Publications by authors named "L D Atherton"
Importance: During the 2023-2024 respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season in the United States, 2 new RSV prevention products were recommended to protect infants in their first RSV season: nirsevimab and Pfizer's maternal RSV vaccine. Postlicensure studies are needed to assess prevention product impact and effectiveness.
Objective: To compare the epidemiology and disease burden of medically attended RSV-associated acute respiratory illness (ARI) among children younger than 5 years during the 2023-2024 RSV season with 3 prepandemic RSV seasons (2017-2020), estimate nirsevimab effectiveness against medically attended RSV-associated ARI, and compare nirsevimab binding site mutations among circulating RSV in infants with and without nirsevimab receipt.
Article Synopsis
- The study assessed the effectiveness of the updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine against hospitalization for two variant lineages, XBB and JN, in hospitalized patients across 26 hospitals in the U.S. between October 2023 and March 2024.
- The results indicated a vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 54.2% against XBB and 32.7% against JN, suggesting that the JN lineage may have some level of immune escape.
- However, the severity of cases with the JN lineage was not significantly worse compared to those with the XBB lineage, indicating similar risks of severe outcomes like ICU admission and death.
Background: Assessing COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) and severity of SARS-CoV-2 variants can inform public health risk assessments and decisions about vaccine composition. BA.2.
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- * The CDC's National SARS-CoV-2 Strain Surveillance (NS3) program analyzed SARS-CoV-2 samples to understand the evolution of these variants and their spike mutations from May 2021 to February 2023.
- * The study found that some subvariants have significantly evaded neutralizing antibodies from post-vaccination sera, indicating a need for ongoing research to evaluate the effectiveness of current vaccines and inform future updates.
Indirect Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion Experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have achieved a burning plasma state with neutron yields exceeding 170 kJ, roughly 3 times the prior record and a necessary stage for igniting plasmas. The results are achieved despite multiple sources of degradations that lead to high variability in performance. Results shown here, for the first time, include an empirical correction factor for mode-2 asymmetry in the burning plasma regime in addition to previously determined corrections for radiative mix and mode-1.
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