Abstract The PEDVAC study is the first trial designed to analyze safety and immunogenicity of a therapeutic vaccination with a multiclade multigene HIV DNA vaccine (HIVIS) in infected children. ...Twenty HIV-1 vertically infected children (6–16 years of age), on stable antiretroviral treatment for at least 6 months with HIV-1 RNA < 50 copies/ml and stable CD4 counts (>400 cells/mm3 or 25%) over 12 months of follow-up, were recruited into the study. Enrolled patients have been randomized into two arms: a control group of 10 children who continued previous antiretroviral treatment (HAART) (arm A) and a group of 10 children immunized intramuscularly with the HIVIS DNA vaccine in addition to previous HAART (arm B). Immunizations took place at week 0, 4, 12 and the boosting dose is planned at week 36. The 10 children in the vaccine group have received the first 3 priming doses of the HIVIS vaccine. Safety data showed good tolerance to the vaccination schedule. Mild cutaneous self-limeted reactions consisted of local irritation, usually itching or erythema +/− swelling at the injection site, were reported. No severe systemic adverse events have been observed. No vaccinated children had a decrease of CD4 T-cell counts from baseline. None experienced virological failure. Analysis of cellular immune responses was scheduled at week 0, 4, 12, 16, 20, 40, 60, 72 and 96 by standard lymphoproliferation assay, intracellular cytokine staining and cell-ELISA, a miniaturized assay to measure antigen-induced IFNγ secretion. Evaluation of these results is in progress and will provide key information on the status and changes of antigen specific immunity during HIV DNA immunization.
The isomers of 2,3-butanediol
R,
R;
S,
S;
R,
S (meso-form) and of acetoin (
R,
S) were determined in laboratory wine fermentations carried out by 50 yeast strains, 10 for each of the following ...species,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae,
Kloeckera apiculata,
Candida stellata,
Metschnikowia pulcherrima and
Brettanomyces bruxellensis, in order to evaluate if such parameters might be used to differentiate wines obtained with different yeast species. According to analysis of variance (ANOVA), the strains of the same species behaved similarly, whereas the five yeast species behaved differently so that species-specific profiles were recognized. Moreover, the discriminant analysis grouped the wines into five groups, each including the 10 wines obtained by the 10 yeast strains of the same species. Trials were also included where musts partially fermented by non-
Saccharomyces species were inoculated with a selected strain of
S. cerevisiae to complete fermentation, and the content in 2,3-butanediol and acetoin isomers was again determined and statistical analysis was performed. Although the final values of these parameters resembled those obtained in pure fermentation with
S. cerevisiae, statistical analysis discriminated wines according to the yeast species performing the first fermentation phase.
A 3 1/2-year-old boy, during the course of acute lymphocytic leukemia presented clinical, roentgenological and ECG signs of myocarditis, which disappeared completely within 1 1/2 month. ECHO type 7 ...virus was isolated from the faeces during the acute stage of the disease and rise in ECHO 7 neutralizing antibodies was demonstrated in paired sera of the patient. This unusual pathogenicity of ECHO 7 virus could be explained with the impairment of the host resistance induced by leukemia and immunosuppressive therapy.
Background The clinical application of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) T.sub.2 and T.sub.2.sup.* mapping is currently limited as ranges for healthy and cardiac diseases are poorly defined. In ...this meta-analysis we aimed to determine the weighted mean of T.sub.2 and T.sub.2.sup.* mapping values in patients with myocardial infarction (MI), heart transplantation, non-ischemic cardiomyopathies (NICM) and hypertension, and the standardized mean difference (SMD) of each population with healthy controls. Additionally, the variation of mapping outcomes between studies was investigated. Methods The PRISMA guidelines were followed after literature searches on PubMed and Embase. Studies reporting CMR T.sub.2 or T.sub.2.sup.* values measured in patients were included. The SMD was calculated using a random effects model and a meta-regression analysis was performed for populations with sufficient published data. Results One hundred fifty-four studies, including 13,804 patient and 4392 control measurements, were included. T.sub.2 values were higher in patients with MI, heart transplantation, sarcoidosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, amyloidosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and myocarditis (SMD of 2.17, 1.05, 0.87, 1.39, 1.62, 1.95, 1.90 and 1.33, respectively, P 0.01) compared with controls. T.sub.2 values in iron overload patients (SMD = - 0.54, P = 0.30) and Anderson-Fabry disease patients (SMD = 0.52, P = 0.17) did both not differ from controls. T.sub.2.sup.* values were lower in patients with MI and iron overload (SMD of - 1.99 and - 2.39, respectively, P 0.01) compared with controls. T.sub.2.sup.* values in HCM patients (SMD = - 0.61, P = 0.22), DCM patients (SMD = - 0.54, P = 0.06) and hypertension patients (SMD = - 1.46, P = 0.10) did not differ from controls. Multiple CMR acquisition and patient demographic factors were assessed as significant covariates, thereby influencing the mapping outcomes and causing variation between studies. Conclusions The clinical utility of T.sub.2 and T.sub.2.sup.* mapping to distinguish affected myocardium in patients with cardiomyopathies or heart transplantation from healthy myocardium seemed to be confirmed based on this meta-analysis. Nevertheless, variation of mapping values between studies complicates comparison with external values and therefore require local healthy reference values to clinically interpret quantitative values. Furthermore, disease differentiation seems limited, since changes in T.sub.2 and T.sub.2.sup.* values of most cardiomyopathies are similar. Keywords: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging, Quantitative values, Cardiomyopathy, Tissue characterization, Myocardium, Edema, Iron, Meta-analysis
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