L'immunisation avec proteosome TM génère une réponse humorale efficace et de longue durée.

La vaccination intranasale (i.n.) est une stratégie permettant d’induire une immunité mucosale en plus d’une immunité systémique. En utilisant la voie d’entrée naturelle de certains pathogènes des voies respiratoires, cette immunisation est considérée plus souhaitable qu’un vaccin parentéral. Il a été démontré que le système de libération d’antigènes et d’adjuvants ProteosomeTM, donné de façon i.n., pouvait générer une réponse adaptative spécifique de l’hémagglutinine (HA) et donc une protection contre le virus influenza. Ces travaux visent à comparer l’efficacité de la réponse humorale induite par ProteosomeTM à d’autres adjuvants au niveau des titres d’anticorps et de leur persistance. Des souris BALB/c ont été immunisées par voie i.n. au jour 0 et 14 avec des antigènes seuls (sFlu), combinés à CpG ou avec ProteosomeTM. Après 21 jours, les sérums et lavages bronco-alvéolaires (BALF) ont été récupérés puis analysés par ELISA afin de mesurer la concentration d’IgG et d’IgA spécifiques aux HA. Parallèlement, du sang a été récolté à chaque deux semaine pendant 10 mois à partir de souris immunisées suivant le même protocole. Les IgG spécifiques ont ainsi été dosés. Les résultats montrent que ProteosomeTM et CpG induisent des niveaux d’IgG similaires et supérieurs aux antigènes seuls, tant dans les sérums que dans les BALF. Les anticorps sériques spécifiques (IgG) persistent même au-delà de 38 semaines après l’immunisation avec ProteosomeTM ou CpG. Les titres d’anticorps mesurés dans les BALF démontrent que les antigènes seuls ne sont pas suffisants pour induire une réponse humorale supérieure au control négatif (PBS) indiquant du même coup la nécessité de la présence des adjuvants dans l’immunité mucosale

End-of-life care in long-term care homes : a scoping review protocol

Background: Quality end-of-life (EOL) care is essential in long-term care homes (LTCHs), as the average survival time of newly admitted residents is estimated to be around 2 to 2.5 years. However, significant challenges exist when it comes to providing EOL clinical care in LTCHs, and the available empirical evidence does not offer a clear idea of the best practices to adopt. Aim: To systematically map the state of knowledge on EOL clinical care in LTCHs, as it relates to people receiving care, family care partners, health care professionals, the characteristics of the organization, the social context, and the implementation of guides. Methods: The scoping review method by Levac et al. (2010) will be used. Data will be collected from multiple sources, including eleven databases using a combination of keywords and descriptors, references list, prospective and manual searches, and by consulting clinicians and managers from LTCHs for additional publications. The literature from 2012 and onwards will be selected if it directly concerns EOL care in LTCHs, with no restriction on the age of residents or on the type of health care professionals or family care partners. The screening and data extraction will be performed by two people independently and any discrepancies will be resolved by consensus. We will also assess the quality of publication with the critical appraisal tools developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. We will synthesize the extracted data using content analysis and consult stakeholders in LTCHs when a first version of the data synthesis is available to enhance the interpretation of the results based on their experience. We will present results in narrative form with tables and graphs. Discussion: The results will provide evidence-based recommendations for clinical practice when available findings are conclusive and will allow identifying knowledge gaps to orient future research programs focusing specifically on EOL clinical care in LTCHs

The Integration of Prosodic Speech in High Functioning Autism: A Preliminary fMRI Study

Background Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a specific triad of symptoms such as abnormalities in social interaction, abnormalities in communication and restricted activities and interests. While verbal autistic subjects may present a correct mastery of the formal aspects of speech, they have difficulties in prosody (music of speech), leading to communication disorders. Few behavioural studies have revealed a prosodic impairment in children with autism, and among the few fMRI studies aiming at assessing the neural network involved in language, none has specifically studied prosodic speech. The aim of the present study was to characterize specific prosodic components such as linguistic prosody (intonation, rhythm and emphasis) and emotional prosody and to correlate them with the neural network underlying them. Methodology/Principal Findings We used a behavioural test (Profiling Elements of the Prosodic System, PEPS) and fMRI to characterize prosodic deficits and investigate the neural network underlying prosodic processing. Results revealed the existence of a link between perceptive and productive prosodic deficits for some prosodic components (rhythm, emphasis and affect) in HFA and also revealed that the neural network involved in prosodic speech perception exhibits abnormal activation in the left SMG as compared to controls (activation positively correlated with intonation and emphasis) and an absence of deactivation patterns in regions involved in the default mode. Conclusions/Significance These prosodic impairments could not only result from activation patterns abnormalities but also from an inability to adequately use the strategy of the default network inhibition, both mechanisms that have to be considered for decreasing task performance in High Functioning Autism.casl5pub1685pub

Theory of Low-Mass Stars and Substellar Objects

Since the discovery of the first bona-fide brown dwarfs and extra-solar planets in 1995, the field of low mass stars and substellar objects has considerably progressed, both from theoretical and observational viewpoints.Recent developments in the physics entering the modeling of these objects have led to significant improvements in the theory and to a better understanding of their mechanical and thermal properties. This theory can now be confronted with observations directly in various observational diagrams (color-color, color-magnitude, mass-magnitude, mass-spectral type), a stringent and unavoidable constraint which became possible only recently, with the generation of synthetic spectra. In this paper, we present the current state-of-the-art general theory of low-mass stars and sub-stellar objects, from one solar mass to one Jupiter mass, regarding primarily their interior structure and evolution. This review is a natural complement to the previous review on the atmosphere of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs (Allard et al 1997). Special attention is devoted to the comparison of the theory with various available observations. The contribution of low-mass stellar and sub-stellar objects to the Galactic mass budget is also analysed.Comment: 81 pages, Latex file, uses aasms4.sty, review for Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 38 (2000

SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen-specific B cell and antibody responses in pre-vaccination period COVID-19 convalescent males and females with or without post-covid condition

BackgroundFollowing SARS-CoV-2 infection a significant proportion of convalescent individuals develop the post-COVID condition (PCC) that is characterized by wide spectrum of symptoms encompassing various organs. Even though the underlying pathophysiology of PCC is not known, detection of viral transcripts and antigens in tissues other than lungs raise the possibility that PCC may be a consequence of aberrant immune response to the viral antigens. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated B cell and antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 antigens in PCC patients who experienced mild COVID-19 disease during the pre-vaccination period of COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThe study subjects included unvaccinated male and female subjects who developed PCC or not (No-PCC) after clearing RT-PCR confirmed mild COVID-19 infection. SARS-CoV-2 D614G and omicron RBD specific B cell subsets in peripheral circulation were assessed by flow cytometry. IgG, IgG3 and IgA antibody titers toward RBD, spike and nucleocapsid antigens in the plasma were evaluated by ELISA.ResultsThe frequency of the B cells specific to D614G-RBD were comparable in convalescent groups with and without PCC in both males and females. Notably, in females with PCC, the anti-D614G RBD specific double negative (IgD-CD27-) B cells showed significant correlation with the number of symptoms at acute of infection. Anti-spike antibody responses were also higher at 3 months post-infection in females who developed PCC, but not in the male PCC group. On the other hand, the male PCC group also showed consistently high anti-RBD IgG responses compared to all other groups.ConclusionsThe antibody responses to the spike protein, but not the anti-RBD B cell responses diverge between convalescent males and females who develop PCC. Our findings also suggest that sex-related factors may also be involved in the development of PCC via modulating antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 antigens