Effectiveness of Prenatal Versus Postpartum Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Acellular Pertussis Vaccination in Preventing Infant Pertussis.

Background:  Most severe and fatal cases of pertussis occur in infants <8 weeks of age, before initiation of the primary pertussis vaccine series. Women are recommended to receive tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine at the start of the third trimester of each pregnancy to optimize transplacental transfer of antibodies to the fetus. This recommendation was made by the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices based on immunogenicity data, and no studies in the United States have yet evaluated the effectiveness of this strategy in reducing pertussis incidence in infants.

Lipoprotein-like particles in a prokaryote: quinone droplets of Thermoplasma acidophilum.

Cytosolic, globular droplets with an average diameter of 50 nm were observed in vitrified Thermoplasma acidophilum cells by means of cryo-electron tomography. These droplets were isolated by column chromatography and immunoprecipitation protein purification methods. Subsequent chemical and biochemical analyses identified lipid and protein components, respectively.

Unraveling the structure of membrane proteins in situ by transfer function corrected cryo-electron tomography.

Cryo-electron tomography in combination with subtomogram averaging allows to investigate the structure of protein assemblies in their natural environment in a close to live state. To make full use of the structural information contained in tomograms it is necessary to analyze the contrast transfer function (CTF) of projections and to restore the phases of higher spatial frequencies. CTF correction is however hampered by the difficulty of determining the actual defocus values from tilt series data, which is due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of electron micrographs.

Near-atomic resolution structural model of the yeast 26S proteasome.

The 26S proteasome operates at the executive end of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Here, we present a cryo-EM structure of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae 26S proteasome at a resolution of 7.4 Å or 6.

Herpes zoster-related deaths in the United States: validity of death certificates and mortality rates, 1979-2007.

Background: Herpes zoster (HZ) vaccine was recommended in the United States to reduce HZ-associated morbidity. Vaccination may reduce HZ-associated mortality, but no strategy exists to monitor mortality trends.

Methods: We validated HZ coding on death certificates from California, using hospital records as the gold standard, and applied the results to national-level data to estimate HZ mortality.