A qualitative exploration of the experience and quality of life of patients, and their family carers, admitted to a specialist eye hospital with microbial keratitis

Background: Microbial keratitis is a vision-threatening condition requiring intensive treatment. Understanding patients’ and carers’ experience during and after hospitalisation can inform improvements in care and outcomes. This study explored the vision-related quality of life, and the experiences of patients with microbial keratitis and their family carers when admitted to a quaternary referral eye hospital in Australia Methods: : The study employed mixed methods, including qualitative interviews and a survey in hospital and a telephone interview post-discharge. A convenience sample was recruited of 33 patients with microbial keratitis who presented to hospital between March and October 2017, and 10 of their family carers. Semi-structured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, coded and analysed using thematic analysis. Patient participants completed the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire – 25 (NEIVFQ-25). Results: : Qualitative analyses identified two main themes: Saving sight, with subthemes of costs of saving sight, and travel and transportation; Safe-guarding home and normal life with subthemes of family, work and pastimes . A group mean NEIVFQ-25 score of 74 was similar to other ophthalmic disease groups but pain scores were higher. Conclusion: : Findings provide insights into the experiences and often unspoken concerns of microbial keratitis patients and their family carers, revealing the priority and the associated costs of saving sight, and the implications for family and lifestyles. These patients reported similarly reduced vision-related quality of life but greater pain compared to other ophthalmic groups. Findings point to ways to improve their experience and potentially reduce the high rates of unplanned representations of this patient group

Search for charged Higgs bosons in decays of top quarks in p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

7 pages, 2 figuresWe report the recent charged Higgs search in top quark decays in 2.2/fb CDF data. This is the first attempt to search for charged Higgs using fully reconstructed mass assuming H->c-sbar in small tan beta region. No evidence of a charged Higgs is observed in the CDF data, hence 95% upper limits are placed at B(t->H+b)We report on the first direct search for charged Higgs bosons decaying into cs̅ in tt̅ events produced by pp̅ collisions at √s=1.96  TeV. The search uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2  fb-1 collected by the CDF II detector at Fermilab and looks for a resonance in the invariant mass distribution of two jets in the lepton+jets sample of tt̅ candidates. We observe no evidence of charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays. Hence, 95% upper limits on the top quark decay branching ratio are placed at B(t→H+b)< 0.1 to 0.3 for charged Higgs boson masses of 60 to 150  GeV/c2 assuming B(H+→cs̅ )=1.0. The upper limits on B(t→H+b) are also used as model-independent limits on the decay branching ratio of top quarks to generic scalar charged bosons beyond the standard model.Peer reviewe

Cranio-cervical bone hyperpneumatization: An overview and illustrative case

The pneumatization of regions such as the apex of the temporal crag, the mastoid cells and the perilaberytic region is considered physiological in adults. The process of craniocervical pneumatization in unhealthy adults derives from a dysfunction at the level of the eustachian tube, which provides a valve effect causing an increase in pressure at the level of the middle ear, forcing the entry of air into the dome of the skull through the opening of the occipitomastoidal suture. The process of standard pneumatization of the temporal bones, begins in the final weeks preceding birth, characterized by a decrease in the embryonic mesenchyme at the antrum level and progresses through childhood until adolescence, when the stone portion at the level of the rock is pneumatized; Normal variants have been reported, such as pneumatization that extends from the temporal scale to behind the sigmoid sinus. With regard to the process of hyperneumatization, several etiologies have been proposed that a congenital process versus an acquired process to develop this condition should be compared. The present illustrative case is a seventy-three years old male presented to the outpatient clinic with chronic recurrent occipital headache, already investigated by general practitioner for elevated blood pressure which was excluded. We had checked him to exclude the cervical spinal origin of the occipital headache which was then excluded too. This case scenario demonstrates the debate about how to deal with such cases and thus the review will bring the attention of those who take care of such radiological findings to keep in mind the possible causes and complications according to the reported cases till now. We concluded that the hyperpneumatization of the craniocervical junction is an uncommon radiological finding that is usually asymptomatic although it can entail serious complications in some instances, especially when it enlarges progressively, which may be due to an acquired process. Thus, craniocervical hyperpneumatization deserves highlighting for the managing team to gain fluent treatment and better patient outcome

Observation of exclusive charmonium production and gamma+gamma to mu+mu- in p+pbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

7 pages, 3 figures, 1 tableWe have observed the reactions p+pbar --> p+X+pbar, with X being a centrally produced J/psi, psi(2S) or chi_c0, and gamma+gamma --> mu+mu-, in proton- antiproton collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV using the Run II Collider Detector at Fermilab. The event signature requires two oppositely charged muons, each with pseudorapidity |eta| mu+mu-. Events with a J/psi and an associated photon candidate are consistent with exclusive chi_c0 production through double pomeron exchange. The exclusive vector meson production is as expected for elastic photo- production, gamma+p --> J/psi(psi(2S)) + p, which is observed here for the first time in hadron-hadron collisions. The cross sections ds/dy(y=0) for p + pbar --> p + X + pbar with X = J/psi, psi(2S) orchi_c0 are 3.92+/-0.62 nb, 0.53+/-0.14 nb, and 75+/-14 nb respectively. The cross section for the continuum, with |eta(mu+/-)| < 0.6, M(mumu) in [3.0,4.0] GeV/c2, is [Integral ds/(dM.deta1.deta2)] = 2.7+/-0.5 pb, consistent with QED predictions. We put an upper limit on the cross section for odderon exchange in J/psi production: ds/dy(y=0) (J/psi_O/IP) < 2.3 nb at 95% C.L

Search for new particles decaying into dijets in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

10 pages, 4 figuresWe present a search for new particles whose decays produce two jets (dijets) using proton-antiproton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.13 fb-1 collected with the CDF II detector. The measured dijet mass spectrum is found to be consistent with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions, and no significant evidence of new particles is found. We set upper limits at the 95% confidence level on cross sections times the branching fraction for the production of new particles decaying into dijets with both jets having a rapidity magnitude |y| < 1. These limits are used to determine the mass exclusions for the excited quark, axigluon, flavor-universal coloron, E6 diquark, color-octet technirho, W', and Z'

Measurement of the b-jet Cross Section in Events with a W Boson in p-pbar Collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

8 pages, 2 figures. To be submitted to PRLThe cross section for jets from b quarks produced simultaneously with a W boson has been measured in ppbar collision data from 1.9/fb of integrated luminosity recorded by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron. Jets consistent with the decay of long-lived hadrons are selected by identifying a displaced decay vertex. The invariant mass of the charged particle tracks associated with the vertex is sensitive to the flavor of the decaying hadron and is used to determine the fraction of jets from b-quark production. We measure a b-jet cross section of 2.74 +- 0.27(stat.) +- 0.42(syst.) pb in association with one flavor of leptonic W boson decay over a limited kinematic phase space

First Measurement of the \lowercase{\ttbar} Differential Cross Section \lowercase{d\sigma/d}M_{\lowercase{{t\overline{t}}}} in \lowercase{\ppbar} Collisions at \sqrt{\lowercase{s}}=1.96 TeV

8 pages, 1 figureWe present a measurement of the \ttbar differential cross section with respect to the \ttbar invariant mass, dSigma/dMttbar, in \ppbar collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV using an integrated luminosity of 2.7\invfb collected by the CDF II experiment. The \ttbar invariant mass spectrum is sensitive to a variety of exotic particles decaying into \ttbar pairs. The result is consistent with the standard model expectation, as modeled by \texttt{PYTHIA} with \texttt{CTEQ5L} parton distribution functions

Search for charged Higgs bosons in decays of top quarks in p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

7 pages, 2 figuresWe report the recent charged Higgs search in top quark decays in 2.2/fb CDF data. This is the first attempt to search for charged Higgs using fully reconstructed mass assuming H->c-sbar in small tan beta region. No evidence of a charged Higgs is observed in the CDF data, hence 95% upper limits are placed at B(t->H+b) < 0.1-0.3. The upper limits can be used to limit the generic non-SM charged boson production in top quark decays

Measurement of dσ/dyd\sigma/dy of Drell-Yan e+e−e^+e^- pairs in the ZZ Mass Region from ppˉp\bar{p} Collisions at s=1.96\sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

Submitted to Phys. Rev. LettWe report on a CDF measurement of the total cross section and rapidity distribution, $d\sigma/dy$, for $q\bar{q}\to \gamma^{*}/Z\to e^{+}e^{-}$ events in the $Z$ boson mass region ($6

Search for Higgs bosons predicted in two-Higgs-doublet models via decays to tau lepton pairs in 1.96 TeV proton-antiproton collisions

Submitted to Phys. Rev. LettWe present the results of a search for Higgs bosons predicted in two-Higgs-doublet models, in the case where the Higgs bosons decay to tau lepton pairs, using 1.8 inverse fb of integrated luminosity of proton-antiproton collisions recorded by the CDF II experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. Studying the invariant mass distribution in events where one or both tau leptons decay leptonically, no evidence for a Higgs boson signal is observed. The result is used to infer exclusion limits in the two-dimensional parameter space of tan beta versus m(A)