Experience of Public Health Departments in Implementation of COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing Programs.

Objective: Case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) are fundamental public health efforts widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate transmission. This study investigated how state, local, and tribal public health departments used CI/CT during the COVID-19 pandemic, including CI/CT methodology, staffing models, training and support, and efforts to identify or prioritize populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

Methods: During March and April 2022, we conducted key informant interviews with up to 3 public health officials from 43 state, local, and tribal public health departments.

Design and Modification of COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing Interview Scripts Used by Health Departments Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: We sought to (1) document how health departments (HDs) developed COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) interview scripts and the topics covered, and (2) understand how and why HDs modified those scripts.

Design: Qualitative analysis of CI/CT interview scripts and in-depth key informant interviews with public health officials in 14 HDs. Collected scripts represent 3 distinct points (initial, the majority of which were time stamped May 2020; interim, spanning from September 2020 to August 2021; and current, as of April 2022).

Veterinary education: a basis for good governance leading to effective veterinary services.

Veterinary education serves as the foundation on which a country can build effective Veterinary Services (VS). In addition, an appropriately well-educated animal health workforce will be better poised to actively participate in and advance good governance practices. Good governance, in turn, will lead to improved animal and veterinary public heath infrastructures and help advance economic development across the globe.

Start-up rhetoric in eight speeches of Barack Obama.

Our purpose in the following was to investigate the start-up rhetoric employed by U.S. President Barack Obama in his speeches.

Increases in salivary lysozyme and IgA concentrations and secretory rates independent of salivary flow rates following viewing of humorous videotape.

Several studies have shown increases in salivary, secretory IgA (sIgA) levels following exposure to humor and various relaxation strategies. However, the use of sIgA as a marker of immunocompetence has been questioned. In this study we investigated the potential of an alternative marker, salivary lysozyme (sLys) in addition to sIgA.

Aberrant signalling and transcription factor activation as an explanation for the defective growth control and differentiation of keratinocytes in psoriasis: a hypothesis.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by the accumulation of red, scaly plaques on the skin. The plaques result from hyperproliferation and incomplete differentiation of keratinocytes (KC) in a process that seems to be driven, in part by skin-infiltrating leucocytes. We believe that the KC have inherent defects in intracellular signalling which could be usefully targeted to allow the development of more effective therapies.

Delayed-interval delivery: extended series from a single maternal-fetal medicine practice.

Objective: Our purpose was to review the extended experience of a single maternal-fetal medicine practice with delayed-interval delivery.

Study Design: We completed a retrospective review of our maternal-fetal medicine practice database from January 1991 through March 1999. Patients were derived from both primary and consultative practices.

Dominance of immunoglobulin G2c in the antiphosphorylcholine response of rats infected with Trichinella spiralis.

The antibody response to the L1 stage of Trichinella spiralis has been described as biphasic. Worms resident in the intestine during the first week of infection stimulate an antibody response against a subset of larval proteins. L1 larvae in the muscle at the end stage of infection stimulate a second antibody response against tyvelose-bearing glycoproteins.

Interleukin 5 (IL-5) is not required for expression of a Th2 response or host resistance mechanisms during murine schistosomiasis mansoni but does play a role in development of IL-4-producing non-T, non-B cells.

During schistosomiasis, interleukin-5 (IL-5)-dependent eosinophil responses have been implicated in immunopathology, resistance to superinfection, synergistic interactions with chemotherapeutic agents, and the inductive phase of the egg-induced Th2 response. We examined these issues in IL-5-deficient (IL-5(-/-)) mice. IL-5(-/-) and wild-type (WT) mice were indistinguishable in terms of susceptibility to primary infections and the ability to resist secondary infections.

Psoriatic keratinocytes show reduced IRF-1 and STAT-1alpha activation in response to gamma-IFN.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis characterized by hyperproliferative keratinocytes (KC). The skin lesions are infiltrated by T cells, which secrete gamma interferon (gamma-IFN) and are believed to be necessary to maintain the psoriatic phenotype. In normal KC, gamma-IFN is a potent inhibitor of proliferation, but proliferation of KC persists in psoriatic plaques despite the presence of gamma-IFN.

The initiation and function of Th2 responses during infection with Schistosoma mansoni.

Through experiments in which pro-inflammatory mediators have been neutralized in schistosomeinfected WT and IL-4 -/- mice we have been investigating the nature of the immune response that is required to allow survival during the period of acute disease that accompanies the onset of egg production by the parasitic worms. The developing picture is that of an early pro-inflammatory type-1 like response (characterized by the production of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha and NO) which in the short term is able to control the deleterious effects on the liver associated with the arrival of the eggs, followed rapidly by a potent egg-induced Th2 response which simultaneously subsumes the role of protecting the liver and downregulates the production of the inflammatory mediators, thereby averting the serious consequence associated with the continued high level production of NO. Current research is directed towards: 1) understanding how pro-inflammatory mediators are protective during schistosomiasis, and 2) elucidating the underlying mechanisms through which the Th response is biased in a Th2 direction following exposure to schistosome eggs.

Selective delivery in a twin gestation.

One or more infants of a multifetal pregnancy occasionally require delivery selectively because of in utero risk of fetal death in circumstances in which the sibling fetus appears well. At 26 weeks 5 days of gestation a small fundally placed twin in a dichorionic gestation had an estimated fetal weight of 650 g with decreased amniotic fluid and ominous Doppler velocity findings in his umbilical artery. A normally grown presenting sibling had reassuring fetal surveillance data.

Delayed-interval delivery in multifetal pregnancy.

Objective: Our goal was to review a single subspecialty practice experience with a uniform approach to delayed-interval delivery.

Study Design: A 66-month retrospective review of our maternal-fetal medicine practice database was completed. Fifty-nine sets of twins or triplets delivered at < 30 weeks' gestation were identified.

IL-4 in schistosomiasis.

This review focuses on the role of IL-4 in the immune response which develops during infection with the trematode parasite Schistosoma mansoni. The emphasis is on our own recent studies in the mouse model.

Schistosoma mansoni egg-induced early IL-4 production is dependent upon IL-5 and eosinophils.

The initial immune response to Schistosoma mansoni eggs presumably results in IL-4 production, as schistosome eggs are strong Th2-inducing antigens and the differentiation of antigen-specific Th2 cells is largely dependent on the presence of IL-4 during priming of naive Th cells. Consistent with this concept, intraperitoneal injection of mice with schistosome eggs results in an upregulation of IL-4 production by peritoneal exudate cells (PECs) within 12 h. Egg-induced IL-4 is rapidly bound by its receptor, suggesting that this cytokine is utilized by a cell type present at the site of antigen deposition or is complexed to soluble receptor.

Evidence of a T helper type 2 activation in human schistosomiasis.

The lymphocyte proliferative response and cytokine production to S. mansoni antigen in vitro were evaluated in 22 schistosomiasis patients living in an area endemic for this disease. The majority of patients (86%) showed no lymphocyte proliferative response and none of them showed interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production, following in vitro stimulation with soluble adult worm antigen preparation (SWAP).

Impairment of tetanus toxoid-specific Th1-like immune responses in humans infected with Schistosoma mansoni.

After vaccination with tetanus toxoid (TT), TT-specific immune responses in humans infected with Schistosoma mansoni were assessed. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from vaccinated infected subjects and vaccinated uninfected controls were evaluated for their ability to produce cytokines characteristic of Th1 or Th2 cells (interferon [IFN]-gamma or interleukin [IL]-4, respectively) after in vitro restimulation with TT. TT-specific IFN-gamma production by PBMC from infected subjects was inversely related to infection intensity and was significantly lower than TT-specific IFN-gamma production by control PBMC.

Early IL-4 production by non-CD4+ cells at the site of antigen deposition predicts the development of a T helper 2 cell response to Schistosoma mansoni eggs.

Cytokines play a major role in promoting naive Th cells to differentiate into Th1 or Th2 cells. While IL-4 is recognized as the primary pro-Th2 inducing cytokine, the identity of its cellular sources during the development of a Th2 response remains unclear. We have used Schistosoma mansoni eggs, potent stimulators of Th2 responses both during the natural progression of murine schistosomiasis and when experimentally isolated and injected into normal mice, to examine IL-4 production early in the evolution of an Ag-driven Th2 response.