Influenza and pneumococcal vaccine uptake among nursing home residents in Nottingham, England: a postal questionnaire survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have shown influenza vaccine uptake in UK nursing home residents to be low. Very little information exists regarding the uptake of pneumococcal vaccine in this population. The formulation of policies relating to the vaccination of residents has been proposed as a simple step that may help improve vaccine uptake in care homes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A postal questionnaire was sent to matrons of all care homes with nursing within the Greater Nottingham area in January 2006. Non respondents were followed up with up to 3 phone calls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>30% (16/53) of respondents reported having a policy addressing influenza vaccination and 15% (8/53) had a policy addressing pneumococcal vaccination. Seasonal influenza vaccine coverage in care homes with a vaccination policy was 87% compared with 84% in care homes without a policy (p = 0.47). The uptake of pneumococcal vaccination was found to be low, particularly in care homes with no vaccination policy. Coverage was 60% and 32% in care homes with and without a vaccination policy respectively (p = 0.06). This result was found to be statistically significant on multivariate analysis (p = 0.03, R = 0.46)</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The uptake of influenza vaccine among care home residents in the Nottingham region is relatively high, although pneumococcal vaccine uptake is low. This study shows that there is an association between pneumococcal vaccine uptake and the existence of a vaccination policy in care homes, and highlights that few care homes have vaccination policies in place.</p

A novel member of the let-7 microRNA family is associated with developmental transitions in filarial nematode parasites

Background: Filarial nematodes are important pathogens in the tropics transmitted to humans via the bite of blood sucking arthropod vectors. The molecular mechanisms underpinning survival and differentiation of these parasites following transmission are poorly understood. microRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules that regulate target mRNAs and we set out to investigate whether they play a role in the infection event. Results: microRNAs differentially expressed during the early post-infective stages of Brugia pahangi L3 were identified by microarray analysis. One of these, bpa-miR-5364, was selected for further study as it is upregulated ~12-fold at 24 hours post-infection, is specific to clade III nematodes, and is a novel member of the let-7 family, which are known to have key developmental functions in the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Predicted mRNA targets of bpa-miR-5364 were identified using bioinformatics and comparative genomics approaches that relied on the conservation of miR-5364 binding sites in the orthologous mRNAs of other filarial nematodes. Finally, we confirmed the interaction between bpa-miR-5364 and three of its predicted targets using a dual luciferase assay. Conclusions: These data provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms underpinning the transmission of third stage larvae of filarial nematodes from vector to mammal. This study is the first to identify parasitic nematode mRNAs that are verified targets of specific microRNAs and demonstrates that post-transcriptional control of gene expression via stage-specific expression of microRNAs may be important in the success of filarial infection