International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Conceptual Design Report Volume 2: The Physics Program for DUNE at LBNF

The Physics Program for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the Fermilab Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) is described

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Moving Force Identification from Bridge Strain Responses

Accurate identification of moving forces in bridge is an important issue from the aspects of design, control and diagnosis of bridges. Previous studies show that the identification results will often be highly sensitive to changes in parameters of both the bridge and vehicle. The different solutions to an equation ,4x = b, the over-determined system in the force identification, give results with different accuracy, particular when the systematic matrix A is close to rank deficient. Based on the time domain method (TDM) and frequency-time domain method (FTDM), this paper aims to evaluate the two solutions to the system equation, i.e. direct pseudo inversion (PI) solution and the singular value decomposition (SVD) solution. The effects of various parameters on both the TDM and FfDM are also discussed. Assessment results show that the moving force identification from the bridge strain responses is feasible and acceptable, but there exists different influence on the TDM and FTDM by means of the two solutions. The SVD solution can effectively improve the identification accuracy of the two methods, particular for the FTDM

Importance of Longitudinal Stabilizing Cables in Dynamic Characteristics of Ting Kau Bridge

In this paper, the influence of longitudinal stabilizing cables on the modal and dynamic response characteristics of the cable-stayed Ting Kau Bridge is studied based on a calibrated three-dimensional finite element model. A hybrid-element cable system is adopted in the model in which all the eight longitudinal stabilizing cables are modeled by multi-element cable system taking into account the sag and tension effect (geometric stiffness) while other cables are modeled by single-element system. The dynamic characteristics of the bridge are then evaluated for the cases with all eight longitudinal stabilizing cables, with only fewer longitudinal stabilizing cables, and without any longitudinal stabilizing cable respectively. It is found that the longitudinal stabilizing cables greatly influence the global dynamic characteristics of the bridge: (l) The natural frequency of the first global mode of the bridge increases from 0.141 Hz to 0.163Hz after installing the eight longitudinal stabilizing cables; (2) The stabilizing cables result in some global modes with strong modal interaction among the deck, lowers and cables; (3) The stabilizing cables participate significantly in modal motion of certain global modes, leading to the change of the modal participation factors in dynamic response evaluation

Moving Force Identification from Bridge Acceleration Responses

Following the sllccessful identification of moving titHe-varying axle loads from bridge strain responses, this paper describes an investigation into the feasibility of moving force identification from bridge acceleration responses. For this purpose, the acceleration responses of a bridge made in the laboratory were measured as well as the bending moments when a model car moved across it at different speeds. Thc moving torces were identified from the acceleration responses only by directly calculating pscudo inverse and by the singular value decomposition (SYD) of the coefficient matrix in the over-determined system of equation, and the rebuilt rcsponscs were calculated from the identitied forces. The effects of various parameters on the identification accuracy related to both the bridge and the vehiele were discussed. Assessment results show that moving Force identification from the acceleration responses is feasible and acceptable, but the accuracy of the identification could be further improved

Vibration and Impact Studies of Multigirder Steel Bridges in Laboratory

The impact of highway bridges resulting from the passage of vehicles across spans is an important problem encountered in the design of bridges. Many parameters that may affect the impact factor include the velocity and dynamic properties of the moving vehicle, the dynamic properties and boundary conditions of the bridge, and the roughness in road pavement. According to the truck design loading specified by AASHTO and the structural similarity principle, a vehicle and a multi-girder steel bridge are designed and constructed in laboratory for impact studies and further identification of the moving axle loads. The 3-D finite element method in the professional software package, ABAQUS, is used to calculate the dynamic characteristics of the bridge. The experimental modal analysis technique is adopted to measure the modal properties of both vehicle and bridge. The influence of both the vehicle velocity and lateral lane position on the impact factor is investigated. Accurately estimation of the static responses of bridges due to moving vehicles is considered and compared with the filtered static responses. Results arc uscli11 for the bridge design and the further study on the development of impact formulae proposed by the bridge loading code

Moving Force Identification based on the Frequency-Time Domain Method

This paper addresses the problem on the identification of moving vehicle axle loads based on measured bridge responses using a frequency-time domain method. The focus is on the evaluation of two solutions to the overdetermined set of equations established as part of the identification method. The two solutions are (i) direct calculation of the pseudo-inverse and (ii) calculation of the pseudo-inverse via the singular value decomposition (SVD) technique. For this purpose, a bridge-vehicle system model was fabricated in the laboratory and the bending moment responses of bridge model were measured as a two-axle vehicle model moved across the bridge deck. The moving axle loads are then calculated from the measured responses via the two solutions to the over-determined set of equations. The effects of changes in the bridge-vehicle system, measurement and algorithm parameters on the two solutions are evaluated. Case studies show that the moving force identification is more feasible and its accuracy acceptable with the use of the SVD technique. This technique can effectively enhance the identification method and improve the identification accuracy over that of the direct pseudo-inverse solution