Cysticercosis and taeniasis cases diagnosed at two referral medical institutions, Belgium, 1990 to 2015

Background: Few case reports on human infections with the beef tapeworm Taenia saginata and the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, diagnosed in Belgium have been published, yet the grey literature suggests a higher number of cases. Aim: To identify and describe cases of taeniasis and cysticercosis diagnosed at two Belgian referral medical institutions from 1990 to 2015. Methods: In this observational study we retrospectively gathered data on taeniasis and cysticercosis cases by screening laboratory, medical record databases as well a uniform hospital discharge dataset. Results: A total of 221 confirmed taeniasis cases were identified. All cases for whom the causative species could be determined (170/221, 76.9%) were found to be T. saginata infections. Of those with available information, 40.0% were asymptomatic (26/65), 15.4% reported diarrhoea (10/65), 9.2% reported anal discomfort (6/65) and 15.7% acquired the infection in Belgium (11/70). Five definitive and six probable cases of neurocysticercosis (NCC), and two cases of non-central nervous system cysticercosis (non-CNS CC) were identified. Common symptoms and signs in five of the definitive and probable NCC cases were epilepsy, headaches and/or other neurological disorders. Travel information was available for of the 13 NCC and non-CNS CC cases; two were Belgians travelling to and eight were immigrants or visitors travelling from endemic areas. Conclusions: The current study indicates that a non-negligible number of taeniasis cases visit Belgian medical facilities, and that cysticercosis is occasionally diagnosed in international travellers

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Measurement of the top quark mass using charged particles in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Soviet DPs for the Belgian mining industry (1944-1960) : the daily struggle against Yalta of a forgotten minority?

Defence date: 8 October 2012Examining Board: Professor Heinz-Gerhard Haupt, EUI (EUI Supervisor); Professor Dirk Moses (EUI); Professor Frank Caestecker (University of Ghent); Professor Anne Morelli (Université Libre de Bruxelles).The liberation of Western Europe from Nazism meant the freeing of a high number of foreign citizens and soldiers. Many among them had been brought here for the purpose of (forced) labour in the Nazi war economy. In March 1945, 245,730 displaced persons (DPs) were counted in occupied Germany, of which 45,587 were Soviet citizens.1 The Soviet Union, like the other countries involved, expressed early on their wish to repatriate their own citizens. The repatriations were agreed upon in Yalta (February 1945) and were taking place at a large scale from May 1945 onward. As a result, by December 1945 the refugee organization at that time (the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration or UNRRA) had 21,435 Soviet citizens under its care, a number that had decreased to 6,770 in June 1947.2 Whereas the Allied initially predicted that repatriation would reach 98%, this expectation was completely crushed by the end of 1945. It started to sink in that the Soviet citizens still remaining in Western Europe at that time did not intend to return home.3 In general, their reluctance was motivated by fear for what might happen to them upon their return. In certain cases, the Soviet DPs (especially among the prisoners of war) had fought with the Nazi troops, which made their fear for retaliation well founded. Stalin nevertheless was very suspicious toward all Soviet citizens who had been in contact with the Western way of life. Consequently, he labelled all Soviet DPs in the West as (potential) traitors, which led to thorough check-ups and (potentially) severe punishments upon their return. As rumours about such retaliations started to spread among the DPs still remaining in camps in the West, the number of voluntary repatriates started to go down. Other explanations why people did not wish to return were because they wanted to continue their new life in the West, whether they had found a partner here or not. At the turn of the year (1946 / 1947), the Western Allies were still trying to find a solution for the displaced persons that remained in DP-camps spread over Germany, Austria and Italy. As returning home was no longer a valid option for all DPs, due to the upcoming Cold War alternatives had to be found in order to solve the refugee-issue

Russian prisoners of war of the Nazi's in Belgium from displaced persons to refugees (from Soviet Communism)

The fate of the Russian forced labourers (both prisoners of war and Ostarbeiter) in Belgium during and immediately after the second World War may only seem a 'footnote' in the Belgian historiography of the war Their story does not belong to the Belgian collective memory However, within the framework of the development of a refugee status, which was still in its initial stage at the time both internationally and in Belgium, they nonetheless are an exceptionally interesting group In the beginning, Belgium subscribed to the allied policy of giving top priority to repatriate all displaced persons as quickly as possible and this both for practical and diplomatic reasons Given the forced nature of their displacement, no serious problems were expected Still, all three allies (USA, Soviet Union and Great Britain) had agreed to accept the use of force Despite this strict policy, some Soviet forced labourers managed to stay in the West (and in Belgium among other countries) Quite a lot has already been written on this topic as these displaced persons were one of the first issues where the former allies confronted each other in the build-up to the Cold War Generally, the pivotal issue in these studies is to understand how the western allies redefined displaced persons as refugees However, Belgium clearly struggled to reconcile this (western) policy to its own national interests This prevented Belgium from the very start to subscribe fully to the example of its western allies especially the presence of Belgian displaced persons in the Soviet Union was crucial in this respect Moreover, these Soviet displaced persons caused disagreement among Belgian policy makers as well In this article we outline the Belgian policy, but we go beyond this by analyzing individual files on these Soviet displaced persons This enabled us to acquire insight both in the actual implementation of the policy, as in the potential strategies of these refugees to circumvent i

Hoe de Belgische mijnindustrie een nieuw thuis aan vluchtelingen-mijnwerkers aanbood (1947-1951)

Deze bijdrage analyseert de instroom van 21.906 vluchtelingen uit Oost-Europa in de Belgische mijnen. Ze werden gerekruteerd in de door de internationale vluchtelingenorganisatie beheerde vluchtelingenkampen in het bezette Duitsland, om de arbeidsnoden in de Belgische mijnindustrie te lenigen. Tegelijkertijd beloofden de Belgische autoriteiten deze vluchtelingen een “vrij en normaal leven” in België. Deze spanning tussen beide objectieven – arbeidsrekrutering en hervestiging – leidde reeds bij de rekrutering tot conflicten, maar de internationale vluchtelingenorganisatie en de vluchtelingen zelf zullen voortdurend stoten op de grenzen van het hervestigingsprogramma. Uiteindelijk besliste een meerderheid van de vluchtelingen dat het aanlokkelijker leek om elders een nieuw leven te beginnen.This article analyses the inflow of 21,906 refugees from Eastern Europe in the Belgian mines. They were recruited in the refugee camps managed by the international refugee organization in occupied Germany, in order to alleviate the labour needs of the Belgian mining industry. At the same time the Belgian authorities promised the refugees a “free and normal life” in Belgium. This tension between the two aims –labour recruitment and resettlement – caused problems during the recruitment operation, but the international refugee organization and the refugees themselves will be continuously confronted with the limits of this resettlement programme. In the end the majority of the refugees decided that it looked more promising to start a new life somewhere else.Cet article analyse l’arrivée de 21.906 réfugiés de l’Europe de l’Est dans les mines belges. Ils étaient recrutés dans les camps de réfugiés gérés par l’organisation internationale des réfugiés en Allemagne occupée, afin de répondre aux besoins de main-d’œuvre dans l’industrie minière belge. En même temps, les autorités belges promettaient aux réfugiés « une vie libre et normale » en Belgique. Cette tension entre les deux objectifs – le recrutement de main d’œuvre et la réinstallation – causait déjà des problèmes lors du recrutement, mais l’organisation internationale des réfugiés ainsi que les réfugiés eux-mêmes étaient continuellement confrontés aux limites du programme de réinstallation. Finalement, la majorité des réfugiés a décidé de refaire sa vie ailleurs qu’en Belgique

Cysticercosis and taeniasis cases diagnosed at two referral medical institutions, Belgium, 1990 to 2015

Background: Few case reports on human infections with the beef tapeworm Taenia saginata and the pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, diagnosed in Belgium have been published, yet the grey literature suggests a higher number of cases. Aim: To identify and describe cases of taeniasis and cysticercosis diagnosed at two Belgian referral medical institutions from 1990 to 2015. Methods: In this observational study we retrospectively gathered data on taeniasis and cysticercosis cases by screening laboratory, medical record databases as well a uniform hospital discharge dataset. Results: A total of 221 confirmed taeniasis cases were identified. All cases for whom the causative species could be determined (170/221, 76.9%) were found to be T. saginata infections. Of those with available information, 40.0% were asymptomatic (26/65), 15.4% reported diarrhoea (10/65), 9.2% reported anal discomfort (6/65) and 15.7% acquired the infection in Belgium (11/70). Five definitive and six probable cases of neurocysticercosis (NCC), and two cases of non-central nervous system cysticercosis (non-CNS CC) were identified. Common symptoms and signs in five of the definitive and probable NCC cases were epilepsy, headaches and/or other neurological disorders. Travel information was available for of the 13 NCC and non-CNS CC cases; two were Belgians travelling to and eight were immigrants or visitors travelling from endemic areas. Conclusions: The current study indicates that a non-negligible number of taeniasis cases visit Belgian medical facilities, and that cysticercosis is occasionally diagnosed in international travellers