Level of immunity to poliomyelitis in a group of children vaccinated according to the current official vaccination scheme (S. Paulo, Brazil)

The efficacy of oral polio vaccine (OPV) was determired in infants immunized according to the currently recommended vaccination scheme in the city of S. Paulo. Trivalent OPV was administered to the infants at 8 week intervals, begining at 2 months of age, in well controled conditions at the Experimental Health Unit of the Escola Paulista de Medicina. The study showed that the administration of 2 doses of OPV resulted in poor seroresponses and was not sufficient for effective immunization of the infants to all three poliovirus types. Only the infant group which received a complete series of 3 vaccine doses exhibited an adequate level of immunity, as high as 75% of triple-immunes. The prevalence of antibodies to type 1, 2 and 3 polioviruses was 83%, 96% and 88%, respectively. If, however, the operational conditions observed in the health units of the city of S. Paulo and the low socio-economic level of the majority of the population are considered, it is expected that primary immunization based on 3 doses of OPV is inadequate in order to mantain the disease under effective control. It is advisable to increase the number of vaccine doses from three to five, in order to overcome the adverse effects upon routine OPV vaccination and assure a high level of immunity to poliomyelitis of our child population.A eficiência da vacinação antipoliomielítica foi determinada em um grupo de crianças que receberam a vacina Sabin segundo o esquema de imunização atualmente em vigor na Capital de São Paulo, Brasil. A vacina oral trivalente foi administrada às crianças em condições bem controladas no Centro de Saúde Experimental da Escola Paulista de Medicina, iniciando-se a série básica aos 2 meses de idade. Os resultados mostraram que duas doses de vacina foram insuficientes para se imunizar adequadamente contra os três tipos de vírus da poliomielite. Somente o grupo de crianças que rebeceu a série básica completa de 3 doses de vacina exibiu um nível de imunidade satisfatório, atingindo o taxa de 75% de triplo-imunes. A imunidade contra cada um dos diferentes tipos de poliovírus mostrou-se mais elevada, alcançando após a aplicação de 3 doses de vacina, respectivamente para os tipos 1, 2 e 3, as taxas de 83%, 96% e 88%. Como, porém, as condições de vacinação atualmente existentes nas unidades sanitárias da Capital de São Paulo, Brasil, estão longe de corresponder às do presente estudo, quer seja do ponto de vista operacional, quer quanto ao nível sócio-econômico da maioria da população atendida, é de se esperar que 3 doses básicas de vacina não sejam suficientes para se atingir o nível de imunidade coletivo necessário para manter a paralisia infantil sob efetivo controle. Aconselha-se aumentar o número de doses de vacina da série básica de três para cinco, a fim de que os efeitos desfavoráveis possam ser superados na prática da vacinação oral, com o objetivo de assegurar à população infantil um elevado nível de imunidade contra a doença

An Analysis of the Food System Landscape and Agricultural Value Chains for Nutrition: A Case Study from Sierra Leone

This paper summarizes a qualitative case study conducted in Sierra Leone to explore the programmatic challenges of linking nutrition and agriculture nationally through a food system landscape analysis, and the implementation of nutrition-sensitive value chains of two commodities – rice and vegetables. The research undertaken in this project aimed to understand the role markets and value chains play in improving dietary diversification both directly, through an increase in the production of nutritious foods sourced from smallholders in Sierra Leone, and indirectly, through an increase in income for smallholder farmers. Much of the analyses done in this study examined the supply side of the value chain. The study highlights the importance in engaging women in value chains, and their potential role as “change agents” to ensure that nutrition is better integrated along the value chains as producers and consumers (IFPRI/ILRI, 2010). The study also identified various pathways through which rice and vegetables production, processing and marketing could contribute to improving nutritional status and health. Agriculture and health actors would benefit from jointly developing nutrition indicators to insert into the value chain that address both nutrition and agriculture. While a single intervention targeting only one component of the value chain is likely to have a limited impact, addressing all the identified issues, with several interventions at different levels of the chain can make a real difference

Stress modulation as a means to improve yeasts for lignocellulose bioconversion

The second-generation (2G) fermentation environment for lignocellulose conversion presents unique challenges to the fermentative organism that do not necessarily exist in other industrial fermentations. While extreme osmotic, heat, and nutrient starvation stresses are observed in sugar- and starch-based fermentation environments, additional pre-treatment-derived inhibitor stress, potentially exacerbated by stresses such as pH and product tolerance, exist in the 2G environment. Furthermore, in a consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) context, the organism is also challenged to secrete enzymes that may themselves lead to unfolded protein response and other stresses. This review will discuss responses of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to 2G-specific stresses and stress modulation strategies that can be followed to improve yeasts for this application. We also explore published –omics data and discuss relevant rational engineering, reverse engineering, and adaptation strategies, with the view of identifying genes or alleles that will make positive contributions to the overall robustness of 2G industrial strains

Level of immunity to poliomyelitis in a group of children vaccinated according to the current official vaccination scheme (S. Paulo, Brazil)

The efficacy of oral polio vaccine (OPV) was determired in infants immunized according to the currently recommended vaccination scheme in the city of S. Paulo. Trivalent OPV was administered to the infants at 8 week intervals, begining at 2 months of age, in well controled conditions at the Experimental Health Unit of the Escola Paulista de Medicina. The study showed that the administration of 2 doses of OPV resulted in poor seroresponses and was not sufficient for effective immunization of the infants to all three poliovirus types. Only the infant group which received a complete series of 3 vaccine doses exhibited an adequate level of immunity, as high as 75% of triple-immunes. The prevalence of antibodies to type 1, 2 and 3 polioviruses was 83%, 96% and 88%, respectively. If, however, the operational conditions observed in the health units of the city of S. Paulo and the low socio-economic level of the majority of the population are considered, it is expected that primary immunization based on 3 doses of OPV is inadequate in order to mantain the disease under effective control. It is advisable to increase the number of vaccine doses from three to five, in order to overcome the adverse effects upon routine OPV vaccination and assure a high level of immunity to poliomyelitis of our child population.A eficiência da vacinação antipoliomielítica foi determinada em um grupo de crianças que receberam a vacina Sabin segundo o esquema de imunização atualmente em vigor na Capital de São Paulo, Brasil. A vacina oral trivalente foi administrada às crianças em condições bem controladas no Centro de Saúde Experimental da Escola Paulista de Medicina, iniciando-se a série básica aos 2 meses de idade. Os resultados mostraram que duas doses de vacina foram insuficientes para se imunizar adequadamente contra os três tipos de vírus da poliomielite. Somente o grupo de crianças que rebeceu a série básica completa de 3 doses de vacina exibiu um nível de imunidade satisfatório, atingindo o taxa de 75% de triplo-imunes. A imunidade contra cada um dos diferentes tipos de poliovírus mostrou-se mais elevada, alcançando após a aplicação de 3 doses de vacina, respectivamente para os tipos 1, 2 e 3, as taxas de 83%, 96% e 88%. Como, porém, as condições de vacinação atualmente existentes nas unidades sanitárias da Capital de São Paulo, Brasil, estão longe de corresponder às do presente estudo, quer seja do ponto de vista operacional, quer quanto ao nível sócio-econômico da maioria da população atendida, é de se esperar que 3 doses básicas de vacina não sejam suficientes para se atingir o nível de imunidade coletivo necessário para manter a paralisia infantil sob efetivo controle. Aconselha-se aumentar o número de doses de vacina da série básica de três para cinco, a fim de que os efeitos desfavoráveis possam ser superados na prática da vacinação oral, com o objetivo de assegurar à população infantil um elevado nível de imunidade contra a doença.Universidade de São Paulo Faculdade de Saúde Pública Departamento de EpidemiologiaUniversidade de São Paulo Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Departamento de Microbiologia e ImunologiaEscola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de Medicina PreventivaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de Medicina PreventivaSciEL

Uso de microscopia de força atômica para visualização de bacteriófagos filamentosos.

Dentre as várias ferramentas que possibilitam o conhecimento das estruturas das moléculas biológicas, em nível atômico, a técnica da Difração de Raios X por monocristais tem tido papel preponderante.bitstream/CNPDIA/8874/1/PA06_96.pd