Implementing public health nursing training for Ireland's National Healthy Childhood Programme.

Unlabelled: Public health nurses (PHNs) in Ireland provide preventative child health. An evidence-based National Healthy Childhood Program (NHCP) has been in development since 2016. The final program implementation, including training all PHNs coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 'co-delivery' approach to liposomal vaccines: application to the development of influenza-A and hepatitis-B vaccine candidates.

DNA vaccination with mammalian-expressible plasmid DNA encoding protein antigens is known to be an effective means to elicit cell-mediated immunity, sometimes in the absence of a significant antibody response. This may be contrasted with protein vaccination, which gives rise to antibody responses with little evidence of cell-mediated immunity. This has led to considerable interest in DNA vaccination as a means to elicit cell-mediated immune responses against conserved viral antigens or intracellular cancer antigens, for the purpose of therapeutic vaccination.

Polysialylated insulin: synthesis, characterization and biological activity in vivo.

Polysialic acids (PSA) (colominic acid; CA) of 22 and 39 kDa average molecular weight were oxidized with sodium periodate at carbon 7 of the nonreducing end to form an aldehyde group. The oxidized CAs (96-99% oxidation) were then reacted with the amino groups of recombinant human insulin at various CA/insulin molar ratios (25:1 to 150:1 range) for up to 48 h in the presence of sodium cyanoborohydride (reductive amination). Polysialylated insulin conjugates were precipitated (together with intact nonreacted insulin, if any) at time intervals from the reaction mixtures with ammonium sulfate, further purified by size exclusion chromatography and/or ion exchange chromatography (IEC), and the final conjugates assayed for PSA and protein.

A role for liposomes in genetic vaccination.

Genetic immunization by the use of plasmid DNA encoding antigens from bacteria, viruses, protozoa and cancers has often led to protective humoral and cell-mediated immunity, and has some practical advantages over conventional vaccines. However, naked DNA vaccines can be degraded by nucleases in situ, are unable to target antigen presenting cells (APCs), and exhibit poor performance when administered by routes other than the intramuscular, all of which have reduced the value of the approach. We have been able to avoid DNA degradation and also target DNA to APCs by the use of liposomes as DNA vaccine carriers.