Using antimicrobial drugs: questions and answers

Para indicar o uso de antimicrobianos é necessário ter à mente várias informações sobre as drogas, tais como espectro de atividade da droga, dados de farmacocinética e farmacodinâmica, como distribuição tecidual, plasmática e excreção, efeitos adversos e é necessário ter várias informações sobre o quadro clínico do paciente e o tipo de infecção e seu agente etiológico, tais como sítio de infecção e sensibilidade antimicrobiana. Não é possível abarcar todos estes aspectos em um artigo e optamos por abordar os princípios gerais do tratamento antimicrobiano por meio de perguntas e respostas. O objetivo é prover os conceitos básicos do uso de antimicrobianos. Apresentamos as principais classes de antimicrobianos e o seu espectro de ação, conceitos como infecção, colonização e contaminação, interpretação de culturas, indicações e duração de tratamento, vias de administração, associação de drogas, critérios de resposta ao tratamento, e profilaxia antimicrobiana.In order to use antimicrobials well it is necessary to have information about the different drugs available, spectrum of activity, pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic data such as tissue distribution, excretion and plasma, adverse effects. It is also necessary to have information about the type and site of infection, its causative agent and antimicrobial susceptibility. We could not cover all these aspects in one article and we chose to approach the general principles of antimicrobial treatment using questions and answers. Our goal is to provide the basics for the use of antimicrobials. We present the main classes of antimicrobials and their spectrum, concepts such as infection, colonization and contamination, interpretation of cultures, indications and treatment duration, route of administration, drug combination, criteria to evaluate response to treatment, and antimicrobial prophylaxis

Bright spots as climate-smart marine spatial planning tools for conservation and blue growth

Marine spatial planning that addresses ocean climate-driven change (‘climate-smart MSP’) is a global aspiration to support economic growth, food security and ecosystem sustainability. Ocean climate change (‘CC’) modelling may become a key decision-support tool for MSP, but traditional modelling analysis and communication challenges prevent their broad uptake. We employed MSP-specific ocean climate modelling analyses to inform a real-life MSP process; addressing how nature conservation and fisheries could be adapted to CC. We found that the currently planned distribution of these activities may become unsustainable during the policy's implementation due to CC, leading to a shortfall in its sustainability and blue growth targets. Significant, climate-driven ecosystem-level shifts in ocean components underpinning designated sites and fishing activity were estimated, reflecting different magnitudes of shifts in benthic versus pelagic, and inshore versus offshore habitats. Supporting adaptation, we then identified: CC refugia (areas where the ecosystem remains within the boundaries of its present state); CC hotspots (where climate drives the ecosystem towards a new state, inconsistent with each sectors’ present use distribution); and for the first time, identified bright spots (areas where oceanographic processes drive range expansion opportunities that may support sustainable growth in the medium term). We thus create the means to: identify where sector-relevant ecosystem change is attributable to CC; incorporate resilient delivery of conservation and sustainable ecosystem management aims into MSP; and to harness opportunities for blue growth where they exist. Capturing CC bright spots alongside refugia within protected areas may present important opportunities to meet sustainability targets while helping support the fishing sector in a changing climate. By capitalizing on the natural distribution of climate resilience within ocean ecosystems, such climate-adaptive spatial management strategies could be seen as nature-based solutions to limit the impact of CC on ocean ecosystems and dependent blue economy sectors, paving the way for climate-smart MSP

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Hunt for new phenomena using large jet multiplicities and missing transverse momentum with ATLAS in 4.7 fb−1 of √s=7 TeV proton-proton collisions

Results are presented of a search for new particles decaying to large numbers of jets in association with missing transverse momentum, using 4.7 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√=7TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. The event selection requires missing transverse momentum, no isolated electrons or muons, and from ≥6 to ≥9 jets. No evidence is found for physics beyond the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in the context of a MSUGRA/CMSSM supersymmetric model, where, for large universal scalar mass m 0, gluino masses smaller than 840 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level, extending previously published limits. Within a simplified model containing only a gluino octet and a neutralino, gluino masses smaller than 870 GeV are similarly excluded for neutralino masses below 100 GeV

The Acute Optic Neuritis Network (ACON): Study protocol of a non-interventional prospective multicenter study on diagnosis and treatment of acute optic neuritis

Optic neuritis (ON) often occurs at the presentation of multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD), and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). The recommended treatment of high-dose corticosteroids for ON is based on a North American study population, which did not address treatment timing or antibody serostatus. The Acute Optic Neuritis Network (ACON) presents a global, prospective, observational study protocol primarily designed to investigate the effect of time to high-dose corticosteroid treatment on 6-month visual outcomes in ON. Patients presenting within 30 days of the inaugural ON will be enrolled. For the primary analysis, patients will subsequently be assigned into the MS-ON group, the aquapotin-4-IgG positive ON (AQP4-IgG+ON) group or the MOG-IgG positive ON (MOG-IgG+ON) group and then further sub-stratified according to the number of days from the onset of visual loss to high-dose corticosteroids (days-to-Rx). The primary outcome measure will be high-contrast best-corrected visual acuity (HC-BCVA) at 6 months. In addition, multimodal data will be collected in subjects with any ON (CIS-ON, MS-ON, AQP4-IgG+ON or MOG-IgG+ON, and seronegative non-MS-ON), excluding infectious and granulomatous ON. Secondary outcomes include low-contrast best-corrected visual acuity (LC-BCVA), optical coherence tomography (OCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements, serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers (AQP4-IgG and MOG-IgG levels, neurofilament, and glial fibrillary protein), and patient reported outcome measures (headache, visual function in daily routine, depression, and quality of life questionnaires) at presentation at 6-month and 12-month follow-up visits. Data will be collected from 28 academic hospitals from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America, South America, and Australia. Planned recruitment consists of 100 MS-ON, 50 AQP4-IgG+ON, and 50 MOG-IgG+ON. This prospective, multimodal data collection will assess the potential value of early high-dose corticosteroid treatment, investigate the interrelations between functional impairments and structural changes, and evaluate the diagnostic yield of laboratory biomarkers. This analysis has the ability to substantially improve treatment strategies and the accuracy of diagnostic stratification in acute demyelinating ON