Racial Differences in Allergic Sensitization: Recent Findings and Future Directions

Racial disparities are present in many facets of health and disease. Allergy and asthma are no exceptions. Secondary results from cross-sectional and cohort studies have provided information on the scope of racial disparities in allergic sensitization in the United States. African American/Black individuals tend to be sensitized more frequently than White individuals. Little is known about rates in other race groups. Genetics are unlikely to be the sole or major cause of the observed differences. Home dust allergen and endotoxin levels cannot explain the differences. Studies that have been designed to specifically address the sources of these racial disparities are needed. A “Multilevel Framework” that considers the roles of the individual, family and community presents an excellent approach to guide design of future studies of the causes of these disparities. Understanding the causes of the disparities could lead to interventions that would improve the health of all individuals.     

Aging in Africa: Past Experiences and Strategic Directions

The world including Africa has witnessed tremendous changes in the understanding of aging issues since the First World Assembly on Ageing in Vienna in 1992. While the framers of the World Assembly had a remarkably good vision on aging in the 21^st century, much of Africa at that time viewed aging issues as unimportant for policy dialogue and planning. Awareness and discussions of population aging in Africa have arisen as part of the wider global debate on aging in the developing world, which has gathered momentum in recent years, culminating most prominently with the Second United Nations World Assembly on Ageing in 2002 in Madrid. This article discusses factors leading to widespread development of aging agenda in Africa and efforts by civil society and governments to promote aging in place.     

Therapeutic Apheresis: Applications and Future Directions

Abstract. The past 10–15 years have been witness to major technological achievements in the field of therapeutic apheresis. Concurrently, a large number of diseases, primarily with an immunological basis, have been treated with apheresis. In this paper, we review the various applications of therapeutic apheresis, adverse reactions associated with the mode of therapy, and future research directions. Several representative diseases are also discussed in detail.     

Filoviruses in Bats: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

Filoviruses, including Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus, pose significant threats to public health and species conservation by causing hemorrhagic fever outbreaks with high mortality rates. Since the first outbreak in 1967, their origins, natural history, and ecology remained elusive until recent studies linked them through molecular, serological, and virological studies to bats. We review the ecology, epidemiology, and natural history of these systems, drawing on examples from other bat-borne zoonoses, and highlight key areas for future research. We compare and contrast results from ecological and virological studies of bats and filoviruses with those of other systems. We also highlight how advanced methods, such as more recent serological assays, can be interlinked with flexible statistical methods and experimental studies to inform the field studies necessary to understand filovirus persistence in wildlife populations and cross-species transmission leading to outbreaks. We highlight the need for a more unified, global surveillance strategy for filoviruses in wildlife, and advocate for more integrated, multi-disciplinary approaches to understand dynamics in bat populations to ultimately mitigate or prevent potentially devastating disease outbreaks.     

Obesity Pharmacotherapy: Current Perspectives and Future Directions

The rising tide of obesity and its related disorders is one of the most pressing health concerns worldwide, yet existing medicines to combat the problem are disappointingly limited in number and effectiveness. Recent advances in mechanistic insights into the neuroendocrine regulation of body weight have revealed an expanding list of molecular targets for novel, rationally designed antiobesity pharmaceutical agents. Antiobesity drugs act via any of four mechanisms: 1) decreasing energy intake, 2) increasing energy expenditure or modulating lipid metabolism, 3) modulating fat stores or adipocyte differentiation, and 4) mimicking caloric restriction. Various novel drug candidates and targets directed against obesity are currently being explored. A few of them are also in the later phases of clinical trials. This review discusses the development of novel antiobesity drugs based on current understanding of energy homeostasis     

Device Therapies: New Indications and Future Directions

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICDs), cardiac resynchronization (CRT) and combination (CRT-D) therapy have be-come an integral part of the management of patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). ICDs treat ventricular arrhythmia and CRTs improve left ventricular systolic function by resynchronizing ventricular contraction. De-vice therapies (ICD, CRT-D), have been shown to reduce all-cause mortality, including sudden cardiac death. Hospitaliza-tions are reduced with CRT and CRT-D therapy. Major device related complications include device infection, inappropriate shocks, lead malfunction and complications related to extraction of devices. Improvements in device design and implantation have included progressive miniaturization and increasing battery life of the device, optimization of response to CRT, and minimizing inappropriate device therapy. Additionally, better definition of the population with the greatest benefit is an area of active research.     

Apoptosis in Cardiovascular Aging Research: Future Directions

Apoptosis is the process by which cells are induced to activate their own suicide. Programmed cell death occurs in a wide variety of cell types, including cardiovascular tissues. There is increasing evidence of a relationship between apoptosis and cardiovascular disease, particularly ischemic heart disease and congestive heart failure, the most frequent heart diseases in the older population. Research directed to the treatment and possible prevention of apoptosis may provide a means of decreasing the incidence of cardiac failure and increasing the survival of endothelial and smooth muscle cells in the elderly.     

Cetacean Morbillivirus: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

We review the molecular and epidemiological characteristics of cetacean morbillivirus (CeMV) and the diagnosis and pathogenesis of associated disease, with six different strains detected in cetaceans worldwide. CeMV has caused epidemics with high mortality in odontocetes in Europe, the USA and Australia. It represents a distinct species within the Morbillivirus genus. Although most CeMV strains are phylogenetically closely related, recent data indicate that morbilliviruses recovered from Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), from Western Australia, and a Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis), from Brazil, are divergent. The signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (SLAM) cell receptor for CeMV has been characterized in cetaceans. It shares higher amino acid identity with the ruminant SLAM than with the receptors of carnivores or humans, reflecting the evolutionary history of these mammalian taxa. In Delphinidae, three amino acid substitutions may result in a higher affinity for the virus. Infection is diagnosed by histology, immunohistochemistry, virus isolation, RT-PCR, and serology. Classical CeMV-associated lesions include bronchointerstitial pneumonia, encephalitis, syncytia, and lymphoid depletion associated with immunosuppression. Cetaceans that survive the acute disease may develop fatal secondary infections and chronic encephalitis. Endemically infected, gregarious odontocetes probably serve as reservoirs and vectors. Transmission likely occurs through the inhalation of aerosolized virus but mother to fetus transmission was also reported.     

Aspirin Use in Women: Current Perspectives and Future Directions

Purpose of Review

This review examines the recent literature on the use of low-dose aspirin (LDA) for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in women, use of LDA for pre-eclampsia prevention in pregnancy, and the underutilization of aspirin therapy in women as compared to men.

Recent Findings

While men and women should not differ with respect to aspirin use for secondary prevention, its role in primary prevention remains unclear for both sexes, with particular uncertainty in women. Reflective of this are conflicting recommendations in current guidelines for primary prevention and thus investigations of primary prevention aspirin use are ongoing and will play an important role in elucidating its efficacy. While there is significant heterogeneity in studies to date of LDA for pre-eclampsia prevention, based on recent meta-analyses suggesting promising results, guidelines now recommend initiation in high risk women after the 12th week of gestation. Finally, studies consistently reveal that aspirin therapy is underutilized in women as compared to men, suggesting a need to better educate physicians and the general public about its use in women.

Summary

Further research is needed to better elucidate the role of aspirin in women for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and for pre-eclampsia in high risk pregnant women. In addition, further investigation into the factors that lead to the current underutilization of aspirin in women are required in order to ensure that patients of both sexes are optimally treated, with the goal of improving cardiovascular outcomes in all patients.

     

Phocine Distemper Virus: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

Phocine distemper virus (PDV) was first recognized in 1988 following a massive epidemic in harbor and grey seals in north-western Europe. Since then, the epidemiology of infection in North Atlantic and Arctic pinnipeds has been investigated. In the western North Atlantic endemic infection in harp and grey seals predates the European epidemic, with relatively small, localized mortality events occurring primarily in harbor seals. By contrast, PDV seems not to have become established in European harbor seals following the 1988 epidemic and a second event of similar magnitude and extent occurred in 2002. PDV is a distinct species within the Morbillivirus genus with minor sequence variation between outbreaks over time. There is now mounting evidence of PDV-like viruses in the North Pacific/Western Arctic with serological and molecular evidence of infection in pinnipeds and sea otters. However, despite the absence of associated mortality in the region, there is concern that the virus may infect the large Pacific harbor seal and northern elephant seal populations or the endangered Hawaiian monk seals. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on PDV with particular focus on developments in diagnostics, pathogenesis, immune response, vaccine development, phylogenetics and modeling over the past 20 years.