584 research outputs found

    What matters to older people with assisted living needs? A phenomenological analysis of the use and non-use of telehealth and telecare

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    Telehealth and telecare research has been dominated by efficacy trials. The field lacks a sophisticated theorisation of [a] what matters to older people with assisted living needs; [b] how illness affects people's capacity to use technologies; and [c] the materiality of assistive technologies. We sought to develop a phenomenologically and socio-materially informed theoretical model of assistive technology use. Forty people aged 60–98 (recruited via NHS, social care and third sector) were visited at home several times in 2011–13. Using ethnographic methods, we built a detailed picture of participants' lives, illness experiences and use (or non-use) of technologies. Data were analysed phenomenologically, drawing on the work of Heidegger, and contextualised using a structuration approach with reference to Bourdieu's notions of habitus and field. We found that participants' needs were diverse and unique. Each had multiple, mutually reinforcing impairments (e.g. tremor and visual loss and stiff hands) that were steadily worsening, culturally framed and bound up with the prospect of decline and death. They managed these conditions subjectively and experientially, appropriating or adapting technologies so as to enhance their capacity to sense and act on their world. Installed assistive technologies met few participants' needs; some devices had been abandoned and a few deliberately disabled. Successful technology arrangements were often characterised by ‘bricolage’ (pragmatic customisation, combining new with legacy devices) by the participant or someone who knew and cared about them. With few exceptions, the current generation of so-called ‘assisted living technologies’ does not assist people to live with illness. To overcome this irony, technology providers need to move beyond the goal of representing technology users informationally (e.g. as biometric data) to providing flexible components from which individuals and their carers can ‘think with things’ to improve the situated, lived experience of multi-morbidity. A radical revision of assistive technology design policy may be needed

    Clinical management of financial toxicity - identifying opportunities through experiential insights of cancer survivors, caregivers, and social workers

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    Perspectives of cancer survivors, caregivers, and social workers as key stakeholders on the clinical management of financial toxicity (FT) are critical to identify opportunities for better FT management. Semi-structured interviews (cancer survivors, caregivers) and a focus group (social workers) were undertaken using purposive sampling at a quaternary public hospital in Australia. People with any cancer diagnosis attending the hospital were eligible. Data were analysed using inductive-deductive content analysis techniques. Twenty-two stakeholders (n = 10 cancer survivors of mixed-cancer types, n = 5 caregivers, and n = 7 social workers) participated. Key findings included: (i) genuine concern for FT of cancer survivors and caregivers shown through practical support by health care and social workers; (ii) need for clarity of role and services; (iii) importance of timely information flow; and (iv) proactive navigation as a priority. While cancer survivors and caregivers received financial assistance and support from the hospital, the lack of synchronised, shared understanding of roles and services in relation to finance between cancer survivors, caregivers, and health professionals undermined the effectiveness and consistency of these services. A proactive approach to anticipate cancer survivors’ and caregivers’ needs is recommended. Future research may develop and evaluate initiatives to manage cancer survivors and families FT experiences and outcomes

    Search for an invisible ZZ^\prime in a final state with two muons and missing energy at Belle II

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    The LμLτL_{\mu}-L_{\tau} extension of the standard model predicts the existence of a lepton-flavor-universality-violating ZZ^{\prime} boson that couples only to the heavier lepton families. We search for such a ZZ^\prime through its invisible decay in the process e+eμ+μZe^+ e^- \to \mu^+ \mu^- Z^{\prime}. We use a sample of electron-positron collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58GeV collected by the Belle II experiment in 2019-2020, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 79.7fb1^{-1}. We find no excess over the expected standard-model background. We set 90%\%-confidence-level upper limits on the cross section for this process as well as on the coupling of the model, which ranges from 3×1033 \times 10^{-3} at low ZZ^{\prime} masses to 1 at ZZ^{\prime} masses of 8GeV/c2GeV/c^{2}

    Measurement of the branching fraction and CP\it CP asymmetry of B0π0π0B^{0} \rightarrow \pi^{0} \pi^{0} decays using 198×106198 \times 10^6 BBB\overline{B} pairs in Belle II data

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    We report measurements of the branching fraction and CP\it CP asymmetry in B0π0π0B^{0} \to \pi^{0} \pi^{0} decays reconstructed at Belle II in an electron-positron collision sample containing 198×106198 \times 10^{6} BBB\overline{B} pairs. We measure a branching fraction \mathcal{B}(\Bpipi) = (1.38 \pm 0.27 \pm 0.22) \times 10^{-6} and a CP\it CP asymmetry \Acp(\Bpipi) = 0.14 \pm 0.46 \pm 0.07, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic

    Search for a τ+τ\tau^+\tau^- resonance in e+eμ+μτ+τe^{+}e^{-}\rightarrow \mu^{+}\mu^{-} \tau^+\tau^- events with the Belle II experiment

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    We report the first search for a non-standard-model resonance decaying into τ\tau pairs in e+eμ+μτ+τe^{+}e^{-}\rightarrow \mu^{+}\mu^{-} \tau^+\tau^- events in the 3.6-10 GeV/c2c^{2} mass range. We use a 62.8 fb1^{-1} sample of e+ee^+e^- collisions collected at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB collider. The analysis probes three different models predicting a spin-1 particle coupling only to the heavier lepton families, a Higgs-like spin-0 particle that couples preferentially to charged leptons (leptophilic scalar), and an axion-like particle, respectively. We observe no evidence for a signal and set exclusion limits at 90% confidence level on the product of cross section and branching fraction into τ\tau pairs, ranging from 0.7 fb to 24 fb, and on the couplings of these processes. We obtain world-leading constraints on the couplings for the leptophilic scalar model for masses above 6.5 GeV/c2c^2 and for the axion-like particle model over the entire mass range

    Observation of BD()KKS0{B\to D^{(*)} K^- K^{0}_S} decays using the 2019-2022 Belle II data sample

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    We present a measurement of the branching fractions of four B0,D()+,0KKS0B^{0,-}\to D^{(*)+,0} K^- K^{0}_S decay modes. The measurement is based on data from SuperKEKB electron-positron collisions at the Υ(4S)\Upsilon(4S) resonance collected with the Belle II detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 362 fb1{362~\text{fb}^{-1}}. The event yields are extracted from fits to the distributions of the difference between expected and observed BB meson energy to separate signal and background, and are efficiency-corrected as a function of the invariant mass of the KKS0K^-K_S^0 system. We find the branching fractions to be: B(BD0KKS0)=(1.89±0.16±0.10)×104, \text{B}(B^-\to D^0K^-K_S^0)=(1.89\pm 0.16\pm 0.10)\times 10^{-4}, B(B0D+KKS0)=(0.85±0.11±0.05)×104, \text{B}(\overline B{}^0\to D^+K^-K_S^0)=(0.85\pm 0.11\pm 0.05)\times 10^{-4}, B(BD0KKS0)=(1.57±0.27±0.12)×104, \text{B}(B^-\to D^{*0}K^-K_S^0)=(1.57\pm 0.27\pm 0.12)\times 10^{-4}, B(B0D+KKS0)=(0.96±0.18±0.06)×104, \text{B}(\overline B{}^0\to D^{*+}K^-K_S^0)=(0.96\pm 0.18\pm 0.06)\times 10^{-4}, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. These results include the first observation of B0D+KKS0\overline B{}^0\to D^+K^-K_S^0, BD0KKS0B^-\to D^{*0}K^-K_S^0, and B0D+KKS0\overline B{}^0\to D^{*+}K^-K_S^0 decays and a significant improvement in the precision of B(BD0KKS0)\text{B}(B^-\to D^0K^-K_S^0) compared to previous measurements

    Angular analysis of B+ρ+ρ0B^+ \to \rho^+\rho^0 decays reconstructed in 2019, 2020, and 2021 Belle II data

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    We report on a Belle II measurement of the branching fraction (B\mathcal{B}), longitudinal polarization fraction (fLf_L), and CP asymmetry (ACP\mathcal{A}_{CP}) of B+ρ+ρ0B^+\to \rho^+\rho^0 decays. We reconstruct B+ρ+(π+π0(γγ))ρ0(π+π)B^+\to \rho^+(\to \pi^+\pi^0(\to \gamma\gamma))\rho^0(\to \pi^+\pi^-) decays in a sample of SuperKEKB electron-positron collisions collected by the Belle II experiment in 2019, 2020, and 2021 at the Υ\Upsilon(4S) resonance and corresponding to 190 fb1^{-1} of integrated luminosity. We fit the distributions of the difference between expected and observed BB candidate energy, continuum-suppression discriminant, dipion masses, and decay angles of the selected samples, to determine a signal yield of 345±31345 \pm 31 events. The signal yields are corrected for efficiencies determined from simulation and control data samples to obtain $\mathcal{B}(B^+ \to \rho^+\rho^0) = [23.2^{+\ 2.2}_{-\ 2.1} (\rm stat) \pm 2.7 (\rm syst)]\times 10^{-6},, f_L = 0.943 ^{+\ 0.035}_{-\ 0.033} (\rm stat)\pm 0.027(\rm syst),and, and \mathcal{A}_{CP}=-0.069 \pm 0.068(\rm stat) \pm 0.060 (\rm syst).Theresultsagreewithpreviousmeasurements.Thisisthefirstmeasurementof. The results agree with previous measurements. This is the first measurement of \mathcal{A}_{CP}in in B^+\to \rho^+\rho^0$ decays reported by Belle II

    Measurement of the branching fractions and CPCP asymmetries of B+π+π0B^+ \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^0 and B+K+π0B^+ \rightarrow K^+ \pi^0 decays in 2019-2021 Belle II data

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    We determine the branching fractions B{\mathcal{B}} and CPCP asymmetries ACP{\mathcal{A}_{{\it CP}}} of the decays B+π+π0B^+ \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^0 and B+K+π0B^+ \rightarrow K^+ \pi^0. The results are based on a data set containing 198 million bottom-antibottom meson pairs corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 190  fb1190\;\text{fb}^{-1} recorded by the Belle II detector in energy-asymmetric electron-positron collisions at the Υ(4S)\Upsilon (4S) resonance. We measure B(B+π+π0)=(6.12±0.53±0.53)×106{\mathcal{B}(B^+ \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^0) = (6.12 \pm 0.53 \pm 0.53)\times 10^{-6}}, B(B+K+π0)=(14.30±0.69±0.79)×106{\mathcal{B}(B^+ \rightarrow K^+ \pi^0) = (14.30 \pm 0.69 \pm 0.79)\times 10^{-6}}, ACP(B+π+π0)=0.085±0.085±0.019{\mathcal{A}_{{\it CP}}(B^+ \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^0) = -0.085 \pm 0.085 \pm 0.019}, and ACP(B+K+π0)=0.014±0.047±0.010{\mathcal{A}_{{\it CP}}(B^+ \rightarrow K^+ \pi^0) = 0.014 \pm 0.047 \pm 0.010}, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These results improve a previous Belle II measurement and agree with the world averages

    Determination of Vub|V_{ub}| from untagged B0π+νB^0\to\pi^- \ell^+ \nu_{\ell} decays using 2019-2021 Belle II data

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    We present an analysis of the charmless semileptonic decay B0π+νB^0\to\pi^- \ell^+ \nu_{\ell}, where =e,μ\ell = e, \mu, from 198.0 million pairs of BBˉB\bar{B} mesons recorded by the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider. The decay is reconstructed without identifying the partner BB meson. The partial branching fractions are measured independently for B0πe+νeB^0\to\pi^- e^+ \nu_{e} and B0πμ+νμB^0\to\pi^- \mu^+ \nu_{\mu} as functions of q2q^{2} (momentum transfer squared), using 3896 B0πe+νeB^0\to\pi^- e^+ \nu_{e} and 5466 B0πμ+νμB^0\to\pi^- \mu^+ \nu_{\mu} decays. The total branching fraction is found to be (1.426±0.056±0.125)×104(1.426 \pm 0.056 \pm 0.125) \times 10^{-4} for B0π+νB^0\to\pi^- \ell^+ \nu_{\ell} decays, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. By fitting the measured partial branching fractions as functions of q2q^{2}, together with constraints on the nonperturbative hadronic contribution from lattice QCD calculations, the magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element VubV_{ub}, (3.55±0.12±0.13±0.17)×103(3.55 \pm 0.12 \pm 0.13 \pm 0.17) \times 10^{-3}, is extracted. Here, the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic and the third is theoretical
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