Epidemiology of pertussis in two Ibero-American countries with different vaccination policies: lessons derived from different surveillance systems

Background Pertussis is a re-emerging disease worldwide despite its high vaccination coverage. European and Latin-American countries have used different surveillance and vaccination policies against pertussis. We compared the epidemiology of this disease in two Ibero-American countries with different vaccination and surveillance policies. Methods We compared the epidemiology of pertussis in Spain and the Dominican Republic (DR). We present a 10-year observational study of reported pertussis based on suspected and/or probable cases of pertussis identified by the national mandatory reporting system in both countries between 2005 and 2014. Both countries have a similar case definition for pertussis surveillance, although Spain applies laboratory testing, and uses real time PCR and/or culture for case confirmation while in DR only probable and/or suspected cases are reported. We analyzed incidence, hospitalization, case-fatality rates, mortality and vaccination coverage. Results The average annual incidence in children aged <1 year was 3.40/100,000 population in Spain and 12.15/100,000 in DR (p = 0.01). While the incidence in DR was generally higher than in Spain, in 2011 it was six times higher in Spain than in DR. The highest infant mortality in Spain was 0.017/100,000 in 2011, and the highest in DR was 0.08/100,000 in 2014 (p = 0.01). The proportion of hospitalized cases per year among children <1 year varied between 22.0% and 93.7% in Spain, and between 1.1% and 29.4% in DR (p = 0.0002), while mortality varied from 0 to 0.017 and 0 to 0.08 per 100,000 population in Spain and DR, respectively (p = 0.001). Vaccination coverage was 96.5% in Spain and 82.2% in DR (p = 0.001). Conclusions Pertussis is a public health problem in both countries. Surveillance, prevention and control measures should be improved, especially in DR. Current vaccination programs are not sufficient for preventing continued pertussis transmission, even in Spain which has high vaccination coverag

TÉCNICAS DE AISLAMIENTO Y PURIFICACIÓN DE OOQUISTES DE Sarcocystis aucheniae A PARTIR DE INTESTINO DELGADO DE PERROS EXPERIMENTALMENTE INFECTADOS

Procedures were evaluated for the rapid and efficient purification of oocysts and esporocysts of Sarcocystis aucheniae (Sa) from the small intestine of experimentally infected dogs with 400 Sa macrocysts obtained from meat of naturally infected alpacas. The mucosa of the small intestine was removed. Samples were washed by centrifugation with PBS, homogenized and centrifuged. Large quantities of oocysts attached to the intestinal microvilli were obtained. In the first procedure, an ezimatic treatment with 5% tripsin was used resulting in 50% oocyst separation. In the second procedure samples were treated with 2.6% sodium hypoclorite solution achieving 80% separation. In the third procedure, samples were centrifuged with a discontinuous density gradient of potassium bromide rendering 99% oocyst separation. The later procedure allowed obtaining relevant quantities of purified Sa oocysts and without loss of viability.Se evalúan procedimientos para la rápida y eficiente purificación de ooquistes y eporoquistes de Sarcocystis aucheniae (Sa), a partir del intestino delgado de perros experimentalmente infectados vía oral con 400 macroquistes de Sa provenientes de carne de alpacas naturalmente infectadas. Se recolectó la mucosa del intestino delgado. Las muestras fueron lavadas por centrifugación con buffer salino fosfato y homogenizadas y centrifugadas. Se obtuvo grandes cantidades de ooquistes adheridos a las microvellosidades intestinales. En el primer procedimiento, los ooquistes recibieron un tratamiento enzimático con tripsina al 5% resultando 50% de separación. En el segundo fueron tratados con una solución de hipoclorito de sodio al 2.6% lográndose una separación parcial (80%). En el tercero fueron centrifugados con una gradiente de densidad discontinua de bromuro de potasio obteniéndose una separación de 99%. Este último procedimiento permitió la obtención de ooquistes de Sa en cantidades relevantes, purificados y sin pérdida de la viabilidad

Recensiones [Revista de Historia Económica Año XI Invierno 1993 n. 1 pp. 209-243]

Editada en la Universidad Carlos IIILutgardo García Fuentes. Sevilla, los vascos y América. (Las exportaciones de hierro, manufacturas metálicas en los siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII) (Por Rafael Uñarte Ayo).-- Enrique Tandeter. Coacción y mercado. La minería de la plata en el Potosí Colonial 1692-1826 (Por Zacarías Moutoukias).-- Manuel Miño Grijalva. Obrajes y tejedores en Hueva España (1700-1810) (Por Pedro Pérez Herrero).-- Luis Perdices Blas.Pablo de Olavide (1725-1803), el Ilustrado (Por Victoriano Martin Martín).-- Daniel Peribáñez Caveda. Comunicaciones y comercio marítimo en la Asturias preindustrial (1750-1850) (Por José Ramón García López).-- Vicent Llombart.Campomanes, economista y político de Carlos III (Por Luis Perdices Blas).-- M. Teresa Pérez Picazo.El mayorazgo en la historia económica de la región murciana, expansión, crisis y abolición (siglos XVIII-XIX) (Por Juan Antonio Carmona Pidal).-- Nelson Lourenço. Familia rural e industria. Mudanga social na regido de Leiria (Por Carmen Sarasúa García).-- Blanca Sánchez Alonso.La inmigración española en Argentina, siglos XIX y XX (Por José Moya).-- Gianni Toniolo.An Economic History qf Liberal Italy, 1859-1918 (Por Francesco L. Galassi).-- Albert Carreras. Estadísticas históricas de España. Siglos XIX-XX (Por Sebastian Coll Martín)Publicad

Extracellular ATP released by osteoblasts is a key local inhibitor of bone mineralisation

Previous studies have shown that exogenous ATP (>1µM) prevents bone formation in vitro by blocking mineralisation of the collagenous matrix. This effect is thought to be mediated via both P2 receptor-dependent pathways and a receptor-independent mechanism (hydrolysis of ATP to produce the mineralisation inhibitor pyrophosphate, PPi). Osteoblasts are also known to release ATP constitutively. To determine whether this endogenous ATP might exert significant biological effects, bone-forming primary rat osteoblasts were cultured with 0.5-2.5U/ml apyrase (which sequentially hydrolyses ATP to ADP to AMP + 2Pi). Addition of 0.5U/ml apyrase to osteoblast culture medium degraded extracellular ATP to <1% of control levels within 2 minutes; continuous exposure to apyrase maintained this inhibition for up to 14 days. Apyrase treatment for the first 72 hours of culture caused small decreases (≤25%) in osteoblast number, suggesting a role for endogenous ATP in stimulating cell proliferation. Continuous apyrase treatment for 14 days (≥0.5U/ml) increased mineralisation of bone nodules by up to 3-fold. Increases in bone mineralisation were also seen when osteoblasts were cultured with the ATP release inhibitors, NEM and brefeldin A, as well as with P2X1 and P2X7 receptor antagonists. Apyrase decreased alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) activity by up to 60%, whilst increasing the activity of the PPi-generating ecto-nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterases (NPPs) up to 2.7-fold. Both collagen production and adipocyte formation were unaffected. These data suggest that nucleotides released by osteoblasts in bone could act locally, via multiple mechanisms, to limit mineralisation

Piperazine squaric acid diamides, a novel class of allosteric P2X7 receptor antagonists

The P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) stands out among the purinergic receptors due to its strong involvement in the regulation of tumor growth and metastasis formation as well as in innate immune responses and afferent signal transmission. Numerous studies have pointed out the beneficial effects of P2X7R antagonism for the treatment of a variety of cancer types, inflammatory diseases, and chronic pain. Herein we describe the development of novel P2X7R antagonists, incorporating piperazine squaric diamides as a central element. Besides improving the antagonists' potency from pIC50 values of 5.7-7.6, ADME properties (logD7.4 value, plasma protein binding, in vitro metabolic stability) of the generated compounds were investigated and optimized to provide novel P2X7R antagonists with drug-like properties. Furthermore, docking studies revealed the antagonists binding to the allosteric binding pocket in two distinct binding poses, depending on the substitution of the central piperazine moiety.Medicinal Chemistr

Holographic flows in non-Abelian T-dual geometries

We use non-Abelian T-duality to construct new N=1 solutions of type IIA supergravity (and their M-theory lifts) that interpolate between AdS_5 geometries. We initiate a study of the holographic interpretation of these backgrounds as RG flows between conformal fixed points. Along the way we give an elegant formulation of non-Abelian T-duality when acting on a wide class of backgrounds, including those corresponding to such flows, in terms of their SU(2) structure

New N N \mathcal{N} =1 supersymmetric AdS 5 backgrounds in type IIA supergravity

We present a family of N=1 supersymmetric backgrounds in type-IIA supergravity and their lifts to eleven-dimensional supergravity. These are of the form AdS5×X5 and are characterised by an SU(2) structure. The internal space, X5, is obtained from the known Sasaki-Einstein manifolds, Yp,q, via an application of non-Abelian T-duality