Search results for "Immunization."
showing 10 items of 308 documents
The 2014 lifetime immunization schedule approved by the Italian scientific societies. Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine, and Public Hea…
2014
Pneumococcus infections: Is the burden still as heavy?
2012
EA MERS CT3 Enjeu 3; International audience; The death rate of invasive pneumococcal infections decreased by 100 fold in one century. This tremendous improvement was due mainly to antibiotic use and multiple attempts at antipneumococcal vaccinations; thus, this was true only for developed countries. However, in France, the incidence has increased, over the last 10 years, in all age classes except for children vaccinated by the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. The incidence of these infections remains high, when associated to some risk factors such as HIV infection, malignant blood diseases, solid cancers, bronchial diseases, or alcohol abuse. The pneumococcal vaccine should be pr…
Experts’ Opinion for Improving Pertussis Vaccination Rates in Adolescents and Adults: A Call to Action
2022
This article highlights the importance of diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (with reduced antigen content, dTap) vaccination in preventing pertussis, a respiratory infection that is still widespread and easily transmitted. In particular, it highlights the need to receive a booster vaccination throughout life to maintain high antibody levels, which decrease through time. This document collects the opinions that emerged from the comparison between major Italian experts in the field of vaccination. This working group was created to promote a “call to action”, aimed at raising awareness among all institutions, public health authorities, and health workers involved in the vaccination proces…
Anti-diphtheria antibody seroprotection rates are similar 10 years after vaccination with dTpa or DTPa using a mathematical model
2003
The reduced antigen content diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (dTpa) vaccine (Boostrixtrade mark) has been shown to induce a strong booster response to all the vaccine components in 4-6 year olds. However, anti-diphtheria antibody levels were observed to be lower when compared to the "full strength" paediatric DTPa vaccine. To assess the impact of this difference on long-term protection, a mathematical model was developed to predict diphtheria antibody decay over time. The model was based on a linear decrease in log-transformed antibody concentrations after the first year post-vaccination. When applied to data collected 3.5 years after vaccination of 4-6 year olds with either DTPa or dTpa, …
Determinants of seasonal influenza vaccination in pregnant women in Valencia, Spain
2016
Background: In most countries the coverage of seasonal influenza vaccination in pregnant women is low. We investigated the acceptance, reasons for rejection and professional involvement related to vaccine information in pregnant women in Valencia, Spain. Methods: Observational retrospective study in 200 pregnant women, 100 vaccinated and 100 unvaccinated, were interviewed during the 2014/2015 vaccination campaign. Electronic medical records, immunization registry and telephone interviews were used to determine reasons for vaccination and immunization rejection. Results: 40.5% of pregnant women in the health department were vaccinated. The midwife was identified as source of information for …
2004
Immunotherapy in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is rapidly becoming a hot topic of modern geriatric and clinical gerontology. Current views see immunization with Aβ peptide, the amyloidogenic protein found in senile plaque of AD patient's brains, or the infusion of preformed antibody specific for human Aβ, as possible therapeutic approaches to improve the cognitive status in the disease. Animal models of the disease have provided positive results from both approaches. Thus, an initial clinical trial using immunization with human Aβ in AD patients was started, but then shortly halted because of an unusually high incidence (6%) of meningoencephalitis. A long and currently ongoing deba…
Regulation of IgE production and airway reactivity by CD4(-)CD8(-) regulatory T cells
2015
The mechanisms of tolerance induction occurring in the course of allergen-specific immunotherapy have not been elucidated in full detail. Our study aimed to characterize high zone tolerance in mouse models of type I allergy and of allergic airway inflammation induced by subcutaneous sensitization of mice with high doses of the model allergen ovalbumin (OVA) without the use of adjuvant. Mice were immunized by subcutaneous injection of high doses (HD) of OVA or, for comparison, low doses (LD) of OVA in saline. HD-mice showed lower specific IgE, but augmented IgG in sera than LD-mice. Pre-treatment of mice with HD-OVA antigen-specifically inhibited IgE production subsequently induced by LD-OVA…
Carbon nanotube-protein carriers enhance size-dependent self-adjuvant antibody response to haptens
2013
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are nanomaterials with interesting emerging applications. Their properties make CNTs excellent candidates for use as new nanovehicles in drug delivery, immunization and diagnostics. In the current study, we assessed the immune-response-amplifying properties of CNTs to haptens by using azoxystrobin, the first developed strobilurin fungicide, asamodel analyte. Anazoxystrobin derivative bearingacarboxylated spacer arm (hapten AZc6) was covalently coupled to bovine serum albumin (BSA), and the resulting BSA-AZc6 conjugate was covalently linked to four functionalized CNTs of different shapes and sizes, varying in diameter and length. These four types of CNT-based construc…
Generation of monoclonal antibodies against human regulatory T cells.
2009
Abstract Natural CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells (Tregs) control the activation of the immune system and therefore have become a major area of research in immunology. The generation of monoclonal antibodies against human Tregs offers the possibility to discover novel Treg-specific or Treg-associated surface markers and to identify targets for a therapeutic modulation of Tregs. Here we present a methodology optimized to efficiently induce and select mAb against human Tregs by repeated immunization of mice with Tregs from a single donor and a differential two-step flow cytometry-based hybridoma screening procedure.
Mechanisms of resistance to autoimmune disease induced by T-cell vaccination.
1991
Many human autoimmune diseases tend to progress slowly. Phases of rapid progression may come to a halt and may be followed by transient or even permanent remissions. Autoimmune diseases in animals either arise spontaneously or are induced. The former tend to be slowly progressive, the latter mostly acute to subacute, and usually followed by spontaneous remissions. The mechanisms at work that prevent rapid disease progression and can effect remissions are poorly understood, but they may provide us with a clue both to natural self-tolerance and to the therapeutic induction of self-tolerance.