Healthcare-associated pneumonia: a prospective study in Spain.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to describe the epidemiological characteristics and factors related to outcome in Streptococcus pneumoniae and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) healthcare-associated pneumonia (HCAP). METHODS: A 3-year prospective observational epidemiological case study of HCAP was conducted in seven Spanish hospitals. Microbiological and patient characteristics and outcomes were collected and classified by causative pathogen into 4 categories: "S. pneumoniae", "MRSA", "Others" and "Unknown". Patients were followed up 30 days after discharge. RESULTS: A total of 258 (84.6%) patients were enrolled (170 were men [65.9%]). Mean age was 72.4 years ± 15 years (95% CI [70.54-74.25]). The etiology of pneumonia was identified in 73 cases (28.3%): S. pneumoniae in 35 patients (13.6%), MRSA in 8 (3.1%), and other microorganisms in 30 patients (11.6%). Significant differences in rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p < 0.05), previous antibiotic treatment (p<0.05), other chronic respiratory diseases, inhaled corticosteroids (p <0.01), and lymphoma (p < 0.05) were observed among the four groups. Patients with MRSA pneumonia had received more previous antibiotic treatment (87.5%). Thirty-three (12.8%) patients died during hospitalisation; death in 27 (81.2%) was related to pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: The etiology of HCAP was identified in only one quarter of patients, with S. pneumoniae being the most prevalent microorganism. Patients with chronic respiratory diseases more frequently presented HCAP due to MRSA than to S. pneumoniae. Death at hospital discharge was related in most cases to pneumonia.

Photo-electrons unveil topological transitions in graphene-like systems.

The topological structure of the wavefunctions of particles in periodic potentials is characterized by the Berry curvature Ωkn whose integral on the Brillouin zone is a topological invariant known as the Chern number. The bulk-boundary correspondence states that these numbers define the number of edge or surface topologically protected states. It is then of primary interest to find experimental techniques able to measure the Berry curvature. However, up to now, there are no spectroscopic experiments that proved to be capable to obtain information on Ωkn to distinguish different topological structures of the bulk wavefunctions of semiconducting materials. Based on experimental results of the dipolar matrix elements for graphene, here we show that ARPES experiments with the appropriate x-ray energies and polarization can unambiguously detect changes of the Chern numbers in dynamically driven graphene and graphene-like materials opening new routes towards the experimental study of topological properties of condensed matter systems.

Multiterminal conductance of a Floquet topological insulator.

We report on simulations of the dc conductance and quantum Hall response of a Floquet topological insulator using Floquet scattering theory. Our results reveal that laser-induced edge states lead to quantum Hall plateaus once imperfect matching with the nonilluminated leads is lessened. The magnitude of the Hall plateaus, however, is not directly related to the number and chirality of all the edge states at a given energy, as usual. Instead, the plateaus are dominated by those edge states adding to the time-averaged density of states. Therefore, the dc quantum Hall conductance of a Floquet topological insulator is not directly linked to topological invariants of the full Floquet bands.

Mechanical control of spin states in spin-1 molecules and the underscreened Kondo effect.

The ability to make electrical contact to single molecules creates opportunities to examine fundamental processes governing electron flow on the smallest possible length scales. We report experiments in which we controllably stretched individual cobalt complexes having spin S = 1, while simultaneously measuring current flow through the molecule. The molecule's spin states and magnetic anisotropy were manipulated in the absence of a magnetic field by modification of the molecular symmetry. This control enabled quantitative studies of the underscreened Kondo effect, in which conduction electrons only partially compensate the molecular spin. Our findings demonstrate a mechanism of spin control in single-molecule devices and establish that they can serve as model systems for making precision tests of correlated-electron theories.

Out of equilibrium transport through an Anderson impurity: probing scaling laws within the equation of motion approach.

We study non-equilibrium electron transport through a quantum impurity coupled to metallic leads using the equation of motion technique at finite temperature T. Assuming that the interactions are taking place solely in the impurity and focusing on the infinite Hubbard limit, we compute the out of equilibrium density of states and the differential conductance G(2)(T, V) in order to test several scaling laws. We find that G(2)(T, V)/G(2)(T, 0) is a universal function of both eV/T(K) and T/T(K), T(K) being the Kondo temperature. The effect of an in-plane magnetic field on the splitting of the zero bias anomaly in the differential conductance is also analyzed. For a Zeeman splitting Δ, the computed differential conductance peak splitting depends only on Δ/T(K), and for large fields approaches the value of 2Δ. Besides studying the traditional two leads setup, we also consider other configurations that mimic recent experiments, namely, an impurity embedded in a mesoscopic wire and the presence of a third weakly coupled lead. In these cases, a double peak structure of the Kondo resonance is clearly obtained in the differential conductance while the amplitude of the highest peak is shown to decrease as ln(eV/T(K)). Several features of these results are in qualitative agreement with recent experimental observations reported on quantum dots.

Localized spins on graphene.

The problem of a magnetic impurity, atomic or molecular, absorbed on top of a carbon atom in otherwise clean graphene is studied using the numerical renormalization group. The spectral, thermodynamic, and scattering properties of the impurity are described in detail. In the presence of a small magnetic field, the low-energy electronic features of graphene make it possible to inject spin-polarized currents through the impurity using a scanning tunneling microscope. Furthermore, the impurity scattering becomes strongly spin dependent and for a finite impurity concentration it leads to spin-polarized bulk currents and a large magnetoresistance. In gated graphene the impurity spin is Kondo screened at low temperatures. However, at temperatures larger than the Kondo temperature, the anomalous magnetotransport properties are recovered.

Anomalous Josephson current in junctions with spin polarizing quantum point contacts.

We consider a ballistic Josephson junction with a quantum point contact in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The point contact acts as a spin filter when embedded in a circuit with normal electrodes. We show that with an in-plane external magnetic field an anomalous supercurrent appears even for zero phase difference between the superconducting electrodes. In addition, the external field induces large critical current asymmetries between the two flow directions, leading to supercurrent rectifying effects.

Universal distribution of Kondo temperatures in dirty metals.

Kondo screening of diluted magnetic impurities in a disordered host is studied analytically and numerically in one, two, and three dimensions. It is shown that in the T(K) --> 0 limit the distribution of Kondo temperatures has a universal form P(T(K)) approximately T(K) (-a) that holds in the insulating phase and persists in the metallic phase close to the metal-insulator transition. Moreover, the exponent depends only on the dimensionality. The most important consequence of this result is that the T dependence of thermodynamic properties is smooth across the metal-insulator transition in three dimensional systems.

Improvement of pollutant drift forecast system applied to the Prestige oil spills in Galicia Coast (NW of Spain): development of an operational system.

An integrated system named METEOMOHID, developed by MeteoGalicia in the first stage of the Prestige accident in November 2002 was used successfully in an operational form to support decision making and assist in recovering tasks. Afterwards, METEOMOHID has been enhanced with the aim of developing an operational oceanography system to be used in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula. The METEOMOHID system includes local area hydrodynamic coastal ocean modelling (MOHID), real time atmospheric forcing from a local meteorological model (ARPS). Using the available data from the Prestige crisis, a set of simulations were designed in order to reproduce the oil spill drift. The implementation of a detailed vertical resolution in the model has allowed obtaining a detailed surface dynamic, improving our knowledge of the behaviour of tarballs into the water column. Thus, the wind-driven Eckman drift, the direct dragging of the wind were detached, and the possible existence of subsurface oil was assessed. In addition, the present work evaluates the effects of introducing climatologic large scale currents in the METEOMOHID system.

Tuning the nonlocal spin-spin interaction between quantum dots with a magnetic field.

We describe a device where the nonlocal spin-spin interaction between quantum dots (QDs) can be turned on and off with a small magnetic field. The setup consists of two QDs at the edge of two two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs). The QDs' spins are coupled through a RKKY-like interaction mediated by the electrons in the 2DEGs. A magnetic field B(z) perpendicular to the plane of the 2DEG is used as a tuning parameter. When the cyclotron radius is commensurate with the interdot distance, the spin-spin interaction is amplified by a few orders of magnitude. The sign of the interaction is controlled by finely tuning B(z). Our setup allows for several dots to be coupled in a linear arrangement and it is not restricted to nearest-neighbor interaction.

Transport through quantum dots in mesoscopic circuits.

We study the transport through a quantum dot, in the Kondo Coulomb blockade valley, embedded in a mesoscopic device with finite wires. The quantization of states in the circuit that hosts the quantum dot gives rise to finite size effects. These effects make the conductance sensitive to the ratio of the Kondo screening length to the wires length and provide a way of measuring the Kondo cloud. We present results obtained with the numerical renormalization group for a wide range of physically accessible parameters.

Spin-orbit coupling and electron spin resonance theory for carbon nanotubes.

A theoretical description of electron spin resonance (ESR) in 1D interacting metals is given, with primary emphasis on carbon nanotubes. The spin-orbit coupling is derived, and the resulting ESR spectrum is analyzed using a low-energy field theory. Drastic differences in the ESR spectra of single-wall and multiwall nanotubes are found. For single-wall tubes, the predicted double peak spectrum is linked to spin-charge separation. For multiwall tubes, a single narrow asymmetric peak is expected.

Spectroscopic and magnetic mirages of impurities in nanoscopic systems.

We present exact results for magnetic impurities in nanoscopic systems with focusing properties. We analyze the spectroscopic and magnetic properties of Kondo, intermediate valence, and magnetic impurities on a sphere with a metallic surface. Exact calculations show the occurrence of spectroscopic and magnetic mirages at the antipodes of the impurity location. Comparison with calculations performed using effective models validates previous calculations of spectroscopic mirages. Our results predict the existence of a strong magnetic mirage in the experimentally realizable elliptic corral.