scholarly journals Nontuberculous Mycobacteria and Heterologous Immunity to Tuberculosis

2019 ◽  
Vol 220 (7) ◽  
pp. 1091-1098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javeed A Shah ◽  
Cecilia S Lindestam Arlehamn ◽  
David J Horne ◽  
Alessandro Sette ◽  
Thomas R Hawn
Keyword(s):  
Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ◽  
Cross Reactivity ◽  
Bacillus Calmette Guerin ◽  
Critical Determinant ◽  
Pulmonary Tb ◽  
Heterologous Immunity ◽  
The World ◽  
Geographic Regions ◽  
New Vaccines ◽  
Soil And Water

AbstractDevelopment of an improved tuberculosis (TB) vaccine is a high worldwide public health priority. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), the only licensed TB vaccine, provides variable efficacy against adult pulmonary TB, but why this protection varies is unclear. Humans are regularly exposed to non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) that live in soil and water reservoirs and vary in different geographic regions around the world. Immunologic cross-reactivity may explain disparate outcomes of BCG vaccination and susceptibility to TB disease. Evidence supporting this hypothesis is increasing but challenging to obtain due to a lack of reliable research tools. In this review, we describe the progress and bottlenecks in research on NTM epidemiology, immunology and heterologous immunity to Mtb. With ongoing efforts to develop new vaccines for TB, understanding the effect of NTM on vaccine efficacy may be a critical determinant of success.

scholarly journals Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria Interference with BCG-Current Controversies and Future Directions

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 688
Author(s):  
Deepshikha Verma ◽  
Edward D. Chan ◽  
Diane J. Ordway
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Efficacy ◽  
Bacterial Pathogen ◽  
Bcg Vaccine ◽  
Bacillus Calmette Guerin ◽  
Mycobacterial Species ◽  
Critical Determinant ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Vaccine Protection ◽  
Vaccine Potential ◽  
New Vaccines

The global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic caused by the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) continues unabated. The Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination is widely utilized worldwide to protect against infection with M.tb. BCG vaccine protection against TB has had widely varying results for reasons that are not well understood. BCG vaccine interference by non-tuberculosis (NTM) mycobacterial species has been implicated as the potential cause of reduced BCG vaccine efficacy against M.tb. Ongoing efforts to develop new vaccines for TB requires a thorough understanding of the effect of NTM exposure on BCG vaccine efficacy, which may ultimately be a critical determinant of success. We reviewed the conflicting reports on whether NTM interferes with the BCG vaccine, potential explanations to help resolve the controversy, and strategies for developing better animal models. Further studies are needed to longitudinally track the effects of NTM exposure on BCG vaccine-induced host-protective anti-TB immunity.

scholarly journals An Overview of the Development of New Vaccines for Tuberculosis

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 586 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Whitlow ◽  
A. S. Mustafa ◽  
S. N. M. Hanif
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Protective Efficacy ◽  
Recombinant Vaccines ◽  
Bacillus Calmette Guerin ◽  
Vaccine Candidates ◽  
Pulmonary Tb ◽  
Vaccination Strategies ◽  
Therapeutic Value ◽  
Latent Tb ◽  
New Vaccines

Currently, there is only one licensed vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG). Despite its protective efficacy against TB in children, BCG has failed to protect adults against pulmonary TB, lacks therapeutic value, and causes complications in immunocompromised individuals. Furthermore, it compromises the use of antigens present in the purified protein derivate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the diagnosis of TB. Many approaches, e.g., whole-cell organisms, subunit, and recombinant vaccines are currently being explored for safer and more efficacious TB vaccines than BCG. These approaches have been successful in developing a large number of vaccine candidates included in the TB vaccine pipeline and are at different stages of clinical trials in humans. This paper discusses current vaccination strategies, provides directions for the possible routes towards the development of new TB vaccines and highlights recent findings. The efforts for improved TB vaccines may lead to new licensed vaccines capable of replacing/supplementing BCG and conferring therapeutic value in patients with active/latent TB.

scholarly journals EpiCore: Crowdsourcing Health Professionals to Verify Disease Outbreaks

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Health Professionals ◽  
Situational Awareness ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Local Information ◽  
Outbreak Detection ◽  
False Information ◽  
The World ◽  
Geographic Regions ◽  
Human Animal

IntroductionEpiCore draws on the knowledge of a global community of human,animal, and environmental health professionals to verify informationon disease outbreaks in their geographic regions. By using innovativesurveillance techniques and crowdsourcing these experts, EpiCoreenables faster global outbreak detection, verification, and reporting.MethodsThrough a secure online platform, members are able to easily andquickly provide local information to expedite outbreak verification.EpiCore volunteer applications are vetted to ensure that they possessthe public health and epidemiologic expertise necessary to contributeto the platform.ResultsEpiCore currently has over 1600 members that span 135 countries.During the first 8 months of EpiCore’s launch, 172 requests forinformation to volunteers have been posted with an average responserate of over 80%.ConclusionsWith its geographical distribution of members and high responserate, EpiCore is poised to enable the world to verify potential outbreaksignals faster. By improving situational awareness, de-escalatingrumors or false information, and corroborating using other existingsources, EpiCore is able to reduce the signal to noise ratio in diseasesurveillance. Hence, by detecting and verifying outbreaks faster,health officials can generate early responses that can curb epidemicsand save lives.

scholarly journals A Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific subunit vaccine that provides synergistic immunity upon co-administration with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua S. Woodworth ◽  
Helena Strand Clemmensen ◽  
Hannah Battey ◽  
Karin Dijkman ◽  
Thomas Lindenstrøm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Subunit Vaccine ◽  
Clinical Results ◽  
Cross Reactivity ◽  
Bacillus Calmette Guerin ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Vaccine Strategy ◽  
Subunit Vaccines ◽  
Protective Antigens

AbstractGiven the encouraging clinical results of both candidate subunit vaccines and revaccination with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) against tuberculosis (TB), there is support for combining BCG and subunit vaccination for increased efficacy. BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) share ~98% of their genome and current subunit vaccines are almost exclusively designed as BCG boosters. The goal of this study is to design a TB subunit vaccine composed of antigens not shared with BCG and explore the advantages of this design in a BCG + subunit co-administration vaccine strategy. Eight protective antigens are selected to create an Mtb-specific subunit vaccine, named H107. Whereas traditional vaccines containing BCG-shared antigens exhibit in vivo cross-reactivity to BCG, H107 shows no cross-reactivity and does not inhibit BCG colonization. Instead, co-administering H107 with BCG leads to increased adaptive responses against both H107 and BCG. Importantly, rather than expanding BCG-primed T cells, H107 broadens the overall vaccine repertoire with new T cell clones and introduces ‘adjuvant-imprinted’ qualities including Th17 responses and less-differentiated Th1 cells. Collectively, these features of H107 are associated with a substantial increase in long-term protection.

scholarly journals Exploring the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical education: an international cross-sectional study of medical learners

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Brown ◽  
Aliya Kassam ◽  
Mike Paget ◽  
Kenneth Blades ◽  
Megan Mercia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The World ◽  
Geographic Regions ◽  
The Impact

Background: The evidence surrounding the impact of COVID-19 on medical learners remains anecdotal and highly speculative despite the anticipated impact and potential consequences of the current pandemic on medical training. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent that COVID-19 initially impacted medical learners around the world and examine global trends and patterns across geographic regions and levels of training. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of medical learners was conducted between March 25–June 14, 2020, shortly after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Results: 6492 learners completed the survey from 140 countries. Most medical schools removed learners from the clinical environment and adopted online learning, but students reported concerns about the quality of their learning, training progression, and milestone fulfillment. Residents reported they could be better utilized and expressed concerns about their career timeline. Trainees generally felt under-utilized and wanted to be engaged clinically in meaningful ways; however, some felt that contributing to healthcare during a pandemic was beyond the scope of a learner. Significant differences were detected between levels of training and geographic regions for satisfaction with organizational responses as well as the impact of COVID-19 learner wellness and state-trait anxiety. Conclusions: The disruption to the status quo of medical education is perceived by learners across all levels and geographic regions to have negatively affected their training and well-being, particularly amongst postgraduate trainees. These results provide initial empirical insights into the areas that warrant future research as well as consideration for current and future policy planning.

Detection of Zearalenone and Related Metabolites by Fluorescence Polarization Immunoassay

2004 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1039-1043 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRIS M. MARAGOS ◽  
EUN-KYUNG KIM
Keyword(s):  
Small Molecules ◽  
Fluorescence Polarization ◽  
Cross Reactivity ◽  
Fluorescence Polarization Immunoassay ◽  
Rapid Extraction ◽  
Culture Material ◽  
Liquid Chromatographic Method ◽  
The World ◽  
Enzyme Label ◽  
Liquid Chromatographic

Zearalenone is an estrogenic mycotoxin commonly found in grains throughout the world. A number of instrument- and antibody-based methods including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) have been developed to detect zearalenone (ZEN) and related toxins in commodities and foods. Although convenient, the commercial ELISAs for small molecules such as ZEN require a washing step to separate bound and unbound enzyme label before detection. In fluorescence polarization immunoassays, separation of bound and unbound label is not required, a property that reduces the time needed to perform the assays. We developed a fluorescence polarization immunoassay for ZEN in maize. When combined with a rapid extraction technique, the assay could be used to detect as little as 0.11 μg of ZEN g−1 maize within 10 min. The assay showed cross-reactivity to the ZEN analogs zearalanone, α-zearalanol, α-zearalenol, β-zearalenol, and β-zearalanol of 195, 139, 102, 71, and 20%, respectively, relative to ZEN (100%). Recovery of ZEN from spiked maize over the range of 0.5 to 5 μg g−1 averaged 100.2% (n = 12). The fluorescence polarization immunoassay results were comparable to those obtained with a liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of 60 naturally contaminated maize samples and maize samples amended with culture material. The fluorescence polarization immunoassay provides a rapid method for screening of maize for ZEN.

Comparison of Genetic Variations in Zika Virus Isolated From Different Geographic Regions

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
Jooyeon Park ◽  
Jinhwa Jang ◽  
Insung Ahn
Keyword(s):  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Yellow Fever ◽  
Zika Virus ◽  
Complete Genome Sequence ◽  
Yellow Fever Virus ◽  
Clinical Progression ◽  
The World ◽  
Membrane Envelope ◽  
Geographic Regions ◽  
Effective Drugs

The Zika virus (ZIKV) belongs to the genus Flavivirus, together with Dengue virus, yellow fever virus, and West Nile virus. The virus, which was first found in Africa in 1947, has spread across the world owing to a lack of effective drugs or vaccines. The complete genome sequence of ZIKV is now available; it includes three structural and seven non-structure genes arranged in the order of capsid, pre-membrane, envelope, NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5. Two geographically distinct lineages are known, i.e., Asian and African, but ZIKV exhibits differences in clinical progression among regions.

scholarly journals Update on TB Vaccine Pipeline

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Martin ◽  
Nacho Aguilo ◽  
Dessislava Marinova ◽  
Jesus Gonzalo-Asensio
Keyword(s):  
Drug Resistance ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Multi Drug Resistance ◽  
Bacillus Calmette Guerin ◽  
The World

In addition to antibiotics, vaccination is considered among the most efficacious methods in the control and the potential eradication of infectious diseases. New safe and effective vaccines against tuberculosis (TB) could be a very important tool and are called to play a significant role in the fight against TB resistant to antimicrobials. Despite the extended use of the current TB vaccine Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), TB continues to be transmitted actively and continues to be one of the 10 most important causes of death in the world. In the last 20 years, different TB vaccines have entered clinical trials. In this paper, we review the current use of BCG and the diversity of vaccines in clinical trials and their possible indications. New TB vaccines capable of protecting against respiratory forms of the disease caused by sensitive or resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains would be extremely useful tools helping to prevent the emergence of multi-drug resistance.

scholarly journals Invasive Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), an Allergy and Health Challenge

Plants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
M. Iftikhar Hussain ◽  
Ross T. Shackleton ◽  
Ali El-Keblawy ◽  
María Del Mar Trigo Pérez ◽  
Luís González
Keyword(s):  
Health Risks ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Flowering Phenology ◽  
Prosopis Juliflora ◽  
Cross Reactivity ◽  
Pollen Load ◽  
Respiratory Problems ◽  
The World ◽  
Major Allergens

Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC), is an medium-sized tree (family Fabaceae, subfamily Mimosoideae), that has been intorcuded around the world. It is a noxious invasive species in Africa, Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula and a source of highly allergenic pollen in. The present article reviews the adverse allergenic effects of P. juliflora pollen on human and animal health. Several studies have diagnosed that allergenic pollens from Prosopis spp. can provoke respiratory problems. Prosopis pollen extracts have 16 allergenic components of which nine proteins were recognized as major allergens with some of them showing cross-reactivity. Clinically, understanding Prosopis pollen production, flowering seasonality, pollen load, and dispersal in the atmosphere are important to avoid allergic consequences for local inhabitants. Climate change and other pollution can also help to further facilitate allergenic issues. Furthermore, we document other human and animal health problems caused by invasive Prosopis trees. This includes flesh injuries, dental and gastric problems, and the facilitation of malaria. This review summarizes and enhances the existing knowledge about Prosopis flowering phenology, aeroallergen, and other human and animal health risks associated with this noxious plant.

scholarly journals ‘Our newsroom in the cloud’: Slack, virtual newsrooms and journalistic practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 3381-3399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mel Bunce ◽  
Kate Wright ◽  
Martin Scott
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Collaborative Software ◽  
Digital News ◽  
The World ◽  
Geographic Regions ◽  
News Outlet ◽  
Journalistic Practice

Virtual newsrooms have enormous potential: enabling journalists around the world to pool their knowledge, skills and perspectives within joint projects, such as the Panama Papers. These virtual newsrooms are supported by Online Collaborative Software (OCS), the most popular of which is Slack. But although many of the world’s top news organisations now use Slack, there is no empirical research examining its impact on workplace processes or culture. This article presents the results of a year-long ethnographic study of a global digital news outlet, whose remote journalists collaborate, almost exclusively, via Slack. We found that the platform deepened relationships and enabled new creative practices across geographic regions. However, it also contributed to the erasure of the line between private and professional spheres for workers, and introduced new opportunities for management to shape newsroom culture. We argue that the concept of ‘space’ as developed by Harvey can helpfully frame the analysis of these new, important digital platforms.

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