Invasive meningococcal disease remains a rare infectious disease not only with high mortality but also with important morbidity. Until recently no universal vaccine existed against serogroup B, which ...explains most of the cases in settings like Europe. The objective of this study was to analyze the clinical course and sequelae of meningococcal disease in Spain.
Retrospective review of all children younger than 15 years admitted to any of the 36 hospitals in the MENDICOS Spanish network (www.mendicos.org) with confirmed or probable invasive meningococcal disease in children between January 2008 and December 2013.
A total of 458 cases were identified across the country, most of them occurring in previously healthy children (91.5%; n = 419/458). Median (interquartile range) age was 1.7 (0.7 and 4.6) years, with 53.1% of the cases occurring in children younger than 2 years; 82.1% (n = 368) were laboratory confirmed cases; 95.2% (n = 256) of those serogrouped were serogroup B. The diagnosis was meningitis in 24.9% (n = 114) of the cases, sepsis in 37.1% (n = 170) and both in 38.0% (n = 174). Mean hospital length of stay was 11.6 (10.9) days; 79.2% (n = 354) of the patients required pediatric intensive care unit admission, with a mean pediatric intensive care unit stay of 3.9 (4.9) days; 3.5% (n = 16) died; 12.9% (n = 59) of the survivors were discharged with some kind of physical sequelae, mainly neurological (n = 23).
Serogroup B invasive meningococcal infection explains substantial morbidity and mortality in Spain, occurring mainly in infants. The recent availability of a vaccine against serogroup B may change this scenario. Given that the vast majority of the cases occur in otherwise healthy children, inclusion of the meningococcal B vaccine in the national immunization program should be carefully considered.
Hand-drawn gray matter regions of interest (ROI) are often used to guide the estimation of white matter tractography, obtained from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI), in healthy and ...in patient populations. However, such ROIs are vulnerable to rater bias of the individual segmenting the ROIs, scan variability, and individual differences in neuroanatomy. In this report, a “majority rule” approach is introduced for ROI segmentation used to guide streamline tractography in white matter structures. DWI of one healthy participant was acquired in ten separate sessions using a 3 T scanner over the course of a month. Four raters identified ROIs within the left hemisphere Cerebral Peduncle (CPED); Internal Capsule (IC); Hand Portion of the Motor Cortex, or Hand Bump, (HB) using a group-established standard operating procedure for ROI definition to guide the estimation of streamline tracts within the corticospinal tract (CST). Each rater traced the ROIs twice for each scan session. The overlap of each rater’s two ROIs was used to define a representative ROI for each rater. These ROIs were combined to create a “majority rules” ROI, in which the rule requires that each voxel is selected by at least three of four raters. Reproducibility for ROIs and CST segmentations were analyzed with the Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC). Intra-rater reliability for each ROI was high (DSCs ≥ 0.83). Inter-rater reliability was moderate to adequate (DSC range 0.54–0.75; lowest for IC). Using intersected majority rules ROIs, the resulting CST showed improved overlap (DSC = 0.82) in the estimated streamline tracks for the ten sessions. Despite high intra-rater reliability, there was lower inter-rater reliability consistent with the expectation of rater bias. Employing the majority rules method improved reliability in the overlap of the CST.
Context.
The main goal of the CARMENES survey is to find Earth-mass planets around nearby M-dwarf stars. Seven M dwarfs included in the CARMENES sample had been observed before with HIRES and HARPS ...and either were reported to have one short period planetary companion (GJ 15 A, GJ 176, GJ 436, GJ 536 and GJ 1148) or are multiple planetary systems (GJ 581 and GJ 876).
Aims.
We aim to report new precise optical radial velocity measurements for these planet hosts and test the overall capabilities of CARMENES.
Methods.
We combined our CARMENES precise Doppler measurements with those available from HIRES and HARPS and derived new orbital parameters for the systems. Bona-fide single planet systems were fitted with a Keplerian model. The multiple planet systems were analyzed using a self-consistent dynamical model and their best fit orbits were tested for long-term stability.
Results.
We confirm or provide supportive arguments for planets around all the investigated stars except for GJ 15 A, for which we find that the post-discovery HIRES data and our CARMENES data do not show a signal at 11.4 days. Although we cannot confirm the super-Earth planet GJ 15 Ab, we show evidence for a possible long-period (
P
c
= 7030
-630
+970
d) Saturn-mass (
m
c
sin
i
= 51.8
-5.8
+5.5
M
⊕
) planet around GJ 15 A. In addition, based on our CARMENES and HIRES data we discover a second planet around GJ 1148, for which we estimate a period
P
c
= 532.6
-2.5
+4.1
days, eccentricity
e
c
= 0.342
-0.062
+0.050
and minimum mass
m
c
sin
i
= 68.1
-2.2
+4.9
M
⊕
.
Conclusions.
The CARMENES optical radial velocities have similar precision and overall scatter when compared to the Doppler measurements conducted with HARPS and HIRES. We conclude that CARMENES is an instrument that is up to the challenge of discovering rocky planets around low-mass stars.
In certain applications copolymer P123 (E21P67E21) is dissolved in water−ethanol mixtures, initially to form micellar solutions and eventually to gel. For P123 in 10, 20, and 30 wt % aqueous ethanol ...we used dynamic light scattering from dilute solutions to confirm micellization, oscillatory rheometry, and visual observation of mobility (tube inversion) to determine gel formation in concentrated solutions and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to determine gel structure. Except for solutions in 30 wt % aqueous ethanol, a clear−turbid transition was encountered on heating dilute and concentrated micellar solutions alike, and as for solutions in water alone (Chaibundit et al. Langmuir 2007, 23, 9229) this could be ascribed to formation of wormlike micelles. Dense clouding, typical of phase separation, was observed at higher temperatures. Regions of isotropic and birefringent gel were defined for concentrated solutions and shown (by SAXS) to have cubic (fcc and hcp) and hexagonal structures, consistent with packed spherical and elongated micelles, respectively. The cubic gels (0, 10, and 20 wt % ethanol) were clear, while the hex gels were either turbid (0 and 10 wt % ethanol), turbid enclosing a clear region (20 wt % ethanol), or entirely clear (30 wt % ethanol). The SAXS profile was unchanged between turbid and clear regions of the 20 wt % ethanol gel. Temperature scans of dynamic moduli showed (as expected) a clear distinction between high-modulus cubic gels (G′ max ≈ 20−30 kPa) and lower modulus hex gels (G′ max < 10 kPa).
Retrospective cohort study.
To assess the rate, injury site, aetiology and outcomes in elective spinal surgery patients who sustained a spinal cord injury (SCI).
SCI national centre Toledo, Spain.
...The study sample included patients who sustained an SCI after elective spinal surgery from 2013 to 2017. Oncological patients and patients receiving interventional therapies were excluded. Data collected included: demographics, aetiology, precipitating cause, injury mechanism, injury site, neurological status (AIS), SCIMIII at admission and discharge, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, dyslipidemia, depression and hospital length of stay.
One thousand two hundred and eighty-two patients were admitted in this period of whom 114 met the inclusion criteria with a median (IQR) age of 58 (45-69) years; 46% female. The prevalence of SCI as a complication following spinal surgery in the total number of patients admitted to our centre was 9%. In 43%, the injury was to the dorsal spine with T12 being the most common neurological level of injury (20% of cases following laminectomy secondary to spinal canal stenosis). The most frequent precipitating cause was epidural haematoma (38% of cases). The median (IQR) SCIMIII scores at admission and discharge were (31) points (20-54) and (67) points (34-81), respectively. General AIS at admission were C (35%) and D at discharge (54%). The presence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity and dyslipidemia adjusted by age was not linked to a higher complication rate. The median (IQR) hospital length of stay was 120 days (60-189).
In total 8.9% of patients admitted with SCI were the result of elective spinal surgery.
ABSTRACT
2MASS J20395358+4222505 is an obscured early B supergiant near the massive OB star association Cygnus OB2. Despite its bright infrared magnitude (Ks = 5.82) it has remained largely ignored ...because of its dim optical magnitude (B = 16.63, V = 13.68). In a previous paper, we classified it as a highly reddened, potentially extremely luminous, early B-type supergiant. We obtained its spectrum in the U, B and R spectral bands during commissioning observations with the instrument MEGARA at the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS. It displays a particularly strong Hα emission for its spectral type, B1 Ia. The star seems to be in an intermediate phase between supergiant and hypergiant, a group that it will probably join in the near (astronomical) future. We observe a radial velocity difference between individual observations and determine the stellar parameters, obtaining Teff = 24 000 K and log gc = 2.88 ± 0.15. The rotational velocity found is large for a B supergiant, $v$ sin i = 110 ± 25 $\rm km\, s^{-1}$. The abundance pattern is consistent with solar, with a mild C underabundance (based on a single line). Assuming that J20395358+4222505 is at the distance of Cyg OB2, we derive the radius from infrared photometry, finding R = 41.2 ± 4.0 R⊙, log(L/L⊙) = 5.71 ± 0.04 and a spectroscopic mass of 46.5 ± 15.0 M⊙. The clumped mass-loss rate (clumping factor 10) is very high for the spectral type, $\dot{M}$ = 2.4 × 10−6 M⊙ a−1. The high rotational velocity and mass-loss rate place the star at the hot side of the bi-stability jump. Together with the nearly solar CNO abundance pattern, they may also point to evolution in a binary system, J20395358+4222505 being the initial secondary.
The Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB), in the southwest of Europe, is characterized by high levels of contamination by acid mine drainage (AMD) in a large extent of its river network. In this scenario, it is ...necessary to characterize the degree of pollution of the mining leachates in the AMD-generating sources as well as of the main receiving watercourses. A map of impact of each basin was developed, based on the model proposed by Grande (2011) and the European Directive 98/83/EC that defines the quality standards for drinking water.
The results indicate that practically all the mining leachates exceeded the maximum concentrations established by Directive 98/83/CE for Fe and Cd, almost 90% exceeded the limit for Mn and 82% for Al. Likewise, Fe, Cd, and Mn caused ‘extremely high’ degradation in most sampled leachates. Similarly, these metals, in addition to Pb, produced more pollution in watercourses located downstream of exploitations.
•The Iberian Pyrite Belt is characterized by high levels of contamination by acid mine drainage in its river network.•The results indicate that practically all the mining leachates exceeded the concentrations established by Directive 98/83/CE.•In this region, water reservoirs receive AMD-affected waters.•The water from these reservoirs that receives AMD is used for human consumption, irrigation and recreational use.•It is necessary to characterize the degree of pollution in the generating sources as well as of the receiving watercourses.
•The energy balance was assessed over a rotating rapeseed cropland during four years.•The energy imbalance obtained ranged between 3 and 18% for the various cases studied.•The energy balance closure ...was highly influenced by environmental conditions.•Energy flux behavior was dependent on the studied period and crop growth stages.
The quality of long-term eddy covariance data was evaluated by calculating the energy balance closure. The study was conducted in a single plot over four different years and crop types (rapeseed, wheat, peas, and rye) included in a rotation scheme governed by rapeseed. Calculations were made separately for a global dataset covering the whole four year/crop period and for each individual dataset belonging to each year/crop. The analysis was also carried out for the crop growing season (hereafter referred to as the maximum interest period—MIP). An imbalance of 14% was found when using the global dataset. A similar value of 13% was also obtained when the study period was limited to the MIP. A marked improvement was found in the energy balance closure when soil heat flux, GP, was corrected for soil energy storage. With this correction, a 92% and 93% closure emerged when the global dataset and MIP were studied, respectively. In addition, the energy partitioning in the various processes evidenced different results depending on the selected study period. When the global dataset was considered, sensible heat, H, usually played the main role in the energy partitioning. However, if only the MIP was selected, latent heat, LE, became the main driver dissipating energy while the crop reached full development for this period. The highest LE contributions to the energy balance were found for rapeseed and rye.
PDF
