A randomized, placebo-controlled trial assessing the effect of VISBIOME ES probiotic in people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy

Background: A5350, a phase II, randomized, double-blind study, evaluated the safety and tolerability of the probiotic Visbiome Extra Strength (ES) over 24 weeks and measured effects on inflammation and intestinal barrier function. Methods: The primary outcome was change in soluble CD14 (sCD14) levels; secondary outcomes included safety and tolerability, markers of inflammation and cellular activation, and microbiome. In a substudy, gut permeability was assessed by paired colonic biopsies measuring the area of lamina propria occupied by CD4+ cells, interleukin (IL)-17+ cells, and myeloperoxidase (MPO). Changes between arms were compared with the 2-sample Results: Overall, 93 participants enrolled: 86% male, median age 51 years, median CD4 count 712 cells/mm3. Visbiome ES was safe and well tolerated. There was no difference in mean change in sCD14 from baseline to week 25/26 between placebo (mean change, 92.3 µg/L; 95% CI, -48.5 to 233 µg/L) and Visbiome ES (mean change, 41.0 µg/L; 95% CI, -94.1 to 176.2 µg/L; Conclusions: Visbiome ES was safe and altered the microbiome but demonstrated no effect on systemic inflammatory markers, pathology, or gut permeability in antiretroviral therapy-treated people with HIV

Comparison of bivalent and monovalent SARS-CoV-2 variant vaccines: The phase 2 randomized open-label COVAIL trial

Vaccine protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection wanes over time, requiring updated boosters. In a phase 2, open-label, randomized clinical trial with sequentially enrolled stages at 22 US sites, we assessed safety and immunogenicity of a second boost with monovalent or bivalent variant vaccines from mRNA and protein-based platforms targeting wild-type, Beta, Delta and Omicron BA.1 spike antigens. The primary outcome was pseudovirus neutralization titers at 50% inhibitory dilution (I

An Analysis of Speaking Activities in Indonesian ELT Textbook Based on Cognitive Domain of Bloom's Taxonomy Revised

Textbook has an essential role as teaching material, especially in learning speaking English. Teachers should use a suitable textbook in their teaching process to meet learning objectives. This study aims to analyze speaking activities based on cognitive domain in the Indonesian ELT textbook endorsed by Indonesian Ministry of Educational and Culture entitled Bahasa Inggris, Think Globally Act Locally untuk SMP/MTS Kelas IX [English for Junior High School Grade IX]. The data were collected using documentary technique. The findings show that there were three speaking activities such as reading aloud, role play, and presentation task. Also, there were 57 speaking activities that focused on cognitive domain category. Besides, all categories of cognitive domain did not apply in this textbook. There are only four categories that were applied such as remembering (C1), applying (C3), analyzing (C4), and creating (C6). Thus, this textbook was not quite good to fulfill learning objectives

AN ANALYSIS OF SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN INDONESIAN ELT TEXTBOOK BASED ON COGNITIVE DOMAIN OF BLOOM’S TAXONOMY REVISED

Textbook has an essential role as teaching material, especially in learning speaking English. Teachers should use a suitable textbook in their teaching process to meet learning objectives. This study aims to analyze speaking activities based on cognitive domain in the Indonesian ELT textbook endorsed by Indonesian Ministry of Educational and Culture entitled Bahasa Inggris, Think Globally Act Locally untuk SMP/MTS Kelas IX [English for Junior High School Grade IX]. The data was analyzed with content analysis method and collected using documentary technique. The findings show that there were three speaking activities such as reading aloud, role play, and presentation task. Also, there were 57 speaking activities that focused on cognitive domain category. Besides, all categories of cognitive domain did not apply in this textbook. There are only four categories that were applied such as remembering (C1), applying (C3), analyzing (C4), and creating (C6). However, understanding (C2) and evaluating (C5) level categories did not realize in this textbook. Thus, this textbook was not quite good to fulfill learning objectives and the distributions of cognitive domain for the levels. Keywords:  Speaking Activity, English Textbook, Cognitive Domain, Content Analysi

Harnessing the potential of multiomics studies for precision medicine in infectious disease

The field of infectious diseases currently takes a reactive approach and treats infections as they present in patients. Although certain populations are known to be at greater risk of developing infection (eg, immunocompromised), we lack a systems approach to define the true risk of future infection for a patient. Guided by impressive gains in omics technologies, future strategies to infectious diseases should take a precision approach to infection through identification of patients at intermediate and high-risk of infection and deploy targeted preventative measures (ie, prophylaxis). The advances of high-throughput immune profiling by multiomics approaches (ie, transcriptomics, epigenomics, metabolomics, proteomics) hold the promise to identify patients at increased risk of infection and enable risk-stratifying approaches to be applied in the clinic. Integration of patient-specific data using machine learning improves the effectiveness of prediction, providing the necessary technologies needed to propel the field of infectious diseases medicine into the era of personalized medicine

Molecular analysis of hepatitis C virus infection in Bulgarian injecting drug users

Intravenous drug users constitute a group at risk for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Today, no data are available on the molecular epidemiology of HCV in Bulgaria despite the fact that in recent years the incidence of acute hepatitis C infection among Bulgarian intravenous drug users increased sixfold and about 2/3 of them developed a chronic infection. The aim of this study was to determine the circulation of hepatitis C genotypes among drug users and to study the evolution and transmission history of the virus by molecular clock and Bayesian methods, respectively. Sequencing of NS5B gene showed that the genotype 3a was the most prevalent type among intravenous drug users. In the Bayesian tree, the 3a subtypes grouped in one main clade with one small cluster well statistically supported. The root of the tree was dated back to the year 1836, and the main clade from Bulgaria was dated 1960. The effective number of infections remained constant until about years 1950s, growing exponentially from the 1960s to the 1990s, reaching a plateau in the years 2000. The not significant intermixing with isolates from other countries may suggest a segregated circulation of the epidemic between 1940s and 1980s. The plateau reached by the epidemic in the early 2000s may indicate the partial success of the new preventive policies adopted in Bulgaria. J. Med. Virol. 83:1565-1570, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Maturation of germinal center B cells after influenza virus vaccination in humans

Germinal centers (GC) are microanatomical lymphoid structures where affinity-matured memory B cells and long-lived bone marrow plasma cells are primarily generated. It is unclear how the maturation of B cells within the GC impacts the breadth and durability of B cell responses to influenza vaccination in humans. We used fine needle aspiration of draining lymph nodes to longitudinally track antigen-specific GC B cell responses to seasonal influenza vaccination. Antigen-specific GC B cells persisted for at least 13 wk after vaccination in two out of seven individuals. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) derived from persisting GC B cell clones exhibit enhanced binding affinity and breadth to influenza hemagglutinin (HA) antigens compared with related GC clonotypes isolated earlier in the response. Structural studies of early and late GC-derived mAbs from one clonal lineage in complex with H1 and H5 HAs revealed an altered binding footprint. Our study shows that inducing sustained GC reactions after influenza vaccination in humans supports the maturation of responding B cells

Influenza vaccination stimulates maturation of the human T follicular helper cell response

The differentiation and specificity of human CD

Design considerations of high RAP-content asphalt produced at reduced temperatures

In many countries recycling of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) for road surface layers is limited to a maximum of 10–30%. This is due to technical limitation of common asphalt plant but also to specifications that are still restrictive when it comes to increasing RAP in surface courses. The mistrust in this practice is mainly related to uncertainty in performance of these mixes as well as to existing fundamental issues with the mix design, especially when production temperatures are lowered. This paper analyses some of the factors affecting the design of warm asphalt mixtures for surface course layers containing 50% RAP, and suggests a framework to justify the common assumption of full blending by optimising production conditions. A control hot mix asphalt which was manufactured with 49 dmm penetration binder and asphalt mixtures containing 50% RAP produced at temperatures between 95 and 135 °C and at different mixing times were investigated in terms of volumetric properties, indirect tensile stiffness modulus, and indirect tensile strength. The high-content RAP mixtures were produced within the warm mix region by using only a very soft binder as a rejuvenator, which reduces production costs. Statistical analysis was deployed, and different models were developed to estimate degree of blending between RAP binder and rejuvenator binder, and to predict the equivalent penetration of the blend without binder extraction and recovery. The analysis results showed that the selected performance indicators correlate significantly with mixing time and temperature, and provide evidence that only in certain circumstances and if the production conditions are accurately controlled, the practical full blending approach is acceptable