The ability to combine multiple mRNA antigens targeting multiple pathogens simultaneously, and the robust immune responses are confirmed in several clinical studies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moataz Dowaidar

In the last decade, great progress has been made on mRNA vaccines. MRNA vaccines that are well-tolerated and human immunogenic, stable and can be scaled up to hundreds of millions of doses have been produced with advancements in mRNA design, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) composition and production techniques. The ability to combine multiple mRNA antigens in the same LNP, targeting multiple pathogens simultaneously, the lack of vector immunity, and the robust immune responses confirmed in several clinical studies make mRNA vaccines a disruptive technology that could change the development of vaccines in the coming years. Moreover, as mRNA was recently employed for large-scale vaccination applications, there is still plenty of room for refining and new advances.Ad-vector-based vaccines have also become promising immunization platforms. Ad vectors' structural components can be harnessed and modified for enhanced tropism, efficient transduction, and optimal antigen expression, and the structural components of Ad vaccine vectors can be harnessed and modified for enhanced tropism, effective transduction, and optimal antigen expression. Ad vectors can be readily created and mass-produced on a commercial basis, and their potency and stability make single-shot immunizations viable without using a frozen cold chain. Ad vectors' flexibility and promise for present and future vaccination applications is evidenced by their development against many illnesses.The use of biomaterials and engineering to improve vaccine delivery control has shown promise in boosting vaccination efficiency and fine-tuning the responses induced. Taken together, these vaccine science innovations have the potential to overcome many of the shortcomings in traditional vaccination technology, and they will almost probably play a crucial part in developing future known and novel disease vaccines.

Parasitology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. BOURKE ◽  
R. M. MAIZELS ◽  
F. MUTAPI

SUMMARYSimilarities in the immunobiology of different parasitic worm infections indicate that co-evolution of humans and helminths has shaped a common anti-helminth immune response. However, recentin vitroand immuno-epidemiological studies highlight fundamental differences and plasticity within host-helminth interactions. The ‘trade-off’ between immunity and immunopathology inherent in host immune responses occurs on a background of genetic polymorphism, variable exposure patterns and infection history. For the parasite, variation in life-cycle and antigen expression can influence the effector responses directed against them. This is particularly apparent when comparing gastrointestinal and tissue-dwelling helminths. Furthermore, insights into the impact of anti-helminthic treatment and co-infection on acquired immunity suggest that immune heterogeneity arises not from hosts and parasites in isolation, but also from the environment in which immune responses develop. Large-scale differences observed in the epidemiology of human helminthiases are a product of complex host-parasite-environment interactions which, given potential for exposure to parasite antigensin utero, can arise even before a parasite interacts with its human host. This review summarizes key differences identified in human acquired immune responses to nematode and trematode infections of public health importance and explores the factors contributing to these variations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 2857-2859
Author(s):  
Cristina Mihaela Ghiciuc ◽  
Andreea Silvana Szalontay ◽  
Luminita Radulescu ◽  
Sebastian Cozma ◽  
Catalina Elena Lupusoru ◽  
...  

There is an increasing interest in the analysis of salivary biomarkers for medical practice. The objective of this article was to identify the specificity and sensitivity of quantification methods used in biosensors or portable devices for the determination of salivary cortisol and salivary a-amylase. There are no biosensors and portable devices for salivary amylase and cortisol that are used on a large scale in clinical studies. These devices would be useful in assessing more real-time psychological research in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Kurokawa ◽  
Masataka Nakano ◽  
Nobutaka Kitahata ◽  
Kazuyuki Kuchitsu ◽  
Toshiki Furuya

AbstractMicroorganisms that activate plant immune responses have attracted considerable attention as potential biocontrol agents in agriculture because they could reduce agrochemical use. However, conventional methods to screen for such microorganisms using whole plants and pathogens are generally laborious and time consuming. Here, we describe a general strategy using cultured plant cells to identify microorganisms that activate plant defense responses based on plant–microbe interactions. Microbial cells were incubated with tobacco BY-2 cells, followed by treatment with cryptogein, a proteinaceous elicitor of tobacco immune responses secreted by an oomycete. Cryptogein-induced production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in BY-2 cells served as a marker to evaluate the potential of microorganisms to activate plant defense responses. Twenty-nine bacterial strains isolated from the interior of Brassica rapa var. perviridis plants were screened, and 8 strains that enhanced cryptogein-induced ROS production in BY-2 cells were selected. Following application of these strains to the root tip of Arabidopsis seedlings, two strains, Delftia sp. BR1R-2 and Arthrobacter sp. BR2S-6, were found to induce whole-plant resistance to bacterial pathogens (Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and Pectobacterium carotovora subsp. carotovora NBRC 14082). Pathogen-induced expression of plant defense-related genes (PR-1, PR-5, and PDF1.2) was enhanced by the pretreatment with strain BR1R-2. This cell–cell interaction-based platform is readily applicable to large-scale screening for microorganisms that enhance plant defense responses under various environmental conditions.


Nanophotonics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Shi ◽  
Ye Tian ◽  
Antoine Gervais

AbstractThe tremendous growth of data traffic has spurred a rapid evolution of optical communications for a higher data transmission capacity. Next-generation fiber-optic communication systems will require dramatically increased complexity that cannot be obtained using discrete components. In this context, silicon photonics is quickly maturing. Capable of manipulating electrons and photons on the same platform, this disruptive technology promises to cram more complexity on a single chip, leading to orders-of-magnitude reduction of integrated photonic systems in size, energy, and cost. This paper provides a system perspective and reviews recent progress in silicon photonics probing all dimensions of light to scale the capacity of fiber-optic networks toward terabits-per-second per optical interface and petabits-per-second per transmission link. Firstly, we overview fundamentals and the evolving trends of silicon photonic fabrication process. Then, we focus on recent progress in silicon coherent optical transceivers. Further scaling the system capacity requires multiplexing techniques in all the dimensions of light: wavelength, polarization, and space, for which we have seen impressive demonstrations of on-chip functionalities such as polarization diversity circuits and wavelength- and space-division multiplexers. Despite these advances, large-scale silicon photonic integrated circuits incorporating a variety of active and passive functionalities still face considerable challenges, many of which will eventually be addressed as the technology continues evolving with the entire ecosystem at a fast pace.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fuyong Xing ◽  
Yuanpu Xie ◽  
Xiaoshuang Shi ◽  
Pingjun Chen ◽  
Zizhao Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Nucleus or cell detection is a fundamental task in microscopy image analysis and supports many other quantitative studies such as object counting, segmentation, tracking, etc. Deep neural networks are emerging as a powerful tool for biomedical image computing; in particular, convolutional neural networks have been widely applied to nucleus/cell detection in microscopy images. However, almost all models are tailored for specific datasets and their applicability to other microscopy image data remains unknown. Some existing studies casually learn and evaluate deep neural networks on multiple microscopy datasets, but there are still several critical, open questions to be addressed. Results We analyze the applicability of deep models specifically for nucleus detection across a wide variety of microscopy image data. More specifically, we present a fully convolutional network-based regression model and extensively evaluate it on large-scale digital pathology and microscopy image datasets, which consist of 23 organs (or cancer diseases) and come from multiple institutions. We demonstrate that for a specific target dataset, training with images from the same types of organs might be usually necessary for nucleus detection. Although the images can be visually similar due to the same staining technique and imaging protocol, deep models learned with images from different organs might not deliver desirable results and would require model fine-tuning to be on a par with those trained with target data. We also observe that training with a mixture of target and other/non-target data does not always mean a higher accuracy of nucleus detection, and it might require proper data manipulation during model training to achieve good performance. Conclusions We conduct a systematic case study on deep models for nucleus detection in a wide variety of microscopy images, aiming to address several important but previously understudied questions. We present and extensively evaluate an end-to-end, pixel-to-pixel fully convolutional regression network and report a few significant findings, some of which might have not been reported in previous studies. The model performance analysis and observations would be helpful to nucleus detection in microscopy images.


2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Ciancio

Powered toothbrushes were first introduced on a large scale in the early 1960s. However, because of a clear lack of superiority compared with manual brushes, and problems with mechanical breakdowns, their sales decreased significantly. However, recommendation for their use continued in special populations with dexterity and cognition problems. The 1990s ushered in an era of new technology, and studies began to suggest superiority of some powered brushes, particularly those using oscillating-rotating or counter-rotational actions. Some studies have shown interproximal cleansing abilities superior to those of manual brushes and yielding results similar to those achieved with the use of a manual brush and floss. Both controlled and open-labeled studies have suggested that electric brushes improve gingival health with patients who routinely used manual brushes prior to using these new powered brushes, and safety has been clearly established. In recommending powered toothbrushes, practitioners should familiarize themselves with the products available, with the clinical studies supporting their benefits compared with manual brushes, their safety and ease of use, and the patient's economic status.


1973 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 2335-2340
Author(s):  
N. Zachman

Before 1968, fishery development in Indonesia concentrated on the artisanal fisheries. No significant progress was made until the emphasis changed to the commercial fisheries, as part of the first 5-year development plan of 1969–74. The new approach was on economics and marketing instead of on production. A long-term plan over 25 years has been prepared, divided into 5-year operational plans.Indonesia has important fishery resources, especially pelagic stocks. Large extents of continental shelves also provide the possibility of increased trawl fishing, especially for shrimp. Conditions are also favorable for aquaculture. The position of the country between two oceans and two continents locates it favorably to exploit the tunas of both the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and to maintain a flow of fishery products to international markets. Manpower is abundant and relatively cheap.The program to develop artisanal fisheries concentrates on increasing the income per capita of fishermen through developing fish marketing and production. Commercial fisheries are concentrating on production of export products, especially shrimp, skipjack, and tuna, to earn foreign exchange. Effective and efficient administration is being formed to carry out fisheries development, involving the reorganization of the Central and Regional Fisheries agencies. Staff are being upgraded, training and education are being reviewed, and research is being intensified.New laws have resulted in the establishment of eight domestic companies with a total investment of $27 million (US). Exports of fishery products have significantly increased, especially shrimp. Marketing is improved through the establishment of a cold chain, which is expected to lead to improved quality of products and increased earnings for fishermen.The goals of the first 5-year plan include: establishment of large-scale fishing industries, to export products valued at $30–40 million (US) per year; establishment of marketing facilities for fresh fish distribution in the most populated areas; raising artisanal fisheries to a level where they can independently sustain growth; establishment of an effective research system; establishment of an effective education and training system; establishment of fisheries cooperatives; improvement of the administration of fisheries.


2001 ◽  
Vol 82 (9) ◽  
pp. 2107-2116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa R. Johnson ◽  
Julie E. Fischer ◽  
Barney S. Graham

Recombinant vaccinia viruses are well-characterized tools that can be used to define novel approaches to vaccine formulation and delivery. While vector co-expression of immune mediators has enormous potential for optimizing the composition of vaccine-induced immune responses, the impact on antigen expression and vector antigenicity must also be considered. Co-expression of IL-4 increased vaccinia virus vector titres, while IFN-γ co-expression reduced vaccinia virus replication in BALB/c mice and in C57BL/6 mice infected with some recombinant viruses. Protection against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) challenge was similar in mice immunized with vaccinia virus expressing RSV G glycoprotein and IFN-γ, even though the replication efficiency of the vector was diminished. These data demonstrate the ability of vector-expressed cytokine to influence the virulence of the vector and to direct the development of selected immune responses. This suggests that the co-expression of cytokines and other immunomodulators has the potential to improve the safety of vaccine vectors while improving the immunogenicity of vaccine antigens.


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