BCG vaccination and cancer mortality

Summary The mortality rate from leukemia and other neoplastic diseases for the years 1957–1969 was compared in 85,356 BCG-vaccinated newborns at Cook County Hospital, Chicago, and 534,870 nonvaccinated population in Chicago (all black). All cases of cancer deaths under 20 years of age in the black population of Chicago were obtained from death certificates at the Chicago Board of Health. The total black population 20 years of age and under was determined by demographic means from the Chicago Board of Health birth records, adjusted for deaths under the period of study. There were 13 deaths among the vaccinated for a rate of 1.17/100,000/year and 306 deaths among the nonvaccinated for a rate of 4.39/100,000/year. The difference was statistically highly significant (p<0.001). This was a reduction of 74% in the vaccinated group as compared to the nonvaccinated. There were no deaths from malignancies in the under 1 year of age group in the vaccinated, but a drop in the rates to 50% or less in the later age groups (except 10–14 years) in the vaccinated as compared to the nonvaccinated. Thus revaccination at given intervals (1–2 years) is recommended. The National Cancer Institute checked death reports due to cancer elsewhere in the country in our vaccinated population. To reduce the possibility of error, deaths due to trauma in the two groups were determined. No differences in the rates were found. The major categories of neoplasms for this age group were (1) leukemia, (2) central nervous system, (3) lymphoma, and (4) bone and connective tissue. This was a retrospective study. Statistically designed, controlled studies may provide definite conclusions.     

The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts

Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species’ threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project – and avert – future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups – including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems – http://www.predicts.org.uk). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.     

Plant reintroductions: the need for a global database

Plant reintroductions include labor-intensive, costly, and time-consuming work and often cannot guarantee a successful outcome. In order to maximize the chances of success, it is therefore of utmost importance to appropriately select target species, release site, cultivation and reintroduction methodology, and management technique of the out-planting site. Case studies, best practice and experiences of plant reintroductions are however not sufficiently disseminated to the plant conservation community, most often remaining in unpublished internal reports to which access is difficult. We suggest that this is a major problem for conservationists and it requires the establishment of a framework for rapid and effective broadcasting of information on plant reintroduction programs. We propose a set of variables for a centralized web-based interface which could provide the necessary information in a standardized and accessible form.     

BCG vaccination and pulmonary tuberculosis in Quebec

The BCG vaccination program officially set up in 1949 in the Province of Quebec has been retrospectively evaluated for the period from 1956 to 1961. Two series of age groups were studied, 0-14 and 15-29, each comprising populations of several hundred thousand. At the beginning and the end of the period, the rates of primary vaccination were, in percentages of viable births, from 40 to 47.8 and, in cumulative percentages, for the 0 to 14 year age group, from 39.98 to 53.41, and for the 0 to 29 year age group, from 29.22 to 45.98.During this period, the ratios between the yearly rates of incidence of new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis per 100,000 in vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals ranged from 1-2.5 to 1-3.5 within the age group 0-14 years and from 1-4.5 to 1-7 within the age group 15-29 years. When only the incidence of the more severe forms of tuberculosis is considered, the ratios ranged from 1-3.7 to 1-6.0 for the younger group and from 1-5.3 to 1-7.6 for the older one.Mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis was practically non-existent in the vaccinated groups and decreased from 2.5 to 1.3 per 100,000 population in the non-vaccinated groups.     

Effectiveness of BCG vaccination to aged mice

Background

The tuberculosis (TB) still increases in the number of new cases, which is estimated to approach 10 million in 2010. The number of aged people has been growing all over the world. Ageing is one of risk factors in tuberculosis because of decreased immune responses in aged people. Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG) is a sole vaccine currently used for TB, however, the efficacy of BCG in adults is still a matter of debate. Emerging the multidrug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) make us to see the importance of vaccination against TB in new light. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of BCG vaccination in aged mice.

Results

The Th1 responses, interferon-γ production and interleukin 2, in BCG inoculated aged mice (24-month-old) were comparable to those of young mice (4- to 6-week-old). The protection activity of BCG in aged mice against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇Rv was also the same as young mice.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that vaccination in aged generation is still effective for protection against tuberculosis.