691 research outputs found
Illness in Returned Travelers and Immigrants/Refugees: The 6-Year Experience of Two Australian Infectious Diseases Units.
BACKGROUND: Data comparing returned travelers and immigrants/refugees managed in a hospital setting is lacking. METHODS: We prospectively collected data on 1,106 patients with an illness likely acquired overseas who presented to two hospital-based Australian infectious diseases units over a 6-year period. RESULTS: Eighty-three percent of patients were travelers and 17% immigrants/refugees. In travelers, malaria (19%), gastroenteritis/diarrhea (15%), and upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) (7%) were the most common diagnoses. When compared with immigrants/refugees, travelers were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with gastroenteritis/diarrhea [odds ratio (OR) 8], malaria (OR 7), pneumonia (OR 6), URTI (OR 3), skin infection, dengue fever, typhoid/paratyphoid fever, influenza, and rickettsial disease. They were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with leprosy (OR 0.03), chronic hepatitis (OR 0.04), tuberculosis (OR 0.05), schistosomiasis (OR 0.3), and helminthic infection (OR 0.3). In addition, travelers were more likely to present within 1 month of entry into Australia (OR 96), and have fever (OR 8), skin (OR 6), gastrointestinal (OR 5), or neurological symptoms (OR 5) but were less likely to be asymptomatic (OR 0.1) or have anaemia (OR 0.4) or eosinophilia (OR 0.3). Diseases in travelers were more likely to have been acquired via a vector (OR 13) or food and water (OR 4), and less likely to have been acquired via the respiratory (OR 0.2) or skin (OR 0.6) routes. We also found that travel destination and classification of traveler can significantly influence the likelihood of a specific diagnosis in travelers. Six percent of travelers developed a potentially vaccine-preventable disease, with failure to vaccinate occurring in 31% of these cases in the pretravel medical consultation. CONCLUSIONS: There are important differences in the spectrum of illness, clinical features, and mode of disease transmission between returned travelers and immigrants/refugees presenting to hospital-based Australian infectious diseases units with an illness acquired overseas
Using Polymeric Ionic Liquids as an Active Binder in Supercapacitors
Electrodes in batteries and supercapacitors generally contain inert binders to maintain their structural integrity during operation but do not participate in the storage of energy. In this paper, we demonstrate that poly ionic liquids can function as structural binders while simultaneously improving the energy storage capability of supercapacitors. Specifically, we show that when the ionic liquid N-butyl-N-methyl pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide is used as electrolyte and poly(diallyldimethylammonium) bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide is employed as electrode binder the permissible operating voltage of the device is enhanced to 4.0 V. This results in a substantially increased overall specific energy (80% greater) and represents a step toward the development of devices with long cycle lives and high energy densities
On the radio and NIR jet of PKS 2155-304 and its close environment
PKS 2155-304 is one of the brightest BL Lac object in the sky and a very well
studied target from radio to TeV bands. We report on high-resolution (~ 0.12
arcsec) direct imaging of the field of PKS 2155-304 using adaptive optics
near-IR observations in J and Ks bands obtained with the ESO multi-conjugate
adaptive optic demonstrator (MAD) at the Very Large Telescope. These data are
complemented with archival VLA images at various frequencies to investigate the
properties of the close environment of the source. We characterized the faint
galaxies that form the poor group associated to the target. No radio emission
is present for these galaxies, while an old radio jet at ~ 20 kpc from the
nucleus of PKS 2155-304 and a jet-like structure of ~ 2 kpc (~ 1 arcsec) in the
eastern direction are revealed. No counterparts of these radio jets are found
in the NIR or in archival Chandra observations.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in The Astronomical
Journa
PHARAO Laser Source Flight Model: Design and Performances
In this paper, we describe the design and the main performances of the PHARAO
laser source flight model. PHARAO is a laser cooled cesium clock specially
designed for operation in space and the laser source is one of the main
sub-systems. The flight model presented in this work is the first
remote-controlled laser system designed for spaceborne cold atom manipulation.
The main challenges arise from mechanical compatibility with space constraints,
which impose a high level of compactness, a low electric power consumption, a
wide range of operating temperature and a vacuum environment. We describe the
main functions of the laser source and give an overview of the main
technologies developed for this instrument. We present some results of the
qualification process. The characteristics of the laser source flight model,
and their impact on the clock performances, have been verified in operational
conditions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Review of Scientific Instrument
Biodiversity positively associates with biofilm thickness in Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBRs) – implications on micropollutant removal and nitrification
Lot-to-lot consistency of a tetravalent dengue vaccine in healthy adults in Australia: a randomised study
Background: The recombinant yellow fever-17D-dengue virus, live, attenuated, tetravalent dengue vac-cine (CYD-TDV) has undergone extensive clinical trials. Here safety and consistency of immunogenicityof phase III manufacturing lots of CYD-TDV were evaluated and compared with a phase II lot and placeboin a dengue-naïve population.Methods: Healthy 18–60 year-olds were randomly assigned in a 3:3:3:3:1 ratio to receive three sub-cutaneous doses of either CYD-TDV from any one of three phase III lots or a phase II lot, or placebo,respectively in a 0, 6, 12 month dosing schedule. Neutralising antibody geometric mean titres (PRNT50GMTs) for each of the four dengue serotypes were compared in sera collected 28 days after the thirdvaccination—equivalence among lots was demonstrated if the lower and upper limits of the two-sided95% CIs of the GMT ratio were ≥0.5 and ≤2.0, respectively.Results: 712 participants received vaccine or placebo and 614 (86%) completed the study; 17 (2.4%) par-ticipants withdrew after adverse events. Equivalence of phase III lots was demonstrated for 11 of 12pairwise comparisons. One of three comparisons for serotype 2 was not statistically equivalent. GMTsfor serotype 2 in phase III lots were close to each other (65.9, 44.1 and 58.1, respectively).Conclusions: Phase III lots can be produced in a consistent manner with predictable immune responseand acceptable safety profile similar to previously characterised phase II lots. The phase III lots maybe considered as not clinically different as statistical equivalence was shown for serotypes 1, 3 and 4across the phase III lots. For serotype 2, although equivalence was not shown between two lots, the GMTsobserved in the phase III lots were consistently higher than those for the phase II lot. As such, in our view,biological equivalence for all serotypes was demonstrated.Joseph Torresi, Leon G. Heron, Ming Qiao, Joanne Marjason, Laurent Chambonneau, Alain Bouckenooghe, Mark Boaz, Diane van der Vliet, Derek Wallace, Yanee Hutagalung, Michael D. Nissen, Peter C. Richmon
Extended soft X-ray emission in 3CR radio galaxies at z < 0.3: High Excitation and Broad Line Galaxies
We analyze Chandra observations of diffuse soft X-ray emission associated
with a complete sample of 3CR radio galaxies at z < 0.3. In this paper we focus
on the properties of the spectroscopic sub-classes of high excitation galaxies
(HEGs) and broad line objects (BLOs). Among the 33 HEGs we detect extended (or
possibly extended) emission in about 40% of the sources; the fraction is even
higher (8/10) restricting the analysis to the objects with exposure times
larger than 10 ks. In the 18 BLOs, extended emission is seen only in 2 objects;
this lower detection rate can be ascribed to the presence of their bright X-ray
nuclei that easily outshine any genuine diffuse emission.
A very close correspondence between the soft X-ray and optical line
morphology emerges. We also find that the ratio between [O III] and extended
soft X-ray luminosity is confined within a factor of 2 around a median value of
5. Both results are similar to what is seen in Seyfert galaxies.
We discuss different processes that could explain the soft X-ray emission and
conclude that the photoionization of extended gas, coincident with the narrow
line region, is the favored mechanism.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication on A&
Oscillations above the barrier in the fusion of 28Si + 28Si
Fusion cross sections of 28Si + 28Si have been measured in a range above the
barrier with a very small energy step (DeltaElab = 0.5 MeV). Regular
oscillations have been observed, best evidenced in the first derivative of the
energy-weighted excitation function. For the first time, quite different
behaviors (the appearance of oscillations and the trend of sub-barrier cross
sections) have been reproduced within the same theoretical frame, i.e., the
coupled-channel model using the shallow M3Y+repulsion potential. The
calculations suggest that channel couplings play an important role in the
appearance of the oscillations, and that the simple relation between a peak in
the derivative of the energy-weighted cross section and the height of a
centrifugal barrier is lost, and so is the interpretation of the second
derivative of the excitation function as a barrier distribution for this
system, at energies above the Coulomb barrier.Comment: submitted to Physics Letters
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