Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, Faculty of Medicine, / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 83-89.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Paediatrics, 2010. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p: 237-258)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-22Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:40:43Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 chagas_ec_dr_jabo_prot.pdf: 960655 bytes, checksum: 6e735e191a645055b0edb539a55919a6 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / O tambaqui, Colossoma macropomum, é a espécie de maior importância na piscicultura amazônica. Entretanto, a sua criação tem enfrentado problemas com relação a perdas provocadas pela instalação de doenças que surgem com a intensificação do cultivo. Por isso, o tambaqui foi escolhido como modelo experimental nesta tese. Inicialmente foi avaliado o emprego dos imunoestimulantes 'beta'-glucano e nucleotídeos na dieta do tambaqui sobre o desempenho produtivo, respostas fisiológicas, imunológicas e resistência frente ao desafio com Aeromonas hydrophila, cujos resultados são apresentados no capítulo II. Os resultados deste estudo permitiram estabelecer que a suplementação de 'beta'-glucano e nucleotídeos na dieta do tambaqui não influenciam o desempenho produtivo; que o desafio bacteriano promoveu anemia normocítica-normocrômica ( 'beta'-glucano) e anemia macrocítica-hipocrômica (nucleotídeos); que a suplementação de 'beta'-glucano não alterou a concentração e atividade de lisozima e a de nucleotídeos determinou redução na atividade respiratória de leucócitos, e que a menor suplementação dos imunoestimulantes (0,1% de -glucano e 0,2% de nucleotídeos) promoveu maior sobrevivência para a espécie após o desafio com Aeromonas hydrophila. No capítulo III da tese avaliou-se as respostas fisiológicas de estresse de tambaquis alimentados com dietas suplementadas com 'beta'-glucano ou nucleotídeos após transporte em sistema fechado. Os resultados deste estudo permitiram estabelecer que as alterações dos parâmetros hematológicos, bioquímicos e imunológicos (atividade respiratória de leucócitos) ocorreram imediatamente após o transporte, com retorno aos níveis basais após 24 e 48 horas de recuperação. Entretanto, a suplementação de 'beta'-glucano ou nucleotídeos... / The Colossoma macropomum is the most farmed species in the Amazon region. Therefore, disease has been a significant problem in tambaqui culture with overcrowding. Thus, the tambaqui was chosen as experimental model in this work. First it was to evaluate the use of the immunostimulants 'beta'-glucan and nucleotide in the tambaqui diet on the productive performance, physiological and immunological responses and resistance of Aeromonas hydrophila challenge exposed into chapter II. These results provide that the 'beta'-glucan and nucleotide dietary supplementation had no influence on the productive performance; that the bacterial challenge promoted normocytic-normochromic anemia ( 'beta'-glucan) and macrocytichipocromic anemia (nucleotide); that the 'beta'-glucan supplementation did not change the lysozime concentration and activity; the nucleotide supplementation determinate the reduction of burst activity of leukocyte and the lowest concentrations of both immunoestimulants (0.1% -glucan and 0.2% nucleotide) were effective to secure higher survival of tambaqui when challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila. After, was to evaluate the physiological stress response of tambaqui fed with 'beta'-glucan or nucleotide supplemented diet after transportation in closed system, exposed into chapter III. The results of this study demonstrated that the alteration in the hematological, biochemical and immunological (oxidative burst of leukocyte) occurred immediately after the transportation and returned to base levels after 24 and 48 hours to recover. However the -glucan and nucleotide supplementation did not reduce the stress responses. In the last, the adjuvant effect of 'beta'-glucan in the efficiency of oil vaccine against Aeromonas hydrophila for tambaqui juveniles in the hematological responses, the concentration and activity... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

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Introduktion: Ökad rörlighet mellan länder genom exempelvis resor och migration utgör en risk för spridning av smittsamma sjukdomar. Ur ett globalt perspektiv är folkhälsan i Sverige mycket bra. Förebyggande av smittsamma sjukdomar med vaccination är näst efter rent vatten det mest effektiva sättet att upprätthålla folkhälsan i Europa. Syfte: Utifrån resultaten av vetenskapliga publikationer undersöka hur vaccinationsstatus mot mässling och tuberkulos ser ut hos nyanlända samt hur nyanländas vaccinationsstatus påverkar folkhälsan i Europa när det gäller risk för utbrott av smittsamma sjukdomar. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudie som systematiskt sökte, kritiskt granskade och sammanställde litteratur i ämnet. Databassökning gjordes i Cinahl och PubMed. Nyckelord som användes var folkhälsa, vaccination, distriktssköterska, invandring, infektionssjukdom, mässling, tuberkulos. Metodologisk kvalitetsgranskning av de inkluderade artiklarna gjordes. Resultat: Litteraturstudien består av 20 kvantitativa artiklar. Studien visar att vaccinering täckningen mot tuberkulos varierar. I Sverige hade 65% av de invandrade barnen ärr som ett tecken på att de erhållit tuberkulosvaccination. Studien visar vidare att flera utbrott av både tuberkulos och mässling inträffade i Europa under de senaste tio åren. Screening av nyanlända varierar mellan länder i Europa. Vad gäller studiekvalitet visade sig fyra av artiklarna vara av hög kvalitet och 16 av artiklarna av medelhög kvalitet. Konklusion:  Flera utbrott har skett under de år som inkluderats i studien, både utbrott av tuberkulos och utbrott av mässling. Majoriteten av de som smittats med respektive sjukdom har varit ovaccinerade eller ej fullständigt vaccinerade.

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Patients with inflammatory bowel disease, particularly those on systemic immunosuppression, have been shown to be at increased risk of herpes zoster infection. Herpes zoster (also known as shingles) is a condition resulting from reactivation of varicella zoster virus (VZV), which causes chickenpox. VZV reactivation is thought to be due to impairment of cell-mediated immunity. Some immunosuppressive agents have been shown to be associated with higher risk for herpes zoster reactivation than others. Until recently, the only vaccine for herpes zoster was a live-attenuated vaccine, which is contraindicated in most immunosuppressed IBD patients due to their immunosuppressive therapy. Recently, an inactivated subunit vaccine has been developed and investigated for use in immunocompetent adults, as well as select groups of immunocompromised individuals. This novel vaccine has not yet been studied in IBD patients but holds promise for use in this population. The proposed study is a single-center prospective pilot study comparing immunogenicity and safety of the inactivated herpes zoster vaccine in patients with IBD (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease) treated with high-level combination immunosuppression (both anti-TNF biologics and immunomodulators) to those not on systemic immunosuppressive therapy (5-aminosalicylates or no treatment). Investigators will compare cell-mediated responses between groups using an intracellular cytokine staining assay with flow cytometry assessed prior to vaccination and at four time points up to 12 months after completion of the immunization sequence. Adverse effects will also be monitored. This study will help to identify whether the novel herpes zoster vaccine is immunogenic and safe for use in IBD patients and whether these parameters are significantly impacted by intensity of immunosuppressive treatment. An additional goal is to provide preliminary data with which to develop future studies of vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy in this target population.

<b>Introduction:</b> Respiratory Syncytial Virus is the major viral cause of lower respiratory tract disease in young children worldwide, with the greatest burden of disease in infants aged 1-3 months. Consequently, vaccine development has centered on a vaccine to directly protect the infants in this age group. The fundamental problem is that these young infants are poor responders to candidate RSV vaccines. This thesis focuses on the use of mathematical models to explore the merits of vaccination. <b>Methods:</b> Following development and analysis of a simple non-age-structured ODE model, we elaborate this to a Realistic Age Structured model (RAS) capturing the key epidemiological characteristics of RSV and incorporating age-specific vaccination options. The compartmental ODE model was calibrated using agespecific and time series hospitalization data from a rural coastal Kenyan population. The determination of Who Acquires Infection From Whom (WAIFW) matrix was done using social contact data from 1) a synthetic mixing matrix generated from primarily household occupancy data and 2) a diary study that we conducted in the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS). The vaccine was assumed to elicit partial immunity equivalent to wild type infection and its impact was measured by the ratio of hospitalized RSV cases after to before introduction. of vaccination. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis were undertaken using Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) and partial rank correlation respectively. Given the importance of households in the transmission of respiratory infections, an exploratory household model was developed to capture the transmission dynamics of RSV A and B in a population of households. <b>Results:</b> From the analytical work of the simple ODE model, we have demonstrated that the model has the potential to exhibit a backward bifurcation curve within realistic parameter ranges. Both the diary and the synthetic mixing matrices had similar characteristics i.e. strong assortative mixing in individuals less than 30 years old and strong mixing between children less than 5 years and adults between 20 and 50 years old. When the two matrices were jointly linearly regressed, their elements were well correlated with an R2 ~ 0.6. The RAS model was capable of capturing the age-specific disease and the temporal epidemic nature of RSV in the specified location. Introduction of routine universal vaccination at ages varying from the first month of life to the 10th year of life resulted in optimal long-term benefit at 7 months (for the diary contact model) and 5 months (for the synthetic contact model). The greatest benefit arose under the assumption of age-related mixing with the contact diary data with no great deal of effectiveness lost when the vaccine is delayed between 5 and 12 months of age from birth. Vaccination was also shown to change the temporal dynamics of RSV hospitalizations and also to increase the average age at primary infection. From the sensitivity analysis, we identified the duration of RSV specific maternal antibodies, duration of primary and tertiary infections as the most important parameters in explaining the imprecision observed in predicting both the age specific hospitalizations and the optimal month at vaccination. Results from the household model have demonstrated that the household epidemic profile may be different from the general population with strong interaction of the viruses in the household that do not necessarily reflect at the population level. <b>Conclusion:</b> The synthetic matrix method would be a preferable alternative route in estimating mixing patterns in populations with the required socio-demographic data. Retrospectively, the synthetic mixing data can be used to reconstruct contact patterns in the past and therefore beneficial in assessing the effect of demographic transition in disease transmission. Universal infant vaccination has the potential to significantly reduce the burden of RSV associated disease, even with delayed vaccination between 5 and 12 months. This age class represents the group that is being targeted by vaccines that are currently under development. More accurate data measuring the duration of RSV specific maternal antibodies and the duration of infections are required to reduce the uncertainty in the model predictions.

ATTITUDES AND KNOWLEDGE OF HPV INFECTION AND VACCINATION Author: Dominika Blašková Supervisor: PharmDr. Eva Zimčíková, Ph.D. INTRODUCTION Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a DNA virus. The virus causes benign and malignant diseases of men and women such as laryngeal papillomatosis, genital warts, oropharyngeal carcinoma, cervical cancer, penile cancer and anus cancer. HPV can be prevented by appropriate precautionary measures. The main preventative method is vaccination against HPV. Besides vaccination, regular screening is necessary to detect premalignant changes on time. AIMS The aim of the theoretical part of the diploma thesis was to summarize the information about HPV, the diseases caused by human papillomavirus and vaccination against HPV, the main preventive measure. The primary aim of the practical part was to find out the level of HPV awareness among girls and boys and diseases caused by HPV. The secondary aim of the practical part was to find out opinions on HPV vaccination and determine the rate of vaccination against HPV among young people in Slovakia. METHODS The method of quantitative research taken in the form of a questionnaire was used in the diploma thesis. The survey was realized at two secondary schools in Svidník, Slovakia. The age range of respondents was 15-20 years. The data...

This thesis deals with the evaluation of vaccination against influenza among students of University of South Bohemia, their opinions and their approach to the issue of vaccination against influenza. The theoretical part is focused on historical, clinical, diagnostic, virological, immunological and epidemiological aspects of influenza vaccine development and vaccination against influenza. The aim of the practical part was to determine how widespread is influenza vaccination among students of University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, map their opinion on the vaccination and to assess their awareness regarding vaccination against influenza and influenza in general. For research purposes a questionnaire survey was distributed among students of the University of South Bohemia. The selection of respondents was conducted by stratified random selection so that it covered approximately 5% occupancy of each faculty. This research preceded a preliminary research to determine the suitability of the chosen method of data collection. As a data collection instrument was chosen the method of questioning by the form of questionnaires. Quota for the research was to study the respondents at the South Bohemian University and studied faculty. In total 468 questionnaires were evaluated. The results of the research shows that students of University of South Bohemia underestimate vaccination, and most of them have never been vaccinated against this disease. In spite of this is, the results show that the awareness of students is good and among faculties except the Faculty of Health and Social Care, there is not a significant difference. Faculty of Health and Social achieved in the overall awareness significantly higher result than other faculty. Thus confirming the hypothesis that there are differences between students' awareness of the Health and Social faculty and students of other faculties. The aim of this thesis is to alert students of the University of South Bohemia about the pros of influenza vaccination and increase their awareness in this area.