of 500 GeV, an effective coupling strength above 0.15 is excluded at 95% confidence level for the top quark and an invisible spin-1/2 state with mass between 0 and 100 GeV. In the case of non-resonant production, an effective coupling strength above 0.2 is excluded at 95% confidence level for the top quark and an invisible spin-1 state with mass between 0 and 657 GeV.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is used to search for the decay of a scalar boson to a pair of long-lived particles, neutral under the Standard Model gauge group, in 20.3 ...fb(-1) of data collected in proton-proton collisions at root s = 8 TeV. This search is sensitive to long-lived particles that decay to Standard Model particles producing jets at the outer edge of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter or inside the hadronic calorimeter. No significant excess of events is observed. Limits are reported on the product of the scalar boson production cross section times branching ratio into long-lived neutral particles as a function of the proper lifetime of the particles. Limits are reported for boson masses from 100 GeV to 900 GeV, and a long-lived neutral particle mass from 10 GeV to 150 GeV.
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