Infant feeding practices and nut allergy over time in Australian school entrant children

Aim. To measure the association between infant feeding practices and parent-reported nut allergy in school entrant children. Method. The Kindergarten Health Check Questionnaire was delivered to all 110 Australian Capital Territory (ACT) primary schools between 2006 and 2009. Retrospective analyses were undertaken of the data collected from the kindergarten population. Results. Of 15142 children a strong allergic reaction to peanuts and other nuts was reported in 487 (3.2%) and 307 (3.9%), children, respectively. There was a positive association between parent reported nut allergy and breast feeding (OR = 1.53; 1.11–2.11) and having a regular general practitioner (GP) (OR = 1.42; 1.05–1.92). A protective effect was found in children who were fed foods other than breast milk in the first six months (OR = 0.71; 0.60–0.84). Conclusion. Children were at an increased risk of developing a parent-reported nut allergy if they were breast fed in the first six months of life

A Highly Stable Blood Meal Alternative for Rearing \u3cem\u3eAedes\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eAnopheles\u3c/em\u3e Mosquitoes

We investigated alternatives to whole blood for blood feeding of mosquitoes with a focus on improved stability and compatibility with mass rearing programs. In contrast to whole blood, an artificial blood diet of ATP-supplemented plasma was effective in maintaining mosquito populations and was compatible with storage for extended periods refrigerated, frozen, and as a lyophilized powder. The plasma ATP diet supported rearing of both Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes. It was also effective in rearing Wolbachia-infected Aedes mosquitoes, suggesting compatibility with vector control efforts

Intracellularly Released Cholesterol from Polymer-Based Delivery Systems Alters Cellular Responses to Pneumolysin and Promotes Cell Survival

Cholesterol is highly abundant within all human body cells and modulates critical cellular functions related to cellular plasticity, metabolism, and survival. The cholesterol-binding toxin pneumolysin represents an essential virulence factor of Streptococcus pneumoniae in establishing pneumonia and other pneumococcal infections. Thus, cholesterol scavenging of pneumolysin is a promising strategy to reduce S. pneumoniae induced lung damage. There may also be a second cholesterol-dependent mechanism whereby pneumococcal infection and the presence of pneumolysin increase hepatic sterol biosynthesis. Here we investigated a library of polymer particles varying in size and composition that allow for the cellular delivery of cholesterol and their effects on cell survival mechanisms following pneumolysin exposure. Intracellular delivery of cholesterol by nanocarriers composed of Eudragit E100-PLGA rescued pneumolysin-induced alterations of lipid homeostasis and enhanced cell survival irrespective of neutralization of pneumolysin

PRAGMATIST: A tool to prioritize foot-and-mouth disease virus antigens held in vaccine banks

Antigen banks have been established to supply foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) vaccines at short notice to respond to incursions or upsurges in cases of FMDV infection. Multiple vaccine strains are needed to protect against specific FMDV lineages that circulate within six viral serotypes that are unevenly distributed across the world. The optimal selection of distinct antigens held in a bank must carefully balance the desire to cover these risks with the costs of purchasing and maintaining vaccine antigens. PRAGMATIST is a semi-quantitative FMD vaccine strain selection tool combining three strands of evidence: (1) estimates of the risk of incursion from specific areas (source area score); (2) estimates of the relative prevalence of FMD viral lineages in each specific area (lineage distribution score); and (3) effectiveness of each vaccine against specific FMDV lineages based on laboratory vaccine matching tests (vaccine coverage score). The output is a vaccine score, which identifies vaccine strains that best address the threats, and consequently which are the highest priority for inclusion in vaccine antigen banks. In this paper, data used to populate PRAGMATIST are described, including the results from expert elicitations regarding FMD risk and viral lineage circulation, while vaccine coverage data is provided from vaccine matching tests performed at the WRLFMD between 2011 and 2021 (n = 2,150). These data were tailored to working examples for three hypothetical vaccine antigen bank perspectives (Europe, North America, and Australia). The results highlight the variation in the vaccine antigens required for storage in these different regions, dependent on risk. While the tool outputs are largely robust to uncertainty in the input parameters, variation in vaccine coverage score had the most noticeable impact on the estimated risk covered by each vaccine, particularly for vaccines that provide substantial risk coverage across several lineages

PRAGMATIST: a tool to prioritize foot-and-mouth disease virus antigens held in vaccine banks

Antigen banks have been established to supply foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) vaccines at short notice to respond to incursions or upsurges in cases of FMDV infection. Multiple vaccine strains are needed to protect against specific FMDV lineages that circulate within six viral serotypes that are unevenly distributed across the world. The optimal selection of distinct antigens held in a bank must carefully balance the desire to cover these risks with the costs of purchasing and maintaining vaccine antigens. PRAGMATIST is a semi-quantitative FMD vaccine strain selection tool combining three strands of evidence: (1) estimates of the risk of incursion from specific areas (source area score); (2) estimates of the relative prevalence of FMD viral lineages in each specific area (lineage distribution score); and (3) effectiveness of each vaccine against specific FMDV lineages based on laboratory vaccine matching tests (vaccine coverage score). The output is a vaccine score, which identifies vaccine strains that best address the threats, and consequently which are the highest priority for inclusion in vaccine antigen banks. In this paper, data used to populate PRAGMATIST are described, including the results from expert elicitations regarding FMD risk and viral lineage circulation, while vaccine coverage data is provided from vaccine matching tests performed at the WRLFMD between 2011 and 2021 ( = 2,150). These data were tailored to working examples for three hypothetical vaccine antigen bank perspectives (Europe, North America, and Australia). The results highlight the variation in the vaccine antigens required for storage in these different regions, dependent on risk. While the tool outputs are largely robust to uncertainty in the input parameters, variation in vaccine coverage score had the most noticeable impact on the estimated risk covered by each vaccine, particularly for vaccines that provide substantial risk coverage across several lineages

Differences in perceived sources of uncertainty in natural hazards science advice: lessons for cross-disciplinary communication

IntroductionWe conducted mental model interviews in Aotearoa NZ to understand perspectives of uncertainty associated with natural hazards science. Such science contains many layers of interacting uncertainties, and varied understandings about what these are and where they come from creates communication challenges, impacting the trust in, and use of, science. To improve effective communication, it is thus crucial to understand the many diverse perspectives of scientific uncertainty.MethodsParticipants included hazard scientists (n = 11, e.g., geophysical, social, and other sciences), professionals with some scientific training (n = 10, e.g., planners, policy analysts, emergency managers), and lay public participants with no advanced training in science (n = 10, e.g., journalism, history, administration, art, or other domains). We present a comparative analysis of the mental model maps produced by participants, considering individuals’ levels of training and expertise in, and experience of, science.ResultsA qualitative comparison identified increasing map organization with science literacy, suggesting greater science training in, experience with, or expertise in, science results in a more organized and structured mental model of uncertainty. There were also language differences, with lay public participants focused more on perceptions of control and safety, while scientists focused on formal models of risk and likelihood.DiscussionThese findings are presented to enhance hazard, risk, and science communication. It is important to also identify ways to understand the tacit knowledge individuals already hold which may influence their interpretation of a message. The interview methodology we present here could also be adapted to understand different perspectives in participatory and co-development research

Subjective embodiment during the rubber hand illusion predicts severity of premonitory sensations and tics in Tourette Syndrome

In Tourette Syndrome, the expression of tics and commonly preceding premonitory sensations is associated with perturbed subjective feelings of self-control and agency. We compared responses to the Rubber Hand Illusion in 23 adults with TS and 22 controls. Both TS and control participants reported equivalent subjective embodiment of the artificial hand: feelings of ownership, location, and agency were greater during synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation, compared to asynchronous. However, individuals with TS did not manifest greater proprioceptive drift, an objective marker of embodiment observed in controls. An 'embodiment prediction error' index of the difference between subjective embodiment and objective proprioceptive drift correlated with severity of premonitory sensations. Feelings of ownership also correlated with premonitory sensation severity, and feelings of agency with tic severity. These findings suggest that subjective bodily ownership, as measured by the rubber hand illusion, contributes to susceptibility to the premonitory sensations that may be a precipitating factor in tics

Individual common variants exert weak effects on the risk for autism spectrum disorders.

While it is apparent that rare variation can play an important role in the genetic architecture of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), the contribution of common variation to the risk of developing ASD is less clear. To produce a more comprehensive picture, we report Stage 2 of the Autism Genome Project genome-wide association study, adding 1301 ASD families and bringing the total to 2705 families analysed (Stages 1 and 2). In addition to evaluating the association of individual single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we also sought evidence that common variants, en masse, might affect the risk. Despite genotyping over a million SNPs covering the genome, no single SNP shows significant association with ASD or selected phenotypes at a genome-wide level. The SNP that achieves the smallest P-value from secondary analyses is rs1718101. It falls in CNTNAP2, a gene previously implicated in susceptibility for ASD. This SNP also shows modest association with age of word/phrase acquisition in ASD subjects, of interest because features of language development are also associated with other variation in CNTNAP2. In contrast, allele scores derived from the transmission of common alleles to Stage 1 cases significantly predict case status in the independent Stage 2 sample. Despite being significant, the variance explained by these allele scores was small (Vm< 1%). Based on results from individual SNPs and their en masse effect on risk, as inferred from the allele score results, it is reasonable to conclude that common variants affect the risk for ASD but their individual effects are modest

Characterizing the conformational dynamics of metal-free PsaA using molecular dynamics simulations and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy

Prokaryotic metal-ion receptor proteins, or solute-binding proteins, facilitate the acquisition of metal ions from the extracellular environment. Pneumococcal surface antigen A (PsaA) is the primary Mn2+-recruiting protein of the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae and is essential for its in vivo colonization and virulence. The recently reported high-resolution structures of metal- free and metal-bound PsaA have provided the first insights into the mechanism of PsaA-facilitated metal binding. However, the conformational dynamics of metal-free PsaA in solution remain unknown. Here, we use continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the relative flexibility of the structural domains in metal-free PsaA and its distribution of conformations in solution. The results show that the crystal structure of the metal-free PsaA is a good representation of the dominant conformation in solution, but the protein also samples structurally distinct conformations that are not captured by the crystal structure. Further, these results suggest that the metal binding site is larger and more solvent exposed than indicated by the metal-free crystal structure. Collectively, this study provides atomic-resolution insight into the conformational dynamics of PsaA prior to metal binding and lays the groundwork for future EPR and MD based studies of PsaA in solution