5GNOW: Intermediate frame structure and transceiver concepts

This paper reports intermediate transceiver and frame structure concepts and corresponding results from the European FP7 research project 5GNOW. The core is the unified frame structure concept which supports an integrated 5G air interface, capable of dealing both with broadband data services and small packet services within the same band. It is essential for this concept to introduce waveforms which are more robust than OFDM, e.g., with respect to time-frequency misalignment. Encouraging candidate waveform technologies are presented and discussed with respective results. This goes along with the corresponding multiple access technologies using multi-layered signals and advanced multi-user receivers. In addition we introduce new (compressive) random access strategies to enable 'one shot transmission' with greatly reduced control signaling particularly for sporadic traffic by orders of magnitude. Finally, we comment on the recent results on the 5GNOW networking interface. The intermediate results of 5GNOW lay the ground for the standardization path towards a new 5G air interface beyond LTE-A

Laboratory-Acquired Parasitic Infections from Accidental Exposures

Parasitic diseases are receiving increasing attention in developed countries in part because of their importance in travelers, immigrants, and immunocompromised persons. The main purpose of this review is to educate laboratorians, the primary readership, and health care workers, the secondary readership, about the potential hazards of handling specimens that contain viable parasites and about the diseases that can result. This is accomplished partly through discussion of the occupationally acquired cases of parasitic infections that have been reported, focusing for each case on the type of accident that resulted in infection, the length of the incubation period, the clinical manifestations that developed, and the means by which infection was detected. The article focuses on the cases of infection with the protozoa that cause leishmaniasis, malaria, toxoplasmosis, Chagas' disease (American trypanosomiasis), and African trypanosomiasis. Data about 164 such cases are discussed, as are data about cases caused by intestinal protozoa and by helminths. Of the 105 case-patients infected with blood and tissue protozoa who either recalled an accident or for whom the likely route of transmission could be presumed, 47 (44.8%) had percutaneous exposure via a contaminated needle or other sharp object. Some accidents were directly linked to poor laboratory practices (e.g., recapping a needle or working barehanded). To decrease the likelihood of accidental exposures, persons who could be exposed to pathogenic parasites must be thoroughly instructed in safety precautions before they begin to work and through ongoing training programs. Protocols should be provided for handling specimens that could contain viable organisms, using protective clothing and equipment, dealing with spills of infectious organisms, and responding to accidents. Special care should be exercised when using needles and other sharp objects