Preclinical evaluation of a plant-derived SARS-CoV-2 subunit vaccine: Protective efficacy,immunogenicity, safety,and toxicity

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The prevention of SARS-CoV-2 transmission has become a global priority. Previously, we showed that a protein subunit vaccine that was developed based on the fusion of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) to the Fc portion of human IgG1 (RBD-Fc), produced in Nicotiana benthamiana, and adjuvanted with alum, namely, Baiya SARS-CoV-2 Vax 1, induced potent immunological responses in both mice and cynomolgus monkeys. Hence, this study evaluated the protective efficacy, safety, and toxicity of Baiya SARS-CoV-2 Vax 1 in K18-hACE2 mice, monkeys and Wistar rats. Two doses of vaccine were administered three weeks apart on Days 0 and 21. The administration of the vaccine to K18-hACE2 mice reduced viral loads in the lungs and brains of the vaccinated animals and protected the mice against challenge with SARS-CoV-2. In monkeys, the results of safety pharmacology tests, general clinical observations, and a core battery of studies of three vital systems, namely, the central nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, did not reveal any safety concerns. The toxicology study of the vaccine in rats showed no vaccine-related pathological changes, and all the animals remained healthy under the conditions of this study. Furthermore, the vaccine did not cause any abnormal toxicity in rats and was clinically tolerated even at the highest tested concentration. In addition, general health status, body temperature, local toxicity at the administration site, hematology, and blood chemistry parameters were also monitored. Overall, this work presents the results of the first systematic study of the safety profile of a plant-derived vaccine, Baiya SARS-CoV-2 Vax 1; this approach can be considered a viable strategy for the development of vaccines against COVID-19.     

郑州地区孕妇铁营养状况及其影响因素调查

目的 探讨郑州地区孕妇铁营养状况及其影响因素。方法 以2021年4—8月在郑州市某三家医院建立健康档案并进行孕期体检的孕妇作为研究对象进行问卷调查及铁营养状况检测,采用描述流行病学方法对孕妇铁营养状态进行分析,并采用单、多因素分析方法对孕妇铁缺乏状况影响因素进行分析。结果 共有3 258例孕妇参与本次研究,其中妊娠早期989例,占30.36%,妊娠中期1 125例,占34.53%,妊娠晚期1 144例,占35.11%。在3 258名孕妇中,共有773例为铁缺乏,铁缺乏的检出率为23.73%。多因素分析结果显示,年龄≥35岁（OR=2.726）、处于妊娠的中期或晚期（OR=3.037,3.438）、月经初潮年龄<13岁（OR=2.432）、经产妇（OR=3.493）、流产次数≥3次（OR=2.648）、孕前月经量≥100 mL/次（OR=2.420）、文化程度为初中及以上（OR=0.517,0.459）、居住在农村（OR=3.684）、家庭月收入>3 000元及以上（OR=0.601,0.542）、居住房屋装修时间<1年（OR=6.449）、罹患消化系统疾病（OR=4.716）、有营养补齐剂摄入（OR=0.355）是孕妇铁缺乏的影响因素。结论 郑州市孕妇铁缺乏检出率较高,需要尽早给予针对性的干预。部分因素被确定为该地区孕妇人群发生铁元素缺乏的影响因素,可选择性的对其中危险因素给予干预。     

Out of the boxes,out of the silos: The need of interdisciplinary collaboration to reduce poor-quality medical products in the supply chain

In this paper, we argue that understanding and addressing the problem of poor-quality medical products requires a more interdisciplinary approach than has been evident to date. While prospective studies based on rigorous standardized methodologies are the gold standard for measuring the prevalence of poor-quality medical products and understanding their distribution nationally and internationally, they should be complemented by social science research to unpack the complex set of social, economic, and governance factors that underlie these patterns. In the following sections, we discuss specific examples of prospective quality surveys and of social science studies, highlighting the value of cross-sector partnerships in driving high-quality, policy-relevant research in this area.     

中日友好医院分型股骨头坏死腓骨植入治疗的三维有限元分析

文题释义：股骨头坏死中日友好医院分型的有限元分析：根据李子荣等提出的中日友好医院分型，建立股骨头坏死三维模型，分为 M型(内侧型)、C型(中央型)和 L型(外侧型)，其中 L型包括L1型(次外侧型)、L2型(极外侧型)和 L3型(全头型)。通过对建立的模型进行有限元分析，为该分型的保髋治疗提供了一定力学依据，显示外侧柱的存留是精准预防塌陷的重要因素，为进一步实现个体化治疗提供力学基础。 腓骨支撑坏死股骨头保髋手术：是对于早中期股骨头坏死需要保留股骨头患者进行的一种手术方式。首先需对股骨头进行髓芯减压，清除一定坏死骨，空腔填塞松质骨(髂骨为主)，打压结实后植入腓骨(异体或自体)支撑，给坏死区的提供力学支撑及生物学修复，预防股骨头进一步坏死及塌陷。 背景：研究报道股骨头坏死的保髋疗效与外侧柱存留密切相关，中日友好医院分型是根据三柱结构确立的，对股骨头塌陷的预测准确性高。 目的：建立股骨头坏死中日友好医院分型各分型仿真的三维有限元模型，通过有限元分析各分型腓骨植入的力学变化，探讨外侧柱存留对保髋疗效的意义，为该分型的塌陷精准预测提供基础。 方法：建立正常股骨头、中日友好医院分型(M型、C型、L1型、L2型、L3型)股骨头坏死及其腓骨植入3组11种三维有限元模型，运用ANSYS软件进行有限元分析计算，观察各组模型的最大应力值、最大位移值及股骨头内部载荷传递模式。 结果与结论：①坏死组位移最大，应变最大，且因坏死分型不同而位移不同，位移变化如下：M型相似文献   

Actin binding proteins,actin cytoskeleton and spermatogenesis – Lesson from toxicant models

Actin cytoskeleton is crucial to support spermatogenesis in the mammalian testis. However, the molecular mechanism(s) underlying changes of actin cytoskeletal organization in response to cellular events that take place across the seminiferous epithelium (e.g., self-renewal of spermatogonial stem cells, germ cell differentiation, meosis, spermiogenesis, spermiation) at specific stages of the epithelial cycle of spermatogenesis remain largely unexplored. This, at least in part, is due to the lack of suitable study models to identify the crucial regulatory proteins and to investigate how these proteins work in concert to support actin dynamics. Much of the information on the role of actin binding proteins in the literature, namely the actin bundling proteins, actin nucleation proteins and motor proteins, are either findings based on genetic models or morphological analyses. While this information is helpful to delineate the function of these proteins to support spermatogenesis, they are not helpful to identify the regulatory signaling proteins, the signaling pathways and the cascade of events to modulate actin cytoskeleton dynamics. Recent studies based on the use of toxicant models, both in vitro and in vivo, however, have bridged this gap by identifying putative regulatory and signaling proteins of actin cytoskeleton. Herein, we summarize and critically evaluate these findings. We also provide a hypothetical model by which actin cytoskeletal dynamics in Sertoli cells are regulated, which in turn supports spermatid transport across the seminiferous epithelium, and at the blood-testis barrier (BTB) during the epithelial cycle of spermatogenesis.     

Proteases and their inhibitors as prognostic factors for high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Ovarian carcinoma is one of the most lethal malignancies, but only very few prognostic biomarkers are known. The degradome, comprising proteases, protease non-proteolytic homologues and inhibitors, have been involved in the prognosis of many cancer types, including ovarian carcinoma. The prognostic significance of the whole degradome family has not been specifically studied in high-grade serous ovarian cancer. A targeted DNA microarray known as the CLIP-CHIP microarray was used to identify potential prognostic factors in ten high-grade serous ovarian cancer women who had early recurrence (<1.6 years) or late/no recurrence after first line surgery and chemotherapy. In women with early recurrence, we identified seven upregulated genes (TMPRSS4, MASP1/3, SPC18, PSMB1, IGFBP2, CFI – encoding Complement Factor I – and MMP9) and one down-regulated gene (ADAM-10). Using immunohistochemistry, we evaluated the prognostic effect of these 8 candidate genes in an independent cohort of 112 high-grade serous ovarian cancer women. Outcomes were progression, defined according to CA-125 criteria, and death. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were done to estimate the associations between each protein and each outcome. High ADAM-10 expression (intensity of 2–3) was associated with a lower risk of progression (adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.29-0.87). High complement factor I expression (intensity 2–3) was associated with a higher risk of progression (adjusted HR: 2.30, 95% CI: 1.17–4.53) and death (adjusted HR: 3.42; 95% CI: 1.72–6.79). Overall, we identified the prognostic value of two proteases, ADAM-10 and complement factor I, for high-grade serous ovarian cancer which could have clinical significance.     

Development of an IgG-Fc fusion COVID-19 subunit vaccine,AKS-452

AKS-452 is a biologically-engineered vaccine comprising an Fc fusion protein of the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein receptor binding domain antigen (Ag) and human IgG1 Fc (SP/RBD-Fc) in clinical development for the induction and augmentation of neutralizing IgG titers against SARS-CoV-2 viral infection to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fc moiety is designed to enhance immunogenicity by increasing uptake via Fc-receptors (FcγR) on Ag-presenting cells (APCs) and prolonging exposure due to neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) recycling. AKS-452 induced approximately 20-fold greater neutralizing IgG titers in mice relative to those induced by SP/RBD without the Fc moiety and induced comparable long-term neutralizing titers with a single dose vs. two doses. To further enhance immunogenicity, AKS-452 was evaluated in formulations containing a panel of adjuvants in which the water-in-oil adjuvant, Montanide™ ISA 720, enhanced neutralizing IgG titers by approximately 7-fold after one and two doses in mice, including the neutralization of live SARS-CoV-2 virus infection of VERO-E6 cells. Furthermore, ISA 720-adjuvanted AKS-452 was immunogenic in rabbits and non-human primates (NHPs) and protected from infection and clinical symptoms with live SARS-CoV-2 virus in NHPs (USA-WA1/2020 viral strain) and the K18 human ACE2-trangenic (K18-huACE2-Tg) mouse (South African B.1.351 viral variant). These preclinical studies support the initiation of Phase I clinical studies with adjuvanted AKS-452 with the expectation that this room-temperature stable, Fc-fusion subunit vaccine can be rapidly and inexpensively manufactured to provide billions of doses per year especially in regions where the cold-chain is difficult to maintain.     

Why We Need Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and How to Make It Happen

We make the case for why continuous pharmaceutical manufacturing is essential, what the barriers are, and how to overcome them. To overcome them, government action is needed in terms of tax incentives or regulatory incentives that affect time.