Leveraging lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic for HIV.

The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines and their deployment in less than a year is an unprecedented scientific, medical, and public health achievement. This rapid development leveraged knowledge from decades of HIV/AIDS research and advances. However, the search for an HIV vaccine that would contribute to a durable end to the HIV pandemic remains elusive.

Research productivity and collaboration of the NIH-funded HIV vaccine trials network: A bibliometric analysis.

The HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) is the world's largest publicly funded, multi-disciplinary international collaboration facilitating the development of vaccines to prevent HIV/AIDS and has conducted the vast majority of HIV/AIDS clinical trials since its inception in 1999. Although scientific findings from the program have been published in scholarly journals, the impact of a large scientific research network such as the HVTN on the HIV/AIDS vaccine field has not been assessed. This paper describes and elucidates the productivity, influence, and collaboration among HVTN researchers over the last two decades.

Low-Dose Radiation Therapy (LDRT) for COVID-19: Benefits or Risks?

The limited impact of treatments for COVID-19 has stimulated several phase 1 clinical trials of whole-lung low-dose radiation therapy (LDRT; 0.3-1.5 Gy) that are now progressing to phase 2 randomized trials worldwide.

Engineering immunity for next generation HIV vaccines: The intersection of bioengineering and immunology.

Bioengineering approaches grounded in immunology have the potential for the discovery and development of a successful HIV vaccine. The overarching goal is to engineer immunity through a fusion of immunology with bioengineering to create novel strategies for the design, development and delivery of vaccines based on the controlled modulation of the immune system. To foster these collaborations, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) brought together a group of experts (see Table 1) from these diverse fields for a workshop in September 2018 to: (1) engage the engineering, immunology, and HIV vaccinology communities to dialogue on the topic of an HIV vaccine and; (2) generate a framework of new and innovative research avenues to explore in HIV vaccinology between knowledge stakeholders and problem solvers.

Invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae infection among hospitalized patients in Jingzhou city, China, 2010-2012.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) is a leading cause of bacterial pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis and a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is defined as isolation of Sp from a normally sterile site, including blood or cerebrospinal fluid. The aim of this study is to describe outcomes as well as clinical and epidemiological characteristics of hospitalized IPD case patients in central China.

Innovative approaches to track lymph node germinal center responses to evaluate development of broadly neutralizing antibodies in human HIV vaccine trials.

Phase 1 clinical studies will soon evaluate novel HIV-1 envelope immunogens targeting distinct 'germline' and memory B cell receptors to ultimately elicit HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently convened a panel of US-based expert scientists, clinicians, sponsors and ethicists to discuss the role of sampling draining lymph nodes within preventive HIV vaccine trials. The meeting addressed the importance of evaluating germinal center (GC) responses following immunization to predict bNAb potency and breadth, and reviewed key aspects of this procedure within the clinical research setting, including informed consent, adverse event monitoring, study participant acceptability, medical expertise and training.

National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention: Recommendations for Safer Outpatient Opioid Use.

Adverse drug events (ADEs) have been highlighted as a major patient safety and public health challenge by the National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention (ADE Action Plan), which was released by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) in August 2014. The ADE Action Plan focuses on surveillance, evidence-based prevention, incentives, and oversights, additional research needs as well as possible measures and metrics to track progress of ADE prevention within three drug classes: anticoagulants, diabetes agents, and opioids.Objectives and Recommendations.

Clinical characteristics and factors associated with severe acute respiratory infection and influenza among children in Jingzhou, China.

Background: Influenza is an important cause of respiratory illness in children, but data are limited on hospitalized children with laboratory-confirmed influenza in China.

Methods: We conducted active surveillance for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI; fever and at least one sign or symptom of acute respiratory illness) among hospitalized pediatric patients in Jingzhou, Hubei Province, from April 2010 to April 2012. Data were collected from enrolled SARI patients on demographics, underlying health conditions, clinical course of illness, and outcomes.

Epidemiology, Seasonality and Treatment of Hospitalized Adults and Adolescents with Influenza in Jingzhou, China, 2010-2012.

Background: After the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, we conducted hospital-based severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance in one central Chinese city to assess disease burden attributable to influenza among adults and adolescents.

Methods: We defined an adult SARI case as a hospitalized patient aged ≥ 15 years with temperature ≥38.0°C and at least one of the following: cough, sore throat, tachypnea, difficulty breathing, abnormal breath sounds on auscultation, sputum production, hemoptysis, chest pain, or chest radiograph consistent with pneumonia.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Adverse Drug Events: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

The 2014 National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention has recognized adverse drug events (ADEs) as a national priority in order to facilitate a nationwide reduction in patient harms from these events. Throughout this effort, it will be integral to identify populations that may be at particular risk in order to improve care for these patients. We have undertaken a systematic review to evaluate the evidence regarding racial or ethnic disparities in ADEs with particular emphasis on anticoagulants, diabetes agents, and opioids due to the clinical significance and preventability of ADEs associated with these medication classes.

Interactive Web-Based Learning: Translating Health Policy Into Improved Diabetes Care.

In August 2014, the U.S. DHHS's Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion released the National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention, highlighting prevention of diabetes agent-related hypoglycemia as a key area for improvement.

Racial and ethnic disparities in health care-associated Clostridium difficile infections in the United States: State of the science.

Background: Among health care-associated infections (HAIs), Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. As national progress toward CDI prevention continues, it will be critical to ensure that the benefits from CDI prevention are realized across different patient demographic groups, including any targeted interventions.

Methods: Through a comprehensive review of existing evidence for racial/ethnic and other disparities in CDIs, we identified a few general trends, but the results were heterogeneous and highlight significant gaps in the literature.

Advancing Medication Safety: Establishing a National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention.

Background: Adverse drug events (ADEs) are important contributors to preventable morbidity and mortality, comprising one third of all hospital adverse events. In response to growing evidence detailing the high prevalence of ADEs, particularly among vulnerable older adults, Congress requested that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convene a Federal Interagency Steering Committee to establish a National Action Plan to focus on ADE prevention. In August 2014, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion released the final version of the National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention.

Adverse Drug Event Prevention: 2014 Action Plan Conference.

Adverse drug events (ADEs) have been highlighted as a national patient safety and public health challenge by the National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention (ADE Action Plan), which was released by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in August 2014. The following October, the ADE Prevention: 2014 Action Plan Conference provided an opportunity for federal agencies, national experts, and stakeholders to coordinate and collaborate in the initiative to reduce preventable ADEs. The single-day conference included morning plenary sessions focused on the surveillance, evidence-based prevention, incentives and oversights, and additional research needs of the drug classes highlighted in the ADE Action Plan: anticoagulants, diabetes agents, and opioids.

Response to challenge dose among young adults vaccinated for hepatitis B as infants: importance of detectable residual antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen.

Objective: To determine whether a difference in antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) response to a hepatitis B vaccine challenge dose existed among persons with a baseline anti-HBs level of 0 mIU/mL (group 1) and those with "non-zero" levels of 0.1-4.9 (group 2) and 5.

Duration of protection after infant hepatitis B vaccination series.

Background: Little is known about duration of protection after the infant primary series of hepatitis B (HB) vaccine in settings of low HB endemicity. This study sought to determine the proportion of adolescents immunized as infants who had protective titers of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) before and after a challenge dose of vaccine.

Methods: US-born 16- through 19-year-olds who received a recombinant HB vaccine 3-dose series initiated within 7 days of birth (group 1) or at ≥4 weeks of age (group 2) and completed by 12 months of age were enrolled.

Hepatitis B vaccine immunogenicity among adults vaccinated during an outbreak response in an assisted living facility--Virginia, 2010.

Background: Failure to adhere to infection control guidelines, especially during assisted monitoring of blood glucose, has caused multiple hepatitis B outbreaks in assisted living facilities (ALFs). In conjunction with the response to such an outbreak at an ALF ("Facility X") where most residents had neuropsychiatric disorders, we evaluated seroprotection rates conferred by hepatitis B vaccine and assessed the influence of demographic factors on vaccine response.

Methods: Residents were screened for hepatitis B and C infection, and those susceptible were vaccinated against hepatitis A and hepatitis B with one dose of TWINRIX™ (GSK) given at 0, 1, and 7 months.

Correction: The Increasing Burden of Imported Chronic Hepatitis B - United States, 1974-2008.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Hepatitis B testing and access to care among racial and ethnic minorities in selected communities across the United States, 2009-2010.

Unlabelled: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is widely prevalent among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States; however, few data have been available regarding HBV testing and referral to care for these populations. Using survey data collected in 2009-2010 from the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) across the U.S.

Investigation of hepatitis B virus and human immunodeficiency virus transmission among severely mentally ill residents at a long term care facility.

Background: A high prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections have been reported among persons with severe mental illness. In October, 2009, the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) initiated an investigation following notification of a cluster of HBV infections among mentally ill residents at a long term care facility (LTCF).

Methods: LTCF staff were interviewed and resident medical records were reviewed.

An investigation of bloodborne pathogen transmission due to multipatient sharing of insulin pens.

On January 30, 2009, nursing staff at a military hospital in Texas reported that single-patient use insulin pens were used on multiple patients. An investigation was initiated to determine if patient-to-patient bloodbome transmission occurred from the practice. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing was offered to patients hospitalized from August 2007 to January 2009 and prescribed insulin pen injections.

Evolving epidemiology of hepatitis C virus in the United States.

The impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on health and medical care in the United States is a major problem for infectious disease physicians. Although the incidence of HCV infection has declined markedly in the past 2 decades, chronic infection in 3 million or more residents now accounts for more disease and death in the United States than does human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS. Current trends in the epidemiology of HCV infection include an apparent increase in young, often suburban heroin injection drug users who initiate use with oral prescription opioid drugs; infections in nonhospital healthcare (clinic) settings; and sexual transmission among HIV-infected persons.

Prospects for prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against hepatitis C virus.

Natural cross-protective immunity is induced after spontaneous clearance of primary hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Although this suggests that effective prophylactic vaccines against HCV are possible, there are still several areas that require further study. Current data indicate that, at best, vaccine-induced immunity may not completely prevent HCV infection but rather prevent persistence of the virus.