Publications by authors named "K J Aitchison"
Background/objective: , the cause of ovine enzootic abortion, is a zoonotic bacterial pathogen and one of the most infectious causes of foetal death in sheep worldwide. Although the disease can be controlled using commercial inactivated and live whole-organism vaccines, there are issues with both, particularly concerning efficacy and safety. Recently, we have described the development of a new COMC (chlamydial outer membrane complex) vaccine based on a detergent-extracted outer membrane protein preparation of the pathogen, which can be delivered in a single inoculation and is both efficacious and safe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOptimizing the Prediction of Depression Remission: A Longitudinal Machine Learning Approach.
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet
October 2024
Article Synopsis
- The study analyzed how often to change antidepressant treatments and aimed to improve predictions about treatment outcomes using ongoing assessments of symptom severity.
- Participants (n=714) received either escitalopram or nortriptyline for 12 weeks, and remission was defined as a Hamilton Rating Scale score of 7 or lower.
- Results showed that predictive models based on gathered data, particularly after 4 weeks, could effectively guide treatment decisions, with AUC values indicating good discrimination for the different drugs.
Article Synopsis
- Ovine enzootic abortion is a highly infectious disease causing fetal death in small ruminants, but it can be managed with vaccines, which need better safety for both sheep and humans.
- A new prototype vaccine has been created that outperforms existing commercial vaccines in safety and efficacy when given in two doses three weeks apart.
- The recent study shows that this vaccine remains effective even with a single dose or a reduced antigen amount, indicating potential for commercial use if the ideal dosage is determined.
Pharmacogenomics aims to use the genetic information of an individual to personalize drug prescribing. There is evidence that pharmacogenomic testing before prescription may prevent adverse drug reactions, increase efficacy, and reduce cost of treatment. CYP2D6 is a key pharmacogene of relevance to multiple therapeutic areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The role played by medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) glutamate (Glu) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the pathophysiology and the treatment of major depression (MD) is increasingly recognized. Although measurements of MPFC GABA and Glu have been shown to be sensitive to physiological fluctuations of female hormones, none of the magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) investigations of MPFC Glu and GABA in MD have controlled for possible bias effect of the reproductive stage of the women included.
Methods: MPFC Glu and GABA+ (which include homocarnosine and macromolecules) referenced to creatine and phosphocreatine, were measured via magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) using a 3-Tesla magnet in 24 women with MD and 24 healthy women paired for reproductive status.