The present study aims to investigate the adsorption of synthesized poly(2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) (PAMPs) onto alumina nanoparticles and their application in the removal of ...ciprofloxacin (CFX) antibiotic from a water environment. The PAMPs were successfully synthesized and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance and gel-permeation chromatography methods. The number- and weight-average molecular weights of PAMPs were 6.76 × 105 and 7.28 × 106 g/mol, respectively. The charge reversal of nanoalumina after PAMPs modification from positive to −37.5 mV was determined by ζ-potential measurement, while the appearance of C O and N–H functional groups in PAMPs observed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed them as the main indicators for adsorption of PAMPs onto a nanoalumina surface. The maximum adsorption capacity of PAMPs onto nanoalumina in 100 mg/L KCl was about 10 mg/g. The adsorption isotherms were fitted well by a two-step adsorption model. Application of PAMPs-modified nanoalumina (PAMNA) in CFX removal was also thoroughly studied. The optimum conditions for CFX removal using PAMNA were found to be pH 6, 10 mM NaCl, contact time 90 min, and adsorption dosage 5 mg/mL. The CFX adsorption isotherms and kinetics were in accordance with the two-step and pseudo-second-order models, respectively. The application for CFX removal in actual hospital wastewater was greater than 80%. The results of this study demonstrate that PAMNA is a new and promising material for antibiotic removal from wastewater.
Studies of successive vaccination suggest that immunological memory against past influenza viruses may limit responses to vaccines containing current strains. The impact of memory induced by prior ...infection is rarely considered and is difficult to ascertain, because infections are often subclinical. This study investigated influenza vaccination among adults from the Ha Nam cohort (Vietnam), who were purposefully selected to include 72 with and 28 without documented influenza A(H3N2) infection during the preceding 9 years (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry 12621000110886). The primary outcome was the effect of prior influenza A(H3N2) infection on hemagglutinin-inhibiting antibody responses induced by a locally available influenza vaccine administered in November 2016. Baseline and postvaccination sera were titrated against 40 influenza A(H3N2) strains spanning 1968-2018. At each time point (baseline, day 14 and day 280), geometric mean antibody titers against 2008-2018 strains were higher among participants with recent infection (34 (29-40), 187 (154-227) and 86 (72-103)) than among participants without recent infection (19 (17-22), 91 (64-130) and 38 (30-49)). On days 14 and 280, mean titer rises against 2014-2018 strains were 6.1-fold (5.0- to 7.4-fold) and 2.6-fold (2.2- to 3.1-fold) for participants with recent infection versus 4.8-fold (3.5- to 6.7-fold) and 1.9-fold (1.5- to 2.3-fold) for those without. One of 72 vaccinees with recent infection versus 4 of 28 without developed symptomatic A(H3N2) infection in the season after vaccination (P = 0.021). The range of A(H3N2) viruses recognized by vaccine-induced antibodies was associated with the prior infection strain. These results suggest that recall of immunological memory induced by prior infection enhances antibody responses to inactivated influenza vaccine and is important to attain protective antibody titers.
ABSTRACT
Escherichia coli and attenuated Salmonella both naturally accumulate in a tumor mass, yet have distinct therapeutic efficacy: the E. coli K‐12 strain (MG1655) cannot induce as significant a ...tumor suppression as attenuated Salmonella typhimurium, despite similar levels of accumulation in the tumor. To elucidate the mechanism of the robust antitumor effect of S. typhimurium, the cytokine profiles elicited by bacterial colonization in tumors were analyzed. C57BL/6 mice bearing MC38 tumors were injected with Salmonella or MG1655 in the tail vein. Tumors were collected 3 days post‐infection and homogenized. Inflammasome‐related signals were measured by real‐time PCR, ELISA and western blot analysis. Only attenuated Salmonella triggered significant levels of the inflammatory cytokine IL‐1β in the tumor, whereas tumor growth was significantly suppressed. In addition, transcript levels of the core molecules of inflammasome signaling, IPAF, NLRP3 and P2X7, were significantly elevated only in Salmonella‐treated tumors. Upon direct interaction between Salmonella and BMDM, BMDM expressed inflammasome‐related proteins such as NLRP3, IPAF and caspase‐1 p10, and secreted a significant amount of IL‐1β in supernatants. Coincubation assays with BMDM and Salmonella‐treated MC38 cells (damaged cancer cells) revealed secretion of IL‐1β only when TLR4 and inflammasome were activated by both LPS and damaged cancer cells. ATP released from damaged cancer cells was also identified as a mechanism of NLRP3 activation. In conclusion, Salmonella activate the inflammasome pathway using damage signals released from cancer cells and through direct interaction with macrophages.
We analyzed 2 clusters of 12 patients in Vietnam with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection during January-February 2020. Analysis indicated virus transmission from a traveler ...from China. One asymptomatic patient demonstrated virus shedding, indicating potential virus transmission in the absence of clinical signs and symptoms.
Four new lignans, a furofuran lignan medioresinol B (10) and three tetrahydrofuran lignans kobusinol C (16), 7′-methoxy magnostellin A (21), and mangnostellin D (23), along with 19 known lignans, ...were isolated from the flower buds of Magnolia biondii PAMP. The structures of the isolates were elucidated using spectroscopic analysis, mainly one- and two-dimensional NMR, high resolution-MS, and circular dichroism techniques as well as Mosher’s esterification method. The anti-allergic effects of the isolated compounds were evaluated by analyzing the inhibition of interleukin-2 (IL-2) expression in Jurkat T-cells. Compounds 11–14 reduced IL-2 expression in a dose-dependent manner.
The spread of infectious diseases from person to person is determined by the frequency and nature of contacts between infected and susceptible members of the population. Although there is a long ...history of using mathematical models to understand these transmission dynamics, there are still remarkably little empirical data on contact behaviors with which to parameterize these models. Even starker is the almost complete absence of data from developing countries. We sought to address this knowledge gap by conducting a household based social contact diary in rural Vietnam.
A diary based survey of social contact patterns was conducted in a household-structured community cohort in North Vietnam in 2007. We used generalized estimating equations to model the number of contacts while taking into account the household sampling design, and used weighting to balance the household size and age distribution towards the Vietnamese population. We recorded 6675 contacts from 865 participants in 264 different households and found that mixing patterns were assortative by age but were more homogenous than observed in a recent European study. We also observed that physical contacts were more concentrated in the home setting in Vietnam than in Europe but the overall level of physical contact was lower. A model of individual versus household vaccination strategies revealed no difference between strategies in the impact on R(0).
This work is the first to estimate contact patterns relevant to the spread of infections transmitted from person to person by non-sexual routes in a developing country setting. The results show interesting similarities and differences from European data and demonstrate the importance of context specific data.
Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are of interest for the treatment of graft-versus-host disease, autoimmune diseases, osteoarthritis and neurological and cardiovascular diseases. Increasing ...numbers of clinical trials emphasize the need for standardized manufacturing of these cells. However, many challenges related to diverse isolation and expansion protocols and differences in cell tissue sources exist. As a result, the cell products used in numerous trials vary greatly in characteristics and potency.
The authors have established a standardized culture platform using xeno- and serum-free commercial media for expansion of MSCs derived from umbilical cord (UC), bone marrow and adipose-derived (AD) and examined their functional characteristics.
MSCs from the tested sources stably expanded in vitro and retained their biomarker expression and normal karyotype at early and later passages and after cryopreservation. MSCs were capable of colony formation and successfully differentiated into osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic lineages. Pilot expansion of UC-MSCs and AD-MSCs to clinical scale revealed that the cells met the required quality standard for therapeutic applications.
The authors’ data suggest that xeno- and serum-free culture conditions are suitable for large-scale expansion and enable comparative study of MSCs of different origins. This is of importance for therapeutic purposes, especially because of the numerous variations in pre-clinical and clinical protocols for MSC-based products.
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Developing a simple structure using low-cost material that enables both large-scale fabrication and broadband absorption response is highly desirable but very challenging for achieving ...high-performance metamaterial absorber. Herein, we propose and numerically investigate an ultra-broadband and wide-angle insensitive perfect metamaterial absorber in the ultraviolet to near-infrared (UV–NIR) region based on a simple metal–dielectric–metal structure. The proposed absorber structure consists of a periodic array of a tungsten hexagonal prism and a tungsten ground plane separated by a silicon dioxide dielectric substrate. The proposed absorber achieves an ultra-broadband absorption response in the range of 275–1000 nm with an absorptivity above 90
%
and a relative bandwidth of 106.8
%
at normal incidence, which covers from the UV to NIR region. The absorption efficiency is maintained with the figure of merit
η
OBW
higher than 90
%
for a wide incident angle up to 40
o
for transverse electric (TE) polarization and 65
o
for transverse magnetic (TM) polarization. The effects of structural parameters and different metallic materials on the absorption performance are presented. In addition, the physical mechanism is analyzed using the surface density and distributions of electric and magnetic fields that are attributed to both localized surface plasmon (LSP) and propagating surface plasmon (PSP) resonances. Owing to outstanding merits of simple structure, low cost, and high absorption performance, the designed absorber can be suitable for many applications in the UV–NIR spectrum such as thermal emitters and solar cells.
The impact of direct-acting antivirals (DAA) therapy on lipid and glucose metabolism and kidney function in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, along with its side effects on blood ...cells, remains controversial. Therefore, we conducted a study that enrolled 280 patients with HCV infection who achieved sustained virologic response after treatment with DAA therapy without ribavirin to evaluate the metabolic changes, renal function, and anemia risk based on real-world data. This study was an observational prospective study with a follow-up period of 12 weeks after the initiation of DAA therapy. Data on biochemical tests, renal function, blood counts, viral load, and host genomics were recorded before treatment and after 12 weeks of treatment with DAAs. DAA therapy reduced fibrosis-4 scores and improved liver function, with significant reductions in aspartate transaminase, alanine aminotransferase, and total bilirubin levels. However, DAA therapy slightly increased uric acid, cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. It significantly reduced fasting blood glucose levels and hemoglobin A1C index (HbA1C) in the study group, while hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (HCT) concentrations decreased significantly (4.78 ± 21.79 g/L and 0.09% ± 0.11%, respectively). The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decreased by 12.89 ± 39.04 mL/min/1.73m.sup.2 . Most variations were not related to the genotype, except for Hb, HCT, and HbA1C. Anemia incidence increased from 23.58% before treatment to 30.72% after treatment. Patients with HCV-1 genotype had a higher rate of anemia than did patients with genotype 6 (36.23% vs. 24.62%). Multivariate analysis showed that the risk of anemia was related to female sex, cirrhosis status, fibrosis-4 score, pretreatment eGFR, and pretreatment Hb level. The results of our study can provide helpful information to clinicians for the prognosis and treatment of HCV infection.
Recent outbreaks of avian influenza A (H5N1) in poultry throughout Asia have had major economic and health repercussions. Human infections with this virus were identified in Vietnam in January 2004.
...We report the clinical features and preliminary epidemiologic findings among 10 patients with confirmed cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) who presented to hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam, in December 2003 and January 2004.
In all 10 cases, the diagnosis of influenza A (H5N1) was confirmed by means of viral culture or reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction with primers specific for H5 and N1. None of the 10 patients (mean age, 13.7 years) had preexisting medical conditions. Nine of them had a clear history of direct contact with poultry (median time before onset of illness, three days). All patients presented with fever (temperature, 38.5 to 40.0 degrees C), respiratory symptoms, and clinically significant lymphopenia (median lymphocyte count, 700 per cubic millimeter). The median platelet count was 75,500 per cubic millimeter. Seven patients had diarrhea. In all patients, there were marked abnormalities on chest radiography. There was no definitive evidence of human-to-human transmission. Eight patients died, one patient has recovered, and one is recovering.
Influenza A (H5N1) infection, characterized by fever, respiratory symptoms, and lymphopenia, carries a high risk of death. Although in all 10 cases the infection appears to have been acquired directly from infected poultry, the potential exists for genetic reassortment with human influenzaviruses and the evolution of human-to-human transmission. Containment of influenza A (H5N1) in poultry throughout Asia is therefore urgently required.
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