Effectiveness and acceptability of targeted text message reminders in colorectal cancer screening:a randomised controlled trial (M-TICS study)

Background:Mobile phone text message reminders to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening participation have shown moderate effects.Objective:This study assessed effectiveness and acceptability of targeted text message reminders for those who picked up but did not return their screening kit at pharmacy within 14 days in a CRC screening program in Catalonia, SpainMethods:We performed a randomised control trial in the screening hub of the metropolitan area of Barcelona that covers 502,348 adults aged 50-69 years. In total, 9,369 individuals were randomised in a 1:1 ratio to receive either a text message reminder or no reminder. Main primary outcome was FIT completion rate within 126 days from FIT kit pick-up (intention-to-treat-analysis). A telephone survey assessed acceptability and appropriateness of the intervention. Cost-effectiveness of adding a text message reminder to FIT completion was also performed.Results:FIT completion rate was 77.7% in control arm and 82.6% in text message arm. Higher participation rates in intervention arm were reported independent of sex, age, socioeconomic level, and screening profiles. 89.2% of interviewees considered it important and useful to receive text message reminders to FIT completion, and 93.4% preferred text messages to postal letters.Conclusions:Adding text message reminders to the standard procedure significantly increased FIT kit return rates and was considered acceptable and appropriate. The SMS plus letter reminder to complete and return the FIT kit was a cost-effective strategy. Clinical Trial: Registration Number NCT04343950 (04/09/2020) at clinicaltrials.go

Text messaging as a tool to improve cancer screening programs (M-TICS Study):A randomized controlled trial protocol

Background: Short message service (SMS) based interventions are widely used in healthcare and have shown promising results to improve cancer screening programs. However, more research is still needed to implement SMS in the screening process. We present a study protocol to assess the impact on health and economics of three targeted SMS-based interventions in population-based cancer screening programs. Methods/design: The M-TICs study is a randomized controlled trial with a formal process evaluation. Participants aged 50-69 years identified as eligible from the colorectal cancer (CRC) and breast cancer (BC) screening program of the Catalan Institute of Oncology (Catalonia, Spain) will be randomly assigned to receive standard invitation procedure (control group) or SMS-based intervention to promote participation. Two interventions will be conducted in the CRC screening program: 1) Screening invitation reminder: Those who do not participate in the CRC screening within 6 weeks of invite will receive a reminder (SMS or letter); 2) Reminder to complete and return fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kit: SMS reminder versus no intervention to individuals who have picked up a FIT kit at the pharmacy and they have not returned it after 14 days. The third intervention will be performed in the BC screening program. Women who had been screened previously will receive an SMS invitation or a letter invitation to participate in the screening. As a primary objective we will assess the impact on participation for each intervention. The secondary objectives will be to analyze the cost-effectiveness of the interventions and to assess participants' perceptions. Expected results: The results from this randomized controlled trial will provide important empirical evidence for the use of mobile phone technology as a tool for improving population-based cancer screening programs. These results may influence the cancer screening invitation procedure in future routine practice

Effectiveness and acceptability of targeted text message reminders in colorectal cancer screening:a randomised controlled trial (M-TICS study)

Background:Mobile phone text message reminders to increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening participation have shown moderate effects.Objective:This study assessed effectiveness and acceptability of targeted text message reminders for those who picked up but did not return their screening kit at pharmacy within 14 days in a CRC screening program in Catalonia, SpainMethods:We performed a randomised control trial in the screening hub of the metropolitan area of Barcelona that covers 502,348 adults aged 50-69 years. In total, 9,369 individuals were randomised in a 1:1 ratio to receive either a text message reminder or no reminder. Main primary outcome was FIT completion rate within 126 days from FIT kit pick-up (intention-to-treat-analysis). A telephone survey assessed acceptability and appropriateness of the intervention. Cost-effectiveness of adding a text message reminder to FIT completion was also performed.Results:FIT completion rate was 77.7% in control arm and 82.6% in text message arm. Higher participation rates in intervention arm were reported independent of sex, age, socioeconomic level, and screening profiles. 89.2% of interviewees considered it important and useful to receive text message reminders to FIT completion, and 93.4% preferred text messages to postal letters.Conclusions:Adding text message reminders to the standard procedure significantly increased FIT kit return rates and was considered acceptable and appropriate. The SMS plus letter reminder to complete and return the FIT kit was a cost-effective strategy. Clinical Trial: Registration Number NCT04343950 (04/09/2020) at clinicaltrials.go

Search for Scalar Diphoton Resonances in the Mass Range 65−60065-600 GeV with the ATLAS Detector in pppp Collision Data at s\sqrt{s} = 8 TeVTeV

A search for scalar particles decaying via narrow resonances into two photons in the mass range 65–600 GeV is performed using $20.3\text{}\text{}{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ of $\sqrt{s}=8\text{}\text{}\mathrm{TeV}$ $pp$ collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The recently discovered Higgs boson is treated as a background. No significant evidence for an additional signal is observed. The results are presented as limits at the 95% confidence level on the production cross section of a scalar boson times branching ratio into two photons, in a fiducial volume where the reconstruction efficiency is approximately independent of the event topology. The upper limits set extend over a considerably wider mass range than previous searches

Measurement of differential J/ψJ/\psi production cross-sections and forward-backward ratio in p+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of differential cross-sections for $J/\psi$ production in p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV at the LHC with the ATLAS detector are presented. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 28.1 nb$^{-1}$. The $J/\psi$ mesons are reconstructed in the dimuon decay channel over the transverse momentum range $8<p_{\mathrm{T}}<30$ GeV and over the center-of-mass rapidity range $-2.87<y^{*}<1.94$. Prompt $J/\psi$ are separated from $J/\psi$ resulting from $b$-hadron decays through an analysis of the distance between the $J/\psi$ decay vertex and the event primary vertex. The differential cross-section for production of nonprompt $J/\psi$ is compared to a FONLL calculation that does not include nuclear effects. Forward-backward production ratios are presented and compared to theoretical predictions. These results constrain the kinematic dependence of nuclear modifications of charmonium and $b$-quark production in p+Pb collisions

Search for Higgs and ZZ Boson Decays to J/ψγJ/\psi\gamma and Υ(nS)γ\Upsilon(nS)\gamma with the ATLAS Detector

A search for the decays of the Higgs and $Z$ bosons to $J/\psi\gamma$ and $\Upsilon(nS)\gamma$ ($n=1,2,3$) is performed with $pp$ collision data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to $20.3\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected at $\sqrt{s}=8\mathrm{TeV}$ with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events is observed above expected backgrounds and 95% CL upper limits are placed on the branching fractions. In the $J/\psi\gamma$ final state the limits are $1.5\times10^{-3}$ and $2.6\times10^{-6}$ for the Higgs and $Z$ bosons, respectively, while in the $\Upsilon(1S,2S,3S)\,\gamma$ final states the limits are $(1.3,1.9,1.3)\times10^{-3}$ and $(3.4,6.5,5.4)\times10^{-6}$, respectively

Finska tingsdomares bedömningar av partsutlåtanden givna på plats i rätten eller via videokonferens

Professionals within the judicial system sometimes believe they can assess whether someone is lying or not based on cues such as body language and emotional expression. Research has, however, shown that this is impossible. The Finnish Supreme Court has also given rulings in accordance with this demonstrated fact. There has also been previous research on whether party or witness statements are assessed differently in court depending on whether they are given live, via videoconference, or via prerecorded video. In the present study, we investigated how a Finnish sample of district judges (N=47) assigned probative value to different variables concerning the statement or the statement giver, such as body language and emotional expression. We also investigated the connection between the judges’ beliefs about the relevance of body language and emotional expression and their preference for live statements or statements via videoconference. The judges reported assigning equal amounts of probative value to statements given live and statements given via videoconference. However, judges found it easier to detect deception live, and this preference correlated with how relevant they thought body language is when assessing the probative value of the statement. In other words, a slight bias to assess live statements more favorably than statements given via videoconference might still exist. More effort needs to be put into making judges and Supreme Courts aware of robust scientific results that have been the subject of decades of research, such as the fact that one cannot assess whether someone is lying or not based on cues such as body language