PLoS medicine
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Dysfunction of the immune system has been documented in many types of cancers. The precise nature and molecular basis of immune dysfunction in the cancer state are not well defined. ⋯ Defects in interferon signaling represent novel, dominant mechanisms of immune dysfunction in cancer. These findings may be used to design therapies to counteract immune dysfunction in melanoma and to improve cancer immunotherapy.
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Epidemic influenza causes serious mortality and morbidity in temperate countries each winter. Research suggests that schoolchildren are critical in the spread of influenza virus, while the elderly and the very young are most vulnerable to the disease. Under these conditions, it is unclear how best to focus prevention efforts in order to protect the population. Here we investigate the question of how to protect a population against a disease when one group is particularly effective at spreading disease and another group is more vulnerable to the effects of the disease. ⋯ Given the limited amount of information about relevant parameters, we suggest that changes in vaccination strategy, while potentially promising, should be approached with caution. In particular, we find that, while switching vaccine to more active groups may protect vulnerable groups in many cases, switching too much vaccine, or switching vaccine under slightly different conditions, may lead to large increases in disease in the vulnerable group. This outcome is more likely when vaccine limitation is stringent, when mixing is highly structured, or when transmission levels are high.
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Lethal injection for execution was conceived as a comparatively humane alternative to electrocution or cyanide gas. The current protocols are based on one improvised by a medical examiner and an anesthesiologist in Oklahoma and are practiced on an ad hoc basis at the discretion of prison personnel. Each drug used, the ultrashort-acting barbiturate thiopental, the neuromuscular blocker pancuronium bromide, and the electrolyte potassium chloride, was expected to be lethal alone, while the combination was intended to produce anesthesia then death due to respiratory and cardiac arrest. We sought to determine whether the current drug regimen results in death in the manner intended. ⋯ We were able to analyze only a limited number of executions. However, our findings suggest that current lethal injection protocols may not reliably effect death through the mechanisms intended, indicating a failure of design and implementation. If thiopental and potassium chloride fail to cause anesthesia and cardiac arrest, potentially aware inmates could die through pancuronium-induced asphyxiation. Thus the conventional view of lethal injection leading to an invariably peaceful and painless death is questionable.
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Antigenemia is commonly detected in rotavirus-infected children. Although rotavirus RNA has been detected in serum, definitive proof of rotavirus viremia has not been shown. We aimed to analyze a defined patient population to determine if infectious virus could be detected in sera from children with rotavirus antigenemia. ⋯ Most children infected with rotavirus are viremic. The presence of viremia is directly related to the detection of antigenemia and is independent of the presence of diarrhea. Antigenemia load is inversely related to the titer of antirotavirus antibody in the serum. The finding of infectious rotavirus in the blood suggests extraintestinal involvement in rotavirus pathogenesis; however, the impact of rotavirus viremia on clinical manifestations of infection is unknown.