1,720,971 research outputs found
Gonorrhoea: Past, present and future
No full textThe sexually transmitted infection (STI) gonorrhoea is an ancient human disease caused by the Gram-negative bacterial pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Despite decades of research focused on preventing, diagnosing, and treating gonorrhoea, it remains a major global health concern due to its high prevalence, high rates of asymptomatic cases, the severe sequelae that can result from untreated infections, and the increasing difficulty in treating infections caused by multi-drug resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae. It is estimated that there are more than 87 million cases of gonorrhoea worldwide each year, and the WHO, CDC and Australian National Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategy have prioritised N. gonorrhoeae as an urgent public health threat for which new therapeutics and a vaccine are needed.Full Tex
Assessment of Serum Bactericidal and Opsonophagocytic Activity of Antibodies to Gonococcal Vaccine Targets
No full textThere is no vaccine available to prevent Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection, however there is currently a high level of interest in developing gonococcal vaccines due to the increasing number of cases and continuing emergence of antimicrobial resistance worldwide. A key aspect of vaccine development is the investigation of the functional immune response raised to the vaccine targets under investigation. Here, we describe two assays used to assess the functional immune response raised against gonococcal vaccine targets: the serum bactericidal assay (SBA) and the opsonophagocytic assay (OPA).No Full Tex
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
An open-label randomised controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a meningococcal serogroup B (4CMenB) vaccine on Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection in gay and bisexual men: the MenGO study protocol
No full textBACKGROUND: Gonorrhoea is an ongoing public health concern due to its rising incidence and the emergence of antibiotic resistance. There are an estimated 82 million new Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections each year, with several populations at higher risk for gonococcal infection, including gay and bisexual men (GBM). If left untreated, infection can lead to serious morbidity including infertility, sepsis and increased risk of HIV acquisition. Development of a gonorrhoea vaccine has been challenging, however there is observational evidence that serogroup B meningococcal vaccines, used to protect against the closely related bacteria Neisseria meningitidis, could provide cross-protection against N. gonorrhoeae. METHODS: The MenGO (Meningococcal vaccine efficacy against Gonorrhoea) study is a phase III open-label randomised control trial in GBM to evaluate the efficacy of the four-component meningococcal serogroup B vaccine, 4CMenB, against gonorrhoea. A total of 130 GBM will be recruited at the Gold Coast Sexual Health Clinic, Australia, and randomised to either receive 2 doses of 4CMenB or no intervention. Participants will be followed up for 24 months with testing for N. gonorrhoeae and other sexually transmissible infections every three months. Demographics, sexual behaviour risk, antibiotic use, and blood samples for analysis of N. gonorrhoeae-specific immune responses, will be collected during the study. The primary outcome is the number of N. gonorrhoeae infections in participants over 2 years measured by nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). Secondary outcomes are vaccine-induced N. gonorrhoeae-specific immune responses, and adverse events in trial participants. DISCUSSION: This trial will determine if the 4CMenB vaccine is able to reduce N. gonorrhoeae infection. If shown to be effective, 4CMenB could be used in gonococcal prevention. Analysis of 4CMenB-induced immune responses will increase understanding of the type of immune response needed to prevent N. gonorrhoeae, which may enable identification of a potential correlate of protection to aid future gonorrhoea vaccine development. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial has been registered on the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12619001478101) on 25 October 2019.Full Tex
Refinement and optimisation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae NHBA and MetQ vaccine candidates
No full textNeisseria gonorrhoeae has a significant impact on reproductive health with an estimated 82 million new cases of infection per year worldwide. Due to the ongoing emergence of multidrug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae strains, the high number of asymptomatic cases, and the risk of disease sequelae, the development of a gonococcal vaccine is urgently needed. We have previously described two potential gonococcal vaccine antigens, cNHBA (C-terminal fragment of the Neisseria Heparin Binding Antigen) and MetQ (methionine-binding protein). This study aimed to optimise these antigens for improved immune responses and to facilitate vaccine production, by investigating cNHBA fusions with the full-length MetQ protein or N-terminal and C-terminal MetQ fragments (Met1 and Met2, respectively) adjuvanted with aluminium hydroxide. The cNHBA and MetQ fragments and fusion antigens were all immunogenic in mice, generating a predominantly IgG1 response. Antibodies mediated bacterial killing via both serum bactericidal activity (SBA) and opsonophagocytic activity (OPA), and reduced adherence to cervical and urethral epithelial cells. Among the antigen fusions tested, MetQ-cNHBA and cNHBA-Met2 generated the highest SBA, OPA and adherence blocking titres and are proposed as promising optimised antigens for N. gonorrhoeae vaccine development.Full Tex
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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