Genomic medicine and advances in vaccine technology and development in the developing and developed world

Vaccinations are one of the most effective public health measures available at present. Yet, a growing skepticism surrounding vaccinations is causing a lower vaccination rate than desirable. Furthermore, lack of vaccinations leads to a lack of infectious disease control and/or eradication. Vaccines must have low rates of side effects, have to be unexpensive, effective and widely disposable. The new technologies must be made available to quickly develop new vaccines for rapid spreading diseases. During the past decades, several ways have been used to inoculate vaccines: intramuscular, intranasal and oral. The skin too can represent a good site for vaccination, as reviewed in [3]. Moreover, a heavy progress has been made in vaccine development and technologies. In fact, vaccination strategies available at the moment are very different from the ones used in the past, both in terms of targets and techniques behind them

Recent Advances in Vaccine Technology and Design

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Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Diseases: Exploring the Role of Microbiota and Immunity

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in Western countries, thus representing a global health concern. CVDs show different patterns in terms of the prevalence and presentation in men and women. The role of sex hormones has been extensively implicated in these sex-specific differences, due to the presence of the menstrual cycle and menopause in women. Moreover, the gut microbiota (GM) has been implicated in cardiovascular health, considering the growing evidence that it is involved in determining the development of specific diseases. In particular, gut-derived metabolites have been linked to CVDs and kidney disorders, which can in turn promote the progression of CVDs. Considering the differences in the composition of GM between men and women, it is possible that gut microbiota act as a mediator in regard to the sex disparities in CVDs. This narrative review aims to comprehensively review the interplay between sex, GM, and CVDs, discussing potential mechanisms and therapeutic options

Advances in COVID-19 and Cancer Research

: The global health crisis caused by COVID-19 has radically changed the management of several diseases [...]

The Role of Notch Signaling and Gut Microbiota in Autoinflammatory Diseases: Mechanisms and Future Views

Notch signaling is an evolutionarily conserved, multifunctional pathway involved in cell fate determination and immune modulation and contributes to the pathogenesis of autoinflammatory diseases. Emerging evidence reveals a bidirectional interaction between Notch and the gut microbiota (GM), whereby GM composition is capable of modulating Notch signaling through the binding of microbial elements to Notch receptors, leading to immune modulation. Furthermore, Notch regulates the GM by promoting SCFA-producing bacteria while suppressing proinflammatory strains. Beneficial microbes, such as Lactobacillus and Akkermansia muciniphila, modulate Notch and reduce proinflammatory cytokine production (such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha). The interaction between GM and Notch can either amplify or attenuate inflammatory pathways in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), Beh & ccedil;et's disease, and PAPA syndrome. Together, these findings provide novel therapeutic perspectives for autoinflammatory diseases by targeting the GM via probiotics or inhibiting Notch signaling. This review focuses on Notch-GM crosstalk and how GM-based and/or Notch-targeted approaches may modulate immune responses and promote better clinical outcomes

The interplay between immunosenescence and microbiota in the efficacy of vaccines

Vaccinations are among the most effective medical procedures and have had an incredible impact on almost everyone’s life. One of the populations that can benefit the most from them are elderly people. Unfortunately, in this group, vaccines are less effective than in other groups, due to immunosenescence. The immune system ages like the whole body and becomes less effective in responding to infections and vaccinations. At the same time, immunosenescence also favors an inflammatory microenvironment, which is linked to many conditions typical of the geriatrics population. The microbiota is one of the key actors in modulating the immune response and, in this review, we discuss the current evidence on the role of microbiota in regulating the immune response to vaccines, particularly in elderly people

MIRA: a Multiphysics Approach to Designing a Fusion Power Plant

Fusion systems codes (SCs) are deployed to produce the baseline of the European fusion power reactor (DEMO) within its conceptual design. A DEMO baseline is mostly defined by a radial/vertical reactor sketch and major reactor parameters, such as fusion and net electric power, magnetic fields, and plasma burn time. A baseline shall also meet a set of prescribed reactor requirements, constraints, and architectural features. According to the conceptual design workflow implemented within the EU-DEMO programme, the output from the SC is transferred to the detailed physics and engineering design codes. Presently-available fusion SCs rely on rather basic physics and engineering models (mostly at zero or one-dimensional level). The design codes, instead, are very detailed but run on much longer computing times. To fill the gap between systems and design codes, the multi-fidelity systems/design tool modular integrated reactor analysis (MIRA)—has been recently developed. MIRA incorporates the physics and the engineering insights of the utmost domains of tokamak reactors and relies on a higher spatial resolution, spanning from 1D up to 3D modelling frames. The MIRA approach has been applied to the DEMO 2017 baseline, generated by the EU reference SC PROCESS and used as input to MIRA. In the paper, the architectural and mathematical insights of the MIRA package are described, along with an EU-DEMO 2017 baseline analysis

Microsurgical training on non-living models: a systematic literature review

Background Preclinical training in microsurgery usually proceeds through steps of increasing difficulty. Traditionally, advanced training is carried out on living animal models which best reproduce the clinical scenario, but recently, the increasing interest in animal rights has led to a greater development and spread of different non-living models for all steps of training.Methods The aim of this study was to identify, through a review of the literature, the inanimate models suitable for basic and intermediate/advanced training courses and to evaluate their pros and cons. The search was carried out exclusively through the PubMed database, with "microsurgery" or "supermicrosurgery" and ("training" or "non-living model") as keywords in the "title and/or abstract" fields. The filters used were: publication date (2010-2022) and species (other animals). The study was done following the PRISMA 2020 checklist criteria.Results A total number of 398 articles were initially screened. Following abstract review, 75 articles were selected, and 51 articles were chosen following full text review. Several non-living models are available for training on fine dissection and microsurgical technique. Among the non-animal models, food and synthetic materials (silicone tubes and latex gloves) were predominantly used. Among the non-living animals, the chicken was the most frequently used animal followed by the pig and the rat. Non-living animal mainly focus on vascular sutures on vessels of different vessels, including very small vessels for supermicrosurgery.Conclusions The results of this study have shown that many different non-living models are available not only for basic microsurgical training, but also for intermediate training. These models allow to improve microsurgical and supermicrosurgical skills, simultaneously reducing the use of living animals, according to the "3 R" principle. Their main limitation is that due to their characteristics, as tissue consistency and the absence of a pumping flow, they do not provide a realistic experience as that on living animals, which are still the reference for the final phases of microsurgical training. Level of evidence:Not ratable.Conclusions The results of this study have shown that many different non-living models are available not only for basic microsurgical training, but also for intermediate training. These models allow to improve microsurgical and supermicrosurgical skills, simultaneously reducing the use of living animals, according to the "3 R" principle. Their main limitation is that due to their characteristics, as tissue consistency and the absence of a pumping flow, they do not provide a realistic experience as that on living animals, which are still the reference for the final phases of microsurgical training. Level of evidence:Not ratable

Role of nutrients in modulating microbiota and immunity in COVID-19 disease

COVID-19 is a novel disease with a broad range of clinical patterns. Several patients show dysbiosis in the intestinal tract, with evidence of reduced beneficial bacteria, such as Bifidobacteria and Lactobacilli. It is well established that human gut microbiota dysbiosis is associated with several clinical conditions, including respiratory tract diseases due to the gut-lung axis. This narrative review discusses the role of nutrients in the relationship between the gut microbiota and the immune response in SARS-CoV-2 infection. In particular, we will focus on the benefits offered by vitamins and micronutrients on different aspects of COVID-19 disease while also discussing which diets seem to provide the most advantages