Localized thinning for strain concentration in suspended germanium membranes and optical method for precise thickness measurement

We deposited Ge layers on (001) Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy and used them to fabricate suspended membranes with high uniaxial tensile strain. We demonstrate a CMOS-compatible fabrication strategy to increase strain concentration and to eliminate the Ge buffer layer near the Ge/Si hetero-interface deposited at low temperature. This is achieved by a two-steps patterning and selective etching process. First, a bridge and neck shape is patterned in the Ge membrane, then the neck is thinned from both top and bottom sides. Uniaxial tensile strain values higher than 3% were measured by Raman scattering in a Ge membrane of 76 nm thickness. For the challenging thickness measurement on micrometer-size membranes suspended far away from the substrate a characterization method based on pump-and-probe reflectivity measurements was applied, using an asynchronous optical sampling technique.EC/FP7/628197/EU/Heat Propagation and Thermal Conductivity in Nanomaterials for Nanoscale Energy Management/HEATPRONAN

Mechanisms of linezolid resistance among enterococci of clinical origin in Spain—detection of optrA-and cfr(D)-carrying E. faecalis

The mechanisms of linezolid resistance among 13 E. faecalis and 6 E. faecium isolates, recovered from six Spanish hospitals during 2017–2018, were investigated. The presence of acquired linezolid resistance genes and mutations in 23S rDNA and in genes encoding for ribosomal proteins was analyzed by PCR and amplicon sequencing. Moreover, the susceptibility to 18 antimicrobial agents was investigated, and the respective molecular background was elucidated by PCR-amplicon sequencing and whole genome sequencing. The transferability of the linezolid resistance genes was evaluated by filter-mating experiments. The optrA gene was detected in all 13 E. faecalis isolates; and one optrA-positive isolate also carried the recently described cfr(D) gene. Moreover, one E. faecalis isolate displayed the nucleotide mutation G2576T in the 23S rDNA. This mutation was also present in all six E. faecium isolates. All linezolid-resistant enterococci showed a multiresistance phenotype and harbored several antimicrobial resistance genes, as well as many virulence determinants. The fexA gene was located upstream of the optrA gene in 12 of the E. faecalis isolates. Moreover, an erm(A)-like gene was located downstream of optrA in two isolates recovered from the same hospital. The optrA gene was transferable in all but one E. faecalis isolates, in all cases along with the fexA gene. The cfr(D) gene was not transferable. The presence of optrA and mutations in the 23S rDNA are the main mechanisms of linezolid resistance among E. faecalis and E. faecium, respectively. We report the first description of the cfr(D) gene in E. faecalis. The presence of the optrA and cfr(D) genes in Spanish hospitals is a public health concern

Composición de la leche de vacas Holstein suplementadas con caña de azúcar integral y saccharina rústica enriquecida

La composición de la leche asume importancia por tratarse de un alimento de gran valor nutritivo y alto consumo humano. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de dos tipos de suplementos a base de caña de azúcar sobre la composición de la leche de vacas Holstein. Se utilizaron dos grupos de diez vacas cada uno, las cuales fueron suplementadas durante seis meses con saccharina rústica enriquecida (grupo A) y caña de azúcar integral (grupo B). Bimestralmente se efectuaron análisis químicos proximales de los alimentos y pruebas de calidad láctea. Los niveles de proteína bruta y fibra cruda de la saccharina empleada (14 y 38,7% respectivamente) se aproximaronn a los reportados en otros trabajos (13,05 y 34,58% respectivamente). Para la caña de azúcar los valores de proteína bruta (6,5%) resultaron más altos que los comunicados por otros autores (2,6–4,7%) pero los de fibra cruda fueron más bajos (32,3%) que los citados por la bibliografía (36,1–48,1%). El promedio de los análisis de leche reveló 3,4% de grasa, 3,1% de proteínas y 5% de lactosa (grupo A) y 3,2% de grasa, 3,1% de proteínas y 4,8% de lactosa (grupo B). Se concluye que la suplementación con saccharina rústica enriquecida aporta mayor cantidad de nutrientes que la caña de azúcar integral y genera mejores índices en la composición de la leche.

Prognostic implications of comorbidity patterns in critically ill COVID-19 patients: A multicenter, observational study

Background: The clinical heterogeneity of COVID-19 suggests the existence of different phenotypes with prognostic implications. We aimed to analyze comorbidity patterns in critically ill COVID-19 patients and assess their impact on in-hospital outcomes, response to treatment and sequelae. Methods: Multicenter prospective/retrospective observational study in intensive care units of 55 Spanish hospitals. 5866 PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients had comorbidities recorded at hospital admission; clinical and biological parameters, in-hospital procedures and complications throughout the stay; and, clinical complications, persistent symptoms and sequelae at 3 and 6 months. Findings: Latent class analysis identified 3 phenotypes using training and test subcohorts: low-morbidity (n=3385; 58%), younger and with few comorbidities; high-morbidity (n=2074; 35%), with high comorbid burden; and renal-morbidity (n=407; 7%), with chronic kidney disease (CKD), high comorbidity burden and the worst oxygenation profile. Renal-morbidity and high-morbidity had more in-hospital complications and higher mortality risk than low-morbidity (adjusted HR (95% CI): 1.57 (1.34-1.84) and 1.16 (1.05-1.28), respectively). Corticosteroids, but not tocilizumab, were associated with lower mortality risk (HR (95% CI) 0.76 (0.63-0.93)), especially in renal-morbidity and high-morbidity. Renal-morbidity and high-morbidity showed the worst lung function throughout the follow-up, with renal-morbidity having the highest risk of infectious complications (6%), emergency visits (29%) or hospital readmissions (14%) at 6 months (p<0.01). Interpretation: Comorbidity-based phenotypes were identified and associated with different expression of in-hospital complications, mortality, treatment response, and sequelae, with CKD playing a major role. This could help clinicians in day-to-day decision making including the management of post-discharge COVID-19 sequelae.Financial support was provided by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CIBERESUCICOVID, COV20/00110), co-funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), “Una manera de hacer Europa”, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red − Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES) and Donation Program “estar preparados”, UNESPA, Madrid, Spain. JdB acknowledges receiving financial support from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII; Miguel Servet 2019: CP19/00108), cofunded by the European Social Fund (ESF), “Investing in your future”. DdGC acknowledges receiving financial support from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII; Miguel Servet 2019: CP20/00041), co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), “Investing in your future”. AC acknowledges receiving financial support from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII; Sara Borrell 2021: CD21/00087).Peer ReviewedArticle signat per 71 autors/es: Iván D. Benítez (a,b,1), Jordi de Batlle (a,b,1), Gerard Torres (a,b), Jessica Gonzáalez (a,b), David de Gonzalo-Calvo (a,b), Adriano D.S. Targa (a,b), Clara Gort-Paniello (a,b), Anna Moncusí-Moix (a,b), Adrián Ceccato (b,c), Laia Fernández-Barat (b,d), Ricard Ferrer (b,e), Dario Garcia-Gasulla (f), Rosario Menéndez (b,g), Anna Motos (b,d), Oscar Peñuelas (b,h), Jordi Riera (b,e), Jesús F. Bermejo-Martin (b,i), Yhivian Peñasco (j), Pilar Ricart (k), María Cruz Martin Delgado(l), Luciano Aguilera(m), Alejandro Rodríguez(n), Maria Victoria Boado Varela (o), Fernando Suarez-Sipmann (p), Juan Carlos Pozo-Laderas (q), Jordi Solé-Violan (r), Maite Nieto (s), Mariana Andrea Novo (t), José Barberán (u), Rosario Amaya Villar (v), José Garnacho-Montero (w), Jose Luis García-Garmendia (x), José M. Gómez (y), José Ángel Lorente (b,h), Aaron Blandino Ortiz (z), Luis Tamayo Lomas (aa), Esther López-Ramos (ab), Alejandro Úbeda (ac), Mercedes Catalán-González (ad), Angel Sánchez-Miralles (ae), Ignacio Martínez Varela (af), Ruth Noemí Jorge García (ag), Nieves Franco (ah), Víctor D. Gumucio-Sanguino (ai), Arturo Huerta Garcia (aj), Elena Bustamante-Munguira (ak), Luis Jorge Valdivia (al), Jesús Caballero (am), Elena Gallego (an), Amalia Martínez de la Gándara (ao), Álvaro Castellanos-Ortega (ap), Josep Trenado (aq), Judith Marin-Corral (ar), Guillermo M Albaiceta (b,as), Maria del Carmen de la Torre (at), Ana Loza-Vázquez (au), Pablo Vidal (av), Juan Lopez Messa (aw), Jose M. Añon (b,ax), Cristina Carbajales Pérez (ay), Victor Sagredo (az), Neus Bofill (ba), Nieves Carbonell (bb), Lorenzo Socias(bc), Carme Barberá (bd), Angel Estella (be), Manuel Valledor Mendez (bf), Emili Diaz (bg), Ana López Lago (bh), Antoni Torres (b,d) and Ferran Barbé (a,b*), on behalf of the CIBERESUCICOVID Project (COV20/00110, ISCIII)2 // (a) Translational Research in Respiratory Medicine, University Hospital Arnau de Vilanova and Santa Maria, IRBLleida, Lleida, Spain; (b) CIBER of Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), Institute of Health Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; (c) Critical Care Center, ParcTaulí Hospital Universitari, Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí I3PT, Sabadell, Spain; (d) Department of Pneumology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona; August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute−IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; (e) Intensive Care Department, Vall d’Hebron Hospital Universitari. SODIR Research Group, Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR), Barcelona, Spain; (f) Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain; (g) Pulmonology Service, University and Polytechnic Hospital La Fe, Valencia, Spain; (h) Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid, Spain; Universidad Europea, Madrid, Spain; (i) Hospital Universitario Río Hortega de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain; Group for Biomedical Research in Sepsis (BioSepsis), Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca (IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain; (j) Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain; (k) Servei de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias, Badalona, Spain; (l) Hospital Universitario Torrejón-Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid, Spain; (m) Servicio de Anestesiología y Reanimación, Hospital Universitario Basurto, Bilbao, Spain; (n) Critical Care Department, Hospital Joan XXIII, Tarragona, Spain; (o) Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital de Cruces, Baracaldo, Vizcaya, Spain; (p) Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, Spain; (q) UGC-Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Instituto Maimonides IMIBIC, Córdoba, Spain; (r) Critical Care Department, Hospital Dr. Negrín Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain. Universidad Fernando Pessoa, Canarias, Spain; (s) Hospital Universitario de Segovia, Segovia, Spain; (t) Servei de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Palma de Mallorca, Illes Balears, Spain; (u) Hospital Universitario HM Montepríncipe, Universidad San Pablo-CEU, Madrid, Spain; vIntensive Care Clinical Unit, Hospital Universitario Virgen de Rocío, Sevilla, Spain; (w) Intensive Care Clinical Unit, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Seville, Spain; (x) Intensive Care Unit, Hospital San Juan de Dios del Aljarafe, Bormujos, Sevilla, Spain; (y) Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, Madrid, Spain; (z) Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain; (aa) Critical Care Department, Hospital Universitario Río Hortega de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain; (ab) Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias, Madrid, Spain; (ac) Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Punta de Europa, Algeciras, Spain; (ad) Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain; (ae) Hospital de Sant Joan d’Alacant, Alacant, Spain; (af) Critical Care Department, Hospital Universitario Lucus Augusti, Lugo, Spain; (ag) Intensive Care Department, Hospital Nuestra Señora de Gracia, Zaragoza, Spain; (ah) Hospital Universitario de Móstoles, Madrid, Spain; (ai) Department of Intensive Care. Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; (aj) Pulmonary and Critical Care Division; Emergency Department, Clínica Sagrada Família, Barcelona, Spain; (ak) Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Hospital Clínico Universitario Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain; (al) Hospital Universitario de León, León, Spain; (am) Critical Care Department, Hospital Universitari Arnau de Vilanova; IRBLleida, Lleida, Spain; (an) Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, Hospital Universitario San Pedro de Alcántara, Cáceres, Spain; (ao) Department of Intensive Medicine, Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor, Madrid, Spain; (ap) Servicio de medicina intensiva. Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe, Valencia, Spain; (aq) Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitario Mútua de Terrassa, Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain; (ar) Critical Care Department, Hospital del Mar-IMIM, Barcelona, Spain; (as) Departamento de Biología Funcional. Instituto Universitario de Oncología del Principado de Asturias, Universidad de Oviedo; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Principado de Asturias, Hospital Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain; (at) Hospital de Mataró de Barcelona, Spain; (au) Unidad de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitario Virgen de Valme, Sevilla, Spain; (av) Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Ourense, Ourense, Spain; (aw) Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Palencia, Palencia, Spain; (ax) Servicio de Medicina Intensiva. Hospital Universitario La Paz, IdiPAZ, Madrid, Spain; (ay) Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Vigo, Spain; (az) Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; (ba) Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Hospital Verge de la Cinta, Tortosa, Tarragona, Spain; (bb) Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Clínico y Universitario de Valencia, Valencia, Spain; (bc) Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Son Llàtzer, Palma de Mallorca, Illes Balears, Spain; (bd) Hospital Santa Maria; IRBLleida, Lleida, Spain; (be) Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Jerez. Medicine Department University of Cadiz. INiBICA, Spain; (bf) Hospital Universitario San Agustín, Asturias, Spain; (bg) Department of Medicine, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB); Critical Care Department, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain; (bh) Department of Intensive care Medicine, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, SpainPostprint (published version

Nutrition economics – characterising the economic and health impact of nutrition

There is a new merging of health economics and nutrition disciplines to assess the impact of diet on health and disease prevention and to characterise the health and economic aspects of specific changes in nutritional behaviour and nutrition recommendations. A rationale exists for developing the field of nutrition economics which could offer a better understanding of both nutrition, in the context of having a significant influence on health outcomes, and economics, in order to estimate the absolute and relative monetary impact of health measures. For this purpose, an expert meeting assessed questions aimed at clarifying the scope and identifying the key issues that should be taken into consideration in developing nutrition economics as a discipline that could potentially address important questions. We propose a first multidisciplinary outline for understanding the principles and particular characteristics of this emerging field. We summarise here the concepts and the observations of workshop participants and propose a basic setting for nutrition economics and health outcomes research as a novel discipline to support nutrition, health economics and health policy development in an evidence and health-benefit-based manner

Transitional events in the spectrophotometric regime between stripped envelope and superluminous supernovae

KM, MRM, and SJP are supported by H2020 ERC grant no. 758638. LG acknowledges financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 839090, and from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) under the 2019 Ramon y Cajal programme RYC2019-027683. TMB ´ was funded by the CONICYT PFCHA / DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113. MG is supported by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101004719. SGG acknowledges support by FCT under Project CRISP PTDC/FIS-AST-31546/2017. MN is supported by a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellowship and H2020 ERC grant no. 948381. T-WC acknowledges the EU Funding under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant H2020-MSCA-IF-2018-842471. The LT is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council. Based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Chile, as part of ePESSTO+ (the advanced Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient Objects Survey). ePESSTO+ observations were obtained under ESO programme ID 1103.D-0328 (PI: Inserra). The WHT is operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrof´ısica de Canarias. SJP thanks GPL for many insightful discussions at the bar over the last few years.The division between stripped-envelope supernovae (SE-SNe) and superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) is not well-defined in either photometric or spectroscopic space. While a sharp luminosity threshold has been suggested, there remains an increasing number of transitional objects that reach this threshold without the spectroscopic signatures common to SLSNe. In this work, we present data and analysis on four SNe transitional between SE-SNe and SLSNe; the He-poor SNe 2019dwa and 2019cri, and the He-rich SNe 2019hge and 2019unb. Each object displays long-lived and variable photometric evolution with luminosities around the SLSN threshold of Mr < -19.8 mag. Spectroscopically however, these objects are similar to SE-SNe, with line velocities lower than either SE-SNe and SLSNe, and thus represent an interesting case of rare transitional events.H2020 ERC grant no. 758638European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 839090Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) under the 2019 Ramon y Cajal programme RYC2019-027683CONICYT PFCHA / DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101004719FCT under Project CRISP PTDC/FIS-AST-31546/2017Royal Astronomical Society Research FellowshipH2020 ERC grant no. 948381UK Science and Technology Facilities CouncilESO programme ID 1103.D-0328 (PI: Inserra

Transitional events in the spectrophotometric regime between stripped envelope and superluminous supernovae

The division between stripped-envelope supernovae (SE-SNe) and superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) is not well-defined in either photometric or spectroscopic space. While a sharp luminosity threshold has been suggested, there remains an increasing number of transitional objects that reach this threshold without the spectroscopic signatures common to SLSNe. In this work, we present data and analysis on four SNe transitional between SE-SNe and SLSNe; the He-poor SNe 2019dwa and 2019cri, and the He-rich SNe 2019hge and 2019unb. Each object displays long-lived and variable photometric evolution with luminosities around the SLSN threshold of Mr < -19.8 mag. Spectroscopically however, these objects are similar to SE-SNe, with line velocities lower than either SE-SNe and SLSNe, and thus represent an interesting case of rare transitional events.KM, MRM, and SJP are supported by H2020 ERC grant no. 758638. LG acknowledges financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 839090, and from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) under the 2019 Ramón y Cajal programme RYC2019-027683. TMB was funded by the CONICYT PFCHA / DOCTORADOBECAS CHILE/2017-72180113. MG is supported by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101004719. SGG acknowledges support by FCT under Project CRISP PTDC/FIS-AST-31546/2017. MN is supported by a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellowship and H2020 ERC grant no. 948381. T-WC acknowledges the EU Funding under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant H2020-MSCA-IF-2018-842471. The LT is operated on the island of La Palma by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council

Kepler observations of variability in B-type stars

The analysis of the light curves of 48 B-type stars observed by Kepler is presented. Among these are 15 pulsating stars, all of which show low frequencies characteristic of SPB stars. Seven of these stars also show a few weak, isolated high frequencies and they could be considered as SPB/beta Cep hybrids. In all cases the frequency spectra are quite different from what is seen from ground-based observations. We suggest that this is because most of the low frequencies are modes of high degree which are predicted to be unstable in models of mid-B stars. We find that there are non-pulsating stars within the beta Cep and SPB instability strips. Apart from the pulsating stars, we can identify stars with frequency groupings similar to what is seen in Be stars but which are not Be stars. The origin of the groupings is not clear, but may be related to rotation. We find periodic variations in other stars which we attribute to proximity effects in binary systems or possibly rotational modulation. We find no evidence for pulsating stars between the cool edge of the SPB and the hot edge of the delta Sct instability strips. None of the stars show the broad features which can be attributed to stochastically-excited modes as recently proposed. Among our sample of B stars are two chemically peculiar stars, one of which is a HgMn star showing rotational modulation in the light curve.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, 4 table

Operations of and Future Plans for the Pierre Auger Observatory

Technical reports on operations and features of the Pierre Auger Observatory, including ongoing and planned enhancements and the status of the future northern hemisphere portion of the Observatory. Contributions to the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference, Lodz, Poland, July 2009.Comment: Contributions to the 31st ICRC, Lodz, Poland, July 200