Efficacy of a monovalent human-bovine (116E) rotavirus vaccine in Indian children in the second year of life

Rotavirus gastroenteritis is one of the leading causes of diarrhea in Indian children less than 2 years of age. The 116E rotavirus strain was developed as part of the Indo-US Vaccine Action Program and has undergone efficacy trials. This paper reports the efficacy and additional safety data in children up to 2 years of age. In a double-blind placebo controlled multicenter trial, 6799 infants aged 6-7 weeks were randomized to receive three doses of an oral human-bovine natural reassortant vaccine (116E) or placebo at ages 6, 10, and 14 weeks. The primary outcome was severe (≥11 on the Vesikari scale) rotavirus gastroenteritis. Efficacy outcomes and adverse events were ascertained through active surveillance. We randomly assigned 4532 and 2267 subjects to receive vaccine and placebo, respectively, with over 96% subjects receiving all three doses of the vaccine or placebo. The per protocol analyses included 4354 subjects in the vaccine and 2187 subjects in the placebo group. The overall incidence of severe RVGE per 100 person years was 1.3 in the vaccine group and 2.9 in the placebo recipients. Vaccine efficacy against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in children up to 2 years of age was 55.1% (95% CI 39.9 to 66.4; p<0.0001); vaccine efficacy in the second year of life of 48.9% (95% CI 17.4 to 68.4; p=0.0056) was only marginally less than in the first year of life [56.3% (95% CI 36.7 to 69.9; p<0.0001)]. The number of infants needed to be immunized to prevent one episode of severe RVGE in the first 2 years of life was 40 (95% CI 28.0 to 63.0) and for RVGE of any severity, it was 21 (95% CI 16.0 to 32.0). Serious adverse events were observed at the same rates in the two groups. None of the eight intussusception events occurred within 30 days of a vaccine dose and all were reported only after the third dose. The sustained efficacy of the 116E in the second year of life is reassuring

Relationship between haemagglutination-inhibiting antibody titres and clinical protection against influenza: development and application of a bayesian random-effects model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Antibodies directed against haemagglutinin, measured by the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay are essential to protective immunity against influenza infection. An HI titre of 1:40 is generally accepted to correspond to a 50% reduction in the risk of contracting influenza in a susceptible population, but limited attempts have been made to further quantify the association between HI titre and protective efficacy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We present a model, using a meta-analytical approach, that estimates the level of clinical protection against influenza at any HI titre level. Source data were derived from a systematic literature review that identified 15 studies, representing a total of 5899 adult subjects and 1304 influenza cases with interval-censored information on HI titre. The parameters of the relationship between HI titre and clinical protection were estimated using Bayesian inference with a consideration of random effects and censorship in the available information.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significant and positive relationship between HI titre and clinical protection against influenza was observed in all tested models. This relationship was found to be similar irrespective of the type of viral strain (A or B) and the vaccination status of the individuals.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although limitations in the data used should not be overlooked, the relationship derived in this analysis provides a means to predict the efficacy of inactivated influenza vaccines when only immunogenicity data are available. This relationship can also be useful for comparing the efficacy of different influenza vaccines based on their immunological profile.</p

Sentimentbasierte Anlagestrategien für österreichische Aktien

Die Finanzmarktforschung hat sich über Jahrzehnte hinweg mit der Vorhersage von Aktienkursen und der darauf aufbauenden Formulierung von Anlagestrategien beschäftigt. Der wissenschaftliche Diskurs wurde in diesem Zusammenhang insbesondere durch die Effizienzmarkthypothese, einer mathematisch-statistischen Theorie der Volkswirtschaftslehre, geprägt. Diese postuliert, dass die Preise an den Finanzmärkten zu jedem Zeitpunkt alle relevanten Informationen beinhalten und somit die Gesamteinschätzung der Investoren rational ist. Ereignisse in der Vergangenheit, wie etwa der „Black Thursday“ von 1929, die „Dot-Com-Blase“ in den 1990er Jahren oder die Immobilienblase in den USA belegen jedoch, dass die Preisbildung an den Finanzmärkten oftmals nicht nach objektiven Gesichtspunkten erfolgt. Die Behavioral Finance Forschung zeigt, dass Anleger insbesondere bei komplexen und unsicheren Entscheidungen, in einem erheblichen Maße von ihren Gefühlen und ihrer Stimmungslage beeinflusst werden. In dieser Masterarbeit wird untersucht, inwieweit sich durch die Zuhilfenahme von Sentimentindikatoren, mit Hilfe derer die allgemeine Stimmungslage der Marktteilnehmer abgebildet wird, erfolgreiche Anlagestrategien für den österreichischen Aktienmarkt formulieren lassen.eingereicht von Lorenz Kohberger, BScUniversität Linz, Masterarbeit, 2019(VLID)386656

3D-FIB Investigation of Cu Precipitates in c-Si after High Temperature Treatments

Besides x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and transition electron microscopy (TEM), 3-dimensional focused ion beam (3D-FIB) combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an additional method to investigate the transition metal distribution in crystalline silicon material leading to additional information on the 3D shape, size and distribution of precipitates. The 3D-FIB method has been used to investigate the transition metal precipitate distribution around extended crystal defects, showing a strong influence of crystallographic parameters on the precipitation behavior. In addition, the transition metal precipitate distribution after a phosphorous (POCl3) diffusion process and a corresponding temperature profile alone has been investigated. During POCl3 diffusion the transition metal precipitates dissolve and the transition metals move to regions with higher solubility leaving voids behind, which can still act as recombination active centers and have to be taken into account in further process treatments. The diffusivity and density of silicon self interstitials and the duration of the POCl3 diffusion is not sufficient to fill the voids. If only the temperature profile of a POCl3 diffusion is applied, the transition metal precipitates dissolve but return to the same sites during cool down due to a missing external getter sink.publishe

Economic burden of acute lower respiratory tract infection in South African children.

BACKGROUND: Acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTI) are a leading cause of childhood mortality, but there are few data on disease costs in developing countries. OBJECTIVES: This study's purpose was to analyse ALRTI's costs-of-illness and economic burden in urban South African children. METHODS: ALRTI costs-of-illness (expressed in US$2010) at a tertiary hospital were measured using a micro-costing approach nested within a clinical trial. Demographic, epidemiological and data on use of health resources were integrated with costs-of-illness to estimate the economic burden of ALRTI in urban South African children aged <5 years. RESULTS: 745 children experiencing 858 ALRTI episodes were studied. 338 (39.4$266 (95% CI 245-286) and 1287 (95% CI 1174-1401) in HIV-infected patients, and US$257 (95$5968 (95% CI 4025-8056) in HIV-uninfected patients and US$7849 in one HIV-infected patient. Under-5 children experienced an estimated 424,220 episodes annually of ALRTI. ALRTI treatment cost the public health system an estimated US$28,975,000 while an additional US$539,000 of costs were borne by families. CONCLUSION: ALRTIs in children <5 years impose a heavy economic burden on families and the South African public health-care system