Geodynamics of the Romanian Territory Inferred from a Dense Continuous GNSS Network

Over the last two decades the Romanian territory has been covered by a dense permanent Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) network, presently including more than one hundred stations established and maintained by several Romanian agencies. We refer to these as continuous GNSS (cGNSS) stations. For the study presented here we exclusively use the data of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which is the oldest and most widely-used element of GNSS. At the beginning of this century, we realized the potential of cGNSS for scientific purposes. Applications include monitoring of crustal deformations associated with the Carpathian orogen and the neighbouring platforms in Romania, in correlation with tectonic processes in South-East Europe (Africa-Europe plate interactions), observation of (vertical) crustal motions to study the surface expression of deep earthquakes in the Eastern Carpathians Bending Zone (Vrancea region). This study presents the results of our analysis of the aggregated cGNSS measurements in Romania. The results cover the period 2000-2020, but focus on the period 2013-2020 when the majority of the stations became operational. We processed the Receiver Independent Exchange Format (RINEX) daily data (sampled at 30-second intervals) of all available stations. For this purpose, we used the GipsyX scientific GPS analysis software, applying the so-called Precise Point Positioning (PPP) strategy. This resulted in time-series of the horizontal and vertical position components of each station in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2014 (ITRF14). Subsequently, the time-series were converted to a stable Eurasian tectonic reference plate using the ITRF14 plate rotation model for Eurasia. All data processing in this study is based on this reference frame. The results of this complex, long-term study indicates that the Romanian territory trends to move slightly southward relative to stable Eurasia, at velocity rates of about 1.0 mm/yr in the north and up to 3.0 mm/yr in the south. This may be an indication of plate-stretching due to slab-rollback of the African plate relative to the Eurasian plate. Until now we did not find an obvious correlation between the deep Vrancea earthquakes and (vertical) surface motions. That is probably because the recent earthquakes were too small.Astrodynamics & Space Mission

Tuberculous Meningitis in Children and Adults: A 10-Year Retrospective Comparative Analysis.

Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is the most lethal form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, which has a high rate of neurological complications and sequelae.Our study offers a real-world infectious disease clinic perspective, being thus representative for the clinical environment of developing countries.We performed a retrospective analysis of the 127 adult and 77 pediatric cases diagnosed with TBM in the Infectious Disease Hospital of the School of Medicine of Iasi, Romania between 2004-2013.Definite diagnosis of TBM was established in 31% of children but in only 20% of adults (p = 0.043). A contact with an individual with pulmonary tuberculosis was documented in 30% of children vs. 13% of adults (p = 0.0007). Coma occurred in 19% of patients (similar in children and adults); other consciousness abnormalities were seen in 27% of children and in 72% of adults (p = 0.000001). Cranial nerve palsies occurred prior to therapy in 9% of cases (12% vs 7% of children and adults, respectively, p>0.05), and developed 2-7 days after treatment initiation in 10% (12 vs 9%). CSF cultures were positive for M. tuberculosis in 24% of patients (31% vs. 20%, p>0.05). Overall mortality was 7.35%, similar for children and adults. Yet, permanent neurological sequelae, which were seen in 23% of patients occurred significantly more frequent in children vs. adults (36% vs. 14%, respectively, p = 0.0121). In conclusion, our retrospective analysis on a significant number of cases of TBM identified striking differences between children and adults: while children were in an earlier stage at the admission, they associated a higher frequency of neurological sequelae and miliary pattern, and they were more likely to have normal CSF protein levels and positive cultures of CSF

Epidemiological aspects, case definition and stage of TBM on admission.

<p>Data are presented as n (%)</p><p>Epidemiological aspects, case definition and stage of TBM on admission.</p

Clinical features and infection outcome in patients with TBM.

<p>Data are presented as n (%)</p><p>Clinical features and infection outcome in patients with TBM.</p