Developing an easy-to-apply model for identifying relevant pathogen pathways into surface waters used for recreational purposes

Swimming in inner-city surface waters is popular in the warm season, but can have negative consequences such as gastro-intestinal, ear and skin infections. The pathogens causing these infections commonly enter surface waters via several point source discharges such as the effluents from wastewater treatment plants and sewer overflows, as well as through diffuse non-point sources such as surface runoff. Nonetheless, the recreational use of surface waters is attractive for residents. In order to save financial and organizational resources, local authorities need to estimate the most relevant pathways of pathogens into surface waters. In particular, when detailed data on a local scale are missing, this is quite difficult to achieve. For this reason, we have developed an easy-to-apply model using the example of Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci as a first approach to the local situation, where missing data can be replaced by data from literature. The model was developed based on a case study of a river arm monitored in western Germany and will be generalized for future applications. Although the limits of the EU Bathing Water Directive are already fulfilled during dry weather days, we showed that the effluent of wastewater treatment plants and overland flow had the most relevant impact on the microbial surface water quality. On rainy weather days, combined sewer overflows are responsible for the highest microbial pollution loads. The results obtained in this study can help decision makers to focus on reducing the relevant pathogen sources within a catchment area. © 2015 Elsevier Gmb

Towards a Laser-driven polarized 3He Ion-Beam Source

In order to investigate the polarization degree of laser-accelerated 3He ions from a pre-polarized 3He gas-jet target, several challenges have to be overcome beforehand. One of these includes the demonstration of the feasibility of laser-induced ion acceleration out of gas-jet targets. In particular, the ion-emission angles as well as the ion-energy spectra have to be determined for future polarization measurements. Such an experiment was performed at the PHELIX Petawatt Laser Facility, GSI Darmstadt. As laser target, both 4He, and in a second step, unpolarized 3He gas were applied

Awake craniotomy for resection of a cerebral AVM within Broca's area

Fecal contamination of water resources is a major public health concern in densely populated areas since these water bodies are used for drinking water production or recreational purposes. A main source of this contamination originates from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in regions with combined sewer systems. Thus, the treatment of CSO discharges is urgent. In this study, we explored whether ozonation or UV irradiation can efficiently reduce pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and protozoan parasites in CSOs. Experiments were carried out in parallel settings at the outflow of a stormwater settling tank in the Ruhr area, Germany. The results showed that both techniques reduce most hygienically relevant bacteria, parasites and viruses. Under the conditions tested, ozonation yielded lower outflow values for the majority of the tested parameters. © 2015 Elsevier GmbH

Adverse perinatal outcomes in gestational diabetes mellitus with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy: results from two nationwide registries in Germany

Introduction Pregnancy is a known independent risk factor for a severe course of COVID-19. The relationship of SARS-CoV-2 infection and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) on neonatal outcomes is unclear. Our aim was to determine if SARS-CoV-2 infection represents an independent risk factor for adverse perinatal outcomes in pregnancy with GDM.Research design and methods We compared data from two German registries including pregnant women with GDM, established during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (COVID-19-Related Obstetric and Neonatal Outcome Study (CRONOS), a multicenter prospective observational study) and already existing before the pandemic (German registry of pregnant women with GDM; GestDiab). In total, 409 participants with GDM and SARS-CoV-2 infection and 4598 participants with GDM, registered 2018–2019, were eligible for analyses. The primary fetal and neonatal outcomes were defined as: (1) combined: admission to neonatal intensive care unit, stillbirth, and/or neonatal death, and (2) preterm birth before 37+0 weeks of gestation. Large and small for gestational age, maternal insulin therapy, birth weight >4500 g and cesarean delivery were considered as secondary outcomes.Results Women with SARS-CoV-2 infection were younger (32 vs 33 years) and had a higher median body mass index (28 vs 27 kg/m²). In CRONOS, more neonates developed the primary outcome (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.48, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.97) and were born preterm (aOR 1.50, 95% CI 1.07 to 2.10). Fasting glucose was higher in women in CRONOS versus GestDiab (5.4 vs 5.3 mmol/L) considering each 0.1 mmol/L increase was independently associated with a 5% higher risk of preterm birth among women in CRONOS only (aOR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.09).Conclusions GDM with SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of adverse fetal and neonatal outcomes as compared with GDM without SARS-CoV-2 infection

Laser-induced acceleration of Helium ions from unpolarized gas jets

In order to develop a laser-driven spin-polarized 3He-ion beam source available for nuclear-physics experiments as well as for the investigation of polarized nuclear fusion, several challenges have to be overcome. Apart from the provision of a properly polarized 3He gas-jet target, one of the biggest milestones is the demonstration of the general feasibility of laser-induced ion acceleration out of gas-jet targets. Of particular importance is the knowledge about the main ion-emission angles as well as the achievable ion-energy spectra (dependent on the optimal set of laser and target parameters). We report on the results of such a feasibility study performed at PHELIX, GSI Darmstadt. Both 3He- and 4He-gas jets (n_gas ∼ 10^19 cm−3) were illuminated with high-intensity laser pulses, I_L ~ O(10^19 W cm^-2). The main ion-emission angles could be identified (±90° with respect to the laser-propagation direction) and the ion-energy spectra for all ion species could be extracted: for the optimal laser and target parameters, the high-energy cut-offs for He^2+,1+ ions were 4.65 MeV (with a normalized energy uncertainty of Delta E E^-1 = 0.033) and 3.27 MeV (Delta E E^-1 = 0.055), respectively

A polarized 3He Target for the Exploration of Spin Effects in Laser-induced Plasmas

In order to investigate the polarization degree of laser-accelerated 3He ions from a polarized 3He gas-jet target, several challenges have to be overcome. One of these is the development of an appropriate polarized 3He gas-jet target. Since our experiments are carried out at the PHELIX Petawatt Laser Facility, GSI Darmstadt, the layout of the set-up has to cope with the available space within the PHELIX target chamber. The essential components of such a layout are a magnetic holding field for storing polarized 3He gas inside the vacuum chamber for many hours, the gas-jet source for providing the desired laser target, and finally, a polarimeter for measuring the spin-polarization degree of laser-accelerated 3He2+ ions