Increased human-to-human transmission of monkeypox virus (MPXV) is cause for concern, and antibodies directed against vaccinia virus (VACV) are known to confer cross-protection against Mpox. We used ...430 serum samples derived from the Scottish patient population to investigate antibody-mediated cross-neutralization against MPXV. By combining electrochemiluminescence immunoassays with live-virus neutralization assays, we show that people born when smallpox vaccination was routinely offered in the United Kingdom have increased levels of antibodies that cross-neutralize MPXV. Our results suggest that age is a risk factor of Mpox infection, and people born after 1971 are at higher risk of infection upon exposure.
Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), humans have been exposed to distinct SARS-CoV-2 antigens, either by infection with different variants, and/or ...vaccination. Population immunity is thus highly heterogeneous, but the impact of such heterogeneity on the effectiveness and breadth of the antibody-mediated response is unclear. We measured antibody-mediated neutralization responses against SARS-CoV-2Wuhan, SARS-CoV-2α, SARS-CoV-2δ, and SARS-CoV-2ο pseudoviruses using sera from patients with distinct immunological histories, including naive, vaccinated, infected with SARS-CoV-2Wuhan, SARS-CoV-2α, or SARS-CoV-2δ, and vaccinated/infected individuals. We show that the breadth and potency of the antibody-mediated response is influenced by the number, the variant, and the nature (infection or vaccination) of exposures, and that individuals with mixed immunity acquired by vaccination and natural exposure exhibit the broadest and most potent responses. Our results suggest that the interplay between host immunity and SARS-CoV-2 evolution will shape the antigenicity and subsequent transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2, with important implications for future vaccine design.
ASCO strives, through research, education, and promotion of the highest quality of patient care, to create a world where cancer is prevented and every survivor is healthy. In this pursuit, cancer ...health equity remains the guiding institutional principle that applies to all its activities across the cancer care continuum. In 2009, ASCO committed to addressing differences in cancer outcomes in its original policy statement on cancer disparities. Over the past decade, despite novel diagnostics and therapeutics, together with changes in the cancer care delivery system such as passage of the Affordable Care Act, cancer disparities persist. Our understanding of the populations experiencing disparate outcomes has likewise expanded to include the intersections of race/ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation and gender identity, sociodemographic factors, and others. This updated statement is intended to guide ASCO's future activities and strategies to achieve its mission of conquering cancer for all populations. ASCO acknowledges that much work remains to be done, by all cancer stakeholders at the systems level, to overcome historical momentum and existing social structures responsible for disparate cancer outcomes. This updated statement affirms ASCO's commitment to moving beyond descriptions of differences in cancer outcomes toward achievement of cancer health equity, with a focus on improving equitable access to care, improving clinical research, addressing structural barriers, and increasing awareness that results in measurable and timely action toward achieving cancer health equity for all.
Unraveling the genetic background in a significant proportion of patients with both sporadic and familial IPF provided new insights into the pathogenic pathways of pulmonary fibrosis.
The aim of the ...present study is to overview the clinical significance of genetics in IPF.
It is fascinating to realize the so-far underestimated but dynamically increasing impact that genetics has on aspects related to the pathophysiology, accurate and early diagnosis, and treatment and prevention of this devastating disease. Genetics in IPF have contributed as no other in unchaining the disease from the dogma of a "a sporadic entity of the elderly, limited to the lungs" and allowed all scientists, but mostly clinicians, all over the world to consider its many aspects and "faces" in all age groups, including its co-existence with several extra pulmonary conditions from cutaneous albinism to bone-marrow and liver failure.
By providing additional evidence for unsuspected characteristics such as immunodeficiency, impaired mucus, and surfactant and telomere maintenance that very often co-exist through the interaction of common and rare genetic variants in the same patient, genetics have created a generous and pluralistic yet unifying platform that could lead to the understanding of the injurious and pro-fibrotic effects of many seemingly unrelated extrinsic and intrinsic offending factors. The same platform constantly instructs us about our limitations as well as about the heritability, the knowledge and the wisdom that is still missing.
Full text
Available for:
IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Most of the empirical evaluations of active learning approaches in the literature have focused on a single classifier and a single performance measure. We present an extensive empirical evaluation of ...common active learning baselines using two probabilistic classifiers and several performance measures on a number of large datasets. In addition to providing important practical advice, our findings highlight the importance of overlooked choices in active learning experiments in the literature. For example, one of our findings shows that model selection is as important as devising an active learning approach, and choosing one classifier and one performance measure can often lead to unexpected and unwarranted conclusions. Active learning should generally improve the model’s capability to distinguish between instances of different classes, but our findings show that the improvements provided by active learning for one performance measure often came at the expense of another measure. We present several such results, raise questions, guide users and researchers to better alternatives, caution against unforeseen side effects of active learning, and suggest future research directions.
PDF
