Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in swine from slaughterhouses in Lima, Peru, and Georgia, U.S.A

Toxoplasma gondii is an important pathogen transmitted by food, with raw or undercooked meat as the main foodborne source of toxoplasmosis. In Peru, 2-4 million people have antibodies to T. gondii. It is believed that more than 60 million people in the United States are infected with T. gondii. In this study, the prevalence of T. gondii in pigs from Peru and the United States was determined by Western blot. The presence of IgG antibodies to T. gondii from serum samples was determined. Blood samples were collected from 137 pigs at a slaughterhouse in Lima, Peru, and 152 pigs at a slaughterhouse in Georgia. Of the serum samples collected from swine, 27.7% (n = 38) from Peru and 16.4% (n = 25) from the United States were positive for T. gondii. Swine represent a significant source of human infection with T. gondii in Peru and the United States.     

Prevalence of antibodies to Neospora caninum in wild animals

Antibodies to Neospora caninum were determined in several species of wild animals in the United States by the Neospora agglutination test (NAT). Antibodies (NAT 1:40 or higher) were found in 5 of 249 bison (Bison bison), 5 of 160 caribou (Rangifer tarandus), 4 of 162 moose (Alces alces), 4 of 122 wolves (Canis lupus), and 1 of 224 musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) but not in 197 black bears (Ursus americanus). To our knowledge, this is the first report of antibodies to N. caninum in bison and caribou. The total absence of N. caninum antibodies in black bears indicates that bears are not a host for N. caninum and that there is no cross-reactivity between the NAT and the modified agglutination test (MAT) for Toxoplasma gondii, because more than 80% of black bears in eastern United States have MAT antibodies at a 1:25 serum solution.     

Geographic/ethnic differences in human herpesvirus-6 antibody patterns.

Serum samples from healthy adults in four geographic/ethnic groups (Ghanaian Blacks, Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indians and United States Caucasians) were tested under code for antibodies to human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6). The prevalence and titer of HHV-6 antibody in the healthy Ghanaians were significantly higher than in the Malaysian Chinese; United States Caucasians and Malaysian Indians had intermediate prevalence and titer of antibodies. Thus far, no specific differences in HHV-6-associated diseases have been noted between geographic/ethnic groups with these marked variations in antibody patterns.     

Legal and policy issues for animal assisted interventions with special populations

In order to protect themselves and their animals, persons involved in animal-assisted interventions, as well as those providing therapeutic interventions involving animals and those seeking to study such situations should understand when a law provides a right to be accompanied by an assistance or service animal. Using applicable federal laws in the United States, this article defines service, assistance, and therapy animals and analyzes the circumstances under which persons utilizing these animals have the legal right of access to public places and housing. The article also discusses the intersection of federal, state, and local law in the United States and provides ways state and local laws may provide for greater access for persons accompanied by service, assistance, and therapy animals.     

Evaluation of a rapid immunochromatographic dipstick test for detection of antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi in dogs experimentally infected with isolates obtained from opossums (Didelphis virginiana), armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus), and dogs (Canis familiaris) from the United States

Dogs are reservoir hosts for Trypanosoma cruzi , the causative agent of American trypanosomiasis. A rapid immunochromatographic dipstick test (ICT) is available commercially for canine serological testing. The ICT was developed with the use of sera from South American dogs, but it is not routinely used in the United States. We evaluated the utility of the ICT in detecting anti-T. cruzi antibodies in dogs from the United States. Dogs (N = 64) were experimentally infected with United States' isolates of T. cruzi from an opossum (Didelphis virginiana), an armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), and a domestic dog (Canis familiaris), and were tested after experimental infection. Sera from uninfected United States dogs (n = 79; hemaculture negative) were used as negative controls. In a blind study, sera were tested by the ICT and compared to the indirect immunofluorescent antibody test with the use of Brazil-strain epimastigotes as antigen. The sensitivity of the ICT was 91% and the specificity was 98% in dogs experimentally infected with United States isolates. Our study indicates that the ICT could be a useful screening tool for serological surveillance of canine T. cruzi exposure in the United States.     

A survey of wild swine in the United States for evidence of hog cholera

The results of surveillance for hog cholera (HC) in wild swine (Sus scrofa) collected from throughout the United States from 1979 to 1987 are presented. Sera collected from 1,218 wild swine and tissues from 637 were evaluated for HC antibodies and virus, respectively. Included within this surveillance were samples from Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands, California, where HC virus had been deliberately introduced into wild swine during the 1950's in attempts to eradicate these animals. All evaluations were considered negative for HC. It appears that the HC virus does not maintain itself in dispersed swine populations and that wild swine have not remained a reservoir of HC since its eradication in domestic swine in the United States.     

Guardians at the gate

Patent protection and FDA exclusivities are the two principal forms of protection available to companies that develop therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Proposed changes to both forms of protection are currently being debated in the United States Congress. Specifically, Congress is presently debating both biosimilar and patent reform legislations. Although no bill has yet passed, it is expected that patent reform legislation should pass this year. It is less likely that a biosimilar bill will pass this year. However, when legislations are enacted, the changes will significantly impact the business of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.     

首例RNA干扰药物问世及该领域技术演化历程

近期,RNA干扰(RNAi)制药公司Alnylam开发的小干扰RNA (siRNA)药物ONPATTRO?美国食品与药物管理局和欧盟委员会批准上市,用于治疗成人患者的遗传性转甲状腺素蛋白淀粉样变性引起的多发性神经病变.这是全球第一款RNAi药物,该事件标志着人类继小分子化合物、单克隆抗体蛋白类药物后,在前沿生物制药领域实现了新的突破,意味着RNAi疗法从基础研究到临床治疗的开发全过程首次贯通,具有里程碑式的意义.本文概述了该药物及适应症的基本情况,介绍了RNAi发现历史、作用机理与药物特征,RNAi药物的研发历程,以及该领域关键技术的最新研究进展.     

Changes in regulations for approval of therapeutics

As we enter the decade of the 2010s, regulatory agencies in the United States and the European Union are currently establishing a variety of new initiatives, guidances and guidelines that aim to facilitate the development and approval of therapeutics, including antibodies.     

Retroviral infections transmitted by blood transfusion

Modifications in donor screening and the introduction of laboratory testing of donated blood for anti-HIV-1 and anti-HTLV-I have resulted in a significant reduction in the risks of retroviral infections from blood transfusion. Presently, the American Red Cross detects an average of eight carriers of human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV-1) per 100,000 otherwise acceptable blood donors (0.008 percent), compared with an average of 35 per 100,000 (0.035 percent) when testing for HIV-1 antibodies began in 1985. Surveillance studies in the United States indicate a small likelihood that HIV-2 carriers will pass current screening procedures and be accepted as blood donors. Even if an HIV-2-infected person were to be accepted as a blood donor, there is a 42-92 percent likelihood that this person's blood would be detected as infective for HIV-2 and excluded because of serological cross-reactions that occur in the EIA for HIV-1 antibodies. During 1989, which was the first year that donated blood was routinely tested for antibodies to human T-lymphotropic virus, type I (HTLV-I) in the United States, approximately nine in 100,000 donors (0.009 percent) were confirmed positive for antibodies to HTLV-I, and their donated blood was excluded. Subsequent testing has revealed that a significant number of these persons whose sera was reactive by the HTLV-I EIA were, in fact, infected by HTLV-II. Epidemiological studies of human retroviral infections (HIV-1, HIV-2, HTLV-I, and HTLV-II) continue to provide important data and direction for improving criteria for qualifying blood donors.     

Design of humanized antibodies: from anti-Tac to Zenapax

Since the introduction of hybridoma technology, monoclonal antibodies have become one of the most important tools in the biosciences, finding diverse applications including their use in the therapy of human disease. Initial attempts to use monoclonal antibodies as therapeutics were hampered, however, by the potent immunogenicity of mouse (and other rodent) antibodies in humans. Humanization technology has made it possible to remove the immunogenicity associated with the use of rodent antibodies, or at least to reduce it to an acceptable level for clinical use in humans, thus facilitating the application of monoclonal antibodies to the treatment of human disease. To date, nine humanized monoclonal antibodies have been approved for use as human therapeutics in the United States. In this paper, we describe procedures for antibody humanization with an emphasis on strategies for designing humanized antibodies with the aid of computer-guided modeling of antibody variable domains, using as an example the humanized anti-CD25 monoclonal antibody, Zenapax.     

Helicobacter pylori and Gastric Cancer: What Are the Benefits of Screening Only for the CagA Phenotype of H. pylori?

Background. Strains of Helicobacter pylori that express the CagA protein are associated with a threefold increased gastric cancer risk as compared to H. pylori strains that do not express CagA. Screening and treatment only for CagA antibodies should target those individuals at highest gastric cancer risk while reducing the number of patients requiring antibiotics. We compared the costs and benefits of screening asymptomatic 50-year-old individuals for CagA, screening for all H. pylori strains, and no screening, both in the United States and abroad.
Materials and Methods. We employed Markov cost-effectiveness analysis using data from randomized, case-control, and cohort studies.
Results. In the United States, CagA screening would result in 1.5 million fewer antibiotic treatments but would prevent 1,400 fewer gastric cancers than would screening for all H. pylori. The incremental cost-effectiveness of CagA screening is $23,900 per life-year gained; for H. pylori screening, it is $25,100. Screening in countries with epidemiological characteristics similar to those of Colombia, Finland, and Japan costs less than $5,000 per life-year gained, and the difference between CagA and H. pylori screening is smaller than that in the United States.
Conclusions. Screening only for CagA-positive H. pylori is not substantially better than is screening for all H. pylori , either in the United States nor abroad. Screening is substantially more cost-effective outside the United States. Whether population screening is justified, however, is uncertain pending conclusive data regarding the reduction in gastric cancer risk from antibiotics.     

Antibodies to arboviruses in an Alaskan population at occupational risk of infection

A total of 435 United States Geological Survey and United States Forest Service workers in Alaska were studied for serologic evidence of past infections with four arboviruses known or suspected to be human pathogens. Of the personnel tested, 36 (8.3%) had the neutralizing antibody to Jamestown Canyon but not snowshoe hare virus, 6 (1.4%) had the antibody to snowshoe hare but not Jamestown Canyon virus, 53 (12.2%) had the antibody to both viruses, 17 (3.9%) had the antibody to Northway virus, and 15 (3.4%) had the antibody to Klamath virus. The indices most significantly correlated with presence of the Jamestown Canyon and snowshoe hare antibodies were the amount of fieldwork (p less than 0.001 for both antibodies) and the duration of employment by the agencies (p less than 0.0001 for Jamestown Canyon and 0.004 for snowshoe hare). The antibody to the four arboviruses also correlated strongly with a history of travel in certain remote or wilderness areas in Alaska (p values ranged from less than 0.001 to 0.086).     

Design and evaluation of a national set of learning objectives: the medical physiology learning objectives project

In 1998, the American Physiological Society (APS) and the Association of Chairs of Departments of Physiology (ACDP) began collaboration on a project to develop a set of physiology learning objectives for medical students. Over the next 2 years, more than 50 physiologists collaborated in the development a comprehensive draft containing its 695 learning objectives. Faculty in 31 medical schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico evaluated these objectives. On the basis of this evaluation, the ACDP recommended deleting 13 of them. The final project, containing 682 objectives, was approved in December 2000 by the ACDP and published on the APS website http://www.the-aps.org/education/MedPhysObj/medcor.htm. The identification of the "content" of medical physiology instruction provides the APS and the ACDP with a tool to introduce emerging topics, such as the physiology of aging and gender differences, at a national level. The medical physiology learning objectives project provides a guide for directing current and future medical physiology instruction in the United States.     

Lack of antibody induction by Histolyn-CYL, a new skin-testing reagent for histoplasmosis

Histolyn-CYL, a yeast phase skin-test reagent, was administered to 85 histoplasmin-sensitive subjects living in the United States and South America. In a multicenter study, sera were obtained at the time the skin tests were read and again 3 weeks later. In no instance did the skin test induce significant complement-fixing antibody changes or antibodies detected by immuno-diffusion.     

The role of drought as a determinant of hemorrhagic disease in the eastern United States

Bluetongue virus and epizootic hemorrhagic disease (HD) virus are globally distributed, vector‐borne viruses that infect and cause disease in domestic and wild ruminant species. The forces driving increases in resulting HD may be linked to weather conditions and increasing severity has been noted in northerly latitudes. We evaluated the role of drought severity in both space and time on changes in HD reports across the eastern United States for a recent 15 year period. The objectives of this study were to: (a) develop a spatiotemporal model to evaluate if drought severity explains changing patterns of HD presence; and (b) determine whether this potential risk factor varies in importance over the present range of HD in the eastern United States. Historic data (2000–2014) from an annual HD presence–absence survey conducted by the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study and from the United States Drought Monitor were used for this analysis. For every county in 23 states and for each of 15 years, data were based on reported drought status for August, wetland cover, the physiographic region, and the status of HD in the previous year. We used a generalized linear mixed model to explain HD presence and evaluated spatiotemporal predictors across the region. We found that drought severity was a significant predictor of HD presence and the significance of this relationship was dependent on latitude. In more northerly latitudes, where immunological naivety is most likely, we demonstrated the increasing strength of drought severity as a determinant of reported HD and established the importance of variation in drought severity as a risk factor over the present range of HD in the eastern United States. Our research provides spatially explicit evidence for the link between climate forces and emerging disease patterns across latitude for a globally distributed disease.     

Prevalence of antibodies to Neospora caninum in white-tailed deer,Odocoileus virginianus,from the southeastern United States

Serum samples from 305 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from 14 states in the southeastern United States were examined for antibodies to Neospora caninum using a direct agglutination test. Positive agglutination titers were found in 145 (48%) of the white-tailed deer examined: 21 (7%) had titers of 1:25, 92 (30%) had titers of 1:50, and 32 (10%) had titers of > or = 1:500. These findings that antibodies to N. caninum are common in white-tailed deer support the concept that a sylvatic cycle might exist for this economically important parasite of domestic cattle.     

Accounting for the Material Stock of Nations

National material stock (MS) accounts have been a neglected field of analysis in industrial ecology, possibly because of the difficulty in establishing such accounts. In this research, we propose a novel method to model national MS based on historical material flow data. This enables us to avoid the laborious data work involved with bottom‐up accounts for stocks and to arrive at plausible levels of stock accumulation for nations. We apply the method for the United States and Japan to establish a proof of concept for two very different cases of industrial development. Looking at a period of 75 years (1930–2005), we find that per capita MS has been much higher in the United States for the entire period, but that Japan has experienced much higher growth rates throughout, in line with Japan's late industrial development. By 2005, however, both Japan and the United States arrive at a very similar level of national MS of 310 to 375 tonnes per capita, respectively. This research provides new insight into the relationship between MS and flows in national economies and enables us to extend the debate about material efficiency from a narrow perspective of throughput to a broader perspective of stocks.     

The Last Sixty Years: Toward a Social History of Americanist Archeology in the United States

This paper provides an overview of the development of Americanist archeology in the United States.
Since the 1920s, there have been two, and sometimes more, interpretive communities among Americanist archeologists in the United States.
These reflect and are related to the development of U.S. society. One articulates the concerns of national capital and its allies; the other, the interests of
international capital and its allies. They are grounded in different theoretical traditions. The discourses produced by their proponents resonate with
particular world views that reflect different relations to power.