A precise quantitative measurement of the effect of low magnetic fields in Hamamatsu R7081 photomultipliers has been performed. These large-area photomultipliers will be used in the Double Chooz ...neutrino experiment. A magnetic shielding has been developed for these photomultipliers. Its design and performance is also reported in this paper.
A LED-based fiber calibration system for the ProtoDUNE-Dual Phase (DP) photon detection system (PDS) has been designed and validated. ProtoDUNE-DP is a 6x6x6 m3 liquid argon time-projection-chamber ...(LAr TPC) currently being installed at the Neutrino Platform at CERN. The PDS is based on 36 8-inch photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and will allow triggering on cosmic rays. The system serves as prototype for the PDS of the final DUNE DP far detector in which the PDS also has the function to allow the 3D event reconstruction on non-beam physics. For this purpose an equalized PMT response is desirable to allow using the same threshold definition for all PMT groups, simplifying the determination of the trigger efficiency. The light calibration system (LCS) described in this paper is developed to provide this and to monitor the PMT performance in-situ.
Abstract A 66-year-old male with ischaemic cardiomyopathy and chronic lymphocytic leukemia developed signs of severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Serial blood cultures were negative and a ...SeptiFast test detected the presence of Aspergillus fumigatus DNA. Afterwards, detection of galactomannan and 1,3-β- d -glucan showed a positive result. Autopsy revealed the presence of branched fungal structures suggestive of Aspergillus.
Objectives
The COVID‐19 pandemic has had substantial impacts for both people using pain services and healthcare professionals delivering them. While the effects on service users have been studied, ...less is known about the effects for service providers. This study aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic on providers and the evolving role of telemedicine in treatment.
Design & Methods
An electronic survey was distributed to the professional membership of the European Pain Federation (EFIC). The survey evaluated impact and adjustment to the COVID‐19 pandemic separately across two pandemic years (March 2020–February 2021 and March 2021 to February 2022) and assessed worry about COVID‐19, disruption and adjustment of pain services, and use of telehealth services. The change between the first and second pandemic years and the degree to which telehealth services were adopted was evaluated.
Results
From 149 respondents, 131 (88%) participants provided sufficient data to be included in the analysis. Both providers worry about the pandemic and service disruption decreased significantly from the first to the second year of the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, only 30% of providers offered telehealth appointments but this increased to 64% and 83%, respectively, in the first and second years of the pandemic.
Conclusions
Although provider worry and disruption to delivery of pain services decreased during the second year of COVID‐19 pandemic, waiting times for appointments continued to lengthen. The pandemic has hastened the adoption of telemedicine in pain services and plans to continue telehealth services seem common.
► The influence of HIV coinfection on HCV RNA load has been evaluated. ► A total of 396 HCV-monoinfected and 467 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients were included. ► HIV coinfection leads to a mild increase ...in plasma HCV RNA burden. ► The magnitudes of the differences are low and can be counterbalanced with antiviral therapy. ► Contribution to lower anti-HCV therapy response rates in coinfection is questionable.
The influence of HIV coinfection on plasma hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA load has not been reliably evaluated. We analyzed plasma HCV RNA load in 396 HCV-monoinfected and 467 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients. Median HCV RNA concentrations (interquartile range) in HCV-monoinfected patients were 5.88 (5.3–6.2) log10IU/mL versus 5.96 (5.6–6.5) log10IU/mL in HIV/HCV-coinfected individuals (p=0.033) as determined with the Cobas Amplicor Test and 6.06 (5.4–5.7) log10IU/mL versus 6.3 (5.5–6.9) log10IU/mL (p=0.026) using the Cobas TaqMan System. The plasma HCV RNA load in patients with HIV infection and undetectable plasmatic HIV RNA was similar to that observed in HCV-monoinfected individuals 6.02 (5.45–6.61) log10IU/mL versus 6.01 (5.36–6.59) log10IU/mL, respectively (p=1.0). In conclusion, HIV coinfection tends to be associated with higher plasma HCV RNA load, however, the magnitude of the differences is small and this effect can be counterbalanced with antiviral therapy.
•We report the first case of Myroides phaeus isolated from blood, causing bacteremia in an immunocompromised patient.•The relevance of this species is that most strains are resistant to multiple ...drugs.•For identification it was used MicroScan Panel in addition to PCR – genetic sequencing.
We report the first case of Myroides phaeus isolated from blood, causing bacteremia in an immunocompromised patient using the automated MicroScan Walk Away 96 system, followed by bacterial identification by amplification-sequencing of the 16S rDNA. The sequences obtained were compared with the reference sequence of the BLAST ® platform - National Library of Medicine, USA, and the isolation was identified as Myroides phaeus strain with 99.67 % identity in Blast report. In the literature we did not find previous reported cases of infections by this bacterium, however its pathogenic role is still controversial; therefore, this isolation alerts us to carry out an exhaustive surveillance of other possible acquisition routes.
Molecular surveillance of pathogens has shown the need for rapid and dependable methods for the detection and identification of organisms of clinical and epidemiologic importance.
Staphylococcus ...aureus, one of the most frequent causes of human infections, was used as a model organism to develop and refine a real-time fluorescence PCR assay and enhanced DNA purification method. One hundred clinical isolates of
S. aureus, verified by biochemical reactions and latex agglutination and 90 negative control clinical isolates were screened in the assay. Moreover, fifty blood broth samples from blood culture bottles showing Gram-positive cocci in clusters on direct Gram’s stain and 25 showing Gram-negative bacilli were screened. The probes, constructed from the
nuc gene, correctly detected all
S. aureus genomes present without cross-reaction to negative controls. The speed and ease of this approach will make it adaptable to identification of many bacterial pathogens and provide potential for adaptation to direct detection from other types of clinical specimens.
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