Field Effectiveness of Pandemic and 2009-2010 Seasonal Vaccines against 2009-2010 A(H1N1) Influenza: Estimations from Surveillance Data in France

BACKGROUND: In this study, we assess how effective pandemic and trivalent 2009-2010 seasonal vaccines were in preventing influenza-like illness (ILI) during the 2009 A(H1N1) pandemic in France. We also compare vaccine effectiveness against ILI versus laboratory-confirmed pandemic A(H1N1) influenza, and assess the possible bias caused by using non-specific endpoints and observational data. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We estimated vaccine effectiveness by using the following formula: VE  =  (PPV-PCV)/(PPV(1-PCV)) × 100%, where PPV is the proportion vaccinated in the population and PCV the proportion of vaccinated influenza cases. People were considered vaccinated three weeks after receiving a dose of vaccine. ILI and pandemic A(H1N1) laboratory-confirmed cases were obtained from two surveillance networks of general practitioners. During the epidemic, 99.7% of influenza isolates were pandemic A(H1N1). Pandemic and seasonal vaccine uptakes in the population were obtained from the National Health Insurance database and by telephonic surveys, respectively. Effectiveness estimates were adjusted by age and week. The presence of residual biases was explored by calculating vaccine effectiveness after the influenza period. The effectiveness of pandemic vaccines in preventing ILI was 52% (95% confidence interval: 30-69) during the pandemic and 33% (4-55) after. It was 86% (56-98) against confirmed influenza. The effectiveness of seasonal vaccines against ILI was 61% (56-66) during the pandemic and 19% (-10-41) after. It was 60% (41-74) against confirmed influenza. CONCLUSIONS: The effectiveness of pandemic vaccines in preventing confirmed pandemic A(H1N1) influenza on the field was high, consistently with published findings. It was significantly lower against ILI. This is unsurprising since not all ILI cases are caused by influenza. Trivalent 2009-2010 seasonal vaccines had a statistically significant effectiveness in preventing ILI and confirmed pandemic influenza, but were not better in preventing confirmed pandemic influenza than in preventing ILI. This lack of difference might be indicative of selection bias

Dynamique du carbone organique et efficacité de production du bactérioplancton dans la zone pélagique des lacs

La contribution des bactéries hétérotrophes à la dynamique du carbone organique dans la zone pélagique des lacs a été étudiée dans cinq lacs profonds européens. La biomasse bactérienne est comparée à l'ensemble des formes dissoutes (biodégradable/réfractaire) et particulaires du carbone organique au cours de plusieurs cycles annuels. La production bactérienne peut égaler, voire dépasser la production primaire. La forte pression de prédation des flagellés, mesurée dans notre étude, montre que les bactéries jouent un rôle important en terme de lien vers les étages trophiques supérieurs. Une attention particulière a été portée à la mesure de la respiration bactérienne sur les stocks de matières organiques : une méthode de mesure de production de CO2 a été développée. L'activité métabolique des bactéries (production de CO2, quotient respiratoire) semble traduire les contraintes physiques (stratification) et trophiques (origine allochtone/autochtone des apports) subies par le système. La médiane de l'efficacité de production de biomasse est de 5 % (10 % en moyenne). La valeur de 50 % souvent admise dans la bibliographie conduit à une sous-estimation des flux de carbone transitant par le compartiment bactérien. Une étude préliminaire de la distribution spatio-temporelle de la composition spécifique des communautés bactériennes, évaluée par une technique moléculaire (FISH), est présentée. Elle montre que les changements de dominance constatés sont probablement liés à des modifications qualitatives des apports trophiques. Sur un plan général, l'ensemble des résultats montre l'intérêt de na pas considérer l'activité bactérienne uniquement à travers la production de biomasse. La mesure directe de la production de CO2, notamment, apparaît incontournable pour l'étude de l'interface matières organiques - bactéries. La pertinence des descripteurs bactériens dans l'évaluation du niveau trophique des milieux lacustres et dans l'étude de leur évolution, est discutée.The study is devoted to food webs functioning in pelagic areas of lakes, and in particular to bacterial communities contribution to the dynamic of organic carbon. Five European deep lakes have been investigated. Based on several years sampling, a comparison is made between bacterial biomass (as carbon units) and other forms of organic carbon, dissolved (biodegradable/refractory) and particulate, living and non-living. Measurements of carbon fluxes show that bacterial production could be similar, and sometimes even higher than primary production. The high values of flagellates grazing measured during our study give an example where bacteria play an important role as a link with the higher trophic levels. A particular attention was paid to the assessment of the respiration of bacteria while they feed on organic matter. A method was developed for the measurement of COø production. Bacterial metabolic activities (COø production, respiratory quotient) appear to establish according physical (stratification) and trophic (allochtonous/autochtonous nutrient inputs) pressures from which the system is constrained. The median value of bacterial growth efficiency is 5% (mean : 10%). The value of 50%, often found in the literature, leads to an underestimation of the importance of organic matter mineralization triggered by bacteria.CHAMBERY -BU Bourget (730512101) / SudocSudocSwitzerlandFranceCHF

Correlating the structure and composition of ionic liquids with their toxicity on Vibrio fischeri: A systematic study

International audienceA systematic screening of the toxicity of ionic liquids (IL) towards Vibrio fischeri, a bioluminescent marine bacteria generally used in ecotoxicological bioassays, was carried out. The objectives of this work were to find hydrophilic or hydrophobic low toxicity IL and to investigate structure-toxicity relationship of IL Toxicity of 54 IL to V. fischeri have been measured, some referring to new IL based on quinuclidinol or tropinol and some to generic IL (i.e., imidazolium, pyridinium, pyrrolidinium or piperidinium). For 47 of them, toxicity values have not been reported elsewhere. Water-soluble IL containing hydrophilic anions halide, thiocyanate, dicyanamide, trifluoromethansulfonate were studied. Some IL were found to exhibit very low toxicity towards V. fisheri. Hydrophobic IL based on bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, tetrafluoroborate tetraphenylborate and tetracyanoborate were also studied. Toxicity was measured in a consistent way starting from aqueous solutions saturated with IL. The least toxic hydrophobic IL found in this study was [EMIM][B(CN)(4)]. A multifactorial analysis was found to be convenient for finding relevant structure parameters influencing the toxicity of IL. From this analysis, the planarity of the cation ring appeared to be a relevant parameter. Finally, good linear correlations were found when toxicity of IL was plotted either against the number of aliphatic carbons surrounding a pyridinium cation or the total number of carbons of a cation. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Microbial community structure and dynamics in the largest natural French lake (lake Bourget)

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Thermophysical properties and acute toxicity towards green algae and Vibrio fischeri of amino acid-based ionic liquids

International audienceFour new ionic liquids (ILs) based on 1-(2-hydroxyethyl-3-methylimidazolium) cation with glycinate, serinate, alaninate, and prolinate amino acid anions have been synthesized, and their thermo-physical properties (density, viscosity, surface tension, and heat capacity) were measured. Data were described using empirical expressions to determine other physical-chemical properties, such as molecular volume, standard molar entropy, and lattice energy. Moreover, acute toxicity tests toward Scenedesmus quadricauda (green algae) and Vibrio fischeri have been conducted. The high values obtained for the 50% effective concentration (EC50) indicated that these new ionic liquids can be considered eco-friendly. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Hyper Rayleigh Scattering: a means for investigating the growth mechanism of nanocrystals with quadratic optical properties in reverse micellar solution route synthesis

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