Background: An increase in candidemia has been observed throughout the world since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients with COVID-19 may have different risk factors, clinical presentations, and outcomes compared to patients without COVID-19. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of all inpatients with candidemia at a large, academic medical center from April 30, 2019, to February 19, 2021. The first case of COVID-19 was detected at our institution March 2020 and patients were sorted into pre– versus post–COVID-19 pandemic groups. Data regarding clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes were collected. The rate of candidemia per 10,000 patient days was calculated from January 2013 through February 2021. Results: In total, 202 patients were identified with candidemia: 92 cases were identified before the pandemic and 110 cases were identified after the pandemic began. Moreover, 33 (16.3%) patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 during the admission and 169 (83.7%) did not have COVID-19. Patients with COVID-19 were significantly more likely to be older (median, 64.5 vs 54.8 years; P = .0006) and to have a higher body mass index (32.8 vs 29.1; P = .03) than patients without COVID-19. Patients with COVID-19 were less likely have some of the traditional risk factors (eg, abdominal surgery, total parenteral nutrition, history of injecting drugs) for candidemia compared to patients without COVID-19. Patients with COVID-19 were significantly more likely to require ICU care (97.0% vs 67.5%; P < .001) and to require mechanical ventilation (90.9% vs 53.9%; P < .001), and they had higher mortality at 30 days (66.7% vs 31.4%; P < .001). A multivariate logistic regression model showed that COVID-19 (OR, 2.53; 95% CI, 1.09–5.90) and higher age (OR 1.45, 95% CI, 1.11–1.91) were significant predictors of 30 day mortality. Using a Poisson regression model, the incidence rate ratio for candidemia per month after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was 2.09 (95% CI, 1.85–2.36; P < .0001) compared to the years prior. Conclusions: Rates of candidemia significantly increased after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients with candidemia in the post–COVID-19 era tend to have nontraditional risk factors, to be more critically ill, and to have increased mortality compared to patients in the pre–COVID-19 era. COVID-19 and higher age were independent predictors of mortality. More studies are needed to further define risk factors for candidemia in patients with COVID-19.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None

We describe an ultra-wide-bandwidth, low-frequency receiver recently installed on the Parkes radio telescope. The receiver system provides continuous frequency coverage from 704 to 4032 MHz. For much of the band ( ${\sim}60\%$ ), the system temperature is approximately 22 K and the receiver system remains in a linear regime even in the presence of strong mobile phone transmissions. We discuss the scientific and technical aspects of the new receiver, including its astronomical objectives, as well as the feed, receiver, digitiser, and signal processor design. We describe the pipeline routines that form the archive-ready data products and how those data files can be accessed from the archives. The system performance is quantified, including the system noise and linearity, beam shape, antenna efficiency, polarisation calibration, and timing stability.

Brandãoite, [BeAl2(PO4)2(OH)2(H2O)4](H2O), is a new Be–Al phosphate mineral from the João Firmino mine, Pomarolli farm region, Divino das Laranjeiras County, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, where it occurs in an albite pocket with other secondary phosphates, including beryllonite, atencioite and zanazziite, in a granitic pegmatite. It occurs as colourless acicular crystals <10 µm wide and <100 µm long that form compact radiating spherical aggregates up to 1.0–1.5 mm across. It is colourless and transparent in single crystals and white in aggregates, has a white streak and a vitreous lustre, is brittle and has conchoidal fracture. Mohs hardness is 6, and the calculated density is 2.353 g/cm3. Brandãoite is biaxial (+), α = 1.544, β = 1.552 and γ = 1.568, all ± 0.002; 2Vobs = 69.7(10)° and 2Vcalc = 71.2°. No pleochroism was observed. Brandãoite is triclinic, space group P$\bar{1}$, a = 6.100(4), b = 8.616(4), c = 10.261(5) Å, α = 93.191(11), β = 95.120(11), γ = 96.863(11)°, V = 532.1(8) Å3 and Z = 2. Chemical analysis of a 4 µm wide needle-shaped crystal by electron microprobe and secondary-ion mass spectrometry gave P2O5 = 28.42, Al2O3 = 20.15, BeO = 4.85, H2O = 21.47 and sum = 74.89 wt.%. The empirical formula, normalised on the basis of 15 anions pfu with (OH) = 2 and (H2O) = 5 apfu (from the crystal structure) is Be0.98Al1.99P2.02H12O15. The crystal structure was solved by direct methods and refined to an R1 index of 7.0%. There are two P sites occupied by P5+, two Al sites occupied by octahedrally coordinated Al3+, and one Be site occupied by tetrahedrally coordinated Be2+. There are fifteen anions, two of which are (OH) groups and five of which are (H2O) groups. The simplified ideal formula is thus [BeAl2(PO4)2(OH)2(H2O)4](H2O) with Z = 2. Beryllium and P tetrahedra share corners to form a four-membered ring. Aluminium octahedra share a common vertex to form an [Al2φ11] dimer, and these dimers are cross-linked by P tetrahedra to form a complex slab of polyhedra parallel to (001). These slabs are cross-linked by BeO2(OH)(H2O) tetrahedra, with interstitial (H2O) groups in channels that extend along [100].

We investigate the class of bipartite Borel graphs organized by the order of Borel homomorphism. We show that this class is unbounded by finding a jump operator for Borel graphs analogous to a jump operator of Louveau for Borel equivalence relations. The proof relies on a nonseparation result for iterated Fréchet ideals and filters due to Debs and Saint Raymond. We give a new proof of this fact using effective descriptive set theory. We also investigate an analogue of the Friedman-Stanley jump for Borel graphs. This analogue does not yield a jump operator for bipartite Borel graphs. However, we use it to answer a question of Kechris and Marks by showing that there is a Borel graph with no Borel homomorphism to a locally countable Borel graph, but each of whose connected components has a countable Borel coloring.

The effects of crystal orientation and doping on the surface energy, γT, of native oxides of Si(100) and Si(111) are measured via Three Liquid Contact Angle Analysis (3LCAA) to extract γT, while Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) is used to detect Oxygen. During 3LCAA, contact angles for three liquids are measured with photographs via the “Drop and Reflection Operative Program (DROP™). DROP™ removes subjectivity in image analysis, and yields reproducible contact angles within < ±1°. Unlike to the Sessile Drop Method, DROP can yield relative errors < 3% on sets of 20-30 drops. Native oxides on 5 x 1013 B/cm3 p- doped Si(100) wafers, as received in sealed, 25 wafer teflon boats continuously stored in Class 100/ISO 5 conditions at 24.5°C in 25% controlled humidity, are found to be hydrophilic. Their γT, 52.5 ± 1.5 mJ/m2, is reproducible between four boats from three sources, and 9% greater than γT of native oxides on n- doped Si(111), which averages 48.1 ± 1.6 mJ/m2 on four 4” Si(111) wafers. IBA combining 16O nuclear resonance with channeling detects 30% more oxygen on native oxides of Si(111) than Si(100). While γT should increase on thinner, more defective oxides, Lifshitz-Van der Waals interactions γLW on native oxides of Si(100) remain at 36 ± 0.4 mJ/m2, equal to γLW on Si(111), 36 ± 0.6 mJ/m2, since γLW arises from the same SiO2 molecules. Native oxides on 4.5 x 1018 B/cm3 p+ doped Si(100) yield a γT of 39 ± 1 mJ/m2, as they are thicker per IBA. In summary, 3LCAA and IBA can detect reproducibly and accurately, within a few %, changes in the surface energy of native oxides due to thickness and surface composition arising from doping or crystal structure, if conducted in well controlled clean room conditions for measurements and storage.

Accurate analysis of microliter blood samples can improve patient care during medical testing and forensics. Patients can suffer from anemia due to the larger volume required for blood tests, 7 milliliters per vial. Attempts at analysis of nanoliter blood samples by Theranos have systematic errors > 10%, higher than medically acceptable thresholds. Our research aims to analyze composition of microliters of blood. This research investigates accuracy of analyzing blood via HemaDrop™, a patented technique to create a Homogenous Thin Solid Film (HTSF) on super-hydrophilic and hyper-hydrophilic surfaces with 5 microliter droplets of blood. To investigate HemaDrop™’s accuracy, Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) is conducted on dried blood spots (DBS) and HTSFs from congealed blood drops on HemaDrop™-treated samples. HTSFs are observed via optical microscopy to compare uniformity, precipitation, and phase separation. DBSs and HTSFs are compared via optical microscopy for canine blood and human blood. After drying uncoated samples, canine and human blood DBSs exhibit cratering, phase separation, and lack of uniformity. Conversely, HTSFs are uniform, exhibiting no cratering and little phase separation. Next, IBA demonstrates that HTSFs of canine and human blood solidified on super-hydrophilic and hyper-hydrophilic coatings yield spectra where species and electrolytes can be identified, unlike on DBSs. The damage curve method enables extracting accurate blood composition for elements, accounting for IBA damage. Relative error in blood elemental composition is within the 10% medical threshold. While both produced films within the 10% threshold, hyper-hydrophilic coatings eliminated phase separation from serum observed in HTSFs on super-hydrophilic coatings. HemaDrop™ provides consistent measurements independent of sample, showing HTSFs from µL blood drops are uniform, reproducible, and free of phase separation. Thus, HemaDrop™ allows for analysis in vacuum from congealed blood drops and expands the range of techniques to identify elements and molecules.

The addition of Al to a Mg–10Gd alloy was found to lead to substantial grain size reduction during casting at concentrations between 0.8% and 1.3%. At these concentrations, Al2Gd particles were found at the center of grains, and the orientation relationship $[112]_{{\rm{Al}}_{\rm{2}} {\rm{Gd}}} \,{\rm{‖}}\,[2\bar 1\bar 10]_{{\rm{\alpha - Mg}}} ,\,(1\bar 10)_{{\rm{Al}}_{\rm{2}} {\rm{Gd}}} \,{\rm{‖}}\,(0\bar 110)_{{\rm{\alpha - Mg}}} $ was found reproducibly between Al2Gd and α-Mg, indicating that these are the heterogeneous nucleant particles that form in situ at these Al contents. Most of these nuclei were between 2 and 7 μm in size. Furthermore, little grain coarsening was observed during solution treatment, particularly compared with an alloy grain refined by Zr particles where substantial coarsening occurred. This appears to be because Al2Gd particles restrict grain boundary motion during solution treatment.

This patient case-study represents the introduction of radiotherapy in the management of extra-cranial vascular malformations, a topic with virtually no supported literature before our case study. In those patients refractory to established therapies and facing the inevitability of mutilating amputation, radiotherapy may be a viable option to preserve the limb.

Applications of nanoscience in the non-traditional classroom have successfully exposed students to various methods of research with applications to micro- and nano-electronics. Activities obtained from the NanoSense website associated with current global energy and water concerns are solid examples. In this regard, all 36 students in the 2008-2009 Science Research Program (SRP) prepared and delivered individual and group lesson plans in addition to their authentic, year-long research projects. Two out of 36 students selected nanoscience based projects in preparation for science fair competition in 2009. Additionally, preliminary research was conducted while participating in the Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP) Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program in summer 2008 which supported the idea of developing a photolithography kit. This kit is intended to introduce high school students to the fundamentals of photolithography. In this paper, the design, implementation and feasibility of this kit in the high school classroom is described as well as details involving individual and group nanoscience based projects. Supporting educational models include self-regulated learning (SRL) concepts; situated cognition; social constructivism; Renzulli's (1977) enrichment triad and Types I – III inquiry enrichment activities.