Antibodies to Peptides in Semiconserved Domains of RIFINs and STEVORs correlate with Malaria exposure

Malaria, an infectious disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, causes nearly 435,000 deaths annually worldwide. RIFINs and STEVORs are two variant surface antigen families that are involved in malaria pathogenesis and immune evasion. Recent work has shown that a lack of humoral immunity to these proteins is associated with severe malaria vulnerability in Malian children. This is the first study to have compared serologic responses of children and adults to RIFINs and STEVORs in settings of malaria endemicity and to examine such serologic responses before and after a clinical malaria episode. Using microarrays, we determined that the semiconserved domains in these two parasite variant surface antigen families harbor peptides whose seroreactivity reflects malaria exposure. A similar approach has the potential to illuminate the role of variant surface antigens in the development of natural immunity to clinical malaria. Potential vaccines for severe malaria should include consideration of peptides within the semiconserved domains of RIFINs and STEVORs.The repetitive interspersed family (RIFIN) and the subtelomeric variable open reading frame (STEVOR) family represent two of three major Plasmodium falciparum variant surface antigen families involved in malaria pathogenesis and immune evasion and are potential targets in the development of natural immunity. Protein and peptide microarrays populated with RIFINs and STEVORs associated with severe malaria vulnerability in Malian children were probed with adult and pediatric sera to identify epitopes that reflect malaria exposure. Adult sera recognized and reacted with greater intensity to all STEVOR proteins than pediatric sera did. Serorecognition of and seroreactivity to peptides within the semiconserved domain of STEVORs increased with age and seasonal malaria exposure, while serorecognition and seroreactivity increased for the semiconserved and second hypervariable domains of RIFINs only with age. Serologic responses to RIFIN and STEVOR peptides within the semiconserved domains may play a role in natural immunity to severe malaria

The long-term effects of exposure to family violence: Anxiety, depression, and aggression in a college population

This dissertation assessed the long-term psychological and behavioral effects of exposure to three kinds of family violence: witnessing marital violence, experiencing child abuse, and the combination of witnessing marital violence and experiencing direct abuse. College students (n = 550) completed screening measures to determine group placement on the categorical independent variables of Parental Relationship: viewed violence (VV), discord (D), and satisfactorily married (SM), Abuse: abused (A) and non-abused (NA), and sex: female (F) and male (M). All subjects completed standardized measures of anxiety (Spielberger Trait Anxiety Scale), depression (Beck Depression Inventory), and aggression (Buss-Durkee Inventory) and self report measures of violence against intimates (Conflict Tactics Scale) and non-intimates (Aggressive Behavior Scale). Hypotheses concerning the long term effects of witnessing marital violence predicted that the women who viewed violence would report more aggression and depression than other women. The VV group was expected to report more violence against intimates and a larger proportion was expected to report moderate depression. Results found the VV group to differ significantly from the SM group on depression. VV women reported higher mean depression than SM women. The VV group reported significantly more aggression against non-intimates than did the D or SM groups. A trend was found for the VV groups to use more violence against intimates; furthermore, a significantly larger proportion of those who viewed violence used violence within dating relationships. Hypotheses concerning the long term effects of child abuse predicted that abused subjects would exhibit higher levels of anxiety, depression, and aggression. Results found the abused to report higher levels of aggression against non-intimates. Although the abused group did not report higher mean depression, a larger proportion of A than NA reported high levels of depression. An abuse by parental relationship interaction on the Buss found the SM-A group to report a higher level of aggression than the SM-NA group. The third set of hypotheses predicted that those who both viewed marital violence and sustained direct abuse would report increased use of aggression. The VV-A and VV-NA groups did not differ on the aggression measures. Exploratory analyses found no differences on the depression or anxiety measures