Vaccines against toxoplasma gondii : challenges and opportunities

Development of vaccines against Toxoplasma gondii infection in humans is of high priority, given the high burden of disease in some areas of the world like South America, and the lack of effective drugs with few adverse effects. Rodent models have been used in research on vaccines against T. gondii over the past decades. However, regardless of the vaccine construct, the vaccines have not been able to induce protective immunity when the organism is challenged with T. gondii, either directly or via a vector. Only a few live, attenuated T. gondii strains used for immunization have been able to confer protective immunity, which is measured by a lack of tissue cysts after challenge. Furthermore, challenge with low virulence strains, especially strains with genotype II, will probably be insufficient to provide protection against the more virulent T. gondii strains, such as those with genotypes I or II, or those genotypes from South America not belonging to genotype I, II or III. Future studies should use animal models besides rodents, and challenges should be performed with at least one genotype II T. gondii and one of the more virulent genotypes. Endpoints like maternal-foetal transmission and prevention of eye disease are important in addition to the traditional endpoint of survival or reduction in numbers of brain cysts after challenge

Self-supervised Blur Detection from Synthetically Blurred Scenes

Blur detection aims at segmenting the blurred areas of a given image. Recent deep learning-based methods approach this problem by learning an end-to-end mapping between the blurred input and a binary mask representing the localization of its blurred areas. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of such deep models is limited due to the scarcity of datasets annotated in terms of blur segmentation, as blur annotation is labour intensive. In this work, we bypass the need for such annotated datasets for end-to-end learning, and instead rely on object proposals and a model for blur generation in order to produce a dataset of synthetically blurred images. This allows us to perform self-supervised learning over the generated image and ground truth blur mask pairs using CNNs, defining a framework that can be employed in purely self-supervised, weakly supervised or semi-supervised configurations. Interestingly, experimental results of such setups over the largest blur segmentation datasets available show that this approach achieves state of the art results in blur segmentation, even without ever observing any real blurred image.This research was partially funded by the Basque Government’s Industry Department under the ELKARTEK program’s project ONKOIKER under agreement KK2018/00090. We thank the Spanish project TIN2016- 79717-R and mention Generalitat de Catalunya CERCA Program

The functional maturation of M cells is dramatically reduced in the Peyer's patches of aged mice

The transcytosis of antigens across the follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) of Peyer's patches by microfold cells (M cells) is important for the induction of efficient immune responses to mucosal antigens. The mucosal immune response is compromised by ageing, but effects on M cells were unknown. We show that M-cell density in the FAE of aged mice was dramatically reduced. As a consequence, aged Peyer's patches were significantly deficient in their ability to transcytose particulate lumenal antigen across the FAE. Ageing specifically impaired the expression of Spi-B and the downstream functional maturation of M cells. Ageing also dramatically impaired C-C motif chemokine ligand 20 expression by the FAE. As a consequence, fewer B cells were attracted towards the FAE, potentially reducing their ability to promote M-cell maturation. Our study demonstrates that ageing dramatically impedes the functional maturation of M cells, revealing an important ageing-related defect in the mucosal immune system's ability to sample lumenal antigens

Evaluation of drug administration errors in a teaching hospital

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Medication errors can occur at any of the three steps of the medication use process: prescribing, dispensing and administration. We aimed to determine the incidence, type and clinical importance of drug administration errors and to identify risk factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Prospective study based on disguised observation technique in four wards in a teaching hospital in Paris, France (800 beds). A pharmacist accompanied nurses and witnessed the preparation and administration of drugs to all patients during the three drug rounds on each of six days per ward. Main outcomes were number, type and clinical importance of errors and associated risk factors. Drug administration error rate was calculated with and without wrong time errors. Relationship between the occurrence of errors and potential risk factors were investigated using logistic regression models with random effects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-eight nurses caring for 108 patients were observed. Among 1501 opportunities for error, 415 administrations (430 errors) with one or more errors were detected (27.6%). There were 312 wrong time errors, ten simultaneously with another type of error, resulting in an error rate without wrong time error of 7.5% (113/1501). The most frequently administered drugs were the cardiovascular drugs (425/1501, 28.3%). The highest risks of error in a drug administration were for dermatological drugs. No potentially life-threatening errors were witnessed and 6% of errors were classified as having a serious or significant impact on patients (mainly omission). In multivariate analysis, the occurrence of errors was associated with drug administration route, drug classification (ATC) and the number of patient under the nurse's care.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Medication administration errors are frequent. The identification of its determinants helps to undertake designed interventions.</p

Intraoperative assessment of biliary anatomy for prevention of bile duct injury: a review of current and future patient safety interventions

Background Bile duct injury (BDI) is a dreaded complication of cholecystectomy, often caused by misinterpretation of biliary anatomy. To prevent BDI, techniques have been developed for intraoperative assessment of bile duct anatomy. This article reviews the evidence for the different techniques and discusses their strengths and weaknesses in terms of efficacy, ease, and cost-effectiveness. Method PubMed was searched from January 1980 through December 2009 for articles concerning bile duct visualization techniques for prevention of BDI during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Results Nine techniques were identified. The critical-view-of-safety approach, indirectly establishing biliary anatomy, is accepted by most guidelines and commentaries as the surgical technique of choice to minimize BDI risk. Intraoperative cholangiography is associated with lower BDI risk (OR 0.67, CI 0.61-0.75). However, it incurs extra costs, prolongs the operative procedure, and may be experienced as cumbersome. An established reliable alternative is laparoscopic ultrasound, but its longer learning curve limits widespread implementation. Easier to perform are cholecystocholangiography and dye cholangiography, but these yield poor-quality images. Light cholangiography, requiring retrograde insertion of an optical fiber into the common bile duct, is too unwieldy for routine use. Experimental techniques are passive infrared cholangiography, hyperspectral cholangiography, and near-infrared fluorescence cholangiography. The latter two are performed noninvasively and provide real-time images. Quantitative data in patients are necessary to further evaluate these techniques. Conclusions The critical-view-of-safety approach should be used during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Intraoperative cholangiography or laparoscopic ultrasound is recommended to be performed routinely. Hyperspectral cholangiography and near-infrared fluorescence cholangiography are promising novel techniques to prevent BDI and thus increase patient safety

Isobaric vapor liquid equilibrium (VLE) data of the systems n-butanol plus butyric acid and n-butanol plus acetic acid

Vapor liquid equilibria (VLE) of the binary systems n-butanal + butyric acid and n-butanol + acetic acid were determined at two pressures, 26.65 and 53.33 kPa. The equipment used was a flow ebulliometer, which is ideal for reactive systems . The quality of the measured P-T-x-y data was verified by applying the thermodynamic consistency test of Van Ness and Fredenslund. The binary interaction parameters for the determination of the liquid-phase activity coefficients, represented by the models Wilson, UNIQUAC, and NRTL, were adjusted by using the maximum likelihood method. The nonideality of the vapor phase was considered by using a chemical theory with the correlation of Hayden and O'Connell for the calculation of the second virial coefficient and the prediction of the chemical equilibrium dimerization constant.46112012

Vapor-liquid equilibria of binary and ternary mixtures of benzene, cyclohexane, and chlorobenzene at 40.0 kPa and 101.3 kPa

Vapor-liquid equilibrium data were measured at isobaric conditions for the binary mixtures of benzene + cyclohexane, benzene + chlorobenzene, and cyclohexane + chlorobenzene, and one ternary mixture of benzene + cyclohexane + chlorobenzene. The measurements were made in an equilibrium still with circulation of both the vapor and liquid phases. Thermodynamic consistency for the three binary mixtures was tested using the area and point-to-point test. The second virial coefficients obtained by the Tsonopoulos method were;used to calculate the vapor-phase fugacity coefficients. The parameters of the Wilson, UNIQUAC, and NRTL equations were obtained by fitting to the binary and ternary data.46225626

Determination of the Solubility Parameters of Biodiesel from Vegetable Oils

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)The fatty acid methyl esters of vegetable oils and animal fats, more commonly known as biodiesel, represent a renewable, biodegradable, noninflammable, and low toxicity alternative to diesel. In this study, the Hansen solubility parameters (HSPs) and the interaction radius of the solute sphere (R-0) were determined for the biodiesel derived from soybean oil, coconut oil, palm oil, and castor oil, using 45 solvents and solvent mixtures. The values for the HSPs and R-0 obtained for the different biodiesels were soybean (15.03, 3.69, 8.92, and 11.33; MPa(1/2)); coconut (15.12, 3.99, 9.25, and 10.92; MPa(1/2)); palm (15.43, 5.28, 6.61, and 10.54; MPa(1/2)); and castor (16.10, 6.72, 9.11, and 11.78; MPa(1/2)). The HSPs of four biofuels were also determined using the average values of the fatty esters of each oil, calculated using group contribution. Subsequently, the solubilities of the biofuels were predicted using the van Krevelen-Hoftyzer, Greenhalgh, and Bagley approaches.271274977509Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Vapor-liquid equilibrium of fatty acid ethyl esters determined using DSC

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)\The vapor-liquid equilibrium data for the systems: ethyl palmitate + ethyl stearate at 5332.9 Pa, ethyl palmitate + ethyl oleate at 5332.9 Pa and 9332.6 Pa and ethyl palmitate + ethyl linoleate at 9332.6 Pa were determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The esters used in this study are the major components of biodiesel obtained from the transesterification of soybean oil with ethanol. According to the results, DSC is appropriate for determining the vapor-liquid equilibrium of binary systems. The binary interaction parameters of the models Wilson. NRTL and UNIQUAC were fitted to the experimental data obtained in this study. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.51241671178182Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)UNICAMPFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP [2008/56258-8