Percolating granular superconductors

We investigate diamagnetic fluctuations in percolating granular superconductors. Granular superconductors are known to have a rich phase diagram including normal, superconducting and spin glass phases. Focusing on the normal-superconducting and the normal-spin glass transition at low temperatures, we study he diamagnetic susceptibility $\chi^{(1)}$ and the mean square fluctuations of the total magnetic moment $\chi^{(2)}$ of large clusters. Our work is based on a random Josephson network model that we analyze with the powerful methods of renormalized field theory. We investigate the structural properties of the Feynman diagrams contributing to the renormalization of $\chi^{(1)}$ and $\chi^{(2)}$. This allows us to determine the critical behavior of $\chi^{(1)}$ and $\chi^{(2)}$ to arbitrary order in perturbation theory.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure

Burden and risk factors for Pseudomonas aeruginosa community-acquired pneumonia:a Multinational Point Prevalence Study of Hospitalised Patients

Pseudornonas aeruginosa is a challenging bacterium to treat due to its intrinsic resistance to the antibiotics used most frequently in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Data about the global burden and risk factors associated with P. aeruginosa-CAP are limited. We assessed the multinational burden and specific risk factors associated with P. aeruginosa-CAP. We enrolled 3193 patients in 54 countries with confirmed diagnosis of CAP who underwent microbiological testing at admission. Prevalence was calculated according to the identification of P. aeruginosa. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors for antibiotic-susceptible and antibiotic-resistant P. aeruginosa-CAP. The prevalence of P. aeruginosa and antibiotic-resistant P. aeruginosa-CAP was 4.2% and 2.0%, respectively. The rate of P. aeruginosa CAP in patients with prior infection/colonisation due to P. aeruginosa and at least one of the three independently associated chronic lung diseases (i.e. tracheostomy, bronchiectasis and/or very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) was 67%. In contrast, the rate of P. aeruginosa-CAP was 2% in patients without prior P. aeruginosa infection/colonisation and none of the selected chronic lung diseases. The multinational prevalence of P. aeruginosa-CAP is low. The risk factors identified in this study may guide healthcare professionals in deciding empirical antibiotic coverage for CAP patients

Semi-national surveillance of fungaemia in Denmark 2004-2006: increasing incidence of fungaemia and numbers of isolates with reduced azole susceptibility

AbstractA semi-national laboratory-based surveillance programme for fungaemia was initiated in 2003 that now covers c. 3.5 million inhabitants (64%) of the Danish population. In total, 1089 episodes of fungaemia were recorded during 2004–2006, corresponding to an annual incidence of 10.4/100 000 inhabitants. The annual number of episodes increased by 17% during the study period. Candida spp. accounted for 98% of the fungal pathogens. Although Candida albicans remained predominant, the proportion of C. albicans decreased from 66.1% in 2004 to 53.8% in 2006 (p <0.01), and varied considerably among participating departments, e.g., from 51.1% at a university hospital in Copenhagen to 67.6% in North Jutland County. Candida glabrata ranked second, and increased in proportion from 16.7% to 22.7% (p 0.04). Candida krusei was isolated rarely (4.1%), but the proportion doubled during the study period from 3.2% to 6.4% (p 0.06). MIC distributions of amphotericin B and caspofungin were in close agreement with the patterns predicted by species identification; however, decreased susceptibility to voriconazole, defined as an MIC of >1 mg/L, was detected in one (2.5%) C. glabrata isolate in 2004 and in 12 (14.0%) isolates in 2006 (p 0.03). Overall, the proportion of isolates with decreased susceptibility to fluconazole exceeded 30% in 2006. The incidence of fungaemia in Denmark was three-fold higher than that reported from other Nordic countries and is increasing. Decreased susceptibility to fluconazole is frequent, and a new trend towards C. glabrata isolates with elevated voriconazole MICs was observed