Relative socioeconomic advantage and mood during advanced pregnancy in women in Vietnam

Background  

Mental health during pregnancy has not been investigated in Vietnam. Antenatal depression is an established risk factor for postpartum mood disturbance and two representative cohort studies have found rates of depression after childbirth in Vietnam two to three times higher than those in high income countries.     

25 years of public health leadership in Africa: the Ethiopian Public Health Association

This commentary discusses the historical development, organization and activities of the Ethiopian Public Health Association (EPHA), a professional civil society organization that operates on the principles of protection of public interest and professional standards in health in areas of health development in Ethiopia. The important roles played by the EPHA in health training, research and policy advocacy have been highlighted. Some of the important health system interventions that have been effected in the country through the influence and active participation of the Association have also been pointed out. As an active member of the Executive Board of the World Federation of Public Health Associations, EPHA serves as a role model for public health professional associations in the African Region with regard to increasing their influence in health policy and interventions within their respective countries.     

Novel colon cancer susceptibility variants identified from a genome‐wide association study in African Americans

Genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) in ethnic/racial minority populations can help to fine‐map previously identified risk regions or discover new risk loci because of the genetic diversity in these populations. We conducted a GWAS of colorectal cancer (CRC) in 6,597 African Americans (1,894 cases and 4,703 controls) (Stage 1) and followed up the most promising markers in a replication set of 2,041 participants of African descent (891 cases and 1,150 controls) (Stage 2). We identified a novel variant, rs56848936 in the gene SYMPK at 19q13.3, associated with colon cancer risk (odds ratio 0.61 for the risk allele G, p = 2.4 × 10^?8). The frequency of the G allele was 0.06 in African Americans, compared to <0.01 in Europeans, Asians and Amerindians in the 1000 Genomes project. In addition, a variant previously identified through fine‐mapping in this GWAS in the region 19q13.1, rs7252505, was confirmed to be more strongly associated with CRC in the African American replication set than the variant originally reported in Europeans (rs10411210). The association between rs7252505 and CRC was of borderline significance (p = 0.05) in a Hispanic population GWAS with 1,611 CRC cases and 4,330 controls. With the three datasets combined, the odds ratio was 0.84 for the risk allele A (95% confidence interval 0.79–0.89, p = 3.7 × 10^?8). This study further highlights the importance of conducting GWAS studies in diverse ancestry populations.     

Immunization with heat-killed Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in Eurocine L3 adjuvant protects against tuberculosis

The current live attenuated vaccine against tuberculosis, BCG, poses a risk of disseminated infections in immunocompromised subjects. Therefore, in this study we compared the protective effect of a heat-killed bacille Calmette-Guerin (H-kBCG) vaccine given in a new adjuvant (Eurocine L3) with the protection provided by the conventional live attenuated BCG vaccine in mice (C57BL/6 and BALB/c) challenged with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (strain Harlingen). The H-kBCG vaccine alone, in accordance with earlier studies, did not give any or only gave slight protection compared to sham-vaccinated controls. However, the same vaccine given with Eurocine L3 adjuvant, either formulated as a suspension or as an emulsion, afforded significant levels of protection. This protection was at least as good as that of the control live attenuated BCG vaccine. The Eurocine L3 adjuvant is approved for human use as a nasal vaccine adjuvant and a successful phase I trial with nasal immunization with diphtheria vaccine has recently been performed in Sweden. Here we show that, in mice, intranasal priming with H-kBCG in Eurocine L3 adjuvant followed by intranasal booster resulted in the same level of protection as subcutaneous priming followed by intranasal booster. All H-kBCG formulations in the Eurocine L3 adjuvant elicited mycobacterial antigen-specific serum IgG and IFN gamma responses. In general, among the different vaccine formulation(s) in the Eurocine L3 adjuvant those that produced a relatively high Th2 response, as measured by IgG1/IgG2a ratio and IFN gamma production in vitro, were the most protective. In conclusion, H-kBCG in Eurocine L3 adjuvant could represent a safe and a more stable alternative to the conventional live BCG vaccine.