COVID-19 vaccine race: analysis of age-dependent immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 indicates that more than just one strategy may be needed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuria E. Campillo ◽  
Mercedes Jimenez ◽  
Matilde Canelles
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Immune Responses ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Finish Line ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Worldwide Distribution ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Respiratory Coronavirus ◽  
Race Analysis

: In December 2019, a novel respiratory coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 appeared in China, causing the disease termed COVID-19 that has caused millions of infections worldwide. In this article we have analyzed existing evidence on the immune response against SARS coronaviruses in order to understand the possible outcome of a vaccine for COVID-19. From our analysis it becomes clear that there is a big difference in the immune response against SARS in children, young adults and the elderly, both at the innate and adaptive levels. Taking this information into account, we have studied the strategies that are being used for development of COVID-19 vaccines. We discuss the perspectives for obtention and worldwide distribution of reliable vaccines using this perspective. The conclusion is that different vaccines may be protective for different age segments within the population, depending on the strategy used for their design. Therefore, it will become necessary for several vaccines to reach the finish line, not only to ensure availability, but also to guarantee an adequate immune response at the individual level.

scholarly journals System models for resilience in gerontology: application to the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Klasa ◽  
Stephanie Galaitsi ◽  
Andrew Wister ◽  
Igor Linkov
Keyword(s):  
The Elderly ◽  
System Level ◽  
Improve Quality ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Chronic Stressors ◽  
The World ◽  
Aging Adults ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThe care needs for aging adults are increasing burdens on health systems around the world. Efforts minimizing risk to improve quality of life and aging have proven moderately successful, but acute shocks and chronic stressors to an individual’s systemic physical and cognitive functions may accelerate their inevitable degradations. A framework for resilience to the challenges associated with aging is required to complement on-going risk reduction policies, programs and interventions. Studies measuring resilience among the elderly at the individual level have not produced a standard methodology. Moreover, resilience measurements need to incorporate external structural and system-level factors that determine the resources that adults can access while recovering from aging-related adversities. We use the National Academies of Science conceptualization of resilience for natural disasters to frame resilience for aging adults. This enables development of a generalized theory of resilience for different individual and structural contexts and populations, including a specific application to the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Pro-Environmental Behavior in an Aging World: Evidence from 31 Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1748
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Feng Hao ◽  
Yunxia Liu
Keyword(s):  
Linear Models ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Environmental Behavior ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Individual

Population change and environmental degradation have become two of the most pressing issues for sustainable development in the contemporary world, while the effect of population aging on pro-environmental behavior remains controversial. In this paper, we examine the effects of individual and population aging on pro-environmental behavior through multilevel analyses of cross-national data from 31 countries. Hierarchical linear models with random intercepts are employed to analyze the data. The findings reveal a positive relationship between aging and pro-environmental behavior. At the individual level, older people are more likely to participate in environmental behavior (b = 0.052, p < 0.001), and at the national level, living in a country with a greater share of older persons encourages individuals to behave sustainably (b = 0.023, p < 0.01). We also found that the elderly are more environmentally active in an aging society. The findings imply that the longevity of human beings may offer opportunities for the improvement of the natural environment.

scholarly journals SleepOMICS: How Big Data Can Revolutionize Sleep Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Luigi Bragazzi ◽  
Ottavia Guglielmi ◽  
and Sergio Garbarino
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Sleep Disorders ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Sleep Medicine ◽  
Sleep Research ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual

Sleep disorders have reached epidemic proportions worldwide, affecting the youth as well as the elderly, crossing the entire lifespan in both developed and developing countries. “Real-life” behavioral (sensor-based), molecular, digital, and epidemiological big data represent a source of an impressive wealth of information that can be exploited in order to advance the field of sleep research. It can be anticipated that big data will have a profound impact, potentially enabling the dissection of differences and oscillations in sleep dynamics and architecture at the individual level (“sleepOMICS”), thus paving the way for a targeted, “one-size-does-not-fit-all” management of sleep disorders (“precision sleep medicine”).

scholarly journals Discrete Dynamical Modeling of Influenza Virus Infection Suggests Age-Dependent Differences in Immunity

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ericka Keef ◽  
Li Ang Zhang ◽  
David Swigon ◽  
Alisa Urbano ◽  
G. Bard Ermentrout ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Influenza Virus ◽  
Virus Infection ◽  
Immune Responses ◽  
Influenza Virus Infection ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Morbidity And Mortality ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Delayed Onset

ABSTRACT Immunosenescence, an age-related decline in immune function, is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Older hosts exhibit a delayed onset of immunity and prolonged inflammation after an infection, leading to excess damage and a greater likelihood of death. Our study applies a rule-based model to infer which components of the immune response are most changed in an aged host. Two groups of BALB/c mice (aged 12 to 16 weeks and 72 to 76 weeks) were infected with 2 inocula: a survivable dose of 50 PFU and a lethal dose of 500 PFU. Data were measured at 10 points over 19 days in the sublethal case and at 6 points over 7 days in the lethal case, after which all mice had died. Data varied primarily in the onset of immunity, particularly the inflammatory response, which led to a 2-day delay in the clearance of the virus from older hosts in the sublethal cohort. We developed a Boolean model to describe the interactions between the virus and 21 immune components, including cells, chemokines, and cytokines, of innate and adaptive immunity. The model identifies distinct sets of rules for each age group by using Boolean operators to describe the complex series of interactions that activate and deactivate immune components. Our model accurately simulates the immune responses of mice of both ages and with both inocula included in the data (95% accurate for younger mice and 94% accurate for older mice) and shows distinct rule choices for the innate immunity arm of the model between younger and aging mice in response to influenza A virus infection. IMPORTANCE Influenza virus infection causes high morbidity and mortality rates every year, especially in the elderly. The elderly tend to have a delayed onset of many immune responses as well as prolonged inflammatory responses, leading to an overall weakened response to infection. Many of the details of immune mechanisms that change with age are currently not well understood. We present a rule-based model of the intrahost immune response to influenza virus infection. The model is fit to experimental data for young and old mice infected with influenza virus. We generated distinct sets of rules for each age group to capture the temporal differences seen in the immune responses of these mice. These rules describe a network of interactions leading to either clearance of the virus or death of the host, depending on the initial dosage of the virus. Our models clearly demonstrate differences in these two age groups, particularly in the innate immune responses.

scholarly journals Host age modulates within-host parasite competition

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 20150131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rony Izhar ◽  
Jarkko Routtu ◽  
Frida Ben-Ami
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Parasite Prevalence ◽  
Host Age ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Pasteuria Ramosa ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Host Parasite ◽  
Parasite Exposure ◽  
Age At Exposure

In many host populations, one of the most striking differences among hosts is their age. While parasite prevalence differences in relation to host age are well known, little is known on how host age impacts ecological and evolutionary dynamics of diseases. Using two clones of the water flea Daphnia magna and two clones of its bacterial parasite Pasteuria ramosa , we examined how host age at exposure influences within-host parasite competition and virulence. We found that multiply-exposed hosts were more susceptible to infection and suffered higher mortality than singly-exposed hosts. Hosts oldest at exposure were least often infected and vice versa. Furthermore, we found that in young multiply-exposed hosts competition was weak, allowing coexistence and transmission of both parasite clones, whereas in older multiply-exposed hosts competitive exclusion was observed. Thus, age-dependent parasite exposure and host demography (age structure) could together play an important role in mediating parasite evolution. At the individual level, our results demonstrate a previously unnoticed interaction of the host's immune system with host age, suggesting that the specificity of immune function changes as hosts mature. Therefore, evolutionary models of parasite virulence might benefit from incorporating age-dependent epidemiological parameters.

Optimality analysis of Th1/Th2 immune responses during microparasite-macroparasite co-infection, with epidemiological feedbacks

Parasitology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 135 (7) ◽  
pp. 841-853 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDY FENTON ◽  
TRACEY LAMB ◽  
ANDREA L. GRAHAM
Keyword(s):  
Immune Responses ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Parasite Abundance ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Host Immune Responses ◽  
Individual Host ◽  
Diverse Community ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Optimality Models

SUMMARYIndividuals are typically co-infected by a diverse community of microparasites (e.g. viruses or protozoa) and macroparasites (e.g. helminths). Vertebrates respond to these parasites differently, typically mounting T helper type 1 (Th1) responses against microparasites and Th2 responses against macroparasites. These two responses may be antagonistic such that hosts face a ‘decision’ of how to allocate potentially limiting resources. Such decisions at the individual host level will influence parasite abundance at the population level which, in turn, will feed back upon the individual level. We take a first step towards a complete theoretical framework by placing an analysis of optimal immune responses under microparasite-macroparasite co-infection within an epidemiological framework. We show that the optimal immune allocation is quantitatively sensitive to the shape of the trade-off curve and qualitatively sensitive to life-history traits of the host, microparasite and macroparasite. This model represents an important first step in placing optimality models of the immune response to co-infection into an epidemiological framework. Ultimately, however, a more complete framework is needed to bring together the optimal strategy at the individual level and the population-level consequences of those responses, before we can truly understand the evolution of host immune responses under parasite co-infection.

scholarly journals Bribing Behaviour and Sample Selection: Evidence from Post-Socialist Countries and Western Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 235 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artjoms Ivlevs ◽  
Timothy Hinks
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Public Official ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Biased Estimates

Summary We study the individual-level determinants of bribing public officials. Particular attention is paid to the issue of respondents’ non-random selection into contact with public officials, which may result in biased estimates. Data come from the 2010 Life in Transition Survey, covering 30 post-socialist and five Western European countries. The results suggest that the elderly tend to be less likely to bribe public officials, while people with higher income and, especially, low trust in public institutions are more likely to bribe. Several determinants of bribery - ethnic minority status, the degree of urbanisation, social trust - are context specific, i.e. they change signs or are statistically significant according to the geographical region or the type of public official. The results show that not accounting for sample selection effects may produce a bias in estimated coefficients.

Costs of Ambulatory Medical Care Over the Long Term in the Quebec Medicare System

1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Béland
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Fee For Service ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Universal Health Care System ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Ambulatory Medical Care ◽  
Number Of Individuals

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the question of whether the costs of ambulatory medical care (AMCC) in a universal health care system, such as that in Quebec, are related to household income. Questionnaires completed by 32,000 respondents for the Enquête Santé-Québec, 1987 (ESQ87) were matched with records in the Quebec Medicare system (La Régie d'Assurance-maladie du Québec, RAMQ). Approximately 90 per cent of the individuals were matched. Respondents living in remote regions were excluded from the study since a major portion of medical care in these regions is not reimbursed through fee for service; visits to physicians not on fee for service are not recorded in RAMQ files. At the individual level, the costs of ambulatory medical care over a two-year period decreased slightly with income, but at the household level, costs increased for those with higher incomes since the number of individuals in the households increased with income. These associations disappeared when the age of the respondents was taken into account. State of health is directly related to costs of care. Among health risks, availability of social support decreases costs of AMCC for both children and adults, while unemployment increases costs for adults only. Education of parents is linked with higher levels of costs for children, but AMCC decreases with increased education of adults. Finally, costs are lower for children in larger families compared with those in smaller families. To conclude, income does not affect costs of AMCC in Quebec, although variables associated with income, such as education, unemployment and family size, do have definite effects on costs. The absence of a link between psychological distress and costs for the elderly is a matter of concern since it confirms the difficulty the elderly experience in accessing psychiatric care.

scholarly journals Improving Child Nutritional Status in Order to Fill the Demographic Dividend in East Java Province, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Lutfi Agus Salim
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Nutritional Conditions ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Nutritional Status Of Children ◽  
The Impact

All Indonesian children are national assets where the future of the nation depends on their quality. East Java Province experienced a demographic bonus period and the peak occurred in 2019 and a third of the population of East Java were children aged 0-17 years. Now the government of East Java Province has implemented five strategies in dealing with demographic bonuses, namely improving the quality of youth human resources, creating quality human resources, placing the elderly population as assets, improving health efforts, and economic empowerment. In the strategy of increasing health efforts, it is necessary to evaluate the nutritional status of children and toddlers. Improving the nutritional status of the community is one of the efforts that has a significant impact and is one of the determining factors for improving the quality of human resources. At the individual level, nutritional conditions are influenced by nutritional intake and related infectious diseases. The first two years of life is a critical period, if there are nutritional disorders in this period, the impact is permanent.

scholarly journals Protein-poor diet reduces host-specific immune gene expression in Bombus terrestris

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1786) ◽  
pp. 20140128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska S. Brunner ◽  
Paul Schmid-Hempel ◽  
Seth M. Barribeau
Keyword(s):  
Immune Responses ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Resource Limitation ◽  
Immune Gene ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Nutritional Limitation ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Crithidia Bombi ◽  
The Individual

Parasites infect hosts non-randomly as genotypes of hosts vary in susceptibility to the same genotypes of parasites, but this specificity may be modulated by environmental factors such as nutrition. Nutrition plays an important role for any physiological investment. As immune responses are costly, resource limitation should negatively affect immunity through trade-offs with other physiological requirements. Consequently, nutritional limitation should diminish immune capacity in general, but does it also dampen differences among hosts? We investigated the effect of short-term pollen deprivation on the immune responses of our model host Bombus terrestris when infected with the highly prevalent natural parasite Crithidia bombi . Bumblebees deprived of pollen, their protein source, show reduced immune responses to infection. They failed to upregulate a number of genes, including antimicrobial peptides, in response to infection. In particular, they also showed less specific immune expression patterns across individuals and colonies. These findings provide evidence for how immune responses on the individual-level vary with important elements of the environment and illustrate how nutrition can functionally alter not only general resistance, but also alter the pattern of specific host–parasite interactions.

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