ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

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Preparedness among medical rehabilitation professionals for deployment to future disaster settings

Objective: To assess the preparedness among medical rehabilitation professionals for deployment to disaster settings and to establish a rehabilitation professional database for disaster training and deployment under the auspices of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM). Methods: A survey tool for preparedness for deployment to disaster settings was developed by the authors following approval from the Rehabilitation Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand (RMSANZ) and ISPRM. The link to the online survey was distributed by email to members through the RMSANZ and Central Office of ISPRM. Participants were registered rehabilitation professionals who were members of the RMSANZ and/or ISPRM. The survey was voluntary. Results: Of the 76 respondents, the majority (94%) were rehabilitation physicians, 72% had >10 years of experience in rehabilitation medicine, 63% expressed an interest in future deployment, and only 24% had some disaster management training in the past. Almost all who expressed an interest in deployment wanted to receive any relevant disaster management training and education before deployment; others were interested in potential opportunities and expectations in disaster management, mitigation, communication, team structure, and telemedicine utilization. Conclusion: Surveying a larger cohort of rehabilitation professionals and documentation of context-specific rehabilitation skills relevant to disaster settings are needed. Establishment of a database of rehabilitation professionals, willing to be deployed, should be considered to assist with the integration of the rehabilitation workforce within the World Health Organization Emergency Medical Team Initiative

Identification of the new T-cell-stimulating antigens from Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture filtrate.

The proteins secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis are an important target for vaccine development. To identify the antigens from M. tuberculosis culture filtrate (CF) that strongly stimulate T-cells, the CF was fractionated by ion-exchange chromatography and then non-reducing sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with mini-whole gel elution. Each fraction was screened for its ability to induce interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from healthy tuberculin reactors. The protein bands that strongly induced IFN-gamma production were subjected to N-terminal sequencing. Two new proteins, a 17-kDa protein (Rv0164, MTSP17) and an 11-kDa (Rv3204, MTSP11) protein, were identified. The recombinant MTSP17 (rMTSP17) and rMTSP11 induced significant production of IFN-gamma and interleukin (IL)-12p40 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy tuberculin reactors. Interestingly, IL-12p40 production in response to rMTSP11 was significantly higher than that in response to rMTSP17 or the three components of the antigen 85 complex. These results suggest that MTSP11 antigen should be further evaluated as a component of a subunit vaccine