Application of the electromotive force as a shock front indicator in the inner heliosphere

The electromotive force (EMF) describes how the evolution and generation of a large-scale magnetic field is influenced by small-scale turbulence. Recent studies of in-situ measurements have shown a significant peak in the EMF while a coronal mass ejection (CME) shock front passes by the spacecraft. The goal of this study is to use the EMF as an indicator for the arrival of CME shock fronts. With Helios spacecraft measurements we carry out a statistical study on the EMF during CMEs in the inner heliosphere. We develop an automated shock front detection algorithm using the EMF as the main detection criterion and compare the results to an existing CME database. The properties of the EMF during the recorded events are discussed as a function of the heliocentric distance. Our algorithm reproduces most of the the events from Kilpua et al. (2015) and finds many additional CME-like events which proves the EMF as a good shock front indicator. The largest peaks in the EMF are found from 0 to 50 minutes after the initial shock. We find a power law of -1.54 and -2.18 for two different formulations of the EMF with the heliocentric distance.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, publishe

Early-onset neonatal sepsis: Still room for improvement in procalcitonin diagnostic accuracy studies

To perform a systematic review assessing accuracy and completeness of diagnostic studies of procalcitonin (PCT) for early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) using the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) initiative.EONS, diagnosed during the first 3 days of life, remains a common and serious problem. Increased PCT is a potentially useful diagnostic marker of EONS, but reports in the literature are contradictory. There are several possible explanations for the divergent results including the quality of studies reporting the clinical usefulness of PCT in ruling in or ruling out EONS.We systematically reviewed PubMed, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library databases up to October 1, 2014. Studies were eligible for inclusion in our review if they provided measures of PCT accuracy for diagnosing EONS. A data extraction form based on the STARD checklist and adapted for neonates with EONS was used to appraise the quality of the reporting of included studies.We found 18 articles (1998-2014) fulfilling our eligibility criteria which were included in the final analysis. Overall, the results of our analysis showed that the quality of studies reporting diagnostic accuracy of PCT for EONS was suboptimal leaving ample room for improvement. Information on key elements of design, analysis, and interpretation of test accuracy were frequently missing.Authors should be aware of the STARD criteria before starting a study in this field. We welcome stricter adherence to this guideline. Well-reported studies with appropriate designs will provide more reliable information to guide decisions on the use and interpretations of PCT test results in the management of neonates with EONS

High-resolution surface plasmon imaging of gold nanoparticles by energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy

We demonstrate the imaging capabilities of energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy at high-energy resolution in the low-energy-loss region, reporting the direct image of a surface plasmon of an elongated gold nanoparticle at energies around 1 eV. Using complimentary model calculations performed within the boundary element method approach we can assign the observed results to the plasmon eigenmodes of the metallic nanoparticle

Loss of plant biodiversity eliminates stimulatory effect of elevated CO2 on earthworm activity in grasslands

Earthworms are among the world's most important ecosystem engineers because of their effects on soil fertility and plant productivity. Their dependence on plants for carbon, however, means that any changes in plant community structure or function caused by rising atmospheric CO2 or loss of plant species diversity could affect earthworm activity, which may feed back on plant communities. Production of surface casts measured during three consecutive years in field experimental plots (n=24, 1.2m2) planted with local calcareous grassland species that varied in plant species richness (diversity levels: high, 31 species; medium, 12; low, 5) and were exposed to ambient (356μl CO2 l−1) or elevated (600μl CO2 l−1) CO2 was only consistently stimulated in high diversity plots exposed to elevated CO2 (+120%, 31 spp: 603±52 under ambient CO2 vs. 1,325±204g cast dwt. m−2year−1 under elevated CO2 in 1996; +77%, 940±44 vs. 1,663±204g cast dwt. m−2year−1 in 1998). Reductions in plant diversity had little effect on cast production in ecosystems maintained at ambient CO2, but the stimulatory effect of elevated CO2 on cast production disappeared when plant species diversity was decreased to 12 and 5 species. High diversity plots were also the only communities that included plant species that an earlier field study showed to be among the most responsive to elevated CO2 and to be most preferred by earthworms to deposit casts near. Further, the +87% CO2-induced increase in cast production measured over the 3years corresponded to a parallel increase in cumulative total nitrogen of 5.7gNm−2 and would help explain the large stimulation of aboveground plant biomass production observed in high-diversity communities under elevated CO2. The results of this study demonstrate how the loss of plant species from communities can alter responses of major soil heterotrophs and consequently ecosystem biogeochemistr

Temperature to heart rate relationship in the neonate

In neonatal intensive care, measurement of heart rate is part of every clinical examination and it is used for monitoring hemodynamic status. However, it is influenced by some exogenous and endogenous factors, such as medication, pain, and stress. (1) Similarly, an increased heart rate is a normal physiological response to fever. Heart rate is known to increase by 10 beats per minute (bpm) per degree centigrade increase in body temperature in children. (2) In order to allow physicians to identify patients who have a higher heart rate than would be expected for a given level of temperature, Thompson et al. (3) created temperature specific heart rate centile charts adaptable to children from three months to ten years. Very few data exist on the relationship of temperature and heart rate in younger infants. The only study on this topic so far was performed in an emergency department that included infants up to the age of 12 months, where they found no linear correlation between fever and heart rate in the group of infants younger than two months. (4) To our knowledge no studies have ever addressed this issue in newborns

Kinder, Arbeitswelt & Erwerbschancen: Fertilität und Beschäftigung – work life balance der Frauen in Österreich aus ökonomischer Sicht

Die in den letzten Jahren gleichzeitig gestiegene Fertilität und Erwerbstätigkeit der Frauen deutet auf ein neues Nebeneinander von Familie und Beruf hin. Obwohl in der Kleinkindphase zwei Drittel aller Frauen zu Hause bleiben, ist bereits mit Ende der Karenzzeit die Erwerbstätigkeit wieder hoch und steigt dann mit dem Alter der Kinder. Die Möglichkeit einer Teilzeit-Erwerbstätigkeit erleichtet die Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Privatleben. Analog zu der im internationalen Vergleich beobachteten Zunahme der Teilzeit beobachtet man auch in Österreich in den letzten Jahren ein starkes Ansteigen der Teilzeit. Ebenso steigt der Anteil der Teilzeit-Erwerbstätigkeit mit der Zahl der Kinder, sodass sie als familienfreundliche Erwerbsform an Bedeutung gewonnen hat. Die gesetzlichen Neuregelungen zu Karenz und Kinderleistungen ermöglichen eine individuelle Gestaltung der Kleinkindphase. Kinderbetreuungsgeld und Elternteilzeit, sowie die Zuverdienstmöglichkeiten fördern die Erreichung einer work life balance der Familien, deren Beitrag zum gesellschaftlichen Wohlstand mit der beobachteten Bevölkerungsalterung wieder in den Mittelpunkt des staatlichen Interesses gerückt ist

Real-time Prediction of COVID-19 related Mortality using Electronic Health Records

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging respiratory disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with rapid human-to-human transmission and a high case fatality rate particularly in older patients. Due to the exponential growth of infections, many healthcare systems across the world are under pressure to care for increasing amounts of at-risk patients. Given the high number of infected patients, identifying patients with the highest mortality risk early is critical to enable effective intervention and optimal prioritisation of care. Here, we present the COVID-19 Early Warning System (CovEWS), a clinical risk scoring system for assessing COVID-19 related mortality risk. CovEWS provides continuous real-time risk scores for individual patients with clinically meaningful predictive performance up to 192 hours (8 days) in advance, and is automatically derived from patients' electronic health records (EHRs) using machine learning. We trained and evaluated CovEWS using de-identified data from a cohort of 66430 COVID-19 positive patients seen at over 69 healthcare institutions in the United States (US), Australia, Malaysia and India amounting to an aggregated total of over 2863 years of patient observation time. On an external test cohort of 5005 patients, CovEWS predicts COVID-19 related mortality from $78.8\%$ ($95\%$ confidence interval [CI]: $76.0$, $84.7\%$) to $69.4\%$ ($95\%$ CI: $57.6, 75.2\%$) specificity at a sensitivity greater than $95\%$ between respectively 1 and 192 hours prior to observed mortality events - significantly outperforming existing generic and COVID-19 specific clinical risk scores. CovEWS could enable clinicians to intervene at an earlier stage, and may therefore help in preventing or mitigating COVID-19 related mortality