Heterologous prime-boost viral vector vaccines for the treatment of a P1A-expressing BGL-1 glioblastoma model

Glioblastoma is an extremely aggressive and difficult cancer to treat, which may partly be due to its limited ability to induce T-cell responses. However, combining viral vector vaccines with other therapies to generate tumor-specific T cells may provide a meaningful benefit to patients. Here, we investigated whether heterologous prime-boost vaccination with chimpanzee-derived adenoviral vector ChAdOx1 and modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccines could generate therapeutically effective CD8+ T-cell responses against a model antigen P1A, a mouse homolog of human tumorassociated Melanoma Antigen GenE (MAGE)-type antigens, expressed by a BGL-1 mouse glioblastoma cell line. We demonstrated that heterologous prime-boost vaccination with ChAdOx1/MVA vaccines targeting P1A generated a high magnitude of CD8+ T cells specific for the P1A35-43 epitope presented by the MHC class I molecule H-2Ld . Prophylactic vaccination with ChAdOx1/MVA-P1A significantly prolonged the survival of syngeneic mice subcutaneously challenged with P1A-expressing BGL-1 tumors. Furthermore, different vaccination schedules significantly impact the magnitude of antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell responses and may impact protective efficacy. However, the substantial induction of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) by this tumor model presents a significant challenge in the therapeutic setting. Future work will investigate the efficacy of this vaccination strategy on intracranial P1A-expressing BGL-1 models.

Global issues in obstetric anaesthesia: perspectives from South Africa, Japan, China, Latin America and North America.

South Africa is classified as a low- and middle-income country, with a complex mixture of resource-rich and resource-limited settings. In the major referral hospitals, the necessary skill level exists for the management of complex challenges. However, this contrasts with the frequently-inadequate skill levels of anaesthesia practitioners in resource-limited environments. In Japan, obstetricians administer anaesthesia for 40% of caesarean deliveries and 80% of labour analgesia. Centralisation of delivery facilities is now occurring and it is expected that obstetric anaesthesiologists will be available 24 h a day in centralised facilities in the future. In China, improvements in women's reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health are critical government policies. Obstetric anaesthesia, especially labour analgesia, has received unprecedented attention. Chinese obstetric anaesthesiologists are passionate about clinical research, focusing on efficacy, safety, and topical issues. The Latin-American region has different landscapes, people, languages, and cultures, and is one of the world's regions with the most inequality. There are large gaps in research, knowledge, and health services, and the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists is committed to working with governmental and non-governmental organisations to improve patient care and access to safe anaesthesia. Anaesthesia workforce challenges, exacerbated by coronavirus disease 2019, beset North American healthcare. Pre-existing struggles by governments and decision-makers to improve health care access remain, partly due to unfamiliarity with the role of the anaesthesiologist. In addition to weaknesses in work environments and dated standards of work culture, the work-life balance demanded by new generations of anaesthesiologists must be acknowledged.

Is Cashless Going Right in Japan? An Observation Report

In this research, we investigated the recent trend of the diffusion of cashless payment in Japan by using the survey data of students in our institute during 2018 and 2021. Cashless payment has achieved remarkable development with the wide usage of smartphones and the prevalence of consequent smartphone-based system. Before the bar code, either two- and single-dimensional, was introduced in the cashless system, the major technology that was used is a smart card or integrated circuit card-based system. We investigated the behavior of technology adoptions to cashless payment, which we called "Smart Payment System"in 2018[5]. Since 2018, we conducted surveys and found that the effect of COVID-19 resulted in the increase adoption to the cashless payment system among students and the increase usage of credit cards. The survey showed that the use of cashless payment system increased after 2020 in comparison to 2018 and 2019. Since the COVID-19 pandemic in spring of 2020, the usage of online shopping increased, and the usage of real stores decreased. Although we did not use big data, such as the log data of mobile phone usages, the results indicated that our observation of the use of cashless payment system among young users is consistent with the common sense. © 2021 ACM.

A BAND-AID TYPE SENSOR FOR WEARABLE PHYSIOLOGICAL MONITORING

This paper reports on a band-aid type sensor that can simultaneously measure multiple physiological parameters with only one sensing element. The proposed sensor consists of a MEMS-based piezoresistive cantilever, a thin silicone tube whose inner pressure is measured by the cantilever. The whole sensor device is attached to a surgical tape, which allows the band-aid like attachment of the sensor to human skin to measure the vibration caused by the physiological parameters such as pulse wave, heart sound and respiration. Using the fabricated sensor device, we demonstrate two applications: the simultaneous measurements of pulse wave and respiration when attaching the sensor to the user's nose and the simultaneous measurements of heart sound and respiration using when attaching the sensor to the user's chest. We show that these the physiological parameters can be independently extracted from the cantilever output using low pass and high pass filters. The proposed sensor is useful for continuous health monitoring, which has become a great demand in the with/post COVID-19 era.

Detection of human coronavirus RNA in surgical smoke generated by surgical devices.

BACKGROUND: Gaseous by-products generated by surgical devices - collectively referred to as 'surgical smoke' - present the hazard of transmitting infective viruses from patients to surgical teams. However, insufficient evidence exists to evaluate and mitigate the risks of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via surgical smoke. AIM: To demonstrate the existence and infectivity of human coronavirus RNA in surgical smoke using a model experiment and to evaluate the possibility of lowering transmission risk by filtration through a surgical mask. METHODS: Pelleted HeLa-ACE2-TMPRSS2 cells infected with human coronavirus were incised by electric scalpel and ultrasonic scalpel, separately. A vacuum system was used to obtain surgical smoke in the form of hydrosol. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to analyse samples for the presence of viral RNA, and infectivity was determined through plaque assay. Furthermore, a surgical mask was placed centrally in the vacuum line to evaluate its ability to filter viral RNA present in the surgical smoke. FINDINGS: In this model, 1/106 to 1/105 of the viral RNA contained in the incision target was detected in the collected surgical smoke. The virus present in the smoke was unable to induce plaque formation in cultured cells. In addition, filtration of surgical smoke through a surgical mask effectively reduced the amount of viral RNA by at least 99.80%. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that surgical smoke may carry human coronavirus, though viral infectivity was considerably reduced. In clinical settings, surgical mask filtration should provide sufficient additional protection against potential coronavirus, including SARS-CoV-2, infection facilitated by surgical smoke.

Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Change in Skeletal Muscle Mass in Older Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic restrictions on the change in muscle mass in older patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), who were not infected with COVID-19. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, data were obtained from outpatients who underwent bioelectrical impedance analysis at least twice before April 2020 and at least once thereafter. Skeletal muscle mass index (SMI, kg/m²) was calculated as appendicular muscle mass (kg) divided by height squared (m²). Change in SMI (kg/m²/year) was calculated as (follow-up SMI-baseline SMI/follow-up period). The differences between the changes in SMI before and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated using paired t test.

A NOVEL ONLINE SYSTEM LINKING AT-HOME SMARTPHONE SEMEN TESTS WITH EMBRYOLOGISTS

Objective: Infertility is a serious disease requiring timely treatment. If treatment is delayed, the condition of patients may deteriorate over time. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has seriously affected couples in need of immediate infertility treatment. Because of stay-at-home guidance, fewer people are visiting medical facilities, and thus it may become necessary to provide online medical services, including infertility treatment. Male-factor infertility contributes to about 50% of the incidence of infertility in couples. Semen analysis is key to diagnosing reproductive potential in men. In current practice, men must visit a clinic or other medical facility for semen analysis. However, there are cases in which visiting a medical facility is problematic, as in the current pandemic. To address this issue, many devices for at-home testing of semen samples have been developed and commercialized. We have developed a service enabling infertility patients to receive medical advice by allowing them to easily share at-home smartphone semen test data with embryologists. To verify the effectiveness of this system, we evaluated the correlation between at-home smartphone semen test data analyzed by embryologists and semen test results measured by computer assisted semen analysis (CASA). Design: Laboratory investigation. Materials and Methods: We developed an online system that allows sperm videos captured using a smartphone microscope to be uploaded and shared with embryologists. After receiving training on the online system, the embryologists viewed the videos on a large computer screen and recorded motile and static sperm counts. Because the appearance of sperm captured in videos can differ depending on the type of smartphone, the embryologists measured sperm concentration and motility by estimating the size of the sperm head and tail. A total of 45 human semen samples were analyzed using both the developed system and CASA software. Each test was evaluated for compliance with World Health Organization semen testing criteria. Results: Sperm concentration measured using the online system showed a very strong correlation with CASA results (P < 0.01, r = 0.89). Sperm motility analyzed by embryologists using the online system were significantly correlated with CASA results (P < 0.01, r = 0.74). Conclusions: Online medical care will likely become increasingly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. The system we developed is a useful service allowing infertility patients to share at-home semen test data with embryologists. Analysis of the test data by embryologists resulted in few mistakes compared with automatic machine analysis. The system enables patients to connect with doctors and receive medical treatment online. Services like this one could be become more common in the future.