title: Inference Claims

text: A conclusion follows from given premisses if and only if an acceptable counterfactual-supporting covering generalization of the argument rules out, either definitively or with some modal qualification, simultaneous acceptability of the premisses and non-acceptability of the conclusion, even though it does not rule out acceptability of the premisses and does not require acceptability of the conclusion independently of the premisses. Hence the reiterative associated conditional of an argument is true if and only it has such a covering generalization, and a supposed unexpressed premiss supplied to make an argument formally valid should be a covering generalization.


title: Online Monitoring Technologies For Drinking Water Systems Security

text: More stringent constraints placed nowadays on water companies to provide high quality drinking water, increasing water resources scarcity in many areas of the planet, forcing water companies to work on marginal water bodies for supply, and the threat of hostile actions by political extremists and terrorist groups, that may willingly and deliberately cause contamination of an otherwise safe supply, are recent issues that have spurred demand for more efficient and comprehensive online water monitoring technologies. Traditionally, quality parameters associated with drinking water provision were monitored using routine grab samples followed by laboratory analysis. This approach only allowed to capture small data sets, mostly unrepresentative of the true variance at the source, and allowed potentially important events to occur undetected. This paper examines state-of-the-art technologies for online monitoring of water quality in supply water systems, and reports some recent application examples.


title: Genetic Models

text: Genetically altered rat and mouse models have been instrumental in the functional analysis of genes in a physiological context. In particular, studies on the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) have profited from this technology in the past. In this review, we summarize the existing animal models for the protective axis of the RAS consisting of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), angiotensin-(1-7)(Ang-(1-7), and its receptor Mas. With the help of models with altered expression of the components of this axis in the brain and cardiovascular organs, its physiological and pathophysiological functions have been elucidated. Thus, novel opportunities for therapeutic interventions in cardiovascular diseases were revealed targeting ACE2 or Mas.


title: Application of UPT-POCT in Public Health Emergencies

text: Rapid and reliable detection of infectious agents on site is essential for timely initiation of medical treatment and post-exposure prophylactic measures when public health emergencies occur. However, the referee standard for confirmation of infectious agents remains laboratory diagnosis, which is time-consuming and not available in the field. UPT-POCT technology is a versatile tool that requires limited resources and can realize rapid detection of infectious agents on site, providing timely information for the quick response to public health emergencies.


title: Management of Gram-Positive Bacterial Disease: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcal, Pneumococcal and Enterococcal Infections

text: Gram-positive bacteria are a diverse group of organisms that are a major source of morbidity and mortality in patients with cancer. The increasing use of long-term indwelling central catheters and cytotoxic chemotherapies has contributed to the emergence of Gram-positive bacteria as the leading cause of bacteremia in cancer patients. These organisms are also among the foremost causes of pneumonia, skin and soft-tissue infections, osteomyelitis, and central nervous system infections in cancer patients. Gram-positive organisms have a remarkable ability to develop resistance to many of the currently available antimicrobials, but the predilection to become antimicrobial resistant varies substantially for particular organisms and for individual antimicrobial agents. Therefore physicians treating cancer patients need to be familiar with the common clinical manifestations, complications, and treatment options for a wide variety of diseases caused by Gram-positive bacteria.


title: Bacterial Infections

text: Bacterial infections are the most significant infectious source of morbidity and mortality in cirrhotic patients. Bacteria infections result is both acute decompensation in chronic liver disease and mortality in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP), bacteremia, pneumonia, urinary tract infections (UTI) and skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) are the most significant sources of infection in cirrhosis. Bacterial infections can precipitate renal failure and worsening hepatic encephalopathy, and patients with sepsis and liver disease have higher rates of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and coagulopathy.


Schwindsucht


title: Evolution of HIV/AIDS Policy

text: The HIV/AIDS-related policy framework in China has come a long way from initially attempting to prevent HIV from entering the country in the early stages of the epidemic to facilitating comprehensive national HIV response of today. Each step of the way, policymakers in China have strived to ensure that HIV-related policies were pragmatic, tailored to the Chinese context, aligned with international best practices, and based upon the best available information at the time. Although there have been a great many policy actions since HIV was first discovered on the mainland, a few key policies were foundational, had a major impact on the epidemic, and marked an important shift China’s HIV response, for example, the Blood Donation Law (1998), the first Five-Year Action Plan for the Containment and Control of HIV/AIDS (2001), and the “Four Frees and One Care” policy (2003). These and other key policies are highlighted here. Going forward, as China’s HIV epidemic increases in size and complexity, policymakers need to remain grounded in evidence but also be open to alternative and innovative approaches.


title: Market Area Delineation for Airports to Predict the Spread of Infectious Disease

text: Air travel facilitates the international spread of infectious disease. While global air travel data represent the volume of travel between airports, identifying which airport an infected individual might use, or where a disease might spread after an infected passenger deplanes, remains a largely unexplored area of research and public health practice. This gap can be addressed by estimating airport catchment areas. This research aims to determine how existing market area delineation techniques estimate airport catchments differently, and which techniques are best suited to anticipate where infectious diseases may spread. Multiple techniques were tested for airports in the Province of Ontario, Canada: circular buffers, drive-time buffers, Thiessen polygons, and the Huff model, with multiple variations tested for some techniques. The results were compared qualitatively and quantitatively based on spatial patterns as well as area and population of each catchment area. There were notable differences, specifically between deterministic and probabilistic approaches. Deterministic techniques may only be suitable if all airports in a study area are similar in terms of attractiveness. The probabilistic Huff model appeared to produce more realistic results because it accounted for variation in airport attractiveness. Additionally, the Huff model requires few inputs and therefore would be efficient to execute in situations where time, resources, and data are limited.


Endemic mycosis


Molecular Virology of Enteric Viruses (with Emphasis on Caliciviruses)


title: Spezielle Therapieformen

text: Jede Sauerstoffgabe, die länger als 15 h/Tag über mehr als 3 Monate indiziert ist, bezeichnet man als Langzeitsauerstofftherapie (»long term oxygen therapy«, LTOT).


title: Therapeutic and Medicinal Uses of Terpenes

text: Terpenes, also known as terpenoids are the largest and most diverse group of naturally occurring compounds. Based on the number of isoprene units they have, they are classified as mono, di, tri, tetra, and sesquiterpenes. They are mostly found in plants and form the major constituent of essential oils from plants. Among the natural products that provide medical benefits for an organism, terpenes play a major and variety of roles. The common plant sources of terpenes are tea, thyme, cannabis, Spanish sage, and citrus fruits (e.g., lemon, orange, mandarin). Terpenes have a wide range of medicinal uses among which antiplasmodial activity is notable as its mechanism of action is similar to the popular antimalarial drug in use—chloroquine. Monoterpenes specifically are widely studied for their antiviral property. With growing incidents of cancer and diabetes in modern world, terpenes also have the potential to serve as anticancer and antidiabetic reagents. Along with these properties, terpenes also allow for flexibility in route of administration and suppression of side effects. Certain terpenes were widely used in natural folk medicine. One such terpene is curcumin which holds anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, antiseptic, antiplasmodial, astringent, digestive, diuretic, and many other properties. Curcumin has also become a recent trend in healthy foods and open doors for several medical researches. This chapter summarizes the various terpenes, their sources, medicinal properties, mechanism of action, and the recent studies that are underway for designing terpenes as a lead molecule in the modern medicine.


title: Mining Candidate Viruses as Potential Bio-terrorism Weapons from Biomedical Literature

text: In this paper we present a semantic-based data mining approach to identify candidate viruses as potential bio-terrorism weapons from biomedical literature. We first identify all the possible properties of viruses as search key words based on Geissler’s 13 criteria; the identified properties are then defined using MeSH terms. Then, we assign each property an importance weight based on domain experts’ judgment. After generating all the possible valid combinations of the properties, we search the biomedical literature, retrieving all the relevant documents. Next our method extracts virus names from the downloaded documents for each search keyword and identifies the novel connection of the virus according to these 4 properties. If a virus is found in the different document sets obtained by several search keywords, the virus should be considered as suspicious and treated as candidate viruses for bio-terrorism. Our findings are intended as a guide to the virus literature to support further studies that might then lead to appropriate defense and public health measures.


docid: aszujntz

title: The Clinical Application of Ozonetherapy


title: Viral RNA Targets and Their Small Molecule Ligands

text: RNA genomes and transcripts of viruses contain conserved structured motifs which are attractive targets for small molecule inhibitors of viral replication. Ligand binding affects conformational states, stability, and interactions of these viral RNA targets which play key roles in the infection process. Inhibition of viral RNA function by small molecule ligands has been extensively studied for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) which provide valuable insight for the future exploration of RNA targets in other viral pathogens including severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS CoV), influenza A, and insect-borne flaviviruses (Dengue, Zika, and West Nile) as well as filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg). Here, I will review recent progress on the discovery and design of small molecule ligands targeting structured viral RNA motifs.


title: Respiratory Viral Infections in Transplant Recipients

text: Respiratory viral infections (RVIs) are common among the general population; however, these often mild viral illnesses can lead to serious morbidity and mortality among recipients of hematopoietic stem cell and solid organ transplantation. The disease spectrum ranges from asymptomatic or mild infections to life-threatening lower respiratory tract infection or long-term airflow obstruction syndromes. Progression to lower respiratory tract infection or to respiratory failure is determined by the intrinsic virulence of the specific viral pathogen as well as various host factors, including the type of transplantation, status of the host’s immune dysfunction, the underlying disease, and other comorbidities. This chapter focuses on the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and management of RVIs in this susceptible population and includes respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, human metapneumovirus, influenza virus, human coronavirus, and human rhinovirus. The optimal management of these infections is limited by the overall paucity of available treatment, highlighting the need for new antiviral drug or immunotherapies.


title: Hemorrhage and Transfusions in the Surgical Patient

text: Hemorrhage remains the leading cause of intra-operative deaths and those in the first 24 h. Many cardiovascular and hepatobiliary procedures result in massive hemorrhage and postpartum hemorrhage events in labor and delivery place the patient at a high risk for mortality. Both upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding (e.g., diverticulosis, esophageal and gastric varices, and peptic ulcer disease) can also result in significant blood loss requiring massive transfusion and resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock. Therefore, safe, timely, and effective transfusion of blood products is critical. The aim of this chapter is to provide clinicians with a discussion of the current literature on the various blood component products, their indications, and unique hemostatic conditions in the surgical patient. While the majority of data concerning optimal management of acquired coagulopathy and hemorrhagic shock resuscitation is based on trauma patients, many of the principles can and should be applied to the surgical patient (or likely any patient) with profound hemorrhage.


docid: yilablvi

title: Immunoinformatics and Computational Vaccinology: A Brief Introduction

text: Immunoinformatics has recently emerged as a buoyant and dynamic sub-discipline within the wider field of bioinformatics. Immunoinformatics is the application of bioinformatic methods to the unique problems of immunology and vaccinology. Immunoinformatics, as a principal component of incipient immunomic technologies, is beginning to foment important changes within immunology, as this key discipline tries to free itself from the empirical straight jacket that has characterised its development and attempts to grapple with the post-genomic revolution. Immunoinformatics is, importantly, also beginning to establish itself as a pivotal tool within vaccine discovery.


Allergic Diseases (and Differential Diagnoses)


title: Diagnostic Techniques

text: The chapter describes diagnostic techniques adapted by avian veterinarians encompassing the procedure, pros and cons of anamnesis, physical examination, collection and processing of clinical specimens, laboratory examination, radiography, USG, CT, MRI, myelography, echocardiography, electrocardiography and endoscopy.


title: Land Use Change and Human Health

text: Human activity is rapidly transforming our planet. The most pervasive changes to the landscape include deforestation, extension and intensification of agriculture, and livestock management, the construction of dams, irrigation projects, and roads, and rapidly spreading urbanization. In addition to the well-known environmental costs of these changes, each also has important health implications that are often less recognized. However, a growing number of studies that combine ecology and human health are demonstrating how these activities impact the emergence of new infectious diseases and alter the distribution of already recognized diseases.


title: Opportunistic Infections

text: Evolution in paediatric HIV management has changed the incidence and prevalence of opportunistic infections and a major reduction has been shown for most opportunistic infections with antiretroviral therapy use in lower and middle-income countries, especially in the first year of treatment. However, the high prevalence of disease still requires adequate management of opportunistic infections, to improve patient quality of life and the impact on burden of disease. Lower CD4 counts were associated with chronic infection and increased risk of opportunistic infections in patients, but some studies have shown that even children with high CD4 counts may have opportunistic infections. This chapter reviews common opportunistic infections that may infect HIV positive children and adolescents, particularly in sub Saharan Africa.


title: Noninvasive Mechanical Ventilation in Patients with Acute Respiratory Failure Due to Pandemic Influenza A(H1N1) Virus

text: Pandemic influenza A (PA-H1N1) is a new strain of influenza virus that was first identified in Mexico and United States during the early part of 2009. The PA-H1N1 virus originated from the swine influenza (H1) virus circulating in North American pigs.


title: Tropische ziekten

text: Aet. De verwekker is het retrovirus hiv(1). In West-Afrika is ook hiv(2) geïsoleerd. Freq. Aids komt thans overal ter wereld voor maar er zijn belangrijke regionale verschillen. Aids in de tropen onderscheidt zich van aids elders in de wereld onder meer door verschillende epidemiologische en klinische karakteristieken. De meeste van de nieuwe aidsgevallen doen zich momenteel voor in Sub-Sahara-Afrika, India en Zuidoost-Azië. Ook in Latijns-Amerika neemt de incidentie toe. Sub-Sahara-Afrika is thans de meest getroffen regio ter wereld. Meer dan 70% van het totale geschatte aantal aidsgevallen (sinds het begin van de aidsepidemie) doet zich voor in Afrika. Daar kan in endemische gebieden 30% en meer van de jonge mannen en vrouwen geïnfecteerd zijn, met hogere frequentie bij prostitué(e)s, hun cliënten en bij patiënten met tuberculose. Er zijn belangrijke verschillen tussen stad (hogere frequentie) en platteland. De verhouding man: vrouw is 1:1. De transmissie vindt bij 80% plaats door heteroseksueel contact, daarnaast door parenterale besmetting (bloedtransfusie, besmette spuiten en naalden) en ‘verticaal’ van hiv-positieve moeders naar 25-30% van de pasgeborenen, ook via borstvoeding.


title: Informatics for Infectious Disease Research and Control

text: The goal of infectious disease informatics is to optimize the clinical and public health management of infectious diseases through improvements in the development and use of antimicrobials, the design of more effective vaccines, the identification of biomarkers for life-threatening infections, a better understanding of host-pathogen interactions, and biosurveillance and clinical decision support. Infectious disease informatics can lead to more targeted and effective approaches for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infections through a comprehensive review of the genetic repertoire and metabolic profiles of a pathogen. The developments in informatics have been critical in boosting the translational science and in supporting both reductionist and integrative research paradigms.


title: Astrovirology, Astrobiology, Artificial Intelligence: Extra-Solar System Investigations

text: This chapter attempts to encompass and tackle a large problem in Astrovirology and Astrobiology. There is a huge anthropomorphic prejudice that although life is unlikely, the just-right Goldilocks terrestrial conditions mean that the just-right balance of minerals and basic small molecules inevitably result in life as we know it throughout our solar system, galaxy, and the rest of the universe. Moreover, when such conditions on planets such as ours may not be quite right for the origin of life, it is popularly opined that asteroids and comets magically produce life or at the very least, the important, if not crucial components of terrestrial life so that life then blooms, when their fragments cruise the solar system, stars, and galaxies, and plummet onto appropriately bedecked planets and moons. It is no longer extraordinary to detect extraterrestrial solar systems. Moreover, since extra-solar system space exploration has commenced, this provides the problem of detecting life with enhanced achievability. Small organisms, which replicate outside of a living cell or host, would not be catalogued as viruses. How about viruses that cohabit with life? On the Earth, viruses are a major, if underestimated, condition of life – will that be the case elsewhere? Detection of extra-solar system viruses, if they exist, requires finding life, since viruses necessitate life to replicate. (It should be noted, though, that viruses could be detected through various types of portable ultra-microscopes, including Electron Microscopes (EM) (scanning and transmission) as well as Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM).) However, extra-solar system detection of life does not oblige that viruses exist ubiquitously. Viruses are important potential components of biospheres because of their multiple interactions and influence on evolution, although viruses are small and obligatory parasitic. In addition, nanotechnology – living or replicating nano-synthetic machine organisms might also be present out there, and require consideration as well. An imposing caveat is that, if found, could some extraterrestrial viruses and synthetic nanotechnological microorganisms infect humans? Possibly, intelligence and cognition may at times be contemporaneous with life. Concomitantly, life and viruses that may be detected, could well be impacted upon by intelligences existing on such exoplanets (and vice versa). Coming to an understanding of the plurality of extraterrestrial intelligence is an optimal objective, in order to avoid causing harm on exoplanets, as well as avoiding conflict and possible human devastation. This is especially the case if we encounter greatly advanced galactic-level civilizations, compared to terrestrial civilizations. Their machine and bionic technologies on the Dyson engineering civilization scale may be prominently superior to ours; their biological expertise may be similarly critically radical. For example, they may use viruses for purposes for which we are barely aware, and which could be utterly deadly for humans. A series of steps is being taken in space exploration. Scientists hypothesize and claim that types of life may be near the Earth, in the solar system, and outside the solar system, similar to ours in the sense that only such conditions, Goldilocks conditions, are key sine qua non requirements, based on our terrestrial chemistry and biochemistry. If detected within the solar system, will life or its remnants resemble terrestrial life? Outside the solar system a similar chauvinism exists, although the likelihood for life, in any event, remains probably low, according to more cautious approaches to the problem. The study of our solar system includes planets, asteroids, comets, and other planetesimals that have been in overall contiguity during several billion years; anthropomorphisms claims life consequently has been developing along terrestrial-type mechanisms. However, a non-anthropomorphic view would surmise, probably not, especially for extra-solar system locales. The prime warning and admonition in all these deliberations is the contamination and damage, which current and past practice and procedures has caused and continues, due to insufficient biocontainment concepts and technology to date. Advances in the development of robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and high capacity ultrafast quantum computers (QC) greatly enhance the sophisticated control and logical development of extra-solar system studies. Consequently, future long-range manned space exploration seems unwarranted. Clearly, reduced dangers to human health and safety, will result from the use of intelligent machine-based investigations and besides, with increased cost-effectiveness. Space exploration comes at great cost to humanity as a whole and utilizes global resources. Consequently, appropriate organizational measures and planning/cooperation need to be in place. Moreover, the bottom line is that despite all the slogans and claims, there have been next to no financial benefits to our planet as a whole. Such financial and heedless difficulties need to be addressed, the sooner the better. In addition, prior to exposure to exoplanetary life, deep understanding of the problems of infectious diseases and immune dysfunction risks are needed. In addition, global efforts should avoid serendipity and stochasticity as this work should be directed with long-term organization, commitment, scientific, and technological methodology. This chapter briefly reviews such questions assuming a new paradigm for oversight of extrasolar system viral investigations including intelligence and life. Finances are included as an essential adjunct.


docid: gskcaawt

title: Host Factors Promoting Viral RNA Replication

text: Plus-stranded RNA viruses, the largest group among eukaryotic viruses, are capable of reprogramming host cells by subverting host proteins and membranes, by co-opting and modulating protein and ribonucleoprotein complexes, and by altering cellular pathways during infection. To achieve robust replication, plus-stranded RNA viruses interact with numerous cellular molecules via protein–protein, RNA–protein, and protein–lipid interactions using molecular mimicry and other means. These interactions lead to the transformation of the host cells into viral “factories" that can produce 10,000–1,000,000 progeny RNAs per infected cell. This chapter presents the progress that was made largely in the last 15 years in understanding virus–host interactions during RNA virus replication. The most commonly employed approaches to identify host factors that affect plus-stranded RNA virus replication are described. In addition, we discuss many of the identified host factors and their proposed roles in RNA virus replication. Altogether, host factors are key determinants of the host range of a given virus and affect virus pathology, host–virus interactions, as well as virus evolution. Studies on host factors also contribute insights into their normal cellular functions, thus promoting understanding of the basic biology of the host cell. The knowledge obtained in this fast-progressing area will likely stimulate the development of new antiviral methods as well as novel strategies that could make plus-stranded RNA viruses useful in bio- and nanotechnology.


title: Engineered Viruses as Vaccine Platforms

text: Many viruses have been investigated for the development of genetic vaccines and the ideal ones must be endowed with many properties, such as the quality and the quantity of the immunological response induced against the encoded antigens, safety and production on a large scale basis. Viral based vaccines must also deal with the potential problem of the pre-existing antivector immunity. Several viral vaccine vectors have emerged to date, all of them having relative advantages and limits depending on the proposed application. Recent successes reflect diverse improvements such as development of new adenovirus serotypes and prime-boost regimes. This chapter describes the features of four viral vector systems based on poxviruses, adenoviruses, alphaviruses and lentiviruses and recent results following their use with a particular emphasis on clinical research, highlighting the challenges and successes.


Who Cares About Wildlife?


title: Food as a New Human and Livelihood Security Challenge

text: As a result of a process of “regressive globalization” (Kaldor/Anheier/Glasius 2003; Oswald 2008b) and of an increasing concentration of wealth in few hands, the economic gap has widened between North and South and within the countries between rich and poor, which has often affected the survival of social groups.


title: Identification of Candidate Vaccine Antigens In Silico

text: The identification of immunogenic whole-protein antigens is fundamental to the successful discovery of candidate subunit vaccines and their rapid, effective, and efficient transformation into clinically useful, commercially successful vaccine formulations. In the wider context of the experimental discovery of vaccine antigens, with particular reference to reverse vaccinology, this chapter adumbrates the principal computational approaches currently deployed in the hunt for novel antigens: genome-level prediction of antigens, antigen identification through the use of protein sequence alignment-based approaches, antigen detection through the use of subcellular location prediction, and the use of alignment-independent approaches to antigen discovery. Reference is also made to the recent emergence of various expert systems for protein antigen identification.


title: Bead-Based Suspension Arrays for the Detection and Identification of Respiratory Viruses

text: The clinical signs and symptoms associated with many infectious diseases are often too nonspecific to discriminate between causative agents, and thus, definitive diagnosis requires specific laboratory tests for all of the suspected pathogens. In particular, respiratory tract infections can be caused by numerous different viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens that are indistinguishable by clinical diagnosis. Respiratory tract infections are also among the most common infections in humans, with approximately 6−9 episodes per year in children and 2−4 episodes per year in adults [1]. These infections cause considerable morbidity and mortality as well as high healthcare costs associated with doctor visits, hospitalizations, treatment, and absences from work and school. Early diagnosis of the etiological agent in a respiratory infection permits effective antimicrobial therapy and appropriate management of the disease.


title: Epiglottitis, Acute Laryngitis, and Croup

text: Epiglottitis, acute laryngitis, and croup (acute laryngotracheobronchitis) are infections of the upper airway, affecting the epiglottis, larynx, and larynx and trachea, respectively. Epiglottitis is a bacterial infection, while viruses cause nearly all cases of acute laryngitis and croup. Acute laryngitis in adults is usually self-limited. Epiglottitis, which used to be prevalent in children under age 5, is now seen more often in adults than in children. This decline in childhood epiglottitis is due to the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine. Streptococci, including Streptococcus pneumoniae, are now important causes of epiglottitis. Croup is a viral infection, usually due to parainfluenza virus, that primarily affects children ages 6 months to 3 years old. Epiglottitis and croup can cause life-threatening loss of the airway, and misdiagnosis or mismanagement can result in fatalities. This chapter reviews the clinical features and treatment of these three upper respiratory tract infections.


docid: dlfdhgaf

title: White Paper on Risk Governance: Toward an Integrative Framework

text: This document aims to guide the work of the International Risk Governance Council and its various bodies in devising comprehensive and transparent approaches to ‘govern’ a variety of globally relevant risks. Globally relevant risks include trans-boundary risks, i.e. those that originate in one country and affect other countries (such as air pollution), international risks, i.e. those that originate in many countries simultaneously and lead to global impacts (such as carbon dioxide emissions for climate change) and ubiquitous risks, i.e. those that occur in each country in similar forms and may necessitate a co-ordinated international response (such as car accidents or airline safety). To this end the document and the framework it describes provide a common analytic structure for investigating and supporting the treatment of risk issues by the relevant actors in society. In doing so, the focus is not restricted to how governmental or supranational authorities deal with risk but equal importance is given to the roles of the corporate sector, science, other stakeholders as well as civil society — and their interplay. The analytic structure will, it is hoped, facilitate terminological and conceptual clarity, consistency and transparency in the daily operations of IRGC and assure the feasibility of comparative approaches in the governance of risks across a broad range of hazardous events and activities. In particular, this document is meant to assist members of IRGC in their tasks to provide scientifically sound, economically feasible, legally and ethically justifiable and politically acceptable advice to IRGC's targeted audiences. It is also to support IRGC in its effort to combine the best available expertise in the respective field with practical guidance for both risk managers and stakeholders.


title: Infectieziekten

text: Aan het eind van dit hoofdstuk weet je: welke verschillende ziekteverwekkers infectieziekten kunnen veroorzaken; welke geneesmiddelen worden gebruikt bij de behandeling van infectieziekten; welk gevolg onoordeelkundig gebruik van deze geneesmiddelen kan hebben; welke gebruiksadviezen je moet geven bij de verschillende middelen tegen infectieziekten.


Nederlands-Engels


title: Healthcare Emergencies in Africa: The Case of Ebola in Nigeria

text: The Ebola crisis in Africa presented a case study in both hope and despair. There were severe casualties in the weak and unprepared system of Liberia and Sierra Leone, but hope for a developing system in Nigeria, which managed to prevent a mass outbreak. This chapter takes a closer look at the Ebola crisis of 2014 in Africa and examines Nigeria as a model of political will and voluntary preparedness to tackle this national and continental health emergency. This chapter looks at risk and crisis communication in particular, and explores the concepts of ethics in the case of the Ebola outbreak.


title: Analysis of Microorganisms in Hospital Environments and Potential Risks

text: This report provides information on indoor air quality and on associated potential risks in hospitals. Spread and persistence of microbial communities in hospital environments are of huge interest to public health. Hospitals are characterized by high infective risk, firstly cause of the compromised immunologic conditions of the patients that make them vulnerable to bacterial, viral, parasitological and fungal opportunistic infections. Evidence suggests that microbial agents spread through air, surfaces, aerosol and hands. If surfaces may act as a reservoir for some pathogens, hands are an important transmission route. Airborne and aerosolized waterborne microorganisms are taken into consideration, and their presence into the hospital environments is reviewed.


title: Diffusion in Dynamic Social Networks: Application in Epidemiology

text: Structure and evolution of networks have been areas of growing interest in recent years, especially with the emergence of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and its application in numerous fields. Researches on diffusion are focusing on network modeling for studying spreading phenomena. While the impact of network properties on spreading is now widely studied, involvement of network dynamicity is very little known. In this paper, we address the epidemiology context and study the consequences of network evolutions on spread of diseases. Experiments are conducted by comparing incidence curves obtained by evolution strategies applied on two generated and two real networks. Results are then analyzed by investigating network properties and discussed in order to explain how network evolution influences the spread. We present the MIDEN framework, an approach to measure impact of basic changes in network structure, and DynSpread, a 2D simulation tool designed to replay infections scenarios on evolving networks.


title: The Role of Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase-Akt Signaling in Virus Infection

text: Successful virus infection of host cells requires efficient viral replication, production of virus progeny and spread of newly synthesized virus particles. This success, however also depends on the evasion of a multitude of antiviral signaling mechanisms. Many viruses are capable of averting antiviral signals through modulation of host cell signaling pathways. Apoptotic inhibition, for example, is a universal intracellular antiviral response, which prolongs cellular survival and allows viruses to complete their life cycle. Ongoing apoptotic inhibition contributes to the establishment of latent and chronic infections, and has been implicated in viral oncogenesis. The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt pathway has become recognized as being pivotal to the inhibition of apoptosis and cellular survival. Thus, modulation of this pathway provides viruses with a mechanism whereby they can increase their survival, in addition to other established mechanisms such as expression of viral onco-genes and direct inhibition of proapoptotic proteins. Recent research has revealed that this pathway is up-regulated by a number of viruses during both short-term acute infections and long-term latent or chronic infections. During acute infections PI3K-Akt signaling helps to create an environment favorable for virus replication and virion assembly. In the case of long-term infections, modulation of PI3K-Akt signaling by specific viral products is believed to help create a favorable environment for virus persistence, and contribute to virus-mediated cellular transformation.


title: The Epidemiology of Alcohol Abuse and Pneumonia

text: The association between alcohol abuse and pneumonia has been recognized for more than two centuries and represents an enormous health burden worldwide. The first published notation of alcohol as a clinical risk factor for the development of pneumonia is now over 200 years old, and since then there have been over a 1,000 references in the medical literature confirming these observations. Even in this modern era of medicine pneumonia remains a common infection that afflicts over 450 million persons worldwide annually and causes 7 % of all deaths. When one considers that alcohol is the most commonly abused substance in the world, the enormous excessive burden that alcohol contributes to the morbidity and mortality of pneumonia represents a major public health consideration. In this chapter we review the foundational literature that has chronicled the evolution of our understanding of the association between pneumonia and alcohol abuse over the past century. In addition, we discuss some of the specific pathogens that are particularly associated with serious lung infections in individuals with alcohol use disorders. Finally, we consider some of the specific guidelines for the treatment and prevention of pneumonia in the setting of alcohol abuse.


docid: fegzawne

title: Schweinefinnenbandwurm


title: Pneumonia in the Cancer Patient

text: Lower respiratory tract infections result in unacceptably high mortality among cancer patients. Pneumonias cause death in this population both directly through impairment of gas exchange and progression to system infection/sepsis, as well as indirectly by precluding delivery of necessary, antineoplastic therapies. Malignancy and treatment-related impairments of host immune responses and the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms associated with recurrent exposures to hospital environments may not only enhance the risks of mortality, but also exacerbate the difficulty of diagnosing pneumonia in the cancer setting. As a consequence of disordered inflammatory responses, the typical clinical observations of pneumonia, including purulent respiratory secretions and early radiographic findings, may be inapparent or absent. A comprehensive review of etiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management of pulmonary infections is presented in this chapter.


title: Sewage Disposal and Wildlife Health in Antarctica

text: Sewage and its microbiology, treatment and disposal are important to the topic of Antarctic wildlife health because disposal of untreated sewage effluent into the Antarctic marine environment is both allowed and commonplace. Human sewage contains enteric bacteria as normal flora, and has the potential to contain parasites, bacteria and viruses which may prove pathogenic to Antarctic wildlife. Treatment can reduce levels of micro-organisms in sewage effluent, but is not a requirement of the Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol). In contrast, the deliberate release of non-native organisms for any other reason is prohibited. Hence, disposal of sewage effluent to the marine environment is the only activity routinely undertaken in Antarctica knowing that it will likely result in the release of large numbers of potentially non-native species. When the Madrid Protocol was negotiated, the decision to allow release of untreated sewage effluent was considered the only pragmatic option, as a prohibition would have been costly, and may not have been achievable by many Antarctic operators. In addition, at that time the potential for transmission of pathogens to wildlife from sewage was not emphasised as a significant potential risk. Since then, the transmission of disease-causing agents between species is more widely recognised and it is now timely to consider the risks of continued discharge of sewage effluent in Antarctica and whether there are practical alternatives.


title: Whole-Genome Sequencing of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus by Illumina MiSeq Platform

text: Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) belongs to the genus Alphacoronavirus of the family Coronaviridae. PEDV was identified as an emerging pathogen in US pig populations in 2013. Since then, this virus has been detected in at least 31 states in the USA and has caused significant economic loss to the swine industry. Active surveillance and characterization of PEDV are essential for monitoring the virus. Obtaining comprehensive information about the PEDV genome can improve our understanding of the evolution of PEDV viruses, and the emergence of new strains, and can enhance vaccine designs. In this chapter, both a targeted amplification method and a random-priming method are described to amplify the complete genome of PEDV for sequencing using the MiSeq platform. Overall, this protocol provides a useful two-pronged approach to complete whole-genome sequences of PEDV depending on the amount of virus in the clinical samples.


title: Reducing Spreading Processes on Networks to Markov Population Models

text: Stochastic processes on complex networks, where each node is in one of several compartments, and neighboring nodes interact with each other, can be used to describe a variety of real-world spreading phenomena. However, computational analysis of such processes is hindered by the enormous size of their underlying state space. In this work, we demonstrate that lumping can be used to reduce any epidemic model to a Markov Population Model (MPM). Therefore, we propose a novel lumping scheme based on a partitioning of the nodes. By imposing different types of counting abstractions, we obtain coarse-grained Markov models with a natural MPM representation that approximate the original systems. This makes it possible to transfer the rich pool of approximation techniques developed for MPMs to the computational analysis of complex networks’ dynamics. We present numerical examples to investigate the relationship between the accuracy of the MPMs, the size of the lumped state space, and the type of counting abstraction.


title: Laboratories

text: Patient test samples are taken and examined at outpatient clinics, in bed posts and at policlinic consultations and treatment units. They are collected and transported to central laboratories or examined by smaller laboratory units, adapted to the patient group. Samples are sent in pipes or transported by defined methods to the laboratory. A large number of samples are also sent to other hospitals, laboratories or diverse private laboratories. The following chapter is focused on laboratory safety for patients and personnel to avoid spread of infections between patients, personnel and environment.


DATA, DATA, AND MORE DATA


title: Interstitial Lung Disease in Infants and Children: New Classification System with Emphasis on Clinical, Imaging, and Pathological Correlation

text: Interstitial lung diseases in infants and children comprise a rare heterogeneous group of parenchymal lung disorders, with clinical syndromes characterized by dyspnea, tachypnea, crackles, and hypoxemia. They arise from a wide spectrum of developmental, genetic, inflammatory, infectious, and reactive disorders. In the past, there has been a paucity of information and limited understanding regarding their pathogenesis, natural history, imaging findings, and histopathologic features, which often resulted in enormous diagnostic challenges and confusion. In recent years, there has been a substantial improvement in the understanding of interstitial lung disease in the pediatric patient, due to the development of a structured classification system based on etiology of the lung disease, established pathologic criteria for consistent diagnosis, and improvement of thoracoscopic techniques for lung biopsy. Imaging plays an important role in evaluating interstitial lung diseases in infants and children by confirming and characterizing the disorder, generating differential diagnoses, and providing localization for lung biopsy for pathological diagnosis. In this chapter, the authors present epidemiology, challenges and uncertainties of diagnosis, and amplify a recently developed classification system for interstitial lung disease in infants and children with clinical, imaging, and pathological correlation.


docid: pyviqifd

title: Care of the Postoperative Pulmonary Resection Patient

text: Patients undergoing pulmonary resection all exhibit, to some degree, a level of pulmonary dysfunction. This is due to the physiologic stress of the procedure performed, the patient’s comorbidities, and preexisting cardiopulmonary reserve. Although prognostic factors for intensive care requirement exist, to date, there is no consensus for postoperative admission. Institutional practices vary across the country, with patients often admitted to intensive care for surveillance. Guidelines published from the American Thoracic Society in 1999 emphasize that admission to the ICU be reserved for those patients requiring care and monitoring for severe physiologic instability. Admissions following pulmonary resection are typically due to respiratory complications and are an independent predictor of mortality. The following chapter will review the indications for admission to the ICU and common issues encountered following pulmonary resection and conclude with a discussion of the management of patients undergoing pulmonary transplantation.


title: Infections in the Long-Term Care Setting

text: In the long-term care setting The diagnosis of infection is primarily based from the clinical assessment. Infection is a common cause of fever, when present, and acute change in functional status. Infection can often present atypically; usual symptoms, physical findings, and diagnostic abnormalities may be lacking. Evaluation of fever and suspected infection should initially focus on the most common clinical syndromes. Treatment should initially focus on the most common organisms that are present at the most likely suspect site of infection.


title: Virus Evolution in the Face of the Host Response

text: Microbial infections are highly dynamic. Viruses have evolved two main strategies against the host response: interaction or evasion. Interaction is typical of complex DNA viruses. Their genomes encode a number of proteins that exert modulatory functions that alter the immune response of the host. Evasion strategy is used mainly by RNA viruses, and is based on high mutation rates and quasispecies dynamics. The complexity of viral populations demands research on new antiviral strategies that take into consideration the adaptive potential of viruses, in particular RNA viruses.


title: Learning About Nature of Science Through Listening to Scientists’ Stories of Scientific Enquiry

text: This chapter first reviews a series of curricular reforms of science education in Hong Kong that started at the turn of the 21st Century. It moves on to share the decade of efforts in promoting teachers’ learning and their subsequent teaching of the nature of science (NOS). Among these efforts, two teacher professional development programmes received overwhelmingly positive views from teachers in terms of developing their understanding about NOS and scientists. Both programmes provided teachers with special encounters with world-renowned local scientists.


title: Airway Pathology in Lung Transplants

text: The histologic diagnosis of lung transplant rejection is based on the assessment of perivascular mononuclear cell inflammation, airway inflammation and fibrosis, and vasculopathic changes. This chapter describes the pathologic features of acute and chronic rejection of the small airways (i.e., lymphocytic and obliterative bronchiolitis). As transbronchial lung biopsy is the mainstay for the assessment of rejection, a brief discussion of some of the limitations of this technique is provided from the pathologist’s perspective. Several important and common entities that can mimic airway rejection are described with practical guidance for distinguishing these potential confounders on transbronchial biopsy. The non-rejection findings that are discussed include the normal biopsy, nonspecific forms of chronic bronchiolitis, cytomegalovirus and pneumocystis pneumonia, bronchiolitis obliterans-organizing pneumonia, and aspiration pneumonia.


title: Venues of Counter-Hegemonic Visuality; Days of Contention

text: This chapter introduces and describes how, as the arguable center of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s protest culture and tradition, Hong Kong, and especially Hong Kong Island, contains a number of venues where demonstrations, rallies, and protests are prepared, deployed from, or held. The chapter, and the associated repertoire of images, begins the visual exploration of how the city has been visually re-imagined, transformed, and utilized by its subalterns to reproduce their aspirations and demands for greater democracy and social justice while subversively contesting and resisting hegemonic pressures to accept mainland Chinese cultural, economic, and political domination. The co-optation by anti-hegemonic Hongkongers of key cultural, economic, social, and political venues within the city during its many demonstrations, processions, rallies, and protests can be seen as visual resistance and as an effort to create a rich countervisuality by giving “voice to the visual.” Similarly, the conflation of special days (January 1st, May 4th, June 4th, July 1st, October 1st) with identifiable protests in Hong Kong—“Days of Contention”—suggest a similar impetus.


title: Targeting Oncoproteins for Molecular Cancer Therapy

text: Cancer and efforts to treat cancer are described in Ancient Egyptian documents dating back to 1600B.C. The first successful cancer treatments were arsenic-based therapies for leukemias, with the first reported application to cancer in the nineteenth century. However, nitrogen mustards are often accredited as the first modern chemotherapy. Originally intended as a chemical warfare agent in World War I, nitrogen mustard was stockpiled by several countries. During World War II, Axis bombers sunk a ship containing large quantities of nitrogen mustard and killed numerous Allied sailors. This observation birthed the hypothesis that nitrogen mustards might prevent the rapid division of cancer cells, one of the few properties of cancer understood at that time. Today, the hallmarks of cancer as recently redefined by Hanahan and Weinberg include several complex and connected cellular properties that allow for this phenotype: resistance to cell death, sustained angiogenesis, limitless ability to replicate, self-sufficiency in growth factor signaling, unresponsiveness to anti-growth factor signaling, genomic instability and mutation, deregulating cellular energetics, evading immune-mediated destruction, oncogenic inflammation, and invasiveness and metastasis. The identification and understanding of these hallmarks is a direct result of our molecular understanding of cancer that has surfaced relatively recently. Each of these hallmarks is determined by a host of molecules that together represent distinct therapeutic opportunities to target molecules that give rise to these defining properties of cancer.


title: Health Care Workers’ Obligations in CBRNE Crises

text: Health care workers (HCWs) often suffer the brunt of injuries during chemical, biological radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) events. Throughout history, those caring for the injured, dying and dead put themselves at risk of harm, infection or contamination. Recent events include the 2014–2016 infectious outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa and the targeting of health facilities in the conflict in Syria. Decisions by HCWs to care for others in the face of such risks have been lauded as heroic whether undertaken for personal moral reasons or in response to an ethical duty to care. However, some have questioned whether such a duty to care is ethically obligatory in the face of some CBRNE events. Ethical analysis of the SARS outbreak found that additional ethical reflection was needed on HCWs’ obligations during CBRNE events. The ethical arguments used to justify the duty to care are reviewed in this chapter. However, other duties exist for HCWs which may conflict with the duty to care. The World Health Organization’s guidance on ethics in pandemics notes that the duty to provide care in pandemics is not unlimited, and that employers and governments have reciprocal obligations to provide training and protective equipment to HCWs during CBRNE. Empirical research raises questions about whether health care organisations are adequately prepared for CBRNE, particularly for the ethical decision-making that will be required. Rather than taking a regulatory or legal approach to this issue, this chapter will argue that the ethical virtues of courage and volunteerism should be fostered in HCW training. In keeping with a virtue ethics approach, leadership takes on an important role in ethical decision-making, as well as praising those who respond to CBRNE by caring for others in spite of the personal risks and their conflicting obligations.


title: Respiratory Tract Infections: Sinusitis, Bronchitis, and Pneumonia

text: Solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients are at increased risk of upper and lower respiratory tract infections. While these infections are frequently encountered in the general population, the spectrum of their clinical presentation including morbidity and mortality is increased in patients undergoing transplantation procedures. Impaired innate and adaptive immunity, potential anatomical abnormalities resulting from extensive surgical procedures, presences of indwelling medical devices, and increased healthcare exposure put transplant recipients at particularly high risk for respiratory tract disease. Infections of the respiratory tract can be divided into those affecting the paranasal sinuses, the upper airways such as bronchitis and tracheobronchitis, and the lower airways like pneumonia. Each of these clinical syndromes can further be classified based on their chronicity, acute vs. chronic; their setting, community vs. nosocomial; and the etiology such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and rarely parasites. It is also important to realize that such immunologically vulnerable patients are at risk for polymicrobial infection that may present concurrently or in a sequential, consecutive fashion. This chapter reviews the common respiratory tract infections affecting transplant recipients with particular attention directed toward epidemiological risk factors, clinical presentations, diagnostic strategies, and common pathogens. Specific causes of opportunistic pneumonias are also reviewed.


title: Characteristics of the Dynamic of Mobile Networks

text: We propose in this paper a novel framework for the study of dynamic mobility networks. We address the characterization of dynamics by proposing an in-depth description and analysis of two real-world data sets. We show in particular that links creation and deletion processes are independent of other graph properties and that such networks exhibit a large number of possible configurations, from sparse to dense. From those observations, we propose simple yet very accurate models that allow to generate random mobility graphs with similar temporal behavior as the one observed in experimental data.


Future Applications of GMOs


title: Prediction and Prevention: Interventions to Enhance Blood Safety

text: The transmission of infectious disease by blood transfusion has been a major problem since the middle of the twentieth century. Since about 1960, there has been a concerted and prolonged effort to reduce or eliminate this outcome; the efforts have been successful, but new challenges continue to appear, mostly in the form of emerging infectious diseases. This chapter reviews two relevant issues: the possibility of predicting microbial threats to blood safety and the interventions that may be used to reduce the risks of transfusion transmission. While there are only limited opportunities to predict relevant infections, there are effective measures to enhance blood safety. These involve appropriate selection of donors, implementation of effective tests, and development and implementation of pathogen reduction.


title: Die Evolution der Viren

text: Viren sind aufgrund ihrer kurzen Generationszeit, der großen Zahl von Nachkommen, die sie im Infektionsverlauf produzieren, und nicht zuletzt aufgrund ihrer einfachen Struktur ideale Objekte zum Studium von Evolutionsprozessen. Viren müssen sich ständig den Bedingungen ihres Wirtes oder ihrer Wirtspopulationen anpassen, sodass Mechanismen der Selektion experimentellen Ansätzen zugänglich sind. Dabei spielen unterschiedliche Kriterien, wie die antigene Diversität, das Ausmaß der Virusausscheidung, der Grad der Virulenz und viele andere Faktoren eine wichtige Rolle. Die vollständige Adaptation eines Virus an seinen Wirt, welche in eine möglichst geringe Virulenz des Infektionserregers mündet, ist die für beide erstrebenswerte Konsequenz: ein problemloses Zusammen- und Überleben. So scheinen die Hepatitis-G-Viren, die zwar erstmals aus Patienten mit einer Leberentzündung isoliert wurden, ähnlich wie die TT-Viren in vielen Menschen zu persistieren, ohne dass sie dabei Erkrankungen verursachen (▸Abschnitte 14.5 und 20.2).


title: Asthma and Microbes: A New Paradigm

text: Asthma is worldwide at pandemic levels for the past 30 years but is increasing at a greater rate in more affluent societies. It is a heterogeneous disorder caused by interaction between genetic predisposition, atopy, and environmental factors, including allergens, air pollution, and respiratory infections. The pathological aspects and pathophysiological mechanisms are reviewed in this chapter. Allergens or infectious agents may stimulate Th-2 inflammation which causes activation of IL-13, eosinophils, and increase IgE levels, subsequently leading to bronchial smooth muscle hypercontraction. Respiratory viral infections are well-known causes of precipitation of acute asthma exacerbations in 50–60 % of attacks. There is also increasing evidence that bacterial infections, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae, may contribute to the onset and course of asthma. The two main hypothesis of microbial genesis of asthma that has arisen in the past 20–30 years appears to be incongruous, but are not, are the hygiene hypothesis of asthma, and the virus-related asthma, early onset of viral bronchiolitis in the susceptible hosts being responsible for later development of asthma. The clinical and experimental evidences to support these contentions are reviewed and critiqued.


title: Diagnostic Knowledge in the Genetic Economy and Commerce

text: On 5 December 2002 the Australian Senate passed the Research Involving Embryos and Prohibition of Human Cloning Bill 2002, which regulates stem cell research. The bill introduces some restrictions with regard to the use of stored frozen embryos, which are not destined to be implanted. The bill states that only frozen embryos created before April 2002 can be used for research purposes, provided that the individuals whom these embryos relate to give their consent. The alternative to this restriction would have been no research at all, and this would have happened if the law had been stopped. The Australian scientists regarded the new law as a compromise that would undoubtedly slow down research, but not entirely stop it.


title: High Capacity Vectors

text: Since the construction of the first generation of general cloning vectors in the early 1970s, a large number of cloning vectors have been developed. Despite the bewildering choice of commercial and other available vectors, the selection of cloning vector to be used can be decided by applying a small number of criteria: insert size, copy number, incompatibility, selectable marker cloning sites, and specialized vector functions. Several of these criteria are dependent on each other. Most general cloning plasmids can carry a DNA insert up to around 15 kb in size. Several types of vectors are available for cloning large fragments of DNA too. This chapter presents a consolidated account of some new generation of high-capacity vectors such as cosmid, yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) , bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC), P1 phage artificial chromosome (PAC), and human artificial chromosome (HAC).


Vector-based antiviral therapy


title: Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans in Infection

text: To cause infections, microbial pathogens elaborate a multitude of factors that interact with host components. Using these host–pathogen interactions to their advantage, pathogens attach, invade, disseminate, and evade host defense mechanisms to promote their survival in the hostile host environment. Many viruses, bacteria, and parasites express adhesins that bind to cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) to facilitate their initial attachment and subsequent cellular entry. Some pathogens also secrete virulence factors that modify HSPG expression. HSPGs are ubiquitously expressed on the cell surface of adherent cells and in the extracellular matrix. HSPGs are composed of one or several heparan sulfate (HS) glycosaminoglycan chains attached covalently to specific core proteins. For most intracellular pathogens, cell surface HSPGs serve as a scaffold that facilitates the interaction of microbes with secondary receptors that mediate host cell entry. Consistent with this mechanism, addition of HS or its pharmaceutical functional mimic, heparin, inhibits microbial attachment and entry into cultured host cells, and HS-binding pathogens can no longer attach or enter cultured host cells whose HS expression has been reduced by enzymatic treatment or chemical mutagenesis. In pathogens where the specific HS adhesin has been identified, mutant strains lacking HS adhesins are viable and show normal growth rates, suggesting that the capacity to interact with HSPGs is strictly a virulence activity. The goal of this chapter is to provide a mechanistic overview of our current understanding of how certain microbial pathogens subvert HSPGs to promote their infection, using specific HSPG–pathogen interactions as representative examples.


title: Angiotensin-(1-7), Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2, and New Components of the Renin Angiotensin System

text: The discovery of angiotensin-(1-7) [Ang-(1-7)] in 1988 represented the first deviation from the traditional biochemical cascade of forming bioactive angiotensin peptides. Prior to that time, the biological actions of angiotensin II (Ang II) were being investigated as it relates to cardiovascular function, including hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy and failure, as well as biological actions in the brain and kidney. We now know that Ang II elicits a whole host of actions both within and outside of the cardiovascular system. Furthermore, the discovery of Ang-(1-7) by our laboratory was also the first indication of a biologically active angiotensin peptide that further studies revealed served to counter-balance the actions of Ang II. This chapter reviews the data demonstrating the role of the vasodepressor axis of the renin angiotensin system in the regulation of cardiovascular function and the new data that shows the existence of angiotensin-(1-12) as a novel alternate substrate for the production of angiotensin peptides. The ultimate role of this discovery, as well as the continuing elucidation of mechanisms pertaining to RAS physiology, will likely be clarified in the coming years, in hopes of improving the treatment of cardiovascular disease.


title: Epidemiologie und Prävention von nosokomialen Infektionen

text: Eine nosokomiale Infektion (griechisch: nosokomeion = Krankenhaus) ist laut Infektionsschutzgesetz definiert als eine „Infektion mit lokalen oder systemischen Infektionszeichen als Reaktion auf das Vorhandensein von Erregern oder ihrer Toxine, die im zeitlichen Zusammenhang mit einer stationären oder einer ambulanten medizinischen Maßnahme steht, soweit die Infektion nicht bereits vorher bestand“. Das Risiko, eine Infektion zu entwickeln, ist für Patienten im Krankenhaus höher als für Menschen außerhalb des Krankenhauses. Grund dafür ist, dass bei vielen Patienten durch ihre Grunderkrankung eine Schwächung des Immunsystems besteht und/oder invasive Maßnahmen durchgeführt werden, die das Eindringen von Erregern in das Körperinnere und das Entstehen einer Infektion erleichtern. Besonders gefährdet sind deshalb im Bereich der Pädiatrie Frühoder Mangelgeborene, pädiatrische Intensivpatienten, Patienten mit chronischen Erkrankungen wie der zystischen Fibröse oder Dialysepflicht und onkologisch-pädiatrische Patienten. Dabei können auch fakultativ pathogene Mikroorganismen zu einer Infektion führen. Außerdem kommt es im Krankenhaus durch häufige durchgeführte Antibiotikatherapien zu einer Selektion von Keimen mit problematischem Resistenzspektrum, was die Therapie erschwert und die Übertragung dieser Keime erleichtert.


title: Spezielle Erreger und Infektionen

text: Durch das konsequente Einhalten und Anwenden der Standardhygienemaßnahmen lassen sich die meisten Transmissionen zwischen Patienten, aber auch Übertragungen auf das Personal vermeiden. Das folgende Kapitel widmet sich den Besonderheiten einzelner Erreger und Infektionskrankheiten und den ggf. erforderlichen zusätzlichen Schutzmaßnahmen. Es hilft bei der individuellen Risikoanalyse hinsichtlich Erregertyp, Übertragungsweg, Streupotenzial und exponierter Personen. Eine erregerspezifische Übersicht zum Nachschlagen ermöglicht eine schnelle Orientierung.


title: The Global Threat of Emergent/Re-emergent Vector-Borne Diseases

text: The past 30 years has witnessed a dramatic re-emergence of epidemic vector-borne diseases throughout much of the world. Factors contributing to this are many, but the principal drivers have been complacency and de-emphasis of infectious diseases in pubic health policy, increased population growth, uncontrolled urbanization without concomitant attention to water and waste management, increased globalization and the ease with which modern air transport can quickly spread pathogens and their vectors. The re-emergence of parasitic, bacterial and viral vector-borne pathogens is described. This re-emergence increases the current and future need for preventative measures to contain disease outbreaks and for international cooperation and collaboration to constantly monitor the outbreak of these debilitating and deadly diseases.


title: Virus-Like Particles-Based Mucosal Nanovaccines

text: Virus-like particles (VLPs) are protein complexes that resemble a virus and constitute highly immunogenic entities as they mimic the pathogen at an important degree. Among nanovaccines, those based on VLPs are the most successful thus far with some formulations already commercialized (e.g., those against hepatitis B and E viruses and human papillomavirus). This chapter highlights the advantages of VLPs-based vaccines, describing approaches for their design and transmittance of the state of the art for mucosal VLPs-based vaccines development. Several candidates have been produced in insect cells, plants, and E. coli and mammalian cells; they have been mainly evaluated in i.n. and oral immunization schemes. i.n. vaccines against the influenza virus and the Norwalk virus are the most advanced applications. For the latter, i.n. formulations are under clinical evaluation. Perspectives for the field comprise the expansion of the use of low-cost platforms such as plants and bacteria, the development of multiepitopic/multivalent vaccines, and computationally designed VLPs. Mucosal VLPs-based vaccines stand as a major promising approach in vaccinology and the initiation of more clinical trials is envisaged in a short time.


title: Managing the Negotiation Process

text: In global public health negotiations, the stakes are usually high and often time is of the essence. The outbreak of the SARS epidemic in late 2002, for example, illustrated how rapidly crises can occur and how immediate action may be required. Negotiations on immediate and short-term issues such as SARS, and even on long-term policies not triggered by a crisis, can be made all the more complex by diverse interests, conflicting understandings of underlying facts and linkages among the multitude of issues. Specific obstacles to joint problem-solving may include disagreement on the existence, certainty or severity of the problem; on the best way to tackle the problem or the likelihood of success; or on who bears responsibility to act, who will pay costs and who will manage the response. In the health sector, national leaders in key countries may be reluctant to acknowledge the urgent need to address the spread of a disease, either because they question the facts or because they fear that taking action will have negative impacts on their international image and/or domestic political support.


title: Imaging of Pulmonary Infections

text: Pulmonary infections have always been a cause of high morbidity and mortality, particularly in the pediatric and geriatric population and in immunocompromised hosts [1]. Pulmonary infections have various etiologies and have variegated patterns on radiographs and computed tomography (CT). Imaging plays an important role in the initial diagnosis and follow-up of various lung infections. Radiographs can be normal or non-specific during the initial evaluation, and CT findings may be more definitive. CT not only helps with the diagnosis but can also aid in management by guiding the diagnostic and therapeutic procedure. The pulmonary infections spread by direct or indirect contact with the infected host, droplet transmission, or an airborne spread. In rare cases, some infections can also be transmitted by vectors, namely, insect or animal hosts, and rarely by direct invasion from nearby infected organs. Pulmonary infections may have typical imaging patterns and distribution based on the mode of spread. There are a number of well-described imaging patterns of alveolar infections. The localization and morphological features on imaging may help in the diagnosis of infection and identification of mode of infection and, in certain cases, the microorganism responsible for the infection.


title: Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus

text: Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) causes disease and mortality to piglets worldwide. Most vaccines used to combat the disease have been ineffective live attenuated virus vaccines. Research has emerged showing both the spike (S) and membrane (M) proteins of the virus have potential for use as subunit vaccines. This research has been largely undertaken using plants as expression platforms, with some promising candidates having emerged.


title: Summary of Infection Control in the Dental Office: A Global Prospective

text: During the delivery of dental care, there is the potential for the dissemination and/or exposure to blood and other body fluids as well as numerous microorganisms that colonize the mouth and/or oral, nasal, and respiratory fluids/secretions. Dentists, dental staff, and patients can be exposed to a variety of pathogenic microorganisms from these sources within the dental office. Contamination from any of these organisms may result in disease transmission which may occur from direct contact with infected body fluids and tissues, or indirectly by contacting surfaces and/or devices that have been contaminated. This phenomenon can occur anywhere in the world where dental care is provided. The principles of infection control must be employed to ensure that dental care is delivered in as safe a manner as possible for both the dental providers and the patients.


title: Technical and Clinical Niches for Point of Care Molecular Devices

text: A point of care (POC) device is one that is used outside of a central laboratory environment; generally near , or at the site of the patient/client. Point of care testing (POCT) varies from tests performed in physician’s office labs, or “satellite” or “stat” labs, to tests performed on tabletop instruments in a clinic area, to testing performed with hand-held instruments at the bedside. In peripheral lab settings, POCT may be performed by trained laboratory staff, but clinic and bedside POCT is frequently performed by staff who lack specialized laboratory training and whose primary job is something other than doing lab tests.


title: Science

text: Science today studies phenomena lasting less than 10(−21) s and phenomena which occurred more than 13 billion years ago; science also studies phenomena occurring over distances greater than 10(28) cm and shorter than 10(−13) cm; that is, science studies phenomena occurring over times and distances varying by a factor of about 10(40) (Fig. 3.1). In those incomprehensible ranges of time and space, the description of the physical world presented by science is most impressive. Based on what we know today everything in this enormous cosmos everywhere is made up of the same microscopic particles, the atoms and their constituents; their behavior is governed by the same physical laws everywhere.


Asthma


title: Virtual Screening and Molecular Design Based on Hierarchical Qsar Technology

text: This chapter is devoted to the hierarchical QSAR technology (HiT QSAR) based on simplex representation of molecular structure (SiRMS) and its application to different QSAR/QSPR tasks. The essence of this technology is a sequential solution (with the use of the information obtained on the previous steps) of the QSAR paradigm by a series of enhanced models based on molecular structure description (in a specific order from 1D to 4D). Actually, it’s a system of permanently improved solutions. Different approaches for domain applicability estimation are implemented in HiT QSAR. In the SiRMS approach every molecule is represented as a system of different simplexes (tetratomic fragments with fixed composition, structure, chirality, and symmetry). The level of simplex descriptors detailed increases consecutively from the 1D to 4D representation of the molecular structure. The advantages of the approach presented are an ability to solve QSAR/QSPR tasks for mixtures of compounds, the absence of the “molecular alignment” problem, consideration of different physical–chemical properties of atoms (e.g., charge, lipophilicity), and the high adequacy and good interpretability of obtained models and clear ways for molecular design. The efficiency of HiT QSAR was demonstrated by its comparison with the most popular modern QSAR approaches on two representative examination sets. The examples of successful application of the HiT QSAR for various QSAR/QSPR investigations on the different levels (1D–4D) of the molecular structure description are also highlighted. The reliability of developed QSAR models as the predictive virtual screening tools and their ability to serve as the basis of directed drug design was validated by subsequent synthetic, biological, etc. experiments. The HiT QSAR is realized as the suite of computer programs termed the “HiT QSAR” software that so includes powerful statistical capabilities and a number of useful utilities.


title: Anemia and RBC Transfusion

text: Anemia is common in critically ill patients. More than 90% of patients have subnormal hemoglobin by the third day of ICU admission. Despite the fact that blood transfusions have not been shown to improve the outcome of ICU patients (see below) and that the current guidelines recommend blood transfusion only when the hemoglobin falls below 7.0 g/dl, almost half of all patients admitted to an ICU receive a blood transfusion.(1,2) The etiology of anemia of critical illness is multi-factorial and complex. Repeated phlebotomy, gastrointestinal blood loss, and other surgical procedures contribute significantly to the development of anemia. Red cell production in critically ill patients is often abnormal and is involved in the development and maintenance of anemia. The pathophysiology of this anemia includes decreased production of erythropoietin (EPO), impaired bone marrow response to erythropoietin, and reduced red cell survival.


title: Automatic Question Generation for Learning Evaluation in Medicine

text: An approach of automatic question generation from given learning material of medical text is presented in this paper. The main idea is to generate the questions automatically based on question templates which are created by training on many medical articles. In order to provide interesting questions, our research focuses on medical related concepts. This method can be used for evaluation of learner’s comprehension after he/she finished a reading material. Different from traditional learning system the articles and questions are all prepared beforehand; participants can learn whatever new input medical articles with the help of automatic question generation.


Wich tige Gesetze, Verordnungen und Richtlinien


title: Epidemiologia e scenari globali

text: L’epidemiologia è lo studio dinamico dello stato di salute delle popolazioni. Naturalmente, la complessità delle malattie e dei fenomeni di diversa natura a esse correlati (biologici, ecologici, antropologici eccetera) richiede un approccio che può essere solo multidisciplinare. Per i medici e i veterinari, lo studio della diffusione e della frequenza delle malattie nelle popolazioni umane e animali rappresenta uno strumento essenziale, sia per la prevenzione e il controllo, sia per la diagnosi e la cura.


title: Hidden Silent Codes in Viral Genomes

text: Viruses are small infectious agents that replicate only inside the living cells of other organisms and comprise approximately 94% of the nucleic acid-containing particles in the oceans. They are believed to play a central role in evolution, are responsible for various human diseases, and have important contributions to biotechnology and nanotechnology. Viruses undergo evolutionary selection for efficient transmission from host to host by exploiting the host’s gene expression machinery (e.g., ribosomes) for the expression of the genes encoded in their genomes. As a result, viral genes tend to be expressed via non-canonical mechanisms that are very rare in living organisms. Many of the gene expression stages and other aspects of the viral life cycle are encoded in the viral transcripts via ‘silent codes’, and are induced by mutations that are synonymous to the viral amino acid content. In a series of studies that included the analyses of dozens of organisms from the three domains of life, it was shown that there are overlapping ‘silent codes’ in the genetic code that are related to all stages of gene expression regulation. The aim of this chapter is to summarize the current knowledge related to the silent codes in viral genomes and the open questions in the field.


title: Long Non-coding RNA

text: Rapid development in genome-wide transcriptional analyses has led to the discovery of a large number of non-coding transcripts, also called long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). LncRNAs harbor biological activities including regulation of protein-coding gene expression at epigenetic, transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. They also take a part in various physiological and pathological processes, participating in cell development, immunity, disease processes and oncogenesis. Here I discuss and summarize, current knowledge about lncRNA origin, function and involvement in human disease.


title: Introduction to Human-Environment Interactions Research

text: Contemporary theories about the reciprocal interactions of human beings with the environment are only fully intelligible in the light of the historical roots of such theories. In this introduction we provide an overview of the major Western intellectual currents up to those that are commonly used today. Three main themes help organize this broad array of theories and approaches: environmental determinism, cultural determinism, and human-environment interaction concerned with the processual relationships between people and environment as grounded in historical, social, and ecological contexts. This chapter also provides an overview of the four parts of the book and discusses the coverage, diversity, and parallels in themes and approaches across all chapters.


title: World Health Organization

text: The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international public health. It was established on April 7, 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and is a member of the UN Development Group. The membership of the WHP includes 193 countries and 2 associate members. Six regional committees, located in the Americas, Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia, the Western Pacific, and Africa, focus on regional health concerns.


title: Viruses and the Nucleolus

text: The nucleolus is a dynamic sub-nuclear structure integral to the function of a eukaryotic cell. Some of its major roles involve ribosome subunit biogenesis, RNA processing, cell cycle control and responding to cellular stress, such as infection. Our understanding of the relationship between viruses and the nucleolus has moved from a phenomenological approach describing protein localisation to functional studies involving genetic analysis and proteomic approaches. These advances have provided fundamental insights as to how and why the nucleolus is targeted by many different viruses both to usurp normal functioning and to recruit nucleolar proteins to facilitate virus replication. This knowledge has been exploited for therapeutic strategies involving targeted inhibition of virus replication and live-attenuated recombinant vaccines.


title: Infections

text: Even if heart transplantation is an undisputed source of medical progress, several complications still hamper the outcome of transplanted patients. Among them, infections are associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and economic burden. Depending on clinical and radiological signs and based on the time interval after transplantation, a broad spectrum of microbial pathogens can be responsible for these infections. This microbiological diversity, associated with altered clinical signs due to immunosuppressive drugs, is a cause of delayed diagnosis and treatment. The objective of this overview is to provide a structured procedure to explore fever and specific symptoms that can be suggestive of infection in heart-transplanted patients. Furthermore, main preventive and curative strategies will be described.


Cordylobia spp.


title: Strategies of Preparedness Response to Biological Warfare and Bioterrorism Threats

text: Risks associated with deliberate use of biological agents against population and the needs for a strong public health system are well recognized. The potential use of biological agents is mounting every day, especially with growing political dissidence as well as social and economical conflicts in several countries. Countries in Eastern Europe have considerable vulnerability because of economical, social and political difficulties they are facing, along with inadequate response capacity and large number of outfits having continuous low intensity conflicts with established administrative system. There are no doubts that preparedness against biological weapons must be integrated in national disaster preparedness plan, as well as strengthen the core competencies of public health and other national and local authorities to respond to biological crisis, along with strong collaboration with other national agencies, like intelligence, defense and police.


title: Kann das Immunsystem unterwandert werden?

text: Infektionserreger haben sich in ihrer Evolution darauf spezialisiert, in einem immunkompetenten Wirt zu leben und ein breites Repertoire origineller Tricks entwickelt, das Immunsystem zu unterwandern. Die Tabelle 20.1 zeigt Beispiele.


title: Geographic Medicine

text: This chapter uses a sub-discipline of medicine, known as geographic medicine, to describe how human movements contribute to the transmission of parasites on spatial scales that exceed the limits of its natural habitat. Traditionally, public health programs have focused on the health of populations, whereas the practice of medicine has focused on the health of individuals. It should be noted, however, that the population health management owes much to the effective delivery of clinical care. This chapter demonstrates how public health is intimately linked to patient care through human movement. Nearly a century ago, people typically did not develop a disease where it is contracted or even close to that place. Today, daily travel is a common way of life in modern metropolitan areas. Large, localized mosquito populations in areas that people visit regularly may be both reservoirs and hubs of infection, even if people only pass through those locations briefly. By examining of the role of human movement across different scales, this chapter examines how public health communities can use information on pathogen transmission to increase the effectiveness of disease prevention programs and clinical care.


title: Therapieversagen

text: Eine allgemein anerkannte Definition des Therapieversagens ist nicht verfügbar. Zu unterscheiden sind klinische Kriterien des Therapieansprechens (Entfieberung, Rückgang inflammatorischer Parameter, Stabilisierung oder Rückgang der Beatmungsintensität, hämodynamische Stabilisierung) sowie der Rückbildung der akuten Pneumonie; erstere können nach 72 h erstmals beurteilt werden, letztere erst innerhalb von 8–10 Tagen. Das Therapieversagen der nosokomialen Pneumonie ist mit annähernd 30 % ein häufiges Ereignis. Es ist mit einer ernsten Prognose verbunden und sollte daher eine umfangreiche Differentialdiagnostik erfahren. Muster des Therapieversagens umfassen die rasche Progredienz innerhalb der ersten 72 h (progressive pneumonia), das fehlende Ansprechen nach 72 h (nonresolving pneumonia) sowie das Therapieversagen nach initialem Ansprechen (sekundäres Therapieversagen). Ursachen können sein eine inadäquate kalkulierte antimikrobielle Therapie, gleichzeitig vorliegende andere Infektionsfoci oder nichtinfektiöse Ursachen sowie Ursachen, die mit der Immunantwort des Wirts in Zusammenhang stehen. Ursächliche Erreger entsprechen weitgehend dem für die jeweilige Behandlungseinheit gegebenen Spektrum; aber auch Fadenpilze und Herpesviren sind mögliche Erreger. Die diagnostische Evaluation sollte primär bronchoskopisch und durch Gewinnung einer bronchoalveolären Lavage (BAL) erfolgen. Transbronchiale Biopsien oder offene Lungenbiopsien können im Einzelfall erwogen werden. Histologisch ergeben sich am häufigsten eine Pneumonitis bzw. Fibrose und ein diffuser Alveolarschaden (DAD).


title: Influenza

text: Influenza, abbreviated as flu, is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by influenza virus, which is mainly spread along with droplets with strong infectivity. The influenza virus may cause epidemics or pandemics of influenza and its incidence ranks the first among legally listed infectious diseases. The prevalence of influenza peaks in autumns and winters, with short illness course and self limitation. However, influenza can be complicated by pneumonia or other serious complications that may cause death in populations of infants, young children, the elderly, those with underlying heart and lung disease and those with compromised immunity.


title: Role of Fibrinolysis in the Nasal System

text: In this chapter, we show the presence of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA), and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in nasal mucosa. It is suggested that t-PA synthesized in mucous cells is promptly secreted and modifies the watery nasal discharge in allergic rhinitis and that u-PA activity may help with the passage of large amounts of rhinorrhea by reducing its viscosity. Furthermore, we clarify the relation between fibrinolytic components and the pathology of allergy, particularly during the development of nasal allergy and nasal tissue changes. Wild-type (WT) mice can develop nasal allergy for ovalbumin (OVA) sensitization, but PAI-1-deficient mice (PAI-1(-/-)) cannot. The production of specific immunoglobulins IgG1 and IgE in the serum and production of interleukins IL-4 and IL-5 in splenocyte culture supernatant increased significantly in WT-OVA mice. In PAI-1(-/-) mice, these reactions were absent, and specific IgG2a in serum and interferon-γ in splenocyte culture medium increased significantly. Histopathologically, there was marked goblet cell hyperplasia and eosinophil infiltration into the nasal mucosa in WT-OVA mice, but these were absent in PAI-1(-/-) mice. These results indicate that the immune response in WT-OVA mice can be classified as a dominant Th2 response, which would promote collagen deposition. In contrast, the Th2 response in PAI-1(-/-) mice was down-regulated and the immune response shifted from Th2-dominant reaction to a Th1-dominant one. Taken together, these findings suggest that PAI-1 plays an important role not only in thrombolysis but also in the immune response.


docid: dsigssqh

title: Predictive Dynamics: Modeling for Virological Surveillance and Clinical Management of Dengue

text: Dengue fever is a flu-like illness spread by the bite of an infected mosquito and is fast emerging as a major public health concern. Timely and cost-effective diagnosis would reduce the mortality rates besides providing better grounds for clinical management and disease surveillance. Identifying the clinical features for early diagnosis of dengue would be useful in reducing the virus transmission in a community. In addition to the clinical features, obtaining the influential laboratory attributes and their range would aid in quick identification of disease severity in the suspected individuals. In this chapter a new alternating decision tree methodology which generates more accurate and simplified decision tree structures with simplified classification rules is discussed. This approach helps one to obtain the influential clinical and laboratory features which would aid in identifying the suspected dengue individuals and assess the severity of infection in them.


title: Infections After High-Dose Chemotherapy and Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

text: Infection represents an important cause of morbidity after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Immunodeficiency is the key risk factor and results from interplay between the underlying disease and its therapy. Various defects in the immune system coexist in HSCT recipients. In the early post-transplant period, neutropenia, oral and gastrointestinal mucositis, and the presence of central venous catheters are the main risk factors. Bacterial infections predominate, and the agents and antibiotic susceptibility profiles vary widely in different regions. Invasive candidiasis is infrequent with fluconazole use, but the incidence of invasive aspergillosis is on the rise, mainly in patients receiving purine analogues or intensive chemotherapy before transplant. In the post-engraftment period, infections are less frequent, but may contribute to significant non-relapse mortality. The dynamics of immune reconstitution drives the risk for infection in this period. The most frequent infections are varicella-zoster virus disease and respiratory tract infections. Assessment of the risk of infection in each period and the identification of patients at higher risk of specific infections are critical to the appropriate management of infectious complications after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.


title: Medical Words Linked to Places

text: Many medical terms come from places: towns, rivers, islands, forests, mountains, valleys, countries, and continents. These toponymous diseases, syndromes, descriptors, and other entities bring us colorful names that help us recall some of their history. Today we have Zika virus, its name coming from the Zika Forest in Ghana. Caucasian comes from the Caucasus Mountains, lesbian from the island of Lesbos, and Epsom salts from a mineral spring in Epsom, Surrey, England. Chapter 10.1007/978-3-319-50328-8_5 tells the stories behind these place-named diseases and how many of them affect us today.


title: Social Problems: A Cost-Effective Psychosocial Prevention Paradigm

text: This introductory chapter provides a discussion about the need for prevention. As justification for prevention, the chapter highlights the costs of social problems discussed in the book, including academic problems, violence in schools, child maltreatment, HIV/AIDS, and substance abuse.


title: MHC Class I Expression and CD8 T Cell Function: Towards the Cell Biology of T-APC Interactions in the Infected Brain

text: Antigen presentation by major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) and class II (MHC-II) molecules is a prerequisite for T cell engagement during the activation as well as the effector phase. The central nervous system (CNS) is unique in that cells resident in the parenchyma, glia and neurons, do not constitutively (or very sparsely at best) express MHC molecules (Aloisi et al., 2000; Sedgwick and Hickey, 1997; Xiao and Link, 1998), making them invisible to T cells. Additional restrictions on T cell surveillance are imposed by the absence of classical lymphatic drainage, the blood—brain barrier (BBB), and the unique anatomy of the brain microvasculature (Bechmann et al., 2007; Galea et al., 2007; Hickey, 2001; Xiao and Link, 1998; Lowenstein, 2002). Infiltrating cells not only have to cross the vascular wall to penetrate into the perivascular space, but more importantly overcome the barrier formed by the glia limitans to access the CNS parenchyma. While the first step is generally not associated with pathology, penetration from the perivascular space of postcapillary venules into the parenchyma is more restricted and once overcome, associated with clinical consequences (Bechmann et al., 2007). In the resting state, perivascular macrophages are maintained by replacement with circulating monocytes. However the glial limitans is not breached, and thus, these cells are considered to be located outside the confines of the BBB. While diffusion of soluble factors and antibodies is restricted by the BBB, especially by the tight, continuous, unfenestrated capillary epithelium, leukocyte infiltration preferentially occurs at distal sites in postcapillary venules (Bechmann et al., 2007). BBB permeability and leukocyte infiltration are thus not necessarily functionally nor physically linked. The barriers separating CNS parenchyma from the circulation explains the rare presence of T cells in the normal CNS parenchyma, despite the ability of peripherally activated and memory T cells to traffic to non lymphoid tissues independent of antigen presentation (Masopust et al., 2004). Nevertheless, T cells activated during an infection or auto-immune response, are able to enter into, and migrate within the brain parenchyma, even in the presence of an intact, non-inflamed BBB (Cabarrocas et al., 2003; Chen et al., 2005; Evans et al., 1996; Hickey, 2001). However, although entry of activated T cells into the CNS is independent of their antigen specificity, only those T cells that recognize antigen are retained. Thus, barriers limiting T cell surveillance of the brain are rapidly overcome following CNS infections and other inflammatory conditions (Griffin, 2003; Ransohoff et al., 2003). Under such conditions, it is also likely that a number of non-activated, bystander T cells, as well as other leukocytes, including B cells are able to penetrate into the brain parenchyma. Mechanisms propagating protective versus pathogenic potential of T cells in varying disease models are complex and require more in depth exploration. This chapter highlights recent advances relating to antigen presentation functions by resident CNS cells and effects exerted by CD8 T cells in vivo with an emphasis on anti-viral functions.


title: Human Infected H5N6 Avian Influenza

text: Human infected H5N6 avian influenza is an acute respiratory infectious disease caused by H5N6 subtype of avian influenza virus.