To test an inference that the New Liskeard-Thornloe scarp (NLTS), Timiskaming graben, Ontario, is a deglacial-postglacial seismo-neotectonic fault, we collected shallow geophysical data along lines ...7.2, 0.28, and 0.52 km long, located on three roads crossing the middle portion of the scarp. Data revealed a valley subsurface composed of bedrock (seismic unit a), glaciolacustrine-lacustrine deposits (units b to f), mass movement deposits (units ls 1 to ls 3), wave-worked sediments, mass wasting deposits and (or) artificial fill (unit g), and a minor occurrence of roadfill (unit h). The bedrock surface exhibits only minor undulations in the area underlying the scarp, indicating that the scarp morphology is unrelated to the underlying bedrock topography. Parallel reflectors in glaciolacustrine seismic units b and c conformably overlie the minor bedrock undulations and there is an absence of disturbed or offset zones within the reflectors underlying the scarp. This lack of disturbance or offset provides strong evidence that the scarp is not the product of deglacial-postglacial seismo-neotectonic faulting. The erosive truncation of glaciolacustrine seismic units d and e indicate that the scarp is an erosive feature cut into the glaciolacustrine deposits. It is likely a bluff formed by shoreline erosion, as is consistent with a geomorphic setting previously inundated by a large glacial lake and subsequent recessional lake stages. The non-fault origin for the NLTS limits the northern extent of the hypothesized Timiskaming East Shore Fault to within the Lake Timiskaming basin and, hence, constrains estimates of maximum rupture length.
Long-term outbreaks of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilli related to hospital-building water systems have been described. However, successful mitigation strategies have rarely been reported. ...In particular, environmental disinfection or replacement of contaminated equipment usually failed to eradicate environmental sources of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
We report the investigation and termination of an outbreak of P. aeruginosa producing VIM carbapenemase (PA-VIM) in the adult intensive care unit (ICU) of a Swiss tertiary care hospital with active case finding, environmental sampling and whole genome sequencing (WGS) of patient and environmental strains. We also describe the implemented control strategies and their effectiveness on eradication of the environmental reservoir.
Between April 2018 and September 2020, 21 patients became either infected or colonized with a PA-VIM strain. For 16 of them, an acquisition in the ICU was suspected. Among 131 environmental samples collected in the ICU, 13 grew PA-VIM in sink traps and drains. WGS confirmed the epidemiological link between clinical and environmental strains and the monoclonal pattern of the outbreak. After removing sinks from patient rooms and implementation of waterless patient care, no new acquisition was detected in the ICU within 8 months after the intervention.
Implementation of waterless patient care with removal of the sinks in patient rooms was successful for termination of a PA-VIM ICU outbreak linked to multiple environmental water sources. WGS provides highly discriminatory accuracy to investigate environment-related outbreaks.
The Laurentian trough (LT), a depression >100 km long, >3000 km2 in area, and 100 m deep at the base of the Niagara Escarpment, extends from within Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario. It has a complex ...erosional history and is filled and buried by up to 200 m of interglacial and glacial sediment. The primary depression fronts a cuesta landscape and is attributed to differential erosion by fluvial, glacial, and glaciofluvial processes, exposing Ordovician rocks along the Canadian Shield margin. The fill succession includes sediments from the last two glacial periods (Illinoian, Wisconsinan) and the intervening interglacial time (Sangamonian), a poorly dated succession with at least three regional unconformities. A subaerial (interglacial, Don Formation) unconformity relates to low base level mainly preserved in lows of the LT, succeeded by a long period of rising water levels and glaciolacustrine conditions as ice advanced into the Lake Ontario basin. A second unconformity, within the Thorncliffe Formation, is the result of rapid channel erosion to bedrock, forming an ∼north-south network filled with coarse-grained glaciofluvial, transitional to fine-grained glaciolacustrine subaqueous fan sediment. The overlying drumlinized Newmarket Till, up to 50 m thick, is a distinct regional unit with a planar to undulating base. A third unconformity event eroded Newmarket Till, locally truncating it and underlying sediment to bedrock. Three younger sediment packages, Oak Ridges Moraine (channel and ridge sediment), Halton, and glaciolacustrine overlie this erosion surface. Significant regional aquifers are hosted within the LT. Upper Thorncliffe Formation sediments, north-south glaciofluvial channel-fan aquifers, are protected by overlying mud and Newmarket Till aquitards. Similarly, Oak Ridges Moraine sediments comprise a north-south array of glaciofluvial channel-fans and east-west fan aquifers, locally covered by silt-clay rhythmite and till aquitards.
Over the past two decades, the Geological Survey of Canada has used a standardized suite of slim-hole geophysical tools to log 57 polyvinyl chloride cased boreholes drilled in the glacial sediments ...of southern Ontario. This article documents downhole tool responses (natural gamma, apparent conductivity, magnetic susceptibility, and seismic velocity) in the context of mineralogical characteristics of the region and grain-size data from 28 of the 57 boreholes. Characteristic geophysical properties and (or) patterns are identified within the units of a regional hydrostratigraphic framework in southern Ontario. The importance of a calibrated suite of tools is emphasized, as stratigraphic units may have variable response from site to site. The use of a high-sensitivity magnetic susceptibility induction probe is shown to be an important tool in the log suite for lithostratigraphic interpretation, and more broadly, for provenance studies of source rock across the region. Ranges of compressional (P) and shear (S) wave velocities and their ratios are provided for each of the hydrostratigraphic units. Case studies are presented to demonstrate how logs may assist in the interpretation of glacial processes at lithological boundaries.
Reflection and critically refracted seismic methods use traveltime measurements of body waves propagating between a source and a series of receivers on the ground surface to calculate subsurface ...velocities. Body wave energy is refracted or reflected at boundaries where there is a change in seismic impedance, defined as the product of material density and seismic velocity. This article provides practical guidance on the use of horizontally propagating shear wave (SH-wave) refraction and reflection methods to determine shear wave velocity as a function of depth for near-surface seismic site characterizations. Method principles and the current state of engineering practice are reviewed, along with discussions of limitations and uncertainty assessments. Typical data collection procedures are described using basic survey equipment, along with information on more advanced applications and emerging technologies. Eight case studies provide examples of the techniques in real-world seismic site characterizations performed in a variety of geological settings.
Acute renal failure (ARF) in critically ill patients is associated with high mortality. Optimal method and dose of continuous renal replacement therapy could improve survival in these patients. We ...studied the hypothesis that an increase in dialysis dose obtained by continuous veno-venous hemodiafiltration (CVVHDF) is associated with a better survival than continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) among critically ill patients with ARF. In a prospective randomized trial, these two methods were compared in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy in two intensive care units (ICUs). The patients had either CVVH (1–2.5l/h replacement fluid) or continuous CVVHDF (1–2.5l/h replacement fluid+1–1.5l/h dialysate) according to their body weight. 28- and 90-day mortalities, renal recovery, and duration of ICU stay were the main outcome measures. Two hundred and six patients were randomized from October 2000 to December 2003. Twenty-eight-day survivals (%) were, respectively, 39 and 59 (P=0.03) in the CVVH and CVVHDF groups. Three months survivals (%) were, respectively, 34 and 59 (P=0.0005) in the CVVH and CVVHDF groups. Apache II score, age, baseline blood urea nitrogen, and hemodiafiltration (hazard ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.40–0.87; P=0.008) were independent predictors of survival at 90 days. Renal recovery rate among survivors (71 versus 78% in the CVVH and CVVHDF groups respectively, P=0.62) was not affected by the type of renal replacement therapy. These results suggest that increasing the dialysis dose especially for low molecular weight solutes confers a better survival in severely ill patients with ARF.
Several studies have reported poor long-term neuropsychological performances in patients following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, but none has yet considered ...the effect of administering multiple intercorrelated neuropsychological tests and assessed the frequency of cognitive deficits in a normative population. Our aim was therefore to assess the presence of cumulative neuropsychological deficits in an actual post-coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) comparison group versus one simulated using Monte-Carlo methods.
Validated neuropsychological Monte-Carlo simulation methods were applied to scores from a battery of neuropsychological tests (memory, executive, attentional, perceptual, logical reasoning, language, and ideomotor praxis) administered to 121 patients who had had mild, moderate, or severe COVID-19 (mean age: 56.70 years; 32% women), 222 ± 43 days post-infection. The cumulative percentages of the three severity subgroups were compared with the results of a false discovery rate-corrected probability analysis based on normative data.
The cumulative percentages of deficits in memory and executive functions among the severe and moderate patients were significantly higher than those estimated for the normative population. Moderate patients also had significantly more deficits in perception and logical reasoning. In contrast, the mild group did not have significantly more cumulative deficits.
Moderate and severe forms of COVID-19 cause greater long-term neuropsychological deficits than those that would be found in a normative population, reinforcing the hypothesis of long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 on cognitive function, independent of the severity of the initial infection.
Airborne electromagnetic and high resolution seismic geophysical data provide insight into complex buried valley geometry and internal sedimentary architecture of buried valleys in the Canadian ...Prairies. Buried valleys with an extent in excess of 20,000 km beneath the Canadian prairie landscape have been previously interpolated using borehole data; however, they provide only limited insight into the geometry and spatial relationships of these valleys. The collected high-quality geophysical datasets, a three-dimensional airborne electromagnetic survey and high resolution seismic profile data provide much greater resolution of buried valley geometry and internal sedimentary architecture of buried valleys. Several generations of valleys at different scales are identified. We interpret multiple erosion surfaces bounding thick diamicton sequences that fill the largest valleys; the youngest valleys are filled with variable sediment types. Three valley morphologies are identified and process origins inferred: 1) regional-scale, extensive, subaerial and pre/interglacial named α-type valley, 2) regional-scale, narrow and mainly proglacial, β-type valley and 3) local-scale, apparently discontinuous, subglacial, γ-type valley. Within the glacial sediment stratigraphy filling α-type valleys are thick diamicton sequences bounded by erosional surfaces. The β-type and γ-type valleys are filled with variable sediment types. The proglacial β valleys erode bedrock and also occur within the α-type valley fill. Conversely, the γ subglacial valleys are observed to crosscut other valleys and may be shallow and wide, or deep and narrow. The reported geophysical datasets supported by borehole data are able to map buried valleys in three-dimensions and hence identify the morphologic and stratigraphic relationships that permit improved constraints on process and erosional origin and fill of buried valleys. Results provide insight into the relationship between valleys formed as part of Tertiary fluvial erosion, multiple glaciations, and glaciofluvial events. These data provide significant insights on the distribution and character of potential groundwater reservoirs in Prairie regions.
•We address buried valleys mapping in the Canadian Prairies.•It is demonstrated how efficient is geophysics for mapping buried valleys.•We present 3-D surveys using airborne and ground based geophysical methods.•Three types of buried valleys have been observed in the Prairies.•The sedimentary environment of buried valleys in the Prairies are being discussed.
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