Zika and travel in the news: a content analysis of US news stories during the outbreak in 2016–2017

Objectives: This study aimed to understand what information the US media communicated about Zika virus (ZIKV) and travel in 2016 and 2017. Study design: We conducted a content analysis of news coverage about ZIKV and travel from April 5, 2016 to March 31, 2017. Methods: We obtained a stratified, random sample of English language, US print newspaper and television news coverage about ZIKV and travel. We developed a coding scheme to assess key messages in the news, including how ZIKV is transmitted, the symptoms and outcomes of ZIKV infection, and recommended prevention behaviors. Results: Almost all news stories mentioned mosquito-borne transmission (96.8%) and just over half mentioned sexual transmission (55.3%). News stories were more likely to talk about ZIKV outcomes (78.8%) than ZIKV symptoms (40.6%). However, outcomes affecting babies were mentioned more frequently than outcomes affecting adults. Recommendations included a wide array of protective behaviors, such as delaying or avoiding travel (77.6%) and using mosquito repellent (41.0%). However, few studies (10.9%) mentioned barriers to practicing ZIKV prevention behaviors. Conclusions: Public health organizations and professionals can use these findings to help improve communication about future outbreaks of mosquito-borne illnesses. We also recommend conducting real-time monitoring of news media and frequent content analysis of news stories to ensure coverage provides the information the public needs

Synthetic Nanoparticles for Vaccines and Immunotherapy

The immune system plays a critical role in our health. No other component of human physiology plays a decisive role in as diverse an array of maladies, from deadly diseases with which we are all familiar to equally terrible esoteric conditions: HIV, malaria, pneumococcal and influenza infections; cancer; atherosclerosis; autoimmune diseases such as lupus, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. The importance of understanding the function of the immune system and learning how to modulate immunity to protect against or treat disease thus cannot be overstated. Fortunately, we are entering an exciting era where the science of immunology is defining pathways for the rational manipulation of the immune system at the cellular and molecular level, and this understanding is leading to dramatic advances in the clinic that are transforming the future of medicine.1,2 These initial advances are being made primarily through biologic drugs– recombinant proteins (especially antibodies) or patient-derived cell therapies– but exciting data from preclinical studies suggest that a marriage of approaches based in biotechnology with the materials science and chemistry of nanomaterials, especially nanoparticles, could enable more effective and safer immune engineering strategies. This review will examine these nanoparticle-based strategies to immune modulation in detail, and discuss the promise and outstanding challenges facing the field of immune engineering from a chemical biology/materials engineering perspectiveNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grants AI111860, CA174795, CA172164, AI091693, and AI095109)United States. Department of Defense (W911NF-13-D-0001 and Awards W911NF-07-D-0004

Of the importance of a leaf: the ethnobotany of sarma in Turkey and the Balkans

BACKGROUND: Sarma - cooked leaves rolled around a filling made from rice and/or minced meat, possibly vegetables and seasoning plants - represents one of the most widespread feasting dishes of the Middle Eastern and South-Eastern European cuisines. Although cabbage and grape vine sarma is well-known worldwide, the use of alternative plant leaves remains largely unexplored. The aim of this research was to document all of the botanical taxa whose leaves are used for preparing sarma in the folk cuisines of Turkey and the Balkans. Methods: Field studies were conducted during broader ethnobotanical surveys, as well as during ad-hoc investigations between the years 2011 and 2014 that included diverse rural communities in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. Primary ethnobotanical and folkloric literatures in each country were also considered. Results: Eighty-seven botanical taxa, mainly wild, belonging to 50 genera and 27 families, were found to represent the bio-cultural heritage of sarma in Turkey and the Balkans. The greatest plant biodiversity in sarma was found in Turkey and, to less extent, in Bulgaria and Romania. The most commonly used leaves for preparing sarma were those of cabbage (both fresh and lacto-fermented), grape vine, beet, dock, sorrel, horseradish, lime tree, bean, and spinach. In a few cases, the leaves of endemic species (Centaurea haradjianii, Rumex gracilescens, and R. olympicus in Turkey) were recorded. Other uncommon sarma preparations were based on lightly toxic taxa, such as potato leaves in NE Albania, leaves of Arum, Convolvulus, and Smilax species in Turkey, of Phytolacca americana in Macedonia, and of Tussilago farfara in diverse countries. Moreover, the use of leaves of the introduced species Reynoutria japonica in Romania, Colocasia esculenta in Turkey, and Phytolacca americana in Macedonia shows the dynamic nature of folk cuisines. Conclusion: The rich ethnobotanical diversity of sarma confirms the urgent need to record folk culinary plant knowledge. The results presented here can be implemented into initiatives aimed at re-evaluating folk cuisines and niche food markets based on local neglected ingredients, and possibly also to foster trajectories of the avant-garde cuisines inspired by ethnobotanical knowledge

Lipidoid Nanoparticles Containing PD-L1 siRNA Delivered In Vivo Enter Kupffer Cells and Enhance NK and CD8+ T Cell-mediated Hepatic Antiviral Immunity

Effective clinical application of antiviral immunotherapies necessitates enhancing the functional state of natural killer (NK) and CD8+ T cells. An important mechanism for the establishment of viral persistence in the liver is the activation of the PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitory pathway. To examine the role of hepatic myeloid PD-L1 expression during viral infection, we determined the magnitude and quality of antiviral immune responses by administering PD-L1 short-interfering RNA (siRNA) encapsulated in lipidoid nanoparticles (LNP) in mice. Our studies indicate that Kupffer cells (KC) preferentially engulfed PD-L1 LNP within a short period of time and silenced Pdl1 during adenovirus and MCMV infection leading to enhanced NK and CD8+ T cell intrahepatic accumulation, effector function (interferon (IFN)-γ and granzyme B (GrB) production), CD8+ T cell–mediated viral clearance, and memory. Our results demonstrate that PD-L1 knockdown on KCs is central in determining the outcome of liver viral infections, and they represent a new class of gene therapy

TLR9 Sensing of Self-DNA Controls Cell-Mediated Immunity to Listeria Infection via Rapid Conversion of Conventional CD4+ T Cells to Treg

CD4+ T lymphocytes are crucial for controlling a range of innate and adaptive immune effectors. For CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses, CD4+ T cells can function as helpers (TH) to amplify magnitude and functionality or as regulatory cells (Treg) capable of profound inhibition. It is unclear what determines differentiation to these phenotypes and whether pathogens provoke alternate programs. We find that, depending on the size of initial dose, Listeria infection drives CD4+ T cells to act as TH or induces rapid polyclonal conversion to immunosuppressive Treg. Conversion to Treg depends on the TLR9 and IL-12 pathways elicited by CD8α+ dendritic cell (DC) sensing of danger-associated neutrophil self-DNA. These findings resolve long-standing questions regarding the conditional requirement for TH amongst pathogens and reveal a remarkable degree of plasticity in the function of CD4+ T cells, which can be quickly converted to Treg in vivo by infection-mediated immune modulation