Determinants of Psychosocial Health Status in Pregnant and Postpartum Women Experiencing Earthquake in Turkey.

Objective: It is well known that natural disasters such as earthquakes negatively affect physical and mental health by exposing people to excessive stress. The aim of this study was to investigate determinants of psychosocial health status among the pregnant and postpartum women who experienced earthquake in Türkiye.

Methods: Pregnant and postpartum women ( = 125) living in tent cities in the Kahramanmaraş region formed the study sample.

Frank MacFarlane Burnet: two personal views.

In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of Frank MacFarlane Burnet's presentation of the clonal selection theory, two of his former staff reminisce about their interactions with this Nobel prize-winning scientist.

The importance of vaccination.

We have vaccines for nearly thirty of the more than seventy infectious diseases which are pathogenic for humans. Most of the vaccines, especially those to prevent childhood diseases, are highly effective with a high safety profile. Vaccines are being developed against many of the other bacteria and viruses, and some parasites.

Overview of vaccines and vaccination.

Of the 80-plus known infectious agents pathogenic for humans, there are now more than 30 vaccines against 26 mainly viral and bacterial infections and these greatly minimize subsequent disease and prevent death after exposure to those agents. This article describes the nature of the vaccines, from live attenuated agents to subunits, their efficacy and safety, and the kind of the immune responses generated by those vaccines, which are so effective. To date, all licensed vaccines generate especially specific antibodies, which attach to the infectious agent and therefore can very largely prevent infection.

DNA vaccination.

Few advances in the history of vaccination have had as quick a passage (approximately 10 years) from their discovery to clinical trials and, hopefully soon, registration as DNA immunisation. A very clear picture has now emerged of the recognition of the CpG-motif rich, chimaeric bacterial DNA by dendritic cells (antigen-presenting cells [APCs]) and the subsequent activation of T lymphocytes. Both humoral and comprehensive cell-mediated responses occur in both mice and primates.

Progress towards achieving new vaccine and vaccination goals.

Abstract Viral and bacterial vaccines, especially for childhood use, are one of the most successful public health measures of the last two centuries and have a good safety record. However, there are still many diseases that are caused by infectious agents for which vaccines are not available. Our increasing ability to manipulate the immune system offers hope that, in the future, at least some of these infections may be prevented by vaccination.

Carbohydrate-protein conjugate vaccines.

Various pathogenic bacteria have coats of polysaccharide, many with repeating epitopes. Though polysaccharide vaccines have been available for some time, they induce mainly IgM production, and are only moderately protective in adults and ineffective in young children. It was originally shown in 1931 that the immunogenicity of polysaccharides could be enhanced by conjugating to a protein.

Determining the immune mechanisms of protection from AIDS: correlates of immunity and the development of syngeneic macaques.

The AIDS pandemic is a global emergency and a preventive vaccine is urgently needed. CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses appear important in controlling human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 in humans and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in macaques. The utility of vaccines that induce high levels of SIV- or HIV-specific T cells has recently become clearer.

The coming of age of tumour immunotherapy.

Compared with the earlier incidence of acute infectious diseases, the introduction of vaccines has been one of the major public health success achievements. In contrast, vaccine development to control some persisting infections such as HIV remains a major challenge. There are many similarities with this task and that of controlling tumours by immunotherapy.

Overview of vaccines.

This article lists the vaccines current available for the control of both viral and bacterial infections. They may be attenuated live or inactivated whole microorganisms, or subunit preparations. Many more are in the pipeline and increasing attention is being given to establishing their safety before registration.

DNA immunization.

DNA immunization has recently emerged as a highly promising approach for the prevention and therapy of a wide range of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Here, we review the rapid development of this field and recent advances in our understanding of some of the mechanisms by which DNA vaccines stimulate the immune system.

Managing HIV. Part 8: Controlling an epidemic. 8.3 Prospects for a preventive HIV vaccine.

A safe vaccine to halt or slow the global HIV pandemic is urgently needed, yet the immediate prospects for an effective vaccine are poor. Experimental work to date suggests that live attenuated vaccines are most effective, but they raise serious safety concerns. The search for alternatives continues.

Do cytotoxic T lymphocytes clear some HIV/SIV infections?

Early work on the roles of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in acute viral infections in animal models showed that i) the clearance of virus coincided with the increase in CTL activity rather than specific antibody levels, ii) transfer of CTLs after infection could protect from a lethal dose of virus, and iii) in primed, compared to naive, animals, CTL activity appeared 1-3 days earlier after a challenge infection. There is now a series of findings with individuals who have been exposed to HIV but are HIV-seronegative that suggest a protective role for CTLs. Usually after in vitro culture, HIV-specific CTLs have been isolated from i) infants born of infected mothers, ii) long-time partners of HIV-infected people, iii) some prostitutes in Africa, and iv).