UN appoints official to combat threat from avian flu.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ress P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1246107 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
UN appoints official to combat threat from avian flu.
BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 20051001 7520
Similar Datasets
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC1283192 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundInfluenza seasons can be unpredictable and have the potential to rapidly affect populations, especially in crowded areas. Prior research suggests that normative messaging can be used to increase voluntary provision of public goods, such as the influenza vaccine. We extend the literature by examining the influence of normative messaging on the decision to get vaccinated against influenza.MethodsWe conduct a field experiment in conjunction with University Health Services, targeting undergraduate students living on campus. We use four posters, randomized by living area clusters to advertise flu vaccination clinics during the Fall. The wording on the posters is varied to emphasize the individual benefits of the vaccine, the social benefits of the vaccine or both benefits together. We collect survey data for those vaccinated at the vaccination clinics, and for those not vaccinated via an online survey.ResultsWe find that any normative message increases the percentage of students getting the flu vaccine compared with no message. In terms of the likelihood of getting the flu vaccine, emphasizing both the individual and social benefits of vaccination has the largest increase in the vaccination rate (19-20 percentage point increase). However, flu vaccinations did not reach the herd immunity threshold (70% of students vaccinated).ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that there is a pro-social component that is relevant in individual vaccination decisions which should be accounted for when designing vaccination campaigns. The results of this normative, pro-social messaging experiment could be extended to other at-risk communities where the number of background risks is much larger. This is especially relevant nowadays, as other seasonal vaccines are being rolled out and younger adults are the ones with the lowest uptake.
| S-EPMC9344251 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC1289310 | biostudies-literature
Project description:By combining computational, morphological, and functional analyses, this study relates latent markers of associative threat learning to overt post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in combat veterans. Using reversal learning, we found that symptomatic veterans showed greater physiological adjustment to cues that did not predict what they had expected, indicating greater sensitivity to prediction errors for negative outcomes. This exaggerated weighting of prediction errors shapes the dynamic learning rate (associability) and value of threat predictive cues. The degree to which the striatum tracked the associability partially mediated the positive correlation between prediction-error weights and PTSD symptoms, suggesting that both increased prediction-error weights and decreased striatal tracking of associability independently contribute to PTSD symptoms. Furthermore, decreased neural tracking of value in the amygdala, in addition to smaller amygdala volume, independently corresponded to higher PTSD symptom severity. These results provide evidence for distinct neurocomputational contributions to PTSD symptoms.
| S-EPMC6829910 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC1246108 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Influenza A viruses of subtype H9N2 are wide spread among poultry and other mammalian species. Crossing the species barrier from poultry to human occurred in recent years creating a pandemic of H9N2 virus. It is known that the pathogenicity of H9N2 is lower than H5N1. Nonetheless, it is important to establish the molecular functions of H9N2 viral proteins. We studied mutations in the polymerase protein PB2 of H9N2 from different strains and compared it with the highly pathogenic H5N1. The mutation M294T was found to be important in the N-myristoylation domain of Ck/UP/2573/India/04(H9N2) isolate. Prediction of secondary structures and PROSITE motif assignments were performed for PB2 to gain functional insight. Subsequently, the effect of mutations in secondary structures among strains is discussed.
| S-EPMC2586138 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAlthough vaccination can be a useful tool for control of avian influenza epidemics, it might engender emergence of a vaccine-resistant strain. Field and experimental studies show that some avian influenza strains acquire resistance ability against vaccination. We investigated, in the context of the emergence of a vaccine-resistant strain, whether a vaccination program can prevent the spread of infectious disease. We also investigated how losses from immunization by vaccination imposed by the resistant strain affect the spread of the disease.Methods and findingsWe designed and analyzed a deterministic compartment model illustrating transmission of vaccine-sensitive and vaccine-resistant strains during a vaccination program. We investigated how the loss of protection effectiveness impacts the program. Results show that a vaccination to prevent the spread of disease can instead spread the disease when the resistant strain is less virulent than the sensitive strain. If the loss is high, the program does not prevent the spread of the resistant strain despite a large prevalence rate of the program. The epidemic's final size can be larger than that before the vaccination program. We propose how to use poor vaccines, which have a large loss, to maximize program effects and describe various program risks, which can be estimated using available epidemiological data.ConclusionsWe presented clear and simple concepts to elucidate vaccination program guidelines to avoid negative program effects. Using our theory, monitoring the virulence of the resistant strain and investigating the loss caused by the resistant strain better development of vaccination strategies is possible.
| S-EPMC2657368 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC1261212 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundCatalytic activity of influenza neuraminidase (NA) facilitates elution of progeny virions from infected cells and prevents their self-aggregation mediated by the catalytic site located in the body region. Research on the active site of the molecule has led to development of effective inhibitors like oseltamivir, zanamivir etc, but the high rate of mutation and interspecies reassortment in viral sequences and the recent reports of oseltamivir resistant strains underlines the importance of determining additional target sites for developing future antiviral compounds. In a recent computational study of 173 H5N1 NA gene sequences we had identified a 50-base highly conserved region in 3'-terminal end of the NA gene.ResultsWe extend the graphical and numerical analyses to a larger number of H5N1 NA sequences (514) and H1N1 swine flu sequences (425) accessed from GenBank. We use a 2D graphical representation model for the gene sequences and a Graphical Sliding Window Method (GSWM) for protein sequences scanning the sequences as a block of 16 amino acids at a time. Using a protein sequence descriptor defined in our model, the protein sliding scan method allowed us to compare the different strains for block level variability, which showed significant statistical correlation to average solvent accessibility of the residue blocks; single amino acid position variability results in no correlation, indicating the impact of stretch variability in chemical environment. Close to the C-terminal end the GSWM showed less descriptor-variability with increased average solvent accessibility (ASA) that is also supported by conserved predicted secondary structure of 3' terminal RNA and visual evidence from 3D crystallographic structure.ConclusionThe identified terminal segment, strongly conserved in both RNA and protein sequences, is especially significant as it is surface exposed and structural chemistry reveals the probable role of this stretch in tetrameric stabilization. It could also participate in other biological processes associated with conserved surface residues. A RNA double hairpin secondary structure found in this segment in a majority of the H5N1 strains also supports this observation. In this paper we propose this conserved region as a probable site for designing inhibitors for broad-spectrum pandemic control of flu viruses with similar NA structure.
| S-EPMC2836360 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Influenza pandemics, defined as global outbreaks of the disease due to viruses with new antigenic subtypes, have exacted high death tolls from human populations. The last two pandemics were caused by hybrid viruses, or reassortants, that harbored a combination of avian and human viral genes. Avian influenza viruses are therefore key contributors to the emergence of human influenza pandemics. In 1997, an H5N1 influenza virus was directly transmitted from birds in live poultry markets in Hong Kong to humans. Eighteen people were infected in this outbreak, six of whom died. This avian virus exhibited high virulence in both avian and mammalian species, causing systemic infection in both chickens and mice. Subsequently, another avian virus with the H9N2 subtype was directly transmitted from birds to humans in Hong Kong. Interestingly, the genes encoding the internal proteins of the H9N2 virus are genetically highly related to those of the H5N1 virus, suggesting a unique property of these gene products. The identification of avian viruses in humans underscores the potential of these and similar strains to produce devastating influenza outbreaks in major population centers. Although highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses had been identified before the 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, their devastating effects had been confined to poultry. With the Hong Kong outbreak, it became clear that the virulence potential of these viruses extended to humans.
| S-EPMC88966 | biostudies-literature