Assessment of CD8 T-cell mediated immunity in an influenza A(H3N2) human challenge model in Belgium: a single centre, randomised, double-blind phase 2 study.

Background: Protection afforded by inactivated influenza vaccines can theoretically be improved by inducing T-cell responses to conserved internal influenza A antigens. We assessed whether, in an influenza controlled human infection challenge, susceptible individuals receiving a vaccine boosting T-cell responses would exhibit lower viral load and decreased symptoms compared with placebo recipients.

Methods: In this single centre, randomised, double-blind phase 2 study, healthy adult (aged 18-55 years) volunteers with microneutralisation titres of less than 20 to the influenza A(H3N2) challenge strain were enrolled at an SGS quarantine facility in Antwerp, Belgium.

Safety, Tolerability, and Parasite Clearance Kinetics in Controlled Human Malaria Infection after Direct Venous Inoculation of Plasmodium falciparum Sporozoites: A Model for Evaluating New Blood-Stage Antimalarial Drugs.

Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite (PfSPZ) direct venous inoculation (DVI) using cryopreserved, infectious PfSPZ (PfSPZ Challenge [Sanaria, Rockville, Maryland]) is an established controlled human malaria infection model. However, to evaluate new chemical entities with potential blood-stage activity, more detailed data are needed on safety, tolerability, and parasite clearance kinetics for DVI of PfSPZ Challenge with established schizonticidal antimalarial drugs. This open-label, phase Ib study enrolled 16 malaria-naïve healthy adults in two cohorts (eight per cohort).

Self-collection of capillary blood using Tasso-SST devices for Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody testing.

Background: Efforts to minimize COVID-19 exposure during the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic have led to limitations in access to medical care and testing. The Tasso-SST kit includes all of the components necessary for remote, capillary blood self-collection. In this study, we sought to investigate the accuracy and reliability of the Tasso-SST device as a self-collection device for measurement of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies.

Can a smartphone app help manage wounds in primary care?

Background And Purpose: Although wound care guidelines are available for primary care providers, barriers to assessment and treatment remain. This article examines current evidence supporting wound management, wound guidelines, and provider comfort with wound management in primary care and discusses the need for improved training, education, and the development of a simplified approach to wound management in primary care.

Methods: This review of evidence examines knowledge of wound care, wound curriculum, and the current availability of guidelines for health care providers at the frontlines.

Improving outcomes through the proper implementation of acute care nurse practitioners.

The Value-Based Purchasing Program is forcing hospitals to improve outcomes and decrease costs. This has led to recognition of new care models to improve outcomes and reimbursement. One model is the application of an acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) into the hospital setting.

The role of endoscopy and biopsy in the management of severe gastrointestinal disease in cystic fibrosis patients.

There is increasing evidence to suggest the presence of chronic inflammation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Some CF patients continue to have very severe gastrointestinal symptoms despite conventional CF treatment. In our center, these patients are managed in a CF gastroenterology clinic, jointly with a pediatric gastroenterologist.

Advanced care planning in health service users.

Aims And Objectives: To examine the use of advanced directives (ADs) in patients actively using health services in the USA.

Background: Since 1991, USA law (PSDA 1991) has required hospitals, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and home health services to inquire, at admission, if patients have in place ADs, to provide patients with a written summary of their rights in regard to health-related decision-making and to provide education to staff and the community about ADs.

Design: Via chart review and observation, the AD status of patients residing in three SNFs during a six-week period was ascertained (n = 272).

Risks related to patient bed safety.

There is heightened public awareness of the inherent risks of hospitalization. The hospital bed itself, however, is often not where jeopardy is expected. This article examines 3 chief contributors to hazards associated with hospital bed systems: fire, entrapment, and pressure ulcers.

Psychotropic medications and falls in older adults.

Falls are a common problem among older adults that may be exacerbated by the addition of psychotropic medications. Within each drug class, some medications have lower risk of falls. As a result, a comprehensive effort to decrease falls begins with a review of medications.

Health practices of older adults in good health.

Using an interpretive, descriptive method, this study investigated the beliefs, values, lifestyles, and health status of adults age 75 and older who identified themselves as healthy, as well as the interactions with and observations of health care personnel who work with them. Staff participants were drawn from medical offices, a skilled nursing facility, and an assisted living site. Older adults who self-identified themselves as healthy (n = 14), as well as those who self-identified themselves as being in fair or poor health but were included per staff recommendation (n = 4), were recruited from the sites in which these staff worked.

Human CD46-transgenic mice in studies involving replication-incompetent adenoviral type 35 vectors.

Wild-type strains of mice do not express CD46, a high-affinity receptor for human group B adenoviruses including type 35. Therefore, studies performed to date in mice using replication-incompetent Ad35 (rAd35) vaccine carriers may underestimate potency or result in altered vector distribution. Here, it is reported that CD46 transgenic mice (MYII-strain) express CD46 in all major organs and that it functions as a receptor for rAd35 vectors.

Midazolam and amplitude-integrated EEG in asphyxiated full-term neonates.

Aim: In the present, prospective study, the relation between the levels of midazolam, its two active metabolites--1-hydroxy-midazolam (OH-midazolam) and 1-hydroxy-midazolam-glucuronide (glu-midazolam)--and the aEEG were examined.

Patients And Methods: Fifteen full-term neonates with seizures due to hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy admitted to our NICU were included. Midazolam (loading dose 0.

Vascular endothelial growth factor overexpression in ischemic skeletal muscle enhances myoglobin expression in vivo.

Therapeutic angiogenesis using vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is considered a promising new therapy for patients with arterial obstructive disease. Clinical improvements observed consist of improved muscle function and regression of rest pain or angina. However, direct evidence for improved vascularization, as evaluated by angiography, is weak.

Effect of shear flow on the phase behavior of an aqueous gelatin-dextran emulsion.

A rheo-optical methodology, based on small angle light scattering and transmitted light intensity measurements, has been used to study in situ and on a time resolved basis the shear induced morphology in ternary two-phase water-gelatin-dextran mixtures. Emulsions close to the binodal line as well as far from it have been investigated. It is shown that above a critical shear rate, shear-induced mixing occurs at the length scales probed by the laser light.

The sequence gamma-(312-324) is a fibrin-specific epitope.

Fibrin accelerates the activation of plasminogen catalyzed by tissue-type plasminogen activator much stronger than fibrinogen. Detailed studies showed that (part of) this rate-enhancing effect of fibrin is brought about by two sites in the fibrin molecule: one in A alpha-(148-160) and one in the gamma-chain stretch 311-379 (also known as FCB-5). During the fibrinogen-to-fibrin conversion, A alpha-(148-160) appears to become accessible, because a monoclonal antibody against synthetic A alpha-(148-160) reacts with fibrin, but not with fibrinogen.