2,887 research outputs found
Long-term antibody persistence study (3 years after last dose) of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in young children in China
AbstractBackgroundIn a previous study, Chinese infants were vaccinated with 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) ⩾7days before routine diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP); PCV7 administered concomitantly with DTaP (PCV7+DTaP); or DTaP alone. This study examined antibody persistence at a single time point 3years after the last vaccination.MethodsChildren who participated in the prior PCV7 study were eligible to participate. A single blood sample was drawn at enrollment. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) specific to the PCV7 serotypes and percentages of subjects with IgG ⩾0.35μg/mL were compared for subjects receiving PCV7 versus PCV7+DTaP (concomitant) and for PCV7 or PCV7+DTaP (concomitant) versus DTaP alone. IgG concentrations at 3years after the last vaccination were also compared with those after the infant series and toddler dose.ResultsThree years after the last vaccination with PCV7 or PCV7+DTaP (concomitant), IgG GMCs for most PCV7 serotypes were lower than after the infant series or toddler dose but remained above prevaccination concentrations. IgG GMC were similar between the PCV7 and PCV7+DTaP (concomitant) groups for 5 out of 7 serotypes but serotypes 4 and 19F were significantly lower in the PCV7+DTaP (concomitant) recipients. Three years after the last vaccination, IgG GMCs were significantly higher for 6 of 7 PCV7 serotypes among those receiving PCV7 or PCV7+DTaP (concomitant) compared with recipients of DTaP alone. Among subjects receiving DTaP alone, serotype-specific antibody concentrations were significantly higher for all serotypes 3years after the last vaccination compared with after the infant series.ConclusionThree years after PCV7 vaccination, serotype-specific antibodies were lower than after the primary infant series but higher than prevaccination levels and higher among subjects who received PCV7 compared with those who did not. The immune response was comparable in children who received PCV7 with and without concomitant DTaP.Clinical Trial Registration: NCT0129854
Plasmacytoid/diffuse urothelial carcinoma: a single-institution immunohistochemical and molecular study of 69 patients
Accurate diagnosis of plasmacytoid urothelial carcinoma (PUC) is important given its poor prognosis and frequent presentation at high stage. We aim to assess the clinicopathological features, molecular aberrations, and follow-up data in a series of PUC cases from a single tertiary cancer center. Seventy-two urinary bladder, ureteral, and renal pelvic specimens with urothelial carcinoma with plasmacytoid differentiation were identified. Immunohistochemical stains were performed on 48 cases. Among urinary bladder origin markers, GATA3 was most sensitive (96%). Breast carcinoma markers (estrogen receptor, mammaglobin) were usually negative, but progesterone receptor stained 1 case (4%). Neuroendocrine markers CD56 and TTF-1 were each positive in 1 case (4% and 4%, respectively). Gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma marker CDX2 was positive in 4 cases (15%), but nuclear β-catenin was negative in all cases. CD138 was positive in 83% and E-cadherin expression was lost in 57% of cases. Fluorescence in situ hybridization using the UroVysion Bladder Cancer Kit and FGFR3 mutational analysis using polymerase chain reaction were performed on 15 cases; deletion of chromosome 9p21 was common (60%), and FGFR3 mutations were detected in 60% of cases (5 cases had both deletion 9p21 and FGFR3 mutations). Cases were divided into 3 morphologic groups: classic (29%), desmoplastic (35%), and pleomorphic (36%). The 3 morphologic subtypes had distinct survival outcomes (P = .083), with median survival for all patients 18 being months versus 10 months for the desmoplastic group
Accelerating the Drug Delivery Pipeline for Acute and Chronic Pancreatitis: Summary of the Working Group on Drug Development and Trials in Chronic Pancreatitis at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Workshop
The lack of effective therapeutic agents specifically tailored for chronic pancreatitis (CP) has hampered clinical care and negatively impacted patients' lives. New mechanistic insights now point to novel therapies, which involve both recently developed and/or repurposed agents. This working group focused on 2 main outcomes for CP: pain and progression of disease. The goal is to frame the essential aspects of trial design including patient-centered outcomes, proposed methods to measure the outcomes of pain and progression, and study design considerations for future trials to facilitate rapid drug development for patients with CP
Immunogenicity and safety of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) formulated with 2-phenoxyethanol in multidose vials given with routine vaccination in healthy infants: An open-label randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND: This open-label randomized controlled trial in infants compared safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) formulated with the preservative 2-phenoxyethanol (2-PE) in a multidose vial (MDV) to the current PCV13 without 2-PE in a single-dose syringe (SDS). METHODS: Gambian infants were randomized 1:1 to receive PCV13 as either MDV or SDS at ages 2, 3, and 4months. Serotype-specific antipneumococcal antibody responses and opsonophagocytic activity ([OPA]; subset) were measured at age 5months. Noninferiority was declared if the lower bound of the 97.5% CI for the difference (MDV-SDS) in proportions of subjects achieving IgG concentrations ≥0.35μg/mL (primary endpoint) was greater than -10%. IgG geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) were noninferior if the lower limit of the two-sided 97.5% CI of the geometric mean ratio (MDV vs SDS) was greater than 0.5. Reactogenicity and other adverse events were collected. RESULTS: 500 participants were randomized and vaccinated; 489 (MDV: n=245; SDS: n=244) completed the trial. Noninferiority of MDV was demonstrated for all serotypes as measured by percentage of subjects achieving antibody responses above ≥0.35μg/mL. IgG GMCs (coprimary endpoint) also demonstrated noninferiority of MDV; OPA results supported these findings. Safety and tolerability were comparable between groups. CONCLUSIONS: PCV13 in MDV was safe and immunogenic when administered according to the routine schedule to infants. MDV was noninferior to SDS for all 13 pneumococcal serotypes. Comparable immunogenicity and safety profiles of PCV13 MDV and SDS suggest PCV13 MDV can help optimize vaccination in resource-limited settings. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01964716 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01964716
Spawning rings of exceptional points out of Dirac cones
The Dirac cone underlies many unique electronic properties of graphene and
topological insulators, and its band structure--two conical bands touching at a
single point--has also been realized for photons in waveguide arrays, atoms in
optical lattices, and through accidental degeneracy. Deformations of the Dirac
cone often reveal intriguing properties; an example is the quantum Hall effect,
where a constant magnetic field breaks the Dirac cone into isolated Landau
levels. A seemingly unrelated phenomenon is the exceptional point, also known
as the parity-time symmetry breaking point, where two resonances coincide in
both their positions and widths. Exceptional points lead to counter-intuitive
phenomena such as loss-induced transparency, unidirectional transmission or
reflection, and lasers with reversed pump dependence or single-mode operation.
These two fields of research are in fact connected: here we discover the
ability of a Dirac cone to evolve into a ring of exceptional points, which we
call an "exceptional ring." We experimentally demonstrate this concept in a
photonic crystal slab. Angle-resolved reflection measurements of the photonic
crystal slab reveal that the peaks of reflectivity follow the conical band
structure of a Dirac cone from accidental degeneracy, whereas the complex
eigenvalues of the system are deformed into a two-dimensional flat band
enclosed by an exceptional ring. This deformation arises from the dissimilar
radiation rates of dipole and quadrupole resonances, which play a role
analogous to the loss and gain in parity-time symmetric systems. Our results
indicate that the radiation that exists in any open system can fundamentally
alter its physical properties in ways previously expected only in the presence
of material loss and gain
Study of and
The decays and have been
investigated with a sample of 225.2 million events collected with the
BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. The branching fractions are
determined to be and . Distributions of the angle
between the proton or anti-neutron and the beam direction are well
described by the form , and we find
for and
for . Our branching-fraction
results suggest a large phase angle between the strong and electromagnetic
amplitudes describing the decay.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, the 2nd version, submitted to PR
Topological Photonics
Topology is revolutionizing photonics, bringing with it new theoretical
discoveries and a wealth of potential applications. This field was inspired by
the discovery of topological insulators, in which interfacial electrons
transport without dissipation even in the presence of impurities. Similarly,
new optical mirrors of different wave-vector space topologies have been
constructed to support new states of light propagating at their interfaces.
These novel waveguides allow light to flow around large imperfections without
back-reflection. The present review explains the underlying principles and
highlights the major findings in photonic crystals, coupled resonators,
metamaterials and quasicrystals.Comment: progress and review of an emerging field, 12 pages, 6 figures and 1
tabl
GRB Radiative Efficiencies Derived from the Swift Data: GRBs vs. XRFs, Long vs. Short
We systematically analyze the prompt emission and the early afterglow data of
a sample of 31 GRBs detected by {\em Swift} before September 2005, and estimate
the GRB radiative efficiency. BAT's narrow band inhibits a precise
determination of the GRB spectral parameters, and we have developed a method to
estimate these parameters with the hardness ratio information. The shallow
decay component commonly existing in early X-ray afterglows, if interpreted as
continuous energy injection in the external shock, suggests that the GRB
efficiency previously derived from the late-time X-ray data were not reliable.
We calculate two radiative efficiencies using the afterglow kinetic energy E_K
derived at the putative deceleration time t_{dec}) and at the break time (t_b)
when the energy injection phase ends, respectively. At t_b XRFs appear to be
less efficient than normal GRBs. However, when we analyze the data at t_{dec}
XRFs are found to be as efficient as GRBs. Short GRBs have similar radiative
efficiencies to long GRBs despite of their different progenitors. Twenty-two
bursts in the sample are identified to have the afterglow cooling frequency
below the X-ray band. Assuming \epsilon_e = 0.1, we find \eta_\gamma(t_b)
usually 90%.
Nine GRBs in the sample have the afterglow cooling frequency above the X-ray
band for a very long time. This suggests a very small \epsilon_B and/or a very
low ambient density n.Comment: 43 pages, 10 figures, ApJ, in pres
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