Effect of booster doses of poliovirus vaccine in previously vaccinated children, clinical trial results 2013

Background: Considering the current polio situation Pakistan needs vaccine combinations to reach maximum population level immunity. The trial assessed whether inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) can be used to rapidly boost immunity among children in Pakistan. Methods: A five-arm randomized clinical trial was conducted among children (6–24 months, 5–6 years and 10–11 years). Children were randomized in four intervention arms as per the vaccines they received (bOPV, IPV, bOPV + vitamin A, and bOPV + IPV) and a control arm which did not receive any vaccine. Baseline seroprevalence of poliovirus antibodies and serological immune response 28 days after intervention were assessed.Results: The baseline seroprevalence was high for all serotypes and the three age groups [PV1: 97%, 100%, 96%, PV2: 86%, 100%, 99%, PV3: 83%, 95%, 87% for the three age groups respectively]. There was significantly higher rate of immune response observed in the study arms which included IPV (95–99%) compared with bOPV only arms (11–43%), [p \u3c 0.001]; Vitamin A was not associated with improved immune response. Immune response rates in the IPV only arm and IPV + bOPV arm were similar [p \u3e 0.5]. Conclusion: IPV has shown the ability to efficiently close existing immunity gaps in a vulnerable population of children in rural Pakistan

A DNA barcode survey of insect biodiversity in Pakistan

Although Pakistan has rich biodiversity, many groups are poorly known, particularly insects. To address this gap, we employed DNA barcoding to survey its insect diversity. Specimens obtained through diverse collecting methods at 1,858 sites across Pakistan from 2010–2019 were examined for sequence variation in the 658 bp barcode region of the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene. Sequences from nearly 49,000 specimens were assigned to 6,590 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs), a proxy for species, and most (88%) also possessed a representative image on the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). By coupling morphological inspections with barcode matches on BOLD, every BIN was assigned to an order (19) and most (99.8%) were placed to a family (362). However, just 40% of the BINs were assigned to a genus (1,375) and 21% to a species (1,364). Five orders (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera) accounted for 92% of the specimens and BINs. More than half of the BINs (59%) are so far only known from Pakistan, but others have also been reported from Bangladesh (13%), India (12%), and China (8%). Representing the first DNA barcode survey of the insect fauna in any South Asian country, this study provides the foundation for a complete inventory of the insect fauna in Pakistan while also contributing to the global DNA barcode reference library