In this phase 3 trial, among infants with spinal muscular atrophy, those who received nusinersen were more likely to achieve major motor milestones and less likely to need permanent assisted ...ventilation than those who underwent a sham procedure.
Abstract Availability of new rotavirus vaccines highlights the need to maintain and enhance rotavirus strain surveillance. We collected stool samples from children with gastroenteritis admitted to ...eight hospitals in South Korea from April 2005 to March 2007. Of the 6057 samples collected, 1337 (22%) were positive for rotavirus by one of several antigen detection assays. G and P genotypes were identified for 1299 (97%) of rotavirus-positive specimens. G1P8 (36%) was the most prevalent strain, followed by G3P8 (16%), G4P6 (8.9%) and G1P6 (8.2%). G1P8 was also the most prevalent strain in each hospital. Seasonal peaks of rotavirus infection were noted from November 2005 to April 2006 and January to March 2007. This large-scale surveillance study provides important insights into rotavirus genotype distribution and pattern changes in South Korea.
Increased sensitivity to change in surrounding index is shown by etching the core of a fiber Bragg grating. A maximum sensitivity of 1394 nm/riu is achieved as the surrounding index approaches the ...core index. Assuming a detectable spectral resolution of 0.01 nm realized in the experiment, the sensor achieves a minimum detectable index resolution of 7.2/spl times/10/sup -6/ when the index of the surrounding medium is 1.44. The sensor can be used as a chemical and biosensor and multiple sensors can be multiplexed and interrogated along a single fiber.
We have previously demonstrated that interleukin-17A (IL-17) producing T helper 17 cells are significantly elevated in blood and bone marrow (BM) in multiple myeloma (MM) and IL-17A promotes MM cell ...growth via the expression of IL-17 receptor. In this study, we evaluated anti-human IL-17A human monoclonal antibody (mAb), AIN457 in MM. We observe significant inhibition of MM cell growth by AIN457 both in the presence and the absence of BM stromal cells (BMSCs). Although IL-17A induces IL-6 production, AIN457 significantly downregulated IL-6 production and MM cell adhesion in MM-BMSC co-culture. AIN457 also significantly inhibited osteoclast cell differentiation. More importantly, in the SCIDhu model of human myeloma administration of AIN457 weekly for 4 weeks after the first detection of tumor in mice led to a significant inhibition of tumor growth and reduced bone damage compared with isotype control mice. To understand the mechanism of action of anti-IL-17A mAb, we report, here, that MM cells express IL-17A. We also observed that IL-17A knockdown inhibited MM cell growth and their ability to induce IL-6 production in co-cultures with BMSC. These pre-clinical observations suggest efficacy of AIN457 in myeloma and provide the rationale for its clinical evaluation for anti-myeloma effects and for improvement of bone disease.
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