The MIDAS experiment: A prototype for the microwave emission of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

Recent measurements suggest that extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) emit signals in the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum caused by the collisions of the free-electrons with the atmospheric neutral molecules in the plasma produced by the passage of the shower. Such emission is isotropic and could allow the detection of air showers with 100% duty cycle and a calorimetric-like energy measurement, a significant improvement over current detection techniques. We have built MIDAS (MIcrowave Detection of Air Showers), a prototype of microwave detector, which consists of a 4.5 m diameter antenna with a cluster of 53 feed-horns in the 4 GHz range. The details of the prototype and first results will be presented.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 12th Topical Seminar on Innovative Particle and Radiation Detectors (IPRD10), Siena, Italy, 7 - 10 June 201

Data standards for transcatheter aortic valve implantation: the European Unified Registries for Heart Care Evaluation and Randomised Trials (EuroHeart)

Funding: European Society of Cardiology.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin

Mycobacterium genavense in the Netherlands: an opportunistic pathogen in HIV and non-HIV immunocompromised patients. An observational study in 14 cases

Item does not contain fulltextMycobacterium genavense is an opportunistic non-tuberculous mycobacterium previously mostly associated with HIV-infected patients with CD4 counts below 100/muL. In this retrospective observational study of medical charts we studied all Dutch patients in whom M. genavense was detected between January 2002 and January 2010. Of the 14 patients identified, 13 (93%) showed clinically relevant M. genavense disease. All patients with M. genavense disease were severely immunocompromised, including HIV-infected patients, solid organ transplant recipients, those with chronic steroid use in combination with other immune modulating drugs, recipients of chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and those with immunodeficiency syndromes. Two patients had non-disseminated pulmonary M. genavense disease. Of the 12 patients treated, eight (75%) showed a favourable outcome. Four patients died in this study, three despite treatment for M. genavense disease. We conclude that M. genavense is a clinically relevant pathogen in severely immunocompromised patients that causes predominantly disseminated disease with serious morbidity and mortality. M. genavense is increasingly seen among non-HIV immunocompromised patients