Multivalent HA DNA Vaccination Protects against Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza Infection in Chickens and Mice

Sustained outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in avian species increase the risk of reassortment and adaptation to humans. The ability to contain its spread in chickens would reduce this threat and help maintain the capacity for egg-based vaccine production. While vaccines offer the potential to control avian disease, a major concern of current vaccines is their potency and inability to protect against evolving avian influenza viruses.The ability of DNA vaccines encoding hemagglutinin (HA) proteins from different HPAI H5N1 serotypes was evaluated for its ability to elicit neutralizing antibodies and to protect against homologous and heterologous HPAI H5N1 strain challenge in mice and chickens after DNA immunization by needle and syringe or with a pressure injection device. These vaccines elicited antibodies that neutralized multiple strains of HPAI H5N1 when given in combinations containing up to 10 HAs. The response was dose-dependent, and breadth was determined by the choice of the influenza virus HA in the vaccine. Monovalent and trivalent HA vaccines were tested first in mice and conferred protection against lethal H5N1 A/Vietnam/1203/2004 challenge 68 weeks after vaccination. In chickens, protection was observed against heterologous strains of HPAI H5N1 after vaccination with a trivalent H5 serotype DNA vaccine with doses as low as 5 microg DNA given twice either by intramuscular needle injection or with a needle-free device.DNA vaccines offer a generic approach to influenza virus immunization applicable to multiple animal species. In addition, the ability to substitute plasmids encoding different strains enables rapid adaptation of the vaccine to newly evolving field isolates

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Nonfatal Injuries Among Middle-School and High-School Students in Guangxi, China

Objectives. We described nonfatal injuries and calculated injury rates among middle-school and high-school students in Guangxi, China. Methods. Students were selected using multistage randomizing techniques, and nonfatal injuries in 1840 students from February 2002 to January 2003 were monitored with standardized injury forms. Risk factors for injury were identified in multivariate analyses. Results. The annual overall injury rate was 32.3 per 100 students. Boys had a significantly higher injury rate than the girls (34.8 vs 30.3 per 100 students), and a significantly higher proportion of injuries in boys was caused by other students (28.1% vs 19.4%). A higher proportion of injuries in girls (40.7%) occurred at home. For both boys and girls, sports were the most common activities associated with injury. Injuries from falls were the leading cause of injury, and extremities were most frequently injured. Gender, age, ethnicity, and family income levels were identified as significant risk factors for injury in multivariate analyses. Conclusions. Nonfatal injuries in middle-school and high-school students should be recognized as a significant public health concern in China