2,167 research outputs found
Prevalence of Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes causing invasive and non-invasive disease in South East Asia: a review.
No full textBACKGROUND: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of bacterial infections resulting in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Currently, up to 13 serotypes are included in pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs). However, the serotype formulation of these vaccines was initially designed to protect children against serotypes most commonly causing invasive disease in North America, and may not reflect the serotype distribution across the world. Data regarding pneumococcal epidemiology from the other parts of the world, in particular South East Asia, has not been reviewed. METHODS: This systematic literature review analyses published serotype data regarding S. pneumoniae isolates from South East Asian countries (defined as countries belonging to the Association of South East Asian Nations, ASEAN): Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam up to 3rd of March 2012. RESULTS: Analysis of data from six ASEAN countries, from which information on pneumococcal serotypes was available, showed that the most common disease causing serotypes (in rank order) were 19F, 23F, 14, 6B, 1, 19A and 3. Serotype distribution of pneumococcal isolates was similar across the ASEAN region. Serotype level data was more commonly reported for pneumococcal isolates causing invasive pneumococcal disease than for those from non-invasive disease. Studies from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore contributed the largest proportion of pneumococcal isolates, and serotype data, when compared to other ASEAN countries. CONCLUSION: This review demonstrates that the majority of IPD causing serotypes in SE Asia are included in currently licensed PCVs. However, PCV's are included in the routine childhood immunisation schedule of only one of the ten countries included in this analysis. Our findings demonstrate the scarcity of information available on serotype prevalence and distribution of pneumococci in SE Asia
Revealing the molecular signatures of host-pathogen interactions.
No full textAdvances in sequencing technology and genome-wide association studies are now revealing the complex interactions between hosts and pathogen through genomic variation signatures, which arise from evolutionary co-existence
Realtà, realismo, straniamento : Auerbach e il romanzo cavalleresco fino a Cervantes
No full textAuerbach’s research, besides exploring the three main fields the author explicitly names (i.e. the succession of different and differently grounded forms of realism in literary fiction, the alternate splitting and melting of styles, the link between literary work and a Christian vision of the world), in various chapters of Mimesis, and particularly in chs. 2, 6, 12, 14 and 20, is also focused, albeit only implicitly, on the developments of a further distinctive feature in Western literature, which is the emergence of subjectivity in the representation of reality. Focusing mainly on the chapter on courtly romance (ch. 6) and on the Quijote (ch. 14), this essay will examine Auerbach’s interpreting work on texts that adopt, in different ways, a ‘subjective point of view’; this kind of interpretation is, in part, unexpectedly similar to the approach of other critics and theorists of literature contemporary to Auerbach, like Bachtin, Américo Castro and Viktor Šklovskij
Shedding light on the black hole: The roll-out of broadband access networks by private operators
No full textSeveral market studies have indicated that the roll-out of broadband has significant economic and social relevance. The investments in broadband infrastructures needed to realise these economic and social benefits are, however, high-risk. This is firstly caused by the fact that the roll-out of access networks is extremely costly and requires high initial investments. Moreover, the multidisciplinary environment and involvement of many actors with diverging objectives and interests cause high complexity. Moreover, the market for broadband is changing fast and continuously. Although broadband has been on the academic research agenda for quite some time, this has as yet not resulted in a structured insight into the decision-making process around the upgrading of broadband networks, seen from the perspective of private operators and taking into account the vast complexity of the surroundings in which this decision-making process takes place in. The objective of this research was to provide a unifying theory combining technical, economic, market-related and regulatory factors with regard to an evolutionary, flexible approach of network upgrading from a decision-maker perspective. The result of this research is a robust, explanatory, parsimonious model for the impact and outcomes of broadband roll-out. This model provides a certain degree of stability in this multidisciplinary, unpredictable and highly dynamic research field.Technology, Policy and Managemen
Current methods for capsular typing of Streptococcus pneumoniae
No full textStreptococcus pneumoniae is a major respiratory tract pathogen causing pneumococcal disease mainly in children aged less than five years and in the elderly. Ninety-eight different capsular types (serotypes) of pneumococci have been reported, but pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) include polysaccharide antigens against only 7, 10 or 13 serotypes. It is therefore important to track the emergence of serotypes due to the clonal expansion of non-vaccine serotypes. Increased numbers of carried and disease-causing pneumococci are now being analysed as part of the post-PCV implementation surveillance studies and hence rapid, accurate and cost-effective typing methods are important.Here we describe serotyping methods published prior to 10th November 2014 for pneumococcal capsule typing. Sixteen methods were identified; six were based on serological tests using immunological properties of the capsular epitopes, eight were semi-automated molecular tests, and one describes the identification of capsular type directly from whole genome data, which also allows for further intra and inter-genome analyses. There was no single method that could be recommended for all pneumococcal capsular typing applications. Although the Quellung reaction is still considered to be the gold-standard, laboratories should take into account the number of pneumococcal isolates and the type of samples to be used for testing, the time frame for the results and the resources available in order to select the most appropriate method. Most likely, a combination of phenotypic and genotypic methods would be optimal to monitor and evaluate the impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines and to provide information for future vaccine formulation
“Maistre (certa)”. Niveaux de savoir et conception du monde chez Guillaume IX d’Aquitaine
No full textStarting with a study by M. Black (Models and Archetypes, 1958), the author examines the possibility of broadening this heuristic perspective to include literature. In particular, she analyses a text by William IX, in which the troubadour seems identify himself with God
Oltre lo specchio: il Joufroi de Poitiers e la cultura lirica del suo autore
No full textCome è stato a più riprese osservato, il Joufroi de Poitiers, romanzo d’autore borgognone collocabile verso la metà del XIII secolo, si ispira molto da vicino alla figura di Guglielmo IX d’Aquitania, grande signore e primo trovatore di cui ci siano giunti i componimenti. Ma a quali materiali si ispira veramente l’autore del Joufroi? Alla vida provenzale conservata, o piuttosto a una più ampia biografia latina perduta, o ad altri testi ancora? La presente ricerca cercherà di mettere in luce quali siano state le effettive fonti del romanzo e di abbozzare un’ipotesi che spieghi le motivazioni di questi recuperi.As has been repeatedly noted, Joufroi de Poitiers, a novel written by a Burgundian author and composed around the middle of the thirteenth century, is based very closely on the figure of William IX of Aquitaine, great lord and first troubadour whose poems have been compiled. But what materials did truly inspire the author of Joufroi? The extant Provençal vida, or rather a lost broader Latin biography, or still other texts? This research will try to shed light on what were the actual sources of the novel and to outline a hypothesis that explains the motivations of these works
Proceedings of the Per Bruun Symposium
No full textHolocene sea level rise, shoreline erosion and the Bruun Rule-overview (J.J. Fisher) The Bruun Rule: A historical perspective (M.L. Schwartz and V. Milicic) Hypothetical shore profiles in response to rising water level (R.N. Dubois) Shoreline erosion, Rhode Island and North Carolina coasts-test of Bruun Rule (J. J. Fisher) An application of the Bruun Rule in the Chesapeake Bay (P.S. Rosen) Bruun's Concept applied to the Great Lakes (E.B. Hands) Enigma of the Bruun's formula in shore erosion (H. Allison) The 11 Bruun Rule", Discussion on boundary conditions (P. Bruun)KWP-collectio
Realtà, realismo, straniamento: Auerbach e il romanzo cavalleresco fino a Cervantes
No full textAuerbach’s research, besides exploring the three main fields the author explicitly names (i.e. the succession of different and differently grounded forms of realism in literary fiction, the alternate splitting and melting of styles, the link between literary work and a Christian vision of the world), in various chapters of Mimesis, and particularly in chs. 2, 6, 12, 14 and 20, is also focused, albeit only implicitly, on the developments of a further distinctive feature in Western literature, which is the emergence of subjectivity in the representation of reality. Focusing mainly on the chapter on courtly romance (ch. 6) and on the Quijote (ch. 14), this essay will examine Auerbach’s interpreting work on texts that adopt, in different ways, a ‘subjective point of view’; this kind of interpretation is, in part, unexpectedly similar to the approach of other critics and theorists of literature contemporary to Auerbach, like Bachtin, Américo Castro and Viktor Šklovskij
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