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Background: Pulmonary nocardiosis (PN) is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening infection. Most of our knowledge is derived from case reports or smaller case series. Recently, increasing PN incidence rates have been reported. We aim to describe the clinical course of and risk factors for PN in four Western European countries and to estimate population-based annual hospitalization rates.
Methods: Retrospective evaluation (1995 to 2011) of the clinical course of and risk factors for PN in patients from 11 hospitals in four European countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands). Calculation of population-based estimates of hospitalization rates of PN in Germany (2005 to 2011) using official German nationwide diagnosis-related groups (DRG) hospital statistics.
Results: Forty-three patients fulfilled stringent criteria for proven (n = 8) and probable (n = 35) PN; seven with extrapulmonary dissemination. Within the 43 patients, major PN risk factors were immunocompromising (83.7%) and/or pulmonary (58.1%; in 27.9% as only comorbidity) comorbidities. Median duration of PN targeted therapy was 12 weeks. Distinguished patterns of resistance were observed (imipenem susceptibility: N. farcinica 33.3%; N. asteroides 66.7%). Overall mortality rate was 18.9%; in disseminated PN 50%. Over time, annual PN hospitalization rates remained unchanged at around 0.04/100′000 with the highest rate among men aged 75–84 years (0.24/100′000).
Conclusion: PN is rare, but potentially life-threatening, and mainly affects immunocompromised elder males. Overall annual hospitalization rates remained stable between 2005 and 2011.
The particle-in-cell (PIC) method was developed to investigate microscopic phenomena, and with the advances in computing power, newly developed codes have been used for several fields, such as astrophysical, magnetospheric, and solar plasmas. PIC applications have grown extensively, with large computing powers available on supercomputers such as Pleiades and Blue Waters in the US. For astrophysical plasma research, PIC methods have been utilized for several topics, such as reconnection, pulsar dynamics, non-relativistic shocks, relativistic shocks, and relativistic jets. PIC simulations of relativistic jets have been reviewed with emphasis placed on the physics involved in the simulations. This review summarizes PIC simulations, starting with the Weibel instability in slab models of jets, and then focuses on global jet evolution in helical magnetic field geometry. In particular, we address kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and mushroom instabilities.
White matter abnormalities across different epilepsy syndromes in adults: an ENIGMA Epilepsy study
(2019)
The epilepsies are commonly accompanied by widespread abnormalities in cerebral white matter. ENIGMA-Epilepsy is a large quantitative brain imaging consortium, aggregating data to investigate patterns of neuroimaging abnormalities in common epilepsy syndromes, including temporal lobe epilepsy, extratemporal epilepsy, and genetic generalized epilepsy. Our goal was to rank the most robust white matter microstructural differences across and within syndromes in a multicentre sample of adult epilepsy patients. Diffusion-weighted MRI data were analyzed from 1,069 non-epileptic controls and 1,249 patients: temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (N=599), temporal lobe epilepsy with normal MRI (N=275), genetic generalized epilepsy (N=182) and nonlesional extratemporal epilepsy (N=193). A harmonized protocol using tract-based spatial statistics was used to derive skeletonized maps of fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity for each participant, and fiber tracts were segmented using a diffusion MRI atlas. Data were harmonized to correct for scanner-specific variations in diffusion measures using a batch-effect correction tool (ComBat). Analyses of covariance, adjusting for age and sex, examined differences between each epilepsy syndrome and controls for each white matter tract (Bonferroni corrected at p<0.001). Across “all epilepsies” lower fractional anisotropy was observed in most fiber tracts with small to medium effect sizes, especially in the corpus callosum, cingulum and external capsule. Less robust effects were seen with mean diffusivity. Syndrome-specific fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity differences were most pronounced in patients with hippocampal sclerosis in the ipsilateral parahippocampal cingulum and external capsule, with smaller effects across most other tracts. Those with temporal lobe epilepsy and normal MRI showed a similar pattern of greater ipsilateral than contralateral abnormalities, but less marked than those in patients with hippocampal sclerosis. Patients with generalized and extratemporal epilepsies had pronounced differences in fractional anisotropy in the corpus callosum, corona radiata and external capsule, and in mean diffusivity of the anterior corona radiata. Earlier age of seizure onset and longer disease duration were associated with a greater extent of microstructural abnormalities in patients with hippocampal sclerosis. We demonstrate microstructural abnormalities across major association, commissural, and projection fibers in a large multicentre study of epilepsy. Overall, epilepsy patients showed white matter abnormalities in the corpus callosum, cingulum and external capsule, with differing severity across epilepsy syndromes. These data further define the spectrum of white matter abnormalities in common epilepsy syndromes, yielding new insights into pathological substrates that may be used to guide future therapeutic and genetic studies.
Aims: Averaged measurements, but not the progression based on multiple assessments of carotid intima-media thickness, (cIMT) are predictive of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in individuals. Whether this is true for conventional risk factors is unclear.
Methods and results: An individual participant meta-analysis was used to associate the annualised progression of systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with future cardiovascular disease risk in 13 prospective cohort studies of the PROG-IMT collaboration (n = 34,072). Follow-up data included information on a combined cardiovascular disease endpoint of myocardial infarction, stroke, or vascular death. In secondary analyses, annualised progression was replaced with average. Log hazard ratios per standard deviation difference were pooled across studies by a random effects meta-analysis. In primary analysis, the annualised progression of total cholesterol was marginally related to a higher cardiovascular disease risk (hazard ratio (HR) 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00 to 1.07). The annualised progression of systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was not associated with future cardiovascular disease risk. In secondary analysis, average systolic blood pressure (HR 1.20 95% CI 1.11 to 1.29) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.16) were related to a greater, while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.97) was related to a lower risk of future cardiovascular disease events.
Conclusion: Averaged measurements of systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol displayed significant linear relationships with the risk of future cardiovascular disease events. However, there was no clear association between the annualised progression of these conventional risk factors in individuals with the risk of future clinical endpoints.
We have identified a mistake in how Fig. 1 is referenced in the text of the article Eur. Phys. J. C 77 (2017) no. 8, 569 which affected three paragraphs of the results section. The corrected three paragraphs as well as the unmodified accompanying figure are reproduced in this document with the correct labeling.
In addition, an editing issue led to a missing acknowledgements section. The missing section is reproduced at the end of this document in the manner in which it should have appeared in the published article.
J/ψ suppression has long been considered a sensitive signature of the formation of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. In this letter, we present the first measurement of inclusive J/ψ production at mid-rapidity through the dimuon decay channel in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV with the STAR experiment. These measurements became possible after the installation of the Muon Telescope Detector was completed in 2014. The J/ψ yields are measured in a wide transverse momentum (pT) range of 0.15 GeV/c to 12 GeV/c from central to peripheral collisions. They extend the kinematic reach of previous measurements at RHIC with improved precision. In the 0-10% most central collisions, the J/ψ yield is suppressed by a factor of approximately 3 for pT > 5 GeV/c relative to that in p + p collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The J/ψ nuclear modification factor displays little dependence on pT in all centrality bins. Model calculations can qualitatively describe the data, providing further evidence for the color-screening effect experienced by J/ψ mesons in the QGP.
Quark interactions with topological gluon configurations can induce chirality imbalance and local parity violation in quantum chromodynamics. This can lead to electric charge separation along the strong magnetic field in relativistic heavy-ion collisions – the chiral magnetic effect (CME). We report measurements by the STAR collaboration of a CME-sensitive observable in p + Au and d + Au collisions at 200 GeV, where the CME is not expected, using charge-dependent pair correlations relative to a third particle. We observe strong charge-dependent correlations similar to those measured in heavy-ion collisions. This bears important implications for the interpretation of the heavy-ion data.
We report on the first measurements of J/ψ production at very low transverse momentum (pT< 0.2 GeV/c) in hadronic Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV and U+U collisions at √sNN = 193 GeV. Remarkably, the inferred nuclear modification factor of J/ψ at mid-rapidity in Au+Au (U+U) collisions reaches about 24 (52) for pT< 0.05 GeV/c in the 60-80% collision centrality class. This noteworthy enhancement cannot be explained by hadronic production accompanied by cold and hot medium effects. In addition, the dN/dt distribution of J/ψ for the very low pT range is presented for the first time. The distribution is consistent with that expected from the Au nucleus and shows a hint of interference. Comparison of the measurements to theoretical calculations of coherent production shows that the excess yield can be described reasonably well and reveals a partial disruption of coherent production in semi-central collisions, perhaps due to the violent hadronic interactions. Incorporating theoretical calculations, the results strongly suggest that the dramatic enhancement of J/ψ yield observed at extremely low pT originates from coherent photon-nucleus interactions. In particular, coherently produced J/ψ's in violent hadronic collisions may provide a novel probe of the quark-gluon-plasma.
We report on the first measurements of J/ψ production at very low transverse momentum (pT< 0.2 GeV/c) in hadronic Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV and U+U collisions at √sNN = 193 GeV. Remarkably, the inferred nuclear modification factor of J/ψ at mid-rapidity in Au+Au (U+U) collisions reaches about 24 (52) for pT< 0.05 GeV/c in the 60-80% collision centrality class. This noteworthy enhancement cannot be explained by hadronic production accompanied by cold and hot medium effects. In addition, the dN/dt distribution of J/ψ for the very low pT range is presented for the first time. The distribution is consistent with that expected from the Au nucleus and shows a hint of interference. Comparison of the measurements to theoretical calculations of coherent production shows that the excess yield can be described reasonably well and reveals a partial disruption of coherent production in semi-central collisions, perhaps due to the violent hadronic interactions. Incorporating theoretical calculations, the results strongly suggest that the dramatic enhancement of J/ψ yield observed at extremely low pT originates from coherent photon-nucleus interactions. In particular, coherently produced J/ψ's in violent hadronic collisions may provide a novel probe of the quark-gluon-plasma.
We present measurements of the differential cross sections of inclusive J/ψ meson production as a function of transverse momentum (pJ/ψT) using the μ+μ− and e+e− decay channels in proton+proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 510 and 500 GeV, respectively, recorded by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The measurement from the μ+μ− channel is for 0 <pJ/ψT< 9 GeV/c and rapidity range |yJ/ψ|< 0.4, and that from the e+e− channel is for 4 <pJ/ψT< 20 GeV/c and |yJ/ψ|< 1.0. The ψ(2S) to J/ψ ratio is also measured for 4 <pmesonT< 12 GeV/c through the e+e− decay channel. Model calculations, which incorporate different approaches toward the J/ψ production mechanism, are compared with experimental results and show reasonable agreement within uncertainties.