Strong CD4 T cell responses to Zika virus antigens in a cohort of Dengue virus immune mothers of congenital Zika virus syndrome infants

Background: There is an urgent need to understand the complex relationship between cross-reactive anti-viral immunity, disease susceptibility, and severity in the face of differential exposure to related, circulating Flaviviruses. Co-exposure to Dengue virus and Zika virus in Brazil is a case in point. A devastating aspect of the 2015-2016 South American Zika outbreak was the dramatic increase in numbers of infants born with microcephaly to mothers exposed to Zika virus during pregnancy. It has been proposed that this is more likely to ensue from Zika infection in women lacking cross-protective Dengue immunity. In this case series we measure the prevalence of Dengue immunity in a cohort of mothers exposed to Zika virus during pregnancy in the 2015-2016 Zika outbreak that gave birth to an infant affected by microcephaly and explore their adaptive immunity to Zika virus. Results: Fifty women from Sergipe, Brazil who gave birth to infants with microcephaly following Zika virus exposure during the 2015-16 outbreak were tested for serological evidence of Dengue exposure and IFNγ ELISpot spot forming cell (SFC) response to Zika virus. The majority (46/50) demonstrated Dengue immunity. IFNγ ELISpot responses to Zika virus antigens showed the following hierarchy: Env>NS1>NS3>C protein. Twenty T cell epitopes from Zika virus Env were identified. Responses to Zika virus antigens Env and NS1 were polyfunctional with cells making IFNγ, TNFα, IL-4, IL-13, and IL-10. In contrast, responses to NS5 only produced the immune regulatory TGFβ1 cytokine. There were SFC responses against Zika virus Env (1-20) and variant peptide sequences from West Nile virus, Dengue virus 1-4 and Yellow Fever virus. Conclusion: Almost all the women in our study showed serological evidence of Dengue immunity, suggesting that microcephaly can occur in DENV immune mothers. T cell immunity to Zika virus showed a multifunctional response to the antigens Env and NS1 and immune regulatory responses to NS5 and C protein. Our data support an argument that different viral products may skew the antiviral response to a more pro or anti-inflammatory outcome, with an associated impact on immunopathogenesis

Age-specific burden of cervical cancer associated with HIV: A global analysis with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa

HIV substantially worsens human papillomavirus (HPV) carcinogenicity and contributes to an important population excess of cervical cancer, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We estimated HIV- and age-stratified cervical cancer burden at a country, regional, and global level in 2020. Proportions of cervical cancer a) diagnosed in women living with HIV (WLHIV), and b) attributable to HIV, were calculated using age-specific estimates of HIV prevalence (UNAIDS) and relative risk. These proportions were validated against empirical data and applied to age-specific cervical cancer incidence (GLOBOCAN 2020). HIV was most important in SSA, where 24.9% of cervical cancers were diagnosed in WLHIV, and 20.4% were attributable to HIV (vs 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively, in the rest of the world). In all world regions, contribution of HIV to cervical cancer was far higher in younger women (as seen also in empirical series). For example, in Southern Africa, where more than half of cervical cancers were diagnosed in WLHIV, the HIV-attributable fraction decreased from 86% in women ≤34 years to only 12% in women ≥55 years. The absolute burden of HIV-attributable cervical cancer (approximately 28 000 cases globally) also shifted towards younger women: in Southern Africa, 63% of 5341 HIV-attributable cervical cancer occurred in women <45 years old, compared to only 17% of 6901 non-HIV-attributable cervical cancer. Improved quantification of cervical cancer burden by age and HIV status can inform cervical cancer prevention efforts in SSA, including prediction of the impact of WLHIV-targeted vs general population approaches to cervical screening, and impact of HIV prevention

The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST) and the power of Twitter networking exemplified through #INPST hashtag analysis

Background: The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools. Methods: In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST. Results and Conclusion: The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Search for supersymmetry in events with one lepton and multiple jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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