Immunogenicity of a 2009 pandemic influenza virus A H1N1 vaccine, administered simultaneously with the seasonal influenza vaccine, in children receiving chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: No examination of simultaneous vaccination against pandemic H1N1 and the seasonal influenza virus strains, in children with cancer receiving chemotherapy, are yet published. We investigated the immunogenicity of a whole-virion, inactivated, adjuvanted pandemic H1N1, and seasonal influenza vaccines administered simultaneously to children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. PROCEDURE: We prospectively enrolled 27 pediatric patients receiving therapy for various types of cancer. All received influenza vaccination once in a seasonal risk period. We checked hemaglutination-inhibition (HAI) antibody titers in the sera of patients before, and 21-28 days after vaccination. Seroprotective titer was defined as an antibody titer ≥ 40, and seroresponse as ≥ 4-fold increase in antibody titers after vaccination. RESULTS: The pre- and post-vaccination seroprotective rates were H1N1: 33-48%, H3N2: 56-78%, B: 0-15% for seasonal influenza, and for pandemic H1N1: 15-37%. The seroresponse rates for seasonal influenza H1N1, H3N2, and B were 22%, 37%, and 22%, respectively, and 30% for the pandemic H1N1 vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: Whole-virion, inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine for the pandemic H1N1 Influenza A virus and the seasonal influenza vaccines were found safe and partially immunogenic in children with cancer receiving chemotherapy. The only determinants of responsiveness were lymphocyte count and serum immunoglobulin-G. Only influenza B vaccine elicited significant differences in differences in pre- and post-vaccination seroprotective rates. The response to vaccination for pandemic H1N1 is as effective as other vaccines, however administration of a single vaccine during chemotherapy is more comfortable for pediatric cancer patients.

[Clinical experiences with basal analogue insulin in routine care. Retrospective follow up analysis of a database from daily routine care]. / Bázisinzulin-analógok klinikai használatának mindennapi tapasztalatai. Retrospektív követéses adatelemzés a rutin klinikai gyakorlatból.

INTRODUCTION: Basal-bolus insulin regime is frequently used in type 2 diabetes in order to improve metabolic control and decrease the risk of complications. A general question is, however, the effect of application of analogue insulin in comparison to human insulin regimes. AIM: The aim of the authors was to perform a retrospective database analysis among patients who were switched from human insulin only based basal-bolus regime to analogue only insulin regime in order to examine changes in metabolic control, body weight, insulin dose and basal:bolus insulin ratio. METHOD: Type 2 diabetic patients (n = 137) were enrolled who used once daily basal insulin with complementary bolus insulin given at main meals, and human insulin was switched to analogue insulin. Patients were divided into two groups using detemir (n = 103) or glargine (n = 34). RESULTS: During 17 months of analogue insulin treatment the HbA1c was decreased by 0.34% (detemir -0.44%; glargine -0.17%). Body weight was increased by 1.11 kg (detemir +1.0 kg; glargine +1.43 kg). The basal:bolus insulin ratio increased in all groups (entire cohort 6.04%, detemir 5.26%, glargine 8.37%). The average insulin dose was 80.76 units at the end of follow up. There was no significant difference in terms of total and basal insulin doses between detemir (27.89 and 79.78 U, respectively) and glargine group (32.85 and 83.74 U, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: These results support that switching from human to analogue insulin in basal-bolus regime could improve the metabolic control by increasing dose of basal analogue insulin and basal: bolus ratio. Both detemir and glargine can provide similar improvement in metabolic control with the same insulin dose but with relatively more weight gain with glargine.