The flavour anomalies are a set of experimental deviations from the Standard Model (SM) predictions in several observables involving decays of bottom quarks. In particular, tensions between theory ...and experiment in measurements involving a bottom quark decaying into a strange quark and a pair of muons have motivated much theoretical work to explore possible new physics explanations. This review summarises the tumultuous evolution of these tensions, focusing on the most recent experimental results and their implications for physics beyond the SM. We also discuss the prospects for future measurements and tests of the flavour anomalies at the LHC and other facilities.
BACKGROUND Pyogenic spondylitis comprises several clinical entities, including native vertebral osteomyelitis, septic discitis, pyogenic spondylodiscitis, and epidural abscess. The lumbar spine is ...most often infected, followed by the thoracic and cervical areas. It mainly develops (i) after spine surgery; (ii) from history of blunt trauma to the spinal column; (iii) from infections in adjacent structures (such as soft tissues); (iv) from iatrogenic inoculation after invasive procedures (such as lumbar puncture); and (v) from hematogenous bacterial spread to the vertebra (mainly through the venous route). Any delay in diagnosis and treatment can lead to significant spinal cord injury, permanent neurological damage, septicemia, and death. CASE REPORT We describe a 63-year-old man with no significant past medical history who presented with fever and an altered level of consciousness. Significant thoracic spine pain was also reported during the last 3 months. The final diagnosis was vertebral spondylodiscitis, contiguous spinal epidural abscess, and sepsis due to Bacteroides fragilis bacteremia. Clinical recovery was achieved after surgical decompressive therapy with abscess drainage combined with appropriate antibiotic therapy for 12 weeks. The primary focus of the infection was not clarified, despite all the investigations that were performed. CONCLUSIONS Spondylodiscitis, spinal epidural abscess, and sepsis as complications of Bacteroides fragilis bacteremia are rare in a patient without any previously known predisposing conditions and without an obvious primary focus. Early diagnosis and proper treatment of anaerobic spondylodiscitis, especially if epidural abscess and sepsis are present, are of great importance to reduce mortality and avoid long-term complications.
In patients with C2 rheumatoid pannus with spinal cord compression the treatment of choice is extensive surgery either through a transoral resection of the dens axis or a dorsal stabilisation, or ...both. We present a case of an 11-mm rheumatoid pannus with significant compression of the spinal cord, which failed surgical treatment with respect to dorsal stabilisation. Therefore, rigid cervical collar for 8 weeks followed by soft collar for another 4 weeks was chosen as a treatment option. During the follow-up period of 1 year, the pannus reduced significantly and the spinal cord decompressed. In cases where surgery is not an option or is technically very demanding, the alternative of cervical collar immobilisation is a satisfying option.
Background
Obesity has been associated with moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis severity and PASI 75 response attainment of biologic therapies, but findings are inconsistent.
Objective
This study ...aimed to examine the association of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) on disease severity, to identify potential patient characteristics associated with response attainment and to assess the impact of infliximab on the patients’ health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) among infliximab‐treated patients in the routine care setting of Greece.
Methods
This was a multicenter, prospective, observational study of adult moderate‐to‐severe plaque psoriasis patients who had initiated treatment with originator infliximab within 2 weeks prior to enrolment. Postenrolment visits occurred at 14 ± 4, 30 ± 4 and 54 ± 4 weeks following treatment onset.
Results
Between October 2012 and June 2014, 136 eligible patients (62.5% males) with a median age of 48.6 years, BMI of 29.6 kg/m2 and WC of 107.0 cm at enrolment were recruited by 21 dermatology hospital/private offices. All patients had received prior psoriasis treatment(s); 62.5% were biologic‐naïve. Mean baseline psoriasis area severity index (PASI) and Dermatology Quality of Life Index (DLQI) scores were 23.4 ± 13.6 and 15.0 ± 8.3, respectively. A low correlation was observed between WC at enrolment and baseline PASI ρ = 0.324 (P < 0.001). Over a median 48.4 weeks of infliximab exposure, 89.3% of the per protocol set achieved a PASI 75 response. At 14, 30 and 54 weeks, the PASI 75 attainment rate was 66.4%, 74.8% and 76.6%, respectively; the clinically meaningful DLQI improvement (≥5 point decrease) rate was 68.9%, 75.7% and 69.8%, respectively. BMI category and abdominal obesity at enrolment did not impact PASI 75 or DLQI improvement rate attainment.
Conclusion
In the routine care of Greece, infliximab reduced disease activity and improved the quality of life of moderate‐to‐severe psoriasis patients through 1 year of treatment, independent of their BMI and WC.
Abstract In this paper we present a detailed study of the four-body decay B 0 → K + π − ℓ + ℓ − , where tensions with the Standard Model predictions have been observed. Our analysis of the decay with ...P- and S-wave contributions to the K + π − system develops a complete understanding of the symmetries of the distribution, in the case of massless and massive leptons. In both cases, the symmetries determine relations between the observables in the B 0 → K + π − ℓ + ℓ − decay distribution. This enables us to define the complete set of observables accessible to experiments, including several that have not previously been identified. The new observables arise when the decay rate is written differentially with respect to m K π $$ {m}_{K_{\pi }} $$ . We demonstrate that experiments will be able to fit this full decay distribution with currently available data sets and investigate the sensitivity to new physics scenarios given the experimental precision that is expected in the future. The symmetry relations provide a unique handle to explore the behaviour of S-wave observables by expressing them in terms of P-wave observables, therefore minimising the dependence on poorly-known S-wave form factors. Using this approach, we construct two theoretically optimized S-wave observables and explore their sensitivity to new physics. By further exploiting the symmetry relations, we obtain the first bounds on the S-wave observables using two different methods and highlight how these relations may be used as cross-checks of the experimental methodology and the parametrization of the B 0 → K + π − ℓ + ℓ − differential decay rate. We identify a zero-crossing point that would be at a common dilepton invariant mass for a subset of P- and S-wave observables, and explore the information on new physics and hadronic effects that this zero point can provide.
The treatment of keloids remains unsatisfactory. Intralesional 5-fluorouracil (FU) has not been much investigated as a monotherapy in the treatment of keloids.
We sought to evaluate the use of ...intralesional injections of 5-FU in the treatment of keloids.
A total of 20 patients (11 male and 9 female) were treated once weekly with intralesional injections of 5-FU (50 mg/mL). Patients received an average of 7 treatments. Average injection volumes were 0.2 to 0.4 mL/cm
2. All patients had full blood cell count, liver function tests, and renal function tests before and after treatment was commenced. A total of 10 patients had biopsy specimens taken before starting treatment as a baseline and after 6 sessions. Routine hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemical analysis detecting Ki-67 and transforming growth factor-β were performed on paraffin sections. All patients were followed up for 12 months, or until recurrence was noted.
Of 20 patients, 17 (85%) showed more than 50% improvement. Only one did not respond favorably. Small and previously untreated lesions improved the most. Pain (20 of 20), hyperpigmentation (20 of 20), and tissue sloughing (6 of 20) were the main adverse effects. Histopathologic and immunohistochemical evaluation were consistent with the clinical observations. Ki-67 proliferative index was significantly reduced (
P
=
.0001) after treatment. Transforming growth factor-β was reduced less significantly. Recurrence was noted in 47% (9 of 19) of patients who responded to treatment within 1 year. A correlation was found (
P
=
.028) between the duration of the lesions and recurrence.
Our study demonstrates that intralesional 5-FU may be effective in the treatment of keloids, but recurrence is common and further investigation is required.
Abstract A method for analysing the hadronic resonance contributions in $$\overline{B}{} ^0 \!\rightarrow \overline{K}{} ^{*0} \mu ^+ \mu ^- $$ B¯0→K¯∗0μ+μ- decays is presented. This method uses an ...empirical model that relies on measurements of the branching fractions and polarisation amplitudes of final states involving $$J^{PC}=1^{--}$$ JPC=1-- resonances, relative to the short-distance component, across the full dimuon mass spectrum of $$\overline{B}{} ^0 \!\rightarrow \overline{K}{} ^{*0} \mu ^+ \mu ^- $$ B¯0→K¯∗0μ+μ- transitions. The model is in good agreement with existing calculations of hadronic non-local effects. The effect of this contribution to the angular observables is presented and it is demonstrated how the narrow resonances in the $$q^2 $$ q2 spectrum provide a dramatic enhancement to $$C\!P$$ CP -violating effects in the short-distance amplitude. Finally, a study of the hadronic resonance effects on lepton universality ratios, $$R_{K^{(*)}}$$ RK(∗) , in the presence of new physics is presented.
Background: An important part of neurosurgical training is the improvement of surgical skills. Acquiring microsurgical skills follows a learning curve, influenced by specific exercises, feedback, and ...training. Aim of training should be rapid learning success. The study shows the way in which video-based training can influence the learning curve. Methods: Over a period of 18 months (2011-2012) 12 residents were evaluated in spinal surgery (12 cases per resident) by a skilled evaluator based on different criteria. The evaluation criteria (exposition of important anatomy, intraoperative bleeding, efficacy of using bipolar cauterization) were weighted and added to a single quality-score. The participating residents were divided into two groups. Only one group (n = 5) received video-based training. Results: Residents showed an individually different but explicit increase in microsurgical skills. The quality-score during the first surgery compared with the end point of the study demonstrated a faster improvement of surgical skills in the group with video-based training than in the group without special training. Considering all residents together, the video-training group displayed a steeper gradient of microsurgical success. Comparison of the single resident's microsurgical skills showed individual disparities. Various biases that influence the learning success are under examination. Conclusion: Video-based training can improve microsurgical skills, leading to an improved learning curve. An earlier entry of the learning curve plateau in the video-training group promotes a higher acquisition of surgical skills. Because of the positive effect, we plan to apply the video-based training model to other neurosurgical subspecialties, especially neurovascular and skull base surgery.
New results on the production of charged pions in p+p interactions are presented. The data come from a sample of 4.8 million inelastic events obtained with the NA49 detector at the CERN SPS at 158 ...GeV/c beam momentum. Pions are identified by energy loss measurement in a large TPC tracking system which covers a major fraction of the production phase space. Inclusive invariant cross sections are given on a grid of nearly 300 bins per charge over intervals from 0 to 2 GeV/c in transverse momentum and from 0 to 0.85 in Feynman x. The results are compared to existing data in overlapping energy ranges.
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