Bloodstream yeast infections: a 15-month survey

A 15-month survey of 412 bloodstream yeast isolates from 54 Belgian hospitals was undertaken. Candida albicans was the most common species (47.3%) followed by C. glabrata (25.7%), C. parapsilosis (8.0%), C. tropicalis (6.8%) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (5.1%). Common predisposing factors were antibacterial therapy (45%), hospitalization in intensive care units (34%), presence of in-dwelling catheters (32%), underlying cancer (23%) and major surgery (11%). Most patients had more than one predisposing factor. Fluconazole alone or in combination with another antifungal agent was the treatment of choice for 86.6% of the cases. Susceptibility testing revealed that 93.5% were susceptible to amphotericin B, 39.6% to itraconazole, 42.8% to fluconazole and 87% to voriconazole. Resistance to azoles was more common among C. glabrata isolates

Structural Damage Assessment of FRP Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Beams under Cyclic Loads

Worldwide, the need for structural retrofit is on the rise and the use of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite material systems is becoming an accepted method for repairs, rehabilitations, and strengthening of deficient structures. The great qualities of the FRP materials, certified in the laboratories and confirmed in the fields have all contributed to propel the material as a very promising one, though more works need to be done to certify the fatigue resistance and durability criteria. This research looked at the experimental investigations of Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams strengthened flexurally with externallyepoxy bonded FRP laminates under four point cyclic loads. Dynamic tests are used to assess damages in the FRP-strengthened RC beams under cyclic loads. 6 RC beams of 150 x 200 mm cross-section and length of 2.20m and were reinforced with four 12mm ribbed longitudinal steel bars. Three types of FRP laminates made of high modulus carbon fibre, high strength carbon fibre and glass fibre were adopted. The results confirm that dynamicbased method is an efficient way of assessing damage evolution in RC beams strengthened with FRP laminates under cyclic loads. The results offered a criterion that can be adopted for quick assessment of the efficiency of FRP composite systems before applying them to civil applications

Accurate measurement of a 96% input coupling into a cavity using polarization tomography

Pillar microcavities are excellent light-matter interfaces providing an electromagnetic confinement in small mode volumes with high quality factors. They also allow the efficient injection and extraction of photons, into and from the cavity, with potentially near-unity input and output-coupling efficiencies. Optimizing the input and output coupling is essential, in particular, in the development of solid-state quantum networks where artificial atoms are manipulated with single incoming photons. Here we propose a technique to accurately measure input and output coupling efficiencies using polarization tomography of the light reflected by the cavity. We use the residual birefringence of pillar microcavities to distinguish the light coupled to the cavity from the uncoupled light: the former participates to rotating the polarization of the reflected beam, while the latter decreases the polarization purity. Applying this technique to a micropillar cavity, we measure a $53 \pm2 \%$ output coupling and a $96 \pm 1\%$ input coupling with unprecedented precision.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Association between one-hour post-load plasma glucose levels and vascular stiffness in essential hypertension

Objectives: Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a surrogate end-point for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A plasma glucose value $155 mg/dl for the 1-hour post-load plasma glucose during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is able to identify subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) at high-risk for type-2 diabetes (T2D) and for subclinical organ damage. Thus, we addressed the question if 1-hour post-load plasma glucose levels, affects PWV and its central hemodynamic correlates, as augmentation pressure (AP) and augmentation index (AI). Methods: We enrolled 584 newly diagnosed hypertensives. All patients underwent OGTT and measurements of PWV, AP and AI. Insulin sensitivity was assessed by Matsuda-index. Results: Among participants, 424 were NGT and 160 had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Of 424 NGT, 278 had 1-h postload plasma glucose ,155 mg/dl (NGT,155) and 146 had 1-h post-load plasma glucose$155 mg/dl (NGT$155). NGT$155 had a worse insulin sensitivity and higher hs-CRP than NGT,155, similar to IGT subjects. In addition, NGT $155 in comparison with NGT,155 had higher central systolic blood pressure (134612 vs 131610 mmHg), as well as PWV (8.463.7 vs 6.761.7 m/s), AP (12.567.1 vs 9.865.7 mmHg) and AI (29.4611.9 vs 25.1612.4 regression analysis, 1-h post-load plasma glucose resulted the major determinant of all indices of vascular stiffness. Conclusion: Hypertensive NGT$155 subjects, compared with NGT,155, have higher PWV and its hemodynamic correlates that increase their cardiovascular risk profile

Exoplanet atmospheres with EChO: spectral retrievals using EChOSim

We demonstrate the effectiveness of the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory mission concept for constraining the atmospheric properties of hot and warm gas giants and super Earths. Synthetic primary and secondary transit spectra for a range of planets are passed through EChOSim (Waldmann & Pascale 2014) to obtain the expected level of noise for different observational scenarios; these are then used as inputs for the NEMESIS atmospheric retrieval code and the retrieved atmospheric properties (temperature structure, composition and cloud properties) compared with the known input values, following the method of Barstow et al. (2013a). To correctly retrieve the temperature structure and composition of the atmosphere to within 2 {\sigma}, we find that we require: a single transit or eclipse of a hot Jupiter orbiting a sun-like (G2) star at 35 pc to constrain the terminator and dayside atmospheres; 20 transits or eclipses of a warm Jupiter orbiting a similar star; 10 transits/eclipses of a hot Neptune orbiting an M dwarf at 6 pc; and 30 transits or eclipses of a GJ1214b-like planet.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, 1 table. Accepted by Experimental Astronomy. The final publication will shortly be available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10686-014-9397-

Latent relationships between environmental impacts of cultivation practices and land market: Evidences from a spatial quantile regression analysis in Italy

Several economic approaches can be carried out for managing the environmental impacts in agriculture, i.e. property and bargaining rights, economic incentives, ecological fees, etc. These approaches can be mainly applied to the cultivation phase or to the markets of the agricultural commodities. However, a further ambit in which the regulatory systems could be useful to trigger sustainable cultivation practices is the farmland market. Hence, this study contributes to the setting of market mechanisms based on incentives or fees related to the environmental impacts of farming practices for reducing the pressures of the production processes on the environmental components. The study, through a hedonic pricing method based on a spatial quantile regression and integrated by an environmental analysis, highlights different trends of land value determinants along the quantiles of the selling prices as the intensity of the cultivation system varies. The results show that the most important value determinants of the vineyards cultivated through the semi-extensive production system are related to the quality of grapes. Conversely, in presence of the intensive production system, the most important value determinants are related to the high yields, which also generate high greenhouse gas emissions, in contrast with the “polluter pays” principle. The results allow the assessment of the implicit marginal prices concerning the impact of the environmental indicator on land value per cultivation system, so as to favour the setting of regulatory monetary strategies able to foster farmers towards cleaner agricultural practices

Complementary feeding and the early origins of obesity risk:A study protocol

Introduction The rise in the prevalence of childhood obesity worldwide calls for an intervention earlier in the life cycle. Studies show that nutrition during early infancy may contribute to later obesity. Hence, this study is designed to determine if the variation in complementary feeding practices poses a risk for the development of obesity later in life. A mixed methods approach will be used in conducting this study.Methods and analysis The target participants are infants born from January to June 2015 in the South East Asia Community Observatory (SEACO) platform. The SEACO is a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) that is established in the District of Segamat in the state of Johor, Malaysia. For the quantitative strand, the sociodemographic data, feeding practices, anthropometry measurement and total nutrient intake will be assessed. The assessment will occur around the time complementary feeding is expected to start (7 Months) and again at 12 months. A 24-hour diet recall and a 2-day food diary will be used to assess the food intake. For the qualitative strand, selected mothers will be interviewed to explore their infant feeding practices and factors that influence their practices and food choices in detail.Ethics and dissemination Ethical clearance for this study was sought through the Monash University Human Research and Ethics Committee (application number CF14/3850-2014002010). Subsequently, the findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, national and international conferences

Characterisation of spatial network-like patterns from junctions' geometry

We propose a new method for quantitative characterization of spatial network-like patterns with loops, such as surface fracture patterns, leaf vein networks and patterns of urban streets. Such patterns are not well characterized by purely topological estimators: also patterns that both look different and result from different morphogenetic processes can have similar topology. A local geometric cue -the angles formed by the different branches at junctions- can complement topological information and allow to quantify the large scale spatial coherence of the pattern. For patterns that grow over time, such as fracture lines on the surface of ceramics, the rank assigned by our method to each individual segment of the pattern approximates the order of appearance of that segment. We apply the method to various network-like patterns and we find a continuous but sharp dichotomy between two classes of spatial networks: hierarchical and homogeneous. The first class results from a sequential growth process and presents large scale organization, the latter presents local, but not global organization.Comment: version 2, 14 page