Rapid assessment of assignments using plagiarism detection software.

Faculty members most often use plagiarism detection software to detect portions of students' written work that have been copied and/or not attributed to their authors. The rise in plagiarism has led to a parallel rise in software products designed to detect plagiarism. Some of these products are configurable for rapid assessment and teaching, as well as for plagiarism detection.

Defining the burden of pneumonia in children preventable by vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b.

Objectives: To determine the burden of pneumonia requiring hospitalization in infants and young children preventable by vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

Design: Vaccination centers in Santiago, Chile, were randomly selected to administer PRP-T, an Hib conjugate vaccine, combined with diphtheria-tetanus toxoids-pertussis (DTP) vaccine or DTP alone.

Subjects: Infants who received > or =2 doses of DTP or DTP and Hib conjugate vaccine combined.

Effect of small bowel bacterial overgrowth on the immunogenicity of single-dose live oral cholera vaccine CVD 103-HgR.

Several live oral vaccines (polio, bovine rotavirus, CVD 103-HgR cholera) are less immunogenic in developing than in industrialized countries. It was hypothesized that proximal small bowel bacterial overgrowth (common in children in less developed countries but rare in industrialized settings) diminishes the vibriocidal antibody response to CVD 103-HgR. In total, 202 fasting Santiago schoolchildren aged 5-9 years had lactulose breath H2 tests to detect proximal small bowel bacteria 1 day before ingesting CVD 103-HgR.

Duration of efficacy of Ty21a, attenuated Salmonella typhi live oral vaccine.

Currently, two different formulations of Ty21a live oral typhoid vaccine are commercialized. The enteric-coated capsule formulation was licensed based on results of three years of follow-up of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind field trial in Area Occidente, Santiago, Chile, which demonstrated that three doses of this formulation, given on an every other day immunization schedule, conferred the best protection among several options evaluated. Subsequently, a liquid formulation (lyophilized vaccine organisms reconstituted with buffer and water into a vaccine cocktail) was commercialized after it was shown to provide superior protection than enteric-coated capsules over three years of follow-up in a randomized, placebo-controlled field trial in Area Sur Oriente and Area Norte, Santiago.

[Serum antibodies against hepatitis A virus among subjects of middle and low socioeconomic levels in urban area of Santiago, Chile].

Background: The epidemiology of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is closely associated to the level of hygiene and sanitation of the population. Newly industrialising areas experience a transition from high to intermediate endemicity, which is characterized by a shift in the exposure age to HAV, from early childhood to school ages or adolescence.

Aim: To measure the prevalence of HAV antibodies in subjects living in urban Santiago.

Clinical acceptability and immunogenicity of a pentavalent parenteral combination vaccine containing diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, inactivated poliomyelitis and Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate antigens in two-, four- and six-month-old Chilean infants.

Background: In recent years additional parenteral vaccines have been recommended for routine immunization of infants in the US and elsewhere. The ability to administer multiple vaccines as a single injection without unacceptably increasing reactogenicity or decreasing immunogenicity of any component would offer many practical advantages.

Methods: A randomized, open, controlled trial was conducted to assess the tolerance profile and immunogenicity, as well as to identify potential antigenic interferences, resulting from administration of a parenteral combination vaccine for infants.

No adverse impact on protection against pertussis from combined administration of Haemophilus influenza type b conjugate and diphtheria-tetanus toxoid-pertussis vaccines in the same syringe.

To assess whether combining a Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine (PRP-T) and diphtheria-tetanus toxoid-pertussis (DTP) vaccine in a single syringe would impact adversely the antibody response and clinical protection conferred by pertussis vaccine, surveillance and a nested serosurvey were conducted among infants in a large-scale evaluation of PRP-T in Santiago. Infants received either combined PRP-T/DTP or DTP only at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. At 8 months, pertussis agglutinin, anti-pertussis toxin, and anti-filamentous hemagglutinin antibody levels in the PRP-T/DTP (137.

Large scale, postlicensure, selective vaccination of Chilean infants with PRP-T conjugate vaccine: practicality and effectiveness in preventing invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b infections.

Background: Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccines have demonstrated an impressive impact in diminishing Hib disease in industrialized countries. However, their high cost prompts nonindustrialized countries to corroborate their effectiveness under local conditions before considering their programmatic implementation. Such a postlicensure evaluation of vaccine effectiveness was undertaken in Chile.

Epidemiologic studies of Escherichia coli diarrheal infections in a low socioeconomic level peri-urban community in Santiago, Chile.

The incidence of diarrhea due to six categories of diarrheogenic Escherichia coli was determined in two pediatric cohorts in a low socioeconomic level community in Santiago, Chile, with access to chlorinated water. An age cross-sectional cohort of 340 children aged birth to 47 months was assembled. A newborn cohort was assembled by enrolling 10-12 newborns monthly for 12 months.

Epidemiologic patterns of acute diarrhea and endemic Shigella infections in children in a poor periurban setting in Santiago, Chile.

To prepare a field site for evaluating preventive interventions against endemic shigellosis, the authors followed prospectively a cohort of 360 children (90 each of children aged 0-11, 12-23, 24-35, and 36-47 months) in Santa Julia, a low socioeconomic area in Santiago, Chile, from November 1986 through April 1989 with twice weekly household visits for diarrheal disease; infants replaced children who reached 60 months of age. Coprocultures on 2 consecutive days from children with diarrhea and from age-matched controls within the cohort were cultured for Shigella. Bacteriologic surveillance was also maintained in the health center and children's hospital serving Santa Julia.