Fumonisin-induced hepatocarcinogenesis: mechanisms related to cancer initiation and promotion.

We review the hepatocarcinogenic effects of fungal cultures of Fusarium verticillioides(= Fusarium moniliforme) strain MRC 826 in male BD IX rats. Subsequent chemical analyses of the fumonisin B (FB) mycotoxin content in the culture material used and long-term carcinogenesis studies with purified FB1 provide information about dose-response effects, relevance of hepatotoxicity during FB1-induced carcinogenesis, and the existence of a no-effect threshold. Fumonisin intake levels of between 0.08 and 0.16 mg FB/100 g body weight (bw)/day over approximately 2 years produce liver cancer in male BD IX rats. Exposure levels < 0.08 mg FB/100 g bw/day fail to induce cancer, although mild toxic and preneoplastic lesions are induced. The nutritional status of the diets used in the long-term experiments was marginally deficient in lipotropes and vitamins and could have played an important modulating role in fumonisin-induced hepatocarcinogenesis. Short-term studies in a cancer initiation/promotion model in rat liver provided important information about the possible mechanisms involved during the initial stages of cancer development by this apparently nongenotoxic mycotoxin. These studies supported the findings of long-term investigations indicating that a cytotoxic/proliferative response is required for cancer induction and that a no-effect threshold exists for cancer induction. The mechanisms proposed for cancer induction are highlighted and include the possible role of oxidative damage during initiation and the disruption of lipid metabolism, integrity of cellular membranes, and altered growth-regulatory responses as important events during promotion

MRI and clinical syndrome in dura materrelated Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Objective : Iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (iCJD) is mainly associated with dura mater (DM) grafts and administration of human growth hormones (hGH). Data on disease course in DM-CJD are limited. We describe the clinical and diagnostic findings in this patient group with special emphasis on MRI signal alterations. Methods : Ten DM-CJD patients were studied for their clinical symptoms and diagnostic findings. The MRIs were evaluated for signal increase of the cortical and subcortical structures. Results : DM-CJD patients had a median incubation time of 18 years and median disease duration of 7 months. The majority of patients were MM homozygous at codon 129 of the prion protein gene (PRNP) and presented with gait ataxia and psychiatric symptoms. No correlation between the graft site and the initial disease course was found. The MRI showed cortical and basal ganglia signal increase each in eight out of ten patients and thalamic hyperintensity in five out of ten cases. Of interest, patients with thalamic signal increase were homozygous for methionine. Conclusion : The MRI findings in DM-CJD largely resemble those seen in sporadic CJD, as the cortex and basal ganglia are mainly affecte

Immunogenicity and safety of an inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine (VLA2001) compared with the adenoviral vector vaccine ChAdOx1-S in adults in the UK (COV-COMPARE): interim analysis of a randomised, controlled, phase 3, immunobridging trial.

BACKGROUND: The Valneva COVID-19 vaccine (VLA2001; Valneva Austria, Vienna, Austria) is an inactivated whole-virus, adjuvanted SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. We aimed to assess the safety and immunogenicity of primary vaccination with VLA2001 versus the ChAdOx1-S (Oxford-AstraZeneca) adenoviral-vectored vaccine. METHODS: In this immunobridging phase 3 trial (COV-COMPARE), participants aged 18 years and older who were medically stable (as determined by an investigator) were enrolled at 26 sites in the UK. In the double-blind, randomised, controlled arm of the trial, participants aged 30 years and older were randomly assigned (2:1) to receive two doses of VLA2001 (0·5 mL; with 33 antigen units [AU] per dose) or ChAdOx1-S (0·5 mL; with 2·5 × 108 infectious units per dose) on days 1 and 29. In another arm, participants aged 18-29 years received two doses of VLA2001 (same dose) open label on days 1 and 29. The primary immunogenicity outcome was the immune response of a two-dose schedule of VLA2001 on day 43, in adults aged 30 years and older, versus two doses of ChAdOx1-S via superiority of geometric mean titres (GMTs) of neutralising antibodies (GMT ratio of >1 at a two-sided significance level of 5%) and non-inferiority of the seroconversion rate (non-inferiority margin of -10% for the lower limit of the 95% CI for the difference between groups). The primary safety outcome was the frequency and severity of any adverse events in all participants up to day 43. Safety was assessed in all participants who received at least one dose of vaccine. GMTs were assessed in a subset of participants aged 30 years and older who were seronegative at baseline, had at least one evaluable antibody titre measurement after vaccination, and had no confirmed COVID-19 during the study (immunogenicity population); and seroconversion was assessed in the per-protocol population, which comprised the immunogenicity population but excluding any participants with major protocol violations. For each timepoint, only participants with available data were included in the analysis. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04864561, and is ongoing. FINDINGS: Between April 28 and June 3, 2021, 4181 individuals were screened and 4017 enrolled, of whom 2975 (74%) were aged 30 years or older and randomly assigned to receive VLA2001 (n=1978) or ChAdOx1-S (n=997), and 1042 (26%) were aged 18-29 years (all received open-label VLA2001). 4012 participants received at least one dose of vaccine (1040 in the open-label VLA2001 group, 1977 in the randomised VLA2001 group, and 995 in the ChAdOx1-S group). The immunogenicity population comprised 492 participants in the randomised VLA2001 group and 498 in the ChAdOx1-S group; three participants in the VLA2001 group were excluded from the per-protocol population. VLA2001 induced higher neutralising GMTs than did ChAdOx1-S (803·5 [95% CI 748·5-862·6] vs 576·6 [543·6-611·7]; GMT ratio 1·39 [95% CI 1·25-1·56]; p<0·0001), and non-inferior seroconversion rates (444 [97·4%] of 456 participants vs 444 [98·9%] of 449; difference -1·5% [95% CI -3·3 to 0·2]. Any adverse event was reported in 963 (92·6%) participants in the open-label VLA2001 group, 1755 (88·8%) in the randomised VLA2001 group, and 976 (98·1%) in the ChAdOx1-S group. Most adverse events reported were mild or moderate in severity. INTERPRETATION: VLA2001 has a favourable tolerability profile and met superiority criteria for neutralising antibodies and non-inferiority criterion for seroconversion rates compared with ChAdOx1-S. The data presented here formed the basis of successful marketing approval for use of VLA2001 in primary vaccination in the EU, the UK, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates. FUNDING: UK Department of Health and Social Care and Valneva Austria

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http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61126/1/1803.pd

End to End Development Engineering

Raising software abstraction and re-use levels are key success factors for producing quality software products. Model-driven architecture (MDA) is an OMG initiative following this trend by mapping a conceptual model of application specified in platform independent model (PIM), to one or more platform specific models (PSM) automatically. Because there is little previous work tackling the development problem from specification through to implementation, this paper proposes End to End Development engineering (E2EDE) method using MDA methodology. E2EDE is intended to fill the mapping gap between PIM and PSM in MDA. The notion of variability is utilized from software product line and used to model design decisions in PSM. PIM is equipped with Nonfunctional requirements which borrowed from Design pattern to inform design decisions; thereby guiding the mapping process. In addition we have developed a strategic PSM for messaging systems can be configured to produce different applications such as the helpdesk system which is used as a case study