Immunogenicity and tolerability of an MF59-adjuvanted, egg-derived, A/H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine in children 6-35 months of age

Background: Vaccines against pandemic A/H1N1 influenza should provide protective immunity in children, because they are at greater risk of disease than adults. This study was conducted to identify the optimal dose of an MF59 (R)-adjuvanted, egg-derived, A/H1N1 influenza vaccine for young children. Methods: Children 6-11 months (N = 144) and 12-35 months (N = 186) of age received vaccine formulations containing either 3.75 mu g antigen with half the standard dose of MF59 or 7.5 mu g antigen with a standard dose of MF59, or a nonadjuvanted formulation containing 15 mu g antigen (children 12-35 months only). Participants were given 2 primary vaccine doses 3 weeks apart, followed by 1 booster dose of MF59-adjuvanted seasonal influenza vaccine 1 year later. Immunogenicity was assessed by hemagglutination inhibition and microneutralization assays. Results: All vaccine formulations were highly immunogenic and met all 3 European licensure criteria after 2 doses. MF59-adjuvanted vaccines met all licensure criteria after 1 dose in both age cohorts, while nonadjuvanted vaccine did not meet all criteria after 1 dose in children 12-35 months. A single booster dose was highly immunogenic, and stable antibody persistence was observed in response to all vaccines. All vaccines were well tolerated. Conclusions: In this study, a single dose of 3.75 mu g antigen with half the standard dose of MF59 was shown to be optimal, providing adequate levels of immediate and long-term antibodies in pediatric subjects 6-35 months of age. These data demonstrated that MF59 adjuvant allowed for reduced antigen content and promoted significant long-term antibody persistence in children, with a satisfactory safety profile

No association of complement mannose-binding lectin deficiency with cardiovascular disease in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Cardiovascular (CV) morbidity is the major cause of death in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Previous studies on mannose-binding lectin (MBL) gene polymorphisms in SLE patients suggest that low levels of complement MBL are associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, as large studies on MBL deficiency based on resulting MBL plasma concentrations are lacking, the aim of our study was to analyze the association of MBL concentrations with CVD in SLE patients. Plasma MBL levels SLE patients included in the Swiss SLE Cohort Study were quantified by ELISA. Five different CV organ manifestations were documented. Of 373 included patients (85.5% female) 62 patients had at least one CV manifestation. Patients with MBL deficiency (levels below 500 ng/ml or 1000 ng/ml) had no significantly increased frequency of CVD (19.4% vs. 15.2%, P = 0.3 or 17.7% vs. 15.7%, P = 0.7). After adjustment for traditional CV risk factors, MBL levels and positive antiphospholipid serology (APL+) a significant association of CVD with age, hypertension, disease duration and APL+ was demonstrated. In our study of a large cohort of patients with SLE, we could not confirm previous studies suggesting MBL deficiency to be associated with an increased risk for CVD

Nanophotonic modulators and photodetectors using silicon photonic and plasmonic device concepts

Nanophotonic modulators and photodetectors are key building blocks for high-speed optical interconnects in datacom and telecom networks. Besides power efficiency and high electro-optic bandwidth, ultra-compact footprint and scalable co-integration with electronic circuitry are indispensable for highly scalable communication systems. In this paper, we give an overview on our recent progress in exploring nanophotonic modulators and photodetectors that combine the specific strengths of silicon photonic and plasmonic device concepts with hybrid integration approaches. Our work comprises electro-optic modulators that exploit silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) and plasmonic-organic hybrid (POH) integration to enable unprecedented energy efficiency and transmission speed, as well as waveguide-based plasmonic internal photo-emission detectors (PIPED) with record-high sensitivities and bandwidths

100 Gbit/s serial transmission using a silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) modulator and a duobinary driver IC

100 Gbit/s three-level (50 Gbit/s 00K) signals are generated using a silicon-organic hybrid modulator and a BiCMOS duobinary driver IC at a BER of 8.5x10(-5)(<10(-12)). We demonstrate dispersion-compensated transmission over 5 km

100 Gbit/s serial transmission using a silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) modulator and a duobinary driver IC

100 Gbit/s three-level (50 Gbit/s 00K) signals are generated using a silicon-organic hybrid modulator and a BiCMOS duobinary driver IC at a BER of 8.5x10(-5)(<10(-12)). We demonstrate dispersion-compensated transmission over 5 km