Hospitalisation with Infection, Asthma and Allergy in Kawasaki Disease Patients and Their Families: Genealogical Analysis Using Linked Population Data

Background: Kawasaki disease results from an abnormal immunological response to one or more infectious triggers. We hypothesised that heritable differences in immune responses in Kawasaki disease-affected children and their families would result in different epidemiological patterns of other immune-related conditions. We investigated whether hospitalisation for infection and asthma/allergy were different in Kawasaki disease-affected children and their relatives. Methods/Major Findings: We used Western Australian population-linked health data from live births (1970-2006) to compare patterns of hospital admissions in Kawasaki disease cases, age- and sex-matched controls, and their relatives. There were 295 Kawasaki disease cases and 598 age- and sex-matched controls, with 1,636 and 3,780 relatives, respectively. Compared to controls, cases were more likely to have been admitted at least once with an infection (cases, 150 admissions (50.8%) vs controls, 210 admissions (35.1%); odds ratio (OR) = 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.4-2.6, P = 7.2×10-6), and with asthma/allergy (cases, 49 admissions (16.6%) vs controls, 42 admissions (7.0%); OR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.7-4.2, P = 1.3×10-5). Cases also had more admissions per person with infection (cases, median 2 admissions, 95% CI 1-5, vs controls, median 1 admission, 95% CI 1-4, P = 1.09×10-5). The risk of admission with infection was higher in the first degree relatives of Kawasaki disease cases compared to those of controls, but the differences were not significant. Conclusion: Differences in the immune phenotype of children who develop Kawasaki disease may influence the severity of other immune-related conditions, with some similar patterns observed in relatives. These data suggest the influence of shared heritable factors in these families

Shape from non-homogeneous, nonstationary, anisotropic, perspective texture

We present a method for Shape-from-Texture in one of its most general forms. Previous Shape-from-Texture papers assume that the texture is constrained by one or more of the following properties: homogeneity, isotropy, stationarity, or viewed orthographically. We make none of these assumptions. We do not presume that the frontal texture is known a priori, or from a known set, or even present in the image. Instead, surface smoothness is assumed, and the surface is recovered via a consistency constraint. The key idea is that the frontal texture is estimated, and a correct estimation leads to the most consistent surface. In addition to surface shape, a frontal view of the texture is also recovered. Results are given for synthetic and real examples.

Shape from non-homogeneous, non-stationary, anisotropic, perspective texture

ffifl "! #$ % & We present a method for Shape-from-Texture in one of its most general forms. Previous Shape-from-Texture papers assume that the texture is con-strained by one or more of the following properties: homogeneity, isotropy, stationarity, or viewed orthographically. We make none of these assump-tions. We do not presume that the frontal texture is known a priori, or from a known set, or even present in the image. Instead, surface smoothness is assumed, and the surface is recovered via a consistency constraint. The key idea is that the frontal texture is estimated, and a correct estimation leads to the most consistent surface. In addition to surface shape, a frontal view of the texture is also recovered. Results are given for synthetic and real examples.

Estimation of surface normal of a curved surface using texture

Abstract. Shape-from-Texture is the problem of estimating an object’s shape by examining the apparent distortions in the surface texture of the object due to image capture. A new method is described for estimating the tilt angle of local surface patches, based on an analysis of the spectral inertia. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated on synthetic images generated using the Brodatz textures, as well as a real image.

Employment of a high throughput functional assay to define the critical factors that influence vaccine induced cross-variant neutralizing antibodies for SARS-CoV-2

10.1038/s41598-023-49231-wSCIENTIFIC REPORTS13

Employment of a high throughput functional assay to define the critical factors that influence vaccine induced cross-variant neutralizing antibodies for SARS-CoV-2

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC), A*CRUSE (Vaccine monitoring project), the A*ccelerate GAP-funded project (ACCL/19-GAP064-R20H-H) from Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore National Medical Research Council COVID-19 Research Fund (COVID19RF-001; COVID19RF-007; COVID19RF-0008; COVID19RF-060) and A*STAR COVID-19 Research funding (H/20/04/g1/006). This study is funded by the Singapore National Medical Research Council (R-571-000-081-213, R-711-000-058-598), Ministry of Health (R-571-000-093-114), National University of Singapore (R-571-000-081-213), and the Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise (R-571-002-012-592). We thank Protein Production Platform of Nanyang Technological University for their help in making the nucleocapsid expression constructs and small-scale protein expression tests. We thank Assoc Prof. Tan Yee Joo, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Yong Loo Lin, School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS) for the ACE2 stably expressing CHO cells and plasmid encoding SARS-CoV-2 S protein for the pseudotyped lentiviral production. We thank Ms. Lang Si Min and Ms. Tan Siang Ling Isabelle for helping with the performance of experiments.AbstractThe scale and duration of neutralizing antibody responses targeting SARS-CoV-2 viral variants represents a critically important serological parameter that predicts protective immunity for COVID-19. In this study, we describe the development and employment of a new functional assay that measures neutralizing antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 and present longitudinal data illustrating the impact of age, sex and comorbidities on the kinetics and strength of vaccine-induced antibody responses for key variants in an Asian volunteer cohort. We also present an accurate quantitation of serological responses for SARS-CoV-2 that exploits a unique set of in-house, recombinant human monoclonal antibodies targeting the viral Spike and nucleocapsid proteins and demonstrate a reduction in neutralizing antibody titres across all groups 6 months post-vaccination. We also observe a marked reduction in the serological binding activity and neutralizing responses targeting recently newly emerged Omicron variants including XBB 1.5 and highlight a significant increase in cross-protective neutralizing antibody responses following a third dose (boost) of vaccine. These data illustrate how key virological factors such as immune escape mutations combined with host demographic factors such as age and sex of the vaccinated individual influence the strength and duration of cross-protective serological immunity for COVID-19.</jats:p