A Whole Virus Pandemic Influenza H1N1 Vaccine Is Highly Immunogenic and Protective in Active Immunization and Passive Protection Mouse Models

The recent emergence and rapid spread of a novel swine-derived H1N1 influenza virus has resulted in the first influenza pandemic of this century. Monovalent vaccines have undergone preclinical and clinical development prior to initiation of mass immunization campaigns. We have carried out a series of immunogenicity and protection studies following active immunization of mice, which indicate that a whole virus, nonadjuvanted vaccine is immunogenic at low doses and protects against live virus challenge. The immunogenicity in this model was comparable to that of a whole virus H5N1 vaccine, which had previously been demonstrated to induce high levels of seroprotection in clinical studies. The efficacy of the H1N1 pandemic vaccine in protecting against live virus challenge was also seen to be equivalent to that of the H5N1 vaccine. The protective efficacy of the H1N1 vaccine was also confirmed using a severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mouse model. It was demonstrated that mouse and guinea pig immune sera elicited following active H1N1 vaccination resulted in 100% protection of SCID mice following passive transfer of immune sera and lethal challenge. The immune responses to a whole virus pandemic H1N1 and a split seasonal H1N1 vaccine were also compared in this study. It was demonstrated that the whole virus vaccine induced a balanced Th-1 and Th-2 response in mice, whereas the split vaccine induced mainly a Th-2 response and only minimal levels of Th-1 responses. These data supported the initiation of clinical studies with the same low doses of whole virus vaccine that had previously been demonstrated to be immunogenic in clinical studies with a whole virus H5N1 vaccine

Pathogen reduction/inactivation of products for the treatment of bleeding disorders:what are the processes and what should we say to patients?

Patients with blood disorders (including leukaemia, platelet function disorders and coagulation factor deficiencies) or acute bleeding receive blood-derived products, such as red blood cells, platelet concentrates and plasma-derived products. Although the risk of pathogen contamination of blood products has fallen considerably over the past three decades, contamination is still a topic of concern. In order to counsel patients and obtain informed consent before transfusion, physicians are required to keep up to date with current knowledge on residual risk of pathogen transmission and methods of pathogen removal/inactivation. Here, we describe pathogens relevant to transfusion of blood products and discuss contemporary pathogen removal/inactivation procedures, as well as the potential risks associated with these products: the risk of contamination by infectious agents varies according to blood product/region, and there is a fine line between adequate inactivation and functional impairment of the product. The cost implications of implementing pathogen inactivation technology are also considered

OLED-on-CMOS - optoelectronic devices with embedded light emitter

Highly-efficient, low-voltage organic light emitting diodes (OLED) are well suitable for post-processing integration onto the top metal layer of CMOS devices. The operation of OLEDs on active matrix CMOS substrates requires a top-emitting, low-voltage OLED stack. Low operating voltage devices can be achieved applying the concept of electrical doping of the charge transport layers of the OLED. Devices with very high power efficiency can be prepared when combining the concept of electrical doping with highly efficient emitter systems. The typical device architecture is the so-called p-i-n- stacking (intrinsic emitter layer and blocking layers sandwiched between doped p- and n-type transport layers). Although OLED-on-CMOS micro-displays are on the market already, those devices have not yet been shown with p-i-n technology, i.e. with low operating voltage at high brightness. Red, orange, white, green and blue OLED-stacks with doped charge transport layers were prepared on various CMOS test substrates. The different devices were compared with respect to their performance (current, luminance, voltage, luminance dependence on viewing angle, optical outcoupling etc.). Low operating voltages of 2.4V at 100cd/m² for the red p-i-n type phosphorescent emitting OLED stack, 2.5V at 100cd/m² (3.3V@1000cd/m²) for the orange phosphorescent emitting OLED stack and 3.2V at 100cd/m² (4.7V@1000cd/m²) for the white fluorescent emitting OLED have been achieved. By monolithically combining OLED with CMOS circuitry in a single device, specific OLED advantages (efficiency, low voltage, high brightness, spectral characteristics (VIS/NIR) allow to address several new and alternative applications, going far beyond the current major application in small and medium displays. This is especially based on CMOS capabilities for implementation of various sensing devices (e.g., photodetectors). By OLED-on-CMOS technology, it becomes possible to supplement integrated optical sensors by an efficient and stable light source inside the silicon, both driven, read-out and controlled by embedded CMOS circuitry. Moreover, the light emitter is placed above the CMOS electronics, therefore saving expensive chip area without requiring additional space. That combination allows advanced devices and applications, e.g., OLED microdisplays with embedded image detector (camera), or optoelectronic sensors with embedded light source. Applications address mainly two areas: advanced microdisplays (e.g., head-mounted display with integrated eye-tracking), and optical sensors (e.g., light barriers, lab-on-chip, optocouplers)

Integration of high-efficiency PIN organic light-emitting devices in lighting and optoelectronic applications

Displays based on organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) have rapidly developed and are commercially available since some time. However, in order to achieve large market penetration in new segments like lighting and optoelectronic, it is generally expected that the current status of the field has to advance in terms of manufacturing cost and integration possibilities. OLED devices with electrically doped transport layers show low operating voltage, high efficiency and long lifetime. In this paper we demonstrate that the concept of p- and n-type electrical doping can be applied under manufacturing conditions on the worldwide first vertical in-line fabrication setup for large area lighting applications. An in-linemanufactured highly efficient white-OLED-system will be presented. The driving of large area lighting tiles defines the resulting OLED lifetime and efficiency. In this paper we will present first results on the driving of large area lighting panels. Beside the lighting application the integration of highly efficient OLEDs for optoelectronic applications is an opportunity for innovative new applications. Microdisplays, integrated optocoupler and light barriers are few examples for the potential of OLEDs in optoelectronic applications. We will present results regarding the integration of highly efficient top-emitting PIN OLEDsTM for optoelectronic applications

Dose-dependent immunogenicity of H1N1 A/California/7/2009 candidate vaccine in mice.

<p>CD1 mice were immunized twice with different doses of the candidate vaccine, and HI titers were determined 21 days after the first (d21) and 21 days after the booster immunization (d42) to calculate the percentage of seroconversion (%SC), geometric mean titers (GMT), and effective dose 50 (ED₅₀) based on an HI titer of ≥40.</p