Infections due to rare Cryptococcus species: a literature review

Infections due to rare Cryptococcus species (other than C. neoformans species complex, C. gattii species complex, C. albidus or C. laurentii) are barely reported. The aim of this work is to present a comprehensive literature review of all the papers describing infections due to these species referenced in the main databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Google Scholar). Clinical and epidemiological data together with laboratory findings (identification and antifungal susceptibility) of each isolate were analyzed. Fifty-eight cryptococosis due to rare species were described in 46 papers between 1934-2018. These reports included 16 rare Cryptococcus spp. that were generally associated with nervous system infections and fungemias. Some species are non-capsulated and are not able to grow at 37 °C. Few species were identified by commercially available methods, making internal transcriber spacer (ITS) and D1/D2 regions sequencing mandatory. The most potent antifungal was amphotericin B (although some species showed high MIC values). The studied strains showed high MICs values to 5-fluorocytosine (all >64 µg/mL), echinocandins (all >8 µg/mL), and fluconazole (>80% of the MICs >4 µg/mL). Due to the scarcity of the data and the absence of guidelines for the treatment of these infections, this review could be informative and could help in the diagnosis and treatment of these infections.Fil: Morales Lopez, Soraya E.. Universidad Popular del Cesar; ColombiaFil: Garcia, Guillermo Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas; Argentin

Using Wavelets to reject background in Dark Matter experiments

A method based on wavelet techniques has been developed and applied to background rejection in the data of the IGEX dark matter experiment. The method is presented and described in some detail to show how it efficiently rejects events coming from noise and microphonism through a mathematical inspection of their recorded pulse shape. The result of the application of the method to the last data of IGEX is presented.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Astrop. Phy

A 2D extension of a large time step explicit scheme (CFL>1) for unsteady problems with wet/dry boundaries

A 2D Large Time Step (LTS) explicit scheme on structured grids is presented in this work. It is first detailed and analysed for the 2D linear advection equation and then applied to the 2D shallow water equations. The dimensional splitting technique allows us to extend the ideas developed in the 1D case related to source terms, boundary conditions and the reduction of the time step in the presence of large discontinuities. The boundary conditions treatment as well as the wet/dry fronts in the case of the 2D shallow water equations require extra effort. The proposed scheme is tested on linear and non-linear equations and systems, with and without source terms. The numerical results are compared with those of the conventional scheme as well as with analytical solutions and experimental data

Neutron background at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory and its contribution to the IGEX-DM dark matter experiment

A quantitative study of the neutron environment in the Canfranc Underground Laboratory has been performed. The analysis is based on a complete set of simulations and, particularly, it is focused on the IGEX-DM dark matter experiment. The simulations are compared to the IGEX-DM low energy data obtained with different shielding conditions. The results of the study allow us to conclude, with respect to the IGEX-DM background, that the main neutron population, coming from radioactivity from the surrounding rock, is practically eliminated after the implementation of a suitable neutron shielding. The remaining neutron background (muon-induced neutrons in the shielding and in the rock) is substantially below the present background level thanks to the muon veto system. In addition, the present analysis gives us a further insight on the effect of neutrons in other current and future experiments at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. The comparison of simulations with the body of data available has allowed to set the flux of neutrons from radioactivity of the Canfranc rock, (3.82 +- 0.44) x 10^{-6} cm^{-2} s^{-1}, as well as the flux of muon-induced neutrons in the rock, (1.73 +- 0.22(stat) \+- 0.69(syst)) x 10^{-9} cm^{-2} s^{-1}, or the rate of neutron production by muons in the lead shielding, (4.8 +- 0.6 (stat) +- 1.9 (syst)) x 10^{-9} cm^{-3} s^{-1}.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, elsart document class; final version to appear in Astroparticle Physic

First results of the ROSEBUD Dark Matter experiment

Rare Objects SEarch with Bolometers UndergrounD) is an experiment which attempts to detect low mass Weak Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) through their elastic scattering off Al and O nuclei. It consists of three small sapphire bolometers (of a total mass of 100 g) with NTD-Ge sensors in a dilution refrigerator operating at 20 mK in the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. We report in this paper the results of several runs (of about 10 days each) with successively improved energy thresholds, and the progressive background reduction obtained by improvement of the radiopurity of the components and subsequent modifications in the experimental assembly, including the addition of old lead shields. Mid-term plans and perspectives of the experiment are also presented.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Astroparticle Physic