Heterogeneous Longitudinal Antibody Responses to Covid-19 mRNA Vaccination.

Background: Public health measures to stem the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are challenged by social, economic, health status, and cultural disparities that facilitate disease transmission and amplify its severity. Prior pre-clinical biomedical technologic advances in nucleic acid-based vaccination enabled unprecedented speed of conceptualization, development, production, and widespread distribution of mRNA vaccines that target SARS-CoV-2's Spike (S) protein.

Design: Twenty-five female and male volunteer fulltime employees at the Providence VA Medical Center participated in this study to examine longitudinal antibody responses to the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine.

Irradiated Tree Nut Flours for Use in Oral Immunotherapy.

Background: Tree nut allergies affect an estimated 1% of the US population and is lifelong in 90% of allergic individuals. Oral immunotherapy (OIT) for food allergies is an effective method to induce desensitization in a majority of participants in trials of peanut, egg, and milk OIT. Limited trials using tree nut OIT have been reported, possibly due to the lack of standardized drug products.

Preparation and Analysis of Peanut Flour Used in Oral Immunotherapy Clinical Trials.

Background: Oral immunotherapy (OIT) is an investigational therapeutic approach for the treatment of food allergies. Characterization of the drug product used in oral immunotherapy trials for peanut allergy has not been reported.

Objective: To quantify relative amounts of the major peanut allergens and microbial load present in peanut flour used in OIT trials and assess whether these parameters change over a 12-month period.